CHAPTER FORTY-THREE（Untitled）Wranth

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Wranth

The moment Naomi pops out of sight, a swirling vortex appears right in front of the standing stone. Since I expected to be yanked by the tether, I’m braced and able to hold my ground.

Brokk and Garint go flying past me, and there’s an angry whinny from Zephyr and a yowl from Shadow, each being dragged on either side of me toward the door. They’re joined by the loud cry of a sluagh, right as the force of the vortex yanks me through.

I hurtle forward, sailing over Naomi’s head to land on the strange even rock of Naomi’s Earth. She’s on her hands and knees, but otherwise fine.

Which she won’t be if the soul stealer reaches her.

My sword leaps from its scabbard as I spin to face the door.

Where are the other orcs? Or my friends? If the door didn’t bring them here, where did it take them?

Aldronn flies through the door and recovers quickly, asking after Brokk and Garint, just as I ask about Zephyr and Shadow, all with negative answers.

By the goddess, we’re down most of our party right when the vile sluagh choose to attack! Damned dragon. If he were here, he could burn them out of the sky.

The first bird flies through, immediately followed by the entire flock.

I leap forward, skewering a bird out of the air, its blood-red beak opening on a piercing shriek right before it fades from view.

Aldronn fights beside me, all our long years of training together paying off. We know each other’s moves, never getting in each other’s way as our swords weave silver death through the air.

He’s an excellent fighter.

I’m better. While he’s needed to learn several skills to rule, I’ve had only the one thing to focus on—being a warrior. Besides which, I fight for the most important thing in all the realms.

I fight for my bride.

I catch glimpses of her out of the corner of my eye as she crabwalks backward away from us. I want to yell at her to leap to her feet, to run. But Naomi’s smart—if she could run, she would be.

Therefore, my bride is already injured, already in peril. The doorway moves with her, anchored by the crystal she carries. If more soul stealers come through, they’ll reach her easily.

A deep snarl tears from my throat. Anger fuels my every move, and I fight like a man possessed, twisting and slicing until the sluagh loses victim after victim from its flock. The remaining birds wheel upward, getting away.

No! They can’t be let loose on an unsuspecting world full of humans without magic. It will be a massacre, one that will make the sluagh far too powerful and swollen with the souls of many victims.

With a roar, I leap, sword in left hand to free my right. It lashes out, just brushing the wing of a fleeing bird, throwing it off course, even as it slips from my grasp.

“Fuck!”

A dark streak plummets from the roof of a nearby building, snatching a bird from the air as it sails to land on the hard ground in front of me with a thump.

“Shadow!” Naomi gasps from behind me.

The feline fae straightens, in his full cat form, a wiggling bird held trapped behind his fangs.

“Don’t kill it!” I yell, ripping my shirt over my head to make an improvised bag.

The cat sith drops the bird into it and says, “Yes, I know. Now thank me. I was magnificent.”

“You were all right,” I growl, a smile tugging at the corner of my mouth. I use the sleeves to tie my shirt closed and affix it to my sword belt.

The rest of the flock hangs above us, immobilized now that we’ve trapped one alive.

“Have you seen Zephyr?” I ask.

“No. I landed several buildings away from here and ran toward the sound of fighting.” He grins widely. “Somehow, I knew it would be you, orc.”

“You weren’t wrong.” Aldronn chuckles.

I huff in amusement and turn toward Naomi, ready to discover why she can’t stand.

Another sluagh flies out of the door and arrows straight for where she lies on the ground.

“No!” I leap forward, but it feels like I’m running through thick mud, everything slowed to an unbearable sluggishness.

Fear fists my heart. “My bride!”