Page 118 of Born into Darkness

“Then run,” I yelled at him. “But I’m not leaving without my friends.”

“I’m not leaving without my brother,” another said, picking up one of the fallen soldier’s sword. “He’s in the northern cabins.”

“My cousins are there, too,” said a young girl.

“My parents are in the central cabins,” a shifter in her twenties said.

These guards were going to pay for what they’d done to these poor, innocent people.

“Fight with me and free them,” I said, feeling my power flare inside me.

Half of the women joined me in grabbing the guard’s weapons and forging forward. Deeper into the camp, we tiptoed around the leaf-processing sheds and the storage warehouse, and I motioned for everyone to wait behind Shadow’s family home. My pulse jumped into hyper mode when I peeked around the corner of the wooden home. Wagons packed full of shifters huddled inside the gates. A conglomerate of about thirty soldiers swarmed in the area, some tending to the shipment, others chaining up the members of the resistance. The rest we’d witnessed tending to the fires along the fence.

Jitters captured my limbs. My group might be able to subdue the smaller pack, but if the rest of the guards returned, we were screwed.

My worries abated somewhat as Shadow, Flare, and the rest of the resistance attacked from the north, pouncing on the unaware guards. Five cried out as swords pierced through their backs. That, combined with gasps from the surprised shifters, alerted the rest of the enemy, and they sprang into action. Swords clashed, men tussled, and axes clashed with flesh.

Shifter magic flashed inside the wagons, brightening the hope wavering in my chest that the shifters would be able to transform and assault the soldiers, overthrowing them.

Thank the sea god!Phantom and his father were destroying the runes that prevented the shifters from transforming. I wished for them to hurry back to me.

A quick glance over my shoulder revealed more evidence of the transformation spiking the shifters among my crowd. It was time for them to turn. Time for me to set them upon the guards. Time for us all to save the shifters and get back to the safety of the resistance headquarters. That same angry power swelled inside me, ready to burst like a dam backing up with water.

I turned to face the waiting crowd of enslaved shifters, and I raised my palms. All eyes targeted me. Their hope, fear, and desperation mingled with my own. I held up five fingers, ready to count down on them, giving the crowd the signal to charge.

At the same time, I commanded my magic, unleashing a cloud of spinning white glass into the clearing. It bounced from soldier to soldier, cutting them down, startling the rest of the throng.

Down snapped my fingers. Five, four, three, two, one.

The enslaved shifters roared and burst forth, bowling over the distracted soldiers before they knew what was happening.

Flare kicked the closest soldier to the dirt, jamming his boot in the man’s neck, strangling him. Shadow used chains from the wagons, wrapping them around the neck of one soldier and choking him.

Shifters in the wagons screamed, and they rocked back and forth as they tried to break free.

“Get them out of the wagons!” I shouted.

Several members of my group bolted for the carts.

In came three guards, ready to stop us. But I was ready and tossed my swirling mass of glass at the front line, reducing them to piles of ash. Clearly shocked, many of them stepped back, glancing at one another. Like a striking snake, I forced my magic at them, pushing them back farther. Determined shifters attacked from all sides, some in human form, others in their animal. Soldiers’ screams filled the courtyard.

Hunter managed to locate a key and darted to release Axe, who helped him free the others. Guards were hot on his tail, raising their swords to annihilate them. To give them and the other resistance members the best chance of escape, I circled my magic around them. It kept the soldiers at bay long enough for the resistance to break free. A few foolish soldiers slashed at my magic, and it roared with greater intensity, reducing their swords to ash.

My heart surged with even more hope and confidence.

Shifters poured out of the wagons, some huddling together, others running to the gates, shaking them, trying to break them. One shifter from my group set fire to the gates, and flames spread across the wood. More joined him, grabbing torches, setting anything ablaze, the empty wagons, guards—even the lookout tower. Soon, everything was choked with smoke.

Shadow found me in the ensuing chaos, slipping his arm around my waist, examining the faces streaming from the wagons.

“Where’s my family?” he muttered to himself.

“We’ll find them,” I said, stroking the back of his neck.

Three guards emerged from the dark clouds, breaking up our brief reunion. Fear was like a dagger to my stomach. I called to my magic, sensing it nearby but unable to see it.

Shadow pushed me behind him. “I’ve got this,” he told me.

But I wasn’t so sure. There were three guards, and Shadow was breathing heavily, clearly exhausted from his battles so far.

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