surroundedbypearls: surroundedbypearls:Golden Hands and Golden Fingers ~ Theo, the knightAn excerpt

surroundedbypearls:
Golden Handsand GoldenFingers
~ Theo, the knight
An excerpt from chapter 8, where worlds collide!
The stranger withdrew his weapon, just as, “For Teffrin,” emerged from his lips.
Annchi screamed as the man’s blade pierced through a lady sitting closest to him, blood spilling from her mouth. Theo withdrew his sword and charged forward.
A dark hand came from behind the stranger and yanked his head back. A blade slid across his neck, so smooth and quick he almost missed it. He knew it had happened when the stranger dropped his blade, hand coming to clutch his slit throat.
His attacker knocked him to the ground, her curly hair short and coiled tight, her skin deep and, now blood-spattered. He was about to thank her. But he stopped short, fear sinking deep in his spine. The women was dressed in black, in a leather vest and shirt, her arms bare. One arm decorated with a a snake tattoo, running from her forearm up to her shoulder.
Theo raised his sword. “Seize her. Seize the serpent!”
The other knights made no move to do any such thing, while the woman stared at him dourly. “Who are you?”
“Who are you?”
“Theo, this is Emogen.” Annchi gestured towards her, alarmingly calm in the fray. “My guard.”
“This is your guard?” Theo stepped in front of Annchi, brandishing his sword all the while. “A serpent?”
Emogen scoffed, wiping the blood from her dagger on her trousers. “Former serpent.”
“As if there’s a difference.”
“Theo, it’s alright. Em’s in my father’s employ.”
“So you might want to drop the sword, knight, before you take out one of his majesty’s inside men.” She smiled in that slink way only a serpent could smile. “Or women.”
“In the name of Teffrin!”
Theo turned towards the ring, body firm between Annchi and the serpent woman. Out in the ring, a knight sparred with a new intruder, he fell moments later. Beside him, his horse lay impaled on a spear of black metal. Metal that melted into sludge.
“For the abandoned god,” the intruder roared, hands burning as another spear grew in his palms. straight from the forge of sorcery. He raised it, pointing it towards the stands.
Theo grasped Annchi’s chair and wheeled her back, diving in front, shield raised. “Get her out of here,” he demanded the serpent, against his better judgement. “Now!”
The spear lodged in his shield, the force of it knocking him back a step or two. Then it melted, red-hot. He flung the shield aside before it had a chance to scald him. The black metal hit the ground and gurgled like living tar. “Throw me a shield.”
Golden light struck the ground behind the intruder, distracting him from his target. The intruder turned and raised his weapon, roaring out Teffrin’s name once again, only to be thrown aside in a blast of light.
The attacker raised a bow that shone like stars, and felled the mage with one arrow to the neck. As he fell, the spear in his hand melted like magma against his flesh.
Theo was so numb, it took him a moment to realise why everyone was screaming. Why they were standing and shouting and pointing, not at the dead mage with the melted ribcage, but at the attacker with the bow. Because he stood in the centre of the arena, hands and feet sheathed in gold, wings white like a dove stretching from his back. A young man and a wolf by his side.
“Is that a seraph?” Behind him, Annchi’s voice trembled, but there was a delight in her awe.
In Theo, there was only dread. What would bring a seraph to them, of all places? And who was he seeking?
More about Golden Hands and Golden Fingershere!
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