AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The haunting cries of children filled the air. The moans of the undead. The sounds of lifeless yet hungry despair.
Pallid faces contorted in twisted expressions appeared in the portal.
Screams erupted around me.
And then the children fell from the heavens.
They landed upon the stone table, unscathed, and were quickly up on their feet, looking around them with searching starved expressions.
More were coming, more and more falling through Celeste’s portal.
“To me!” I heard Draven shout. “Don’t let them get into the crowd. If you have weapons, draw them now, challengers! Use everything you have at your disposal.”
“The Queen! Protect the Queen Regent!” Avriel roared from beside him. “Into formation. Shield your queen, Siabra!”
My heart was racing. The competitors around Draven and Avriel were doing as they said.
Lyrastra had already engaged a child. Pulling small blades from her gown, she was slashing away mercilessly. Her eyes were wide and disbelieving. Perhaps she had heard the rumors. Today she had learned they were true.
The crowd was panicking. Many were running for the door, only to find it barred. Celeste’s doing, I assumed. Or perhaps there were more rebels than just herself.
Other Siabra were pulling out weapons or unsheathing their claws. Some brave ones were leaping over seats to join Draven, Lyrastra, and the other challengers below.
“Odessa,” I heard Draven shout. “You know what to do.”
His eyes glanced over at me and I saw something unexpected there. Fear. He was afraid. Not of the children. No, he had met them head-on before and prevailed.
Draven was afraid for me.
Odessa was already standing, shouting orders to Crescent and the others down our row.
She was just in time.
As Draven had spoken, Celeste had turned. Her beautiful face was twisted with hate as she looked at me. Our eyes met with a jolt.
“Your prince cares more about his half-blood plaything than his people, Siabra,” she screamed over the chaos. “More about power than about redemption. We all know the reason. Is he above you all? Does he think he will be exempt? Kill the girl. She dies here tonight. He will have nothing. For nothing is what we deserve.”
“She’s mad,” Odessa muttered from behind her. “How does any of that make sense?”
Celeste sounded as if she were riling the Siabra, expecting rebels to come out of the crowd and join her in assassinating me.
But instead to my shock, she pointed a finger towards me and with a flash of some inexplicable power, some of the horde of children around her turned towards me in unison.
She had control over them. Somehow, they were following her lead. How was such a thing possible? I had no idea.
“Kill Prince Kairos. Kill the Queen Regent. Kill the para–” That was all Celeste had time to say before blood spilled from her lips and I saw Draven’s knife protruding from her throat.
Celeste’s body fell to the ground as Draven leaped onto the table, charged through the children, and pulled the knife from her body, turning just in time to use it again to slice one of the monstrous children’s head’s off as it lunged to bite.
A powerful weapon. And to think I had thought it might only be ceremonial or decorative.
I felt naked without my own weapon.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Odessa had pulled out her blades. She held one out to me, her scarred face rigid.
“Here. With luck, you won’t need to use it.”
The sword was forged from black steel and possessed a wickedly serrated edge on one side. The other boasted a series of jagged runes etched in crimson. I took hold of the hilt, wrapped in dark leather, and shot her a look of appreciation.
