Page 108 of Shadows of Destiny
And then, the weight suddenly lifted. The breath she gasped in caused pain to lance across her ribs. As oxygen once again flooded her deprived brain, so did her awareness of what was happening.
The strange bellow had issued from Cole, but other screams filled the room as blood sprayed the floor. Its warmth lashed her face and body as it coated her.
Wheezing in another breath, Lexi gritted her teeth and placed a hand against her ribs as she rose away from the blood coating the floor. A spark of warmth ran through her palm, and when she looked down, a white light emanated from her hand. A few seconds later, she could breathe easily again.
I can heal myself.
It wasn’t something she would have thought possible considering all the arach were dead, but the ability must only work on small wounds. The other arach, and her parents, must have been too far gone to heal their injuries, but a broken rib was fixable.
As she took in her surroundings, a sick feeling churned in her stomach. Bodies, and all their multiple parts, littered the floor. A massacre had unfolded while she was pinned to the floor, and in the center of it stood a blood-drenched Cole.
The shadows swirled and swayed around him, dipping higher and lower as the light in the room changed. They gathered around him, swerving as they surveyed their surroundings. Many of them remained focused on her.
“Are you okay?” the Cole thing asked in that grizzly multi-voice.
“Yes,” she whispered.
Though she was about as far from okay as it got. She was standing in a room so covered in blood she could barely see the original floor and walls through it.
None of the Lord’s guards remained standing. They’d all been torn apart like they were little more than cotton balls plucked to pieces by a child.
Some of them remained alive and attempted to drag their way across the floor with their fingertips… if they still had fingers. But they were easy prey—something Cole emphasized by stomping on a warlock’s head and smashing it.
Unable to stand any more of the carnage, Lexi looked away from the aftermath. Her gaze found the Lord, and, for the first time, she saw terror in his red eyes. But insanity also churned there.
He remained because he believed he still had a chance against them.
Then, the crazy bastard smiled.
CHAPTERSEVENTY-EIGHT
Maverick cutdown the Lord’s men who ran toward the portal; he would not let them pass through to possible freedom until he had to retreat. And he wouldn’t let them come up behind what remained of their army on the mountain.
Many of the Lord’s men and women were fleeing for any portal they could find. No one guarded the others, and he couldn’t do anything to stop them from getting away, but he could protect their army.
Between the dragons and the wendigos, this battle had taken a turn none of them liked, and the Lord was losing fighters. Their only hope was to get free of Dragonia.
If the Lord won, some would probably return and act like they’d been here the whole time. They may pretend to have chased the enemy out of the realm. If the Lord lost, they would remain in exile until they were hunted down and killed for their treachery.
Through the fires and fleeing immortals, Maverick spotted Kaylia and Sahira as a breeze briefly cleared the smoke around them. They each held the arm of a wounded lycan while they dragged her across the battlefield.
The smoke was starting to encircle them again when a berserker, with his face red and veins throbbing through every inch of his exposed flesh, emerged from the fire. As he raced toward them, Kaylia released the lycan’s arm and spun toward the berserker.
Her hands moved rapidly, and the glamour of a wendigo materialized before them, but the glamour didn’t fool the berserker, and he ran straight through it. Sahira waved her hand at a nearby fire, but only a small burst rose from the ground.
Covered in blood and soot, the two witches were exhausted, beaten down, and virtually spent of their powers. They wouldn’t make it without help. Brokk must have come to the same conclusion as he broke away to sprint toward them.
Lowering his shoulder, the berserker crashed into Sahira. It lifted her ten feet off the ground and flung her backward. She came to a stop when she bounced off the foot of the fallen giant. Her head lolled forward as another giant bent to lift her off the ground.
Knowing he had to help, or she would die, Maverick unleashed his wolf as he sprang forward. His clothes shredded and fell away as he pounced on the giant. He sank his fangs into her finger before she could pinch Sahira’s head between her tree-sized fingers.
The behemoth’s blood filled his mouth, and he snarled as he tore into the creature’s flesh. Little had any effect on a giant, but this one reeled backward as she shook her hand to knock him off.
Maverick slid down the giant’s finger and released it before she could fling him across Dragonia. As he fell, he twisted in the air and swung out his claws until they caught on the giant’s meaty arm.
Digging into its skin, he propelled himself up the giant’s arm and away from the bus-sized hand swinging toward him. A loud thwack sounded as the giant slapped her bicep in an attempt to squish him.
Knowing if he didn’t move fast, he’d end up splattered like a mosquito, Maverick propelled himself up the giant’s arm. He leapt at an enormous eye and sank his claws into it.
