This was the moment Ayden had been dreading; the moment that would decide the fate of his grandmother, her voice still clear and desperate in his ears; the moment that would decide the fate of the entire world of Shae Vale. And he would be responsible for whatever that fate would be.
Ayden fought to keep his vision clear as these thoughts, the loss of blood and energy, and the ever growing sense of fear ripped apart his sanity. Two of the trolls stomped forward. Da'ewyn released an arrow, striking one between its eyes. The beast crashed to the ground, sending a cloud of black dust into the air. Ayden threw Whisper at the other. He imagined its faint sound chanting, "Kill! Kill! Kill!" as it spun madly toward the troll's throat. But, much to Ayden's dismay, the weapon suddenly stopped in mid-air, spinning wildly in one spot as if it were caught on an invisible pole, then fell to the ground. The troll smirked and continued forward with a confident swagger as another of Degus' guards joined him.
"No way!" Sabina said in disbelief. She was staring at the troll striding to join his companion. "It's him! He's the one I fought at the scrap fights!"
Ayden kept his eyes on the trolls as he asked, "How can you tell?"
"He has a tattoo on his arm," she answered.
Ayden looked quickly to see a faded tattoo of a troll ripping the head off of some poor creature. He stifled a shiver and asked Sabina, "So, you ready for another round with him?"
Sabina cracked her knuckles, "I thought you'd never ask!" Like the shadow of a passing dragon in flight, Sabina glided across the ground toward the troll, her blood matted red hair and black cloak billowing behind her. The troll chuckled as she approached, glad to have a second chance at the vampire that had defeated him once before.
Ayden thought about throwing Phantom, but after what had happened with Whisper, he didn't want to risk losing another weapon. They raced after Sabina, who was easily dodging blows from the troll's gigantic fists. She was laughing, taunting the troll to an enraged state.
The troll bellowed angrily and then suddenly had Sabina in his grip. Her scream was cut short as the troll crushed her body with his rock hard fingers.
"NO!" Ayden yelled. An arrow shot through the air so fast, Ayden barely saw it before it was protruding from the troll's forehead. The beast dropped Sabina, who fell to the ground gasping for air. Ayden raced forward and pulled her out of the way as the troll joined the dust.
"Are you okay?" Ayden asked quickly. Devlin and Nya had engaged battle with the other troll, their siren eyes burning white. He needed to help, but he had to make sure Sabina was alright.
Sabina nodded and croaked, "I'm okay. Go help."
Ayden raced behind Da'ewyn toward the other troll. He noticed that Da'ewyn's quiver was empty and yelled to her. She continued to run as she turned toward Ayden, carefully catching the two Razr daggers that he threw to her.
As they bore down on the troll together, Ayden could see from the corner of his eye one of the humans standing beside Degus' throne. The sorceress turned her face (which Ayden had yet to get a good look at) toward the human and nodded. Ayden dodged the troll's foot by half an inch. Devlin was stabbing the other leg with a knife, and Nya was searing its flesh with her fiery staff. The creature roared with pain and fury as it swung its club toward its attackers. The weapon found dirt as everyone dodged death.
The human to whom Degus had nodded walked forward as casually as if she were on an afternoon stroll. She stopped and raised her hands toward the defenders swarming around the troll like flies. Strange words fell from her lips, causing Ayden to turn his attention toward her. She had the same haunted, haughty look as the warriors, and an unbecoming smirk crept over her lips as they spouted an incantation.
Before he could blink, a burning stream of a fiery whip shot from her hand and struck Da'ewyn. The princess released a horrific scream as the whip wrapped around her body, melting through her leather armor like butter and scorching her skin. Sabina was at her side in an instant, but as she tried to pull the rope of fire from Da'ewyn, her hands were burned, forcing her to released it.
"Da'ewyn!" Ayden screamed as the whip pulled the Veela from the group and threw her half way across the arena. Her body lay crumpled and distorted, smoldering and lifeless in the black dirt.
The whip hissed through the air again. Ayden felt sudden hateful rage as he took a Razr dagger and threw it at the sorceress. She had been focused and aiming at Nya, but her face became stone as Ayden's dagger sank into her chest.
Devlin had somehow climbed his way to the top of the troll during the commotion and slit its throat with a furious cry. He leapt to the ground as the troll and the sorceress fell simultaneously to their deaths.
The four remaining companions turned their attention to the figure on the throne. Ayden was shocked to see not the face of a horrid old witch, but a very young woman, her features outshining Sabina's. Golden hair haloed a face that carried stunning, overly large, flashing green eyes. She thrust her elegant body to a stand and dramatically pointed a single finger toward the fallen human sorceress; the flowing lace of her white gown jumped around her like frenzied snowflakes caught in a net.
The fallen body of the other sorceress convulsed as waves of energy washed over her and then traveled through an air stream into Degus' outstretched finger. With sickening horror, Ayden realized that Degus had just drained all the magical power from the fallen sorceress, combining it with her own.
The sorceress then turned to the other human, whom Ayden still could not see for the bulking troll that stood in his way. Devlin's leather necklace suddenly tore and his charm flew through the air and out of reach. Without warning, Nya and Devlin turned on each other. The fire had left their eyes only to be replaced with sheer horror as they raised their weapons toward one other, their movements stiff like dolls forced into every motion.
Ayden and Sabina screamed and ran toward the brother and sister. Ayden could see the two straining with every ounce of strength to resist the force of the spell washing over them. Tears streamed down Nya's face, and Devlin bore a terrified, skeletal grimace as he watched his own knife clad hand raise in readiness to stab his sister. Nya screamed as her arms swung her staff toward her brother.
Ayden felt like he was in a terrible nightmare, running as fast as he could, but unable to reach the sirens in time to stop the inevitable. At the exact moment, Devlin's knife struck Nya's chest, and Nya's staff struck Devlin's chest. Ayden's voice sounded muffled and far away under the rushing of blood in his ears as he screamed; he watched the sirens, their eyes stunned and sad, as they fell away from each other to the earth.
Ayden tried to reach them, but before he could take another step an invisible rope caught his stomach and pulled back, knocking the wind out of him. He heard Sabina grunt as she fell to the ground several feet away in the same fashion. Their bodies dragged across the ground toward the throne. Struggle as he might, Ayden could not break free from the phantom rope bound around his waist.
Nearer and nearer Ayden and Sabina scraped across the ground toward the throne, and toward the other human. Through the dust billowing around him, Ayden could tell it was a man. Jared's face flashed through his mind as dirt scraped against his skin, grinding into his cuts and deepening his bruises. They seemed to go on this way forever, eating dirt and twisting helplessly against the invisible ropes.
Finally, they stopped. Ayden coughed and groaned as he forced himself onto his wobbling hands and knees. A pair of feet greeted his vision. Squinting through the grime in his eyes, Ayden looked up at his attacker, the sorcerer who had ruthlessly drug him and Sabina--who lay unconscious several feet away--to Degus.
Ayden would've given anything to have died with his friends if only to avoid the sight that greeted his swelling eyes. His heart felt as if it was ripped from his chest and ground into the dusty earth.
Pax hovered over him, a sinister and hungry glare etched across his face.
Chapter Forty-Six
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br /> Sacrifice