Chapter 34
The Entheans braced themselves as Adriel raised his arm and beckoned his beasts forward. There had to have been nearly fifty massive black creatures crawling toward them while the last few kestrels circled hungrily in the sky. They preyed on the weak and injured as a vulture would, swooping down to strike their prey with their talons before returning to the clouds. The remaining archers had managed to take out a few of them when the fight had begun, but they were now out of arrows, and the ones they attempted to scavenge were broken or too difficult to remove from their previous targets.
“We need to take out Adriel!” Jai yelled. “With him gone, they may retreat.”
“The general, too,” Rook gritted out, looking to where Corvus circled above them.
They ran forth with the rest of their troops, heading straight for the beasts. They would have to work quickly. If they didn’t burn the bodies of the fallen creatures, they would piece themselves back together, and then their efforts would be for naught.
Grunts and screams filled the air as the battle raged on, and Enara cried out in anger as one of the Celestials broke her nose with the butt of his sword.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” she scoffed before doubling the woman over with an elbow and finishing her off with Coraxis.
“Nice one, Enara,” Soren called from where she was pulling a dagger out of the still-writhing body of one of the large creatures that Baz had helped her take down. He was swinging his sword skillfully, covering Soren as she grabbed a nearby torch from where it lay on the ground and set the beast aflame.
The ichor ignited like dry kindling. Soon, the sky was filled with black smoke. The body stunk like rotting meat and burning flesh, and Soren stifled a gag.
“How dare you?” a kestrel wailed from above her. It had used the smoke as cover to take her by surprise and grasped her shoulders before lifting her away from the group. The motion caused her to lose her grip on Rachi and the torch, her arms helpless in its grip.
“Let me go!” she screamed, thrashing her head and legs. She knew they wouldn’t make it far, considering the extra weight her armor bore.
“Oh, I’ll let you go,” the beast sneered, “once I get high enough.”
“Fuck you!” Soren screamed, her throat going raw.
“Soren!” Enara called, running below them, following their path.
Soren had never been afraid of heights, but when she noticed how small Enara’s form was becoming, a knot grew in her stomach. She tried shifting her arms, but the talons caused pain to shoot down to her wrists and up her neck.
Not like this, she thought. Not like this.
She stretched her neck as far as it would go, deciding at once that if she was going to fall to her death, it would be on her own terms.
She bit the kestrel’s foot—hard. The creature screeched and released his grip on her shoulders, and then she was falling.
* * *
“No!”Rook roared as he watched Soren fall from the sky. She was too high, and he was too far to try to catch her. But he ran, anyway. His blades moved at a blinding speed as he made his way to where she would land. He thought that maybe, just maybe, if he could catch her, his half-celestial body might be able to withstand the force enough that she would live.
He moved his legs, pumping them harder than he thought possible, and entered the landing zone with moments to spare. He braced himself for the impact, wishing they’d had more time. Wishing he could hold her, and kiss her, and tell her everything would be okay. To tell her that he loved her once more.
Her scream could have broken the sound barrier as she plummeted toward him. He planted his feet, his blades thrown to the side, arms held out to cradle her. Then he closed his eyes at the last second, not willing to watch what happened next.
The impact never came as a gust of air knocked him off his feet. He landed hard on his tailbone, blinking to remove the shadows from his eyes. He realized quickly that the shadow was a large, black body looming before him. However, it was not the body of a man, but of a horse. A great black creature with onyx wings stood before him with a breathless Soren upon its back.
He reached forward to brush a hair from her face, and the horse gave him a warning snort in response.
“Whoa, boy,” Rook muttered, holding his palms up before speaking quietly to Soren. “Little bird, you can open your eyes now.”
Soren’s eyes fluttered open, and her death grip on the horse’s mane loosened. “Rook,” she groaned.
“Yes, little bird, I’m here.”
She pushed up into a sitting position, wincing at the pain that shot through her shoulder blades.
“Drink this,” Rook said, holding up a vial of healing water from a small pouch at his side.
She took it gratefully and, after a moment, attempted to roll her shoulders. They weren’t fully healed, but the pain was manageable. She could feel the effects of the venom fading to a dull burn.
She allowed Rook to pull her down as the great horse chuffed again. Soren embraced Rook tightly before walking around to thank the majestic creature. She hugged the horse’s thick neck, nuzzling into the softness of its coat. Then Soren pulled back to look into the creature’s big brown eyes and whispered, “Thank you.”
She continued staring at the creature for a long moment as the war raged around them, and something in her heart clicked. As if to confirm her suspicion, the horse stretched its wings wide before folding them in on himself. She was momentarily shocked as they seemed to disappear into his body, leaving behind a regular black stallion.
“It is you!” she exclaimed, hugging the horse again.
Rook was staring between the four-legged beast and Soren, obviously confused.
“He was a part of my journey early on,” Soren explained.
“You didn’t think to tell me that you rode a winged horse?” Rook asked, raising his brow.
Soren made to answer, but then grabbed Quill, threw it past Rook’s head, and into the eye of a Xian-Dao soldier who had been trying to sneak up from behind them.
