Free The Hatter is Mad: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 2) by J.A. Cipriano Page B

air.
    Huge gaping holes were punched in the stone barracks surrounding the central hub of the city. Had someone been firing a cannon or something? Many of the thatched roofs were on fire as the wind carried the blaze toward the center of Lot.
    Lot was built like a fortress of successive rings, each meant to keep the outsiders away from the center of the city. It was where the civilians lived. If they were already able to burn the central library, the Dioscuri were in trouble. It meant the invaders had already breached the civilian quarters.
    All around us, Dioscuri were locked in combat with orcs, hundreds and hundreds of orcs. A giant blue and green portal swirling in the sky above us explained how they could. A magical barrier that prevented entry didn’t really work if you could open a gateway inside it. I couldn’t even tell how big the portal was because legions of the green-skinned, brown-tusked monstrosities were charging out of the portal’s gaping maw.
    “Orcs have been extinct for millennia,” I screamed at Caleb, trying to be heard over the din of combat.
    “We found out that wasn’t true a few weeks ago. Their dimension was only sealed away,” Caleb said, reaching back and pulling out his sword, Incinerator. “And before you ask, no, we didn’t open that portal.”
    “I can’t believe you knew this was coming for weeks and didn’t tell me. I could have—”
    “Done absolutely nothing to stop it,” Caleb interrupted. “That’s why your mother told me to distract you. She doesn’t want you here because you could get killed… like Dirge.”
    “What?” I asked, suddenly confused. “She thinks I’ll blow myself up?”
    “She thinks you might sacrifice yourself to save us all, yes,” Caleb responded. “That’s why I was told to take you after the Blue Prince.”
    “Well I’ve found him now,” I said.
    In the distance, I could see something that vaguely resembled a swirling blue-black tornado sweeping up everything.
    I sprinted into the melee. I still couldn’t believe what Caleb told me. Was it really possible my mother purposely tried to keep me out of this fight? Caleb said it was because my mother thought I might die. Still though, why wouldn’t she want me here to help defend the city… unless this was their last stand? Did my mother think we could lose? On our home turf?
    If that was true, and only Caleb and I were left alive, what would be the point? To repopulate? Bullocks to that. It didn’t matter at that moment, the Blue Prince was going down because at least for now, I knew right where he was.
    He was the only real threat anyway. Realistically, the only thing the orcs had on us was numbers. There was a metric ton of them and only a few of us. Sure, we’d get tired before they were all dead, but here on our home turf, Dioscuri could call on tremendous power because the runes set into the city’s streets were designed enhance the power of Dioscuri within its walls. Someone like Caleb or my mother would be like a Greek god of old stomping through armies of mortals. Apparently such things actually happened before. Still there were so many orcs that it seemed unreal.
    An orc as huge as he was disgusting smashed a giant axe down in front of me, splintering the cobblestone road and sending shards of debris flying in every direction. Without even thinking, I poked him in his piggish face and said, “Boom!” Magical energy exploded from my fingertips, slamming into his face and tearing his head from his shoulder in a spray of green blood. I was already past him before his body fell to the ground with a thud.
    I twisted, narrowly avoiding a two-handed sword as it cleaved through the air. I lashed out with the twin blades of Shirajirashii, disemboweling the huge, sword-wielding orc before diving sideways to avoid another brute’s war-hammer. It smashed into the ground, and without even really focusing, I pointed my wakazashi at the behemoth. A jet of red lightning leapt from the