Chapter 21 #2
The guard turned just in time to see her smile, right before she slashed a single strike across the exposed gap of his throat beneath his helmet.
He screamed and stumbled back, dropping his sword with a clatter as his hands grasped at the venom consuming his flesh.
His knees gave way before dropping to the floor, motionless.
Silence reclaimed the corridor.
Esmyra stood between their fallen bodies, her talons retracting as the lightning faded from her veins. She slowly exhaled, as if nothing had happened at all.
Her pulse quickened as voices sounded around the bend in the hall.
Esmyra peered over her shoulder.
There she is. Lephyrin’s new elven queen.
Draped in gold silks, her dark hair braided with glinting rubies, Elowynne was walking leisurely down the corridor, accompanied by a single guard at her side. The two were murmuring, too softly for her to make out their words.
A wicked chuckle slipped from Esmyra as she met their gazes, stopping both of them in their tracks.
Elowynne’s eyes tracked the blood and bodies littering the floor. “What have you done?!” she bellowed, her lip curling back slightly.
Esmyra’s hips swayed side to side as she began to stalk down the corridor, a vicious grin forming. Halting several feet before them, she threw her hood back. “Good evening, Elowynne.”
“Wait—” the guard started, but she didn’t give him the chance to finish.
Esmyra raised her arm, fingers splayed to summon the sea as a sleek, shimmering form solidified into a spear made entirely of water.
She hurled it toward them, the water-formed weapon spiraling perfectly down the hall as they both stood rooted in its center, jaws agape.
It sailed through the corridor like lightning, right before slamming straight through his chest, sending him flying backward.
A scream erupted from the queen.
The guard’s breath caught as blood dribbled from his lips. His eyes went wide in shock as he was pinned against the wall. The spear melted into a puddle beneath his body, and he crumpled to the floor, lifeless.
Esmyra’s hip jutted to the side as her lip kicked up in a taunting smirk, barricading her mind behind her newly formed mental shield.
Elowynne’s hands trembled as she lifted them. Not in surrender, but in defiance. She still didn’t fear her. Her gold eyes narrowed on Esmyra as she remained several feet away.
She could feel it—Elowynne’s attempt to breach her mind. A flicker of pressure brushed the edges of her consciousness, like someone knocking at a door they’d never find the key to.
She couldn’t help her soft cackle.
“You really thought I would come here without precautions in place?” Esmyra’s voice was full of contempt as she took a step forward.
Elowynne gritted her teeth and took a step back, her cheeks burning a fiery pink. “I don’t need your mind to end you.”
Esmyra sucked on her tooth, contemplating what to do next. She needed to find a way to capture Elowynne and remove her from the palace before any more eyes found them. She didn’t want to kill the queen. Not yet, anyway. Not before her use expired.
Her fingers pressed on the pocket of her cloak, feeling that velsinyte ring there. I knew this would come in handy, she thought. And then she took a step forward, then another after that. Before she knew it, Esmyra was storming down the distance that remained between them in the corridor.
With a sharp intake of breath, Elowynne also began to stalk down the hall, her jaw locked and eyes full of a fury that appeared to rival even her own. And then the elven lunged, her fist aimed straight for Esmyra’s jaw and meeting its mark. The force of the punch snapped her head to the side.
Oh, this is going to be fun. Esmyra’s momentary surprise gave way to a grin. The tang of copper filled her mouth, and she imagined her teeth were stained red as she flashed them at the queen.
“I like her,” Kaelypso purred.
“No, we don’t.”
Esmyra spat blood at Elowynne’s feet. “Is that all you’ve got?” she taunted.
Elowynne spun, sweeping a leg out from beneath her gown and toward Esmyra’s knees, but she leapt over it. She retaliated fast; a palm strike to the queen’s chest sent her stumbling back into the wall with a grunt.
Looks like Draevyn’s training was useful after all. She rolled her eyes at the thought, not wanting to give the bastard credit for anything.
Elowynne gritted her teeth, her chest rising and falling in rapid breaths as her wild eyes searched for an escape. She bent down and quickly swiped a decorative blade from the fallen guard’s sheath, slashing it forward.
Esmyra leaned back, the blade slicing a lock of her silver hair as she twisted away. She responded with a low kick that knocked Elowynne’s legs out from under her.
The queen let out a gasp as her body slammed onto the floor, dropping her weapon. With a cry, she rolled and kicked up, catching Esmyra in the ribs.
Pain roiled through Esmyra as her breath rushed from her lungs, but it only made her angrier. “Oh, you stupid bitch,” she said with a sharp cackle. Their eyes locked, and water spiraled up from the edges of Esmyra’s cloak, forming thin slicing whips in the air.
Elowynne scrambled back, eyes wide as Esmyra advanced, magic dancing like serpents at her sides.
“I tried to show you mercy,” she growled, kicking aside the elven’s blade. “But now I’ll just take what I came for.”
The water surged forward—one tendril wrapping tightly around Elowynne’s wrist, then the other around her ankle. The queen gasped as she was slammed back into the stone floor. She writhed against the liquid binds, but they only constricted further, climbing her limbs like vines and pinning her down.
“Fighting me was a mistake,” Esmyra murmured, crouching beside her now.
She gripped Elowynne’s wrist, and with her other hand, she reached into her pocket to reveal the velsinyte ring she stole—or cut off—the guard.
“Give up, gorgeous.” Esmyra pried the queen’s hand open and slipped the ring onto her finger.
The air rushed out of Elowynne’s lungs as the metal slid over her skin. Esmyra recalled the feeling of velsinyte and the instant loss of power as that golden light left the elven’s eyes.
“You’ll never make it out of here,” she spat as she kicked and thrashed, but the binds held firm.
“I already have,” Esmyra whispered, leaning in close. She pulled her hood back on as her silver hair hung like a curtain between them. “And now I’m taking you with me.”
Returning the favor, Esmyra then sent her fist into Elowynne’s cheek, knocking her unconscious.
With a sweep of her arm, the watery tendrils lifted the queen from the floor. As Esmyra moved back into the mist-choked corridor, Elowynne was helplessly dragged behind her, bringing her back to The Night Wraith.