Page 107 of A Kingdom of Lies
The skies were filled with Doran Oakstorm’s gryvern.
Well, this is going to get interesting.
CHAPTER 37
Windows exploded as slick grey bodies shattered through them. The shards of glass fell upon the crowd like rain as they froze, gripped with terror. It was impossible to know who screamed louder, the petrified humans or the monstrous gryvern.
There was no time to think, only act.
In the panic, Aldrick had withdrawn completely from my mind. Duncan’s distraction had been the beginning, but the gryvern flooding the great hall had been the knife that separated his cord. My body was mine again, and so was my voice.
“Duncan!” I shouted over the chaos. “Leave him.”
Aldrick was being surrounded by the silver-plated guards. His aged, drawn voice was muffled by the thundering of feet, screams and horror that clasped the room.
For a brief moment, I’d never been so thankful to see the sickening creations of King Doran’s curse.
I pleaded for Duncan to join me. This moment of distraction was what we needed to get away from Aldrick.
“Stay with me, okay?” I said to Elinor, who faced the horror with an expression of stern power. I gripped her wrist and held it as though she was the most precious thing in the world. “We are getting out of here. Now. Duncan, come!”
I could do little but watch as the gryvern picked humans up without care, ripping limbs apart with a sickening wet noise that turned my stomach inside out. The death transfixed me, as well as Elinor, who muttered her husband’s name quietly as though sheknewwhat these creatures were to him.
By the time I looked back towards Duncan, Aldrick was no longer in sight, removed from the room with haste. Meanwhile, the human king and queen were left for the feasting creatures, holding onto each other upon the floor. No one went to help them. They were not even an afterthought.
“I will help them,” Elinor shouted as though reading my mind. She tore her arm from my grip and positioned her body towards the human royals. “Go and calmyourHunter before my husband’s monsters reach us. If this is our chance to get out of Lockinge we will not have long before the window closes.”
I nodded, feeling the warmth from my body drain. My throat tightened at the prospect of escaping. Perhaps I should’ve demanded we left the human royals and thought of ourselves. But the steely look in Elinor’s diamond-bright eyes told me she would’ve refused.
The humans who circled Duncan had either fled with Aldrick or raced towards the beasts with forced confidence. Hunters swung short swords and fists, both as pathetic as the other against the clawed and sharp-toothed monsters. Many flooded out beyond the open doors, beneath the dripping of flesh and blood, only to be greeted by a sky filled with the flying demons.
I reached Duncan with ease. He stood before me, shoulders rising and falling dramatically. I reached instinctively for him and was met with a sharp, sudden pain that had my fingers rearing back.
“What’s happening to me?” His voice popped and crackled, charged from within as the bolts of stark light still raced across his skin. Duncan held his hands before him, looking down at the snakes of power that circled his fingers and set the hairs across his strong arms aloft.
“We can figure it out,” I replied, breathless from urgency. “But only when we are far away from this place. You’re alive, that’s what matters.”
Duncan’s glowing gaze widened. It was the only warning that something was wrong before his hands pushed hard into my chest. The world faded into darkness as the air was driven out of my lungs. Nothing made sense for a long, painful moment until I caught my breath, noticing smoke curling from the burned handprints on my tunic. I was at a distance, my body aching as though every bone had shattered, mended and broke again.
Duncan was no longer standing where he had been. Instead, he dangled in the air, kept from the ground by the gryvern whose taloned claws pierced his arms. I couldn’t conjure enough breath to shout as the prickling of Duncan’s new power still coursed through my body. I watched, splayed across the floor, as Duncan reached up, wrapped a hand around the gryvern’s long, bent leg and forced the blue twisting light into it. The gryvern burned from the inside; the wet pop that followed was beautiful.
Duncan fell hard to the ground as the creature exploded, chunks of gore, bone and skin splattering everywhere. I was stunned, awed by the power that crackled beyond Duncan’s skin. He looked to me, horror and concern creasing his brows.
That was when I saw the Twins. “Be–behind you!”
Duncan had not a moment to spare before they attacked. Each wielded a blade, equally deadly and beautiful with its sharp steel and bejewelled handle. Their lack of trepidation to the power emanating from Duncan only confirmed that their actions were not their own. Duncan threw out his hands before him, a bolt of crackling light following, missing the Twins but colliding against a wall; stone split and exploded, leaving a charred crater in its wake.
My arms shook as I pushed myself from the ground. I could recognise Elinor fussing over the hysterical king and queen, whilst shouting my name to see if I was alright. Her pleas didn’t matter.
I had to help Duncan.
Despite the unknown power crackling around him, Duncan was fluid and precise as he danced around the two fey women, years of training put on display. The Twins did everything to stay away from his fists and reaching hands, but they too had enough training to keep out of harm’s way.
Beside me there was a human body, lifeless and still, clothing drenched in his own blood. His dead fingers gripped a sword that had done little to keep him alive. My body screamed as though it was lit by fire from within. Gritting teeth together against the agony from Duncan’s touch, I clawed myself across the floor, tore the sword free and claimed it as my own.
I raced towards Duncan and the Twins; sword held high. I did so without uttering a sound, knowing the element of surprise would be the only thing to give Duncan a fighting chance. There was no hesitation. Neither paid me mind as they spun and twisted, swords flashing towards Duncan’s exposed skin. As I cut my blade downwards, it was met with steel instead of flesh.
Kayne. He looked over the edge of his blade, eyes narrowed. With a great push he forced me to take steps back, his strength unparalleled.
