The Bloodstone Prophecy - Book 2 (complete)

Chapter 31 - The Battle

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Tightening his grip on the gun, Liam scrambled out of the cave, down the embankment and away from the entrance, spewing bits of stone and rubble in his path. He knew the gun wouldn't do much to protect him from a shadow creature, but that wasn't the only thing out there. He might run into the queen's guards, and the gun would be useful against them.

Hesitating for a moment near the cave's entrance, Liam felt the ground shake again. He pushed himself forward, limping into the desert, his body aching with every step. He didn't want to be anywhere near the cave when the shadow giant emerged.

Circling around, he encountered only one shadow creature that his whip easily dispatched. He was approaching the battle now. From this vantage point he could see the action better. There had to be at least fifty shadow creatures out there, though there was no way of knowing how many were still in the cave or in the desert. He could now see it wasn't just officers protecting the cave, but dozens of people in ragged clothing that he recognized from working the long hot hours in the sun. Slaves.

The slaves may not have been trained for combat, but they fought fiercely under the Shadow Queen's command. They threw rocks and fought with blunt shovels and rusted pick axes. Even so, they were no match for the guns and swords of their opponents. The slaves fell easily before the police officers and warriors that had come to fight. Under the blistering fire and sharp swords of the police officers and warriors, many of them were dying.

Even though they were fighting for the queen, it still sickened Liam that she hadn't properly armed the slaves. They didn't know what they were doing, and they were clearly nothing more than pawns to her. Throwaways. Still, some of the more resourceful slaves that survived picked up the guns and swords of the fallen and fought with them.

Something twisted inside Liam. He shuddered to think he might have been one of the slaves, of how close he had come to succumbing to the darkness.

With a roar, the Shadow Giant emerged from the cave. The giant had the features of a man, but they were roughly hewn, as if carved from a craggy boulder. It towered over them, wielding the battle ax and morning star as before. Liam trembled as he thought of the way the giant had exploded, killing so many of the army.

As it neared, Liam saw Samuel raise his large gun and fire at the giant. It blasted its arm off into tiny sprays of shadow and the battle ax fell to the sand. Maybe Samuel's weapon was stronger than he thought. If he could just blast the giant away piece by piece, they might have a chance to beat the queen.

Just as he thought this, the shadows gathered around the shoulder, combining and spreading to form an elbow, then the forearm and the wrist, then a hand and fingers. In less than thirty seconds, the shadows had reassembled themselves back into the shape of the appendage. The giant leaned down, picked up the ax, lifted it high and roared.

Chris aimed his machine at the giant and it burned a massive hole through its chest. The beam ate through to the other side, leaving a hole exposed as the Shadow Giant continued to move forward, slowed down but not stopped by the weapons. Chris shifted the laser up to the head, punching a hole through the giant's forehead. The hole in its head reminded Liam of a cyclops.

The giant halted completely and dropped its weapons. It raised its hands to his head and bellowed as if in pain. Interesting. The laser to the stomach slowed the giant, but the beam to its head incapacitated it.

Samuel fired again, this time blowing the giant's head off and dropping it to its knees. Chris and Samuel let up a cheer, and Liam found himself cheering along with them. He limped as quickly as he could in their direction. He wasn't sure if the giant could fight without a head, but he didn't want to take a chance. They would blast every piece of the creature back to the hell from which he'd come if they had to. Chris had the beam directed toward the giant's chest again, but it might be better to attack the legs first.

Liam saw the Shadow Queen stride forward, leaving the shadow creatures and men she had been commanding from her post near the cave. She lifted her arms like the first time he'd seen her, back when she was creating shadow creatures with the wax lake. A green light shot out from her fingertips and penetrated the hole created by Chris's weapon on the other side. It rapidly filled in with shadows until it seemed Chris's weapon barely made an impression and Liam could no longer see through the hole. A strange, burning smell filled the air.

Then, like the arm, the shadow whirled and gathered to form a neck, and chin. Liam groaned. The giant's head was regrowing. Samuel shot at the giant's head again, but with the Shadow Queen strengthening the giant, it barely grazed it. It was as if there was a barrier protecting the giant, and Samuel had lost his ability to injure it.

The head was completely regrown now. The giant picked up the weapons and stood again. Samuel frantically shot again and again, but it had no effect. The giant swept its battle ax through the humans, killing men on both sides. Liam knew he should be used to it by now, but he was still shocked by the queen's indifference when her creations killed her own men.

The shadow blaster just seemed to irritate the giant. It shook off the hits like it would annoying mosquitos. The giant was inching closer and closer to Samuel and Chris.

The other shadow creatures had slunk away in the giant's presence and were creeping along the edges of the battle. Five or six of them had crept behind Samuel and Chris, but they were so focused on the battle they were oblivious to the danger lurking behind them. Liam could see the creatures better now. Wolves, identical to each other in shape and size, with pitch black fur and beady red eyes. They seemed to communicate with each other, like the pack of wolves he'd recently seen on the nature channel.

Oddly, the creatures didn't seem interested in the man and the boy. They were circling something. He couldn't see what it was. Maybe they'd found a body to scavenge.

A body. Wait. Where was Kami? She should have been over near Samuel and Chris. That was assuming she was still alive, anyway. At the thought that Kami might be dead, his stomach clenched.

He pulled his whip from his pocket and edged closer. One of the shadow creatures moved and he could see the long jet black hair. A girl lay crumpled on the ground. It was her. It had to be her.

No, no, no, no, no!

The words pounded his skull. Liam burst into a half limp/half run, yelling at the shadow creatures and waving his arms hoping to scatter them. They looked at him curiously for a moment, then turned back to their prey and moved in.

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Happy to announce The Bloodstone Prophecy hit 100K reads today - woohoo! Thank you all so much for your dedication to this story. I appreciate it so much.

Just a quick reminder that the Shadow Wars Series are being featured in the Wattpad Block Party next Monday, July 13th! All the main characters from The Shadow Wars books are coming together that day for an interview as part of the Wattpad Summer Block Party! There will be lots of great answers to questions that have never been asked. It's also YOUR opportunity to ask your favorite characters any burning questions. 

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Dedication for this chapter goes out to SallySlater. I am thoroughly loving her book "Paladin" right now. She is also being featured in the Wattpad Summer Block Party, so be sure to check her and her giveaway out by clicking on the dedication link above!