Eclipse: Time Thief (Romantasy)

30. Desperation

We had wasted too much time on the fallout from the battle. We stole across the field, scaled a cliff, and entered the next passageway without any other guards pursuing us. They hadn't given up, that much was certain. Now they knew their enemy. They'd be preparing for a battle that could take down a powerful demon rather than throwing away lives haphazardly. The higher up the mountain we journeyed, the fewer routes we'd have. There would be no escape.

Leif tried to help me as we traveled up the steep stairs. I was nauseous from the slip. I refused to let anyone near me though, refused to look at them even and have to face them.

"Max," Nash said gently. When he moved close to me, I jolted away, terrified I'd drag him through time with me again.

"I told you it's not safe," I said.

"I–"

Leif rammed his thick forearm into Nash's chest and plastered him against the rock wall. "Didn't I tell you to stay away?" Another shove. "If you upset her again and she has a spell, who knows what will happen. She said she can't control it."

Wren turned around from higher up the stairs and sighed. "Let's all stay quiet and give Max time. Let him go, Leif."

Nash had not tried to push Leif he away. He just held the other man's stare. Another tense moment, and Leif backed away. I turned my stare to the ground, struggling to keep my mind in the present still. I could hear the screams of the guards I'd killed echoing off the walls of the stairs and through my mind.

We traveled quietly after that and slept only a few hours before we left the safety of the passageway for the inevitable battle that awaited.

A burst of icy wind cut through the opening of the passageway and scattered snow at my feet. I squeezed outside, sank into knee deep snow, and focused on listening for the guards. It was pointless to even try counting. There were too many.

We waded together through the snow, the icy coldness eating through our clothes, making us heavy and wet. No guards approached but they were there. I could hear them assembling more soldiers out there in the white, hear them gathering supplies, whispering in clashes of sound I struggled to isolate.

Up here there was no such thing as flatland. Rolling white clearings would suddenly crash into cliffs or stretch into precarious outcroppings, steepening with every foot closer to the peak. I couldn't see anything.

Damn it, we were easy targets out here.

Whizzing pierced my ears.

I tuned in so acutely that it hurt and attempted to create a barrier around us to shield us. The power within me felt like it spurted through the cracks in the damn, most of it trapped within me still, while what could escape rushed out at an incredible speed. Though the barrier wasn't visible to the eye, I could feel it and imagine the edges of it. It was uneven and fading. Come on!

Was all this for nothing? Would I really fail now? Enraged with myself, power burst from me and strengthened the barrier.

Sunlight glinted from hundreds of arrows, all raining down in the sky, glittering in the haze of snow-dusted air. I planted my hands on the ground for support and thought of how helpless I'd felt as the past stole me and Nash away. Or when he'd called me demon. When the people I killed looked at me in fear. Then, I imagined little Rune waiting for us to come back to save him. Everything I felt hardened inside me, and I used it to destroy the limitations of my power, not caring if I destroyed myself in the process.