Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Several darkened hollow had broken through the lines of fighting vampires and we were once again battling the beasts. Altyr handed me a sword that was far too heavy for me, instructing me to stay back. The hollow weren’t attacking the Lightbringers as they swarmed the gate. Bazak had led his entire battalion here for the assault, somehow controlling the hollowed ghouls as he did so.

“How is he controlling them,” Orrin screamed out as he threw Lenora’s corpse over his shoulder. I knew he wasn’t going to leave her still warm body for those creatures to suck dry.

Shaking his head, Altyr yelled back, “I don’t know. We have to get out of here! We can’t fight them all!”

The surrounding vampires were having a difficult time fighting the hollowed and now several Lightbringer soldiers. Their weapons were glowing with a light I knew well, the Light of Life. They were overwhelming us. A hollow moved in for the attack toward us and Altyr easily struck it down, its head rolling to a stop at my feet.

Several hollow moved in on our right and Altyr had to step away from me to attack. He was swinging wildly, chopping them down for them to only be replaced as soon as he felled one. Motion caught my eye to my left, and a hollow was lunging for me. I tried to lift the sword to deflect the creature, but the sword only slowed it’s movements by swatting the weapon from my hands.

I jumped away, trying to put distance between me, and the creature as it lunged. Panic overwhelmed me as I desperately dodged its claws. Every step away put me further and further from Altyr. He couldn’t protect me if I went too much further, but it was all I could do to stop the sharp claws dripping with darkness from pulling my insides out.

I screamed at the creature with anger, letting my own darkness take over. Thrusting my hands into its mouth, pulling the teeth wide, I let the darkness take over my strength as I ripped the mouth wide. The sharp teeth tried to cut into my skin, but the darkness wouldn’t allow it as I pulled with all my might at its jaw. The squelching noise it made as I ripped the creature’s face in two even made me gag.

Its jaw hung on my fingers as the rest of its body fell to the ground with a thud. I looked up to see Altyr staring at me mouth agape at what I had just done. A mere human just ripped a hollow’s face in two. Shaking away his surprise, he cut down another darkened hollow as he rejoined me.

Vampires around us weren’t fairing as well as the ghouls overwhelmed them. Screams of anguish and the wet noises made when the ghouls sunk their teeth into their victims echoed across the field. We were losing.

These people were here for a party. They weren’t prepared for a war. The weapons they had were small and made to hide under fancy clothing, not take on hollow and Lightbringers at the gates. There wasn’t much they could do to take on the creatures, not like this. I knew that was the entire plan of Bazak’s.

Orrin was close by us as Altyr yelled at the other vampires to flee. A Lightbringer broke through the hollow, poised to take us on. They were ignoring the Lightbringers entirely, letting him pass by with little thought. The hollows were focused on the vampires, focused on consuming their darkness. Orrin parried the Lightbringer, but his weapon was glowing. Being as close as it was to Orrin, he cried out in pain from the light.

Altyr moved in to block another swing. Orrin was having a hard time moving well with Lenora’s body draped over his shoulder. Altyr parried a blow and made a swing of his own. The sword hit the armor of the Lightbringer soldier and bounced off with a bright light. The two vampires jumped backward toward me, putting some distance between them.

“Their weapons and armor are somehow infused with light,” Orrin said in exasperation.

I grabbed their blades and forced the misting on my arms toward it. Pulling away from my body, it crawled out of my fingertips and wrapped around the two swords. A wave of exhaustion hit me as I pushed the blades back. “Then we will fight with the abyss!”

The Lightbringer lunged forward just as Orrin moved his blade up in defense. The glowing weapon bounced off his, the darkness pushing back against the light. I saw Altyr smirk at the event before lunging forward. Pulling the blade down with all his strength and speed, he was able to cleave the blade right through the magical armor, through the wards of light, and into the man’s chest. It embedded itself deeper than Lenora had experienced.

There was no moment of life at the end, Altyr had done too much damage. He looked back at me with a satisfied smile. Putting his foot on the Lightbringer’s chest, he pulled his blade out from the warm corpse. “Well, that worked.”

“Do it again,” ordered Orrin as more Lightbringers were breaking through.

“I can’t do it again! I don’t have that much darkness,” I said as I looked down to the darkness only misting at my wrists. “We have to go!”

More ghoulish hollow charged at us and I watched as the two men contemplated the situation. Altyr pulled at Orrin’s sleeve and turned away. Grabbing my hand, we attempted to flee. A hollow came at us on my side, but I used the light I still held inside to make a quick flash of a barrier as I once had from Nathaniel. The creature struck the barrier and started screeching in pain as it sizzled away.

Altyr just shook his head again, at an utter disbelief of my abilities. I wasn’t just able to control people, but apparently I could stop hollow and Lightbringers alike. We cut our way through them as we ran.

We neared the stairs of the castle where we found Morina fighting three Lightbringers and several hollow all by herself. Her Lightened hollow laid dead at her feet with a sword still in his hand. Altyr looked at me. The woman had been nothing, but a pain in my ass but she was an ally against these creatures and we couldn’t let her die like this.

