CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR TREW
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
TREW
The stink hit me first. Rot and decay, the unmistakable scent of Skathes.
They poured from the trees like a nightmare given flesh, chittering and clawing through undergrowth, more coordinated than the Skathe masses we’d battled before. Thirty at least, their gray bodies rippling with stolen magic as they surged toward us across the lawn.
“Isi, get your sister on Kyreth and get out of here,” I bellowed again.
Battle-calm washed through me, slowing the world to a series of observations.
As I yanked my blades from their sheaths, I catalogued the distance to the dragons, the number of enemies, and any vulnerability points.
Half of my attention remained on Isi, tracking her movements as she drew her blades and rushed toward Addie.
The rest showed our weaknesses, including Addie barely able to stand, the dragons too far away from them, and the wards that had been compromised.
“Gavelle, flank,” I called, and my companion roared, sending a blast of flames toward the Skathes.
Pherin stood beside him. Together they formed a wall of muscle and fury between us and the first wave of Skathes.
A sword in his hand, Commander Thorne grabbed Addie’s arm and urged her toward the dragons.
The manor’s grounds crawled with them. The flowerbeds I’d strode past this morning had already been trampled beneath clawed feet. The scent of ghostbells and tharnel blossoms choked beneath the putrid aroma that followed the Skathes.
Isi’s eyes met mine, fierce and unafraid.
“I’m with you.” Fury shone in her voice.
A part of me broke and reformed into something stronger. Even facing death, my love remained unbowed.
One of the Skathes lunged toward me.
I rushed to meet it, and my blade whistled through the air, cleaving its head from its shoulders. Black ash erupted where flesh had been, searing hot across my skin. Another came at me from the right, and I pivoted, slashing through its chest.
Isi tried to reach her sister, her twin blades making perfect arcs through the air. A Skathe leapt for her throat, and she dropped, rolling beneath its claws before rising to drive both blades up through its jaw. The creature dissolved with a shriek, showering her in cinders.
“Three on your left,” I called out, already turning to intercept some rushing from my right.
“On it.”
Pride as powerful as fear surged through me. She was lethal grace untouched by panic. I wanted to shield her from every danger, yet watching her fight made me understand why even the fates themselves would tremble at her approach.
Gavelle tore through the Skathes, his jaws snapping spines while his claws reduced their skulls to fragments. Pherin matched him, her hunting cry splitting the air as she caught a Skathe mid-leap and shredded it to ash.
From above, some of our dragons unleashed streams of fire, scorching Skathes to cinders. The air filled with ash and embers, black snow falling across the lovely lawn that had turned into a battlefield.
Dare blazed through the Skathes, his horns slashing, followed by Keek, his fangs striking out, ripping through one Skathe throat after another.
A glance toward the far side of the open area showed Commander Thorne half-carrying Addie toward Kyreth. Three Skathes tracked them, slinking through the underbrush.
“Addie,” Isi gasped, spotting the same threat.
I pivoted and rushed toward them, carving a path through the Skathes. I’d begun to think we might reach the dragons when a second wave poured from the trees, cutting off the most direct route to Thorne, Addie, and Kyreth.
“Stay with me,” I growled as Isi and I turned to face the new threat.
Our bodies fell into complementary stances. We didn’t need to see each other to know. Her body was an extension of mine in battle, as familiar as my own heartbeat.
“Thorne can’t reach Kyreth,” she said, her voice tight.
I tracked her gaze. Thorne and Addie were surrounded, Skathes closing in from all sides. Addie sagged against him, her hand raised in defiance.
“I’m going,” Isi shouted, slicing through a Skathe as she sprinted toward her sister.
My heart lurched into my throat. This woman would walk through fire for those she loved.
I charged after her, my sword carving a bloody path. “Gavelle, with me!”
This was who she was. She’d meant every promise she’d ever made to me. And she would mean them right up until the moment someone she loved needed her more than I did.
I used to think that was contradiction. Now I knew it was just Isi, loving without hierarchy, without limit. She didn’t run from me. She ran toward them.
It was one of the reasons I was so completely undone by her.
The firecat bounded to my side, his enormous form clearing Skathes from my path in a brutal way that made me admire him even more.
Isi reached Thorne and Addie first, her blades whirling as she drove back the creatures closing in on them. I arrived moments later, taking a position that completed our defensive circle.
“Can you go fast?” Isi asked Addie.
Determination hardened Addie’s bone-white face. “I’ll try.”
A faint blue shimmer of magic surrounded her. Even weakened, she could still host a bit of defense. The sisters were mirror images of stubbornness, of courage.
“Behind you,” Thorne shouted.
