AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The sense of relief was even stronger than the motor oil taste that was filling my mouth from the street-soiled pendant.
Yes! This is it!
The tracker was still screaming, seemingly unhinged by my actions. “Why would youdothat? Who eventhinkslike that?” He scraped himself off the road and tried to lunge at me, blind to the danger that was Noctus.
Noctus grabbed him from behind, dragging him backwards and away from me.
I ignored his shouts and concentrated on keeping my mouth shut while I fixed my hold on my sword, my feeling back in my fingers.
Well. Now what?
I couldn’t swallow the pendant—it was way too big. But I didn’t want to run around with it in my mouth—even now I could feel it fighting to get free. If I didn’t keep my teeth clenched shut…
Oleander was able to tear the vine-y spell off her, and after she staggered to her feet—I could see awful burn marks through the new holes in her clothes—she hurried to the humans, grabbing the dying magic and tearing it off them.
Prydwen’s bird helped free him, pulling a tendril off his face before he and the creature staggered off to help Oleander and the humans.
Pat, more delicate than the two elves in his human body, groaned. “Chloe?”
I crouched next to him, trying to touch where the magic hadn’t burned him.
“What happened?” Pat coughed, his voice hoarse, then looked up, blinking with bloodshot eyes. “Who’s the knight?”
I gently patted his shoulder—unable to answer him.
“I’ll kill you!” the tracker shouted, his eyes wild as he tried to crawl across the street toward me. “I’ll never stop until I’ve spilled your blood! Leadership said to ignore you, but I knew better!”
“You will stop,” Noctus said, his voice so dark and raspy I barely recognized it. “Or you will die.” There was something about the roughness of his voice—he sounded less controlled than usual, more on edge.
“No.” The tracker ignored Noctus, even though the elf king placed his foot on the tracker’s back and pushed him flat against the ground. “She’s a shadow, her bloodmustbe spilled, it’s my life calling!” The markings on his neck glowed as he—in his apparent insanity—tried to summon magic and pointed his finger at me.
“Then your life is over.” Noctus’s rapier exploded with light so bright I had to close my watering eyes.
When the light faded, I risked opening an eye.
The tracker was collapsed on the ground, his eyes glossy with the vacant stare of death, his body motionless.
He was dead.
For a moment, my relief was so strong it made me dizzy.
I was safe again. Pat and Joy were safe. Myfamilywas safe.
It was followed by a swift stab of guilt. I didn’t want to be the kind of person who rejoiced over death, and the Curia Cloisters had wanted to question him for his possible connections to that shadowy organization.
But the weight of fear that had dogged my every step for months was gone. It was over!
Noctus nudged the tracker with his boot, flipping him over. With his helm on I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but it seemed like he was following old training as he crouched down next to the tracker—still holding his rapier with his right hand—and searched the body.
I opened my mouth to release the biggest sigh of my life.
A wisp of onyx magic drifted out of my mouth.
Shoot! The spell is still going!
I snapped my teeth shut with enough force that I felt the click inside my skull.How are we going to destroy this thing? Maybe Noctus can break it with his rapier? I should find my cellphone so I can type out questions and answers since I can’t talk.
I wasn’t too bothered by this twist; my trouble was coming to an end, after all. The spell was a problem, but so was the destroyed asphalt, and the captives.
