Curse Breaker Darkens by Melinda Kucsera

Author:Melinda Kucsera
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy, epic fantasy, Sword & Sorcery
Publisher: Melinda Kucsera
Published: 2020-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

***

Rat Woman paused, unnerved by the tree’s behavior. “What is that thing?”

“The Tree of Memory. There are groves of those blood-suckers all over Shayari. I didn’t think I’d see one until I was knocking on Death’s door.” Jerlo shivered from more than the cold seeping into his wet clothes.

“What do you mean?”

“It stores memories. Theoretically, if someone knew how to access their network, he or she could view the past through the eyes of those who lived it.”

Rat Woman shuddered. “Is that a common practice?”

Before Jerlo could answer, a fiery wreck bearing a vaguely human form burst through a wall and knocked over a statue of Genar, the once-proud god of memory. Thick clouds of acrid smoke enveloped an angry, dark smudge until Cinder exploded out of it. Her windmilling arms tangled in the ropes holding the bridge aloft. The charred slash of her mouth twisted into a cruel smile as the fire licking her pebbled skin ignited the bridge.

Jerlo fumbled for Vanya’s knife while the bridge swayed under him. If he could just lay two fingers on that damned thing—damn it! The knife slid out of his pocket and tumbled end over end, reflecting the lumir crystal light.

Rat Woman swung down, holding on with just her pale, hairless legs. She pawed at the air, desperate to reach the knife before the fire reached them, but she missed by an arm’s length. A black cloud separated from the plume of smoke rising from Cinder’s struggling body. It shot over the grasping minion’s shoulder and caught the knife. The swarm outlined a human shape as Insect Man flew, knife extended, to cut the ropes.

“Hold tight.” Rat Woman firmed her grip, and Jerlo copied her.

While Insect Man sawed at the ropes holding the bridge together, the fire raced toward them. Unable to take the strain, the last line snapped just as Cinder pulled her flaming bulk onto the bridge’s sagging middle. The two halves parted, flinging her into a wall, and her smoking carcass flopped into a fountain, destroying part of its basin.

Maybe the hulking wretch had taken all the damaged she could because she lay there and twitched amid a stream of escaping water. Flames still gnawed on her torso and the exposed parts of her limbs, but she didn’t get up.

Was the monster dead? Hand over hand, Jerlo pulled himself onto the listing platform that connected to another bridge. Keeping Cinder in sight, he ran across the long, narrow box of the Hall of Memory to another platform and another bridge. Rat Woman followed close behind, and so did the hungry fire. Insect Man hovered over it and beat his wings to keep it from spreading, but his efforts only stalled the inevitable.

“Go!” Rat Woman pushed Jerlo’s shoulder.

“Which way?”

“Take the right-hand one.”

The one that zigged over the Tree of Memory, just great. Its blood-sucking branches angled toward the bridge, swinging over it as the tree offered to catch them. Jerlo hustled past that tree, then cursed. Below, a black substance crawled over Cinder and snuffed out the remaining flames.

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