Page 237 of The Lands Defying
“I will clear a path,”Darius tells me.“Not a scratch on you Rhea, I’m serious!”
“I got it.”
His power is a blur ahead of me as it goes for anyone in my way, sliding up their body and taking them to the ground. I cut down a man or two, far too easily for my liking, but when two rogures block my way, I realize the men here do not need to be trained or powerful.
They have rogures on their sides.
They both come at me at once, black foam dripping as their jaws open. I throw my blade in the mouth of one and roll to dodge the other. It growls, snarling at my back and I roll again, picking up a dropped sword.
Spinning, sword ready and pointed out, I catch the rogure mid-lunge right in its chest, the weight of it crashing down on me and making my hands shake as I shove it to the side as best as I can.
As it whines and claws at nothing, the other rogure is coming for me, blade handle sticking out of its mouth as Runa jumps on another. I push to my feet, running at it and when it’s in range, I twist to the side while also grabbing the handle and pulling.
“That’s mine,” I growl at it, turning with the momentum and swinging it down on its head.
“We are fucking later,”Darius purrs.
“Stop watching me.”
“Never.”
A shout from ahead has me looking to where Berthold’s barrier finally breaks, and I wonder just how powerful heactually is. With Frederick and Mathew, they were able to use their power to attack, but Berthold hasn’t done anything with it, and thinking about Higher Aiden when I killed him, he didn’t do anything either.
Suddenly, my path is clear and Drax is there, jumping on the Higher as he scrambles for his pocket. Darius growls as he takes down a rogure as I look ahead with Runa, looking for my cousin.
I wipe some blood off my forehead and look within the fight. When I don’t see Patrick, I start to panic.
“Where is he?” I ask aloud, pushing forward and now into the other side of the caravan of men.
Josh and Taylor suddenly appear at my side as we head forward, cutting a path as we take on the enemy.
“Their numbers are dwindling,” Josh says.
“Colten and Hudson are wolves, some rogures are still breathing so they are taking them down.”
I nod but focus, I still don’t see Patrick.
“The middle, Rhea, I’ll be there soon.”
I look to the middle at Darius’s words and that’s when I see a flash of his face. I rush forward, a growl building up in my chest and when I stab a man in the gut and he falls, I see him fully.
Patrick uses his sword to attack, slashing at the Elites and a wolf while the rogure bites down on an Elite.
“Cousin,” I shout, Runa chewing into a rogure at my side.
He turns quickly, a cruel smile on his face. “Lasandrhea,” he purrs, “how nice of you to come to me and save me the trouble of finding you.”
“You will die today,” I tell him, my tone serious.
He tuts. “Is that so?” He holds his arms up. “Do you not see my new pets? They are quite thirsty.”
I twirl the blade in my hand. “How are you controlling them?”
“Ah, ah, ah, that’s not how this works. But if you come to me quietly, I’ll tell you,” he whispers like some secret. I say nothing. “Shame,” he sighs. “I guess we will do this the hard way!”
He comes for me suddenly, and I lift my sword, blocking the attack. “Show me your power, Lasandrhea, show me what it feels like to be touched by it.”
I push back on my sword, and they clang together in a flurry of attacks that he keeps blocking.
