Night of Masks and Knives: A romantic fairy tale fantasy (The Broken Kingdoms Book 4) by LJ Andrews

Author:LJ Andrews [Andrews, LJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Victorious
Published: 2022-04-25T16:00:00+00:00

24

The Nightrender

I reeled through each step. Surface. Run through the north alley. Close the storm gates on all four alleyways. Lock in the skydguard.

A simple plan. We’d move fast enough. We had to.

I gathered the cold shadows. A hum of mesmer quickened my instincts, added power to my heart. Fear was heady above me. Every whimper, every shudder, every jolt of surprise tasted sharp on my tongue, and I took it for my own strength.

When I breached the surface, already dozens of skydguard had blades drawn, hunched around the large stone fountain of Loki and his children in the center of the square.

There was hardly time to orient before a guard cried out the manhole had opened.

Like a river of black ink, I spread my shadows around the skydguard. The wise ones ran from the dark. The ones stupid enough to be brave stood in its path.

Dark mesmer coiled around ankles and wrists and necks. By the gods, they tried to be fearless, but held a mighty amount of reluctance for death. I could bathe in the potent adrenaline as their hearts raced in panic at the frigid touch of my magic. If I were not in a hurry, I might toy with them, torture them a bit. Use my wickedness against theirs.

But there was no time.

Five guards in my grip, I closed my fists. Mesmer created dark images in my head. Brutal ways to die. Those thoughts burned through the shadows coiling around their necks and bodies. A burn filled my veins. Either I needed to pull back or give my magic a job to do. With a final thought, I commanded the mounting fear to become reality.

Darkness pierced their chests like mist-made darts and the guards fell over, dead.

I climbed the rest of the way out of the sewers and drew my sword. Powerful as mesmer could be, it took a toll. I’d use what was needed but fight the rest with steel.

Tova fired arrows at the fountain, while Gunnar launched his perfect shots at the four alleyways. His arrows herded the skydguard away from the edges of the city center, giving time for Dagny in one alley, Ash in the next, and Hanna at another, to pull levers on the sides of the archways.

When pulled, iron clanked and scraped against stone, and a heavy, wooden storm wall fell into place.

One alley remained open. Our one chance at escape.

Two skydguard rushed me. One swiped his dagger for my leg. I parried and cut across his upper ribs. As he fell, I spun around and cut through the leathers of the second guard. The first tried to scramble back. I allowed him to get three paces away before I lengthened my stride and stabbed my blacksteel through his heart.

I spun around in time to watch Raum pull Malin from the sewers.

″Go,” I shouted at the Kryv on the ground, then to those on the rooftops.

Our timetable was shrinking.

Tova and Gunnar put away their bows, sprinted across the rib of the roof, slid down the slats, then disappeared through the north alley.

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