The Story of Evil: Volume I - Heroes of the Siege by Tony Johnson Read Free Book Online Page B

bricks scattered across the plaza floor. But while looking back, he also saw that the main frame of the aqueduct arch he had just passed under was coming down on top of him in one large piece.
    Steve jumped through the air in full sprint and dove down into the Fluorite River. The arch of the aqueduct plunged down into the water after him, just a few feet away. The force of the weight of the crashing stone bricks pushed the river away from it. Steve tumbled along with the huge wave, crashing into burned, dead bodies bobbing up and down as they were all carried along by the river. He was propelled 100 meters, all the way to the other side before hitting the bank.
    The drenched warrior threw Brightflame up onto dry land and then used both his hands to pull himself up. He tried to catch his breath, but all he could breathe in was the expanding dust that filled the air from the crumbled debris of the watchtower and aqueduct that had spread across the plaza and over the river.
    How many people took shelter in that tower? How many people just died? The thoughts raced through Steve’s mind as he looked back at the wreckage he was almost a part of.
    After a fit of trying to catch his breath and choking on the dust, he stumbled north on the road that ran parallel to the river and led directly to the castle. Steve’s hearing was barely at half capacity and now that the dust stung against his eyes, he felt vulnerable with his lack of main senses. He walked far enough to get out of the reach of the lung clogging dust.
    Hearing the castle bells at closer intervals beckoned for his feet to cycle faster. Steve looked up at the insanely large castle not even a half a mile down the road in front of him. It was always a majestic sight to see, especially as he was on the castle’s face side.
    He looked behind him to see the wreckage of Commander Ostravaski’s Tower. The ruins started to appear through the settling dust. Also appearing in the dust was a horde of monsters. Some of them were stopping and picking up weapons and armor out of the tower’s rubble, but most were sprinting towards the castle. The two bridges that spanned the river and connected Big Square to the road Steve was on were bottlenecking the monsters, but they were still closing in on Steve faster than he could run.
    The castle bells sounded again. They could not have been any more frequent, which meant the castle drawbridges were about to be raised. As soon as the monsters crossed a certain part of the road Steve was on, the drawbridges went up. No exceptions.
    Anxiety filled Steve’s mind as he knew it was going to be a race to the castle before it was closed. He was tired from all the running, but he had to resume at full speed for the final half mile. If he didn’t make it to the castle in time, he would have nowhere to go except to turn back to the monsters, where a quick death awaited. Civilians were also running to the castle ahead of him, emerging from side streets and sprinting up the main road. All of them ran for their lives towards the only hope of life they had left, inside the protecting fortress of the castle.
    Steve saw a woman ahead of him fall down dead, an arrow lodged in the back of her head. What looked to be her husband turned back for her, but he was shot and killed as well.
    An ice blue tipped arrow grazed underneath Steve’s jaw. Four inches higher and it would have been fatal. The flash of another arrow flew past his right side, but he did not hear it make a whizzing sound because of his bad ear. Looking back over his shoulder, Steve saw that a few monsters had equipped bows and arrows and were aiming at him and the civilians. He also saw that some of the monsters were twice as fast as he was at his sprinting speed. Monsters who hadn’t stopped to shoot had already gained half the distance to him.
    There is no way I can outrun them. I won’t even make it a quarter mile before they catch up to me. Steve took a deep breath and looked at the