Chapter 30
Chapter
Thirty
Everything went wrong almost immediately.
As predicted, Connor adjusted to the situation and pivoted, sending his rogue witches first to use curses and spell-bombs to clear as much of the course as they could.
While they chanted and funneled their power, knocking out the electro-shock field and blowing up the snap-traps buried beneath the ground, rogue shifters and angry mermen rushed over the course, climbing A-frames, swinging over ponds, and wrestling the alligators that lurked below.
Ancients on the lower levels took out as many as they could.
But there were so many.
Judy bounced on her tiptoes, muttering under her breath the whole time.
The berserkers, not known for their impulse control, only lasted fifteen minutes before barreling down the platform to the next level to face the vanguard of the army.
Cress led the charge.
I clutched Donovan’s arm. “Get her back! There’s too many of them, and we need them up here behind the ward!”
“I might as well stop a cyclone from making landfall,” he muttered, his jaw tight. “This is the fight she’s been aching for. Besides, my father is right behind her.” He squeezed my hand. “Do not fret. They will retreat when they need to and get behind the ward.”
Judy lent me her binoculars, and I watched as Cress charged into Connor’s army, swinging her sword, punching rabid wolves in the face, disemboweling green-skinned men, and hacking the limbs off grotesque-looking creatures.
Fionn fought next to her, perfectly in sync, slashing with his broadsword and kicking in furry faces. They were two whirling death-tornados cutting through the leading ranks of Connor’s army.
Any admiration I could have felt in the moment was washed away by icy dread. For every rogue shifter they cut down, three more slid past them, heading up towards us. For every hissing vamp they beheaded, another two drifted around them.
“I hate this, Donovan,” I whispered. “I hate it.” I swallowed, trying to temper my words. “I mean, I hate that I’m not a fighter; I can’t go down there and help.” I turned to him. “And I hate that you’re stuck up here with me.”
“I will not leave your side, woman.” He cupped my face in his hands. “I must protect you. You have the hardest job of all. You must save your strength so you can throw the remainder of the army into the ocean if they break through the ward.”
“When. When they break through the ward.”
A huge purple man, breathing heavily, climbed up the ladder behind us. “It’s done,” he panted. “The portal on the hell-plain is closed. The Devourer won’t be able to retreat.”
“I hope that wasn’t a mistake.” Candice was chewing her nails, too. “The only way out of this realm now is the portal right below us.”
If it was a mistake, it would be the last one I ever made. “You can still get your people out of here now, Candice,” I said. “You can run.”
“Hell, no,” she replied. “Berserkers don’t run.”
“Well, we do,” Judy added. “But only if we’re being timed.”
Candice bumped my shoulder with an enormous fist. “We’re with you, Chosen. Until you order us to go, we’re staying.”