Page 60 of Tethered Thrones

He read from it with such focus and determination, his hand raised in the air. Then, with a sweep, he moved his hand down and with the movement, Daaku fell, taking me with him.

That bastard.

He was controlling Daaku and it occurred to me, he probably had been controlling him from the start. Hadi’s noc kingdom had been too strong. They had been winning. Perhaps that was why he had finally decided to intervene, replacing the noc king with a being under his literal control. Everything that had happened, every moment of this war that had stretched on for years had been carefully orchestrated by the emperor.

Well, it ended now.

I threw myself from Daaku's back, not thinking about the landing until I was soaring through the air. I pulled myself intoa ball at the last minute, hitting the ground and rolling onto my feet, unwilling to waste a moment.

I would not be distracted by Emperor Gaulu's puppets any longer.

I tore through the city gates with a cry of success. Satisfied by the way the emperor jumped when he looked up and saw me.

I expected him to run, Iwantedthe chase, to land on his back and slice through his neck the way I had done to Daaku. I doubted that he would rise again the way the puppet had. After all,hewas the master.

He did not run though. No, instead, he whispered something quickly under his breath and suddenly, a shadow fell over me.

I looked up, barely diving out of the way on time as Daaku suddenly slammed down where I had been standing.

I hit the ground with even less grace than I had before, jumping to my feet, still fixated on my ultimate prize, Emperor Gaulu. But the bastard was running now, back to the palace like a little frightened mouse and Daaku...

The emperor had fixed Daaku's focus on me alone. Instead of lifting and slamming at random, he slithered toward me, his dead head still lolling.

“Damn you!” I shouted, but the emperor was gone now, leaving all of us to finish the battle on our own.

But how?! How could I stop a giant centipede that could not be stopped even in death?

“Sun!”

It was Jia again, accompanied by others, some on horseback, some on foot. A cascade of soldiers pouring into the city to help me. More than before, I was suddenly sure just as General Hideyoki rode in on horseback at her rear.

My heart soared at the sight of him. He had arrived just in time to end this battle for our side. Even if I was gone before I could see it, they would fight on.

“You made it!”

“Wouldn’t miss it, Sun!” he shouted to me in return.

Just in time too, because with sudden agility that I hadn't believed Daaku could possibly possess, he wrapped himself around me, catching me in his thick body.

“Tear it limb from limb!” Jia shouted. “If he cannot be killed, at least we can stop him from moving!”

His hold was tight, but not tight enough to stop me from fighting back, from stabbing into his hard shell and taking Jia's advice to pull and tug and cut at his limbs.

With a sickening crunch, one leg broke free in my bare hands. Around me, humans piled atop Daaku, attacking his body mercilessly.

With a hard push, I somehow managed to wiggle and kick free, even angrier now than I had been before, torn between ripping Daaku apart with my bare hands and going after Emperor Gaulu before he managed to make an even bigger mess somehow.

Daaku began to thrash, his movements growing in violence, making my decision for me because I could not leave my comrades.

I moved toward Daaku, ready to fight him until the end but a wretched feeling suddenly tore through my chest.

It was like everything bad in the world. It was like death and loss and despair hitting me with one solid swipe, a knife straight to the heart and I knew.

“Bracken!”

His name tore through my throat, taking me to my knees as life simply lost all meaning.

Damn it. Clem had failed. I was out of time.

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