Threads of Fate

Chapter 53 ~ What They Must Save

    Tissaia could barely see past the wind driven rain in her eyes as she and Talarion galloped towards the large structure they had caught sight of before the sky began to darken. Flashes of lightning illuminated the mountain face and the temple emerging from it, and Tissaia narrowed her eyes, spying several guards already stationed to intercept them.

    She drew the makeshift bow she had fashioned from the remnants of her old one and fitted an arrow in place. "Stay close to me when we get there!" Talarion called over the wind. "They'll try to separate us!" Tissaia only nodded in response, unsure if her brother had been able to see the gesture.

    As the next bolt of lightning split the sky, she loosed her arrow and watched as it struck one of the guards through the throat, taking him down. Talarion's teeth glinted in a cunning smirk while she prepped her next arrow.

    The guards were running at them now, but Tissaia kept her breaths measured, her focus steady, and released another arrow. As soon as the guards were in range, Talarion leaped off his horse and threw himself at them, his daggers and magic mere flashes of silver in the bursts of lightning.

    Tissaia slung her bow back over her shoulders and followed suit, brandishing one of Talarion's longer pair of scimitar daggers that could almost be classed as a shortsword in her hands. He had given it to her the day before when she pointed out that she hadn't recovered her own dagger after the fire.

    Tissaia raised a sparkling amethyst shield on her forearm and braced herself to take the first blow that fell towards her. The moment the male's sword made contact, she thrust her arm back and her shield forced the male to stumble. She sliced her dagger through his leather-clad stomach without hesitation and sprinted past, not waiting to watch him fall.

    She and Talarion remained a few paces from each other as they cut down each guard who threatened to intercept them. Tissaia barely looked at her brother, knowing she wouldn't recognize the male she saw there. She could hear it in the choking screams of each warrior who fell beneath his blades.

    Talarion wasn't granting them swift deaths. He was incapacitating them and letting them die suffering. Many of them reached towards her, pleading for mercy. She granted it by killing them instantly, ignoring the churning in her stomach.

    Finally, the last guard fell and they were sprinting towards the temple entrance. They had just reached the stairs when a pulse of energy tore from the temple, throwing both of them to their knees. Tissaia gasped for breath as Talarion grabbed her arm and dragged her upright.

    "What the Hel was that?" She panted. Her twin pointed into the temple and her eyes grew wide.

    Beams of crimson light flared from the chests of every warrior who encircled their father. Roshan himself stood upon a statue of Nepenthe, his bleeding hands uplifted as he spoke words she couldn't understand. Shadows whipped around the throng and speared through several of the warriors. They did not fall, but their heads were thrown back as the shadows pushed their way through their mouths and eye sockets.

    "What is he doing?" Tissaia all but screamed. "Do you see Kaius?"

    "Come on! We have to stop him!" Talarion said, not answering her question. He caught her wrist and they raced up the steps together.

    They burst into the chamber, but the warriors paid them no mind. "Father!" Tissaia shouted above the wind and chanting. "End this now!" She unslung her bow and leveled an arrow at his head as his gaze shifted towards her. Where it had once been a deep onyx, it now glowed with an unnatural bloody garnet light.

    Roshan's lips peeled back in a butchered grin. "It seems you both have one last purpose to fulfill after all. Bring them to me!" He pointed at them and the shadow plagued warriors lunged.