Page 85 of The War of Wings
Footsteps sounded behind me, a slew of military leaders crowding the room suddenly as orders were shouted. “Where the fuck is she?” I roared to everyone and no one, prowling outof the meeting hall and straight for the front doors of Araqina’s castle.
I knew where she was. She was out there somewhere. And so was Malosym.
Only about half of Nesan’s military was stationed here in Araqina. The other kingdoms had only just agreed to assemble their armies. They hadn’t even begun marching here yet.
We were fucked.
I exited the castle to see a scene cut straight from a nightmare. A driva flew so low overhead I ducked, squinting in the dim light to see if it was one of Petra’s or one of Malosym’s. I couldn’t tell, but I could tell there were a hell of a lot more than the four drivas Petra had in Araqina right now.
Three Occulti demons came barreling up the steps toward the castle doors. The first thing I noticed was they looked nothing like the Occulti that had attacked last night. I swung my sword and sliced clean through the first one’s ribcage with an ease I hadn’t experienced during last night’s attack. It crumpled to a heap, but I couldn’t take the time to inspect it before the next one was just feet away, the third one close behind. I closed the distance in two easy steps, catching one in the throat and the other in the thigh before it tripped and I drove my blade through its chest.
The sky was black with smoke as I took the steps down two at a time, but a storm quickly rolled in. Thunder cracked. Lightning illuminated the undulating clouds with jagged streaks. I scanned the city’s skyline, looking for any sign of Petra’s flames or Malosym’s blue light.
“Cal!” a voice boomed from behind me, and Tyrak emerged from the castle doors. “Where is Petra?”
“I told her to stay back in the hall,” I answered. “I should’ve known better.”
A driva’s screech ripped through the night sky, and thank the fucking Saints, it was Obitus. I caught sight of his outline, almost invisible against the storm clouds. Fire streamed fromhis throat, colliding with another form in the sky. He followed it by closing his massive jaws around the other driva’s neck, taking no time to watch as his victim fell lifelessly to the ground.
Tyrak followed me as I sprinted for the street, where the cobblestones shone red beneath the incandescent flashes of lightning. “He’s not at full strength! I’m going to draw him away. He’s not going to give up the chance to end my life.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but I had no alternative plan, no better option. “How will you find him?”
“I have a feeling he’ll find me.”
My hand flexed around the hilt of my sword.Hissword. I looked down to the blade he had in his grip, a beautifully made but non-descript piece of steel. “Do you want Aegrabane?”
“Aegrabane is yours, Cal,” he answered before he was swallowed by the fray. Sword swinging, I followed him.
My blood chilled as screams reached me from every direction. There were so many Occulti, and even though I could cut through them relatively easily, it was hard to make headway through the mass of chaos. They were nowhere near full power, but their sheer number was enough to overpower us.
Obitus!I shouted down the line.Do you see Petra?
No, he filtered back to me, and I could feel the fury in his mind.
Malosym?
No.
Fuck.
People hit the ground around me, their garbled, choked breaths imprinting on my mind as I maneuvered past them. Eserene’s battle… We’d been prepared for carnage. Everyone who rushed into the city had been armed and prepared to die if need be. This… I knew in this moment I would never forget the sounds I was hearing right now, would never forget the sight of so many unarmed, unprepared people having their lives torn from them in a split second.
Red flames glowed from a street a few blocks up, and my heart jumped in my chest as I waited for Malosym’s blue light to flare, but it never came. My sword sliced through Occulti after Occulti, my arms burning, my sights set on the spot where the flames flared then banked.
My attention shot up as a thunderous roar shook the city, the outlines of two low-flying drivas backlit by the lightning that lashed the sky.Obitus?I called down the line.
Okay, he answered, thank the fucking Saints.
My sword stabbed clean through an Occulti’s throat before I finally turned the corner, and there she was, at the end of the street, laying ruin to dozens of Occulti demons. I wanted to stop and stare at her, revel in her power, but it would have to wait. Saints, she was a fucking walking miracle.
Obitus and the other driva collided overhead, talons locked and wings beating furiously to keep them airborne. Dust rose from sun-baked ground, agitated more and more with every wingbeat. Rain started trickling from the sky.No, it was blood from the drivas.Fuck.
The sound of a cry tore my attention away to a figure huddled against one of the buildings. No, not a figure — two figures, a woman and the small girl she was crouched over.
My heart lurched as an Occulti spotted them, rushing straight in their direction, its maw wide and dripping blood. I sprinted as hard as I could but only managed to slice down its back in a cut that was nowhere deep enough to slow it down. I did make it angry though, and the demon whirled to me, its head cocked and its swirling eyes slitted. This one moved quicker than I’d anticipated, but I managed to bring my sword down hard enough through its neck to nearly sever its head.
“It’s okay,” I shouted to the little girl and her mother, trying to sound as comforting as I possibly could as my sword dripped with blood and the world ended around them. A pained screech sounded from the drivas overhead, and I watched in horror as one of them went limp and plummeted from the sky.
