Chapter 40
—Kienna—
Kienna sat against empty barrels, eyes dazed and dreaming about being elsewhere. Moira curled next to her, hand grazing her womb. She was so calm.
Kienna glanced over. “Did you and Tislin manage to work things out?” she whispered, leaning in so Elowen wouldn’t overhear.
Moira peeked her eyes open. “He’s the first person I’m going to find when this is all over.” She closed her eyes again and let out an airy breath. “I didn’t realize I’d fall in love with someone out here.”
A warm smile overtook Kienna. “Tislin suits you.”
The earth rumbled, loosening dirt above their heads.
Kienna tilted her chin to the ground to avoid specks stinging her eyes.
Moira yawned. Across the room, women were huddled together with children, brushing their hair softly or caressing their faces to help them stop crying.
Whimpers echoed through the tunnels as others from barricades closest to them would cry out.
One of those whimpers belonged to Kienna. “I hope Ruva is okay.”
She wrestled with her hands, resisting the urge to pick at her skin.
She fidgeted with Danek’s rings to fight the demons.
Like the charm on her wrist, the rings permanently remained.
Still, the distraction could not keep Kienna from the fear of Ruva fighting a Vorthakai on her own.
It sent Kienna spiraling. She tried repeatedly to reach out to her wolf, hoping maybe she’d get close enough for their connection to spark. It never did.
Moira gently placed her hand on Kienna’s. “Ruva is smart. She’ll run to the forest if she can’t handle herself.”
“And Ash?” Tears brimmed in Kienna’s eyes again.
No answer was given. Moira tried her best to smile.
Kienna stood and paced the room, biting her thumb.
A little girl sat, watching Kienna. Other children watched as well, which only meant the mothers were surely eyeing her, too.
No doubt, Kienna was disturbing to watch in all her anxiety.
She glanced at her hands. She wouldn’t want little girls looking up to her in this state.
As the Starborn in River Storm, being a role model was forced upon her.
Eyes only fell on her because she had magic and did the king’s bidding.
She wondered if she could have a more positive influence.
Kienna didn’t believe she was meant to be an Ashborn Queen as Connak had suggested, but she resonated with the woman in the books.
At least in this moment, she could give fire to those below, ensuring they all made it through the night with sanity.
Another boom rang from above, followed by hollow cries of soldiers fighting and falling.
Kienna crouched before a few sobbing children.
“My friends are up there, too. It’s scary to let people fight for us.
” Waves of eyes fell upon her. She swallowed the fear of speaking.
She couldn’t be nervous. “Good news, though.” Kienna forced a smile.
“My friends come from the Elvish Forest. They’re helping your army keep us safe. ”
A little boy shot up from his mother’s arms, eyes wide. He wiped his nose. “Do they have magic?”
“They do,” Kienna affirmed. “So does my friend.”
Kienna pointed as Moira watched them, a warm glow of the sun coursing over her body. The kids gasped. “I wish we saw more of that,” a little girl with eyes as green as emeralds said. She held a teddy bear close to her chest, her thick black coils of hair swishing as she spoke.
Eyes lighting up, Kienna motioned for Moira to join her. “Want to see something cool?” Moira knelt by their side. Clasping her hand, Kienna asked, “Can you do anything with your magic here?”
Moira inhaled deeply. Air from the sea pulled inward, the smell of wet earth and salt flooding their senses.
Flame colored runes floated in with the breeze.
With the sudden surge, Moira created a small rain cloud above her hand, droplets of water misting the ground.
In an instant, she channeled the same energy and used her lips to blow the clouds away.
A little ball of light replaced the darkness.
A butterfly floated over the ball of light and landed on Moira’s thumb.
The children marveled. “Are you an Elvish woman, too?”
“I am not,” Moira laughed.
“And you have magic?” asked the first little boy.
Moira nodded, the warmth filling her eyes.
She would be a great mother. Kienna was sure of it.
If anyone in the world deserved a child, it was Moira.
Kienna’s heart warmed thinking about it.
She smiled, turning to the children. Pushing her finger to her lips to shush them, she leaned forward and moved her hair behind her ears.
The children gasped. Her ears were nothing like the pureblood Elvish clans, but the quaint little tips still had the children giggling.
Mothers looked relieved to see their children feel something other than fear, the room falling at ease, despite the booms roaring above.
Kienna scanned the room again, searching for any others needing assurance.
For anyone overcome with fear as war waged onward.
She didn’t know if she was making that much of a difference, but it kept her mind off the spinning and grinning that attempted to force its way in. For now, that was enough.
—Baila—
The barricades were masterfully built, sealed with wards from the Elvish to keep everything out.
Baila stared at them for over an hour. She could have broken them instantly, her sword good for more than raising the dead.
The sharp point was laced with dark magic that could break any barrier, even the barrier of River Storm.
The city was smart to lock Kienna away. Finding her proved quite the task, one that Baila almost gave up on.
But her mission was clear: She was to retrieve Kienna and Moira and take them home.
Nothing more. Yet Baila couldn’t resist the temptation of bringing along her Umbrin.
If they killed Kienna…well, that wouldn’t be her fault at all.
It would have been the shadows. Baila savored the thought. She wanted to kill Kienna’s soul.
Baila looked at the army behind her, Vorthakai hissing, the foam in their mouths dripping from their sharp teeth like blades ready to rip flesh apart. The Umbrin remained quiet behind them. They were ready to be unleashed, the smell of fresh blood catching on their noses.
