34 Choking
Choking
The taste of essensia was bitter on her tongue, so strong it was like she held a mouthful of blood. She knew what it meant now. Demons.
She spat on the floor, but the taste lingered, flaring and fading as the screaming grew louder. Vaelira scanned their small group. “We don’t have enough weapons.”
Jurah stepped forward. “There’s more inside.” He turned to Reese. Reese nodded, and they all sprinted for the stairs.
Inside, the wall of weapons was plundered. Ressa, already armed, strapped two more daggers to her belt. Fang reached up and carefully lowered the curved double-headed spear, testing its weight with a few quick tosses before grunting his approval. All the weapons were sharp.
Vaelira took nothing for herself. Her father’s sword and the dagger would be enough. It didn’t matter that Elijah had given her the dagger. Willem was right, it cut the same. She handed a short sword to Azza.
“I don’t know how to fight,” Azza admitted, her eyes on the floor.
“You stay here,” Jurah said, checking his sword strap. “Willem, stay with her.”
Willem opened his mouth to protest, but Axel cut him off. “Someone has to protect her if she can’t fight.”
“I will stay,” Reese interjected.
“No.” Jurah said sternly. “We need you to rally the Academy.”
“He’s just a kid.”
“A kid that can hit a target with one of those blades from almost two hundred feet.”
Reese eyed the blades, then turned to Willem. “Guard her with your life.”
Willem dragged a footstool to the front door, blades already palmed.
“Can we get to the roof?” Vaelira asked. Reese nodded, leading her to a ceiling hatch and pulling down a ladder.
“Be quick,” he said, already hurrying back to the others.
She climbed into the attic, crouching to avoid the low beams and cobwebs as she picked her way to the narrow window at the far end. She squeezed onto the ledge and swung herself onto the roof.
The screaming continued outside, now threaded with deep, guttural growls. Straightening, she looked out over the streets that spread around the Academy. The essensia humming over her skin withdrew instantly.
Great, monstrous shapes were appearing below, claws flashing and beastly growls echoing above the screams. Demons were being summoned inside the city at a rate faster than she had thought possible.
She watched, helpless, as a man a few streets over sprinted around a corner, only for a demon to appear out of nowhere, leaping at him in a blur of claws and fangs. When it was over, there was nothing left. Fear lodged itself in her throat.
Vaelira dragged her eyes north. Clouds churned above the mountains, racing towards the city at unnatural speed. A tide of shadow surged down one of the smaller peaks. The peak was split in two, and from the fissure spilled dark shapes jerking down the slopes in frantic bursts.
An army of demons heading straight for Caerthalyn.
Vaelira’s skin went cold. Across the city, fires flared as people armed themselves with torches and whatever weapons they could find. They were fighting for their lives, while she stood frozen.
Frozen like in the orchard, when a demon had taken Jon. Frozen, like when they had come for Kolborn. She had been helpless. Useless.
Never again.
Something skittered to her left, claws scraping against stone. Her hand flew to her dagger, her ears straining.
An explosion shattered the night. Smoke billowed from the eastern edge of the outer wall.
The smoke cleared enough for her to make out a gaping hole in the stone.
The city was breached and summoners were choking the streets with minor demons, creating enough chaos to ensure the Guard would be scattered once the real army reached the walls.
Hundreds of innocents would die. Thousands.
She let the rage rise and embraced it.