Chapter Sixty-Four
Reaching down, I plucked an axe from the hand of a fallen woman, paying no mind to who it was. There had been losses. I was prepared for that. But not for this. Not to lose her.
The killer remained hunched over Myrina, his fist clenched around the stake as he fought to remove the weapon from the horse, but he never stood a chance.
I swung that axe through the air, separating his head from his shoulders in one clean cut.
His eyes widened on the instant of impact before his head thumped to the ground, rolling until it came to a stop against the torso of another corpse.
“Aina, I am coming!”
Never had I leapt from Erebus with such grace. Grace that served me no purpose as I scrambled over Myrina’s body to reach Aina.
“Aina. Aina, please. I am here. I am here.”
Her legs and torso were crushed beneath the animal, her arms and shoulders the only parts of her still visible. While I could see no wounds, blood pooled beneath her. Blood, I prayed to the gods, that belonged to her beloved steed.
Around me, the battle was ending. The cries of the men faded, the few who remained running or pleading, only to have their journeys and words cut short. But for me, the battle did not matter. I ran my hand down Aina’s face and chest, and there I saw her own blade impaled through her breast.
“Iphinone!” I drew my eyes away to cry out. “Where is Iphinone! Find her!”
Damaris remained on the ground, unmoving but breathing, her eyes red with tears. Her life had been saved, and she knew the cost.
“No…no…” The words stuttered from her lips, yet I could offer her no comfort.
“Iphinone!” I bellowed, for I could not see through the blur of tears. I knelt on the wet earth, the blood of Aina and Myrina staining the ground beneath me.
“Otrera?” Her voice was a crackle, a shallow whisper, watery with the blood that filled her throat. Her face strained as she struggled to speak.
“Shh, shh.” I wiped her forehead with my hand, brushing her cheek as though she were a young child scared of monsters, not a woman who had killed them. “Your mother will be here soon. Your mother is coming. You will be fine. You will see.”
“They are safe? The other women, they are safe now? We are safe?”
I could not stem the tears that streamed down my cheeks, that dripped onto her face as I continued to cradle it in my hands.
“Shh, shh. They are safe. And so are you. You’ll see. You will be safe. I promise.”
“I cannot feel, Otrera. My legs, my feet, I cannot feel them.”
I lifted my head. So many of the women had stopped fighting.
The men were dead. Instead, they knelt on the ground, tending their injuries, comforting their sons, and searching out their loved ones among the dead.
Althea and Sotiria stood over me, tears in their eyes as they tried to push Myrina off her rider’s legs, for they could not see the knife in Aina’s chest.
“Find me Iphinone!” I screamed, my voice louder than any cry I had offered in the battle. “Find her!” They fled to do my bidding. I started to rise, ready to hunt down Iphinone, when I felt the soft touch of a hand against my side.
“Otrera.” Aina’s voice was barely audible now. The pain that had creased her features only a moment before had faded. Her expression was now so smooth and at peace it was as if she were waking from the most perfect slumber. “Bury us together.”
“Shh, stop. We will not talk of such things. You will be fine.”
She smiled, blood coating her lips. I had barely patched my soul back together after the loss of Melitta. I could not lose Aina. I would not come back from this. I would not have it, yet I knew I had no choice.
“Please, save your breath. We will find a way. When your mother comes, she will know what to do.”
“Otrera, bury me with Myrina. I wish us to be together always.”
“Shh, I—”
“Promise me!” The volume and agony in her words caused me to flinch and gasp as if it were I with a knife in my ribs. The next time she spoke, Aina’s voice was nothing but a whisper. “Promise me you will keep us together?”
I could not speak for the tears. This was not how today was supposed to end. We were victorious. That was supposed to be what mattered. In the distance, I could hear women cheering. Celebrating. But how could there ever be joy in the world when one such as Aina was taken from us?
Only she hadn’t been taken. I had offered her up. The moment I had said we should ride into battle, I had offered her up to the gods, and they had taken her. I nodded and spoke between my staggered breaths.
“I promise. When the time comes, I promise.”
A slight smile curved Aina’s lips as blood trickled from the corner.
I assumed it would fade, evaporate with the pain, but instead it remained.
Her smile froze, motionless as if a painted fresco.
A crevice unlike any I had ever known formed in my heart as I stared into her unblinking eyes and prepared to wipe away the blood, only to be pushed to the side.
“No! No, no, no! Aina, my daughter. My girl—no!” Iphinone had come. But she had come too late. Aina was in the land of the living no more.