Page 156 of Tears for a Broken Sky
Behind us, Vasquez and his soldiers broke through the treeline, weapons raised, boots pounding.
I spun, baring my teeth—
And the ground exploded.
Not magic. Traps. Dozens. Hidden beneath ash and rubble—pressure plates, tripwires, rune-carved chains that eruptedwith shrapnel and smoke.
Some Sentinels were flung into the air. Others vanished beneath nets strung between broken beams.
Vasquez himself was hurled sideways by a triggered blast, landing hard in a cage of falling iron bars.
He roared, furious, trying to stand—
But the bars had locked into place, triggered by something ancient and savage.
A shadow moved at the edge of the blast zone.
A woman emerged. Cloak drawn tight. Her face half-lost to shadow.
She didn’t flinch when Vasquez screamed, ropes lashing around him, yanking him down into a pit.
She didn’t blink when Sentinel blood sprayed across the forest floor.
She raised one arm and pressed a switch embedded into her bracer.
The last of the traps snapped shut with a sound like finality.
“You’ve led them far enough,” she said.
Her voice rasped like rust scraping steel—dry, low, deliberate.
She turned toward me. “Is the girl breathing?”
I lowered Maddie gently to the ground and shifted back, crouching beside her.
From where I stood, in the faint light, I caught a glimpse of the woman’s face.
It was marred with lightning-shaped scars—etched deep across her skin.
“She’s alive,” I said carefully, still tense.
“Good.” She didn’t move closer. “Then follow me. Duskfall is crawling with soldiers. This place won’t stay quiet for long.”
I hesitated, torn. “Who are you?”
A pause.
Then, calmly:
“A friend.”
And she vanished into the smoke.
Chapter 38
Elira
Vael hated my little makeover.
