Dark Empathy by Archibald Bradford (inspiring books for teens TXT) 📕

in her weakened state she was still a Chimera, and her strength was far superior to her opponent’s, but she was sluggish from too much bed-rest, meanwhile the warrior that she faced was in top form, as was readily apparent when they squared off.

The Amazon met her initial clawed swipe with a ruthless counter, gripping Evadne’s right wrist so her claws had nothing to tear into while simultaneously pulling herself in to slam her opposite elbow into the Chimera’s face, breaking her nose again.

Evadne let out a garbled hiss and, blinded by tears, let loose with her left arm in a wild swing that would have staggered Nina. But the Amazon ducked under it and pulled Evadne’s right arm down and to the side, forcing the stronger monster into an awkward stumble, slamming her into the overturned table.

The Chimera’s wrist was released in the move and she desperately wiped at the blood and tears on her face to clear her vision, only to have the Amazon’s spinning kick take her in the ear and smash her face into the table again.

Her face smeared a dark streak of her black blood down the metal surface as she slumped to the floor, dazed.

The sudden quiet in the room was punctuated by Jonathan letting out another grunting scream, his eyes wide and his mouth twisted grotesquely in terror at his own injury.

The Amazon’s chest heaved with exertion as she took in the results of her ambush; she didn’t think she could overpower the Chimera, but she was no fool and didn’t waste time gloating over the unexpected victory.

Instead Yana Brael drew a broad bladed dagger from the sheath nestled in the small of her back and stalked over to the traitorous Empath with death in her eyes.

But in the dark of the tunnel system, the brief combat caused no small amount of noise, and several dark eyed girls awoke from their unquiet slumbers.

Yana gripped Jonathan’s hair and he cried out as she bent his head back, one of his arms battering at her in desperate fear.

“Fitting that you should die a coward’s death.” She muttered as she brought the dagger under his chin.

But even as the razor edge of the blade bit into his flesh, she heard the rapidly increasing sound of footsteps on stone approaching her back and her instincts had her rolling over him at the last second to avoid the wild swing of an Antlion’s shovel, narrowly missing out on having her skull caved in.

When she regained her feet she recoiled in horror.

Three ant girls had flooded the room, armed with shovels and heavy picks.

In the light of the lanterns Yana could see that each set of brown eyes was swirling with darkness.

Her eyes drifted from one emaciated monster to the next, they made no move to attack her, but were blocking her path to her real target.

“So they found a queen after all. Bastards.”

From the tools they carried she knew that they were worker caste, not warrior, and she didn’t want to kill them, but her mission was too important.

She was running out of time though, as Evadne had recovered her senses and quickly regained her feet to push past the Tenebrae.

Yana’s eyes narrowed as she took in the wounded Chimera.

“When we met before, I was on the defensive. Unable to fight you like I would have wanted. You killed my war-sister, and I will have your blood for that.”

“When we fought before, I wasn’t even trying.” The Chimera hissed, black and bloody spittle flying off her lips.

Without warning Yana burst forwards, again Evadne was startled at the impossible speed from the Amazon.

The dark monster didn’t even see the knife before it was driven deep into her shoulder, though she certainly felt it as it scraped against bone.

She grunted in pain and her tail lashed out, but it hadn’t been the same since the Minotaur had stabbed it and so it was too slow to catch the blisteringly fast Amazon as she tore the blade free.

If she had been alone she would have lost, instead a pair of Antlion shovels blocked Yana’s follow up strikes.

The Amazon cursed as she shifted her focus to the Tenebrae, preparing herself to kill them.

“Damn you for making me do this.”

Together the Tenebrae tried to corral the Amazon, not behaving at all like other fallen girls she had faced.

But they were worker caste, not warrior.

She killed one of them before they even knew what happened, catching her shovel mid-swing and pulling herself forward to drive her blade with brutal force into the girl’s throat, bisecting her wind-pipe and throwing her against a wall of shelves.

Her antennae twitched spastically while her hands clutched at the blood blossoming from her neck, her darkened eyes wide in shock as she slumped to the floor to spend the last few minutes of her life gasping for air.

“Damn you.” Yana repeated as she turned on the other Tenebrae protecting the downed Evadne.

Once again she ducked back at the last moment, the girl’s spade nearly taking her nose off.

Worker caste or not, she was strong!

While their warriors were amongst the finest in the whole world when it came to ordered discipline and resolve, Antlion workers could easily lift many times their own weight above their heads.

The Amazon’s back was to Evadne now, still on the floor, and her focus was on the Antlion, so she missed the Chimera fumbling with something that had fallen off of the shelves taken out by the dying ant-girl nearby.

Though Yana had committed herself to killing the other Tenebrae, she never got the chance.

Abruptly her body seized up and her brain exploded with pain.

From the ground Evadne had struck at her, and she wasn’t armed with a shovel.

The lost-tech rod in the Chimera’s grip crackled