““Aedion could scarcely lift his sword arm. Just a little longer; just a few more minutes of keeping these soldiers engaged so that his queen could remain distraction-free. With a grunt of pain, Lorcan was engulfed by half a dozen soldiers and shoved out of sight into the blackness. Aedion kept swinging and swinging until there were no Valg before him, until he realized that the soldiers had pulled back twenty feet and regrouped. A solid line of Valg foot soldiers, their numbers stretching away into the gloom, stood watching him, holding their swords. Waiting for the order to strike. Too many. Too many to escape. “It’s been an honor, Prince,” Aedion said to Rowan. Rowan’s only reply was a rasping breath.””
