Chapter 63
Ryker
The sky rumbled, turning against us.
We needed warmth. The sun roasting us and everything in its path.
Instead, we got bolts of lightning in the distance, angry clouds, and icy wind that bit harder than the currents at home.
Like it sensed what we wanted to do and had deemed our plan an abomination that needed to be stopped.
The only warmth came from the pulse of Allie in my mind, a flutter of energy that kept me grounded against the massive expanse of the Serpent army marching toward us, their snakes winding between the troops with flicking tongues and hunger in their eyes.
The Butcher grinned at us from atop his brown mare. He didn’t want to dirty that golden and jade armor of his for nothing in this world.
But even his bottomless arrogance wasn’t immune to the funeral pyres we had raised on their side of the river.
Our side, actually. Invaded by these soldiers who fought because their leaders told them to. Perhaps some had marched for greed and glory. Others to enact as much violence and torture as their sick minds could conjure.
I prayed the fates would differentiate between them.
The Serpent troops shivered, only partly out of terror. My warriors stood unbothered against the cold and Zandyr’s had been trained in the unforgiving mountains by Adara, but the Serpents came from much calmer, warmer shores, and their jade armor shielded them less from the wind than our leathers.
All of the soldiers avoided the pyres with a wide berth, probably thinking about their own mortality. Elysia’s funeral oils had masked the smell, but the horrific sight was enough to send a wave of revulsion through their ranks.
Prayers.
Muttered pleas.
Gripping their weapons tighter.
Their fear was so potent that I felt the faintest echo of their drumming hearts, even through the veil.
Not the soldiers’ in the first lines, though. The ones who squirmed on their feet, tense and ready for more destruction. Whatever curse had befallen them, it had caged them from my power the same way the snakes had been protected from us.
Sensing trouble, the river billowed and murmured, as if asking for fresh sacrifices.
Sadly, it would get its fill today.
If everything went according to plan.
Our army stood on the raised riverbank, staring down at the Serpents who’d dared pass through our lands, Zandyr, Elysia, and I in front. Always the first ones in the line of danger. Like true leaders.
Another flutter from Allie coursed through me. Concern filled up most of her emotions today–for me, of all people–but those feelings were laced with encouragement.
She believed, unflinchingly, that I could withstand the torment I was about to face.
A comfort when the sight before me reeked of death.
One I had to shield her away from.
I gently caressed our connection one last time, as Kleonos rode in front of his army, grin widening.
“Are you ready?” Zandyr asked.
He stood tall and proud, a prince ready to protect his Clan. But I saw the tremor in his back. The veins on his neck sticking out.
For this plan to succeed, we had to work together in perfect synchronization.
I nodded, even as my insides tightened. “Are you?”
He inhaled for longer than necessary. “I have to be.”
There was no other way.
If the three of us fell today, the Blood Brotherhood would crumble. Soryn and Calyx might be able to hold off its destruction, but not forever.
“If this plan doesn’t work, I want you both to know you’re insane and infuriating,” Elysia mumbled, her dark gaze focused on the snakes with a chemist’s precision, twirling her three-pronged daggers. “But it’s been my honor to fight alongside you.”
“No words of parting, Viper,” I said. “They bring bad luck.”
“Then I can’t wait to outdrink you at the feast later today,” she said. But I heard her gulp. How her pulse quickened.
“Dragon.” The Butcher’s grating, smug voice whipped through the stillness. “Before I erase you army from this world, I hope you’ll indulge my curiosity. Tell me, why did you decide to raise your river bank? It won’t stop my snakes from slithering through your army or my soldiers from climbing it.”
If we succeeded, neither his soldiers nor his snakes would get the chance.
My fists curled at my side.
Those were the last words I heard before I blocked everything and everyone out, focusing solely on my power.
To the outside world, I looked tense and ready for battle.
Inside, my blood raced faster, blazing my veins.
I was distantly aware Zandyr was playing Kleonos’ game, exchanging taunts to keep him amused and focused on meager pride. But neither the Dragon’s words, nor his blade would be his most dangerous weapon today.
His power slid against mine soundlessly.
