Page 92 of Seized to Sacrifice
‘The Camp is being attacked,’ Rye said.
A bell began to toll violently nearby.
‘Fuck! The perimeter’s already been breached. Who the fuck would risk a strike atus?’
He turned to Nyx. ‘You stay with her. Keep her safe?’
Nyx nodded. ‘You need never ask,’ he said, drawing his sword.
He turned to her. ‘Get dressed,’ he said. ‘We're leaving.’
‘Who is it?’ Elle asked, hurrying to drag on her tunic and cloak.
‘We don’t know, but there's no force in the Light Realm strong enough to attack the Dark Army.’
‘You think the enemy is Dark Realm?’
‘I think—’ Nyx stopped as a breeze blew through the tent. He sniffed the air.
‘It's the fucking Horde,’ he said sounding shocked.
Rye’s expressions shuttered. ‘Change of plan. The Camp will already be surrounded. Quin made a protocol for an event like this with the units in Kitore. We'll meet you at his tent.’
He and Thorne left, disappearing out into the night.
‘We need to go,’ Nyx said.
Elle put on her boots. ‘Will we escape this?’ she asked.
For once Nyx didn’t try to sooth her. ‘They’d never attack us here in our own realm unless their victory is assured, which means they know they have the numbers. They must have been amassing in the mountains for weeks.’
He snuffed the candles, plunging the tent into darkness. ‘Come with me now,’ he said. ‘We can't stay here any longer.’
He looked out of the tent. ‘They’re coming.’
Elle could hear screams, the clangs of weapons nearby, the smell of burning in the air. The fight was coming to them.
Nyx took her hand and pulled her from the tent quickly around to the side. They began running, staying away from the main thoroughfare where the torches were still burning, keeping behind the tents where it was darker, and their presence couldn’t be readily noticed.
Nyx didn’t appear to need light anyway as he led them in a seemingly roundabout route, changing direction suddenly, randomly to Elle’s mind, but she went with him. She trusted him with her life and that of her unborn babe.
A trio of Brothers ran past them, and Nyx caught her close, taking her out of their path before they were noticed.
She caught sight of Quin's tent not far away and her heart began to thud even harder in her chest as she saw the great bull-like creatures clashing with Dark Army soldiers and Brothers alike all along the main thoroughfare. They looked so similar to Nyx, and yet he was nothing like them, she realized.
There were screams and cries and roars of anger. Elle stayed close to Nyx, her body shaking. It didn't matter what power she’d once had, the god she’d once been. Right now, she was a human woman with a life to protect in her belly. She clutched her abdomen. Her stomach rolled and she ignored it. She'd had to keep the babe safe. That was all that mattered to her in this moment.
She squeezed Nyx’s hand tighter, and he looked down at her, his expression grim.
‘I haven't seen the Horde since you took me away from them,’ he said, and she remembered how she’d met him.
She’d been captured by a raiding party in a Dark Realm, marked for death. He’d saved her, killed his brethren for her. She’d never been in any real danger then, of course, but he hadn’t known that. He’d helped her escape and she’d watched as he was taken and punished cruelly for his betrayal.
She’d decided in a moment to take him before they killed him and made him hers.
‘I remember,’ she said. ‘These warriors were your Brothers.’
‘Once, but no longer.’
