Chapter 32
After a week of silent confinement, Kaid was overwhelmed with the havoc happening in the grand hall. Especially since he had woken up so abruptly.
Kaid remembered Maren forcing a sleeping potion down his throat, knowing he wouldn’t be able to wake up for many hours. However, he distinctly recalled the moment Asta touched his face and woke him.
His thoughts had been clear enough that he feigned sleep, awaiting the right moment to utilize his unexpected awakening. When he felt Asta surrender her sword and throw it to his bed, he took the opportunity to attack.
Now, he was wide awake, ducking under swinging fists and squeezing between duels all while carrying his chain. There was a tingling sensation shooting through the water surrounding him, which could only mean one thing—the sea witch queen had entered the fight.
Just as the thought processed, she appeared.
A circle of snarling, snapping kelpies engulfed her, but with one flick of the sea witch’s wrist, all of them were stunned.
Her shock currents weren’t strong enough to take down the superiorly resilient water horses, but she could certainly stop them in their tracks.
“Round everyone up and let’s go!” Asta barked at Soren. The warrior gave a lazy salute and vanished into the disarray.
Kaid was grateful for the rescue, but the finfolk numbers had been clearly underestimated. They simply didn’t have enough manpower to keep going.
A finfolk male blazed through the crowd, directly toward Asta, blades cutting down kelpies who entered his path.
Asta held off the male, meeting each of his blows with one of her own.
Another finfolk came for her back and Kaid threw his chain at it, whipping the creature in the abdomen and causing it to retreat.
After a few more strikes to other finfolk, Kaid learned that his chain could be a decent temporary weapon in this fight.
An ear piercing wail echoed off the stone walls, but it wasn’t the usual pitch of the finfolk screech. It was a howl of pain coming from the large emerald dragon now facing the sea witch.
The dragon’s hide was thick enough to not get stunned like the kelpies, but she was still suffering.
Kaid knew the moment Asta had identified the sound based on her warpath through the bombardment of finfolk now swarming the hall.
Her blades were cutting a direct path to the sea dragon; her friend in need.
Kaid knew it was a bad idea, but he followed her. Was he a trained warrior like Asta? No. But was he going to let her take on one of the most powerful sea creatures of the Ventarin Sea on her own? Also, no. They only had to distract the queen long enough to get everyone out.
Asta never removed her eyes from the queen the entire time she carved her trail. Kaid didn’t care how fucked up it was, seeing her wield a sword with such expert precision was… attractive.
If Asta managed to let a finfolk slip past her defenses—which rarely occurred—Kaid took care of them with his chain. A smug smile formed on his lips. They made quite the team.
As they got closer, Kaid could see that Tova was bleeding profusely from her flank. The wound needed to be packed and sutured. Well, if that’s how to repair a sea dragon laceration. Kaid wasn’t quite sure.
Queen Yrsa finally acknowledged the blonde wraith coming for her, but a moment too late. Asta was already close enough to swing her sword, aiming directly for the witch’s neck. Yrsa blocked the hit with the small dagger she held then latched onto the metal of Asta’s blade.
Asta’s eyes grew wide, the realization setting in that the finfolk queen could easily shock her through the metal.
Kaid had to think quickly. He only had a millisecond to make a decision. The iron cuff on his wrist inhibited his magic, so if he could just wrap his chain in a complete circle around the queen’s arm, he could stop her. Or, at least weaken her enough to lessen the impact of her shock.
He threw his chain, watching it whip around her arm and encase her bicep. His actions were perfectly timed, seeing as a visible strand of lightning wrapped around her wrist and started down the sword, but dissipated by the time it hit the pommel.
Asta yanked the sword back, putrid blood drifting from Yrsa’s palm. In the corner of Kaid’s vision, he saw Tova slipping out of the gaping hole in the castle’s side. Good, at least she was getting herself out.
The kelpies started disappearing after that, then Soren, then Revna.
Asta managed to keep the queen busy while Kaid guarded her back.
He tapped the back of her fin, signalling it was time to go.
Without a word spoken between the two of them, Asta sent her sword careening toward Yrsa’s head while the pair made a break for it.
Kaid cleared the path using his chain and they managed to escape through the hole where Thurs and another kelpie were waiting. They each latched onto a mane and the water horses bolted, swimming faster than any of the finfolk—or their vicious allied species—could swim.