“It would only drain me faster. And we don’t need two bodies to carry out of here.”
“Damn.” Thom cut down another Shade, narrowly missing its black hole when he heard Rafferty yelp.
“Thommy!” the weasel called.
Thom whirled, but Brea was already there. She slashed the Shades that drew too near the three men in the center, saving them from certain death.
Heaving a single relieved breath, Thom turned back to the front, determined to get them out of there. If they could get Deckard to safety first, then they could go back for the others. The Shades couldn’t leave the Keep, could they? So all they needed to do was get Deckard into the antechamber, and then they could ensure the safety of the rest.
With a surge, Thom slashed and hacked and pushed ahead. His eyes stung with the sweat and blood that trickled into them. He couldn’t see clearly, but it didn’t matter. He had to keep pushing onward. He had to get them to safety. This was his one purpose. This was his redemption. If he could save Deckard and Evylin, everything else he’d screwed up in his life would be atoned for.
He had to get them out.
Thom cut down another Shade. It burst into a supernova of shards, slicing his arms and face. He barreled back to avoid the void twisting in its gut. And in doing so, turned himself straight into the path of a Shade.
The creature brought its knife-like arm down, and Thom tried to raise his sword, but he couldn’t move fast enough.
A sharp, piercing sensation tore through his gut.
Thom gasped. Blood filled his mouth, coating his tongue in the taste of iron. He looked down to find his stomach ripped open by the Shade’s attack. Stumbling, his body trembled. The Shade drove its foot into the side of his knee. He cried out as the joint shattered.
Thom fell to the floor, his head slamming against the glass-like infinity of the floor. His vision grew spotted. Nebulae swirled. Starlight blazed. Vortexes twisted.
Above him, the Shade reared back, and Thom knew he was about to die.
He’d failed his mission, his purpose, his family.
A vibrant violet light rammed into the Shade’s head. It burst into a thousand shards. Then a pair of arms was around Thom’s chest, pulling him back and away from the black hole that opened in the creature’s core.
“You can’t die yet,mi’caro,” Brea said with a fierce growl as she dragged him away. She released him and sprang back intoaction. With a fury, she fought the Shades. The Warrior was a blur of speed, strength, and power.
But it wouldn’t matter.
Thom lay on the ground, gasping and spluttering for breath. He couldn’t move. He could hardly breathe.
With one hand on his splayed guts, Thom’s body began to shake. He was dying. He knew it. No matter how staunchly Brea defended him, the world was growing ever darker as the battle raged around him.
Thom turned his head, the expansive floor cold against his temple. He saw the Keep’s iron door waiting in the distance.
Fifty yards.
He’d gotten them fifty yards away.
Tears slipped out of Thom’s eyes. They could do it. If Evylin and the others could make it to them, the group could cross the final distance. He might die, but they would live.
Thom turned back to look for Evylin. He couldn’t see her through the fray. But he heard her voice. She was calling for him. He smiled sadly. His death in exchange for her life. It seemed fitting.
His eyes drifted to Deckard then, his brother hanging limply between Rafferty and Vayden. Desperately, Auden fought around them in weakening flares of golden light. Thom’s brow furrowed. While Brea was defending him, she’d left Auden alone to protect the others. Rather than let him die, she’d risked their lives.
A blast of blinding light burst apart several Shades in front of Auden. The blowback sent hundreds of cuts across his body. He backed away to escape the reach of their inner collapse. Then he turned and sent another burst of light to the other side of the men. The Day magic flared, shielding them. But Auden was wearing down. His gestures were weak, and his reactionssluggish. Without a doubt, he was dangerously close to passing out.
Brea continued to defend Thom’s slowly dying form. Auden whirled, prepared to strike at another group of Shades. And neither of them noticed the Shade that leaped forward from the creatures’ ranks.
Thom opened his mouth, prepared to warn them, but only a gurgle of blood slipped free.
“Auden!” Ilain’s scream ripped across the Keep just before the Shade wrapped its cutting arms around his waist, tackling him backward.
As if in slow motion, Thom watched as the weight of the Shade drove Auden back and into the collapsing Shades behind them. It bore him into the very enemy he’d killed to defend Deckard, Rafferty, and Vayden only a second before.
