Darkness Falls (DA 7) by Keri Arthur Read Free Book Online

column. “You have the pleasure of watching this place die, and a moment to reflect on your failure before the creature that holds you tears you into infinite pieces.”
    “Go fuck yourself, Malin.” In a last, desperate effort to be free, I thrust Amaya into the middle of the obelisk creature. He exploded. The force of it ripped Amaya from my grip and flung me forward. I hit the ground hard and pain bloomed, but I ignored it and rolled forward and up, and ran, with every ounce of strength I had left, straight at Malin.
    She pressed her other hand against the column and pushed it. It began to rock, gently at first, then with greater speed.
    “No!” She wasn’t going to win. No way in hell was I going to let her win.
    I launched myself into the air and desperately arrowed forward. Not at Malin, but at the miniature itself. I grabbed it from its precarious perch, twisted around in the air, and flung it to the side.
    Amaya, shield and protect, no matter what happens!
    I couldn’t see whether she obeyed. I hoped she did. Hoped I hadn’t completed what Malin had started. I hit the ground, heard the groan as the column reached full tipping point, and looked up to see it hurtling toward me.
    I imagined myself out of the way, but there was no sense of movement and nothing but the column filling my vision. I rolled. It was all I could do.
    The column crashed to the ground inches from where I lay, and the impact shuddered through every part of my being. Malin screamed, and once again I looked up. This time, it was she who was coming at me, a bloody sword held high above her head and vengeance oozing from every pore.
    I had nothing left.
    Nothing but one desperate hope.
    Priests of Aedh, if you’re out there, if you’re watching and listening, you need to get your asses in here and give me a little help.
    The bloody sword came at me. I flung my hands up,imagined a shield, and prayed like hell. Metal hit metal and again the sound rang out like a clarion bell.
    She raised the sword and hit the shield again. This time, it cracked. As she raised her sword for a final blow, I twisted and kicked, with all my might, at Malin’s gossamer legs. I didn’t have much strength left, but it was enough to unbalance her. What would have been the death blow skittered off the shield and hit the darkness just to my right.
    I scrambled up, clenched my fists, and hit her full in the face. It might not have been a strong blow, let alone a killing one, but damn, it felt good.
    She raised a hand as she staggered away, and suddenly there were vines twining up my legs and pinning my arms to my body.
    “Now,” she said, as she stalked toward me, her face twisted and ugly with malice. “We end this—”
    Enough. The voice was male, and it came from everywhere and yet nowhere. It echoed through the shadows and reverberated through my mind. It held no threat, yet I sensed it could kill without a moment’s hesitation or thought.
    And it was a voice I had heard before. It was the remnant I’d spoken to the last time I’d been here in the temple.
    “You have no power over me,” Malin snarled. “Begone—”
    Her eyes went wide and she froze. The vines that bound me withered away, but without their support I ended up on my ass.
    You have caused enough damage to this place, Malin. For that alone, we could end you. His tone was calm, collected, but filled with a sense of regret. We had hoped, until the very end, that you would come to your senses, that the last of the Aedh priests could not possibly want the destruction of all that we hold sacred.
    Malin made a muffled retort. Energy radiated off her, but whatever she was trying to do, it had little effect.
    But in attempting to destroy the archive of both the temple and the portals, you have shown a malignancy that cannot be tolerated. There was a soft sound, like a sigh of wind. It is with great regret that we are therefore forced to end you.
    And just like that, she was gone.
    I blinked. “So