Chapter 14: Abhorrent Attack (2)

Chapter 14: Abhorrent Attack (2)

Xerxes half-expected the Abhorrent woman to suddenly jump up and start ripping the soldiers to shreds. That didnt happen.

Squad One stopped at the ridgeline, and then a few groans could be heard. Tamharus shoulders slumped.

Sergeant? Captain Ishki said.

The thing isnt anywhere in sight, Tamharu reported. Ap and Goran are theyre gone.

Xerxes learned later that both men had been killed violently. Gorans remains lay in a lake of blood just before the base of the hill. Ap had essentially been ripped in two, although his entrails connected the two parts. Xerxes didnt see the sight with his own eyes though, for Bel woke up shortly after the conclusion of the frenzied melee.

After her eyes fluttered open, Sergeant Aniskipel helped her into a sitting position.Follow current novels at novelhall.com)

Gandash was already there. Bel, are you okay?

Not sure, she said, her voice trembling.

You were urt pretty bad, girl, Aniskipel said. Will an ealing spell fix it?

I hope so, she said.

She lost an entire dose of green belladonna sand when her trembling fingers resulted in a failure of her first healing spell. The second spell worked. Whatever the disgusting ichor was that the severed Abhorrent parts left behind, it didnt seem to have caused infection or sickness.

Gandash wrapped his arms around Bel, and she returned the embrace.

Nows not the time for that sort of thing, Captain Ishki said from a few feet away. Refill your component pouches and be ready. Raising her voice, she gave out new orders.

The camp was reorganized. The fires were moved to different locations. Additional fires, much larger than those in the camp, were started at the base of the hill, in the four cardinal directions. More sentries were assigned, ten in total, with four of them focused on the direction the Abhorrent had originally come from, and the others facing the other directions.

Xerxes eyes opened, and he jerked up into a sitting position.

Gandash noticed, looking over with eyes so wide they looked like they might pop out of his skull. Whats wrong? he whispered.

Bel sat up and put her hand on her component pouch.

Nothings wrong, Xerxes replied quietly. Its just that thing came out of a meteorite that fell from the sky. So what about all those other meteors we saw? Did all of them have Abhorrent in them?

The thought chilled him to the bone, and when he turned to look at his friends, he saw that they look no less haunted.

Xerxes cleared his throat. Sorry, I probably shouldnt have said anything. It just just occurred to me.

He lay back down.

Now his thoughts wandered even more. He thought about his family back in the capital. He thought about Gandashs family. Of their friends. Their teachers in the Academy. The other mages who called the capital home.

Which direction had the meteors been falling? Could any have fallen in the capital itself? Or nearby?

At a certain point, he fell asleep. One moment, he was obsessing about an army of monsters invading the capital, the next he was in a deep slumber.

He started dreaming. He, Bel, and Gandash were attending class in the capital when suddenly the building caught on fire. They ran out to find meteors smashing into the city around them. Everything was burning. He heard screams. The screams grew louder. Louder still.

His eyes snapped open.

The screams were real.

The Abhorrent was back.