Page 114 of Blood of Ancients

In the blink of an eye, Kelvar was in front of Magnus as the dark elf reeled his arm back.

Kelvar, quick and silent as he was, had no time to react or cast or do anything other than shield Magnus. The dark elf had no time to alter his attack, a split-second hesitation making his eyes widen—

As he plunged the black blade into Kelvar’s gut.

I let out a sound of shock, hand going to my mouth.

Arne stepped forward and acted, waving his hands in the air and tossing a sheet of ice toward our foes. Grim and Sven both worked to do the same with their own magic, while Corym could do nothing as he held Elayina, only watching as Kelvar crumpled in front of Magnus.

The bloodrender bellowed from his hands and knees and bit his fingers into the snow.

The dark elf pulled his blade out, bringing a gout of blood with it from Kelvar’s body, and prepared for another strike.

Magnus was faster, rumbling the earth with his fingers in the snow, shaking the dark elves and Frida off-balance.

It lasted only a heartbeat. It was all Kelvar needed, having the presence of mind to fall into Magnus—the Whisperer stillconscious—and hug him before rolling them into their conjoined shadow and vanishing—

Landing a step behind me in my own moonlit shade.

It all happened in less than ten seconds.

The dark elf leader roared as our spells flew at him a breath later. His comrades used their weighty magic to swallow up our runes and defend themselves with dark purplish swirls of energy.

The air stank of sulfur, copper, ice, and evil.

Grim and Sven hurried to Magnus’ side.

I backpedaled. We had everyone, the portal wasright there. Bleeding or not, we would make it.

The picture wasn’t right: humans escaping Midgard, standing between the dark elves and the portal to their own realm. Like our worlds had shifted.

Before I could move, the leader of the dark elves spoke, freezing the blood in my veins and my feet where I stood. Because he spokeourlanguage, deep and guttural and thick with accent.

He faced Frida next to him, frowning as he sheathed his sword. “You said this would be easy, human.”

Frida paled, eyes wide. “I—”

“It has not been easy.”

Tilting his head like he was examining a stray dog, the dark elf crossed his arms over his chest.

Frida opened her mouth to argue.

In a lazy display, the dark elf lashed out with his hand in a blur, grabbed the top of Frida’s skull—

Andtwisted.

The sound of Frida’s neck snapping as her head turned fully around was sharp, jarring, and tilted my world on its axis. I stared stupefied as her body fell in a heap in front of the elf.

Arne let out a bloodcurdling cry of anguish—a short, inhuman bark that came from the very bowels of his soul.

He fell to his knees in disbelief.

My thundering heart lodged in my throat as the elves casually stepped past Frida’s corpse and marched in our direction.

Fight or flight kicked in, snapping me from my daze.

“G-Grim!” I stammered. “Grab him!”

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