54. Jia
Goldsteel holds its edge better than silversteel, and you have an ax, Kaiya. Cannon signed; his face unamused. It has to be you. You and Piers hack your way in through the back door, and Jia and I will come in through the front.
“We might not even need to come in through the back,” Kaiya grumbled, signing her fingers back to Cannon. “You could be done before I get in.”
The four of them—Kaiya, the prince, Cannon, and Jia—had become the predominant hunting party for Sumavari’s Books of Summoning. Ayres usually stayed at the castle with Rorax to train her and keep an eye on her. Milla didn’t go on hunts unless it was absolutely necessary, so it was usually just Kaiya, Cannon, Jia, and the Death Prince, Piers.
Jia thought it was strange they so openly put their prince in dangerous situations over Ayres, but maybe it had something to do with the power that oozed from Ayres. He felt like a powder keg ready to blow in the same way that Kiniera was with her Ice Magick.
They were good at what they did. Not as efficient or as lethal as her Heilstorm unit had been, but over the last couple of weeks, they had successfully retrieved four books which meant four unsummoned monsters. Jia wasn”t sure how many of Sumavari”s books there were in total.
The four of them were in the countryside of Death, having tracked the latest book summoning to a small winery just south of the City of Stars. The Lyondreans had rolled the largest barrel of wine, a giant tun, in the cellar over the back entrance to block it. If they wanted their ambush to work, they needed to cut their way through the barrel and they needed to use Kaiya’s ax to do it.
Hopefully we won’t need you, but please hurry,Cannon said, his fingers flying, his dark brown eyes serious.
“Come on, Kaiya, if one of your precious little rubies pops out, I’ll buy you new ones,” the prince said, eyeing the rubies embedded deeply into the middle of the goldsteel of her ax.
“Please, your majesty, I embedded these rubies myself, it would take the strength of ten stars to remove them,” Kaiya scoffed, flipping her handsome weapon back and forth in her palm before gazing lovingly at it like a mother would a child.
She blew a resigned breath out of her nose and smacked Piers’s elbow lightly with the back of her other hand. “Fine, let’s go.”
Cannon and Jia moved to the front door the Lyondreans had bolted shut and waited for the sound of Kaiya chopping into the wood of the barrel at the back door. When the big, booming sounds started from the other side of the building, Jia froze the lock on the door, and Cannon used his shoulder to break the lock and shove his way inside.
There was a group of five winery workers, all tied up and sitting by the wall watching in horror as eighteen men, all armed and ready to fight, faced the back door and the source of the loud booming blows. Jia could sense all of them were Ungifted except one, and the thrum of the power he held was significantly lower than her own, and much less impressive than Cannon’s.
She let two arrows fly, hitting two of the Lyondrean men in the back before they even knew what was happening. A third went down with an arrow to the eye as he turned around to face them. Jia could feel Cannon’s Death Magic as it plowed into the four men standing closest to them, and Jia couldn’t repress her shudder as their bodies dropped to the floor, their lifeless eyes revealing nothing but empty shells.
Jia shot another arrow, but a sword swiped it away as Cannon dropped another three men. Jia knew his magick was tapped, and they would have to fight the remaining eight by hand.
The survivors gaped helplessly at the men Cannon had plucked away, their fear palpable as Jia pulled her sword and small dagger free from their sheaths. It would be preferable if they could capture some of them alive to question. But Lyondreans were typically hell bent on fighting to the death over capture, and this lot seemed no different.
When they saw Jia approach, one of them lunged, the others at his back. Cannon joined the fray, pulling half of them away from her.
They were decently trained, and Jia struggled.
She cut down one man when he tripped over a rope and stumbled into her path, and then another. One of the soldiers thrust a spear at her heart. She managed to knock it away, blocking it to the side, before she twisted and thrust her knife in his chest with her other hand.
She dislodged the knife as the man collapsed to his knees and turned to face down the last man.
Jia danced, but he knocked the sword out of her hand. They both stared at each other in shock before he drew his sword back, preparing to swing at her.
She should parry, block, dodge. But Jia couldn’t do anything besides stare wide-eyed at the sword. Gods, she was about to die, and even her reflexes didn’t seem to care. She couldn’t move a muscle, and so she closed her eyes in acceptance, and maybe even a little relief, waiting for the impact to end her life.
The sword slapped against her side and bounced off harmlessly.
Jia’s eyes wrenched open to see the man’s face pale with horror, his sword down by her knees, out of striking distance. By some act of mercy from the gods, or inexperience from this soldier, his sword had twisted in the air so the flat of the blade bounced off her armor harmlessly, but the impact still made her stagger.
