LightReader

Chapter 124 - THE ROAD OF ASHES.

The silence that followed the storm was heavier than the storm itself. Hollow Pass lay behind us, a scar of fire and blood in the stone belly of the mountain, and yet no cheer rose from the throats of those who still marched. Victory had been claimed, but it was a victory steeped in poison. I could feel it in every dragging bootstep, every sunken shoulder. Soldiers who had once carried the proud banner of the South now carried only the weight of survival, and the heavier weight of all who would never walk beside us again.

The wind that whistled down from the broken ridges stank of ash and old blood. The ground was painted black, not only from the fire that had swept the heights but from the shadow the scarred commander's words had left behind. Wrong vessel. They had been spat with the same certainty a priest reserves for prophecy, and though my blade had torn his chest open, the echo of his voice lived still, gnawing into my skull.

This is the end of Part One, download Chereads app to continue:
More Chapters