Page 77 of Of Fate So Dark

“Get ready!” the lord shouted.

The harpies struck.

21

GWYNEIRA

I’d never seen a harpy.

I never wanted to see one again.

Talons whipped past my face, missing me by inches. Feathers sharp as knives cut the air only a hair’s breadth from my skin, and eyes glowing like evil suns glared at me only to vanish when their owners were knocked aside. Somewhere beyond the throng of attacking monsters, Lord Thomas was shouting, but I couldn’t make out his words.

It was all I could do to avoid getting killed.

The creatures drove us back, out of the castle and into the courtyard, but the greater space around us meant they had more angles from which to attack. And for every harpy that fell, the Voidborn inside them lunged out to strike at the guards, overwhelming them by sheer numbers, possessing them and then forcing them to turn on their allies.

It was a bloodbath.

But my men moved like they’d been training for this all their lives. They drove back the possessed guards. They slashed through the harpies and the Voidborn that erupted from them. They stabbed at any dying creatures who lunged up at us from the ground.

They were magnificent.

But we were surrounded with nowhere to go.

“Watch out!” Niko shouted.

I whirled. Beyond the throng of screaming harpies and attacking guards, I caught sight of half a dozen of the creatures flying directly above us, a massive shape supported between them.

My eyes went wide. That was a block of stone from the castle itself. They’d torn it from the roof or walls.

And then they dropped it.

The stone hurtled down toward us, and there was no time to move. But before it struck, Ozias was there, and a gut-dropping feeling thudded through me as he flung his hand upward.

Cracks spread through the stone so quickly, it was there one moment and then dust the next.

The harpies screamed with rage. Several spun, taking off for the castle roof again. Others dove for Ozias as if intent on killing him, and there were too many. Their claws sank into his shoulders, trying to rip him from the ground. Pain roared through my connection to him.

“Cover your eyes!” Byron shouted.

He flung his hand out. Small objects sailed through the air as he shouted something in a language that felt strange in my ears, like it had texture and weight as well as sound.

Light burst from the little objects in midair, flooding the night with a glare so blinding, it was as if every one of them had become a miniature sun. Instinctively, I did as he’d said and threw an arm across my eyes to shield myself from the blast.

Screeches like metal being torn in two filled the courtyard. But they drained quickly as if being pulled away down a long tunnel.

Leaving only silence.

The light faded. I lowered my arm, trembling. My skin ached like I’d just gotten an instantaneous sunburn, and I blinked hard, trying to clear the spots from my vision because I hadn’t shielded my eyes quite fast enough.

All the Voidborn were gone. The guards and harpies they’d possessed had fallen to the ground, vicious scorch marks across their skin with wisps of smoke drifting up from each burn, like the Voidborn had been blasted straight out of their bodies.

None moved again.

Regret tangled in me for the dead, and when I looked over at Byron, I could see the same reflected on his face. There was no way to know if the possessed could have been saved. But now we didn’t have that chance, and neither did they.

“You had no choice,” Dex told him. “It was us or them.”

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