Possessing the Grimstone - By John Grover Page 0,74
of it.
The magic dissolved, and Pim’s jaw dropped. He screamed one last time: his hands twitched, his knees buckled. “She’s gone…” he looked down on Shannara’s lifeless body. “She’s gone.”
“You saved us, Pim, you saved our mission.”
“I should have acted sooner. As soon as they attacked, I should have used the stone.”
“Shannara sacrificed herself for all of us, Pim. So you could make it back to Cardoon. We must go! We have to go now before the city falls.”
Pim looked at Shannara and her last dead husband, and nodded his farewell. He, Tolan, and Drith rushed to their horses, and raced from the village back toward Cardoon.
Chapter Seventeen
Sooth-Malesh held three spiked boulders in the air with his magic. They would have taken out the wall he stood on, and half of the fortifications.
“I can’t hold them off indefinitely!” He cried to Olani.
“You won’t have to!” She fired her crossbow.
The mage strained and grimaced as he moved the stones away from the wall before losing them completely. They fell and crushed friend and foe, alike.
Ladders slapped against the walls, and Neshing began their ascent. Olani took up a torch and began igniting the ladders. The men on the wall followed suit, and torched the ladders around them.
The Neshing forces began pushing the united kingdoms back toward the gates as they advanced across the fields. Fires followed them, and black clouds whirled across the skies. War machines rolled over Wivering bodies, and crushed Cardoon soldiers.
The battle was at its bleakest when another army entered the battle. The D’Elkyire warriors, led by Shannara’s sister, Anelle, charged from Gonnish, regrouping after leading the Wivering people to safety.
The women warriors raged into battle, dagblades and crossbows flashing in a frenzy of blood and carnage.
The Neshing divided their attack on two fronts, holding their own, dark magic battering the D’Elkyrie and blasting women into ashes.
The very land itself cried out in horror.
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Pim, Tolan and Drith drove their horses hard across Athora, but the animals were on the verge of collapse.
“We’re not going to make it!” Pim yelled to Tolan.
“We have to, Pim! We have come all this way!”
Pim’s horse stopped and panted like mad. He refused to go on. “Come on, boy,” Pim clicked his heels. “Come on… please, don’t stop now.” He hopped off the horse.
Drith and Tolan doubled back and pulled up. Their horses panted hard, as well.
“He can’t go on,” Pim said to the others.
“No, this cannot happen,” Tolan jumped off his steed and went to Pim’s. “Come on, boy,” he rubbed the horse’s nose. “We need you to go a little further.”
A groan sounded behind them. Tolan turned to see his horse topple off its feet. “No!”
Pim sat down, his head hanging low. “It’s over. We’ve lost.”
Just then, a mysterious figure appeared out of the nothing. Pim looked up to see many robed figures: the ministers of Gwythroth.
One approached Pim. “All is not lost. We will get you to Cardoon.”
They reappeared in the center of the battlefield, armies clashing all around them. A fireball screamed down, but Pim reached into his pack and pulled out the merged stones. He held it aloft, and the fireball exploded before it could make impact.
The armies parted; the united forces of Athora made way for Pim and his companions.
The Neshing froze, eyes wide with terror. They rushed for the young Wivering.
Sooth-Malesh surged in a cloud of smoke from the top of the wall to the battlefield. He stepped to the side of the boy. “Pim, call the final piece! Now!”
Pim held the stone to the skies. “I summon you, third piece! Merge with us!”
The clouds ripped open, and a body plunged to the ground.
Tolan’s eyes jutted out. His heart slammed against his chest. “Jorrel!” he glanced down at the lifeless body of his commander. In his remaining hand, he clutched the final piece of the stone.
It worked its way out of his grip, and flew through the air. Merging with the other two pieces, the Grimstone was whole again, returned to Athora after thousands of years.
Sooth-Malesh gestured to the stone, and a bolt of green energy slithered out of it and into his arm. He lifted his other arm, and wave of dark green power blasted the entire battlefield.
The Neshing turned and ran… the wave ripped through their ranks. It blew them to ash; it crumbled their war machines, and swept them into oblivion.
The dark clouds parted. The sun fought its way through. Pim and Sooth-Malesh both trembled with terrible power. Their eyes were white orbs.