His energy felt hotter than mine. A fiery frenzy to my cold calm. I also sensed the wound that blasted oath had left in him, tainting his blood so much, a bitter taste lingered in my mouth.
While my magic lay almost dormant unless I consciously accessed it, his sought and craved the pulse of blood. Human blood, especially.
It sent a shiver down my back I refused to let show.
This would be the first and last time I would agree to meld our powers–but someone had to keep me alive and standing while I drained every ounce of my energy.
There was a very real chance I could die. I hoped Allie’s grief would be brief–I no longer fretted that she wouldn’t mourn, not after she hadn’t let me crumble after Geryll’s death, though I still wanted to shield her from pain.
It’s what I did.
I cast my magic wider, letting it pulse just at the edge of the Serpent veil. Beyond it, the young snake approached. The others were still as inaccessible to me as they’d been on the day Geryll had died.
But its blood…its blood was tainted. Rancid and sharp, turning my stomach.
If I could feel it, though, it meant whatever curse had been placed upon it was either tied to his blood or his life force.
The Blood Brotherhood dealt in blood, but it couldn’t protect.
The Protectorate shielded, but only with outside forces.
No Clan should have had the power to create such magic.
I doubted the Serpents even truly understood how dark this spell was.
Behind me, warriors shuffled, raising arrows that carried fire on their tips. At Zandyr’s command, they rained on the other bank.
Each ignited one of the pyres in a deadly blaze. Large enough to frighten, powerful enough to help us, unnoticed.
My entire body was now at the mercy of my power, but I couldn’t help but think of how Allie would have fired that shot with her Huntress grace. Magnificent.
The snakes hissed, pleased with the sudden warmth.
Not the youngest, though.
His already sluggish movements turned jerky and violent.
I couldn’t stop the tremble that coursed through me as the monster’s blood boiled. It headed straight for the river, trying to cool itself.
“I’ll be merciful one last time,” Zandyr said. My magic deafened most of it, like he was shouting from the bottom of the frozen lake. “Leave now or my army will destroy you and everything you hold dear.”
“You are one battle away from losing your Clan and you threaten me?” Kleonos bellowed from the other side.
The snake reared its head back, hissing in agony. Its pangs of death gripped me hard, threatening to drag me along into the darkness.
Zandyr’s magic intervened swiftly, cooling my veins.
Finally, the monster fell to the ground.
Blood, metallic and rotten, spilled out of its mouth and eyes as it gave its last pitiful inhale. It died farther away from the water than we’d anticipated.
From this point on, every second counted.
The moment the first drops spilled, seeping into the muddy riverbank beyond the veil, my power latched onto it. It finally turned feral, hounding each trail of blood. I imagined it came from the snake which had killed Geryll, reveling in the way it drained from the beast.
My fists shook from the pressure. I hoped Zandyr had enraged the Butcher enough that the violent fool wouldn’t trouble himself with the Commander palling right in front of his eyes.
One by one, my magic guided each trickle of blood that fell from the monster through the river’s currents.
If any of the Serpents would have bothered looking at the water, they would have noticed the blood flowing upwards.
Towards the dam.
They would have seen the danger and ran for cover.
But they didn’t move, trusting the power of the veil too much.
Their cowardice would be our triumph–if I survived long enough.
The snake kept gushing blood, enough for half an army.
My power latched on it ferociously as the water threatened to dilute it and steal our one chance at survival.
I refused, tightening my jaw until my temples hurt.
Everything hurt.
My veins were on fire, my own blood bitter within them as I gathered the drops into tight, fast streams. Allie’s tears might have mixed in with Geryll’s blood and sprouted the idea, but I needed clean, clear streams for this to work.
Breathing now ragged, it was a wonder I hadn’t fallen to my knees already.
I couldn’t feel anything but the tremor in my limbs. The pressure threatening to rip me from the inside out.
You are so brave, a sweet voice forced its way into my mind.
I clung to those words.
I needed them as I led the blood through the raging stream at the base of the dam.
The water turned merciless, clawing at the blood, asking for its sacrifice.
Sweat pooled at the base of my spine.
Drops fell on top of my lip–had the rain started?
No, it was too viscous, too metallic.
