Page 257 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
“Head down, Skibs!” Kase bellowed through his anguish-addled haze.
And thanks to a reflex taught by flying with the best stars-blasted pilot the Crews ever saw, Skibs didn’t hesitate for even a second before he ducked, yanking Hallie down with him.
The power collided with the glowing Gate instead. A clap loud as thunder rocked the cathedral. Hallie scrambled to her feet, her own fists glowing gold. She shouted something at him, but he couldn’t hear it over the roaring in his ears.
Eravin swung his sword, more dark power surging out with the swing. Hallie held up her hands.
To Kase, just like every time he saw danger hurtling for Hallie, it all happened in slow motion. Was he doomed to repeat this same scenario until he finally died…or she did?
He watched in horror as the dark energy shattered the golden flaming shield Hallie erected around herself.
Ignoring the anguish in his veins, Kase launched himself forward, his sword swinging. “Youhelviter!”
Eravin caught his blade on his. Kase’s face poured with sweat, pressing against the sword with all his strength. How was he so strong?
Eravin shoved him away. “Ekzurel vilna!”
The ground shook, and the ashamox writhed. Kase fell backward, immediately searching for Hallie; when he found her, she was pushing herself up to her elbows, breathing hard but seemingly unharmed.
She was okay.
His relief was short-lived. Gray, amorphous shapes rose from the cathedral floor and mixed with the ashamox from above, solidifying into…into…
People.
Screaming, tortured people.
The one closest to Kase was a man in his late forties, his eyes smelted black, his mouth open in a gut-wrenching wail. Kase shouted, stumbling back, swinging his sword out. It cut the man across his stomach, black ashamox leaking out the wound, but he kept coming.
Buzzing began in Kase’s ears. What sort of nightmare was this? Was this merely something he’d conjured in his mind? Or was it a person? A soul? Something that mimicked one?
Despite his burning chest and stomach, he pushed himself to his feet. “Hallie!”
Whatever these creatures were, they weren’t fighters; there were just too many of them. Hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. He swung awkwardly with his sword, gutting an elderly female ghost, black ichor spraying his jacket.
The substance scalded the leather. Yalvar fuel. Oh, shocks.
Yalven and guttural spells alike rebounded off the chamber walls, but all Kase could think was that he needed to get to Hallie.
He swung his sword blindly, clearing himself a path as he rammed through the mass of bodies, careful to dodge the corrosive fuel, though several droplets landed on his jacket.
The mass of wailing bodies thinned with each step he took, and finally, he saw her. Her hands blazed with power, her entire body radiant. Her hair whipped in an invisible wind. Each spirit that met her hands disintegrated in a flare of light, but more filled the gap. She was a force to be reckoned with—the Essence of Time.
“Hallie!”
He fought his way to her side. Skibs appeared at Kase’s other side, the inky black sword like an extension of his own body as he fought his opponents. A natural.
But where was Eravin?
Dread filled his stomach like a pile of stones.
This wouldn’t end if he escaped. Kase growled as he killed the soul of what looked like a young Jaydian soldier. “Back to back!”
Both Hallie and Skibs nodded, never letting their guard or strikes drop. Kase backed up until he met their shoulders. “Where’s Eravin?”
“Navara,” Hallie breathed. “He went for her.”
“Hallie, you can return the souls,” Skibs shouted above the wailing and his next swipe at another soul. “Reverse time on them.”
