The Dark Side of Happiness (Valrue, Book One) by Coley Taylor

Author:Coley Taylor [Taylor, Coley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 31

The swiftrunners yelled as the front wagon teetered on its back slat, their legs flailing uselessly in the air. The wagon spun and returned to the ground with a crash, splintering wood and snapping ropes, its contents spilling across the ground. From the earth burst a stream of bandits. They engulfed the wagon in seconds, swords flashing in the moonlight as they attacked.

By the Great fucking Kahn –

‘Krijen, forward!’ Jin shouted at the top of his lungs. He dumped his pack onto the ground and slid a dagger from the wraps at his wrist as he began to run. ‘Flares!’ he shouted.

Meek flung his pack from his shoulders, and within seconds, a burst of red exploded in the night sky above them.

Jin tore past the third and second wagons, the swiftrunners scrabbling at their straps to unbuckle themselves. ‘No!’ Jin yelled, ‘do not abandon your wagons! Retreat to the Split! Meek, give them cover!’ The back roamers would not see the flares if they were still in the Split.

Jin reached the edge of the frenzy. Two bandits came at him with their weapons, one a short sword and the other a double-headed axe topped with a long spike. Jin sidestepped a wild swing from the sword and stepped right into the arms of the axeman. He looked mildly surprised as Jin’s dagger sank into his chest.

Jin snatched the axe from the dying man’s hand, parried another amateur sword swing, and slid his bleeding dagger into the sinew between the swordsman’s neck and shoulder. He quickly pulled his weapon free and vaulted over a wheel torn from the wagon. Somehow the next bandit he met was already so covered in gore Jin couldn’t tell what the person looked like underneath it. Filip’s face leapt into his mind, making him grimace. He cut the attacker down.

Jin reached the wagon and raced forward to free the trapped swiftrunners. Just as he raised his dagger, an invisible force wrenched both his dagger and the axe from his hands. Instantaneously, another axe head came down beside him, sending a burst of splinters into his face.

Jin threw himself away, rolling into a kneeling position, sliding a second dagger from his other wrist. The axe came down again, the shaft of it almost as long as his body.

Jin threw himself at the axeman’s torso, taking advantage of the time needed to heave the massive weapon. The axeman doubled over with an ‘oof’. Jin thrust his dagger upwards, intending to bury it in the man’s side. Instead, the dagger wrenched itself free from his hand.

Fury surged within Jin, stoking the heat in his chest. It seared down his arms, threatening to burst from his fingertips, making him gasp in shock.

He couldn’t.

Jin shoved it back down, and guilt rose instead. Bellowing in frustration, Jin threw himself into the axeman and heaved upwards, flipping him over his shoulder. There was a crunch as the bandit landed on the wooden shaft of his weapon, snapping it.

Jin lunged for the snapped-off axe head.

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