Scholomance 9 by Logan Jacobs (inspirational books to read txt) 📗

spell after spell, and even though we were outnumbered, our lethal magic was able to keep the guards at arm’s length, but I quickly realized that each time we killed one, another would just appear through the doorway. The prince’s entire army must have been inside the palace, and as time passed, I knew there would be too many to take on at once.

“We need to get out of this room before every guard swarms in!” Vanessa shouted as she blasted one soldier in the middle of his chest and threw him out the door.

“You read my mind, Professor,” I yelled.

“So, what should we do?” Beatrix demanded in a high-pitched tone.

I quickly studied the room around us, and a smile crept across my face as I stared at the glowing sconces plastered on the velvet wall. I studied the dancing tangerine and yellow flames and pictured burning this fucking room into a crisp, with every soldier in it. My heart longed to see this chamber blacken, and I yearned to hear each holy warrior scream as I sent them into the afterlife to be with their fucking elder Lord and savior.

“Professor?” I shouted before I looked back at Vanessa, and she had beads of sweat trickling down her forehead. “Do you think you can create a protective barrier around us?”

“Yes, but not for long!” she replied before she shouted another incantation. “I’ve already used a great deal of magic on these motherfuckers! Why? What do you have in mind, Cole?”

“There’s no time to explain,” I said before I gazed at the witches who were busy attacking the guards, and then my eyes happened to land on the orb on the floor. The precious relic was behind a towering soldier’s foot, and when I glanced up to meet his glowing eyes, a sinister smile spread across his face, like he was silently daring me to attack him. My eyes never left his as I uttered my next command. “Vanessa, just gather the women around you! I’ll join you in a moment.”

“Fine!” Vanessa snapped before she looked wildly around her. “Everyone, come near me! Your master commands it!”

While the women did as they were told, I dove forward with my wand extended and blasted through the growing crowd of soldiers. As I got closer to the unnaturally tall guard, I gritted my teeth and prepared to blast him away, but then I heard one of the women scream my name.

“Cole, look out behind you!” Akira yelled, and when I spun around, a guard was three inches away from piercing me in the gut with a small and clean blade.

“Ventus!” I heard Circe scream in a feral voice.

Suddenly, a gust of mighty wind sent the blade-wielding soldier soaring past me, and he dropped his weapon before his body went flying through the door. Circe’s surprising spell might have saved me from a lethal stabbing, but it wasn’t strong enough to stop someone else from crashing on top of me.

I fell to the floor with a painful thud, and I knew it was the towering guard on top of me. His body was crushing mine as I tried to reach out and snatch the blade that was only a couple of inches in front of me. I couldn’t move anything else except for my arm, and it felt like my ribs were going to crack and puncture my lungs as I struggled to overpower my attacker. I could barely breathe beneath him, and then his beefy, scaled hands wrapped around my neck, and I grunted and gasped for air as he tried to squeeze the life out of me.

“Master!” Penelope cried out in terror, and even though I couldn’t see the bright-haired Wicca, I could hear the fear in her voice before she shouted once more. “Dissulto!”

Her spell whipped through the air and blasted my attacker, and his body jerked backward just enough for me to reach out and wrap my fingers around the hilt of the blade. Before he could fall on top of me again, I shifted my body and turned to face him, and his eyes grew wide with realization as I raised my hand and plunged the small weapon into the side of his bulky neck. Blood spurted from his lips and dribbled down his chin as I pushed the blade deeper and deeper into his soft flesh.

More blood gushed from his open wound as I yanked the knife out, and I wriggled out from beneath him before he fell face-first on the floor. Then I sprung to my feet and ran toward the orb, and I snatched it up before any other guards could attack.

“Cole, hurry!” Vanessa cried out while the other witches did their best to keep any soldiers from nearing them.

I destroyed every single guard in my path as I made my way back to the others, and once we were all huddled around Vanessa, she raised her wand high into the air.

“Clypeus!” the professor shouted.

A great transparent dome suddenly burst from the tip of the professor’s wand and surrounded us entirely. We were safely inside the confinements of our magical bubble as the guards continued trying to pierce through the wall, but when they realized none of their weapons could penetrate through the exterior, they took a step back and coldly regarded us.

“You can’t hide in there forever!” a guard with venomous blue eyes shouted, and then his glare focused solely on Vanessa. “What are you going to do? Wait in there until your power fades, heathen bitch?”

“I can hold this as long as it takes,” Vanessa growled. “Our power is far superior than yours.”

As the guards stood vehemently outside of our watery dome, I focused on summoning the dark, unholy Lord to do my bidding, and I prayed for the strength I needed to burn these holy worshipping bastards to the ground.