Mira's View (25 page)

Galena looked Elenio and then Tark. She saw
the same horror on their faces as she felt on her own. They had no
choice, but to stand and fight.

“Bad news, no Mira’s View. Good news, we have
the high grounds,” Elenio said, dropping his pack to the ground and
reaching for his sword.

Tark chuckled darkly as he did the same.

Galena fought back a wave of sickness that
threatened to overwhelm her. Grabbing her flask and filling it once
more with water and her herbs, she drank the contents before
throwing it to the ground and taking her own sword, preparing
herself for what was to come.

She heard the first torlic start to rise
before she actually saw him. Springing to action, she cut his hand
off, causing him to scream in pain as he fell back and down,
crashing into several others along the way. The second was almost
up and standing before she could run her sword through his gut.
Elenio cut the arm off one as another reached up to stab him, only
to lose his head and be sent flying backwards instead. Tark was
busy hacking and swinging as well. Galena began to sweat in the
cold mountain air as she met each torlic in turn. More and more
were coming until she had to start backing up. She looked back and
realized that torlics were coming across the flat mountaintop
toward them from the other direction, but still she fought on. She
swung her sword, removing the heads from two at once. She blocked a
blow before twisting around and pushing her sword through another.
She felt the pierce of a sword cutting through her flesh and she
cried out in pain. She hacked and swung, blocked and parried, but
it wasn’t enough. They kept coming.

She heard Elenio cry out somewhere behind
her. Putting her sword through the neck of an oncoming torlic, she
paused and looked around her. There were fallen torlics everywhere,
but there were still more than a hundred standing. Tark was in the
middle of at least ten, doing his best to defend himself, but
losing ground. One of Elenio’s arms was bleeding badly as he tried
to defend himself against three others. They were losing. She had
no choice.

Elenio looked at her as he cut the legs out
from one of his attackers and she smiled at him before mouthing the
words ‘
I love you
.’ Standing straight, Galena steeled
herself against the remaining torlics charging her. She would not
let them take her loved ones, not while she could still do
something about it. She thought of fire. Blazing hot fire consuming
their bodies. She heard Elenio scream, ‘
No
’ at her just
before every torlic on that mountain burst into flames.

Chapter
Twenty-Five

Elenio realized what she was going to do as
he watched her mouth the words ‘
I love you
.’ Panic and fear,
as he had never known, welled up inside. He had to stop her. There
was no way she could take on this many torlics and survive. He
swung his sword, slicing the gut of an oncoming torlic. Elenio ran
toward Galena. He swung his sword at any torlic that dared to
approach him, hacking them down before they even realized that he
had passed them by. Hurt or not, he had to stop her, and nothing
would get in his way.

He watched in horror as she stood straight,
taking in every creature as they began to swarm her. He felt the
determination rise within her, even as fear overtook him.

“No
!” He felt the scream rip through
his throat while he watched every torlic on the mountain, burst
into blazing white flames. He heard the screams of pain and agony
from every dark creature, but he didn’t stop. They dropped all
around him and he had to dodge and jump over them to reach her. His
stomach dropped as Galena did. Running as fast as he could, he
caught her before she hit the ground. Cradling her in his lap, he
grabbed her face, and turned her toward him. She convulsed where
she lay, her tattoos deep red, and blood dripping from her mouth.
Her eyes were wide open, but only the whites shone. The colored
drained from her face as she continued to writhe within in his
arms. He heard Tark’s running feet approaching quickly before he
skidded to a halt on the other side of her.

“No, no, no, no,” he moaned, taking in
Galena’s appearance. He brushed away the hair from her face while
she continued twitching uncontrollably in Elenio’s arm.

Elenio watched in horror and felt hot tears
running down his face Sickness coursed through him when Galena
started to scream in agony. Her screams continued until her voice
grew raspy. Even after her voice was gone, she continued to
silently scream, her body shaking the whole time. Elenio hugged her
to his chest as he rocked back and forth, willing her to share the
pain with him even though he realized that he could no longer feel
her emotions or hear her thoughts. He had to save her, but he knew
they didn’t have much time.

Looking up at Tark, who was sobbing silently
while he watched his sister, he said more calmly than he felt, “We
have to get her to Mira’s View, and fast.”

About the
Author

I am a preschool teacher in a little town in
Ohio. I have a wonderful husband and between the two of us, we have
five children, four boys and one girl. We also have a wide variety
of animals living with us. Everything from the more common pets
like dogs and cats to more exotic like cockatiel and cockatoos. I
love watching football in the fall and swimming in the summer.
Christmas is awesome and without a doubt, my favorite time of
year.

Believe it or not, I did not like reading
until about the fourth grade when I finally found a genre that
really sparked my interest—fantasy. From there it became a passion
of mine and often times the perfect way to escape the difficult
times in everyday life. Mythical creatures are another love of mine
so I combined my two loves and set forth to accomplish what I have
always wanted to do: write books for everyone to love.

Facebook:
www.facebook.com/swordoflumina

Twitter:
@eelliottauthor

Blog Site:
erinelliottwriter.wordpress.com

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