Page 188 of The Blade in the Ashes
He was right. I may have completed my Forging, but he had just inherited the powers of a High God. An awareness prickled at the back of my mind, a nagging urge to step backwards. A pull.
Caldrius approached me with heavy, purposeful steps, his lips pulled back into a domineering sneer as darkness seemed to rally around him on the ground. “And I’m not letting you leave this time.”
The shadows lurched towards me, and I followed that pull, falling back, letting my eyes widen—letting him see fear.
And just as a smile of victory twitched at the corner of his lips, I released my own small grin.
“I can’t kill youyet.”
I dropped to a knee, reaching for my blade and calling for my power. It flew across the wreckage into my waiting palm just as I opened a portal below me and disappeared entirely.
Icatapulted through the air, body twisting and curling as I fell from the portal I’d opened in the middle of the sky. The wind brushed past me, slowing its attack as I forced my magic to wrap around me and suspend me high above the ground.
Here, floating, I could see the legion that Caldrius had sent after us.
And it was jaw-dropping.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers marched towards us, so many that our army looked minuscule in comparison. And if the sheer size of the army wasn’t enough to make my blood run cold, hordes of beasts marched with them, freshly escaped from the Underworld.
I didn’t stop to assess our standing. I didn’t glance down to see which, if any, of my friends were alive. The thunder of battle was far too alive for me to allow myself a moment of distraction. The best thing I could do for them, for any of the Athenian forces that fought for their lives beneath my floating form, was to end this.
It was those creatures that I targeted first.
Dragons roared in the sky, their wing beats echoing booms and their roars loud enough to leave my ears ringing as they clashed against each other.Dragonfire ripped across my back, but my magic kept it from touching me. I paid it no mind as I held my hands out and focused on the feeling of that white, hazy plane of existence that had been the Veil.
Tears sprang to life in my eyes as my head filled with an unbearable pressure but I refused to lose my concentration as I mentally clawed at that divide between the realms with my nails and teeth. It was a solid force against my will, but as I reached into that well of unending power in the deepest parts of me, pouring everything I had into it, the Veil buckled.
It shook.
And portal after portal opened under each of those horrid creatures, sending them right back into the Underworld.
They screamed as they fell, awful screeches that were as inhuman as they were haunting. It was enough to cause the surrounding soldiers to stumble, some men even falling into those very portals before I could seal them back up.
Power poured out of me, almost as much as I’d used to bring them all here in the first place, and I felt my control slipping. Fatigue pressed into the edges of my consciousness, but I blinked through it, squeezing my fists solidly at my sides. Closing my eyes, I scrambled to grasp onto the last of my fading power, sending it out in a pulsating blast that sent the enemy army flying away from our lines.
“Return to where you came from!” I commanded, magic laced in my voice and carrying it across their legions. “Tell your new king he has one month to surrender himself. If he does, I will allow him to rule over the Underworld as his predecessor did before him.”
My breaths came in heavy pants, the magic growing weaker and weaker.
“If he does not, then you will all consider this the day that the Final War of the Gods began.”
The army stared up at me, time stilling as some fell to their knees while others began scrambling away. With the sun completely gone for the day,moonlight covered the fields, sending sparkling light over their bloodied armor.
And as more and more of their forces dispersed, I released my hold on my powers and allowed myself to glide to the ground into the powerful arms that waited to catch me.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Thea
“Thea?” Rankor’s arms on my thin body were gentle as he helped lower me onto the ground, my legs shaking too much to support my weight. “Are you okay?”
I struggled to nod, teeth beginning to chatter against each other.
Above, a golden dragon dove towards us, magic rippling over his form until Clay dropped the last five feet towards us.
“Thea!” he ran towards me, dropping to his knees and taking my face in his hands.
“I’m okay,” I promised, though I sounded anything but.
