Page 68 of Secrets of Ruin

The thing staggered back to its clawed, hairy feet. When it moved, its hands dragged across the ground, and its potbelly jiggled. Green eyes, the color of bile, narrowed from beneath its prominent, rippled brow.

“Goblins!” Cole bellowed to be heard over the screams, clashing steel, and fists thudding against flesh.

It had been a while since Brokk encountered one of the creatures that could turn invisible. The dark fae cloaked themselves in shadows to avoid detection; goblins possessed a magic that made it impossible for mortals and immortals to see them.

The nasty bastards often sold themselves to the highest bidder during a war. The Lord had occasionally used them while waging his war against the humans, but not often.

Brokk hated working with the creatures. They were often fickle, and when things got tough, they would abandon whatever side they worked for without hesitation.

Aware this was common knowledge among immortals, they demanded half their payment upfront. With plenty of carisle already in their pockets, they didn’t care if they ditched the other half in favor of saving their asses.

Working with goblins was always a crapshoot that could backfire… or bring down destruction on the enemy. In the tight confines of this jungle, the goblins could rain down a path of invisible devastation.

Something crashed onto his back. The creature’s clawed fingers encircled his throat, but before they could slice his flesh, Brokk released Kaylia to yank the goblin over his head.

He smashed the creature onto the ground, planted his foot somewhere on its small, invisible body, and jerked upward. The goblin released an awful screech as he tore its arm free.

Whatever magic it used to cloak itself vanished. He used his sword to decapitate the tiny monster before kicking away its body.

As he did so, he realized they weren’t the focus of the goblins’ attention as Alina and the other dragon spun. Their jaws snapped at their back and stomachs; shrieks filled the air as the dragons tore them free and flung them away.

Some were visible again when they hit the ground, but others remained unseen. The dragons’ talons tore up the earth as they sought to shake free of the creatures clambering over them, tearing at them, and spilling their blood.

Members of their army scattered to get out of the way of the dragons’ tails and lumbering steps as the ophidians used the goblins’ distraction to close in on them. It was difficult to fight off the snakes when the dragons were becoming as big of a threat as the other creatures the ophidians unleashed on them.

Alina screeched, and blood spilled from a gash in her throat. She shook her head back and forth as she sought to avoid the goblin carving into her.

CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN

“No!” Lexi screamed.

Fire erupted from her hands. She raced toward the Speaker, but as she ran, Alina leaned back and launched herself into the air.

Alina rolled as she frantically tried to rid herself of her attackers. Another dragon launched into the sky to flee the goblins, leaving the rest of them to become the center of the small monsters’ attention.

Shadows rose and fell all around them, but without being able to see the goblins, they were useless against the terroristic monstrosities. They engulfed some of the ophidians in their dark embrace and tore them apart.

Blood and body parts from both sides littered the ground as swords clashed against each other, screams filled the air, the dragons roared, and bursts of fire took out more of the trees. Overhead, Alina stopped rolling and plunged back toward them. When she hit the ground, she yelled for Lexi, who had retreated to Del’s side.

“I’m not leaving!” Lexi shouted back.

Cole’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t protest her words. This wasn’t the place for the last living arach, but Lexi would never leave them to face this without her.

Brokk ducked an ophidian tail that lashed at his head as something crashed into his leg. He grunted when goblin teeth sank into his thigh.

“Motherfucker!” he spat.

Gripping his sword in both hands, he plunged it straight down. When the goblin reappeared, he saw he’d sunk his blade through the top of its head.

“Are you okay?” Kaylia yelled as she kicked away another goblin.

“I was briefly a snack, but all is well now!”

Brokk shook the creature free of his leg as thunder rumbled. A second later, lightning bolts hammered the earth, flinging up chunks of earth that rained debris over them.

The bolts slammed into some of the ophidians, exploding their heads or launching them into the jungle. The dragons swept out of the way of the lightning as the noise of the erupting earth added to the chaos.

More lightning blasted into the ophidians as its radiance created a strobe-like effect over the jungle. Shadows rose to engulf more ophidians as the invisible goblins launched themselves at unsuspecting immortals.