Page 45
Story: A Vicious Game
I shook my arm free as Riven appeared at my side. “I’ll go with her.”
“No.” I looked up at him, resolute. “You need to protect the ship. And the Shades.”
Riven’s brow knotted together and his shadows lashed out behind him. But he didn’t fight my command. He knew I wouldn’t be able to concentrate unless I trusted the Shades would be protected. I had only just got them back.
“I’ll wait along the grounds so I can protect all of you.” His neck twitched. “But we don’t have much longer.”
“That settles it. I’ll go with you,” Vrail said with a smug tilt of her head.
Riven squeezed my hand once. “Live so you can bring your people home,diizra,” he whispered in my ear before pressing a kiss to my temple and running out the door.
CHAPTERTWENTY
VRAIL AND I LEFT THE OTHERSto ferry as many of the Shades as they could to the ship. Now that Damien’s beacon had been lit, the beaches along Koratha were swarming with sellswords. Vrail and I ran until our lungs burned. I tried to ignore the torches carried by the charging soldiers, but my heart pounded in my chest. Hundreds of them were rushing to the water’s edge with large bows and full quivers while others ran toward catapults Damien had dug into the sand.
“Do you see it?” Vrail shouted, her voice breaking in desperation.
I hurriedly scanned the training field in front of the Order. In the dim light of the moon, I almost missed the seal. This one was not marked by ash but with water. A wide circle with the same webbed pattern inside it was painted onto the ground with turquoise dew caught along the grass. The water hung to each blade in thick drops, glimmering in the pale silver light from the stars above.
I grabbed my bone hilt and pointed to a spot at the edge of the circle. “You stand watch there. Tell me when they get close.”
Vrail nodded absentmindedly, her gaze locked on one of the largest dewdrops. Gold lettering floated in and out of view, like words written on glass and then plunged into the sea. Vrail leaned closer trying to decipher the script. I groaned and reached for a pebble on the ground, chucking it at her head.
She reared back in shock, rubbing the back of her skull.
“There.” I pointed to the edge of the seal. “Now.” Thankfully, she did not need to be told a second time. I glanced at the beach and saw a thick line of flame marking the shoreline and the rowboats waiting along it.
We only had minutes until the sailing archers would be close enough to strike us with their arrows. And they would be nothing compared to the cascade of stone that was about to rain down on us or the ships docked along the port.
I plunged my bloodstone dagger into the edge of the seal and felt the same strong pull I’d felt at the Cliffs of Elandorr. I couldn’t have let go of the hilt even if I wanted to. My entire body leaned toward the seal and my arm ached from the pressure of the magic pressing down on my blade as it cut through the earth. As I dragged the dagger through the seal, the dew formed a thin river behind my blade, not of water but a silvery liquid that glowed all on its own.
I finished the perimeter of the seal just as the first catapult launched its load into the air. I kept going as the stones plummeted to the sea, crashing loudly against the large rock wall that protected the island.
A minute later, I still had half the pattern to cut through. A loud crash of water boomed through the night. Vrail lifted her hand in victory at something along the beach. “The last two catapults are too far. Both their loads have landed short!”
“Have they loaded the first one again?” I shouted, not letting my gaze drift from the end of my blade.
Vrail danced on the tips of her toes. “The bucket’s half full.”
“Let’s hope they fill it then,” I mumbled as I traced the first of eight intersecting lines across the circle.
“They’re cranking it farther back, Keera!”
I cut the second and third lines.
Vrail froze and my breath stopped. “They’re about to cut the rope.”
“Tell me when you see rocks in the air!” I shouted back, cutting the fourth line into the ground.
Vrail crouched at the knees, as if preparing to run, but she stood her ground. Her fingers fluttered at her sides as she watched the men surrounding the front of the first catapult, waiting for the arm to release and send a shower of death our way.
“Anything?” I started the sixth line. Only two more to go.
Vrail’s answer was exasperated. “Not yet.”
I finished the line. “Anything?”
“Wait for my signal, Keera!”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45 (Reading here)
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128