I grabbed their two blades once again. If I didn’t help these people out, these villains, I wouldn’t make it out. The clattering of weapons, the squelching of claws through meat, the screams of anguish all assaulted my ears. I wasn’t sure how to manipulate the darkness, how to will it through my hands again. Pushing on the darkness that always hung at the edges of my mind, I willed it to infuse the weapons.

I watched as it slithered from my wrists, down my fingers, and into the weapons. There wasn’t as much as before, but they were tainted and darkened. Pulling Lenora off Orrin’s shoulder, I freed him of his responsibility. He turned to Morina, who was whipping streams of literal darkness through the air, tearing down the assailants as she did so. Orrin nodded to Altyr and the two of them ran into the crowd.

The three vampires, two with darkness infused weapons, made quick work of the hollows leaving only the Lightbringers to fight. Orrin and Altyr were now working in tandem, neither blinded by rage, and easily took care of two of them.

Morina stood proud between them as the final Lightbringer charged at her, his weapon glowing brightly in the night. In a quick move, she wrapped the whip of darkness around his neck, trapping his lifted arm underneath. Running at full speed for him, I watched as she leapt through the air. Wrapping her body around his, she twisted him to the ground, snapping his neck.

In one graceful move she was back on her feet, ready to fight more. I couldn’t make out what Altyr said to her, but they all looked at me. Nodding, she turned around and ran straight toward me. In mere moments she was close by. Giving me a hateful glare, she said in a low tone, “We won’t forget about you,” before running past me.

“We have to go. Morina was one of the last of the noble houses out here. All that remains are soldiers and lesser houses,” he said with a look of exhaustion. “We can’t fight their magic. Not like this.”

Another explosion had us all ducking as wind and light pushed dirt around us. The outer walls were crumbling. A massive wave of hollow climbed over the rubble, entering the castle. Both their faces drained of color as the overwhelming force clawed their way toward us. Orrin took Lenora’s body back and tossed it over his shoulder.

“No time to argue,” Altyr said before whisking me up into his arms. He used that strength and speed I had seen before and bolted out toward the back, smaller gate. It was the gate he had told me about before, the one he advised that has an illusion on it. I hoped that illusion had worked and that the Lightbringers weren’t waiting outside for us. It was our only chance at escaping.

When we reached it, too many hollow and vampires were still pushing their way through the bottleneck. Orrin looked to us and said, “I will go over top and get the horses. I have them stashed at one of the buildings out there. I had a feeling not to trust this castle with them.”

“We’ll have a talk about that later,” Altyr said as Orrin gave him a brief hug. With ease, he jumped over the wall and away from the fleeing people.

I looked to Altyr and said, “they have to get through, that army of hollow are coming.”

“I know,” he shook his head at the slow-moving crowd and yelled, “thousands of hollow are coming over that wall, move it or we all die!”

Even more panicked screaming ensued as they started trampling over one another. We watched as several other vampires did as Orrin had and simply jumped the wall. All the servants, all the hollow, they couldn’t do this, they had to fit through the small gate.

The thunder of feet behind us had me looking behind Altyr. My stomach dropped as I saw the Lightbringers riding their horses directly for us with an army of hollow pulling and scraping at the ground at an incredible pace.

“Altyr…”

Their hoof beats were echoing across the ward.

“I know.”

The wall of creatures were crawling over the stone walkways and statues.

“Altyr!”

I could hear his panicked breathing as he looked around at all the people still inside.

“I know!”

They were nearly upon us, Lightbringers held their glowing swords high above the mass of ghoulish hollow. That’s when I saw him, Bazak. He was leading the charge, straight for the fleeing people. The people who were screaming in horror at the army he was leading. Didn’t they see what they were doing? Didn’t they know these people were humans?

Pulling the reins tightly, his horse slid to a stop as his eyes met mine. The absolute hatred that was pooling over them at me could have filled a lake. He knew I was there, and he knew I was trying to escape his wrath once again. I saw him raise his sword and point directly at us.

“He really hates you,” Altyr tried to jest.

“Yeah, well, I really hate him.” I looked back over my shoulder at all the people trying to still frantically escape, the people who were climbing over one another to flee the horde of hollow. “He wants us. Will he follow?”

Looking back to the crowd he understood what I meant. If we could lead Bazak away from the people, maybe they could still yet survive. Shaking his head, his silver hair floating back and forth, he gritted his teeth and said, “Let’s try.”

Taking a big breath, he jolted away in the opposite direction. It worked. A majority of the group started following us off to the left, away from the crowd. All I could hear was the pounding of my heart in my chest and Altyr’s heavy breathing as he carried me away from the people. Screams started behind us as several hollow and Lightbringers continued their assault. We couldn’t save all of them, but we could save some.

I looked behind us once again only to see Bazak nearly upon us atop his steed.