Page 51 of A Touch of Gold and Madness

Once my presence was detected, Kinetic magic assaulted me. An icy blast slammed into my shoulder, knocking me into a brute on my left. He tried to grab me in a choke hold, but I stabbed him in his thigh first. Then I kicked him to the ground to writhe in pain before retrieving my dagger from his flesh. Sensing someone approaching me from behind, I whirled, carving a ruby line across his throat. His mouth opened, and his face went slack. More blood spilled.

And on I went, relentlessly fighting my way through to the center to aid Griffin. Every time a Kinetic power assaulted me, I hunted down the source. Being short made it easier to duck under their arms. Then, I’d sidestep with a jab to exposed arms, legs, or necks, letting the poison of the Elemental blade take care of the rest as I moved on.

No matter how many warriors we took down, more appeared. We were beyond the point of being overwhelmed. I spotted Griffin fighting in the center as I took down two more on either side of me. He still moved through enemies in his death dance, yet he was dwindling. Fast.

I ran to his side. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye without slowing his movements.

“Remember how I said, ‘no powers?’” He stabbed a man in the eye before shifting to face the next.

“Yeah,” I acknowledged. I jammed the heel of my boot into a woman’s shin, then a jab to her throat. I repeated the action to an approaching man on her right. There was no room for punches in this fight. It was only dodge, kick, dodge, stab, and move on.

“Go! Get out of here!” Griffin’s back was to me as he yelled, “I can’t fight like this much longer.”

“I’m not leaving!” My pride wouldn’t let me. The idea of abandoning a fight ate me to bits.

“Gray, fuckinggo!”

Slice. Stab. Kick.

“Fuck off! I’m not leaving.”

Dodge. Stab. Stab.

Griffin yelled a curse as the garrison closed in. “Then, stand beside me. Shoulder to shoulder.”

I did, kicking someone in the chest as I moved. My muscles were weakening, and my limbs felt like lead. I wasn’t sure how much longer we’d be in this fight.

“Watch my back for a second,” he ordered as he drew to a halt.

I fought off the warriors coming at him from his back, unable to do anything for the ones coming at him from every other angle.

But it didn’t matter.

Mid-stab, an invisible force snatched my daggers from my hands. They rotated and aimed at the warriors in front of me.

Everyone froze. Not only were my weapons suspended in the air—but every single metal weapon present in the fight. All the sharp points weredirected at the legion of elite fighters. Most of the blades glowed blue, but there was orange dotted amongst the electric blue sea of weapons.

I spun to find a rigid Griffin—his palms raised, facing outward, aimed at the remaining garrison.

He twitched his hands. And all at once, every blade—daggers, swords, knives—dove upon the warriors like a vast sentient being. My mouth opened when over half of them crumpled to the ground. But there were so many more still standing. Warriors scrambled to gain control of the weapons that had turned on them.

Griffin squeezed his palms into tight fists, grabbing onto something that no one could see.

Suddenly, coughing fits rang out, and every remaining Kinetic began to choke. I scanned the scene, confused as they clutched their throats, their eyes bulging as they gasped for breath.

I glanced back and forth between Griffin and the warriors, trying to decipher what was happening. The Kinetic nearest to me—a woman with hair the color of fire—dropped to her knees.

Liquid metal dribbled from her mouth and trickled down her chin, a sliver of sunlight glinting off it. I glanced around at the others and witnessed the same thing occurring to them, too.

Griffin still stood with his fists raised, but the harsh tremble in his body was clear.

The ones that remained dropped to the ground, gasping and clutching their throats. The liquified metal began to leak from their eyes, noses, ears, and mouths. And within seconds, they were motionless.

My ears rang from the sudden silence that fell over us. I wiped the blood from my face with the back of my gloved hand and spun in a full circle—all the warriors were dead in what could only be described as a massacre.

I glanced at Griffin and watched as he gave in to his body and collapsed to his knees. He’d overdone it. I’d never seen a show of power on that scale by a single person.

“Griffin.”

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