My nose was bleeding.
The pressure was too much.
A little more, that same voice murmured, so at odds with the violent water my power had to wade through.
“We have the powers of three Clans on our side,” Kleonos taunted. “You don’t.”
Three Northern Clans.
Three traitors.
Flesh from my flesh.
The dam’s stones hissed as I guided the blood through their crevices.
Zandyr’s magic fretted against mine.
Faster.
Desperate.
I no longer saw or heard what happened around me, encased in this frail body that could only withstand so much. This was worse than any rearranging of my bones. Any wound. Any ritual.
To protect is to endure, whispered in my thoughts, taking some of the strain away.
The blood finally, mercifully seeped between the stones’ fractures.
I distantly felt Elysia drawing closer to me as my body tipped to the side, barely conscious.
I couldn’t even breathe a sigh of relief as my power pushed harder against the Crimson Dam’s rocks. The blood particles I’d so carefully gathered and guided began to vibrate, chipping away at the fissures the water had spent eons creating.
But this movement was faster.
Unnatural.
Something the people of this land had never imagined would be possible–or that someone would ever dare to do.
No runes in this world could protect the barrier now.
It hadn’t been struck by a human hand or weapon, but by the very essence of life.
Blood.
It was always blood.
The first crack in the dam’s mortar echoed through me like the rattle of death.
I fell to my knees with a groan, barely clinging to consciousness. Two sets or arms, one stronger than the other, steadied me before I toppled from the embankment into the groaning river below.
Zandyr’s magic raced through my veins, trying his best to stabilize them before they burst.
My Brothers and Sisters protected my body.
But my mind…it was cradled by Allie. She held on tightly, stubbornly, refusing to let the pressure tear it apart.
Despite my best efforts, she’d burrowed through my defenses. Her essence was there, soothing me back to reality.
You’re alive, you’re alive, you’re alive, chanted in my mind.
A thunder resounded upstream.
No.
An explosion.
No again.
A deafening roar, unlike any I’d ever heard.
Through the dark spots dancing before my eyes, I saw the full force of the river rushing toward us.
With my power, I’d shattered the Crimson Dam. Finally free after eons, the Obsidian swelled in one big wave that shadowed the forest.
Heading straight for us.
The Serpent army erupted into chaos.
The tainted soldiers rushed through the currents, the curse more powerful than their survival instincts, veins swelling grotesquely on their necks and faces.
The others screamed and ran the other way, Kleonos riding in front of them all.
Those blasted snakes weren’t as fast.
The wave hit the riverbank, sweeping everything in its wake. The water seeped far inland, covering all the Serpents’ destruction and reclaiming its territory.
Though I convulsed on the ground, grim satisfaction twisted my lips as the gigantic snake which had ended Geryll’s life flailed in the waves. It wasn’t strong enough to fight the full force of nature. Hissing and squirming, it was carried away by the water before it engulfed him fully.
But it wasn’t enough. Nothing would be for what had happened to Geryll.
The ground shook as the wave passed us, roaring and spraying us as it went, as if in warning. It had witnessed what we mortals had done.
But the embankment Kylian and the warriors had built held true.
“Proper Blood Brotherhood craftsmanship, that,” he said.
My lips twitched in what should have been a smile. But I still hadn’t regained full control of my body. Blood now coated my lips, dripping from my chin. I must have looked like a ravenous wild beast.
Good.
The battle wasn’t over.
But we’d broken the invaders’ ranks.
Those abominable soldiers had been swept away along with the snakes.
Kleonos was running for his life.
We finally stood a chance to win.
“Leave some of the Serpent soldiers for me,” I muttered, the words barely audible. The daggers pulsed against my chest, eager to be freed from the baldric and taste blood once more.
Through our connection, I felt Allie’s relieved laughter. It filled me with hope and pride.
This win would not bring Geryll or any of the other warriors back.
But it would avenge their sacrifice.
So that it wouldn’t be in vain.
So that no others would suffer.
For that, forcing myself to the brink of death had been worth it.
“Do what you must for the good of the Blood Brotherhood.” Zandyr unsheathed his sword with a hiss. “But the Serpent general is mine.”