Etchings of Power by Terry C. Simpson

Author:Terry C. Simpson [Simpson, Terry C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, action, epic fantasy, action adventure, fantasy series
ISBN: 9781939172006
Publisher: Golden Arm Press
Published: 2011-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27

Sometimes the snow fell so heavily it blotted out the surroundings, but as the flakes touched the ground, the blood of the fallen painted it red. Moans of the dying, wails of the mourning, screeches of the bloodthirsty, and the gurgles of death washed through the air upon the howling wind. Mangled armor and torn bodies lay strewn as far as the eye could see as if flung by a massive storm.

There had been a storm, Sakari thought. A storm of death.

His shadeling army boiled black across the land tearing into the Dagodin ranks.

And shattered.

Garbed in armor to match the bloody snow, the Tribunal’s soldiers held fast. Their shield wall dropped with the precision of a hundred thousand dancers synchronized to one song. A symphony of steel played. Shadelings died.

Several hundred beasts Blurred up and over the shield wall. Bolts of fire and lightning met them. The concussions from both should have rocked the Dagodin formations below the shadelings, but the Shins had formed a layered barrier to protect them. Dark blood spattered upon its surface. Bodies landed, appearing as if they were suspended in the air above the enemy’s ranks.

As for his vasumbrals, the writhing, worm-like monstrosities churned underground before boring up and out. Earth and snow crashed into any nearby soldiers, flinging them from their feet or crushing them. Maws agape the beasts snatched men by threes or fours, their black bodies bulging as they swallowed. Foolhardy Shins attacked them with any manner of Forge, from icy spikes able to skewer a man in half, to searing fire waves or bolts crackling with energy. Unaffected, the vasumbrals wreaked havoc, absorbing as many Forges as they could, growing stronger, maturing.

But not fast enough. Not against this army.

The telltale hiss that imitated a giant sword slicing the wind rose over the din of battle. Those weren’t any blades. More portals were opening to allow the Tribunal’s Matii in—Dagodin, Shin, High Shin, and Raijin by the thousands.

Mater surged moments later. A swath of light cut through a shadebane, decimating its number by half. The daemons threw up their own shield too late, barely saving a few of their number.

With the Exalted and the Raijin joining the fray, he knew he needed to call a retreat. This wasn’t the time or the place to war against them. Not unprepared. Not without the Skadwaz and not with immature vasumbrals. Besides, Ryne and his ward had fled. Of that, he was sure.

He considered breaching the shield over the town and taking the young man’s father and the woman, Irmina. He sensed her presence there and knew the council was still within Eldanhill’s confines. Acquiring either would not break the accords as they had both attacked him directly. However, destroying the shield would expose the rest of Eldanhill. That would violate the agreement.

So much had transpired as he hoped, as his master decreed, but so much had gone wrong. Ever since Benez, he and Thanarien had searched for years to find the Dorns, all to no avail.

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