Take the Darkness...: Epic Fantasy Series Read Online Free Page A

sweetly, white teeth flashing prettily and said, ‘Attack me.’
    He leapt with vigour and swung his sword in a shoulder to hip slash. She just darted back in a blur and his sword swung through the thin air. Almost losing his balance, Seth wheeled in a circle and, releasing his sword from one hand, let it fly out, leading with his left hand and leaping to the side to give it even more length. She was forced to block the move and did so easily, but with a smile. He spun back the other way and slashed at her legs. She blocked that as well and kicked out at his face, he blocked the front kick with the flat of his blade and was knocked back in a roll. He came up in a fighting stance to see her leaping towards him with that giant blade poised above her. Defending for a massive blow, he thought ‘fuck this’. As she came down towards him, he passed the sword to his right hand and turned his body to present as small target as possible. He pushed his blade deep into her stomach as she descended, but she’d changed her blades direction and it cut him deeply, from the neck all the way to his stomach.
    He staggered back with red blood pouring from him and massive pain running through him. She looked down as silver blood poured from the wound in her own stomach, Seth’s sword running almost the entire way though her. She smiled at him as he lay dying in the snow.
    ‘Not too bad, really.’ Taking the pommel of his sword, she drew it slowly from her fine flat stomach with a slight wince of pain. Wiping the silver blood on her hand, she reached down to him in the snow and smeared blood down the long deep cut from his neck. He felt it infuse with him, and he felt the wound growing hot and healing itself. ‘Get up and stop being lazy.’ She said with a laugh, and with a strong hand she pulled him from the snow.
    He had felt moments earlier that the life was trickling out of him, but now he felt stronger than ever. He almost believed he could move faster and more lightly than before he’d been cut.
    ‘The moon spoke true. You’ve passed the test, and also being blood bound is another sign it was meant to be.’
    He looked at her smiling face, only very slightly tired or strained, and laughed himself. ‘Did you enjoy that?’ He asked
    ‘Of course, I’ve been so bored these last hundred years, but now we’re going to get into so many good fights.’
    ‘With me?’ He asked.
    ‘Oh no, with my mother,’ she said with a wicked grin. ‘Come now and obey me,’ she said. He felt the power of the words in his mind and followed, all thoughts of the coins and friends forgotten.
     

Chapter 5
    Grimm felt good. The moment he had realised that Seth had sacrificed himself to avoid this battle, he’d felt such a pit of shame inside. He wasn’t angry at Seth as he knew he’d done it more to protect these other ones in the Keep. The guards, the mercenaries, and above all Elizebetha... but still, he had put himself in the way of the blade, and now Grimm had redeemed himself. Not only that, the battle was still coming, and without Seth here, it would be up to him and the other Northmen to lead these scared sheep.
    The soldiers of the Cold Death were running around like headless chickens, and it was all their commander Dagosh could do to keep them focused. They were Seth’s men, hearts and souls, and now that he was gone, so had the fight gone out of them. What had seemed a glorious battle against the odds now seemed like a slaughter, with them as the cattle. Also, there was no explaining to them what had happened. Pellosi didn’t believe in things like lands of the dead and creatures of power. They believed in gods of the harvest and gods of trade, but they had no time for magic or things of that ilk. So he’d just told everyone Seth had snuck off to gather reinforcements, and at least that had brought their spirits up a bit.
    Dagosh confronted Grimm as they stood on the stone battlements looking at the thousand strong force of the