Lord of the Abyss - By Nalini Singh Page 0,59

that."

He didn't know why she told him that. Did she think he would turn her away so as to escape the Arachdem? The thought annoyed him. "Good," he said, "then I'll give you to them at the edge of the village and they'll return from whence they came."

A small pause, then an even smaller voice. "I'm sorry."

Frowning at the bloody black of the sky, he shot her a glowering look. "Don't be sorry. Help me halt this army."

"The Arachdem are his greatest weapon," Liliana said, an odd catch in her voice. "He has never been defeated when he has brought them into battle with him."

Micah didn't like the sound of that, but he also knew that this was his domain. The power of the Abyss would respond to no other, and would sing for him. "He has never before attempted to breach the Abyss." Something pushed at him from the back of his mind, an insistent prodding. "Their eyes shine red in the dark - like living embers of flame, and they carry pure poison in the sacs on their legs."

Liliana's expression turned desperate. "Do you remember?"

"What?" Shaking his head, he dislodged the odd prodding.

"Please don't fight it."

But he barely heard her, his attention caught by a roiling cloud in the distance. "I must go. They're almost here." Turning, he caught her startled lips in a kiss that warmed him to the core, before he rose into the air on leathery wings meant for hunting shadow prey.

The sky thundered, menacing shades of red and black licking at the horizon. He dove down through the ugliness of darkest sorcery, to see another layer of black. But this one was furred and moving, flashes of gleaming metal catching the light as the huge spiders crawled forward on razor-armored legs; there were so many of them that they covered the bubbling lava pools that had kept out intruders for eons. He wondered how they did not drown in the agonizing heat of the pools - until he swept lower and saw that they were using the bodies of their fallen as a bridge.

It was no surprise.

The Arachdem were, after all, a creation of the blackest blood magic. It was said that the Blood Sorcerer himself, the one who had done more evil than the others combined, the one who sought to live forever and escape the Abyss, had formed them before - A wicked lance of pain swept through his mind, trying to disgorge thoughts his consciousness wouldn't accept. It had him gritting his teeth as he hovered above the coruscating mass of the Arachdem.

They stopped as one.

Their heads lifted up, their many eyes holding him in their sights.
Chapter 19
He didn't flinch. "You trespass," he said, his voice amplified a thousand times over. "Turn back before you fall into the Abyss."

A high keening sound was his only answer, an unintelligible noise from minds that knew nothing but destruction and pain. The Arachdem didn't only kill; they ate the bodies of their victims until not even the slightest sliver of bone remained. But they weren't scavengers. No, the Arachdem were hunters, eating anything living in their path. They didn't mind if it was still screaming as it went in.

He didn't know how he knew that, but he had no doubt of its truth.

Now, their heads lowered and they resumed their relentless march. At this pace, they would hit the perimeter of the village in an hour. Narrowing his eyes, Micah flew back toward the Black Castle, speaking on channels of magic that were of the Guardian as he did so, commanding the land to awaken and protect itself.

The rise to consciousness of that land was a languid stretch at the back of his mind, a near-sentient presence that said, ???

Trespassers, he said. Those who should not be.

Below him, the ground began to roll and ripple, cracking open to expose huge chasms filled with noxious gases and ropes of liquid magma. Shrill screams pierced the air at his back and he knew some of the Arachdem had fallen prey. Still more fell when the land rose up into mountains, then crashed down on the invading army.

But the Arachdem were creatures of blood magic, and they had their defenses. They stabbed the earth with poisons enhanced with sorcery, tainting its strength. It cried in Micah's mind, and he told it to rest, to hide, to regroup. It had done enough, for when he circled back, the army had been cut in half, the formation straggling