Page 96 of Artemis' Bow
“Brat. Maybe I will spank you for it later.”
A shudder that has no business on a battlefield races down my spine and Jayden chuckles knowingly.
“Stop flirting with me and kill these bitches,” I shout at him.
“I can do both,” he calls back to me.
“We’re fighting for our lives and you two are flirting. Unbelievable,” Thad says, exasperated.
“It’s our way.” I shrug. “It breaks up the tension of battle.”
I spin to the left, hacking a hand that’s reaching for me clean off, and jump back as black blood oozes from the severed limb. Jayden’s back presses to mine. Thad comes behind the hag, slicing his sword through her neck.
Three more enemies surge forward before the hag’s body crumbles to dust. They just keep multiplying. I cut down another wraith, slicing my sword in a wide arc, and the electricity coursing through her makes her explode into dust.
“How are there this many of them? They aren’t even that affected by the electricity until it slices through them.” I spin again as another attempts to grab me.
“We need to figure out how to get rid of the fog. That’s their cover. If it’s gone, the sun should harm them. At the very least, it will slow them down,” Jayden shouts.
“How do you suppose we do that? None of us have power over the winds.” I duck beneath an arm and bring my sword up through the hag’s belly.
The wraith wails just before she explodes into dust like the others. I don’t have time to react or fix my stance before two more are reaching spindly fingers for me. From my spot on my knees, I swipe upward through the jaw of one. The other is beheaded by the shadow sword.
Jayden,” I say, out of breath. “It’s no use. They just keep coming. We kill one and two more spring up.”
I roll back to my feet but duck down as something touches the top of my head. I glance up, finding one of the lizard men with a sword locked with Jayden’s over my head. Godsdammit. Their reinforcements have arrived.
Jayden’s sword clashes with the lizard things and I use my crouched position to arc my sword up through its groin area. The animal death rattle that escapes the creature is chilling butI press my advantage and skewer it all the way until my blade pierces its heart and it crumbles to dust.
“That was brutal, baby. Remind me not to piss you off.” Jayden winces in sympathy.
It was a monster and he’s complaining that I cut its dick off. Typical man. They are all the same no matter the species. Dramatic.
“Would you rather I didn’t assist?” I raise a brow at him.
A scaled hand snaps out, reaching for me, but I roll away and jump to my feet. I crouch into a fighting stance and square off with the slimy bastard. It lunges for me right as something sharp scrapes down my spine. White-hot pain slams into my body where the nail scraped me.
A roar of pain and fury explodes from my throat and my magic blasts out of me in an inferno of electricity hitting every enemy circling me, but it isn’t enough.
“Raven, Greyson, get over here! We need to protect Beth long enough for her to get the elixir and use it. Her back is shredded,” Jayden shouts as he swings his sword again.
The battle rages around me as my friends close ranks, cutting down one enemy after another, but no matter what, they continue to pop up like damn locusts.
“Get the elixir, Beth. Hurry.” The clash of metal sounds with his words as he strikes at a lizard demon.
I grip my pack, glad I had it over one shoulder instead of strapped to my back. I reach in and pull out the small vial, but with every movement pain shoots down my spine. My hands shake as I fumble with the bottle. I twist the stopper and sigh with relief as I drop three drops of the red liquid on my tongue and a soothing balm of healing coats my back.
I gingerly climb back to my feet, stretching my back out, and no pain flares. I grin. These bastards are going down for sure.
I twirl my blade in a circle and nod to Jayden who is watching me carefully. He turns and blocks a blade with his, then sidesteps so I can stand next to him in the circle.
“We’re going to need a miracle to get out of this one,” Jayden says.
“No, not a miracle. Thad, trade spots with Raven. I have an idea.” I stab a wraith in the throat with my glowing blade.
“What’s this idea?” Thad asks as he steps beside me.
“Our dads were trying to tell us something more than there’s a storm coming,” I say.
