Chapter 31 #2
A figure stumbled out. It took a moment for her to recognize the woman in the dark, with her face splattered in mud and her dress torn, but it was Luzie, her face streaked with tears as she rushed toward them.
Liane pushed past Erich to embrace her. Luzie fell into Liane’s arms, sobbing and muttering something unintelligible against Liane’s shoulder.
As relieved as she was to see her friend alive, Luzie finding them alone and without Ludwig made her blood run cold. Ludwig hadn’t made it out.
“Luzie, what’s wrong? Where’s Ludwig?” Liane asked.
“Liane, you have to—”
And then her words were cut off by an arrow whizzing past. It went toward Erich, and he pivoted to avoid it a second too late, and a line of blood dripped down his cheek.
The wound didn’t last, as it healed over as soon as it appeared.
Someone shot a second arrow, and Erich launched himself at Liane and Luzie, forcing them to hit the ground.
It sailed over them and through the oracle’s throat.
She didn’t seem surprised, and her expression was serene as she collapsed onto the ground.
Liane cried out something unintelligible.
Luzie grabbed Liane’s arm. “Liane. Run. They forced me to bring them to you. They told me they had Ludwig and if I didn’t comply, they’d kill him.” Luzie sobbed.
Erich yanked them both to their feet, and they ran, but a wall of mounted Midnight Guards blocked their escape.
They couldn’t run, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t fight.
The sword had come to her for a reason. The oracle had told her as much.
Even though she was untrained, Liane knew she had to face them.
They wouldn’t hurt her, because the Avatheos wanted her back.
Liane stepped in front of her friends, brandishing her sword.
Its power blazed against her palm, flickering like a flame.
“Stand back,” Liane shouted.
They pulled back on the reins of their horses, hesitating for a moment. A few made the sign of the star against their brows.
“It is the real avatar. Capture her!” the captain shouted, and the guards rushed her.
Erich pushed Liane behind him, claws out as he slashed at the flank of the nearest guard’s horse.
It reared back, throwing the guard from the saddle.
Then another came up behind them, swinging to take Erich’s head.
He ducked under the sweep of their blade, and then he swiped at them, missing by an inch as they rode past.
Another guard was racing toward Liane, hand out to grab her. She raised her sword with shaking arms, and he looped away from her, before circling back, black sword drawn. Their swords crossed, and the blow of his strike flung Liane backward.
Erich was surrounded by four mounted guards, and they’d tossed a net over him.
He threw his head back and roared, struggling to free himself from the net.
Then they dismounted, and while one held him down, another pressed a stone against Erich.
She tried to get up, but her body refused to listen.
She felt as weak as a newborn and couldn’t have raised her sword from the ground if she wanted to.
All she could do was watch as two guards grabbed hold of Luzie, forcing her and Erich to their knees in front of Liane.
She grasped onto the hilt of her sword, mustering the courage to fight, even as her vision swam.
She climbed to her feet, swaying. Then they grabbed her, pinning her hands behind her back.
She tried to fight against them, but it was like dragging her limbs through mud.
“Come with us quietly, your divinity, and we’ll spare your maid.”
Luzie bowed her head, tears streaming down her face, while Erich thrashed against them, caught somewhere between man and wild beast. Then one of the guards kneed him in the back and ground his face into the dirt.
“Leave them both,” Liane shouted. “I’ll work with you, but only if you spare them.”
The guard with a knee in Erich’s back pressed the tip of his blade against the back of his neck. The man behind Luzie had a dagger to her throat.
“Choose one,” the guard said.
“Liane, if I am your shield, let them break me to protect you,” Erich snarled.
She couldn’t possibly choose. Even if he wanted to part ways, she couldn’t have his death on her hands. She lowered her weapon and shook her head.
“I can’t.”
Then Erich bucked backward, catching the guard by surprise. He reached for a dagger and threw it at the throat of his assailant. Before he whirled around to slash at the man holding onto Luzie.
Luzie got up and ran toward Liane as the guards unleashed a barrage of arrows onto Erich as he closed the distance between them.
They caught him in the shoulder, and he staggered back, but kept on moving forward.
Liane and Luzie clung to one another, helpless, as a line of a dozen guards closed ranks between them and Erich.
He managed to take out three of the twelve guards and had six arrows in his flesh before he collapsed onto the ground. A scream ripped from Liane’s throat as he fell. She tried to run to him, but the guards caught her by the arm, and she was too weak to fight them.
She was numb with horror and disbelief as she watched the pool of blood spread out beneath him.
“Erich. Erich!” she screamed as they dragged her toward their horses.
“What do we do with the maid?” the guard who’d caught Luzie asked.
“Kill her,” the masked leader said.
They didn’t hesitate, slashing across her throat with their sword. Luzie’s eyes widened, and her mouth opened and closed as she gasped for air.
The sound that came out of Liane was animalistic. She curled into herself and felt for a moment like she had floated outside her body. This couldn’t be happening. This all had to be a bad dream. They tossed Luzie’s lifeless body onto the ground, as if she were nothing more than refuse.
Erich. Luzie. The oracle. Fritz. Ludwig.
All dead, and it was her fault.