Page 323 of Blade of the Nightking

Five…

The sudden silence rang in my ears.

I coughed, choking on the thick cloud of dust.

I opened my eyes.

The edge had stopped barely inches from my boots.

My breath escaped in a rush. The square was gone. In its place yawned a darkness with no visible bottom, an emptiness that echoed the hollow inside my chest.

A cold wind climbed from the pit, carrying the scent of damp earth and something older. Something that had lain buried longer than memory itself.

And far below, something moved.

My pulse lurched as another sound reached me.

A dull, rhythmic thunder rolled across the earth, from somewhere beyond the walls. The shrieks reached me a heartbeat later.

The Infected.

My eyes shot across the abyss to Rìan.

“Rìan...”

For one long moment, he held my stare. Then he turned on his heel and disappeared between the crumbling buildings.

“Rìan!”

There was no way across.

I pressed myself against the wall and edged toward the nearest staircase. Dust choked the air as I reached it and took the steps two at a time, scrambling for the top. I gripped the stone and looked beyond the walls.

A scream caught in my throat.

Thousands of Infected spilled between the trees in a writhing tide of death. In moments, they would reach the city.

My gaze flew to the front gate. “Saskia...” She was gone.

I leaped into motion, stumbling along the battlements, vaulting over the bodies of dead Plague-Hunters strewn across the ramparts.

“Rìan!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

My gaze raked the ruins of Midland, searching, searching…

There.

He was already near the front gates, heading toward the collapsed section of wall, one hand pressed to the place on his chest where our bond had been. Straight toward the Infected.

“Rìan!” The screams of the horde swallowed my voice. He didn’t turn.

Movement caught my eye.

An Infected exploded from the shadows of a nearby building, black-veined limbs moving with terrifying speed as it charged straight for him.

He hadn’t seen it. Oh gods…

Everything slowed.