Page 295 of The Lands Defying
Charles throws his head back and laughs, sporadically sending balls of magic our way. We duck and dodge, putting small barriers in place to protect ourselves as we head toward him.
“Oh, my dear Lasandrhea, shall I let you watch as I give Darius some ultrium? Let you watch him breed anything in sight?”
“That will not happen,” Darius growls, throwing a shard his way.
“Won’t it?” Charles smiles.
Screams behind us have us halting and turning slightly. My eyes widen in horror as the ground beneath the Elites, my pack and the people seemed to be covered in one huge, dark patch.
Claws and muzzles, pointed, rotted ears and hairy backs slither out from them in the tens…
My eyes swing back to Charles, a cry falling from my lips as I go heavily on the attack, my markings now alight on my face.
“Enough!” I shout, pushing my hand forward and sending another wave of power. It hits Charles’s barrier and he’s pushed back a little as Darius sends his out to circle around him.
Charles bares his teeth. “If you want to save them, all you have to do is come to me.”
I hear another cry, this one full of pain and I try to block it out, try not to think of the swirling dread in my stomach as I can hear the slaughter behind me.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“She will not come to you!” Darius sends his power like a tornado around Charles, but in the next moment, it’s dispersed.
“They will die, Darius.” Charles tells him.
Darius goes on the attack now, hitting Charles’s barrier and after a particular hit, it cracks and breaks through his defense, causing Charles to lift his sword to stop his head from being sliced off by Darius.
“Don’t you dare, little wolf,”Darius says to me as I circle around them, looking for any weaknesses.
“All you have to do is come to me, Lasandrhea, and I will make it all stop.”
My mind whirls with what to do.
“Darius, they are dying!”
“You don’t get it,”he replies harshly.
“Get what?”I ask, my voice shaky.
“Without you, there is no life here. There will be nothing left. I will destroy it all.”
“But they will all die.”
“So be it. I still choose you.”
I let out a heavy breath at that, my hands shaking as I send more attacks toward Charles, making sure no rogures or beasts are sneaking up on us.
I check on Runa and Drax, spot them tearing into the hounds with some Elites at their side. Drax sets it on fire, then moves to the next one.
I look back further and see the devastation, as the people try to fight off their enemies.
But they are losing.
They aredying.
I see Josh being knocked to the ground, a rogure upon him as he tries to fight it off. Anna tries to help, Taylor rushing to him. Leo falls next, his bare hands trying to stop a rogure from biting into him, the black poison dripping on him as I see a villager fall, no more than Kade’s age as a beast lands on top of another.
They aren’t going to make it.
