Page 62 of Bound By Darkness

“Aima,” he starts.

“Open the fucking door,” she repeats. “And then get upstairs and out of view. The best way out of this town is by rooftop.”

“Thank you,” Cambion says and she nods at him before turning towards me.

“Gargoyle,” she says, unsheathing her sword and tossing it to me. “Take this. I’ll get it back from you later…”

I nod my thanks as I take a step back and allow the impressive blade to fall on the ground so it doesn’t take my hand off. Then I reach over and pick it up. “Later?” I say to her. “That means you expect us to survive?”

She smiles. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

I chuckle and watch as she simply walks through the door, as though she hasn’t a care in the world. Kolvar is at her side. It’s clear she’s buying us time to attempt an escape, and the last thing I want to do is squander that opportunity.

With Aima’s sword in one hand, I start for the stairs, Eilish just behind me and Revenant behind her. Flumph floats around our heads and I have to bat him away a few times. Bloody annoying thing.

We pass Raflamir, who whimpers, “I’m sorry... I had no choice.”

As he walks past, Revenant punches the Steward’s face, and Raflamir goes limp as he hits the ground. Cambion follows closely behind Revenant. They take the stairs two at a time. Once on the second, hidden floor, we crawl out one of the windows and climb onto the roof.

Aima was correct—the roof is untended by Variant’s men. They’re all on the ground, surrounding Raflamir’s derelict house. It won’t be long before they spot us, though.

I run ahead, showing the others where to jump to the next rooftop. Holding Eilish’s hand, I tell her not to look down. Meanwhile, shouts from the ground reveal the fact that we’ve been spotted. Fairly soon after, soldiers begin to climb onto the roofs that surround us. Before I know it, one appears on the rooftop onto which we’ve just landed.

I dodge a sword as it swings toward my head. Then I run the bastard through with my blade. Grabbing his sword, I throw it to Cambion, who nods his thanks.

“Back up,” I say to Eilish as another soldier jumps in front of me. I block a few of the soldier’s attempts with his blade and then thrust my sword clean through his stomach.

From the corner of my eye, I can see Cambion and Revenant fighting two other soldiers, as still more attempt to climb up to the roof. Eilish gasps as a hand appears just beside her foot. Using the dagger Pyre gave her, she stabs the soldier in the hand, where he holds onto the lip of the roof. He screams as something dark feeds from the dagger and sinks into his skin. Soon, his eyes are black and the mist travels out of his nostrils, his mouth, and his ears. He topples off the roof and slams into the ground. His body begins to smoke and, moments later, all that’s left is his clothing.

Eilish stares down at the weapon in her hand in horror, shaking from head to toe. “Wh… what did it do?”

“It’s a soul blade,” I inform her. “Necromancers us it to leach the souls of their victims into the hilt of the dagger to fuel their power.”

Eilish glances back down at the blade and her expression is one of fear.

Cambion shouts above the fray, taking a soldier who approaches him head on. At Cambion’s back, Revenant uses his fangs to tear the throat from one of our attackers. Blood pours down his chin.

“Go!” Revenant screams at me, motioning to Eilish. He wants me to get her out of here and understandably so. I nod and grab Eilish as I prepare to jump to the next rooftop.

“Wait,” Eilish says, turning to look at the sprite who is in the midst of vomiting off the side of the roof. Once finished, he faces us, flapping his wings as he tries to catch up. Eilish drops my hand and runs to the sprite, catching him around the middle as she turns around. Instantly, there’s a soldier in front of her. Judging by his pitiable swordsmanship, he’s been poorly trained. I easily disarm him and gut him, grabbing her hand as I lead her forward.

“Don’t risk your life again for anyone,” I yell at her.

She says nothing and Cambion rushes to my side with Revenant on his heels. “Raflamir had no choice,” he says, as if to defend his choice in coming here. “Variant threatened to take everything from him.”

“I don’t fucking care,” I snarl in response.

“Raflamir could have died with honor,” Revenant growls, and I agree.

“It wasn’t so long ago that we were in a similar situation,” Cambion argues.

“Of course, you side with the traitor!” I shove Cambion away from me. “There’s more at risk than just Raflamir’s livelihood.”

The elf shoves me back. “Traitor? You fucking lied to me about what that witch truly is!” Then he glares at Eilish which only incites my fury even more.

“I never lied to you. I just omitted,” I correct him as I remind myself to save this conversation for another time. I ignore Cambion and turning my back on him, leap to another rooftop, Eilish right behind me.

“If you want to discuss the subject of traitors, you’re the ultimate example!” Cambion yells at me.

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