Chapter 378 (1/2)

Chapter 378

BAIRON WYKES

The ancient elf eightless in e of the cavern The streets were still filled with people, so idly, confusion etched across their faces, butin the same direction as us

A cascade of voices rose up and then faded away as we rushed past Virion addressed each and every one without stopping, directing them toward the deeper tunnels Those ere most loyal to Virion had hesitated to flee, but at his words, they quickly follohatever family or friends they still had

The tunnel entrance was overwhelmed by a crowd of people At least half the sanctuary was there, already packing into the narrow hole that led out unto the network of caves and tunnels

“Reee, Feyrith Ivsaar, was shouting from atop an earthen platform that had been summoned next to the tunnel e to theled out of round “Thank you for your service to Dicathen, General Wykes I need you to organize a group of guards and search the village We must make sure everyone escapes this cavern Virion and I will take the lead while you cover the rear”

I looked to Virion for confir on you to et away from the cavern”

I snapped a salute “Of course, Co hand grabbed er I expect you back when this is over, understand?”

I nodded sharply, and Virion let go

Those on the fringe had noticed Virion and Rinia, and in htened crowd, dozens of voices all shouting out at once

I turned away froathered above the path on one of the led within the crowd, helping Albold and Feyrith in their efforts I took careful note of who had been quick to join with the pair of troubleuards

“You, head back out into the village and look for any stragglers Everyone needs to evacuate” The ed exit into the tunnels “Now!” I snapped,them jump

“Yes, sir!” they said in unison before rushi+ng off

I fleards, watching theround town from forty feet in the air The chaos below reminded me uncomfortably of the castle’s fall I tried to press the flashes ofricocheting off gray skin kept intruding intoh t n o v e l r e a d e ro r g

Nothing I had thrown at the Scythe had hurt hierous was corew I hated it, the impulse to flee, the questions that came unbidden toVirion and all these people to their fates? Should I leave now, to savejumped from my skin and ran across the surface of er for direction

I focused on that sensation That urge to strike I let its brightness blindhe had faced and the losses he had suffered, I would th from

With an efficiency born of desperation, the refugees under our care continued to funnel out of the cavern Virion and Rinia had already gone on ahead, leading the roup toward soe twice; the only people who re their chance to escape

I was the first to sense the shi+ft in the e of town, a trean to coalesce into a hovering oval Soround between the portal and the reuards were hollering directions, urging theures appeared The first was clad in the sa in everything in a blink

The second was younger, fiercer He was lean and clean-shaven, a head shorter than Windsoht Instead of a fancy unifor clothes as if he were here for a siht of his intent was a sharp counterpoint to his appearance

“Asuras!” I shouted,over the stone like a thunderclap “You are no longer welcome in this place Leave now, or—” An intense pressure squeezedthe words off

“Silence, human,” Windsom said There was no hint in his expression or tone that ere or ever had been on the saret “I have come with a proclaons, chief a h t n o v e l r e a d e ro r g

“Our alliance has failed” These words vibrated through stone and air, see back out at us from the tunnel mouth Fearful shouts followed “You have shown yourselves to be lacking in judger to your own nation, to the future of your own races For this, Lord Indrath has deemed it necessary to eliminate this sanctuary and all that reside within”

I strode forward, chin raised, a longspear ofinto my hand “Your lord has no authority here Go back to your home and leave us to ours We’ll win this ithout you”

The younger asura scowled, his nose wrinkling as if he’d just stepped in so foul It was Windsom who spoke, however “You knohat to do, Taci Lord Indrath has high expectations of you”

The galaxy-eyed dragon turned and vanished back into the portal, which faded away

Behind et into the tunnel, the htened people The guards encircled the asura

Gathering my power, I thrust forith , but the asura, Taci, flashed to the side several feet, and the bolt blasted a crater in the stone floor

The world seehteningI had learned fro arced out fro me to sense attacks from any direction, and before they even reachedoff the walls—dull and muffled to my sped-up senses—when Taci moved Even under the effects of Thundercap Ile step, and the ground seee sideways to avoid his scything hand, the tendrils of electricity helping to disburse and redirect the force of his attack, but even as he flashed past, I could see his black eyes tracking edinhumanly, too fast fortoward the closest building My breath left h it Dust and debris blinded , then felt the weight of an entire building crash down on top of h, I could hear the death screauards

Thunder exploded outward froand fleith all speed toward the tunnel entrance Stones fro down all throughout the cavern

The round, their blood staining the gray stones red It looked like an ar them where they stood

Taci stood over the prone foruards since we first escaped to the sanctuary She turned inup blood, her eyes wide and disbelieving Then his foot ca out the last of her life

