21. Ava
AVA
Pain exploded in Ava’s spine as she slammed into the ground. Dragon hissed inside her mind, his powerful thoughts sending a surge of warmth and strength through her body.
That numbed the pain.
She rolled onto her belly and shoved herself back to her feet, facing Talos. Blood smeared the lower half of his jaw, but his expression remained mutinous. He wouldn’t give up, and she didn’t know how much more she could take.
I’ll help you, Dragon whispered, but he sounded tired too.
They needed more energy, fresh strength. But they had only themselves to depend on. She inhaled deeply and drew on her deepest reserves, pulling the last remnants of her strength to the surface.
Fresh determination flooded through her, and even Dragon’s thoughts grew sharper, more focused.
“How long are we going to play this game?” Talos asked as he cracked his knuckles.
His gaze flicked briefly over her left shoulder. Footsteps informed her that someone was coming up behind them. She didn’t have to look to know who it was.
Jerrid dragged himself to her side. Ava gave him a sideways glance and ignored a stab of guilt. He looked like a whipped pup. Leaves and twigs stuck in his hair, and one of his cheekbones had begun to swell.
Good for him, Dragon muttered. It’s his own fault…
But Ava wasn’t so sure. They had been the ones hurling him around the forest in the middle of the night.
She forced her attention back to Talos because Jerrid was right. They needed to end this—together, the three of them—before someone got hurt.
“Just surrender and this can be over,” Jerrid threw at Talos. “You’re no match for the three of us.”
“Four of us.” Brynja appeared behind Talos, a shovel gripped in both hands. “This is my home, elf, and you’re not welcome here.”
Talos snorted, but unease flickered across his expression. He was cornered, an animal backed into a canyon with no escape.
And he knew it.
He bared his teeth and angled himself as if trying to keep all of them in his line of sight, an impossible task as they spread out around him, Jerrid limping noticeably.
Ava dared a second to look his way, concerned whether or not he was up to the task.
Apparently, he had taken quite the beating while they fought in the forest.
She hadn’t meant to tug him along with her, not realizing how deep the connection ran between him and Dragon.
I was aware, Dragon said, sounding a little smug.
“Naturally, you did that on purpose,” Ava breathed, beyond exasperated. “You have no soul.”
I have no guilt. There’s a difference.
She ignored him and angled toward Talos, her clawed hands held wide to each side. She was getting used to these things—they were quite handy to have in a fight.
“You could just leave,” Ava said, ignoring the sharp look Brynja sent her way from over Talos’s shoulder. “Just slink back into the forest and disappear. We wouldn’t stop you.”
His dark, angry eyes raked over her. “And where would I go? That stupid dune elf ruined everything. I have nowhere to go.”
“These woods are massive. Just disappear.”
He snorted and shook his head. “That’s not for me. I won’t live like a dog in a hole.”
“You may not have a choice,” Ava said, easing another foot forward, wondering when he would make his move. “You made your bed, and now you’re going to have to lie in it. You should have considered your future living arrangements when you cursed your own cousin. Betrayed your people.”
“Committed treason,” Jerrid muttered around a wince of pain. “That’s a death sentence if I ever saw one.”
Talos glowered at him, shoulders taut. “Death sentences aren’t for me either.”
“You can’t have your cake and eat it too, you know. There are consequences for bad choices.”
“And what makes you think I made bad choices? Things may not have turned out the way I had planned because of that stupid dune whore, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t right. Haryk isn’t fit to rule this kingdom.”
“So you say,” she snapped, heat rising in her belly. “He’s twice the elf you’ll ever be. He cares for his people and will lead us to better things. You would have just led us into war.”
“And who’s to say that war isn’t exactly what we need?” Talos snarled. “We never should have signed that ridiculous treaty. We limited ourselves, confined ourselves.”
Blah, blah. Dragon yawned dramatically. Kick him in the knees…
Ava’s right leg twitched, but she dug her foot into the ground to resist the temptation. She wanted to defuse the situation, not exacerbate it.
“Can we just kill him and be done with it?” Brynja called, her knuckles white against the handle of her shovel.
I agree.
“He needs to be given the opportunity to surrender,” Ava insisted as another urge to kick out her leg made her grind her teeth together in protest.
“He has been given this opportunity,” Jerrid said, slanting a look in her direction. “And he refused. Now can we kill him?”
Ava startled and glared at him. “When did you get so fond of killing? Normally you’re the one holding back You Know Who.”
