Eclipse: Time Thief (Romantasy)

68. Round 1

I focused on Nash to protect him but two demons pivoted away from the Prophet to me. They blasted me with their unseen power and I faltered.

The Prophet's strength crushed my throat and the muscles in my body, immobilizing me.

Beside me, the tip of a sword sliced through the edge of Nash's bicep and slung his blood across my face. He was frozen in place, chest not even moving with breath. The guard raised her sword to strike him again.

No! I caught hold of the attack against us that had immobilized us. Broke free. Shoved my palm at the fool who'd dared to hurt Nash and threw her back with a force so hard her skull cracked the stone floor.

Her vacant eyes stared up while a pool of blood spread out from her head.

A strangled cough spasmed Nash's body. I'd overextended myself, giving the Prophet a chance to choke us once more.

Despite not being able to breathe, Nash blocked a hit on each side of his body. A third man stabbed for his back. A shot of heat burned from my chest, up my shoulders, and down my arm as I focused on the sword. It snapped in half before reaching Nash's spine.

With a cry, I regained control of the Prophet's power again and loosened the pressure on Nash's throat.

The effort left me helpless to stop two demons who rushed for me with swords extended. I screamed through gritted teeth. Blood dripped from my nose. I stopped one blade right against my throat. The other in front of my right eye.

I was doing too many things at once.

So was Nash. Blood pumped from his wound as he thrust his sword with his injured arm and pierced a guard's chest. This couldn't go on.

I planted my feet on the ground and tried to dig even deeper than the power I'd felt during the eclipses. There was more I hadn't tapped into. There had to be.

Pressure swelled in my chest.

"Go!" The Prophet roared.

The three disciples sprang from his side. The Prophet's pressure weakened considerably, but it only gave me a few moments of reprieve before I faced an all new danger. Nash was still fending off the remaining guards while the disciples were all headed for me.

One of the women raised her spear, eyes on me, nostrils flaring. Beside her, a man reached his hands out, armored forearms catching the light of the lanterns. Gloves stretched over his hands, ending in sharpened daggers on each finger that looked like claws. His eyes shifted between me and Nash.

The third disciple knelt down and then the strength on the blades at my throat and eye intensified with her power. She was pushing them with her mind.

It all happened so fast, in just the time it took for the woman with the spear to steady herself.

Nash spun toward the disciples and jabbed his blade for the throat of the woman with the spear just as she released.

"Nash!"

As I snapped the spear in half, I thrust a wave of energy at the clawed demon behind Nash but his daggers shot right through. The thing blades stabbed into Nash's shoulders, right above his collarbone.

Blood popped into the air.

Nash stabbed his right blade behind his back. I drove it with my mind so it swiftly carved through the clawed disciple's gut.

They both screamed as the claws tightened against Nash and the demon's bowels pulsed against his open wound. Nash grabbed the wrists on each of his shoulders and yanked the daggers out.