The Witch of Shadowmarsh (The Moonstone Chronicles Book 1) by Sara C. Roethle

Author:Sara C. Roethle [Roethle, Sara C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vulture's Eye Publications
Published: 2018-08-21T22:00:00+00:00

Elmerah

Elmerah silently retreated through the thick vegetation, slowly making her way toward the denser trees. She would attack the emperor—ye gods, she couldn’t believe she was actually considering attacking the emperor—soon anyway, after she lured him further away.

She stopped behind a shrub with wide, waxy leaves found only near the coast.

The emperor continued to creep along, oddly without a weapon drawn. She’d witnessed him finding the three unconscious guards—or maybe they were dead, the rocks she and Alluin had hit them with had been rather large—so why would he come after her without a weapon in hand?

She took a step back, wincing as a twig snapped beneath her boot. They were far enough from the surf now that he’d likely heard it.

Sure enough, his gaze whipped in her direction, his eyes narrowed to peer through the growing darkness. She froze, unable to tell if he’d spotted her, or if he was simply looking for the source of the sound.

Seconds later, an enormous weight seemed to crush her chest. Her hands groped the empty air as her eyes darted frantically about. She couldn’t breathe, yet nothing was touching her.

Through her panic, she heard footsteps crunching over the rocky earth. The emperor appeared before her. His pale eyes seemed to soak in the moonlight. She wanted to lash out at him, but her hands merely fluttered at her sides like dying butterflies.

“An Arthali witch?” he questioned, looking her up and down. “How . . . unexpected.”

She sputtered, but couldn’t form words. Was he somehow doing this to her?

Seeming to read her thoughts, he grinned. “Don’t worry, you’re not to die tonight. I need to ask you some questions first.” His grin wiped away as something tackled him to the ground.

Suddenly she could breathe again. She hopped back from the tussle, realizing it was one of the Akkeri atop the emperor’s back, smashing his face into the hard earth.

“Run!” the Akkeri hissed, looking right at her.

Though she was wildly confused, the creature didn’t have to tell her twice. She turned and ran back toward the beach.

Her lungs burned horribly as she stumbled through the dark vegetation. If the emperor had magic . . . the thought was horrifying. He was so much more of a threat than she’d imagined.

She ran blindly as she neared the beach, almost colliding with Saida. She skidded to a halt, blinked at the elf in shock, then grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around. “Get back to Alluin,” she panted as they started running. “We need to get out of here.”

Elmerah reached the beach right behind Saida to find Alluin still fighting with the bejeweled blond man, obviously a better swordsman than his appearance would suggest. She glanced out toward the sea at the sound of guttural shouts just in time to see the Akkeri leaping from their boat into the tide to reach the shore more quickly.

“Alluin!” Elmerah shouted. They needed to retreat to the forest, now.

Alluin parried an incoming swipe of the blond man’s rapier, then jumped aside, rolling across the sand and coming up to his feet.

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.