Page 277 of The Lands Defying
My back teeth grind and I nod to the hatch. “Hurry, we are wasting time.”
He assesses me, and then turns, unlocking the hatch and pushing upward. It creaks and we all hold our breath, listeningfor anything on the other side. When nothing can be heard, Edward quickly pushes the wood the rest of the way up and we file in one-by-one, ready and alert.
Torches are scattered around to gently light the space, not enough to be fully lit, but enough to see the vast number of supplies in here.
Barrels and boxes, sacks of grain and oats. Food haphazardly scattered on the floor and I just look at it, wondering how many people would kill to have that spilled food in their bellies.
We move further into the space, keeping quiet as we pass rotting apples and carrots, cabbages and potatoes.
“Fucking bastard,” Leo mutters behind me.
“I knew it was bad, but this is…” I trail off.
“No wonder people were starving,” Damian growls, kicking a carrot on the floor. “Evil,” he mutters to himself as he goes deeper into the room.
I turn to the group that we brought, noticing their wide eyes. “Start grabbing as much as you can in your sacks. Remember, you can place them on the ground to fill more, no matter the weight, others are waiting to help you on the other side.” They nod. “Be quiet but quick.”
They get to work, walking between the gaps, unfolding their sacks and getting to work on the loose food while dragging already-full barrels together to port.
“Go,” Edward says, grabbing a barrel and rolling it to another one. “I can handle this here, go to the gates.”
I look at him, really look at him. Rhea trusts him, he’s her guardian. It has to mean something because I don’t know how much longer I can wait. But Rhea would killmeif something went wrong.
“Alpha Darius. I will look after them.” The truth in Edwards eyes makes me pause.
I look to my men who watch us. I don’t like it, but the need to get to Rhea wins. “Leave if you hear anyone come down here, keep them safe.”
He nods. “I vow it, go to Rhea and…”
“And?” I ask, ready to head to the door that will lead me to her.
“And kill them all.”
I smile, but it’s not a nice one.
It’s lethal.
Seventy Eight
Rhea
Blood splatters the ground, the snow soaking it up as I slash at another guard. Runa snarls beside me, keeping close as more and more port in.
Fuck, we are getting overwhelmed.
“Ahh!” a shout comes, and I spot Anna. A guard is on her, restraining her wrists as he knees her stomach.
“Josh!”I scream down the link.“Go to Anna.”I see him move out of the corner of my eye.
“Uhh,” I grunt as I’m kicked in the ribs, sending me stumbling back. Growling, I curl my hand and form a ball, then, running at whoever just kicked me, I smash my hand to his chest, following him down to the floor as he screams in pain.
“Bastard,” I spit with a quick hit to the side of the face. His head crashes to the side and I stand over him, panting as I watch my ball of magic sink into his chest.
I look to the witches, to Belldame as their hands glow with power, chanting up to the battlements to stop the archers from attacking, but also to the Highers witches that have begun to rain down their own attacks as Aldus watches on.
I can also hear their distant chanting, and a shiver rolls down my spine as the sky seems to open up, and then a bolt of lightning comes down. Screams come from that area, and I swallow my fear and bite my arm.
Gathering the blood there and pressing a hand to the ground, a subtle blue spreads out around me, causing any guard near to groan and jolt in pain. But with me only being able to expand its reach so much, that’s all the damage I can cause.
