Page 98 of Shadowlands Omega

Behind me, Freya releases a screech as she takes to the skies. She drops down again on the boardwalk of the port, right where it meets with the dock. I follow her, releasing my axe and, as Brega leaps, I lean over low enough that I’m able to reach the undead creature and cleave off its head.

“Everlyn, Gareth, Preena, Charles, Leonard, Natalya — disperse! Call the patrols dispersed east back to the docks. Call the patrols dispersed west to the keep. Clear the port town, clear the Night Market, and clear Orias! Take all civilians back to the keep!”

My Riders have not yet caught on to what is happening. It takes them several moments to react and drive their horses down the sodden highway line to do my bidding. In this time, I have rejoined the rest of my Riders at the edge of the water, which had begun to froth in earnest. This is not Zaoul’s doing. This is something else.

From the shallows rises a woman. A female. An undead female with black hair knotted with algae and sticks, skin slicked with water and grey-brown beneath, eyes murky and green, fangs for teeth. Her clothing is all but disintegrated, black with rot and dripping with sea life. She releases a screech and claws her way from the waves, finding the short stairs built into the stone that will bring her to land.

“My gods!” Jesús shouts, his horse threatening to free itself from his control and run. “How long have they been here, lying in wait like this?”

I do not know. I lift my axe and snap my reins to drive Brega forward, but Freya beats me to it, slicing forward as a white tiger and taking the undead’s head off with her teeth. She spits on the stone boardwalk and looks up at me, but my gaze is focused on the sight of the undead rising from the water one-by-one.

“How did they get here?” another voice shouts. I should have thought the answer obvious enough by now, looking at the state of these beings. They may not be swollen with saltwater, dead as they are, but their clothes and hair are a testament to where they’ve been.

I don’t answer, but Freya does, in an indolent tone. She says, “They walked.”

Heads pop up all over the place, as far out as the farthest boat. There must be hundreds of them — no, not hundreds.Thousands.

I feel the burn of bloodlust ricochet through my bones. We are but fifteen warriors here, and a Fallen Omega. We will not hold. “We will not hold…”

“My Lord, what would you have us do?” Jesús shouts. He must have arrived at the same conclusion.

I roar over the sound of the undead screeching as they rise up from the depths. “Once the port city is cleared of civilians, fall back to the keep. On our way out, we will barricade the highway line leading to Orias with whatever we can to slow them down. We will need to use the extra time to clear Orias. At this point, call all forces back to the keep. Mirage City has come for us and we will need to make our stand at the castle where Kiandah is.”

I had not meant to voice those final words aloud as an undead male draws himself from the water and comes towards me at a run. He is a fast fuck. Brega rears back and, before I can swing my axe, has trampled him. Two more undead follow on the heels of the male and as I feel my Riders move into line beside me — fifteen of us against an army — Freya comes to stand very close to me. She is scanning the skies, as if unconcerned with the bloodthirsty, venom-laced abominations.

Her lips move almost absently. “She is not at the castle.”

I freeze. Everything in my body freezes. “What?”

“They took her.”

There is only onetheythat Freya can mean. My blood runs cold, my face tightens. “Freya,” I bark savagely. “Speak plainly, girl!”

“There!” Her voice rises in an ear-splitting shriek. She points at a black and white falcon circling the bay. “The Beast Fate has unleashed their army. Your army will fall. They will kill your Omega at the cliffs. That is where they intend to draw you. But if you move now and fast, perhaps I can kill the Beast Fate and the Death Fate before they kill the Fallen Omega you have enchained.” She guts me a glare. “I will not stop them from killing you.”

I feel the threat of rut come over me at the thought of Kiandah in the grip of the Fates…

…and I am only just successful in battering it back.

“I cannot leave my Riders to die.”

Freya does not reply, but takes off into the sky as a bird, chasing the black and white falcon west, towards the Cliffs of Oblivion where my heart currently is. To where it has been stolen. Wrath is a difficult emotion for my beast to chew through, but I know that defeating the undead and the Fates and saving my female as well as my city requires calm. I choke on it as I turn to my Riders, who are all engaged with undead, cutting them down as they rise from the water…but there are too many.

“Jesús, I must confront the Fates at the Cliffs of Oblivion. You are in charge in my absence. Stick to the plan and hold for as long as you are able. Do not lay down your lives here when they will be needed to defend the castle. Triage where you must.”

Jesús raises his longsword and brings it down onto the skull of an undead male, who falls like a brick, just as dead as he should have remained. “My Lord, you cannot go alone!”

I cut down another undead, which claws at Brega’s hide. Already, my Riders here are so badly outnumbered. Natalya releases a scream as her horse is taken down. She defends its life with her own, slashing and cutting at the undead that rise up around her. It has been bitten. I charge over to it, Brega clearing the path before me.

I slash at the undead that cover her horse like ants over a crust of bread. The horse makes it to its feet, but it is no use to us now. I slap its hind and send it towards the highway line. Perhaps, it can carry a child or two to the keep. Natalya turns and continues to fight. I weigh the cost of my Riders’ lives against Kiandah’s…and know that I must sacrifice.

“Hold for as long as you can and then retreat as fast as you can. Barricade the way. Buy us as much time as you can afford.”

I snap the reins of my horse and take off down the highway line to Shadow Ridge, unsure of what I will find there, and equal parts furious and terrified.

My heart pounds louder than the thrashing of Brega’s hooves as we clear Paradise Hole and take the crossroads west, towards Shadow Ridge. We move at speed. Ordinarily the journey to the cliffs would take the better part of an afternoon, but Brega makes the journey within a quarter of that time.

On the way, we cross smoldering piles of burning wood. Oh yes, there was a battle here. My beast is ravenous and I feel my mind growing hazy with bloodlust as we crest the ridge and the murky outline of the Cliffs of Oblivion come into view as far west as the island allows and I know Kiandah is there. Because despite the fact that shadows have chased us all the way here, there is but a single errant ray of sunshine spearing down directly atop the largest finger of the cliffs. I know she’s there and that she’s still alive. I also know that she cannot have been taken by anyone other than the Fire Fate. And I cannot wait to bring justice down upon her in a rain of fiery vengeance.

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