Page 187 of Curse of Darkness
The beacon of light explodes in the sky above us, but instead of burning down to ashes, it’s as though the explosion empowers it. It burns like a sun, a supernova. Light hisses, revealing an entire line of shadows appearing on the horizon.
A silver horn rings out.
And then they begin pouring down the embankment.
Goblins. Thousands of goblins.
And my sister rides at their head, the sword in her hand blazing with light.
“What is she doing?” Gwydion breathes, his face smudged with ash as he drags me forward.
I don’t know how Andraste’s done it. I don’t even know what she’s done.
But those goblins aren’tchasingher. They’re ridingwithher. And there’s an enormous brute of a warrior mounted beside her on a black horse that bleeds into the darkness.
The heat drains from my face. “She’s giving me time.”
Urach wasn’t the only goblin king to try and claim their crown.
I don’t even know how she’s done it, but… those goblins are allies.
Urach’s horde turns to face the newcomers, their mocking howls of victory turning to desperate screams. They’re caught between Thiago’s wall of shadows and the opposing force.
The newcomers smash through their lines like a knife cutting through a cake. I can barely make out the blur of light as Andraste’s sword cuts both right and left, but I swear I see Edain at her back, and on the other side of him…. Lysander.
But beyond them….
Beyond them.
My breath catches as I see the enormous towering column of smoke rising over the unseelie army with spreading, bat-like wings.
The last time I saw that horned figure was in the middle of the Black Keep, when the Horned One was resurrected.
“Move!” Baylor bellows, turning his back to me and holding his sword low. “Move, Vi. I’ve got your back!”
“Don’t kill my sister,” I throw out into the void, hoping Thiago can hear me as I sprint toward the Hallow. “The second army are our allies.”
The sentinel stones tremble as if they can sense me coming.
I scramble for the Hallow, drawing my knife.
The second I hit the stone portal, I slide to my knees and slam my palms against it. “Are you there?”
She has to be here….
She has to help me….
“I’m here, Daughter of Darkness,” the Mother of Night whispers.
I can almost feel her hand in mine as I stare at the enormous shadowy figure approaching us.
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Abeast of smoke wades through the battle toward us, his eyes gleaming like hot golden sparks. Every inch of him is conjured directly from my nightmares.
The clouds above us roil, an enormous malevolence of cumulus. Lightning flickers within it, but it’s not the sort of lightning I’m used to. This is red. Violent. Savage. It’s almost an entity in its own right.
As if the smoke parts, a male steps forth from the monster, and it wisps into insubstantial lines.
