Bleeding Ink

Chapter 59

Chapter 59

Adeena's heart was in her throat as soon as Arloerin appeared on the horizon. Even though it had only been a few days, this arrival was different. Now, she had Odanth with her, not to mention Malik and Kav.

And she was going to see her sister for the first time since that fateful night when they were torn apart.

Seeing home, Odanth let out a roar that shook the very air around them. Malik tightened his hold on Adeena's waist, feeling the tension in her back as he was pressed up against her. It was a comfort having her friend with her, knowing they shared the same goal in getting to Cleo

"We'll get there in time," he said in her ear over the rush of wind around them.

Adeena held his hand tight in hers, words stuck in her throat.

Arloerin was getting closer.

Screeching unlike Adeena ever heard before sounded in the same direction.

"Oh, shit," Malik cursed then, immediately knowing what created those noises. "Go, Odanth! Go now!"

"What?" Kav called out from behind his brother. "What the hell was that?"

"Oskurreia. The same damn dark creatures we fought against in Escarral during the war," he answered through gnashed teeth.

Heart in her throat, Adeena urged Odanth to go faster, breaking through the wall of protective shadows Cleo had put over the city. With only one place to land without taking out several buildings, he headed for the palace courtyard. The screeching continued along with the screams and cries of those fighting below. She couldn't bare to see the carnage...

Until they were right in the middle of it as soon as Odanth touched down.

The usually beautiful and pristine Arloerin palace was on lockdown and surrounded by dark creatures Adeena could barely comprehend. She'd never seen anything like it before – skeletal creatures with blacked skin, bright red eyes, lengthened limbs, and talons that flashed even in the darkened sky. Sharp teeth glittered as they screeched again, every single one of them turning in their direction as soon as her, Malik, and Kav's boots touched the ground. The bodies of three guardsmen were torn to shreds and unrecognizable. The ones still alive were dripping with sweat and blood, their armor in tatters.

And then there was her grandmother Renna right in the middle of it all, still in her dress, sword in hand, and frozen as soon as she laid eyes on Adeena.

Adeena was hyper focused then, her magic humming inside her, even if she couldn't do anything with it against the dark creatures. They had no minds of their own to control, but they had souls she could latch onto, ones that were screaming for peace and rest.

But what they could do was bring her to the one who controlled them all – a familiar death god who she'd met once before, one that was nothing but a nightmare of her past.

Right now, though, she had to clear the palace courtyard and save her grandmother.

Before anyone could make a move, Adeena was running, her sword easily cutting through each of the creatures. The one problem was they couldn't die, now when they already were. That was her power, though, wasn't it? Her power over death, the very magic that had the dark god raging when she escaped him?

These were his creatures...but Adeena could make them hers, too, and free the souls inside.

Her magic whipped outward, tendrils of darkness that raced toward every single creature still left standing. Their screeching sounded almost...frightened...as the darkness curled around their blackened bodies, smothering and choking them, latching onto the trapped souls within them. Death held no power over her as she freed them one by one, those bodies disintegrating into piles of ashes swept away by the breeze that whipped through the courtyard.