Page 144 of Elysian

I set my hand on hers and gripped. She retreated. Before I turned into a blubbering fool, I kicked my heel into the side of the horse and she took off at a gallop.

“He is going to slaughter all of us,” Damien murmured conversationally, trotting up beside me.

“Then he should not have taught me how to ride.”

I pressed my horse harder.

Riding stretched on for dawnlight rotations. Long, grueling dawnlight rotations that exhausted me, yet I persisted.

The smell of searing meat came first. Embers of a fire set the straw of a roof aflame. Half the home collapsed into itself. Dead bodies half-eaten with maggots writhing inside the flesh lay along the path.

“Look at the estate,” Archer called.

“Fuck.” Damien rode up and stopped beside the Hollow-shredded corpse.

The estate was the worst of it. Ordinarily, they had the least damage since the Elite had access to amulets. Poverty-stricken areas tended to utilize salt barriers surrounding their homes since it was cheaper for larger amounts.

A blaze seared across my throat. I lost hold of the reins, and the mare neighed, dancing in place. I found my face plastered to her mane, my arms spread along either side.

“What is it?” Archer barked, riding closer. I groaned, pressing my palm into the sides of the horse’s sweaty coat. I pushed upright and Damien’s eyes widened.

“The Sigils are gone,” Damien breathed.

I palmed my neck and immediately stopped from the soreness that radiated. Pyria, the blueblood with the marking ability, had died. During the banquet she had made it clear she did not know how to remove the mark. The woman seemed just as trapped by the circumstances. A small wave of regret drowned under determination.

I turned away from the body-riddled grounds and pressed my heel into the side of the horse I rode to prod it faster.

The Kingdom of Sycarious was near.

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

Destruction

Flames consumed the Kingdom of Sycarious, lighting up the village in orange. I slowed my mount at the branch off into the village.

“Riding through the village will be faster than around it,” Damien said.

That decided it. The dirt path turned to cobblestone. We crossed the inner section where the shops sprawled. It mirrored the village we had passed on the way here. Such death had reigned over the night. I slowed the horse to step around corpses. A scream rent the air. Damien and Archer pushed forth with me behind them.

One of those squat Hollows that could be out even during dawnlight had cornered a small family. The man with them utilized a silver platter to swat it away.

The Hollow sank its needle-like teeth into the metal and wrenched it from the man’s hands. One bite and the paralysis would leave him helpless. I pushed my horse harder, to help the rest of the family escape at minimum, but I needn’t have. Archer dismounted while the horse was mid-trot, unsheathing his sword. He rammed it into the head of the Hollow. It screeched, its multiple legs writhing and twitching. Archer did not stop sawing into the head until goo oozed from it and it stilled. Even then, the man snatched a piece of broken wood and slammed it into the body, beating it with rage in each swing.

The woman hugged the sobbing child. A skittering sound came again. One of the squat creatures abandoned the body it feasted on and came toward us. I pushed my horse toward the woman.

“I will get you both somewhere safe.” She stared at me with wide, fearful eyes.

“Go, Velma!” the man bellowed. Archer whirled to meet the Hollow.

She jolted to life, pushing to her feet. Blue blood stained her and the child, leaking from various cuts on both of them. She carried the toddler in her arms, stepping beside the horse.

“Here, I will pass him to you,” Damien said.

She hesitated, her pale eyebrows furrowing.

“Hurry, Velma!” the man repeated.

She handed the boy over, and he continued sobbing. I scooted forward and removed my foot from the stirrup. Velma grabbed onto the back of the saddle, causing it to shift, but she threw herself up, arms straining until she settled behind me. She scooted back and reached for her son. Damien passed him back, and he was squashed between us.