Page 180 of The Lands Defying
“Damian, find Maverick and get an update. Sean,” I say to the Elite as he finishes off another guard. “Grab the injured-” A whooshing sound reaches my ears, but I’m too late, the arrow imbeds in the center of his forehead and then he goes down. “Fuck,” I growl.
I spin, looking for the culprit and see a smirking guard that’s infiltrated the battlement, notching another arrow. I snarl, my markings appearing on my neck and down my back. More power instantly comes to the surface and my tails are at my back.
My eyes lock on him when I raise my hand out, and then Drax is there. My power coats him, the black flames licking at his fur but never burning him.
But he will burn them all.
“Go hunt,” I tell him, never straying my eyes from the guards as he falters.
He releases the arrow aimed for me anyway, but my hand comes up, catching it in midair before it hits me right between the eyes. I turn and lodge that same arrow in the eye of a guard attempting to wound me. I tilt my head and smirk back at him, cold overtaking me as screams follow Drax in his wake.
Black flames hit the floor where he walks, and if you were to touch them? You’d catch fire, and then slowly be engulfed by them until there is nothing left of you.
Grabbing another arrow he sends my way, I clench my hand around it, then I’m coating it with my magic. Pulling my arm back, I send it flying.
Rhea would be proud of that throw. Especially when it hits him right in the chest and my magic rushes up to his neck, squeezing, crushing.
It isn’t long until he falls off the wall and—would you look at that, into the waiting jaws of Drax.
I gather my blade and fight in the courtyard, defending our home. Chaos is everywhere, with bloodshed and pained cries.
“Have you found him yet?”
“No, Zaide and Jerrod are here.”Damian replies. “They are helping to look.”
“Keep me updated.”
I slice through the stomach of a guard and dodge a magic attack from a witch. Picking a sword up off the ground, I throw it at her, I watch as it impales her shoulder and she stumbles to the ground. Not a moment later, she disappears. She must have ported out.
I see my men at the entrance into the main rooms of the keep, not letting the guards enter as more rogures snarl in their hunt.
I catch one on its hind legs, slicing through the flesh and it turns, whipping around to bite me. I punch it in its nose, then stab it through the chest when it’s momentarily stunned. I see Drax ahead, a few people in flames trying to attack him as he chomps and bites his way through.
I end up near one of the side entrances, taking the fight there. More bodies of my people litter the ground. Kitchen staff, cloth makers…and then I notice a familiar, bloodied face on the ground.
Ellian, the omega.
Fuck.
I go to him, shoving a guard out of the way and slicing through another. My hand is on his neck in the next moment and a growl builds up in my chest.
No heartbeat.
Rhea will be devastated.
Magic spurs out of me, winding and sprawling out through enemies’s legs as I slow them down. They grunt, trying to move but to no avail, and I don’t think as I cut them down one by one.
Blood covers me, my clothing soaked, my hands slippery by the time it feels like I blink again. Still, I don’t stop because it feels like we are getting nowhere.
I end up inside the keep, ascending the stairs that will take me to my room. Guards have gotten inside, and I grab one by the back of the neck, slamming his head against the wall. Once. Twice.
When he crumbles, I carry on and enter my room. I don’t waste time as I go directly to the picture of my mother and sister, then grab Rhea’s things and her pack.
With it secured over my shoulder, I make my way back down to the hall where we eat. Fighting ensues inside, and I help my Elites to eradicate them and push them back.
A ceiling collapses from the inside and I look up to the walls of the home I have known for so long. The walls shake and stone falls.
It isn’t safe here anymore.
