Hive Queen by Sinclair, Grayson (ereader iphone .TXT) 📗

their relaxed attitudes shattering as they drew arms and climbed down off their horses. I was utterly lost at this point, but I stopped Lacuna and followed suit, dropping to the ground and sinking about a foot into the swamp. The mud and wet earth slid between my toes and covered my feet.

While I had no trouble navigating through the muck, the others were hobbling and taking concerted steps. I went over to Gil, who seemed to be having some difficulty standing upright on the uneven and soft road.

"What is going on?" I asked him.

He looked off in the distance, his face solemn and firm. "We've been marked."

Am I supposed to know what that means? "What?" I asked.

Evelyn inclined her head to the tree line, where over a hundred of the birds perched, staring us down. "Shades."

Adam barked a laugh. "It’s about to get exciting."

As if by command, the flock of shades rose in unison from the trees, taking to the skies and unleashing a horrendous caw.

It sent shivers of fear through me and made me want to do nothing but flee and never look back. Their echo reverberated through my skull, and all I wanted to was curl into a ball from the pain. Gil reached me and hauled me to my feet.

"Stand firm. Don't let their mind games affect you. It'll get worse if you don't fight it."

"Here they come!" Makenna shouted.

They sent another debilitating screech at us, and a wave of death descended on us.

Hundreds of the shades swept from the trees to assault us, and with every passing moment, more appeared. Each of them dripped shadows like ink from a giant squid in the water. They blotted out the sky with their shifting darkness, and as they dove down, I jumped out of the way, finding ample footing through the damp muck.

"Tegen, Cheira, hide. I'll find you when this is over!" I yelled at them.

Without a second’s hesitation, they bolted from Lacuna and took off into the marsh, sprinting through the reeds out of sight. I regrouped with the guild, who were having a much worse time navigating in the sticky marsh, their feet sunk deep into the soft earth.

Even though they were having difficulty moving, they were far more deadly than I. Each time the birds swooped down to attempt to claw us apart, they died.

Gil swung his glowing axe and slaughtered dozens with ease. Each time his giant black axe struck, sparks flew out and set the birds alight. With a horrendous screech, they burst into flames before withering and turning to shadows.

Even though I was having an easier time moving, I still wasn't faster than the shades. They showed an animalistic cunning, catching me off guard and raking their sharp claws over my exposed arms. I cried out as sharp talons ripped through my skin. Blood ran from the deep gashes to drop down my arm.

By the void, that burns!

Their claws left shadows to stick to my wound, eating away at my exposed blood. I need to protect myself. I couldn't enter the Hive Mind in the heat of battle, but I accessed the two spells I had on the top of my tongue: Chitin Armor and Chitin Sword. More and more of them kept coming, and the five of us had separated in the wetlands.

"Quick, regroup in the trees!" Evelyn shouted and headed into the largest mass of birds.

Something happened to her—a translucent shimmer formed just off her skin. As if controlled by a gust of wind, it blew out in a circle around her. As soon as it touched one of the birds, they simply dissolved, cracking and turning to black mist as they died by the hundreds. Enough to give us an opening to run to the copse of dead trees a couple dozen yards in front of us.

"What are you waiting for? Get moving!"

Gill followed through the hole Evelyn made for us.

I took off after the giant, quickly gaining ground on both of the Gloom Knights as I ran through the mud. I kept pace with Evelyn as we reached the trees. A random dead branch from a tree snagged at my cloak but didn't tear through as we dove behind cover.

It was a short run, but I was panting as if I had run for miles. My nerves screamed at me, and my beating heart drowned out the world around me. The shades circled overhead, screeching in unison. Fear welled in my stomach and my hands shook, and I fought the desire to turn and run. To escape.

Evelyn smiled at me, even though her eyes watched the rest of the guild and the incoming swarm. "You can move, I'll give you that. Now let's see how you fight.”

I nodded breathlessly and called upon my magic. Evelyn's eyes rose by a fraction as green smoke flowed from my hands, and black chitin appeared from my skin. I shrugged off my backpack and cloak before the sharp chitin tore through the leather. It crawled up my skin in seconds and covered me from head to toe.

As the chitin slithered over my head, I lost the ability to breathe until it hardened and allowed two small slits under my nose. Chitin didn't have a smell itself, but it carried with it the scent of the forest, and when it formed over my eyes, my vision swirled with green light. In the bright day, it faded, but in the low light of the salt-soaked mire, everything was clear as day.

Coating my entire body with chitin took a massive amount of mana, and when I used it in tandem with Chitin Sword, my limited mana pool dropped even lower. With two simple spells, I was down to less than half, which fell by the minute as I kept both spells going. I doubt