The Dark Between Dreams | ✔️

Chapter 44 🔻Rise and Shine

Blackburne's scarred face bunched up in a hideous, hateful snarl.

"Get out of our way, Blackburne!" I interrupted, slashing at him with my spear. He leaped backward, out of reach of my weapon, and raised his own.

"Step aside, fledglings," Crow said. He crept his way between Blackburne and me. Reynard was at his side. The blind man grinned at his enemy, winged spear in hand.

"Monster," growled Blackburne.

Crow just shrugged and pointed his weapon at the king. "I am as my creator made me."

Blackburne's dark eyes zeroed in on his loyal right hand. "Reynard? What do you think you're doing?

"What must be done," he answered. There was no emotion in his face as he, too, pointed his sword at his king.

"You," Blackburne hissed to the scarred mace-wielder behind him. "You've just been promoted." He pointed his halberd at me. "Kill them all."

Whips of wind accosted the echelon as a red-eyed Crow broke formation, swinging his spear. Webb swung his sword at the newly appointed right hand of After. Blinky caught his blade with his mace, then kicked the scrawny hollow away from himself. I yelled and ducked a blow from Pinky. Vale let out a snarl and took a running leap at the king. Her cloak caught the air behind her as she raised her machete overhead. The other hollow ducked beneath her swinging blade in the nick of time. He jabbed his halberd forward, spearing her through the middle.

"Vale!" I cried, rushing to her aid. Still impaled on Blackburne's blade, the female hollow grabbed the smug-looking bastard by his breastplate, yanking him closer to herself. Then she cut him across the face. A spray of ice-cold air hit me as I pulled Vale free.

Blackburne and I locked eyes. The black gash bisecting his face contrasted with the white burn marks.

"Why?" I asked him. "Why do you want to keep us all in the Dark?"

His pupils constricted into minuscule pinpricks. His red hair clung to his contorted face as he stood to his full height before Vale and me. "Because it doesn't hurt this way," he said.

The muscles of his hands tensed. I reacted, jumping back with Vale at my side just in time to avoid another swing of his blade. Vale shivered, but she kept her machete raised all the same. She'd stay and fight Blackburne to the death if I'd let her. "No," I told her. "We have to go." I could see the fire alight in her eyes, but her expression softened when I pressed my hand to her healing wound, pushing her away from Blackburne. Webb returned, and he, too, guided her backward.

Blackburne, meanwhile, panted and spat as he eyed the three of us together hungrily. "That's right. Run away, Vale," he taunted. "Run away like you did with that empty-headed idiot. Like you're doing now with that foolish girl." The scars along the bridge of his nose bunched up as he grinned. "Always chasing after anchored souls who'll never love you back. Well, this is my city, and I can ensure that you'll remain alone forever!" A single flick of his eyes betrayed his next move.

With a snarl, Blackburne brought the blade of his halberd down on me. Red malicious light glinted off the blade Blackburne was about to use to end my afterlife.

There was an explosion of red sparks when Crow caught Blackburne's blade on the pole of his spear. He yelled back over his shoulder at where I lay on the ground. "Get out of here! This is between kings now!"

"Don't you dare call yourself a king, slave!" Blackburne yelled as the two clashed once more.

But Crow's eyes were just as fiery as the king's. The wind moaned as it filtered through the skeletal highrises. A cyclone of crows joined the gales and orbited the two lux-scarred hollows. The last I saw of Crow before he charged once more at Aḫ-ḫur's betrayer was a manic grin.