Living Like Legends [Alec Lightwood]

Prologue

"They're coming."  Ashlyne slammed the ornate double doors behind her.  "Atlas, help."  Together they pushed the large wooden beam across, securing it.

She rubbed a hand over her bicep and it came away smeared with blood.  Atlas placed both his hands on her shoulders.  "Are you hurt?"  His sun colored eyes searched hers.

"I'm fine."  But her voice wobbled.

He gave her a lopsided smile. "It will all be over soon.  Don't worry."

"You keep saying that.  But how may have we lost already?"  Ashe glanced past his shoulder to the sorry remains of their forces.

He withdrew his hand, eyes distant as the smile slipped off his face.  Ashe rebuked herself in her head for mentioning their slim chances of survival.  "Hey, Atals, look at me.  We're gonna make it through this just like you said.  Lay'la is safe and sound and you guys will have that wedding on the beach just like you planned."

The tips of his lips turned up ever so slightly.  "She still wants me to find gold roses.  Not yellow, not cream- gold.  Where am I supposed to find those?" 

Ashe shook her head, a smile grazing her face.  "You'll find a way.  Its Lay'la.  You'll find a way."

They were shaken from their reverie as the grandiose double doors shuddered violently. 

"Steady," her father, the great king Jastus Malov, commanded the small band of survivors, twirling his sword in hand.  Ashe glanced around the once impenetrable and magnificent throne room.  Now the decorations were torn, glass shattered on the floor and the gold fixtures dripping with crimson. 

The doors shook again and Ashe slid her twin knives from their scabbards.  Beside her, Atlas swung his staff around, fists clenching and un-clenching.  Jastus took up a stance near Ashe, resting a reassuring hand on her arm. 

"Is the Heart secure?"  She asked him.

"Yes.  With my dying breath, I hope Valentine will never find it."

Ashe didn't ask where it was hidden- she didn't want to know or risk having the information seized from her head.

The entire room stilled for several seconds, the silence seemingly deafening before the double doors flew open with a great bang.

The enemy poured in, vastly outnumbering the small group.  With a cry, Ashe dove for the nearest one and swept her blade clean through his torso. 

Soon the floor became slick and her breaths came in ragged gulps.  She found herself back to back with Atlas- fighting with all her might. 

But it still wasn't enough. 

"You have to go," he yelled over the clamor.

Ashe ducked beneath a sword.  "No, not without you or my father!"

Atlas speared someone with his staff, casting them aside and then Jastus was there.  "We are only delaying the inevitable."

Ashe gritted her teeth and plunged her knives into another person.  Blood splattered across her face.  Jastus spun, evading a flying arrow and dropping to the floor.  Quickly he traced a pattern with his fingers, leaving a trail of silver in his wake and murmuring an incantation.  With a flash of energy, a portal opened on the throne room floor, swirling green and blue.  He rocked back on his heels and faced his daughter, gripping her shoulders.  "He is coming.  I can feel it." 

Ashe glanced at the gaping doors.  "Father, please-"

"Ashlyne, you have to go."  Atlas appeared beside her.  "We will follow but-"

His sentence was cut short as a clamoring broke out at the door and three winged beasts soared into the room. 

"Ashe!  Watch out!"  Jastus roared from across the room.  Ashe blinked watching the flying creature coming closer and closer, claws extended-

Then she was on the ground, sliding out of the way.  Strong arms wrapped around her, hot breath fanning on her neck.  "Atlas?"

He grunted.  "I always told you I was the faster of us both."

Ashe felt a sticky wetness blossoming on her right side.  She reached down and her fingers came away crimson.  Atlas coughed, bending over and more blood flecked the floor.

Time seemed to slow around them.

"Oh gods, no."  Ashe pressed her hands to his side and found it was him, not her who had been wounded.  "Atlas?  Atlas, can you hear me?  Keep your eyes open."  She applied more pressure but the blood was pooling around them fast.  Too fast.

Atlas raised a hand weakly.  "Here."  He whispered.  "Take it."

He opened his palm and a small black ring fell into it, beautifully etched with designs and symbols. 

Ashe choked.  "Atlas, no-"

"Give it to Lay'la.  Tell her- tell her what happened, Ashe.  Tell her I loved her and it will always be us.  Forever and-"  He broke off, gasping for air.

"Atlas, no.  You give it to her- y-you give it..."  Ashe sobbed.  Her best friend, practically her brother was dying in her arms. 

"It's okay...I'm going... to a better place..."  His hand slackened in her grip.  A beam of light slowly started from his chest, growing and growing until it was too bright and Ashe closed her eyes.  Then it shattered and Atlas faded away, golden symbols marking the ground where he had laid.

Jastus roared in rage and launched himself at the onslaught of the enemy.  His sword swung ferociously cutting down person after person.

The great portal whirred behind her, still awaiting a passenger and Ashe frantically glanced at the continuous flow of the enemy filling the room.  "Father, stop!"  Her voice cracked as she saw there were too many, much too many.  Hissing sounded behind her and she jerked around, reaching for her knives-

But she wasn't quick enough to evade the blow and the man's dagger sliced into her shoulder.  She wrenched away with a scream of agony, the weapon lodged firmly in her body.

"Ashylne!"  She heard her father yell and through blurry eyes she saw him stumble.  Falling down, down down-

"Father!"  She screamed one final time as the masses finally overwhelmed him and he disappeared from view.  "No!"
They turned their attention to her, and tearfully, she back away; her two knives forgotten on the floor next to the dead.  The portal was her only hope. 

Sobbing, she clutched the wound as pain blurred the edges of her vision black.  She stumbled to the portal and with one last glance at the shattered throne room- she leapt into oblivion.