Book 2, Chapter 52 (2/2)
Dawn rested Terrangelica's blade against her shoulder and looked down the route ahead Deviously hidden traps, painstakingly placed along their path, peppered the way Da theer
Snap!
A rope trap tangled around Dawn's foot, but all of a sudden it was like she weighed a thousand pounds It failed it lift her even an inch off the ground and just snapped, but a hail of spikes shot out from the walls as the second part of the trap fired Dawn – calh a park – slipped through unscathed and unconcerned
Hardly worth a second thought That level of ability was deht so, too However, he just so happened to spy so on the wall as he turned his head It was a synized Majjhima left it here and it was more than likely Bloomnettle's people ith him
A clue Cloudhawk stepped forward to take a closer look
Only, as he approached, Oddball, perched dutifully on his shoulder, h their connection Cloudhawk felt a clear warning
He didn't knohat Oddball had seen but he was immediately on alert In the next instant it felt like he'd slipped into an icy chas cold froer!
Years of near-death experiences in the wasteland honed Cloudhawk's instincts He reacted ale huold sas only half raised when a dagger reached out for hi he'd ever seen, even the Bloodsoaked Queen didn't have speed like this If not for Oddball's keen eyes Cloudhaould have been done for
Blade and dagger met Not a sound was heard
Cloudhawk felt the force of the ih him and it almost made him drop the sword Meanwhile his opponent was unfazed The black-bladed dagger wasn't still for a fraction of a second, lashi+ng out at hiht for him, irresistible – Cloudhawk didn't even have tiht for his throat
Fast Too fast!
His instincts took over again and he threw hied to avoid a fatal blow but the knife still caught him in the shoulder This hidden attacker had appeared too suddenly for him to react – even the likes of Dawn hadn't known he was there By the time he made himself known it was too late
Cloudhainced in pain but panicked when he felt the wound go nuan to lose sensation in his arm
Poison, and potent!
A roar went up as Dawn charged forward, Terrangelica reaching into the darkness Before the mysterious assailant could finish Cloudhawk off a swipe from her sword forced the twofor it!”
Dawn squinted her eyes and peered into the dark There was nothing, and then slowly a figure appeared like a shadow A man only a few centimeters taller than Cloudhaas revealed He was somewhere in his twenties, and black as the tunnels that surrounded them; black hair, black eyes, black er, black boots He was like the night had come alive
Somehow he seemed familiar to Cloudhawk
There was a thinly contained wildness in his eyes, like a feral wolf The way he rass, or a scorpion biding tirim, deadly ferocity of the wastelands The sensation holly familiar to Cloudhawk
But he'd never met thiswho kneho he was
He was strong, but exceedingly low-key and absolutely terrifying Only a handful of the common people knew him for his existence was a close-kept secret of the city's elite The Court of Shadows' second in couy Why'd he try to kill rew even paler “Give et always dies – there is no antidote for a sting from Deathstalker ” Atlas looked at her with a blank and indifferent gaze The relic weapon in his hand, the dagger he called Deathstalker – gloith a faint wine hue It certainly looked like the lethal stinger of its namesake “His fate is sealed He will die down here”
“Atlas, I thought you orth a damn Shameless!” Daas mad with fury “Come at me if you have the sack, why attack a novice?!”
“He killed er brother He had to die”
Atlas' eyes slithered back over to Cloudhawk and there was nothing in them but an infinite cold Not a hint of eer to its sheath and turned away, ready to slip back into the shadows
(Make sure to follow Xiao Lai on instagra interesting from time to time)
1 The name of this creepy emo punk's weapon is 'hell scorpion' The Deathstalker scorpion is a real thing and abso-fucking-lutely terrifying A sting can cause convulsions, coma, and death so you can suffer as I did Sweet dreaht now