Page 42 of Between Soul and Vessel
Adrenaline shot through my veins, filling me with strength. I darted to my left, fumbling for my powers. Still, they would not answer my call.
“Damn it,” I hissed under my breath.
What was stopping them? I wore no iron, and there was nothing on my person to suppress my powers, so why wouldn’t they answer? In the Spirit Realm, Von had wards placed around his castle preventing people from light walking in and out. My eyes darted to my left, then to my right, scanning the perimeter of the arena, high and low, asmy legs carried me, my feet churning up sand.
There!I internally cried out in victory when I spotted them.
Where the lower and upper sections of the amphitheater were separated, four mounted statues sat on pedestals overlooking the arena below. They were spaced evenly apart, each one different—a bear, a wolf, a fish, and a cougar.
For a brief second, I was transported back to the Cursed Lands, to when the elders had met in Valenthia to decide what to do to fight Aurelius and his army of Demi Gods. Ezra had sat upon a table, a table she’d struck with her cane when the room erupted into chaos, a table with theexact sameanimal carvings on its legs as I was seeing now. The words she had spoken back then as she’d gestured to me repeated in my mind—Behold. Your savior.
I didn’t know it back then, but Ezra hadn’t just been speaking to the rest of the room—she had been speaking to me.Futureme. The one who needed her powers more than ever.
And now I knew what was stopping them.
I eyed the statues, my mind churning out a quick plan.
“I’m listening, Ezra,” I wheezed under my breath as I came to a swift halt, facing the giant. I was done running.
I charged straight for her.
Reaching the center of the arena, she swung her ax.
I dodged to the side of it, feeling the weapon sail past me, biting into the ground and spraying sand, some of which pelted my back. As she worked on tugging it free, I raced asfast as my legs could carry me, running beside the length of her handle.
With a mighty roar, I hurtled into the air, landing on the giant’s wrist.
“Get off of me, you maggot,” her booming voice roared as she tugged her ax free, swinging it upwards in an attempt to fling me off. She didn’t have to try very hard because when I was above her head, I let go.
I sailed through the air like an awkwardly Sage-shaped arrow loosed from a bow. The faces of the people in the crowd, which had looked so small before, became a whole lot bigger as I flew straight for them. They scattered, like a stepped-on hill of ants, racing this way and that, right before—
Crash!
I smashed into the stands, snapping a wood bench in two, causing a plume of dust and an explosion of wood. I wheezed, the wind knocked out of my lungs.Fuck me. That might not have been one of my best ideas, but it worked. Rolling over, I did a quick mental check on my body. Apart from some bumps, bruises, and cuts, miraculously, nothing felt broken.
Perhaps my immortality was finally kicking in.
“About damn time,” I panted under my breath.
As soon as the dust settled, someone yelled, “Get her!”
I didn’t care to find out who it was.
Grimacing, I shoved myself back onto my feet and locked my gaze on the ward that was closest to me. Then, I moved, albeit rather sloppily. I felt like milk in a butterchurn, because my whole world was swirling.
“Come here,” a guard snarled as she jumped into my path, fists raised. She fired a punch, hoping to connect.
Somehow, my forearm caught hers, blocking her swing. I thrust the heel of my palm into her chest, knocking her back onto her ass.
I stumbled like a newborn fawn around her, pressing forward. I was so close to the ward, almost there, almost—
A spectator grabbed me, her arms wrapping around me like a python, squeezing me tight. As if my lungs weren’t desperate for air enough—the last thing I needed was this.
“I’ve got her!” she screamed victoriously in my ear.
Fighting my disorientation, I rammed the back of my skull into her face, and her arms immediately released me.
“My nose!” she cried out, the sound garbled, telling me I’d probably broken it.
