Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 40759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 204(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 204(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
“They won’t dance long,” she told me. “They have to make the sacrifice before the fog comes or they’ll all be devoured.”
“Sacrifice?”
“That’s you, Baz said.” She shrieked and lunged at me, her mouth huge and wide, full of rows and rows of needle-sharp teeth.
Hurling open the door, I bolted outside, and the creatures in the parking lot, coyotes, wolves, I wasn’t sure, immediately gave chase.
It only took me a second—because I was the guy who yelled at the people in horror movies to make better decisions—and then I leaped high into the air, swam up into the sky, higher than I managed earlier in the night. Everything on the ground was snarling and yipping like hyenas, and I pushed even higher as I saw the fog beginning to roll in. Since I wasn’t sure what came with that, I used my arms and legs to move the thick air and kept rising above the clouds until I saw the stars.
It was comforting until I kept lifting, like a balloon, up and up, until there was nothing above and nothing below. I was floating in a great nothingness and then suddenly drowning. The water hit my skin, and I couldn’t breathe, it was so icy cold. At the same time, light nearly blinded me as I came up for air in what appeared to be a fast-moving river.
Bounced around, hitting rocks, going under again and again, hurled sideways, tumbled under the rapids, when I saw only sky in front of me, I knew I’d reached the falls. The drop was endless, but I kicked out, away, so I made an arch instead of being crushed on the rocks at the bottom. As I saw the water rushing up to meet me, I knew I was going to die despite my best efforts. I hit hard, the air was knocked out of me, and I was certain, if I remained in the water much longer, that I’d be pulverized. Scared for a second, as I floated down into the deep, dark water, I was at peace. It would take only moments to drown, and then I wouldn’t be afraid anymore.
Raphael.
If I died, he would die. And maybe, as he was really an angel, an archangel no less, he wouldn’t. Perhaps those were just empty words he had to say because he’d been disguised as a kyrie. But somehow, and I didn’t know why, I thought perhaps it was true. And if all that blood he’d been taking from me hadn’t been that, but instead him infusing me with his angelic grace, maybe he didn’t have enough, not to live through the vessel that held his grace dying. I didn’t know the answer, but I certainly wasn’t going to chance losing him, even if I’d never see him again.
Pushing with all I had left, I exploded up from the deep, only to drop back down into the placid lake. It was surprising. Normally, I would have risen and been able to leap from the water to the land. My usual strength was gone. It was alarming, and yet not, as I’d been through a lot in the last twenty-four hours and had no idea what effect the hell dimensions were having on my body. I had been able to fly, or at least levitate and glide in the last one, in Kur, but here, wherever this was, I had none of that power.
After several moments of treading water, I had enough air to swim to the shore. Once there, I turned over and closed my eyes, happy to be out and breathing. I was reasonably certain no bones were broken, but I was freezing.
“I found another one!” someone yelled, and I didn’t try and move, even when a heavy net was thrown over me. I couldn’t keep my eyes open for even one more second.
As I came to, I realized I was in a wagon even before I managed to sit up and peer through the wooden bars at the countryside. Looking around, I saw a lot of men there with me, all of them filthy, in little more than rags, most of them emaciated. Apparently, from what the guards riding along beside the wagon said, there had been an escape during a transfer from one mine to another, and they were picking up those who’d run. It was easy, as many of them were weak, and no one wanted to give refuge to runaway slaves who belonged to the king.
I tried to break the cuffs and wasn’t surprised to find I couldn’t. The verdict was in: I had no more strength than a regular man here. Wherever I was, this dimension rendered my warder power moot. If I wanted to get away, I had to count on my brain, not brawn.
By nightfall, we were crossing a bridge leading into a camp. When we stopped, we were all unloaded and made to stand in a single file, and I was last in line. One by one, the men before me were led to a pole, where first they were made to take off their shirts, then their wrists were put through loops that were quickly tightened, and finally a huge bear of a man gave each five lashes with a long, thick bullwhip. When the punishment was done, each was given a bowl of stew, a large piece of bread, and they were sent down a hill, I was guessing to wherever it was they slept. When it was my turn and I was pushed forward to face the man in charge of the mine, his brows furrowed instantly.