But even through the whirlwind, I sensed this pain didn’t belong to me.
“What did they do to her?” Dax roared. “The palavers were supposed to be secure–”
“Not–not me.” I gasped, desperate tears streaming from my eyes down onto the cold floor. “It’s Ryker.”
Chapter 56
Ryker
This was no war.
It was slaughter.
“Flank the beast on the right!” I roared. “Stay away from its mouth!”
The snake hissed, wide jaws gaping to show its bloody fangs, twice the height of our tallest warriors.
The monster had crossed the Obsidian with ease, winding its thick, gargantuan body and terrifying our troops.
My warriors, hardened in the crater, had surrounded the reptile. We kept its slitted eyes on us, distracting him from the rest of our army, already overwhelmed by the endless stream of Serpents.
But our weapons did nothing to the beast.
Whenever we got close enough to strike, our blades ricocheted off its scales. At least a dozen swords had been broken trying to at least scrape its slimy body.
Its impossible frame tightened.
My heart thudded.
“Swerve away!” I yelled. “It’s ready to strike!”
Like an ungodly spring, it uncoiled with lightning speed, jaws gaped.
“My arm! Gods, my arm!” a sickening yell tore at me.
I whipped to see Krynn kneeling in the mud, arm shredded from his shoulder. Blood spurted out as his face blanched.
The beast hadn’t hit any vital organs.
He could survive.
He deserved to.
“Lure it toward the hill,” I yelled.
The world became a bloody, metallic blur once more as my bones cracked painfully and my feet hit the gory mud.
I scooped Krynn up, not breaking my stride. The air whooshed out of his lungs at the contact and I knew his ribs hurt.
But I couldn’t slow down.
Emotions had no place in this massacre.
“Solkar?” he asked, already delusional. “Forgive me for my sins. Take me to my ancestors.”
“Not today, Krynn,” I said.
I rushed through the trees, the ground vibrating as I dodged Elysia’s deadly petards.
