Shard Knight (Echoes Across Time Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

managed a weak nod and flinched as the desk’s corner exploded inches from his face. Splinters of wood tore into his shield but burned away in seconds leaving him unscathed.
    Brunte, a small powerfully built knight, crossed the room in a blur. His ax flashed in a yellow streak before he buried it in the side of Orren’s shield.
    Orren’s shield ignited in a bright spray of blue sparks and flickered for a moment before reappearing.
    Kristen laid a barrage of spirit attacks around Brunte’s feet blasting holes in the ornate carpet and the floorboards beneath. She meant to keep Clement away from Brunte.
    Without looking at Brunte, Clement lifted his steel knight’s shield and leaped across the room in a single bound. He hammered the magical field surrounding Kristen with his kite shield causing her shield to flicker and push her backwards into the desk.
    As Orren readied an attack of his own, Brunte whirled with blinding speed sending his ax again into the magical barrier.
    As the shield flickered, Ronan stood from his hiding place and sent his dagger flying end over end and watched it bury itself in Orren’s throat.
    Orren’s eyes went wide with shock, and his hand flew up to his throat. He cried out but instead produced a sickening gurgling noise and dropped to his knees.
    Brunte’s ax flashed again, and a streak of yellow blurred toward the man’s neck. The ax never slowed as it cut through Orren’s neck severing his head from his shoulders. A geyser of blood sprayed from the dead knight’s headless body, and he tipped forward collapsing onto the ornate carpet of the queen’s chamber.
    Blue light streamed from the fallen knight swirling around his body. The light coalesced into a bright point near Orren’s breastplate. Within moments, it hardened forming a glassy shell around a dark blue center. Weaves consisting of varying shades of blue energy traveled the interior of the shard bouncing from side to side.
    The sphere surrounding Clement scattered at the same moment his blade traveled through Kristen’s weakened shield and cut a hole the size of a cantaloupe through her breastplate.
    The talented young shield knight grunted as her mouth opened in shock. She stared wide eyed at Clement’s shard blade jutting from her chest, blood flowed from the corners of her open mouth. Kristen’s bloody body slid along the desk’s surface and fell onto the floor twisting at an awkward angle.
    Clement leaned his weight into the blade, and it sunk through her body pinning her to the carpet. “How do you like that bitch?”
    The sphere protecting Ronan and the queen evaporated leaving them vulnerable to attack.
    In a blurred flash of motion, Brunte sailed across the room swinging his ax at Clement’s back like a lumberjack felling a tree. The ax blade’s lead edge burst through Clement’s breastplate. He placed his foot against Clement’s back and pushed off while pulling free his ax. The traitorous battle knight fell face first into front of the tipped over desk and collapsed in a twisted heap atop Kristen’s corpse.
    As the blue energy from Kristen’s body coalesced into a protection shard, weaves of yellow mist hung in the air an inch over Clement’s body. It hovered growing dense until it formed a thick cloud, condensed, and hardened into a jagged enhancement shard. At the shard’s dark yellow center, golden weaves orbited the core and emanated an aura of yellow light near Clement’s head.
    As the last knight standing, Brunte scanned the room before sheathing his blade. He circled the bloodied desk and stood before the queen. “They’re all dead Your Majesty.”
    Arianne’s white knuckled grip never wavered from Ronan’s arm. With wide eyes and an ashen complexion, she trembled frozen in the crouch she’d held throughout the savage fight.
    Ronan placed a hand to his mother’s cheek, and she managed a weak smile.
    “You’re such a handsome boy.” Arianne touched Ronan’s chin, and pain edged her blue