A Gateway to Darkness and Doom – Part 2 (The Hunter Series Book 7) by Alexander Lound

Author:Alexander Lound [Lound, Alexander]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-04-29T00:00:00+00:00

Alice

It is not blood that dribbles onto my shoulder and down my right cheek. No, it is a thick, black, gooey substance which oozes from Avok’s eye socket, before coagulating into a puddle beside my face.

Meanwhile, Avok does not scream. Does not even emit a noise. He maintains his posture for a moment, the weight of his knee still on my back. And then all weight and strength leave his body entirely, and he flops to the side of me, his sword rattling beneath his armoured body.

From my face-down position, prone on the floor, I cough, splutter, try to breathe. But my ribs are crushed, my shoulder dislocated. I try to push myself to my feet, but cannot. Something is wrong with my legs, too, I know.

As giddiness and pain overcome me, I wonder if I will open my eyes again. I wonder if Rybuk’s empty, stone house might be the last thing I see.

And, as I lose consciousness, I once again think of home. Father. Mother.

If only I could have seen them, one last time.

“Alice! Alice!”

I force my eyes open. Returning to the edges of consciousness, I feel the familiar agony, stabbing my body, burying into my shoulder, my ribs.

But I am still alive. Not dead.

Though perhaps it is a cruelty, given my state.

“Alice! Oh, my word! What happened? What happened?”

I watch as a blurred figure, who must be Rybuk, looks from me, to Avok, from me, to Avok.

“Are you okay, Alice? Can you hear me?”

I groan in reply.

“What did he do to you? Look at me, Alice. Can you see me?”

I try to focus on Rybuk, and realise after a few exhausted blinks that I can. I look into Rybuk’s terrified, red eyes.

“Come on, Alice. I need to move you. We cannot stay here. Not now. Not with him here.”

It is an operation getting me up from the floor. I have to bite my lip several times to resist crying out in pain. The blood that oozes from my lower lip is nothing compared to the pain which spreads through my shoulder, chest and legs.

To my shock, Rybuk manages to get me standing, which a few moments ago I thought I might never do again. Then, he leads me to a stool. I sit down just before I keel over again.

“What happened, Alice? Where does it hurt?”

“Shoulder,” I say in-between desperate pants of air. “Chest. Leg.”

Rybuk looks to my sagging shoulder, and his eyes become broad with worry. “We need to get you to a doctor, Alice, and urgently. We must go through one of those portals tonight. There is no time to waste. They are already looking for Avok. He has been missing all day. If they find him here, they will kill us both.”

I look to the figure of Avok, slumped on the floor, my sword still protruding from his right eye-socket. The generals may have power like I have never seen before, but they clearly aren’t invincible.

And yet, to get past an army of generals and monsters within the day will be a near impossible task.

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