A Rip of Realms (A Shade of Vampire #39)(25)

“We’ve come this far, let’s look around,” Tejus instructed, looking warily toward the coliseum. Together we approached the building, our footsteps echoing across the floor.

As we moved closer, I could see that the basin was filled with water, motionless and almost glowing, like there was a white light coming from within it.

“Well, looks like we found the ministers,” Ash commented. He was the first to reach the edge, and was looking down into the basin. I hurried forward, wondering what he meant.

As I looked down, I saw five of the Impartial Ministers lying, completely submerged, in the water. Their long gray beards and hair floated like seaweed around them, their robes undulating as if being rocked by a current that wasn’t visible from the surface.

“I don’t understand,” I whispered.

“That makes two of us,” Ash replied in wonderment.





Julian





“Look what I found.” Benedict stalked into the room, brandishing a crossbow in his arms, the bolts in a quiver slung across his back.

“That’s cool.” I grinned. “Where did you find it?”

“In those towers. They’ve got a bunch of old blankets and paintings in them, but there’s a couple of old swords too. What shall we shoot?” he asked eagerly.

I jumped up, looking out of the window into the garden for a suitable target.

“The shed?” I suggested, looking at the remaining three walls of the grain house where Queen Trina had escaped. Maybe after we’d used it as target practice we could set the whole thing on fire—I hated looking at it, knowing that she’d sat in there, her smug smile and twisted mind plotting against us all.

“Perfect.” Benedict nodded. “Let’s go out now before Jenney sees us. She’s in the kitchen with the kids, we can go out the front.”

“Okay,” I agreed.

We left the room and peered over the mezzanine, making sure that the coast was clear. A couple of guards were pacing up and down by the door, but I doubted they would stop us—most of them were still terrified of Benedict and tended to keep out of his way.

“Let’s go,” I hissed.

We raced down the stairs, but stopped midway as the guards swung the front doors open. Shouts and jeers came from outside. I looked at Benedict, puzzled—were the villagers making that noise? We both hurried down the stairs, the crossbow cradled in Benedict’s arms.

As we stepped onto the marble entrance hall, ministers and villagers started to emerge behind us, all looking equally baffled by the source of the noise. When I stepped outside through the main entrance, I froze.

“We’re in deep trouble.”

Behind the barriers, fighting to get through, stood a horde of very angry sentries—villagers mostly, with some ministers and guards. They created a sea of bodies as far back as I could see, all chanting Ash and Tejus’s names, spitting, throwing rocks and battering their fists on the barrier.

“What do we do?” Benedict breathed, his eyes wide as he took in the crowd.

“Stand back,” a guard commanded, shoving us back toward the door.

“Who are they?” I yelled, shoving him back.

“They’re from the other kingdoms—they’re not our lot,” the guard replied. “Go and get the lieutenant—”

“I’m here.” Lieutenant Ragnhild appeared behind me. “Go and get all the ministers we have. I don’t know how long that barrier’s going to hold.”

He was right. The villagers started to part, letting their own ministers move through to the front of the crowd, ready to tear down the only thing standing between them and us.

I stood aside as Hellswan ministers started to pour out of the front door. There weren’t enough—we had about fifteen in total, and on the other side of the barrier there were hundreds.

“Oh, man,” Benedict whispered. “This isn’t going to go well.”

He started to load up the crossbow.

“What are you doing?” I hissed. “Get back indoors!”

“You get back indoors,” he argued. “At least I’m armed.”

I ignored his objection and moved to stand in front of him. The other ministers were starting to work on the barrier. I could see the slight blue tint of the wall starting to ripple and stretch; it wouldn’t be long till it collapsed.

“What are they doing?” Jenney gasped. She had run outside, a knife and chopping board still clutched in her hands.

“Getting revenge?” I suggested, glancing down at Lieutenant Ragnhild deploying the few guards and ministers we had in a protective semi-circle around the entrance. The small group was thinly spread out.

“Hold this.” Jenney handed me her kitchen equipment, and I took it, staring at her as she marched down the front steps.

“Don’t let the barriers fall!” she cried out to the guards and ministers. “All of you, focus on supporting it. Benedict, run and get our villagers. We need everyone out here, including the kids – they’ll need to be syphoned.”

Benedict dropped his weapon and headed back indoors.

“The guards need to be ready to attack,” Ragnhild snapped at Jenney.

“Only if the wall comes down,” she retorted. “If they work on keeping it in place, we’ll be okay.”