The Sentinels of Eden, Books 1-4

Chapter 50

Chapter 45

Noah flew after Bane and tackled him ruthlessly to the ground, pinning him there as he watched his mother’s lifeless body burn out of the corner of his tear-blurred eyes, and Lainie’s crumpled form twitch grotesquely. Blood was spurting across the cavern floor.

‘Bane! Please, listen to me. BANE!’

Bone hit bone painfully, as Bane’s elbow connected with his jaw but he managed to keep his hold. Just.

‘I can help her, please, listen!’

Bane’s struggles slowed a fraction.

‘I need to see if she’s alive, but you can’t follow,’ Noah begged. ‘Please! Do you think you’ll be able to help her if you’re dead? The sword doesn’t distinguish motives. If it did my mother would still be alive. If you get too close it will kill you too.’

The distraught Guardian stopped moving, squeezing his eyes shut as if he was trying to sense her. His whole body was shaking and his skin felt like it was on fire.

‘Bane, listen. You still feel Lainie pulling on you, don’t you? You still feel the urge to heal her. That means she’s still with us, but we don’t have much time. I need to go to her.’

His friend stayed rigidly still, breathing hard and obviously trying to control his compulsion. At least he was starting to think again, and wasn’t trying to bite him or anything. Nervously Noah released him, watching him carefully as Bane opened his eyes again to stare at the crumpled and bloodied mess on the floor. His body was convulsing and he was trying to dig his fingers into the flowstone, but other than that he didn’t move. For a broken moment he remained frozen, but then his eyes rolled back into his skull and he slid, unconscious, to the cavern floor.

‘No no no no no!’ Blood slipped under his boots as Noah scrambled over to where Lainie had fallen. It soaked through her shirt and across her face, chest and shoulder. One look at the gaping hole in her neck was confirmation enough. She was no longer bleeding or breathing. She was dead and he was too late. Bane would kill himself trying to heal her. There was only one option available.

He hauled her up and cradled her against his chest, then took one long look at the smoking corpse that had once been his mother before he turned and stepped across the Event Horizon.