Page 23 of Commanding Flame and Shield
Make it stop—
I cried out, unable to contain the agony as it ripped from my chest. Suddenly I was vomiting, but the release did nothing to stop the burning. My mind was on fire. Splintering into a thousand pieces. A vase dropped off a balcony.
Alec touched his fingers to the base of my neck, and an eerie numbness inched out from the place he pressed. The tingling trickled through my body—that returning circulation sensation creeping through my skin. He was lending me his shield. Like the numbing shot they gave before filling a cavity. The pain slowly began to ease, but the pressure in my mind was pounding against my skull, inescapable. Heart thudding frantically, I tried to draw in my own shield, and then I saw the most horrifying image that had ever entered my mind. Alvara. Drenched strands of hair sticking to her bleeding face, which was twisted in agony—she was tossed to the ground and wrapped her arms around her torso to hold her waist, as though binding her insides together. Her lips were already bruising from whatever impact caused the blood to pour from her mouth. There was a deep gash across her shoulder, and her arm was saturated scarlet. A man’s voice was screaming her name, and I realized Ansel was not far from her, but his blade was clashing with a giant of a man in a billowing cloak, whose eyes were black as night. He was defending Lana’s limp body, laying on the grass.
Ansel threw his weight against his blade, and in a desperate cry bellowed, “Aren!!!”
Suddenly my shield snapped closed. A guillotine, beheading the nightmare emblazoned on the back of my eyes. Ringing in my ears.
Alec jerked his hand away from my neck as running footsteps echoed down the hallway.
“Alvara?” His voice was a whisper, soaked in disbelief.
“That wasn’t a dream?” I forced out the question, knowing the horror of the answer in my frantic heart. Ice had replaced the blood in my veins. Voice husky with the strain of the burn slowly easing from my head.
“No. I don’t think so.” Alec’s face had gone wan, his eyes wide.
Aren and Aphaea both came skittering around the corner, horror etched across their perfect faces, a deafening alarm screaming through the halls of Grayshell now. I could feel them before I could hear them. Countless boots thundering on the marble floors.
“Ally?!” Aren roared as he turned the corner, Aphaea looking fierce on his heel.
“New York.” Alec responded.
“Now!” The Commander boomed, and Alec and Aphaea sped to his side. Others, so many flawless faces I didn’t know, all crumpled with grief, many with closed or unseeing eyes as they muttered prayers, gathered robotically in the hallway. Their hands immediately outstretching to connect with the shoulders nearest them.
“The Men of Renown have our own.” Aren bellowed over the crowd. His canine teeth elongated into predatory fangs. The chill that ran through the crowd was palpable and shuddered down my spine, too. “As children of the King, they will fall on our swords before they can be taken. As will we.”
“As will we!” The gathering echoed. The warriors had all drawn fangs, rage seething in their eyes, and they slammed their fists against their chest in terrifying unison. Suddenly they were all clothed in the unearthly white linen, and the light leather and armor I’d first seen them in, weapons sheathed at their sides.
My stomach turned in agonizing circles, vise constricting my chest, and sweat was dripping down my back. Alvara. She needed me. And although I couldn’t understand why the depth of my attachment was what it was,Ineededher. Some deep-buried intuition said I had to go. Had to go with the group of celestial warriors. Had to fight for her. To bring her home...home to me. I couldn’t explain the way it felt like the air would leave my own lungs if I failed. The way I knew without a doubt it would shatter me.
“August. Stay put.” Aren’s thunderous order filled my feet with leaden ice, as though I had no choice but to concede to his order.
“Like Hell!” I barked back, blinking at my audacity. But the icy hold on my legs thawed, and I looked down as a gust of wind replaced my own clothes with armor that matched Alec’s. There was a sword at my side and a long bow in my hand. I could feel the quiver pressed against my back. My bewilderment only lasted a moment. And then the Commander eyed me, a quiet fury burning in his gaze. The fire seemed to fade as he assessed my materialized weapons. The briefest flicker of surprise flashed across his face. His chest rose and fell once, eyes shifting to Alec by my side. And then he nodded.
Hang on, kid.Aren’s voice echoed in my skull.
I reached forward, and the moment my hand met Alec’s shoulder, the world swirled into white and warm brown, and the ground fell out from under me again.
NINE
FLIGHT
AUGUST
In the time it took to blink my eyes, we had landed on hard ground, and the air was chilled and charged with summer storm. Wind whipped the air—heavy with the smell of sweat and steel—around us. The suddenly familiar cacophony of conflict filled my ears.
I opened my eyes and staggered backwards. The giants in dark cloaks were all our height, or taller. Their features were hard and angular, skin so pale it was nearly grey, and their eyes were woven with shadows. They roared in their effort, and I saw their teeth were all razor pointed fangs. Their skin was ashy gray, in stark comparison to the luminous pale of the white clothed warriors. Our group exploded—bright shrapnel flying into the dark clearing in the park, engaging immediately with the opponent. Steel on steel, and shouts of effort echoed into the night.
I spotted Aphaea’s white hair as she dove into the fray with seemingly no regard for her own skin. She flung her throwing knives into the throats of two of the giants, and they staggered back, gurgling as their wounds hissed and sizzled, steam erupting from their necks as they collapsed to the ground. In three swift motions, she dove through the mess of cloaks, slicing them down as she went—their throats slit as they fell to their knees. Her speed was astounding. With another flick of her wrists, two knives found two spines of giants looming over a huddled mass in the grass. And then she dove to the ground. I started towards her, and then Ansel stepped into view, a veritable wall with eyes promising death. Aphaea scooped her arms under Lana’s limp form and vanished into the night.
With his attention free, Ansel’s lips snarled over lethal bared teeth as he slaughtered more of his assailants in a haunting dance of muscle and metal.
A sudden burning stab sliced across my torso, and my hands flew to my ribs. They came up dry, and I knew in my heart it was Alvara. I turned on my heel, somehow sensing where she would be in the melee. She was surrounded, skin glistening with blood and sweat, one arm wrapped tightly around a wound in her torso, rivulets of blood pouring through her delicate fingers, and down her exposed abdomen. Somehow still fiercely menacing, she swung her sword in a tight circle. A small woman with black hair cowered behind my sire, her face bruised and smeared with red. For the briefest moment, Alvara’s eyes met mine. Momentary shock was replaced with desperate understanding.
Save the braid,she demanded, right as a clap of thunder released the sky’s fury, rain pelting my skin. I dove into the chaos, drawn to Aren’s wake as he sliced down The Renown. Also heeding her call for aid. He was the only one that seemed to be a match for their size, and he was a flurry of great swinging fists—dagger slicing across their throats and chests—and striking sword, leaving heaps of bloody giant to either side of his path. Not slowing to ensure their demise, he marched with a single-minded focus towards his calling. With a cry, the behemoth closest to her disarmed Alvara, and she fell to the ground, scampering to right herself, an animalistic hiss escaping through her bared fangs. But she wasn’t fast enough, and the monster fell on top of her, fist slamming into her delicate face with the momentum of his descent. Agony rippled through me, as though I was absorbing her pain.
Before I could process my movements, I had loosed an arrow, and it went flying into his spine. He fell on top of her as another dove, colossal hands wrapping around her neck. I screamed her name as her free hand wrapped around the fingers closing on her windpipe. Something stirred inside my chest as I loosed another arrow. While it flew sweetly too, the monster only roared at the pain, and tightened his hold on her. Her ivory fingers were dyed a dark red, and they grappled across the ground.
