Page 53 of Wings of The Wraith
Although her magicwas gone, I felt her pain. She was suffering.
Alyssa was suffering.
Balmora had gotten to her and my girl was suffering.
And...
There wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
I wasn’t doing so good myself.
Those goblins were mostly gone, but Zeek was down, injured, and Neo was having a hard time tackling the rest by himself.
The type of magic the necromancer threw at me was...it was too much.
Too much for me.
I wouldn’t make it. I wouldn’t make it.
He blasted me with an energy ball and shot over to pummel me with a series of punches that felt like knives stabbing into my skin. I blasted back, but it wasn’t enough to take him down.
I needed something, something stronger than what I was using.
He blasted me again and I went tumbling through the air, reeling into the thick mass of shadows.
That blast took off a piece of my right wing and I went down deep into the ground, leaving a crater.
He flew to me, getting to me within nanoseconds. Quicker than I anticipated, and before I could process what had happened to me.
I cried out in pain as he reached into my soul and my essence and crushed me, squeezing, and crushing.
I was fading. There were no more cards left up my sleeve. No more ideas.
We’d lost. I’d lost. Getting Alyssa to the cave was a worthless task.
The plan went to hell the minute Balmora and the necromancer knew that was where we were headed.
Maybe we should have abandoned it, but I never thought. I never thought this would happen. Not like this.
As I faded into death I remembered something.
My brother and I, as boys playing in the fields of the English countryside. Within those rolling hills we trained to be knights. But we played as boys and friends.
I was never as muscular and strong as Malachi. Of the two of us he was always the best. But he never made me feel any less than he was. He was always there for me when I needed him. All I had to do was call.
There were a few times in life when I did just that.
I must have been about sixteen years old when a bully from the neighboring village beat the crap out of me. He was just about to finish me off when I called for Malachi and he came to my rescue.
The next time like that was at the Siege of Escalon. He came to my rescue again too, but the enemy got to both of us.
It was my fault. I shouldn’t have called for him. Me calling for him ended his human life.
It was that same thought I had why I didn’t call for him when I was attacked by the wraith. I knew what the wraith could do, and I didn’t want him to suffer and become possessed like me.
I needed him now, just as I needed him all those times before.
This felt different though.
