Rising by Judice Stephanie

Author:Judice, Stephanie [Judice, Stephanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-04-04T22:00:00+00:00

12

GABE

Here I was again, watching the fierce woman warrior defying the beasts to come closer. Something was different this time. I must’ve been propelled several minutes earlier than before. I was seeing more of the memory laced into the stone. The tall monoliths stood strong behind her with its swirling wormhole; electricity crackling in between. There was a bright light casting a circular glow and another warrior standing behind her. I don’t know how I missed him. His long, dark hair was whipped by a fierce wind. He held his muscled arms up to the sky. There were intricate tattoos with interlacing knots weaving from his wrists all the way up his forearms and curling slightly to the tops of his biceps. He was a Guardian, holding his halo of protection in place.

“Heimta, Freya!” he bellowed.

His voice was deep and desperate. The warrior woman he called was edging closer to the rim of her Guardian’s shield. Something had gone wrong, because their other clansmen lay dead outside the circle, close to the monoliths. There were nearly a dozen reapers circling the perimeter of the light shield, all hooded in strange, black garments with an unnatural sheen. I couldn’t see any shadow scouts, but I could feel their menacing presence. Ash-eaters lingered in the distance, rustling in the dark.

“þeir ar þróttigr, Blyn!” she shouted over her shoulder.

She watched the circling reapers, edging closer and closer to the border of the halo of light. She crouched like a cat, waiting for the first attack. One of the giant reapers to her left swung his sword-like arm in the air then thrust it down upon the light shield just above her. Sparks spattered into the air, flinty and bright, but the arm never penetrated her Guardian’s shield.

“Heimta!” he yelled again.

She glanced fleetingly in his direction, but it was the mistake they were waiting for. Invisible arms and hands seized upon her from the rim of the light shield, bursting into flame as they crossed the border and grabbed her. The invisible creatures, shadow scouts, shrieked as the Guardian’s aura burned their flesh.

“Neinn!” he yelled, his bright eyes blazing. “Freya!”

The Guardian’s shield vanished when he called out to her. I realized what he was hiding under a layer of furious anguish—love. In that blinking second that she was seized and his shield faltered, a blindingly fast reaper leapt through the air. In two swift bounds, the creature was face to face with the Guardian, thrusting his killing arm directly into his chest above his heart. The Guardian lifted one hand out toward Freya, but the beast’s arm singed and petrified him within seconds into a statue of blackened ash. The echo of Freya’s blood-curdling scream drowned out the ravenous sounds of ash-eaters rustling forward. That was the same scream I heard the last time I was here. Now I knew what had caused her so much pain.

With a vengeful slash through the air, the triumphant reaper scattered the Guardian’s remains into a cloud of dust.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.