Destiny's Blood by Marie Bilodeau (superbooks4u txt) 📕

again on the army. The smell of tar struck her nostrils and made her gag. The creatures gurgled towards them.

“Loran, fire!” Ardin screamed across. Loran fired the first shot, and Ardin paired it with one of his own. The two blue bombs exploded in the midst of inky black. Some creatures melted and vanished in smoke, and others shrieked and shied away from the blue light. A few seconds later, the ether had vanished and the hole was already filling with more creatures.

Ardin cast a look at Avienne. She grinned at him and cocked her head sideways. “What? Didn’t you know that heroics require shedding blood?”

He gave her a slight grin and she turned back, firing her weapon. Counting the creatures and the seconds the bomb had bought them, she quickly realized, as had Ardin, that it would not be enough. Three more shots were fired, but still the creatures closed in fast.

“Fire all weapons!” Ardin screamed, his voice echoing off the broken buildings below. “For Mirial!”

The cry echoed back to him. The Mirialers fired their weapons, but the creatures were only marginally slowed by them. Avienne held the trigger for a second longer, finally pushing down on it. The gun gave a satisfying thump as it fired its last shot. The bomb landed in the middle of the creatures.

“Three, two, and one,” she counted. The creatures were swallowed the hole by the end of the countdown.“That was my last shot.” Avienne leaned against the gun, watching the creatures get closer.

Ardin fired his gun one more time, and Avienne looked with detached interest at the landing explosion.

Three, two and one.

“One more, but let’s wait until they’re just a bit closer.” Ardin backed away from his gun and took a swig of water, handing the skin to his sister. She took a deep swig from it as Ardin aimed the large gun towards a nearby bell tower, the metal creaking in protest.

“I think I’m getting used to this stuff,” she said with a grin.

Ardin shook his head. “I guess I did witness a miracle this day.”

Avienne secured her belt of knives. She had twenty-four, and had counted them many times to make sure. If the ether in them was strong enough to kill one creature, she could take out twenty-four. And at the monsters’ current speed and sheer number, they would close the hole in under three seconds. The knives were too short to wield against the creatures — they would have to rely on the longer blade for that. Even if her brother was good with a sword, he was unpractised in real battle. And, despite the Mirialers’ wish to help, only she and her brother had ether weapons. They had barely been holding ground for five minutes, and already they were losing.

The creatures had neared the ramparts when Ardin fired his last shot. The bright green shell sped over the creatures, sending a few scattering in the wake of its heat, and struck the ivory tower near its foundation. Energy rippled the stones and a blast hurtled from it, sending the siblings to take cover as the tower toppled and fell into the black creatures, its bell tolling a final plaintive cry.

The Malavants stood back up, Avienne taking another deep swig as Ardin stared intently and waited for the curtain of dust to fade. As the cloud dissipated, they heard the creatures before they saw them. They were climbing the ramparts, barely slowed by the tower. The creatures grunted their way up the other rampart first. Loran and her two teammates drew their guns. Ardin took a step towards them, but Avienne held him back.

“They’re too far away, and this is our best ground for fighting.” Ardin nodded and stood his ground, watching Loran until he lost her in the maze of darkness.

Avienne felt the wall shake and saw the first monster approach.

“Blood and bones, this is a smelly way to go,” she muttered, unsheathing her first knife. She let it fly, followed by her second. Dark creatures tumbled before her, but were replaced too quickly.

She hoped she would find a way to keep her promise to Yoma.

i

Layela paid attention to every sound, every smell, every change in the wind. Anything to tell her what might strike. She knew her sister did the same as she walked beside her, their hands still firmly clutched.

The vision had shown them many details, but never how the blood had come to flow so freely. Zortan was not far, scouting a few metres ahead, his walk tense as they approached the shadows of the great temple.

Her steps wavered and she took a deep breath as the shield vanished and the Victory flew away. They all paused. Seconds, maybe even a minute passed before they heard the first shots fired by the Malavant siblings and their makeshift army.

The capital fell silent for a few seconds, and then thunder shook the ground below them, a bell tolling loudly.

The tolling of bells. Ardin! Could that be the bell, tolling Ardin’s final moments? She knew a bell was part of his end, but she had been unwilling to see the vision. She had believed it wouldn’t matter, that the future could not be stopped or changed. What if she had been wrong? What if she could have saved him?

She felt her heart lurch and Yoma squeezed her hand. Layela turned to look at her sister, seeing her questioning look. She swallowed hard, the echoes of the bell forming a lump in her throat. Looking deep into her sister’s green eyes, Layela tried to find the same truths Yoma had seen, wondering if death haunted her as well.

Then a movement behind Yoma caught her eyes, glinting red in the vanishing moonlight.

Mists clouded her vision for just a second, all thoughts of Ardin vanishing as she saw the blade that would take her, and she felt the pain in her back. She could avoid the blow, this she knew, since she had seen where it would land on her. But to