Page 98 of Between Soul and Vessel
It was now or never.
Using every ounce of my immortal might I could conjure, I fired the bident at the earth bender. It tore through the air, whistling as it headed straight for her. At the last possible second, her head swiveled up, and she formed a round shield out of thin air.
The bident chewed into it, the brunt of it shoving herdownward.
With a snarl on her lips, she tossed her shield, along with my bident, into gravity’s clutches then set her furious sights on us. “Gether!” she yelled, her eyes narrowing on me.
Artemesia pulled up right before we collided with a handful of riders who had formed a protective barrier between us and the priestess. They chased after us as we flew upwards. I glanced back down, looking past them. Instinctually, my hand reached out, searching—
The bident answered my call, returning to me from the ground below. A hum sounded as it flew toward me, still stuck in the shield. The lip of the round shield collided with a rider, knocking her off her horse. The force was so great it freed my bident.
“Nice,” Kaleb exclaimed.
“That was dumb luck,” I chuckled as the bident returned to my hand.
I surveyed the weapon. I had never created anything like it before, but it felt good. Familiar. Powerful. A title came to me, whispered into my thoughts . . .Guardian ofCreation.
Was that the name of the bident?
Something in me whisperedyes.
A rider, standing on top of her horse’s back, daggers in hands, emerged beside us. She leapt across the distance, her weapons ready to bite. I took aim with my bident, released it, and held my breath. It impaled her chest, knocking her back with such force her hands and legs curved in front ofher torso. She screamed as she fell toward the ground, her horse scrambling after her.
I flexed my hand over the air, and like a faithful old mare, the bident returned, the twin points saturated in ichor.
Another rider leapt from up above and I thrust my bident upwards. It impaled the rider, my immortal strength kicking in as I held the fully grown immortal over the top of us, speared like a fish on a stick. She kicked and squirmed, horrible gurgling sounds coming from her mouth. Grunting and muscles contracting, I heaved her over the side.
Gravity tugged at her, pulling her off the sharp points of my weapon.
The metal tang of swords sounded behind me as Kaleb fought with another.
Their mount collided into Vatara’s side, and I swayed at the force of it.
Kaleb won against the other rider, earning us a few seconds to breathe.
Eyes searching, I looked for Von.
He was back to back with Folkoln, the two of them surrounded by riders, so many that I could just barely make them out.
“Von!” I yelled my mate’s name, my heart stampeding in my chest, frantically shooting blood through my veins. Urgency clawed at me as I watched the riders close in on them. We had to help them. We had to—
A tidal wave of immense power blasted through the air, and the soldiers who surrounded Von and Folkoln were sent careening backwards, their armor crumpling like tin cans. Icouldhearthe sound of bones breaking, followed by desperate, pleading wails, something I had heard once before, back in Edenvale. Immediately, I knew who the lethal force had come from. Only my mate was capable of such raw, incomprehensible power. Only Death could crush bones as if they were made from brittle leaves.
Down below, Harper and Ryker continued to shoot their flame arrows. Lyra, Soren, and Fallon were with them—the three of them fighting the riders who had taken to the ground.
The giant was drawing closer to them. Closer to us all.
“Shit,” Artemesia swore. “I’ve lost visual of the priestess.”
I scanned the sky, searching for the earth bender.
“She’s over by the giant!” Kaleb shouted.
I glanced back, toward the mountainous beast.
Sure enough, Kaleb was right.
The priestess hovered by the giant’s shoulder. She lowered her hand, and the giant reached down. Like two monstrous shovels, his stone hands dug into the ground, pulling a huge chunk of it free—trees and all. Bits of soil crumbled beneath the slab as he raised it over his head.
