Page 96 of Memory of Ashes

“Damn it!” she shouted. “What are we going to do?”

One of the generals she didn’t recognise descended from the city walls and ran through the gates. He carried a large bow as he ran towards the creatures, shouting a battle cry. He stopped close to where they had been and waited as they turned and rushed towards him, running on their gangly limbs, snarling through their exposed teeth.

The general looked back at the wall, and the fae watching from above nodded in recognition of his sacrifice.

He turned, nocked his arrow and fired at the beasts. As the creatures closed in, the bombs detonated, tearing open the ground, shaking the city walls and buildings, throwing Amelia and the others from their feet.

She scrambled up, coughing at the dust, her ears ringing. She could see Casyl mouthing something at her, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying.

They looked over the wall as the dust cleared, revealing a gaping hole where the beasts had been. The ground had swallowed them whole.

She glanced around, expecting to see Emin and the men, but they hadn’t returned.

“Emin!” she yelled and ran over to the catacombs entrance to see dust rising from it. She searched through the dust for Emin’s familiar shape, but no one emerged. It had collapsed, sealing the entrance.

She threw herself at the collapsed entrance, pulling at the rubble with her bare hands.

“Emin!” she cried.

Strong hands pulled her away.

“No.” She shook her head. He couldn’t be gone.

Amelia sank to the ground and sobbed.

Emin had always been there for her, championing her after her own father’s death.

He’d done it for her because she’d asked. Guilt pressed down on her like layers of the earth.

Casyl put his arms around her, and she let him.

“Free the prisoners,” she told him. Then she pulled away, rose and walked back towards the palace.

Chapter 22

Amelia

Amelia sobbed as the prisoners were freed, recognising some of their faces from the guild. The further they were from the rift, the safer they would be. Casyl arranged for part of the army to escort them in case any more of the creatures arrived. The humans wouldn’t stand a chance alone.

She hoped that their neighbours in Alderstrom would provide them with refuge.

“You can go with them,” Casyl said quietly. “You could lead them to safety.”

She spun to face him. Her eyes searched his face. He was giving her the option to leave, allowing her to choose.

“Is that what you want?”

His expression tightened. “No, but it needs to be your choice.”

“Then I’m staying until this is over.”

A chasm had formed in the ground before the city where the Leshies had been buried. The earth had caved in, collapsing into the catacombs beneath the surface. They writhed and shrieked in their stone prison as they fought to escape.

It would contain them for now, but it wasn’t a permanent solution. They needed to find a way to close the rift to stop any more from coming through.

“What happens after?” he asked. “Do we go back home?”

“Home?” she asked.