Though he could move faster than the eye could follow, Taci took his ti toward the huddled mass of people just inside the tunnelbehind a bloody footprint

Lightning crackled betweeninto a vibrant blue-white orb, then arced through the air It flew several feet over the asura’s head, hovering in the air between hi crashed into the wall above the tunnel, and a section of the wall collapsed, heavy stones tu the screaan to spin, shedding sparks that coalesced into long javelins of lightning and launched themselves at the asura As he batted each javelin aside, they e ju up all around him like pilons, and formed chains and manacles that wrapped around Taci’s wrists and ankles My entire body radiated mana as I flew across the cavern and crashed into hiy, followed by a thunderclap that shook the cavern, resounding off walls and buildings to build into a deafening shockwave

My head spun as I pulled back, readying a lightning spear and again chargingas they juht in front of me but wasn’t

Too late, I heard the near-silent swish of his clothes cutting air Even with et my arms up in tiht in front of round I thrust doithit into the stone, which cracked and screeched in protest as I jerked to a sudden halt,in co h t n o v e l r e a d e ro r g

A dull, throbbing ache deep insidedown, I realized the front ofpainfully on my sternum

Soft steps drewht Lord Indrath said this was supposed to be a test of th…”

I snorted and pulled my spear free from the stone “Indrath should have waited until you were out of your swaddling clothes before sending you here, boy”

Taci’s black eyes narrowed, then his body blurred around the edges and he repeated the single-steparound to intercept hi a near-instant step to the side and around the spear before closing the rest of the way The point of his elbow ca and bones breaking

My vision darkened, then I was looking up at hiround,out as I lost focus

He held out a hand There was a rush of , blood-red spear The spear lifted over his head, but instead of thrusting down intoTaci with it I blinked Taci was belowafter him

The world seeht a flash of Taci’s face as he scanned the cavern thoughtfully before so the broken bones inice, rushi+ng wind, crashi+ng stones—exploded fro to see what had hit me A pixy-ish face looked atviolently to avoid so—a streak of red—and somewhere stone collapsed on stone

“Mica?” I said, ish with pain and exertion

“Always the show-off, aren’t you? Fighting an asura one on one without waiting for the rest of us” Mica huback to the Taci “How long since the population fled?”

“Not long enough,” I ground out, shi+fting my arm as I attempted to assess how bad the injury was “We have to hold him here”

She studiedwith frozen missiles in the distance behind her “Well then, you better pull yourself together quick” She flashed rin, then flew off to support Aya and Varay, who I could see flitting like flies around Taci, their spells cutting colorful lines through the air

I turned et so with me The asura had only struck me twice and hadn’t even used any spells, but the entire area around my core was tender, swollen, and bruised My clavicle was broken at least, perhapsache that went up ested my neck was fractured as well

I stood and pushedthe broken and fractured bones Without an e I would siht on as I was

The air above the village had beco h t n o v e l r e a d e ro r g

Even from where I stood, I could feel the chill of Varay’s spells as she froze the very air, causing heavy flakes of snow to fall down on the ancient buildings Ice forh it shattered when he launched hih that she was able to avoid the attack, conjuring a wall of opaque ice between the away at full speed

As soon as he slowed down the ice began for heavily to hi into the distance instead of scanning the sky for the other Lances

A shi+ver ran down htly curious expression His ht, dark slash across his face, one brow slightly raised in consideration It wasn’t the look of aa life and death battle, but closer to that of a youngits limits as it played with its prey…

Despite his lack of focus, Taci easily batted aside a series of spells before fixing his attention once again on the battle Wherever he looked, however, pillars of ice appeared to interrupt his line of sight, and a strong headwind blew in his face to distract him no matter which direction he turned

Several cyclones carrying chunks of ice and jagged stones hirling in between all the ice, constantly atte to pull the asura in and pu my body, one of the cyclones swept over hiainst his defenses, the wind-attributeto the cavern floor far below

In the sah, he bucked backwards Only a foot or two, but enough to prevent hiain, and he dropped a foot toward the floor, and again a few inches toward the ceiling, keeping hito resist theas he took a deep breath One hand slowly caether The mana all around him shi+vered, then he twisted his wrist sharply There was a boo crack, and I felt the mana break

Mica screamed, and from the corner of my eye, I saw her tumble out of the air like a bird struck by an arrow

At the same time, Taci kicked off a pillar of ice and vanished Instinctively, I turned toward Aya just as he appeared at her side She was surrounded by a barrier of quickly changing gusts of wind, but Taci’s spear punched through it without effort

I released the lightning held in ht between Aya and Taci

At the same time, the air around the asura froze solid

For a moment, I couldn’t see what had happened Then the block of ice shattered, and I watched as Aya slid from the end of the red spear and fell