"Everybody, get back!" I yelled. I put my hands on a bulky, metal desk near the wall and aimed it at the window. Ignoring my leg as it screamed in pain, I pushed the chunk of metal with all my might across the polished stone tiles. It smashed through a towering, oblong window and plummeted hundreds of feet to the ground in a rain of glass. All the air sucked out of the room, threatening to take me with it. My nails dug into the floor as I clung for dear life. Finally, the pressure in the room normalized and my body went limp.
The drone of enormous engines bellowed through the broken window. The airship was close enough to reveal silhouettes of people rushing around behind its portholes. Daun ran over and helped me up. "Danth, what are you doing?"
Ignoring Daun, I shuffled over to the High Lord and pushed his corpse out of the throne. I hooked my hands beneath the arms of the dead Privus ruler. "They'll definitely see this," I said through gritting teeth as I dragged the body to the window and tossed it out unceremoniously.
Royal blue robes whipped wildly in the wind as the corpse of the High Lord fell like a stone. The free-falling body impacted violently with the black ground on the other side of the wall and exploded in a cloud of ash. The High Lord's crystal crown rejoined him a split second later, blasting into shimmering, azure powder.
"Are you watching, you bastards!" yelled Daun, staring at the airship. I had never seen her so angry—or elated.
"The light's on!" yelled Sheln. "They're listening!"
YOU ARE READING
The Ashen Wrath (Watty's SHORTLIST recipient 2018) CHAPTERED VERSION
Science FictionA science fiction novella in 76 chapters. (CHAPTERED VERSION FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE) The Privus live a life of safety and luxury in The Walled City, while the Thrall are forced to labor in isolated fields and factories. Menacing machines keep the work...