She tripped and landed with a huff on her back.
Jia looked up wide-eyed to the man standing above her, his sword raised again, but before the blow fell, goldsteel and rubies flashed, and blood sprayed everywhere as Kaiya’s battle ax cleaved the man from shoulder to navel.
Jia flinched back in surprise as his corpse collapsed with a vulgar thud at her feet.
Kaiya stood, breathing heavily, staring down at Jia with wild eyes, both of her hands wrapped around her weapon.
Kaiya ripped her ax out of the body, and Jia felt her cheeks heat as she slowly pushed herself to her elbows. “Thank you—”
Kaiya reached down and violently grabbed Jia by the front of her tunic, pulling her up to her feet before slamming Jia into the tun next to them, the wood of the huge barrel groaning in protest.
Jia gasped in surprise, wrapping her hand around Kaiya’s wrist, as Kaiya lowered her face to Jia’s.
“What the fuck was that?” Kaiya hissed. “I thought you were a Heilstorm.”
“I am,” Jia muttered, trying to jerk out of Kaiya’s grasp, her cheeks getting hotter.
“I’ve seen Greywood work, and she’s never sloppy. I’ve seen knights drunk on a barrel of moonshine fight better than that.”
Jia gritted her teeth, squeezing Kaiya’s wrist tighter. “I am not Rorax.”
“Evidently,” Kaiya sneered, analyzing Jia from head to toe. “What unit were you in?”
“One.” Jia forced Kaiya’s fingers off her tunic. She pushed Kaiya back a step and tried to move away.
“I met Sahana Thorash when the House of Ice came to do their reparations in Surmalinn,” Kaiya said, stepping in Jia’s path, fire in her eyes. She shoved Jia’s shoulder back. “She never would have allowed that shit in her unit. You wouldn’t have taken a step out of Koppar.”
Jia gritted her teeth and tried to turn away, her cheeks burning in shame. But Kaiya snatched her wrist tightly and yanked her back. Cannon and the prince had collected what they came for, a linen bag that looked like it held a massive tome inside, and were releasing the winery workers. All of them were silent and pointedly ignored them.
“Listen to me, and you listen real good, Frostguard. If you want to die, that’s your business. But it won’t be here, it won’t be with me, and it won’t be searching for the Books of Sumavari with the House of Death.”
“Why do you care?” Jia ripped her arm away, embarrassed, and desperately needing to get away.
“For about a thousand reasons, take your pick. If you die on a hunt, the ramifications for my house will be severe,” Kaiya seethed. “Not only will Greywood and Kulltoug skin me alive for letting anything happen to you, but you’re General Frostguard’s daughter. Ye-Jun Frostguard’s sister. The same people who’re currently overseeing the training of House of Death soldiers in Skavetsia.”
Jia wrinkled her nose and was about to bite back a retort, but Kaiya cut her off. “Not to mention Ayres and my Queen won’t be happy about it either. Tensions between Ice and Death are already high, and your king is one of the only things securing House of Death’s borders against Lyondrea until our new soldiers are deemed fit for duty. So, as I said, if you want to die, that’s your business. But not here.”
“He wouldn’t abandon the House of Death like that.” Raengar was a good man.
Kaiya finally stepped back. “Maybe. Maybe not, but what about us, Jia? You have been hunting with us for over a month. We like you. You’re the best person that’s come out of House of Ice in a century. We don’t want to see you die either, Frostguard.”
“We? Or just you?” Jia snapped, her hands trembling and her voice shaking from both fury and hurt. “We aren’t together, we aren’t even friends. Fucking once doesn’t make me yours, Kaiya, it doesn’t make us anything. We’re nothing.”
It was Kaiya’s turn to take a step back, a tortured look in her eyes.
Feeling bitterly triumphant, Jia whipped around and started to stalk away.
“It’s not what the Torch would have wanted for you either. To kill yourself. To die for nothing.”
Jia froze, as the familiar, agonizing weight of grief crushed her lungs.
“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” Kaiya asked, a note of bitterness in her voice. “Volla was a celebrity at the Tournament of Houses, and her burial pyre was lit in Morvarand for fuck’s sake.”
Jia gritted her teeth and battled back her tears. Gods why couldn’t she breathe?
“Clean it up, or I’m informing Greywood you’re unfit, and pulling you off the hunts. You’re a liability.”
Jia did nothing but grit her teeth as Kaiya turned and stormed out, slamming what was left of the front door behind her.