The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn (Kingdom of Grit) by Tyler Whitesides

Author:Tyler Whitesides [Whitesides, Tyler]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Fiction / Fantasy / Epic, Fiction / Fantasy / Action & Adventure, Fiction / Fantasy / Dragons & Mythical Creatures
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2018-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

Ard dropped into the cloud of Void Grit, careful to keep his legs together. His descent slowed immediately, like falling into water. No, like falling into a windstorm. It was a painful torrent, reminiscent of that time Ard got dragged behind Lord Fewler’s horse. Not fun. And quite disorienting.

His ability to breathe was completely stolen away, but the entire unpleasant experience lasted less than a second. Ard was ejected from the Void cloud with the force of two dozen men punching him in the abdomen. He hurtled through darkness, wondering if he was being launched skyward off the front of the balcony.

Then he was tumbling, skidding across a hard stone floor. Ard rolled upright, scrambling for the crossbow on his back. His eyes adjusted to the flickering firelight from the burning dragon skull, casting long shadows across the throne room.

There was no time to check for Quarrah. No time to soothe the aches and scrapes from his wild entrance. There was another way into the throne room, and it had to be blocked. The thunderous opening of the balcony doors would have alerted the Regulators in the hallway. Even now, as the ringing from Ard’s tumble faded from his ears, he could hear someone jostling the hallway lock.

Ard had successfully blocked that door on his first venture into the throne room. His plan was to employ the same technique now. A bolt of Barrier Grit from his crossbow would seal the entrance, giving him and Quarrah a little bit of time to search the room.

Ah, flames. The crossbow! His breakneck entrance had snapped one of the crossbow’s arms clean off. Well, that explained the throbbing pain below his left shoulder blade. It was a miracle none of his Grit pots had accidentally detonated.

Ard cast the crossbow aside and drew the Grit bolt he had intended to shoot. He sprinted toward the opening hallway doors, vaguely aware of Quarrah flying into the throne room behind him.

The big doors had only swung inward about a foot, when Ard heard a Roller crack. He saw flames as the Blast Grit cartridge ignited, hurling a lead ball in his direction. Ard flinched, hearing the projectile whiz overhead. Then he threw the Grit bolt as hard as he could.

It struck the left door, shattering the clay tip and throwing a hazy cloud of Barrier Grit. The detonation spilled through the opening between doors, encompassing two of the Regulators who were pressing through the gap.

It wasn’t an ideal closure, but it would certainly do the trick. Unfortunately, the trapped hallway Regulators would now be able to observe Ard’s actions in the throne room. But the Grit would prevent the doors from opening for about ten minutes, which was all the time Quarrah could afford anyway.

Quarrah appeared at Ard’s side, her nose bleeding and her cheek scraped from the painful tumble into the room. The Void Grit must have ejected her face-first.

“Trapped,” Quarrah muttered.

“I know.” Ard gestured at the Reggies. “I’d say I’m a decent shot even without a crossbow.

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.