Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,67

sure it closes behind you. Duat is too dangerous a place to be used as a shortcut. If the spirits start to gain in hunger, they will leave here and start to hunt above, where the paths are clear. They will take anyone who is with a necromancer. They will not distinguish, except to know you are alive and they are not. I would not dawdle.”

I took a step backward.

“I look forward to our reunion,” Osiris said to Isis.

“I love you,” Isis said sadly.

“I love you too,” Osiris said, the mist that made up his body intensifying as it swirled around hers. “Follow the mark of Ra. Now run.”

Lucifer and I turned and sprinted toward the steps, with Isis hot on our heels as the swirls of mist almost lunged for us, forcing us to run around them. We reached the steps and didn’t stop as the mist gave chase. Isis and Lucifer were first up the stairs, and the mist formed solid matter, tripping my feet. I felt it wrap around my legs, dragging me back down the steps as my friends shouted from above. It wanted power; it needed power. Tarron leaped down the stairs, his sword stabbing at mist that vanished and re-formed.

I poured my magic into a sphere and tossed it down the steps; it was completely ignored by the swirls until it detonated. The mist vanished from around me, darting back down to the magic, which tore into the wall at the foot of the stairs, giving me time to get to the top, where everyone was on horses, galloping west.

We followed Isis through a seemingly never-ending maze of pathways, and occasionally the mist spilled out over the sides of the pathway but stopped, as if unsure it could continue further. The deeper we rode, the more the mist encroached upon the path.

“Are we still going west?” Remy asked.

“We’re following those,” Selene said, pointing to one of the Eyes of Ra that were painted on the stone pillars every few dozen feet. They were all in bright red and difficult to miss.

Eventually, I saw a realm gate in the distance, and we spurred our horses on, but the mist poured out from over the path, snaked across it, and wrapped around my mare’s legs, tripping her and throwing Remy and me to the ground.

I used my air magic to steady us both and land safely, and the horse regained her feet. She trotted beside me as the mist continued to hover ominously.

“Nate,” Selene called out, bringing her horse to a stop.

I helped Remy get up onto her horse. “Get to the gate,” I shouted, making the horse beside me run off after the others. “I’ll be right behind you.”

“Nate,” Selene called out again, her tone hard this time. “You better get there.”

I kept my eyes on the mist and gave a thumbs-up. “You’re not going to get to them,” I said softly.

I threw a small ball of fire to the right of me, and the mist descended upon it. The fire was extinguished by the consumption of the magic, the mist swirling even more violently.

I created a larger ball of flame and threw it into the mist. This time it separated, moving away from the ball for a moment, before springing back into it, devouring it. There was a shriek from the mist. “The magic hurts you,” I said. “But you want it anyway.”

The mist reared up, moving higher and higher, until it towered forty feet above me. Black, smokelike swirls spilled from my eyes, and I unleashed an explosion of pure magic all around me, destroying the path, tearing through stone as if it were paper. I poured the pure magic out of me and directed it toward the tower of mist, which collapsed over the magic, the shrieks of pain and pleasure from the mass deafening me.

I turned and sprinted away, reaching Isis, who stood by the already-activated realm gate.

“What did you do?” she asked me.

“I gave them all the power they could want,” I told her.

The mist that hadn’t been hurt by the pure magic continued to spill out over the broken path, heading toward us.

“I never want to come back here,” I said and stepped through the realm gate, with Isis behind me a moment later.

The cavern we found ourselves in was large enough to fit a football stadium inside it and still have room. The floor was smooth and tiled, and I spotted Tarron kneeling beside the tiles, an expression