Elven Legacy

Chapter 79

Noah

White floors, ornate tapestries, small corridors, pale stone stairs, and then – more stairs, quite steep, these ones. More soldiers in his path, guarding for their emperor's sake, watching his back. Flashes of steel as Noah slashed, stabbed and forced his way through.

". . . the fuck out of my way!" he shouted at a guard in Felleran before his magic-coated knife sliced through his short sword near the hilt, then cut open his throat.

Noah ran.

In the lower levels now. Long corridor, with a door at the end. This is it. He knew, without knowing how. The catalyst's magic thrummed and vibrated from his chest and through all of him, as if in response; as if to tell him it was obvious.

Slight tiredness down the nerves of his arms and legs, something like fatigue gnawing at his forehead and temples – he ignored it all.

This isn't over.

Neros was down here. It was obvious. Too many guards, posted to defend him against intruders. Noah hacked his way through, slaughtered one after the other. A short blade nicked his shoulder once, another his stomach, but he was always too fast, too fucking fast, the energy in him too powerful, too intense, making everything else seem stupidly slow. He could see them coming, he could anticipate everything. He'd never felt this way before; this was some messed up, frantic, heightened state, he was afraid to even consider the implications—

He reached the door.

Locked.

There was a splintering whine, then a loud creak across the gloom, and the door burst from its hinges with a pop that made his ears ring. It hurtled backward then dangled comically in the air before it crashed into the dusty depths of the room. The tremor of steel smashing into stone raked the room like a small earthquake.

Noah stepped inside a shadowy chamber that stank of damp stone, dead vermin, urine, burnt flesh and blood, with only a small yellow glow from a lantern set on the floor at the far end of the room. And within that glow, the shapes of Neros and Jaden were revealed.

Jaden held up in the air by chains, Neros standing before him with his sword driven through Jaden's stomach. Neros startled by the noise, looking over his shoulder at Noah. Jaden didn't react – already passed out, or dead. Fuck, I'm too late.

The energy surged and obeyed thoughts before they could fully form.

Neros gasped in surprise as his feet left the floor. He went flying to the back wall and was pinned there. He shouted fearfully, though Noah couldn't understand the words. Didn't care anyway.

He stomped over to Jaden, standing beside the lamp. The sight of him clawed at his heart – dislocated shoulders, fresh burns across torso and neck, infection flaring around his chest wound. His face veiled by dirty hair.

Noah held Jaden by the hip, and with his other hand slid out Neros' sword, cringing at the jagged crunch it made and the sluicing of more blood. He sent tendrils of his energy filtering in there to begin the speed-healing process in case he was still alive. Noah hesitated to check for pulse or breathing, dreading what he'd find – or wouldn't find.

He tossed the gory sword away, vaguely hearing Neros shouting and squirming from where he was pinned to the wall. And he discerned, maybe, the booted steps of more guards tumbling down stairs in the distance.

The knives and chakram at his belt – already gory with the blood of their comrades – thrummed and pulsed like the energy inside him. Let them come. See what happens.