Page 174 of Loreblood

“Almost to the door,” Skar said, gritting his teeth.

The portcullis began to lower as the new guards took their position behind the front two. The door had creaked shut seconds before, trapping Garroway’s rat familiar inside the structure.

I envisioned what Garro and Skar might see through those rodent eyes—the floor, mostly, as he scurried through the halls. Then a door, opening as a soldier left the room and entered the hall after seeing the portcullis and door shut. Garro would keep his tiny, furry body close to the wall, timing his entry. Before he could enter, a new vampire paced down the hall. Zefyra swiftly opened the door so Garroway’s charmed animal could scamper inside the room. Zefyra winked at the rat before leaving, closing the door behind her once he was inside. And there, Garroway’s pet chewed through a thick rope.

Vallan’s hand twitched on the back of his neck, ruffling through his shaggy hair before inching closer to the handle of his axe across his shoulder.

“Kinsman, I’ve told you for the last time,” the guard scrutinizing him bellowed. He gripped his halberd harder.

The timing had to be perfect.

Garroway would nearly be finished with his rat mission by now.

Skartovius opened his eyes, staring at me with a wicked grin. “Ready, little temptress?” He held his hand out for me to take.

I nodded succinctly. Skar looked past me and noted where Garroway was sitting, hidden from sight beneath the edge of the rooftop railing. More importantly, Garro’s shadow was large and dark behind him from the slant of the moon overhead.

It had taken three weeks for us to pick this evening to run the raid due to obstructive, cloudy autumn skies the Olhavian Peaks had been receiving nightly.

Skar threaded his fingers with mine. He squeezed lightly, running his smooth digits over the inside of my wrist. I shivered with anticipation.

The rat finished chewing through the rope inside the Tanmount gatehouse, which snapped and reversed the counterweight on the ground.

The portcullis began to lift.

Vallan’s hand wrapped around the handle of his hidden war-axe.

Skartovius dragged me to Garroway’s shadow. “Keep your eyes open,” he ordered—

I gasped when Skar stepped into Garro’s shadow and the world went pitch black. A hissing sound fluttered through my ears, in one and out the other, and I felt a wobbling sensation of my senses going awry.

I blinked through the darkness—

And stared into the eyes of the four startled guards in front of us, at eye-level.

Vallan, standing two feet to my side, swept his axe out from his back with a fluid motion and beheaded the speaking guard before the man could react, shearing through the guard’s halberd with the violent lunge.

Black blood sprayed in a geyser from the headless neck, and in the sudden chaos Skar and I stepped out from Vallan’s shadow and drew our swords.

Skar’s silver rapier plunged into the closest guard’s chest before the first one’s head had even plopped to the ground.

The soldier exploded into a ball of fire.

The back two guards—the newer ones—flinched and stabbed at us with their hooked polearms.

I rolled to the side. Skar straightened and let the halberd spear past him.

I took off the ankles of a guard from my roll, and Vallan severed both his arms at the elbows and finished him with a hack into his chest, caving in the iron cuirass.

The night became a ball of orange hissing as Skar’s target smoldered from his silver saber.

The fourth guard turned to flee—

I launched my sword across the air as I stood from my somersault. The blade lodged into his back, bringing him to the ground.

Vallan took one step forward and swept his axe low to separate the guard’s legs from his torso.

He began to scream—