Rook turned to watch the body fall and couldn’t help but be impressed by her arm. He reached down and turned the man over, removing the dagger with a sick, sucking sound. The eyeball came with it, and he plucked it off the end of the blade, tossing it behind him before handing Quill back to Soren with a smile on his face.
“Seriously?” she asked, and he just shrugged his shoulders. “That was disgusting.” She grimaced.
“Would you prefer I delivered it to you in a box?” he questioned.
“No, nope, absolutely not,” she replied, grabbing Quill and hopping back onto the stallion. “You coming?” she beckoned.
Rook hesitated for a moment before mounting up behind her as the creature’s wings splayed out from the space between their legs.
“Does it have a name?” Rook asked as they lifted up into the sky.
“I couldn’t find one that fit,” Soren replied before her voice was swallowed by the wind. She did not know how this creature had come by its wings, but she set the confusion aside and went in search of more enemies to destroy.
* * *
“We need to go,”Baz said as Jai pressed his fingertips to William’s eyelids, shielding his gaze from the horrors around him. “C’mon, man,” Baz urged, his tone sterner this time.
Jai ripped his eyes away from the rider and ran with Baz toward another group of men who were fighting off three of the kestrels’ larger counterparts.
“He was just a boy!” Jai barked.
“I know,” was all Baz replied before they sunk their blades into one of the creatures. Black blood sprayed everywhere, and then one of the Enthean’s bent forward to set its body alight. The guys’ eyes followed the smoke trail to the sky where Soren and Rook sat atop a great, winged horse, dropping the last of the kestrels with ease. They continued to follow their flight path as Soren and Rook set their sights on Adriel.
The god-like man was laying waste to everyone and everything in his path, even killing off a few of Bao-Ren’s men who had gotten in his way. Jai and Baz knew if they were going to defeat him, they would have to work together.
“Find Enara,” Jai ordered then ran in Adriel’s direction.
Baz did not hesitate to return to where he had last seen her. However, smoke filled the field, making visibility low, and he struggled to make his way across the sea of bodies. Every few feet, he would see a face he knew, and it made his stomach tighten. There was one face he begged the Maker not to see bleeding out on the ground.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted her. She was helping one of the medics drag a body over the edge of the hill. He tried waving to get her attention, but she was too focused on the task at hand.
When the medic was out of sight, she ran back down the hill, cutting diagonally across the field, when movement caught the corner of Baz’s eye.
No!he screamed internally as he yelled aloud to warn her. “Enara!” But he was too late.
Their eyes connected for a split-second before General Corvus’s winged form landed in front of Enara, cutting off their path to each other.
Baz’s eyes narrowed at the creature’s back, and his boots smacked hard with each step as he ran in their direction.
In moments, she was on the ground. Even her incredible skills were no match for the creature’s centuries of experience.
Baz felt the pieces of his heart shatter as the general picked Enara up by her throat and began squeezing the life out of her. Enara stopped flailing, and the general threw her lifeless body aside.
Baz let out a cry filled with rage as he closed the distance between him and Enara’s killer, tackling him into the ash. He pinned the creature’s wings behind him, his fury only amplified when Corvus laughed in his face.
“Killing me won’t bring her back,” he gargled, and that was when Baz noticed the blade of Enara’s staff sticking out from the side of the creature’s ribs.
He lifted the half-man by his chest and slammed him back into the ground. He did this over and over again until General Corvus’s skull split open on the battlefield before him and all the life left his dark eyes.
He breathed heavily from the exertion and spat on the creature before snarling, “No, but it will sure as fuck make me feel better.” That said, he got to his feet and pulled Enara’s lifeless form into his arms and wept.
He nuzzled into her neck, whispering, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” over and over again, rocking back and forth. It had only been minutes since he’d watched her fall, so heat was still rising from her body. He pressed against her chest, wishing he could switch his heart for hers so that he could take her place when he heard it.
Thump.
And then again a moment later.
Thump.
It was the single, most beautiful sound in the entire world, and hope bloomed in his chest like the wildflowers in springtime.
“I’m here,” he whispered. “Come back to me, Enara.”
Thump. Her heart beat again, faster this time. Thump.
He held her softy as he watched shallow breaths lift her ribcage and she stirred in his arms. When she finally spoke, her voice came out in a broken rasp. “Baz,” was all she could manage.
“It’s okay,” he replied. “I know. I’m here. I’ll always be here,” he rushed out.
She sat up and wrapped her arms around him before getting to her feet.
“Take your time,” he said, holding her elbow.
“I’m okay,” she replied.
His brows furrowed when he noticed the black and purple bruises forming on her neck and wished he could bring that bastard back to life so he could kill him again.
Noticing his gaze, Enara reached forward and lifted his chin. The gold flecks in his eyes were glassy, shined to a fine polish with unshed tears. She urged him to believe her when she whispered the words again, “I’m okay.”
All Baz wanted to do was to pick her up and take her away from battle. To nurse her back to health and spend the rest of their days in quiet happiness. He would not do that, though. Not yet. Enara could not leave her friends now any more than he could. So, he kissed her, pressing his forehead to hers, and said, “I love you, you know.”
“I know,” she rasped back then looked to where Soren and Rook were facing off with Adriel. “Let’s end this.”