Page 256 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
At the last second, Eravin twisted around.
Metal impacted metal, rattling Kase’s teeth so hard he saw stars. When his vision cleared, he saw why.
Eravin had caught his blade with his own.
“Good try,” Eravin chuckled before kicking him in the chest, sending him flying.
Too fast. Too strong.
Impossible.
Kase tumbled in midair like he’d been taught during his pilot training, saving himself from a hard fall on his head; instead, he landed on his chest, skidding and rolling over themosaic tile. A few loose pieces of tile cut the exposed areas of his skin. His scar from the Zuprium crystal chamber with Stowe stung.
Kase spit blood out of his mouth and pushed himself up, his chest screaming, but Eravin barely gave him a chance to recover. He flung a fiery ball of dark energy at him. Kase dropped, smacking his chin on the ground to avoid it. Another burst of stars thrown in his eyes. His head rang.
Another scream echoed in the chamber above the noise. Kase looked up to see Navara bring her sword down on her infected arm.
The blade cut through flesh and bone like they were nothing but mist.
Holy blasting shocks.
Kase’s stomach roiled, but Eravin didn’t care. He wrenched his sword up over his head and swung it down through Navara’s weak defense.
“NO!” Kase screamed, but Navara, still shrieking through her own agony, managed to bring her sword up and block the death blow. The clang reverberated off the ancient stone walls. Blazes of darkness and light warred where the two swords met. Her single arm shook from holding the blow off. Her other bled freely onto the floor, marring any beauty the ancient tile had ever had.
Kase scrambled up, staggering forward with both hands wrapped around his sword’s hilt. He hacked down, but Eravin was faster. He coated his hand in his power and kicked Navara. In the next moment, he deflected Kase’s amateur strike with his sword and smashed his glowing fist into Kase’s abdomen.
All the breath Kase had left whooshed out of him. He bent over, the pain like lightning lancing out from where he’d hit. “Agh!”
It burned. Fire ignited his veins. The gray streak on his wrist had darkened to pulsing black. It disappeared underneath his sleeve.
He could feel it in his heart.
He looked up through the haze of pain and darkness to see Eravin. The thing that had possessed him smiled, his teeth now stained black.
“You were always too reckless,” Eravin spat. “Always needing to be saved.”
He stalked closer. Kase couldn’t move. Whatever power he’d hit him with wreaked havoc on his mind, his body. It hurt. Was this how his father had felt? Was Kase moments away from dying?
“You were never a hero.”
Kase gripped the sword in his hand, falling backward. He ached. He couldn’t stand.
“And you’ve never been able to protect those you love.”
“Srava krai!” Navara croaked out. Soft golden flames erupted around Kase. Eravin paused, his grin wicked. It only slowed him for seconds. He swiped his hands, and the flames extinguished.
Kase froze, his heart pounding in his ears, his veins on fire.
But Eravin didn’t finish Kase off. Instead, he swung his glittering black sword, heavy with dark power, straight at Hallie.
She didn’t see it, didn’t see the surge rocketing toward her. Her eyes were closed. She poured blue and gold lightning into Skibs’ hand. She wasn’t going to move in time. Even if he shouted her name, she’d look first to see what was coming.
He didn’t have time to think. To come up with a plan.
But a pilot didn’t fly with his head. A pilot flew by his instincts. His reflexes.
And he’d flown with the man next to Hallie long enough to know exactly which instinct would save them both.
