A glorious emptiness.
All he felt was the slick hilt of his weapons.
“Fine,” Cassiel grated. “You want to die? Then I will kill you all.”
He sheathed the knives and took up his sword, letting the flames catch on the clothing of the fallen, as he faced the remaining men.
Eight dead. Twelve alive. Twelve obstacles between him and Dyna. There was nothing in his mind now but a severe determination to cut them down out of his way.
The Raiders hung back, floating ash sticking to their sweaty faces. Their wide eyes flickered from the charred remains of their fallen comrades and him.
“Cravens,” Abenon barked at them. “Must I grab you by the bollocks? Get him.” No one moved. “Fuck the lot of you. Master Tarn will hear of this!”
Master Tarn?
The lieutenant waved his men aside and unsheathed his twin scimitar blades. Their curved edges glinted menacingly in the white firelight. He held them with obvious skill, so Cassiel braced himself.
Abenon grinned. “Once you’re dead, I’ll be the one to keep your sword.”
He came like a whirlwind. Cassiel attuned his defenses to keep up with the rapid dual blades, but he struggled to parry Abenon’s attacks. It forced him back, the twin scimitars a millimeter from overtaking him. The men jeered and laughed, their confidence renewing. But the lieutenant wasn’t aiming to kill. He aimed to disarm him.
They didn’t want to spill his blood yet, not until they had something to contain it.
Abenon delivered a spin kick to Cassiel’s face, hurtling him into another Raider. Bulky arms wrapped around him from behind. They compressed so painfully tight, it forced him to lose hold of his weapon.
“I got him!” a rough voice snarled in his ear. The greasy Raider smelled of weeks old sweat. The stench made Cassiel heave with vomit threatening to come up.
He flexed his wings with a furious cry. They burst free of his coat with such force it sent the Raider airborne. The man smashed into a wall across the alley and fell into a broken bloodied pile. The Raiders marveled at Cassiel’s wings with their mouths slacked, greed filling their eager faces.
“What’d I tell you?” Abenon grinned. “Do this and you daft cunts will be up to your necks in gold. Don’t let him fly away!”
They charged at him.
Cassiel grabbed his sword and flew into the air out of range. The Raiders hurled knives at him. He blocked the onslaught of blades, but there were too many at once. Pain pierced his right wing. He didn’t realize he was falling until he hit the ground hard. The impact stole the air from him. His sword had fallen out of reach so he reached for an abandoned knife.
When the first Raider grabbed him, Cassiel shoved the blade up through his jaw. He lost the knife when the others fell on him. He curled inward, tucking his arms around his head to protect his face from their pummeling blows and kicks. A brutal scream tore through his throat when heels stomped on his wings. The tendons snapped beneath their soles, blinding him with agony.
The attacks stopped. Cassiel opened his eyes to see his flaming sword come down on him. Abenon blocked the swing with a scimitar, bringingEsh Zayinto a stop an inch from Cassiel’s head. He shrunk back from the severe heat, but the white fire quickly died out, leaving the blade to smoke.
The Raider who held it glowered. “It’s wrecked.”
Cassiel closed his eyes in brief relief. Humans couldn’t use Celestial weapons.
Abenon shoved the Raider away. “If you remove his head, his blood will spill all over the ground, you idiot.”
Another Raider hooked an arm around Cassiel’s neck and squeezed. He wheezed for air, his fingers clawing at the thick leather of the man’s coat. He tried to get his wings to move, but they twitched on his back, broken and useless. For a second, he feared he’d lost his ability to self-heal, but then his injuries tingled and numbed.
“Horace!” Abenon snapped at the Raider choking Cassiel. “What are you doing?”
“He killed Locke, Pip, and the others,” Horace said through his teeth. “He turned them to ash. They will never pass through The Seven Gates! Let me kill him, Lieutenant. I want to watch the life drain out of him before I break his neck! I can do it without spilling his blood.”
“No, we will take himalive. Now bring me some rope.”
“Commander Von said Master Tarn wanted him bled dry.”
“Aye, but not here.”
Von. Cassiel knew he’d heard the name before, but the thought slithered away as all strength left his limbs, and his vision darkened.
