War released a gurgled sound as his eyes widened, and his fingers clawed at the blade. I bared my teeth at him as I twisted the sword in his neck. The sounds of our fight were drowned out by the thundering of hooves across the rock floor. Judging by the echo, Zorn and War’s horse were charging toward us.
I was about to slice War’s head off when his steed hit me in the side. The impact tore my hands from the hilt, lifted me off my feet, and flung me into the wall. Rocks gave way as my body went through them.
Chapter Twenty
Bale
I couldn’t stopmy jaw from dropping when Wrath attacked War. He was so fast it was almost impossible to detect his movements, and remarkably fluid; he was like the embodiment of water flowing over rocks. I vividly recalled battling him in the minotaur’s lair, but I now realized he hadn’t unleashed all his power on me.
Instead, he’d held back from the beginning of our fight. Had he sensed I was his Chosen before I did? It was the only thing that made sense; otherwise, our battle might have been a lot different.
The crushing blows he delivered to War with his elbow would have left another demon without their head. Though they didn’t decapitate War, they stunned him before Wrath plunged the sword into War’s neck. Hoofbeats resonated through the tunnel as War’s beast closed in on Wrath.
“Look out!” I shouted, but it was already too late.
The horse hit Wrath so hard that when he crashed into the wall, it gave way beneath the impact of his body, and he disappeared. With Wrath gone, the only source of illumination came from the flames surrounding his mount.
And those flames illuminated the malevolence in War’s eyes. He didn’t care if I was Wrath’s Chosen; he’d kill me. That knowledge, along with Wrath almost severing his fellow horsemen’s head, told me how much they all despised each other.
I ran toward War as he gripped the handle of the sword buried in his throat. His beast skidded to a halt near the wall and spun toward us. Its red eyes burned into me when I leapt onto War’s back as he pulled the sword from his throat. Wrapping my arms around his head, I yanked it up to expose the hole there.
I plunged my fingers into the hole as he stabbed at me over his back. I bit back a scream when the sword sank into my shoulder and went straight down to pop out under my armpit. Keeping the fingers of one hand in his wound, I seized his wrist as he started to pull the sword from my shoulder.
Halting his movements, I kept him from tearing the sword out of me and plunging it in again. However, I couldn’t stop his other hand from flying over his back and battering the side of my head. Stars exploded before my eyes. Digging deeper into his throat, I clawed at the sinew in the hopes of tearing it away.
The clattering sound of hooves rebounded off the rocks, but I didn’t have to look up to know War’s beast was coming at me. Like a crow on carrion, I tore at War’s throat while he bashed my head and blood pooled in my mouth.
The hot breath of War’s mount billowed across my arm a second before Wrath’s horse collided with it, and they spun out of my line of view. I buried my shock over Wrath’s mount defending me and gave up on trying to tear War’s head from his shoulders.
Deciding on a new line of attack, I released his neck and yanked the sword free. Before he could react, I plunged the sword into his shoulder.
War howled as his hand entangled in my hair. Before I could get a good grip on him, he ripped me over his shoulder and smashed me into the ground. When I tried to get more oxygen into my lungs, they refused to breathe. War gripped the sword in both hands and lifted it over me.
Ignoring the discomfort of my battered body, I rolled to the side as he drove the blade down and into the rock. Sparks flew, and the tip broke off to fly across the room. It bounced off one of the cave walls and skittered away into the darkness.
My breath wheezed in as I scrambled to my feet and raced at War. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I propelled him backward and into the wall as he joined his hands together and pummeled my back. The blow knocked my hold on him free and drove me into the ground.
With my breath knocked out of me again, I strained to inhale as I got my hands under me. He grasped my hair and plucked me off the ground as if I weighed no more than a feather. My toes dangled above the ground as I unleashed a series of punches into his belly and chest, but he was like hitting the rocks surrounding us.
The bastard didn’t have the decency to flinch when I punched him. He caught my hand before I delivered the next blow. Staring at me with a look of pure satisfaction, he squeezed until my hand crumpled and crunched like a bird’s wing in the jaws of a hound.
I clamped my teeth against a scream as my bones grated together and popped in a way no bone should ever pop. War’s red eyes danced with amusement until I smashed my left fist into his face.
His nose crunched, and black blood seeped down his face before he jerked me toward him and battered his forehead off mine. Stars exploded before my eyes as I drove my foot into his groin.
Still blinded by his blow, I couldn’t see his reaction, but I felt it when he slammed me into a wall. I didn’t think I’d ever breathe again as I kicked out and got my feet into his stomach. My hair, still caught in his hand, twisted my head to the side, and bent it at an unnatural angle as I pushed him away from me.
I blinked away the last of the stars filling my eyes as a bellow reverberated off the rocks. I couldn’t see Wrath, but his power emanating against my skin caused it to crackle with energy.
War’s head shot to the side as a series of bone-crushing blows rained down on his head and torso. Unable to keep his hold on me and fend off Wrath, War’s hand untangled from my hair. I hadn’t anticipated his sudden release of me, and I was still dazed enough that I couldn’t get my feet under me.
I hit the floor with a thud, but as much as I’d love to sit there, catch my breath, and see again, I couldn’t stay still. Scrambling to get away from the battling horsemen, I rolled across the floor, got to my knees, and staggered to my feet.
I lurched dizzily and blinked to clear my blurred vision. It took a couple of tries, but eventually, I was able to see Wrath and War battling each other with a frenzy that shook the walls and statues.
Beyond them, their horses were also fighting. They struck and kicked at each other as their teeth clacked, and they tried to take each other down. The horses blocked the tunnel where War had entered, but even if they didn’t, I couldn’t leave Wrath to this fight alone. He hadn’t abandoned me to his fellow horsemen and, enemy or not, I wouldn’t abandon him.
I sprinted across the floor and picked up the battered remains of War’s sword with my one good arm and hand. I was lucky my wounded shoulder and broken hand were both on my right side. I still had full use of my left side.
