Page 296 of The Edge of Darkness

Niall’s eyes flicked to my side. “What are you doing here, Eathril,” he growled, nervously. “Shouldn’t you be watching over The Keep?”

“We talked about this, My Lord. I’m here to do what is necessary. And, with all due respect, I think my services are of far better use here.”

Niall ground his jaw, as if this wasn’t a plan he had fully agreed to, but he didn’t argue. “You want a piece of this fight? Be my guest. There’s plenty for you to sink your teeth into.”

“I quite prefer a blade, as opposed to sinking my teeth into my opponents, thank you very much.”

“So the last thing your enemies will see is a sword coming at them with no one wielding it? How maddening that must be for them.”

“Who says I cannot glamour my weapons just as well as you, My Lord?” If Eathril had a face, I knew it would have held the biggest smirk imaginable.

Niall shook his head, but finally grinned back. “I learn more about you each time we speak, old friend.”

“I could say the same thing to you.” He paused. “I will stay close to your side, should you need me.”

With a nod, Niall set into his stance and took a deep breath. The enemy was closing in. “Keep your eyes out for Lyceius,” he said to me. “The moment you see him, you find me.”

“All right,” I agreed, gripping Death’s Whisper firmly in my hand.

Behind me, Silas and Remic were pacing, ready for more combat. Ready to protect me.

All around us, our armies grew louder, backed by the sound of the winged beasts and their riders who hollered ferocious battle cries.

At Niall’s command, we rushed forward once more, meeting our foes head on. This time felt different, though. Everything was more intense, like my focus had shifted and was picking apart certain aspects of the scene as it unfolded around me. Instead of hearing the multitude of cries and bellows, a single, intense scream would ring in my head, followed by the sound of a weapon crashing against armor. Behind it, silence—a hollow backdrop to the most gut-wrenching efforts and heart-breaking last moments of those who were giving their all.

I heaved Niall’s sword, slashing it in front of me and out to my left, severing a body in half as I plowed forward at a sprint. As I swung the weapon again, the voices of many whispers seemed to hiss through the atmosphere, nearly stopping me in my tracks.

Death’s Whisper, indeed.

I tried to decipher each word between the sound of my own breaths, but I could not make sense of what was being said. The words sounded as if they were in some other language.

Did Niall know that his sword seemed to . . . speak?

Remic broke out in front of me, taking my attention with him. He stabbed his dagger through the chin and up into the skull of a keres. The crunch of bone echoed in my ears.

An arrow whizzed past my head. I followed it back to its point of origin and found an enemy archer firing in every direction. With a thought, I ripped his bow from his grasp, and sent a jolt of light into him.

A snarl drew near as something closed in on my right. I spun, and barely missed the tip of a blade to my neck. I teetered back, but had no time to regain my footing. The lanky creature slammed its foot into the center of my chest, sending me to the ground. The breath whooshed out of my lungs, and the next thing I knew, an axe was soaring through the air, right toward me. The heavy blade cleaved the ground a few inches from my face. I turned my head, blinking at it, my eyes crossing as I realized how close it had come to my cheek.

Growling, I threw my shield up. I hadn’t mastered balancing my shield and light against my opponents yet, so it was one or the other, and at this close range, the shield mattered more. My body and blade could do the rest.

I rolled onto my knees and kicked my leg out, sweeping the creature off his feet. It hit the ground, hissing, but I plunged Death’s Whisper deep into its chest before it could muster its retaliation. I twisted the sword, hearing bone splinter. The whispers from the dark weapon seemed to dance around the blade as if with glee.

The creature went limp beneath me, but there was no time to rest. A poisonous cat pounced, its maw spread wide for the kill. I dodged it, spinning and slamming my boot into the side of its skull just as it turned to find me. It yowled and shook out its head, its eyes flaring with fury.

“Come on, then!” I yelled.

The cat launched, and I twisted the sword, catching the feline with the underside of the blade, and slitting it open from chest to jaw. Its heavy body collapsed on top of me, pinning me to the ground. I grunted as I shoved the weight off and rolled away, coming to rest on bended knee.

Two more felines scrambled in my direction. I dropped my shield and flung my hand out, picturing it around one of the cat’s necks. When I squeezed my fist closed, the cat crumpled to the ground, choking as I siphoned off its air, then snapped its neck with the turn of my wrist. The second cat broke through the dust from where the other had fallen, and as it leapt, I swiped my hand through the air, thrusting the animal away on a phantom wind. It slammed into the backside of a nearby Dreki, whose clubbed tail was quick to pummel the cat to its death.

I slung both my braid and the hair that had come free of it out of my face, and looked up.

Niall was thirty feet away, in the midst of catching a demon-like creature by the throat as it raced toward him. The creature clawed at his forearm as he lifted it off its feet, but his shadowfire was like a second skin, protecting him. Darkness encased the creature, and Niall lit it aflame. The burnt husk fell from his grip as he turned and surveyed the grounds for his next opponent.

As if he felt my stare through all the anarchy, he swerved, finding me almost instantly. His gaze captured mine from across the field of bloodied bodies.

Both of us were breathing hard.