Page 164 of The Cerulean Sister
"They are condensed there! Priestesses and an injured Viathan are behind the left stairwell!" he yells over more incoming fire.
He looks down at me, sending me something through the tether that I cannot pinpoint, an emotion or warmth without a name.
I nod, knowing what I have to do and how I can help.
99 spins me, pushing my front against the stone and pinning me in a cage of armor with his pelvis and thighs. "Do not hold back, Priestess."
The sound of his gun clicking then whirling to life makes me lean away. He does the same in the opposite direction around the pillar, peeking out and letting fire rain down.
What I see when I look down shocks me. The entire grand hall is ripped apart with holes. Furniture has been moved and tapestries ripped from the walls.
Dark figures litter the floor, bodies of the fallen enemy eliciting no emotion from me until I see the priestesses scattered among them.
"Ferren!" 99's booming voice cuts over the chaos. He doesn't have to say anymore. I know exactly what he wants.
I lean out farther, stabilized and protected by 99. I scan the lower level and see where they are focusing the majority of their efforts.
Weapons alone cannot cover all of the enemies present or perhaps even touch the shadow figures I can only faintly see, hiding and waiting for their chance to get closer.
I lift my hands and muster all the rage still present in the deep well within me.
An orb of bright green refuses to be held back, stinging my fingertips and urging me to let go. I push it outward, hurling it down into a group of First Son’s soldiers.
The sound of impact shakes beneath us, a green explosion with streaks of Viathan light accompanying it to its destination.
When the debris settles, and my light flickers out from the spot I sent my energy to, the platform is gone, as if the barricade where the enemy held an advantage was never there at all.
I notice the Viathan guard and priestess by the giant stone stairwell, hiding and waiting for clearance to run to safety. Herarm is badly twisted, and both of them hold his bloody side where he has been hit.
I twist farther out from the pillar, trying to get a better view. If they come out from their hiding space, they will die at the hands of the few First Son soldiers still littered in hidden spots below, waiting to pick off those who remain, willing to fight until they perish.
"Stay behind!" 99 says when he feels me move, angling myself out from the protection of cover.
"I can help!" I shout, determination taking over. I cannot stand by and let another attack on the Estate end with people dying when I could have used my gifts to save them.
I wiggle out of the safety of the stone pillar and 99 as he tells me once more to stay put, and the enemy spots me immediately and unleashes all that they have in my direction.
I send out a shield so large, the entire space lights up, casting a wall of impenetrable protection in front of the stairwell.
Viathans from another corridor rush out into the grand hall and collect the injured, while I feel the pricking sensation on my palms of unrelenting weapons firing against my light.
"Move them across the balcony, Commander! I can hold it and now is their best chance." I turn slightly to make sure 99 heard me.
He curses but does not hesitate to wave the rest of our party across the open balcony walkway, gesturing for them to cross behind the safety of my shield.
I can feel the sweat on my brow, exhausted from holding my light at its full strength for so long.
They cross with their escorts still surrounding them, Leema ducking a little, sinking into herself instinctively as the sound of more fire explodes with the promise of more targets in sight.
"Move!" 99 calls out.
He pulls my shoulder, turning me to follow him. I step slowly backwards with his guidance until we are out of the crossfire and fully into the next hallway.
I dissolve my light with a frustrated snarl that I could not send the last of it into the enemy in one last fatal orb.
99 turns me by my shoulder to look in my eyes. "I do not expect blind Viathan obedience from you, but do not scare me like that again," he scolds in his 99th Commander voice and ushers us deeper until we meet the others in the next corridor.
"I'm sorry." I stop and take a gasping breath at the perfectly intact altar of First Mother, the flowers I put here days ago starting to wilt.
