Page 140 of Lady of the Drowned Empire

I didn’t think I could handle Asherah’s kashonim much longer. It was going to burn through me.

I swallowed, trying to get my bearings, to control the power, to keep it focused, and I turned back to the snake, rushing toward it, both hands on the blade’s hilt. I lifted my sword, and sliced forward, cutting the snake in two. Its tail waved and spun, frenzied without its head before it, too, fell. I kept running, racing through its severed body. Unable to stop myself. Unable to gain control. And before the third snake knew I was coming, I’d leapt and cut off its head in one strike. My blade sang as the nahashim hissed to its death.

Six remained.

My world shrank down to those six slippery bodies snaking along the mountainside. My breath was heavy, the burning inside my veins so intense. I needed to finish this. I needed to finish it now. I wasn’t aware of anything else. I wasn’t me anymore. I was the fire in my blade. I was the death coming for these monsters sent by my enemy to harm the man I loved.

And in that moment, fire burning inside of me, and a rage I hadn’t known I was carrying since my own examination by these beasts, I became a goddess.

My clumsiness, my inability to control this power, this strength was gone.

It felt like Asherah was in control now.

I spun on my heels, screaming, with fire in my blood, as the next nahashim charged. It slid around my body, circling its way to my belly before I brought down my sword, slicing through every single coil and leaving the snake in pieces at my feet. My chest heaved as I spun on my heels and stared down my enemy.

Five remained.

I felt the next one coming from behind. I didn’t break a sweat as I leapt from the mutilated carcass at my boots, knelt on the ground, lifted my sword above my head with two hands, and caught the belly of the nahashim before it could pounce. It let out a roar, fangs dripping with venom as it fell.

Four.

A pair came at me, twisted and tangled together, their heads swooping in opposite directions in front of their joined bodies.

With both hands still on the hilt of my sword, my arms swung, curved, and danced until the symbol for infinity was drawn in flames before me. I couldn’t even see my hands, only the fire, as I ran forward, no longer scared, no longer worried.

The snakes seemed to grow taller as I approached, their bodies elongating and stretching. With the flaming fires smoking before me, I kept running, faster and faster, at a speed I’d never achieved before—a speed I hadn’t even seen Rhyan reach.

A speed I knew wasn’t me. It was Asherah.

The fire singed their scales, the scent of burning flesh assaulting my nose, before my blade sank through their bodies like a knife through butter. Their heads banged together before severing from their bodies, flames incinerating them on their way to the ground. Their carcasses fell amongst the rocks. Two.

My heart was heating, the fire in my veins concentrating there—a reminder of the Valalumir, of my contract with Mercurial.

I knew I was starting to run low on fire—the kashonim would only last so much longer before it burned through me, before it claimed me. Using it like this was dangerous. Kashonim was only ever used between living Lumerians, meant only for a final push. I didn’t know what calling on a goddess would do to me. Last time it had knocked me out for nearly a day. And my enemies were not yet fully conquered.

But they would be.

They must be. I wasn’t going to fail. Not myself. And not Rhyan.

In the distance, I could hear his voice, still calling my name. Still keeping the connection of the vadati between us alive. So he could find me again when this was over. When he was recharged. But in this moment, I felt the anguish of our separation in my heart.

But I put that all aside as I ran for the next snake. This one was scared and retreated. My boots left dust in my trail. My calves were on fire, and sweat poured down my face. I held my blade overhead as I ran, the starfire steel flaming. The diamonds in my armor filled with Asherah’s blood, lit up like rubies. The fiery red lights flashed on the nahashim’s onyx-like scales.

At the last second, the snake stopped retreating and shot forward with its mouth wide open, coming at me with a speed I could barely see or process. It hissed, its fangs out, venom spitting from its mouth.

I lowered my blade, Asherah’s fire running through me, and the blade sliced through the nahashim’s mouth, cleaved its head in two, and severed its body down the center. I stood in the middle of the dead nahashim with black blood splattered across my armor and tunic.

One left. The final nahashim—the largest. Its body was elongated, its eyes glowing.

My vision was growing blurry, my limbs tired with the heat inside me, and I could feel the kashonim taking its toll. I’d already pushed myself to the limit. Like Rhyan had been, I was on my last jump. Either I killed this snake, or it took me to Imperator Hart. There was no in-between.

I held up my sword as the nahashim’s body grew. It wasn’t just elongating but expanding, too.

It stilled, taking a second of pause. It was tired, too. It fucking had to be. But then it took off, its fangs twice the size of the last snake, its tongue slipping out of its mouth, long and venomous. It was moving too fast, and I was losing my focus. I was fading, running out of time, out or energy, out of power.

My sword collided with its mouth. It should have sliced through the snake’s head as it had the last one, but this nahashim clamped down on my sword. The grip of its jaw was too strong. The nahashim tore my sword from my hands, slithered away, and spat it onto the side of the mountain. Too far out of reach. The starfire flames vanquished before my eyes as the nahashim used its tail to kick the sword, which fell off the cliff we’d so dangerously neared.

My heart pounded. My fear was returning as swiftly as the strength of the goddess within me was faltering.