Page 50 of Kingdom of Today
Another reason to visit the Library of Soal as soon as possible.
The guy with Winslet freaked out over the rising noise and fired off a shot in our direction. The bullet missed, thank goodness.
“Hold your fire,” I called, knowing he couldn’t see past the circle of light. “We’re here to help.”
“Arden!” Relief failed to crack the anxiety frozen into Winslet’s features.
Poor girl. I was so thankful, so grateful, Cyrus had taught me how to combat such fear. “We got stuck out here, too, and we’re headed to the base.”
“H-Heta told us to wait until reinforcements arrive,” she sputtered.
“Iamreinforcements, and I’m telling you to gather the stones and walk this way.” Cyrus issued the rebuke with all the authority his exalted position provided, and the two soldiers snapped to attention. “Do it now.”
Though unsteady, the two worked together to detach the pole and appropriate the stones. Holding the lights, they navigated a path over the steel wire ropes and metal stand supports.
The feeders hissed and swiped at the pair, howling with pain and crumbling anytime even a clawtip breached the golden illumination.
As soon as the trainees reached our orbit, the horde drew back. I made sure to stay in the shadows.
“Put the stones in your pockets,” Cyrus instructed next.
“What? No,” Winslet exclaimed. “The feeders will attack us the moment the lights go out.”
“They won’t attack,” I promised. Having learned from Cyrus, the king of misdirection, I phrased my next words carefully. “The smoke might be confusing them. They’re keeping their distance right now.”
“O-okay.” The shimmering circle shrank, then vanished altogether, as the duo reluctantly obeyed.
“We’re going to do this just like your first trial run,” Cyrus said. “We’ll go in a single-file line. Do not speak without my permission. Hustle as if your life depends on it, because it does. Do nothing unless I tell you. If there’s a threat, I’ll alert you beforehand. Now tell me you understand.”
“I understand,” they both said.
I remembered my trial run well, and it was only here, now, that I realized Cyrus had seen in the dark, even then. He’d watched us. Watched me. And I’d had no idea.
“Arden,” he said, “you’re behind me. Winslet, you’re behind her.” That put the lord-in-training at the caboose. Cyrus met my gaze, his chest rising with a slow inhale. “Here we go.”
“Here we go,” I echoed.
As our group started forward, feeders continued gathering ahead of us, some at our left, some at our right, creating a path. They didn’t touch us, didn’t even swipe at us, but waited.
I swallowed a lump growing in my throat. As soon as the clock ran out, we were in big trouble.
Chapter Thirteen
A good destiny has been planned for you, but you must travel the right roads to live it.
—The Book of Soal1.24.17.10
I knew the exact moment the healing heat ceased holding feeders at bay. It began with the slightest cooling deep inside. As soon as I noticed it, the feeders did as well. They tightened the path, edging closer, their worms slithering so fast it looked as if the tiny creatures danced to the beat of frenzied music.
We’d made it to the heart of a once-magnificent city, its cracked pavement overtaken by more of those creeping thorny vines and tufts of weeds that had pushed through the fissures. Long, fat worms without feeders to host them spiraled around the posts of faded, leaning street signs. Broken glass and scattered debris crunched underfoot, remnants of a once-jubilant time. Beneath the rasp of my panting breaths, I thought I detected echoes of distant laughter and lively conversations. A travesty, considering the circumstances.
More and more infected caged us in, blocking everything but the skeletal remains of mismatched buildings fused with those from Ourland that loomed on either side. Their shattered windows tempted me to herd our group inside, if only for a reprieve from the gnawing hunger projected at us.
“Cyrus,” I croaked.
“I know.” He dispersed various weapons to me, and I passed them to the others. “Trainees, take the pritis stones from your pockets. Each has a hook. Your armor has little fasteners over your vital organs. Hook the stones there.”
He didn’t have to say it, but I comprehended things were about to go nuclear. Unease charged the rot-infested air as Winslet and the lord-in-training obeyed, small circles of light appearing here and there.
