Chapter 60 Camilla #3
With a violent jerk of my hands, I threw it at her.
It landed with a sick squish, colliding with her face.
Her head exploded inside her stupid helmet, gore splattering me and everyone behind me.
Her knees hit the ground before anyone understood what had happened.
The soldiers behind me scrambled back, but it was already way too late.
They really had been idiots to consider me neutralized by the loss of my hands.
I spun on one knee, both hands outstretched, my magic spilling from my palms. I may not have been trained in battle, but Vincent had helped me every chance we got, teaching me how to use it for defense. He knew they would eventually catch up to us, and that eventually was here.
When I spun back around, my bravado died. Vincent now had a blade piercing his chest, and a dagger buried deep in his neck, blood bubbling from his lips.
“One move,” the tall, dark soldier said, “and the tip of this blade slides into his heart, and the other separates his head.”
I swallowed, knowing even I wasn’t that fast. I pulled my magic back and slowly held my hands up. “What I said still stands. I’ll give you the medallion if you let him go.”
Vincent’s eyes bore into mine, repudiating my words, and I knew if he could, he would be objecting vehemently. He would not want me to choose him over the world, but was he blind? How could he not see he had become just that to me?
“Okay,” the dark soldier said with a small nod.
I slowly lowered one hand. “I have to get it, but I promise no tricks.”
“How do we know you’re not lying?”
“Because you have a knife to the throat of the one thing I cannot live without.”
Silence fell, and no one moved. I dared not look at Vincent after my raw confession.
My hand lowered to the inner pocket of my jacket, knowing the first place they’d look if we were caught was my pockets.
I fished the medallion out, magic swirling at the center and the raised runes around the edges glowing faintly.
Their eyes followed it as if it were a hunk of meat, and they were hungry hounds.
I raised my hand high, tossing the damn thing over their heads, and just like the beasts I compared them to, they dove for it.
Vincent fell to his knees, and I crawled toward him, uncaring that they were scrambling for the medallion.
The moment they had it, they disbanded without a look back, rushing to their fleeing ships.
They were idiotic to think I cared about that hunk of material over this man.
I engulfed him in my magic, and Vincent gripped his throat, blood streaming between his fingers as I cradled him.
Carefully, I placed my hand over his and closed my eyes, the warm sticky liquid coating my fingers.
I knew one healing incantation, and I spoke it so fast that I hoped I didn’t accidentally summon a beast from the ether.
Words held power, and even a minor slip-up could mean the difference between life and death.
I pulled on the remnants of my magic, my heart thrumming as I poured more and more into him.
It wasn’t until his hand grasped mine and he shifted in my arms that I realized it had already worked.
I peeled my eyes open, inspecting Vincent’s wounds just to make sure.
His throat was healed, the drying blood the only indicator that he had been hurt.
“Cami.”
“I know. I know,” I said, shaking my head. It figured that the first thing he said to me was filled with disapproval.
Ships rose and twisted in the air, seeming to flee. We watched them leave, both of us lost in our own thoughts, knowing I had damned us all by choosing Vincent over the medallion.
It took a moment for me to notice the shadows stirring, darkness slithering from every corner.
My grip on him tightened, and he struggled to shift, trying to protect me with his body as a slender form stepped from the darkness and strode forward.
Her features were lost in the shadow of her hood, and the black of her tight leather clothing seemed made of the same shadows she had emerged from.
I could see the wavy ends of her brown hair as she looked down at me.
The multiple blades strapped in various sheaths along her arms, legs, and torso gleamed.
There was not a smear of blood on them. They must have arrived too late to battle.
She kneeled before us, and my magic rose in defense. She held up a single hand, and I peered up and down the alley, seeing the darkness slither and writhe. I realized it was not out of fear for me, but a warning to the others to stand down. I wondered how many blades bristled in the darkness.
“I am not your enemy, Camilla.” She said my name like a breeze against flower petals, soft and lilting, but I knew power when I saw it. I’d lived around it my whole life.
“Then who are you?” I asked.
She ignored me. Instead, she nodded toward my exposed skin and Vincent lying in my arms. We were both covered in blood.
Copious amounts of it had dried around our ears, noses, and mouths.
“That blast she used on you two is not good. You’re lucky your brains didn’t melt, but you need a Jade City healer for those wounds, just as a precaution. ”
A cold, short laugh left me. “Jade City was destroyed.”
She glanced at the tall, lean male who stepped out of the shadows behind her.
Gods, he had even more weapons strapped to his body.
The hilts of twin blades formed an X over his shoulders, and a belt held what looked like tiny smoke bombs.
Who were these people? When she looked back at me, my gut turned.
“Yes, it is resting at the bottom of the ocean. An Ig’Morruthen reduced it to rocks and rubble.”
“Yeah, I know, and you just missed the one who did it.”
“I know.” Her lips turned up. “And you are going to help me meet her.”
My brows furrowed in confusion. “And why would I do that?”
Vincent tried and failed to sit up. The wounds I hadn’t healed were not as severe, but they were still seeping blood and causing him a lot of pain.
“Okay, there has to be another way,” she said a little too quickly, folding her arms. “You help me, and I will bring you to Sumaril.”
I perked up at that, and she knew it. “Are you that desperate for Dianna?” I asked.
Her smile turned predatory and lethal. “You have no idea what has been put in motion. You cannot comprehend what you just sacrificed. I want to be on the winning side, and she is the key.”
I laughed, the sound sick and harsh. I waved toward the rubble and chaos. “Regardless of how strong she is, take a look around. I fear she was not the victor.”
The beautiful mystery woman leaned close, eyes scanning mine as if looking for something. Vincent made a noise in his throat, not liking her being too close.
“Do you not feel it? Does your magic not sing? That feeling of what’s coming, what she will bring.
It is not Nismera you should fear. There is a power shift on the horizon.
Lines are being drawn, and sides are being chosen.
Dianna now controls three of the strongest beings in these realms. I want to be on that side. ”
I started to respond, but she gracefully pushed to her feet. She pursed her lips, emitting a harsh whistle. The dark shadows retreated, leaving only the one in front of her and the male behind her. She gave me a tight smile, and they turned to leave.
My hands fisted in Vincent’s torn shirt, the fabric stiff with his blood. “Wait.”
She paused, and her head turned slightly. The man with her already had a foot in the shadow world they’d come from.
“I’ll help you, just help him.”
Her smile was damn near playful, as if to give me a sense of ease, but it was an impossibility to feel at ease. Especially as those shadows grew back, and others stepped through, reaching out to help us up. I felt as though I’d just signed my life away to another powerful being.