Page 25 of Whispers of Ruin
Thankfully, this set of steps didn’t have hideous monsters racing up and down them, and bones didn’t surround them. That didn’t mean the door would open; like the last one, it could be sealed by some magical barrier. At least they could try to do more to this door if it didn’t open.
As they ascended the stairs, Brokk prepared himself to discover the door locked, but when he rested his hand on the knob, it twisted beneath his palm. He glanced at Kaylia before pulling his sword from its sheath; she did the same.
“I’ll cloak us in shadows,” he said.
“Okay.”
Brokk drew their meager shadows around them before bracing himself for what lay beyond and pushing open the door. He was prepared for almost anything… except stepping from the mirror realm and into a war.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN
Screams and shoutsrebounded around them as steel crashed against steel, bowstrings twanged, and arrows whistled as they flew past their heads and into the trees. Kaylia staggered back when a man with a mouth full of bloody teeth screamed while racing toward her.
His arms waved over his head like a demented monkey. It took her a second to process he didn’t mean any harm as he fled the chaos surrounding them.
She stood, waiting for the man to run around her, but she’d forgotten that shadows still enshrouded her until Brokk jerked her out of the way. For now, they remained hidden from whatever was causing this insanity.
Brokk pulled her forward and wrapped his arms around her as he secured her back to his chest. His sword remained in hand, pointed toward the ground as he moved, while hers remained trapped before her. Retreating hastily, he pulled her away from the chaos.
When Kaylia glanced back at the doorway they’d emerged from, she spotted the gaping, black hole in the center of a tree big enough to drive a truck through. The hole was a dark, shadowy place about as inviting as the bowels of Hell.
The man, more afraid of what lay beyond him, ran straight into the tree and on toward an unknown fate in the mirror realm. Kaylia questioned if they should do the same and return as well.
If they avoided the gremlins and had no other surprises ahead, they could safely travel through it until the next staircase led them to…?
Who knew what it would lead them to? It could be something far worse than this, considering how badly everything had gone so far in this realm.
Arrows thudded into the trees around them. Brokk pulled her down as he folded himself protectively over her and led her through the jungle while trying to evade the missiles flying around them.
At first, she couldn’t tell who was fighting or what immortals were out there; it could be some survivors from their group. If it was, they had to help them.
Then she spotted a group of snakelike creatures with a serpent tail in place of feet and clawed, scaled hands that clasped their weapons. While their lower bodies were snakes, their upper half was a man or woman. Some paused to rise on their tails, making them nearly ten feet tall.
None of them wore clothes, not even the women whose breasts swayed with their rapid, slithering movements. Many had hair flowing to their waists; some had it longer, while others wore it a little shorter.
Helmets adorned their heads, but it was the only protection they wore as they fired arrows and moved with the speed of a striking viper through the trees. They were so fast they nearly blurred while darting in and out to avoid the arrows flying their way from a group of immortals who had surrounded themselves with a circle of fire.
And she and Brokk were trapped in the middle of their fight.
Kaylia gulped as Brokk pulled her against the trunk of another tree. The thickness of the foliage in the jungle often blocked the sun from reaching the ground, but the black clouds choking the sky turned the day to night.
Thankfully, the fire created some shadows, allowing Brokk to keep them hidden. Kaylia’s heart hammered as screams of rage and agony emanated around them.
An arrow hit the tree only inches from Brokk’s head, but he didn’t flinch or try to move again. Beside his head, the arrow quivered as fear churned in Kaylia’s stomach.
It had come so close to him….I can’t lose him.
The thought blazed across her mind with an intensity that rattled her more than the battle waging around them. Taking a tremulous breath, Kaylia adjusted her grip on her sword before flattening herself against him as more of the serpentlike immortals raced to surround the fire.
They should open a portal out of here, but returning would be almost impossible, and they’d made it this far. Still, failure was better than death, and they could always try again.
She liked the idea of returning here about as much as playing hide-and-seek with an ogre, but she’d do whatever was necessary to save Lexi. They couldn’t help if they were dead.
Before she could voice her opinion, a clap of thunder reverberated across the sky. It was so loud that Kaylia almost threw her hands over her ears as the earth quaked beneath her feet.
The thunder still boomed as a jagged tear zigzagged across the earth, cutting a path through the center of the snakes. They screamed and tried to flee but didn’t all get out of the way in time to avoid the pit.
Kaylia’s eyes widened as the earth devoured those snakelike beings, and the thunder rolled away. Just as the creatures were filling the gaps the death of their brethren had created, lightning shot down from the sky.
