Dark Tides (Kingdom of Bones #2)

Original Edition: ◇ Chapter 22 ◇ Time ◇

CSILLA

West Incendia

Late Rainrise

Chaos descended upon them like a sea storm.

One moment they were in front of Rove and his men, the next they were running through the mist of a cloud. Her ankle throbbed as she ran, making her slower than the rest of the crew, but Flynn stayed with her, never leaving her alone.

The shouts of Rove's men continued to get closer until they started to burst through the mist behind them. Flynn turned and shot his pistol.

"Keep going!" he yelled to her. "I'll hold them off."

Csilla turned around the face the men emerging from the fog one by one. "I won't let you die for me," she said, unsheathing her sword.

Steel clanged as her blade stopped an attack. She pushed his sword away and kicked the side of his knee, making him buckle and crumble to the ground. Another man took his place. The tip of his sword pointed right at Csilla as he ran toward her. She side-stepped his attack and sliced her sword as he passed, cutting him down.

Next to her, Flynn held his pistol in one hand and his half-sword in another. After dodging an attack, he hit the man in the temple with the end of his gun, knocking him out.

Csilla's gaze roamed over the cloud, hoping to see one of her allies, but only more of Rove's men emerged from the fog. There were too many of them. Without the mist to help mask, Csilla and the crew probably would have been dead or captured quickly. She'd only wondered briefly where it came from. Lorelei must have figured out how to use her storm. But she remembered Lorelei's wide panicked eyes that night on the balcony. Her fearful confessions about the dark influence of her magic.

"Looks like you lot need some assistance," Arius said as he slid in next to Flynn.

"It's about time you showed up, mate," Flynn said, aiming his pistol and shooting. "Was beginning to think you'd run off."

"And miss all the action?" He put his pistol in his holster and unsheathed his sword instead. "Absolutely not."

More men barreled through the fog toward them, swords high. Flynn shot the first one down and Arius intercepted the second with a counter-attack. Csilla gripped the hilt of her sword with both hands as a man wielding an oversized axe lunged toward her. He stood taller than all three of them, his arms thick enough to be a weapon on their own. He smirked at Csilla. She glanced over and Flynn and Arius who were both in their own duels.

"You're coming with me," he said.

"I take orders from no one," she replied. She squared up to him them then, pointing her sword at him as she looked up from under her brow.

"The boss said you're needed alive, but perhaps there will be an accident." He smiled full-tooth, exposing one of his missing teeth.

"Then stop talking and swing your axe already."

His smile was quickly replaced by a scowl as he gripped his axe tighter. Csilla was already prepared for his attack having observed him and the way he held his axe while he spoke. The axe swung in hard and heavy from the right. All in one movement, Csilla dropped and rolled to the left—the axe slicing the air above her—and rolled up onto her knee. She swung downward with her sword, slicing the back of his arm.

As he stumbled back and yelled, Csilla quickly rose to her feet and went on the offensive. She swung toward his side, her blow blocked with his axe, she swept low and he dodged, but each attack from Csilla had him falling back.