Page 87 of Celestial Bodies

The Viscura strode to Dacias’s side and tossed him over the wind barrier. Dacias roared in shock but quickly regained his footing as he landed on several guardians on the battlement parallel to the prison entrance. Wasting no time, he thrashed about with his claws, slicing the enemy to pieces. He clamped one guardian in his jaws, using him as a shield from incoming projectiles, while rearing up onto his hind legs. His front claws sliced at the guardians before him.

Dacias found a rhythm, moving with a macabre grace. He kept his head in constant motion to ensure his human shield left no part of his lion form vulnerable to threat. As he charged ahead, he snatched guardians and disemboweled them with rapid ferocity.

The Viscura tossed Klorin over the wind at the opposite end of the battlement. He followed Dacias’s lead, utilizing a human shield while dicingthrough foes with his front claws. He leaped forward as a guardian fell to his death, then repeated the action. The brothers closed in from either side until they met and devoured the few remaining opponents.

Meanwhile, the sand creature slithered to the far end of the yard and released a sandstorm, consuming the men closest to it. Their agonized hacking mixed with the desperate cries of men being slaughtered by the other Caligoneans. The sand creature then released a dozen different streams of sand that filled the mouths of men nearby.

Lavender vapor covered the area. The mist swirled into a circular formation, gathering in a far corner of the yard. It collected beneath Julen and lifted him into the air. His form floated in the cyclone’s center, and his brown curls billowed as the purple winds intensified. The look on his face revealed his surprise at what he had conjured, but he steadied himself and, with a look of determination, he stretched his arms toward the sky, releasing tendrils of purple smoke that reached for the heavens. They latched onto the clouds above and pulled them into a turbulent torrent. The skies above turned indigo as his powers formed a canopy of ominous clouds that hung over Vinculux. With a snap of his wrist, Julen released a lavender bolt of lightning that struck the prison wall opposite him, creating an explosion of rubble. Anjular, standing near him, stretched out her hands. Stones from the exploded wall levitated and then soared through the air, smashing into the guards with deadly force.

Julen unleashed a series of lightning bolts, striking wildly about the prison yard. The guardians’ once manly hollering turned into terrified shrieks as Julen and Anjular unleashed hell on them. Mayhem ensued as some guardians fled, rushing out of the prison walls toward the dormant volcanoes. Others held firm, letting loose an all-out assault of wind and arrows aimed at Julen and Anjular. However, Julen successfully conjured a wind wall to protect them both.

Lightning struck a cart, and fire erupted, engulfing half the prison yard in flames. The Caligoneans rushed to the opposite side of the fire and sought shelter at the entrance of the mine shaft. Dacias and Klorin leaped off the battlement and joined their creature allies.

Klorinshifted to his human form and called out to Iacuora, who tended to the wounds of Multarmirus, who bled profusely from several arms. “Where’s Souzie?”

Iacuora spoke without looking at him. “I don’t know! She was shielding me, but I lost her in the chaos.”

Klorin shifted back to cougar form and ran out of the mine shaft. He darted about the yard, dodging debris and sniffing the ground. Dacias bounded after him and began sniffing for Souzie, too.

The brothers approached Anjular, and Klorin shifted. “Anjular, can you sense Souzie?”

Anjular kept one hand on the task of wielding rubble at the men attacking while pressing a finger to her temple.

She gasped, and her silver eyes widened. “He has her. Carnufor.”

Dacias’s lion shifted to human form. “Julen! He has her! That fucker has Souzie!”

Julen willed his tempest toward them before commanding it to vanish. He landed with a thud and screamed, “Carnufor? Where?”

Anjular motioned to the stretch of windows overlooking the prison yard. “She’s up there. He’s dragging her along the corridor just above us.”

“Let’s go!” Klorin sprinted toward the entrance to rescue Souzie, but he was struck by a guardian’s wind boulder that sent him hurtling back, crashing into a wall. Dacias and Julen ran to him. Klorin lay there unconscious. He bled from the blow, and his breathing looked erratic.

Together, they lifted Klorin’s body and carried him into the mine. “Go! Help Souzie. I’ll take care of him.” Dacias cried.

“I won’t leave you!”

“You have to! She needs you.”

Julen hesitated for the briefest of moments before kissing Dacias’s temple and then running to the prison entrance.

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Chapter 42

Julen

“SOUZIE!”

Julen raced into the prison and sprinted up the stairs.

He heard Souzie’s moaning and turned to see Carnufor and two guardians, one with Souzie thrown over his shoulder, entering a barred door at the end of the corridor.

Julen sprinted in their direction while screaming, “Carnufor! If you hurt her, you will suffer!”

The echo of the bars slamming reverberated through the hall. Julen wasted no time trying to turn a knob. He threw a boulder of wind against it, and the bars shattered to pieces.

He crossed the threshold into a pitch-black space. Fear shot down his spine, and he released a small flash of lightning to help him see.

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