Chapter 93: The death that comes to shatter.
Gloria was selecting clothes for little Dave when the warning bell shattered the air. Her hand froze mid-reach. She looked down at the boy and forced a shaky slow smile. "We must go back, my dear. We can continue this later."
Dave nodded, sensing the agitation in her voice. Gloria clasped his small hand and hurried toward her father’s carriage, her stomach twisting into knots. Her eyes flicked to the towering white bell tower as she counted the number of times they hit it. One... Two... Three... Four... Five...
Too many. They only rang the fifth toll when death loomed over; it was when foreign forces breached their borders.
Panic spread through the town like wildfire. People screamed and yelled at each other to open the way. Shops slammed their doors shut. Curtains were drawn with trembling hands. A mother clutched her child and ran, nearly tripping over her skirt. The bright afternoon had soured into chaos as black clouds rolled across the sky, swallowing the light. In mere seconds, the lively town twisted into a ghostly shell, silent, haunted, and trembling beneath a storm it could not weather.
Gloria yanked the carriage door closed and barked to the driver, "To the castle, now!" She believed it was the safest place left.
The wheels groaned as they hit the cobbled road. They had just reached the edge of the old stone bridge when the earth quaked beneath them, rending, cracking.
Portals opened like wounds in the world. Gloria almost swallowed her tongue as fear slithered through her veins like a vicious serpent.
Then came the giants with big spiky mauls in their hands. Gods!
Dave whimpered, then broke into terrified sobs. The poor child. No matter where they fled, the horrors followed. Vampires. Always vampires.
The driver cursed and jerked the reins, veering off toward the forest’s edge. "The gates won’t open!" he cried. "The giant guards are holding them shut, we’ll take the cliff road!"
It was narrow, and perilous, running along the rocky ledge where even daylight dared not linger. The sky was getting darker, and grey, as if hell had fallen upon them. Gloria could hear her own heartbeat.