Chapter 7

Azran

Bursting through the door panels with a ferocious roar, I stumble, nearly losing my footing with my bloodied sword in hand.

Barely recovered, I break into a run, though the muscles in my legs protest. With one arm wrapped around my waist to stanch my open wound, I compel one foot in front of the other. Warm liquid pulses under my palm, dripping through my fingers, drenching my shirt and dyeing it crimson.

Echoes of the fight I narrowly escaped fill the halls as my vision blurs from the pain exploding in my head with each step. Growled commands, clashing blades, distorted squelches of weapons finding their marks, and cries of pain reach my ears.

Turning a corner, I bump into a table edge, vaguely aware of something crashing down to the floors. I barely register the scattered debris, my body fueled by adrenaline as I propel myself forward. The flesh around my stab wound burns hot as fire, but I don’t dare look or slow down until I reach the end of the hallway.

With a pained groan, I shove yet another door open, the momentum sending me stumbling several steps. Blinding pain flares in my shoulder but I push on.

Muffled clashes of steel fade to a muted clamor as I round the sharp angle of a wall and struggle to determine which way is out. Sweat mixed with blood clouds my vision, burning my eyes as I blink furiously.

Adrift in identical corridors bleeding into one another, I lose all grasp of time or direction as growing frustration floods my veins. My eyes dart around, assessing every option while blistering rage burns in my chest. I stagger on.

My strength is leaving me, slowly draining from my body as I push myself further than I’ve ever needed to before.

My power is pulsing in my core, though it remains beyond my reach. Each attempt I make to unleash its raw energy yields another burst of pain in my head.

My heart sinks the moment I give up trying, and the ragged breaths I take turn to groans. I try to suck down air to ease the fire burning in my lungs, but only the sharp taste of copper coats my tongue.

Shouts tear through the silence and a pit opens in my stomach, for that can only mean one thing—my soldiers are dead.

They sacrificed their lives to give their High Lord a chance to escape, and I left them behind. Betrayal twists in my gut as my body slows.

Numbness spreads down my thighs, the muscles seizing and rendering them useless. My legs turn traitorous, refusing my mind’s commands to keep going as they harden like stone, leaving me at the end of the hallway with no escape in sight.

“Damn you,” I bitterly curse whichever God may be listening.

Pressing my shoulder against the door on the left, I find it unyielding, barred from within. I unleash a string of curses under my breath as I’m forced to backtrack the way I came.

With the stomping of boots sounding ominously through the halls, I invoke the last of my strength to keep going, repeating the same words over and over in my head.

I shall rest when I’m dead.

I shall rest when my enemies lay dead at my feet.

I shall rest when Ela is in my arms.

Renewed hope ignites in my soul when my gaze lands on a staircase. Pressing my palm against my waist, I redouble the pressure on the throbbing gash, trying desperately to stanch the steady flow of burgundy seeping between my fingers as I near the landing.

“There,” calls a strident voice on my trail, punctuated by quickening steps that break into a run.

I glimpse a horde of attackers swarming the corridor to trap me. My knees wobble dangerously as I lurch onto the stairs. I thrust my arm out to brace against the stone wall, grappling for balance.

“Come on,” I grit out between clenched teeth, steeling my nerve and mustering my resolve.

Blood pours from my wound once more, soaking my shirt and the back of my thighs.

“Keep going,” I rumble under my breath, the words a battle cry to myself, stoking the embers of my heart.

Squaring my shoulders, I repeat my mantra, using it to fan the flames of my purpose.

I shall rest when I’m dead.

I shall rest when my enemies lay dead at my feet.

I shall rest when Ela is in my arms.

“Stop him!”

A voice rings out on my heels as I stumble frantically down the stairs.