Page 68 of Whispers of Ruin
It was a thick and solid muscle as it throbbed beneath his palms. Brokk released it with one hand and used his sword to slice across it. He was about to cut all the way through when something smashed into the side of his neck.
The impact knocked him to the side, but before he could hit the ground, something latched onto him with a brief sucking, crunching sound. Brokk had barely processed the noise when he was jerked to an abrupt halt.
Whatever had attached itself to him pulled him back a couple of steps. Brokk reached for whatever it was, but before his fingers could connect, a fierce pull, as if something were sucking the very essence from him, froze his movements.
The next pull rattled his bones as he gritted his teeth against the bellow echoing inside his skull while the thing seemed to draw the very marrow from his bones. Whatever it was doing, it crept into his cells and twisted them into something new, something broken. Something that battered against his veins, sliced into them, and tore him apart.
This thing delved into the core of who he was while pulling his soul from him.
CHAPTERSIXTY-THREE
“No!”Kaylia screamed as one of the horrific tongues latched onto Brokk’s neck.
She saw what that thing had done to Ryker’s man and knew she didn’t have much time before nothing remained of Brokk too. Her heart smashed against her ribs at the idea of losing him, and she could barely breathe as her chest constricted.
Lifting her sword, Kaylia raced toward Brokk, who already looked thinner. She had no idea what would happen if she severed the creature’s tongue and its connection to Brokk, but she knew whatwouldhappen if she didn’t.
Gripping her sword in both hands, she lifted it over her head and brought it down on the appendage. It jerked and swayed as black blood spewed forth; that wasn’t Brokk’s blood, she was sure of it.
She didn’t succeed in cutting all the way through on her first swing but did on her second. Another scream rose to join the others as the appendage spewed more blood while recoiling deep into the trees.
Kaylia dodged another tongue as she raced after the creature. She’d make thatbitchpay for what she’d done to Brokk as he staggered and went down to one knee.
Sprinting forward, she dodged the creature’s eviscerating claws as it launched its broken tongue at her again. Kaylia twisted to the side to avoid the bloody, slimy stump before plunging her sword into the woman’s hollow belly.
The bitch’s hands grasped the blade, trying to pull it away from her as Kaylia yanked it from the monster’s belly. She succeeded in slicing off some of the woman’s fingers. They hit the ground as Kaylia lifted her sword, and screaming, she took off the woman’s head too.
The head hit the ground with a thump, and when it rolled toward her, she kicked it into the jungle, where it bounced off a tree before skittering out of view. Terror and rage continued to fuel her as she raced back to where Brokk remained, kneeling on the ground.
His head bowed as he rested a fist on the earth. He tried to rise but staggered to the side and went down again.
CHAPTERSIXTY-FOUR
Arriving at Brokk’s side,Kaylia knelt beside him and draped her arms around his shoulders. She tried not to give in to the anxiety threatening to take over. She had to get him out of there before another abomination attacked, and she couldn’t do that if she was too panicked to think clearly.
“Easy,” she soothed. “Are you okay?”
“Wh… wha… what did that bitch d-do to me?” he stammered.
Kaylia didn’t know, but she gripped the sucker still stuck to his neck, yanked it off, and threw it aside. A gruesome, circular red welt remained, as did smaller, circular holes in his flesh.
“You’re going to be okay.”
Kaylia didn’t know if she was saying this to reassure him or herself, but she hadn’t been this scared since she opened the door to discover Fabian’s brother on the other side. The look on his face immediately told her something terrible had happened.
Brokk isn’t Fabian!
No, he wasn’t, and whereas she hadn’t been there to save her fiancé, she was here to help Brokk, and she would.
Gripping his arm, she draped it around her shoulders as more lightning bolts pummeled the ground. Thunder shook the earth until a jagged crack ran across its surface.
More monsters screamed as they tumbled into the pit the amsirah created. She had to get Brokk out of here before one of the lightning bolts or the splintering earth came for them.
She slid her arm around his waist. “Can you stand?”
A muscle twitched in his jaw as his lips compressed into a thin line. As he pushed himself up, he tried to stay strong and not show any weakness, but a tremor ran through him and into her.
His hip bone prodded her hand as he swayed briefly before righting himself. She didn’t know how it was possible, but he’d lost at least ten pounds in the few seconds thatbitchhad a grip on him. He planted his feet apart as he lifted his sword.
