Chapter 37 #3
My wrists shook, and I was forced to take a step back against his strength. Relief surged through me. S?ren was safe for now, standing behind Callum and catching his breath.
Callum pushed himself to the offensive, raining blows on me. I parried every one, barely managing to keep up with his sheer speed. Before long, sweat dripped down my face and my wrists ached.
With our blades locked together, his eyes flickered over my shoulder for half a second. When they returned to me, his mouth spread in a mocking grin. Then he stepped back, leaving me there.
My breath was heavy, and I didn’t lunge for him again. No—this fight would be useless if it was a competition of endurance. Neither S?ren nor I had managed to strike a blow against him yet.
And then Callum drew another, shorter sword with his other hand. My heart sank.
“Tired yet?” he asked, smirk sharp as a dagger’s edge. “Toying with you has been fun. Perhaps together, you’ll prove a real challenge.”
S?ren stepped up next to me, weapon in hand. He’d broken off the end of the arrow shaft protruding from his armor. I knew the arrowhead was still there, hidden beneath the skin, but he could fight. It was enough.
I took my ready stance. S?ren laughed, a humorless sound, and the distortion of the mask made it deadly. Chills ran up my spine. “I think you’ll find us more than capable of killing you. Bhorglid will no longer suffocate under the rule of false gods.”
As one, we lunged.
S?ren and I had sparred against each other over and over.
This, however, was our first time fighting against the same adversary together.
Callum was a force of nature, his blades seeming to know where we would strike before we even realized it.
But we moved as one, each stepping forward through the blaze of silver to take the lead when the other needed it.
S?ren’s strategic mind stayed ahead of the curve. He blocked and parried, allowing Callum to take the upper hand just long enough for me to scratch him with my blade. Before my eyes, the thin cut sealed itself.
Immortal flesh renewed once more.
For a moment, no one moved. I had drawn first blood—proof that we could win this battle if we played our cards right. And when the resurrected usurper laid eyes on me again, something new had taken residence—something that had lain dormant until now.
Fury.
Callum launched back into battle without a second thought.
Two swift moves was all it took for him to disarm S?ren and slash his thigh open.
S?ren tumbled to the ground, and my heart stuttered to a stop.
But I couldn’t take my eyes off Callum. The moment S?ren was no longer his adversary, he rained wrath down on me with every strike.
The wall came up behind me. I tried to get around him, back to the more open part of the hallway, but Callum blocked my desperate swipe and kicked me in the stomach with all his strength.
Air knocked from me, I stumbled backward. My spine collided with the wall, and I barely managed to hold up my blade and cower beneath it while he slammed steel against it over, over, over with his whole strength.
S?ren yelled. I didn’t hear the words. He’d been forgotten by Callum, who had eyes for only me. My sword’s metal bent, threatening to snap, becoming more useless with every hammer against it. Every beat of his blade against mine brought the sharp edges closer to me.
Once again, I knew with a certainty. I am going to die.
Callum sneered. Between strikes, he shouted over the din. “The Tapestry thought you could best me? You’re a disappointment. Both of you—”
His words cut off, as did the deluge, when a black-clad arm wrapped around his throat from behind.
Callum choked on air and stumbled away, dropping the Soulcleaver. I took a deep breath to steady myself. S?ren’s weight pulled Callum back toward the center of the hall. Wild swings did nothing to dislodge the Hellbringer, not when Arraya’s body was so much more petite than his.
“Revna!” S?ren shouted. His mask was gone, discarded somewhere I couldn’t see. “Do it now!”
They’d managed to get several feet away while I recovered my bearings, but grim determination fell over me.
I pulled a dagger from the sheath on my opposite arm and stalked toward them.
Callum would heal from any wound I gave with this weapon, but I could maim him enough to distract him while I grabbed the Soulcleaver.
The moment I was in range, I prepared to swing, Callum’s eyes turning even more bloodshot from lack of air.
But one of the conqueror’s flailing arms caught my right arm in a vise grip.
I scowled and tried to pull away. Callum’s hand latched around my other dagger, drew it from the sheath, and in one expert movement, thrust it directly into S?ren’s abdomen.
He pulled it out immediately after, a cruel twist on what was undoubtedly a killing blow.
“No!” My scream echoed, and I thrust my own blade into Arraya’s throat so hard I knew I must have been covered in blood. S?ren released the queen, who fell to the ground.
S?ren coughed, hard. Blood ran from his lips, and when he stumbled, I caught him with my shoulder, lowering him to the floor. “Shit. We need Mira.”
But there was no one coming to save us.
“S-sword,” he gasped, one hand clamped over his stomach. “Don’t you dare leave without that sword.”
“I am not leaving you.” All the same, I reached out and grabbed the hilt with one hand, dragging the Soulcleaver over to me.
Was the wetness running down my face blood or tears?
Did it matter? “Stand up,” I begged. I couldn’t breathe.
Maybe I was the one dying. “We have to get you to a healer, S?ren. Stand up!”
But he pressed down my desperate, tugging hands. There was far too much blood. I knew it. He was going limp, and I had no hope of carrying him out on my own. Silence reigned supreme, nothing but the rush of blood in my ears, the rush of blood pouring from his abdomen.
His eyes locked with mine. S?ren studied me, taking me in. He squeezed my hands. And then he relaxed, eyes open wide, dead in my arms.