Page 25 of Legacy of the Heirs (The Lost Kingdom Saga #2)
Elisara
E lisara felt no fear this time as she stared into the creature’s empty sockets. She was unsure if her confidence came from knowing how to kill them, the need to defend the people, or fighting with Kazaar by her side. His back stood firm against hers, a reassuring presence.
It only took a second to realise what was about to descend on the engagement ball the moment Kazaar reached for his sword.
The images flashing through their minds had been unclear; that was until the scene of the ball appeared, showing the dancing revellers, the flickering candlelight on the dancefloor, and Elisara’s red dress pressed against Kazaar.
It was not his vision, but someone else's— something else’s.
Elisara saw nothing when glass rained upon them, and the creatures descended.
A wall of black shadow rushed up below her and Kazaar, shielding them, if only momentarily.
It dropped the second the creature roared and flung the pair apart.
Elisara used the air to brace herself and balance her fall; at least, she thought it was her own until the subtle spiced scent in the breeze hinted it belonged to someone else.
“Are you okay?” Kazaar’s voice sounded in her mind. Elisara nodded, though she could not see him. A creature stood before her, the stench of its breath tossing back her hair as it bared its teeth. Elisara narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists; she needed a weapon.
“On your right,” said Kazaar. A second later, a dagger soared through the air, and she caught it, slicing at the creature’s throat.
It hunched at the sudden attack, allowing her time to survey the damage and count the creatures.
“ Five,” Kazaar confirmed, swinging at the creature, spraying black blood onto the floor as he connected with the creature’s side.
With the surrounding carnage, how could they possibly kill five creatures?
“I’ve sent Vlad to retrieve the Sword of Sonos. ”
Elisara nodded as her eyes skipped over the falling bodies, searching for the others.
She could not see Caellum or Sadira, but a line of emerald uniforms stood in rigid formation on the other side of the hall, and she assumed they were among them.
While searching for Larelle and Nyzaia through the blurred movements of darkness, a scream sounded above the chaos.
“Protect the queen!” a voice she recognised as Tajana’s called.
Elisara whirled. No—not Nyzaia . She panicked until spotting her friend’s golden lehenga on the opposite side of the room.
Nyzaia was unharmed. Elisara frowned and ducked to avoid a claw as a brown-haired beauty slid across the floor.
It was not Tajana, however. Talia ran to Soren’s aid and joined Tajana’s side.
No. Elisara’s heart sunk, a pit forming deep within her stomach.
“Nice of you to join me, sister,” Tajana jested.
Sister. Elisara had always said Talia had always looked like she hailed from Keres.
“Elisara!” Kazaar shouted. Elisara spun just as a claw swung at her shoulder, its onyx nails grazing her skin.
She fell to the floor, and pain flooded her arm as she pushed herself up with one hand.
Her eyes met those of a dark-haired woman drenched in blood with both arms missing.
Elisara swallowed, recalling the last time she had stared into such lifeless eyes, recalling her father on the temple floor.
The memory almost cost her as large, padded feet stood on either side of her body, caging her in.
She peered up at the creature’s eyeless face, its lips dripping with drool. It tipped back its head and roared.
Elisara screamed as someone grabbed her ankles and pulled her across the floor beneath the creature’s legs .
“Hello, angel.” Relief flooded Elisara as Kazaar leaned over her with a smile, undeterred by the chaos.
But then he cried out, crumpling beneath a creature’s claw.
It did not get another chance to swing again as a man Elisara recognised from Nyzaia’s syndicate embedded his sword into the creature’s stomach, shoving it backward.
Kazaar grunted and held himself above Elisara, who pushed up against his weight as she tried to position them to kneeling.
She touched his back, her fingers suddenly wet.
Too much. He was losing too much blood. Her knuckles whitened as she gripped Kazaar’s shoulder.
He would not last long without a healer.
“We will get you help,” Elisara murmured, her eyes wide as she scanned the gardens behind Kazaar in the hope of finding more soldiers or someone to carry him.
She pulled her hand away and blinked to his blood was no longer crimson but shimmered silver.
She did not know whether to be relieved at the lack of red blood.
Kazaar panted and wiped his thumb over Elisara’s collarbone.
She flinched when he brushed the spot caught by the creature, yet when he inspected his thumb, the same silver liquid marked it.
Elisara’s blood was silver, too. Their blood was silver.
She grabbed his hand, their changed blood intertwining.
They gasped as threads of shadow and light drifted from their hands and reached for their wounds.
Awe-struck, Elisara gasped as the threads that tied them floated behind his back, the same threads knitting and binding the skin above her collarbone.
Elisara glanced around to check if anyone had seen, or for reassurance she had not lost her mind, but they were all too encompassed by the chaos to notice.
Kazaar straightened with no hesitation in his movements as he examined her collarbone. Behind him, Vlad, Nyzaia, and Farid approached.
“What do we do with one sword?” asked Vlad.
Elisara reached for the second in his hand: a dull grey sword she had nostalgically kept after leaving the Unsanctioned Isle with Kazaar.
He reached for the Sword of Sonos. She looked to the others in case they wondered why it was he who wielded it, but their expressions were unchanged, with Nyzaia too focused on assessing Kazaar for injuries.
Elisara was the only one to note the soft light emanating from Kazaar’s hands when he gripped the sword seconds before shadows twisted from his grip to secure the weapon in place.
When she looked at her own, nothing happened.
Elisara felt compelled to touch the Sword of Sonos to see if it responded to her the same way.
She did not get the chance to try. A creature charged, the crook of its wings pinning her against the stone wall of the castle once connected to the glass exterior.
Elisara’s hair was slick against her face as she grunted, using her elbows to shove its wings off her.
The creature did not budge. For a second, she thought this was it. This might truly be her end.
With a push of resolve, she struck the creature.
Lodging her thumbs in its empty eye sockets, she shoved with all her might.
It screamed and stumbled back as the silvery blood painting Elisara’s fingers marred its face—a face that no longer moved.
The creature froze, paralysed, before its head tumbled to the floor, spewing red blood as Kazaar sliced the Sword of Sonos through its neck.
Elisara stumbled back, watching as the flesh where its eyes had been sizzled under their blood.
“Our blood… it paralysed it,” she whispered.
Kazaar nodded and called for Nyzaia, who instantly joined him.
Grabbing her dagger, he sliced both his and Elisara’s palms. She flinched as the glittering substance spilled from her skin, coating the dagger silver.
Nyzaia only frowned when Kazaar returned the weapon.
“Trust me,” he said before continuing to collect weapons from her syndicate, marring each one with a combination of their blood.
Elisara watched as Nyzaia sliced the wings off a creature, but they did not grow back this time.
In its confusion, Kazaar pierced its chest with the golden sword, the light glowing brighter with every defeat. Two down. Three to go.
A rush of water sounded near Elisara’s ears, who turned to find Larelle behind her, summoning an aquatic barrier to pen two of the creatures in yet only slowing them.
The third was too focused on breaking through the Garridon line.
Elisara threw her blood-coated daggers, bypassing Larelle and Alvan and paralysing the legs of two creatures in one hit.
Seeming to realise their plan, Soren fled towards the Garridon line to where the final creature loomed.
Though Elisara did not like her, she trusted Soren would defend her sister.