AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Shield.”
The metal flattened, reformed, and swirled around. A beautiful, brand-new gleaming shield shone under the midday sun.
“What do you think, guys?” I smiled at my reflection. “Would this work against a couple of medusas?”
All around the huddle, they smiled back.
Chapter Twenty
We landed in the midst of the battle, springing into action.
A sword fell, clanging sharply on Ionna’s borrowed shield. Maybe it was because Vasili spent all his time training the Titans while we were stuck digging shitpits, but it wasn’t until that day I realized Ionna was a quick and agile fighter—spinning, rolling, striking, and dodging while her opponent was still scratching their head, blinking in the wrong direction and wondering where she went.
The centaurs fell into battle formation, thundering straight for Tycho.
“Come to me,” Tycho boomed—the words of power resounded. “Defend us.”
Daciana shifted—changing quicker and stronger than ever under the gift of the full moon. She launched onto the roof as the archer notched his bow, biting his arm clean off before it delivered a death sentence on my love. She tore through their defensive line—bounding from rooftop to rooftop, slaughtering them out of formation.
Their lead centaur sounded off—bellowing a series of neighs and grunts to regather and refocus his force. Then, he seized.
Rearing on their hindlegs, the half-men squad devolved, abandoning all sense of battle as they shook, threw down their weapons, clutched their heads, andscreamed.I turned away as they exploded.
“Now!”
Ionna, Theron, Tycho, Nitsa, Alex, Jason and I descended on the fallen weapons, arming ourselves as the buzzing rattle reached our ears.
“Time to go.” Winking, Theron ran off, jumping over the fallen centaurs, and rounding the corner. An explosion rocked the ground. Screams, parts, and snake bits rained from the sky.
“That’s your cue, love.” Alex kissed me hard. “Good luck.”
Ionna tossed me the shield. I hopped on Cow Nitsa’s back and we took off, clomping down the barren streets. Centaurs swarmed us—coming from all sides, but we weren’t afraid.
Hanging, broken necks. Impaled chests. Missing limbs. Theron’s army of the dead would aid us.
Nothing would stand in our way of finding the key.
“Where could it be?” I called against the wind. “Is it in one of these buildings? Checking them all would take forever.”
Nitsa leaped a fallen column, soaring past a side street.
“Wait! There,” I cried. “There it is.”
Whipping around, she returned to the entrance of the street. I slid off her back, catching my breath as the centaurs fell in around me.
I was looking at what used to be a town square. The buildings all faced it, circling a large, stone fountain that was glorious in its time. A flaming chariot reached for the sky, surrounded by snapping dogs and snarling boars. A bearded, stone man covered in armor and wearing a sword on his hip, thrust a torch into the sky. Sticking out of the tip of the immortalized flame was a key.
“Let’s end this.” Booms, clangs, and shouting sounded in the distance. “Ares, this is a war you’re going to lose.”
We charged down the cobblestones, bursting into the square. Pain exploded in my shoulder and knocked me clean off Nitsa’s back.
“Agh!” I tumbled into the fountain, landing hard on the stone basin. Groaning, I peeled my eyes open—connecting with the rooftop archer just as she notched her second arrow, and released. “Noo!”
A figure rose in front of me, leaping over the rim. He caught the arrow heading for my throat in his without faltering.
I strained to get to my feet as the dead army claimed their positions. Clomping hooves beat the air. Buzzing belied the battle noise. From everywhere and anywhere, centaurs and gorgons converged on us. All of a sudden they were united in defeating a common enemy—me.
Nitsa spun around, facing her back to the petrifying gorgons.