I spun as a Skathe leaped, its claws extended. Pain seared across my back and shoulder as its talons ripped through leather and flesh. The wound burned, and I sent magic to it, closing the flesh.
With a roar, I drove my sword up through its chest, the blade catching on bone before bursting through the other side. The creature’s fangs snapped close to my face before it dissolved into ashes.
Lakast and Levar swept overhead, unleashing torrents of flame, creating a momentary corridor through the Skathes.
“Now,” I cried. “Run for the dragons!”
Thorne supported Addie while Isi and I guarded their flanks with Gavelle and Pherin. Dare and Keek joined us, forming a protective ring around us.
We’d almost reached Kyreth when Thorne grunted. Turning, I found him stopped, staring past Addie’s shoulder, his eyes widening. A clawed Skathe arm had punctured through his chest from behind.
“Go,” he hissed, shoving Addie toward Isi with enough force to send both women stumbling backward.
I ripped through the Skathe behind him, ending it fast.
Skathes descended on us, talons extended. While I lopped off heads and limbs, one Skathe ripped its claws across Thorne’s back. A second tore into his side. A third went for his throat.
I couldn’t get to him. There were too fucking many of them for me to kill.
“Get to…dragons,” he garbled out. With a lurch, he pivoted and drove his blade through the chest of the nearest Skathe. Blood poured from his wounds, but he fought with fury.
“Thorne.” Isi’s scream tore through the air.
I rushed toward him, but more Skathes blocked my path. By the time Dare, Keek, and I had cut through them, Thorne had fallen to one knee, still swinging his sword in wide, weakening arcs.
Pherin leaped over us and stood between us and the rest of the Skathes, Gavelle growling at her side.
“Get them out of here,” Thorne gasped, his eyes finding mine. “Get them to safety.”
Levar surged through the Skathes, searing a path that burst into ashes, Lakast right behind.
“Thorne, no!” Isi tried to break free of Addie’s grasp, but her sister held tight.
I backed toward them, Pherin and Gavelle with me while Dare thrashed through the few Skathes that had escaped dragon fire.
“We have to go,” I shouted. “Isi, we can’t stay.”
Thorne gave me a single nod before he toppled sideways, hitting the ground with a thud.
Racing to the women, I scooped Addie into my arms, ignoring the fire that ripped through my wounded shoulder. “Isi, move.”
Pherin roared flames while Gavelle guarded our rear. We sprinted the remaining distance to Kyreth as Lakast landed beside her. A glance back showed more Skathes surging from the woods.
Kyreth dropped low as we approached. I scrambled up the dragon’s side and settled Addie between the spine spikes.
“Fly. Get her to safety,” I called out as I slid to the ground.
Keek and Dare shifted into their smaller forms, darting up to join Addie on Kyreth’s back. Levar took to the air beside them. Wairen’s wings snapped out, and after blasting a pack of Skathes with fire, he surged up toward the sky.
“Go!” I growled, and Kyreth launched skyward, her wings thundering through the air.
Isi knelt beside Commander Thorne, stroking his face. Pherin stood guard over them, blasting fire at any Skathe that came near.
I rushed over and dragged her away, Gavelle growling by my side.
“We have to take his body,” she said, her voice breaking.
My heart shattered for her, but there was no time. Dozens of Skathes were racing across the lawn toward us.
“We can’t.”
Her eyes met mine, wild with pain. “He saved us.”
“We dishonor his sacrifice if we die here.”
“I can’t leave him,” she whispered.
“You must,” I said, the words gentle despite their harshness. “Sometimes living is the hardest choice.”
Lakast leaped over to crouch beside us, his wings half-extended. He blasted Skathes to his right with flames. We climbed onto his back, and I wrapped an arm around Isi’s waist as Gavelle and Pherin shifted into their bird forms and soared into the air.
The Skathes reached us just as Lakast’s powerful legs launched us skyward. They leaped, reaching up with their claws, but they couldn’t reach us. Isi’s body trembled against mine, grief shuddering through her form.
Lakast banked sharply, and I looked back at the manor grounds. Thorne’s body lay among the ashes of his final enemies scattered around him in a warrior’s tribute. The surviving Skathes watched us with uncanny stillness.
I pulled Isi closer, her tears wet on my neck. My vision blurred as I vowed to avenge the man who’d died protecting us.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered into her hair.
She said nothing, her body curving into mine as we soared higher. Below us, our sanctuary shrank in the distance, now tainted with death.
Ahead lay Syllavar and Caldrith, and the nearly impossible task we still had to complete.
And somewhere in the wasteland, our friends traveled in Skathe disguises, unaware that their task had just become infinitely more dangerous.