Page 31 of Moonlit Guardians
“You think my father will rise?”
Pyre falls silent as we fight. Variant’s gaze is on us. He thrusts his palm towards the tower and lightning strikes the stone, causing it to buckle. The tower falls slowly at first and then so quickly, I act on instinct alone.
I toss Pyre with a burst of magic and he collapses to the sands below. I am quick to follow but an excruciating painexplodes from my leg as part of the tower crushes me beneath it. Pyre straps his bow to his back and lifts the stones away from my leg as I try not to scream with the agony. I look down at the damage and instantly wish I hadn’t. The bone protrudes from the skin.
“Don’t use all your power to heal me,” I tell him through pained breaths. “Save it for the portal.”
An Unseelie spellcaster sneaks up on Pyre. I grab Pyre and spin, taking the blow to my back. I grab the staff from the ground and use the bladed end to slice open my stomach. Blood pours from my middle, but the mystical wound brings me no pain. Hundreds of orcs fall as blood flows like a river. I absorb their life forces to heal the wounds on my body.
“The radius of your spell is too wide,” Pyre says. “Taking out that many enemies will drain you too quickly.”
He covers me once more. We fight side by side in a way that summons memories of Cambion and I training in our youth. Pyre’s words about my father bring forth a lot of questions I haven’t asked myself. Meanwhile, Pyre sets to healing me as quickly and potently as he can.
The area around us is clear. “Go to the others,” I say to him. “I’ll find my. We have to start the evacuation soon or else it’ll be too late to save these people.”
“Farewell, Theren.”
He disappears before my eyes as if he never existed. No puff of smoke or shroud of shadow, just nothingness. I run along the remnants of the wall in search for Cambion. My brother’s magic is hard to detect in the middle of all of the mages, but I follow the blood in my veins that always tries to lead us back to each other. My heart nearly stops when I see an orc blade piercing through his weakening shield, missing Cambion by just a few inches. He looks up and meets my stare.
Desperation fills his gaze.
I know now that my brother doesn’t think we will survive.
CHAPTER TWELVE
EILISH
Mercenary Stronghold
Flumph flies through the window and climbs onto my shoulder. He uses his crossbow to shoot down the horned beasts. My arms tremble from exhaustion, barely able to hold up the weight of my blade.
“These fuckers keep on comin’. Where the shit does Variant get all o’ these assholes?” the foul-mouthed sprite pants in my ear. He jumps each time the lightning flashes.
Rain batters the side of the building as the storm rages on. I need to get to the roof. Variant is up there. If I can just talk to him, help him break through Morrigan’s spell, if I can just make him understand that she’s the reason he’s acting this way...
I stab my dagger into the head of a demon and twist as I pull it free from its skull.
The last of Variant’s guards falls by my hand. Flumph vomits onto the floor when he finally sees the thick puddle of blood around my feet. The smell of death clings to me. “I have to do this on my own,” I tell him.
“Pretty,” he starts, shaking his head.
But, I’m firm. “If I need you, I’ll call. I promise. But... you can’t fight Variant.”
“The hell I can’t!”
I grab Flumph and toss him out the window. He catches himself mid-flight and I close the window so he can’t follow. He flies up to it and taps on it with his dirty fingernails. “Don’t you do this, Pretty!”
“I have to. Go help the fae get out when they call for the retreat.”
I don’t stay long enough to hear his reply. I throw open the door that leads to the roof. A ladder is propped against the wall.I have no choice but to sheath my blade. The rain causes my grip to falter as I climb. I grip the roof and pull myself up, arms burning from exertion.
I look up to see Variant standing there, like a god of mythos. Pale hair sticks to rain-slicked muscle as the King of Light imposes his mighty figure. A flash of lightning reflects in his eyes as he raises his sword high, wings spread in a glorious arc, and he severs King Galmer’s head from his shoulders.
“Variant, no!” I scream, just as the thunder roars in a wicked applause to Variant’s brutality. Variant kicks the centaur’s head off the roof and turns towards me.
I could never have imagined that the eyes of an angel could hold such malice. I struggle to my feet. Variant charges right at me. I deflect his sword strike with my dagger. Metal chimes off metal, causing sparks to fly. “You're better than this Variant!” I yell at him through the sheet of rain. “Morrigan’s spell can be broken! You don’t have to obey her!”
“Morrigan is my queen,” he snarls.