He shrugged. “I’ve changed my mind about him.”
Talos’s posture grew even tenser as he jerked his head back and forth to keep an eye on them all, blue fire igniting around his fists as he spread his legs and braced for an attack. Ava opened her mouth to argue, not wanting it to come to another battle.
But Brynja moved without warning, her shovel swinging back to prepare for a blow. Jerrid launched forward at the same time, and Dragon roared excitedly as he tried to drive her forward.
Fireballs exploded in all directions. Brynja knocked into a nearby tent, eliciting screams from its occupants. Jerrid ducked as he sprinted into the woods. Ava dove for Talos’s legs, hoping to end this as quickly as possible.
The sooner they put an end to it, whatever the outcome, the less chance one of the girls or children would be hurt.
Talos kneed her in the chest as she tried to drag him down, her clawed hand digging into his thigh as she forced the knee back. Jerrid and Brynja came from above. They each latched onto an arm and dragged them away from Ava. Talos fell onto his back with a foul curse.
“He’s starting another fireball!” Ava warned.
Jerrid stomped onto Talos’s hand and tried to shove it into the dirt to smother the flames, while Brynja smacked his other hand with her shovel. Screaming curses, Talos writhed beneath their combined weight.
“Rope!” Ava yelled as she struggled to keep his legs secured. “We need rope!”
Jerrid shook his head and stomped down on the elf’s hand again to smother another desperate burst of fire. “He’ll just burn through it.”
“Chains,” Brynja grunted. “Someone get me the chains from the shed!”
A few moments later, Finnr skidded alongside them with his son at his heels, holding out a length of rusty chain. Ava could only hope it was strong enough to hold him.
“Get him on his belly!” Jerrid shouted as Talos began to writhe with renewed panic.
While terrible curses exploded from the dark elf, Brynja shot a glance at Roar.
“Cover your ears. You don’t need to hear this.”
But the lad ignored her, jumping up and down and shouting, “Tie him up good.”
The dark elf’s muscles strained as they wrenched his arms behind the small of his back and began to wind the chain around his wrists. It took their combined efforts to hold him down while he kicked and tried to ignite fireballs in his now-pinned hands.
Ava clamped her armored hands around his to smother any flames he tried to toss at them. She could feel the heat, but the thickness of her dragon hands protected her from getting burned.
You’re welcome.
When Talos’s chains were finally secured around his wrists.
Brynja grabbed the extra length and stooped to wind it around the elf’s ankles too.
He kicked and thrashed, the curses growing more labored but no less foul.
Jerrid plopped down and sat right on his legs so that Brynja and Finnr could get his ankles bound up tight.
By the time they were done, the poor, wretched elf looked like a trussed bird ready for the cooking pot.
Finnr even fished a grungy kerchief from his pocket and gagged the prisoner with delighted flair.
Talos fired daggers with his eyes before they flopped him back onto the ground, face down in the dirt.
They all sat back and exchanged glances. Brynja and Finnr grinned—this must be the most fun they’d had in camp in a long time. But Jerrid sat down on the ground and braced his elbows on his knees, looking completely wiped out.
Ava sank down beside him. “Now what?”
“The gag was a nice improvement,” Brynja said to Finnr, wiping her hands on her pants as if she had just finished a dirty, dissatisfying chore.
“Very nice,” Roar’s mother agreed, coming up behind them to put a restraining hand on her son’s shoulder.
He squirmed and tried to sneak closer to Talos, but she tightened her grip with the grimace of a warrior about to do battle.
Struck by inspiration, Ava perked up. “Can we put him in my closet?”
Brynja snickered but shook her head. “Honestly, I would be more comfortable if he wasn’t so close to the camp. It was good enough for you, but I don’t trust him not to set the fortress ablaze.”
That stung a little.
I still don’t like her, Dragon agreed, rumbling so loudly that her chest felt as if it were reverberating from within.
“The cave?” Finnr asked, cocking his head to one side. “What do you think, Siri?”
His wife pursed her lips and nodded. “I like it. Gets him farther away from the camp.”
Ava wondered where this cave was as she pressed a hand to her chest bone with a frown, trying to still the reverberations. When Jerrid shot her a suspicious look, she smiled innocently and dropped her hand. She didn’t want him thinking for one minute that she couldn’t control Dragon.
If he took it into his mind to separate them by force, who knew what would happen. The three of them had become hopelessly entangled, and she wanted time to stew about it before she figured out how to separate them.