Keeper of the Eye (The Eye of the Sword Book 1) Read Free

short dagger sheathed on his forearm, and stabbed the man in the back as he passed. With a final heave, the axe pulled free, and Aldar continued his wake of death on foot.
    The fighting raged, but the Fist faltered. Littered with bodies, horses, and broken weapons, the ground itself appeared to bleed. Separated into smaller groups, the Fist killed men two to one, but the mercenaries’ numbers were too great. Tobias, Magdalene, Aldar, and fifty men pushed together near the center of the Heart, encircling the red carriage.
    Snow shot outward in a powdered spray as Magdalene sent a concussion of Air into the crowd of attackers. Bones splintered and bodies flew back as the wave hit their front line like a hammer. Her knees gave way and she slumped to the ground, blood dripping from her nose. Tobias sent a wave of fire into the pack of mercenaries before they could recover. Men fell screaming, trying to quench the flames engulfing them.
    Aldar and his men met the next wave of mercenaries. They fought bravely, but eventually, one by one, they fell. Ducking to avoid a blow, Aldar backhanded a bearded man, the spikes along the knuckles of his gauntlet slicing deep gashes across the man’s face. The momentum turned Aldar around where another mercenary waited. He felt the sword slice through his armor. Falling to his knees, arm held across his mid-section, he leaned heavily on his axe.
    The man bent down with a sneer. “Hurts, don’t it?”
    Rage surged through Aldar. As life flowed from his body, he pulled the dagger from his belt, slashing the man’s face. Forcing himself to his feet, his axe sang its song of death one last time, eviscerating the man.
    “You tell me.”
    Aldar’s knees buckled. The last thing he saw was Tobias and Magdalene, back to back, beside the wagon.
    Long live the King.
     
    ***
     
    Tobias saw Aldar fall and knew it was hopeless. He could barely stand, and Magdalene had fallen once already. He heard his son crying in the carriage and it steeled him for what he must do.
    “Maggie, shield yourself and the wagon.”
    The air around them shimmered then solidified as she formed a dome around them and the carriage. The mercenaries beat against the invisible barrier.
    “If we’re going to die then we’re taking every one of them with us. If you die, I die.”
    “Maggie I can—”
    “There’s too many. If a death spell’s going to be cast, then we do it together.” She kissed him to prevent his objection. “Neither of us has the strength left to do it alone.”
    “You are the magic that completes me,” he replied. The words felt like lumps in his throat. He had always been amazed at how much their powers complemented one another. It had become their term of endearment.
    She smiled weakly. “You complete me in every way.”
    The shield shook. “It will break soon. We must do it now,” she said. Their son’s crying had stopped with the shield muffling the roar of battle. Magdalene leaned into the carriage and kissed him on the forehead, tears streaming down her cheeks. She could not make the words come out.
    “Goodbye, my son,” Tobias said.
    He held the Sword up before them. His brown eyes gazed into hers one last time. So many times, he had lost himself in their blue beauty.
    She slid her hands over his, a smile pushing the corners of her full, red lips up to meet a tear as it slid down her cheek. Her heart melted the first time he ever looked at her. Her heart melted still.
    Together they fed their magic into the Eye.
    Magdalene’s lungs felt on fire, screaming for oxygen, but she had none to give. When she thought she had given every ounce of magic within her, the Eye found more in the farthest reaches of her being. The air within the shield felt alive with power. For one last, brief moment, she was aware of everything at once; her beloved Tobias, her precious son, the shield giving way to their enemy. “Let him grow into the man I love in his Father,” she whispered to the Creator.