Page 27 of Risen
The emperor was hiding in the ballroom.But Sanka and the curse breaker had just interfered with his portal, hopefully barring him from escape.
More guards came bursting through a side exit—six at first, then ten.Shifters in half-shift.But their auras were thick with twisted magic.The emperor’s own enhanced soldiers.The griffins launched before I could signal.They couldn’t fly in this space, but those that had fully shifted beat their wings, sending a burst of stale air that was strong enough to stagger the guards before they leapt onto the enemy.Talons screeched against steel.One shifter’s throat opened under a griffin’s beak, blood spraying across the warped parquet floor.The naga flanked the griffins, their blades and scales catching the low-light, slithering in low arcs that sliced hamstrings and swept the feet from under their enemies, leaving them screaming on their knees and at the mercy of our group.
I surged forward and up the stairs with my silver-edged enchanted knives, cutting down a guard who was trying to creep up on Sanka.The blade sang against bone, the vibration crawling up my arm.I shoved the body aside and shouted over the din.“Keep them off the stairs!”
Sanka was up there protecting the curse breaker, who was no fighter, while they maintained their spell to block the portal.But if the emperor decided to come out of the ballroom and join the fight, our sorcerer would be in a sticky spot.
Yukio’s voice rose, sharp and cold.His illusions doubled the griffins, shadows striking alongside flesh, confusing the enemy.For a breath, the battle tipped in our favor.
Then the portal screamed.
It took me a minute to figure out what I was hearing and sensing.
Light tore across the wall up above where Sanka stood.The wall that hid the rest of the staircase that led to ballroom—to the emperor and his portal.Power seared the air as some strong magic went on up there, out of sight.My stomach lurched with the pressure of it, like standing too close to a jet engine.Sanka cursed, sweat dripping down his temples.The curse breaker laughed—half-mad, half-thrilled—as he threw a talisman that stuck to the wall.Whatever the emperor was doing couldn’t be good.
Robin roared and clutched her chest, and I realized that whatever spell the emperor was attempting to counter our block on his portal was apparently using Robin’s stolen power to fuel it.I didn’t have time to get to her side, though.Because some stupid asshole had grenades.
The floor exploded.
One of the griffins went down hard, blood spraying from a gash in his wing.His scream cut through the din, half animal, half human.I shoved two naga toward him.“Get him out—now!”
Another cry followed—this one sharper, ending on a gurgling note that sounded more final.I turned in time to see a naga warrior impaled on a shifter’s blade, his eyes wide with shock before he collapsed.
My chest clenched.We hadn’t even broken the emperor’s first defense, and we were bleeding already.This was unacceptable.Embarrassing.My limbs lengthened and my fangs pushed forward to hang over my lips, my senses sharpening as a little of my beast poked through.
“Martina!”Yukio’s voice cracked over the clash.“Left flank!”
I pivoted and cut down a guard with my claws.Adrenaline roared through me, but the flickering edges of grief were there too.We’d known this fight would cost us.Knowing didn’t make it easier to ignore the dead naga I stepped over on my way to gut his killer.Damn it.I didn’t know what was going on outside, but there were more guards in here than there had been.How were they getting past our people on the street?
Finally, I caught sight of Acacia’s sorcerer as he slapped a ward over the bathroom door and ran toward the side exit.I leapt from the bottom of the stairs and snagged the back of his jacket, yanking him to a halt, my hand stinging from the electric shock of defensive magic he loosed before he realized we weresupposedto be on the same side.No doubt seeing the suspicion on my face, he waved a hand impatiently at the door.
“They opened a portal out there, I can feel it.”He yanked out of my grip, his blue eyes burning with rage that I didn’t have time to sort out.He probably didn’t want to be here, but because of whatever hold Acacia had on him he had to fight with us or die.“Let me go, shifter.I’m going to go shut the portal down so they can’t keep calling in reinforcements!”
Snarling, I shoved him toward the door.Hopefully he wasn’t lying.We’d lose this fight if new guards just kept portaling in.
“Finish it!”I shouted, as I turned back to the fight, my voice raw.“We need toget to that fucking ballroom!”
The court surged with me.Cicely’s calm cut through the panic, steadying my mind in a way that let me move without a hint of indecision.Dusek’s shadows lashed like a whip, tripping two shifters who thought they could slip past him and take the stairs to protect their slimeball emperor.The griffins, even the wounded, fought with a desperation that made the air itself vibrate.
And through it all, Sanka and the curse breaker chanted their spell, holding the magic that prevented the emperor’s escape while their sweat and blood mingled on the stone floor.The portal’s scream pitched higher as the emperor did something, then it faltered and grew quiet.
“Fucking finally—” Sanka gritted out.He did something with another surge of magic, and I sensed the barrier on the stairs shatter.“There.”
I snarled, cutting down another foe.I whirled, looking for the next opponent, my chupacabra side wanting to taste blood.But there was no one left to devour.The silence after the portal’s screaming was worse than the scream itself—an ache in the bones, a vacuum where power had been.
“Let’s go,” I snapped, loping toward the stairs as I took visual inventory of my fellow court members.They were all bloody and dusty—except for Ruya, who had been crammed so far into her corner that she emerged rumpled and sweaty, but untouched by the battle that had raged around her.
The first hurdle was cleared.Now we just had to get the cowardly slug who called himself emperor to stop hiding behind his stolen magic.
Robin strode past me, her entire aura lit up with fiery rage as she took the stairs two at a time.“Oh, emperor, darling,” she called in a singsong voice.“Come out, come out wherever you are!”
I went to follow her, but paused to bend over a fallen naga, pressing my hand to his chest though I knew there’d be no pulse.His blood was still warm.
A race that had already barely dodged complete genocide, and I’d let them lose more of their people.I clenched my teeth, copper sharp on my tongue.When I straightened, a warm hand gripped my shoulder and a wave of sympathy and peace washed over me.I met Cicely’s bright green eyes and shuddered at the way the faun saw right through the beast and to the heart of me.
I might be a fighter.But I still had a heart.Unlike the fucker who had caused all this shit.I lifted my eyes toward the top of the stairs, where the emperor was holed up breathing his last breaths.
I knew the sweet beta fae wouldn’t have stayed behind—I’d tried to keep him and Ruya out of this, but that was a battle I couldn’t win—but I suddenly imagined it was his handsome face staring blankly up from the floor before me, rather than the naga.