“Kienna,” Baila called, a haunting melody against the slamming of wood. She pushed her shoulder into the wood stockpiled on both sides to create space. “Why don’t you come out, so you and I can end this war?”
“Baila,” Kienna’s voice called from the other side, slamming the door back.
It was frantic and as angry as Baila was.
Too long had she lived in the shadows of this cunt, sidestepped by her own father.
And for what? Kienna betrayed them. She refused to give up the magical forest, and worse, she fought against River Storm.
Baila sneered at the sound of Kienna’s voice as she continued. “You don’t want to do this. There are innocent people in here! Children!”
Children’s cries blared in Baila’s ears. They weren’t real. They couldn’t be. Baila didn’t anticipate the thought of babies. Little girls with bows in their hair. Small boys holding teddy bears. Would Baila be forced to raise an army of dead children, too?
“Stop,” Baila whispered faintly. The words left her lips, disappearing behind the snarls of Vorthakai.
She turned to them, her eyes growing wide.
Perhaps she could pull Kienna on her own.
Moira would go if she knew it meant saving the innocent people in there.
For once, Baila feared she was in over her head. “Pull back.”
The Umbrin stepped forward past the Vorthakai.
Their eyes stared at her with an emptiness of deep onyx.
They did not respond to her command, only pulled their weapon and prepared to push through the door.
The beasts behind them growled in agreement.
There was no stopping them now that the scent was caught.
Baila held out her blade. One of the Umbrin tilted his head, staring at it with indifference.
If she were on the other side, in the same place, she would have laughed.
There was nothing she could do to these creatures aside from chop their heads off, but then she’d be fighting the swarm of Vorthakai and the other Umbrin waiting behind them. Her heart raced furiously in her chest.
“Ah, fuck it,” she growled, turning to the door once more. Baila tried to care. She would pay for this substantially if she didn’t fix it… All she could do was muster a groan before yelling out, “Have fun with my toys.”
—Kienna—
Baila’s curses echoed outside the door before disappearing. The growling took over.
“I never liked her,” Moira said menacingly.
Kienna pushed against the door as something else slammed into it. The subtle reminder of her shoulder’s previous dislocation radiated into her arm. “They didn’t give me a weapon.”
The people stirred, mutters and cries filling the room. Fear surfaced as strongly as the war above, children clinging to their mothers. No one in that room could defend themselves. Kienna’s gut wrenched into a thick knot.
“Help me,” she said, marching to the walls. She ripped at the boxes and barrels in front of the paths to the tunnels. They could get out if they hurried. “Moira, if I send you to lead the people out, would you be able to remember the way to the Lysiria?”
Moira scanned Kienna’s face, her brows furrowing as her eyes bounced back and forth along the hardened features. Her mouth parted, but a loud thud on the door sounded, and wood toppled onto the floor.
“Please,” Kienna begged. She turned to the room. “Everyone, Moira is going to take you to safety. Hurry through the tunnels. We don’t have much time.”
“You don’t have a weapon,” Moira reminded her.
She pushed Moira through the opening doorway before helping the elderly step through. They stole torches from the walls and rushed to escape. Kienna watched them go, but she feared they wouldn’t be fast enough to make it. She had to think quickly.
She scanned the room as the door of the barricade scooted open.
Near the stacked supply crates in the far corner, something long and splintered caught her eye.
A broken part of the barricade beam. It would have to do.
Kienna sprinted toward it, flipping it over with a grunt.
It was a jagged length of ironwood, dense and fibrous, and heavier than it looked.
One end fractured into a crude spike, sharp enough to pierce if driven hard.
She wrapped her sleeve around the shaft for grip, fashioning a hasty but vicious makeshift spear.
Not ideal for her skillset, but she’d have to manage.
Kienna’s heart raced. A sound, like bone grinding against stone, echoed from the other side of the barricade, followed by a wet, gurgling click. The scent that followed was rot like burnt hair and spoiled meat. Her stomach turned.
A Vorthakai slipped into the room, contorting its body unnaturally to fit through the cracks.
She could barely see it in the darkened room.
Torchlight flickered but didn’t reflect off the slick, black hide of the beast. It was as if light disappeared into the body, absorbed into its hideous form.
It moved with a twitching, predatory grace, like a centipede wrapped in sinew.
Kienna cast her mind up, though she knew Connak was busy. She had to try anyway.
Connak didn’t answer, leaving no time for Kienna to think before the Vorthakai slammed into her at lightning speed, pushing her body against the wall.
She gulped for air, moving swiftly before wooden boxes could tumble on her.
She stood, quickly rebalancing to take a low position and watch the creature.
Another was slithering through, slamming its body to create a wider opening for the rest of the wave to come in.
Tension built in Kienna’s legs. She knew she had to take care of this beast before the next one, or she wouldn’t stand a chance.
She lunged, plunging her makeshift weapon into the beast. It yelped, but she didn’t get it in far enough.
The Vorthakai created space between them, putting her at a disadvantage.
“Come on!” she yelled.
The Vorthakai screeched, a high metallic sound of warped violin strings filling Kienna’s ears.
The creature leapt through the air to her.
Kienna grabbed hold of its body and took it to the ground with her, pulling her legs around the beast to catch a better advantage.
Her hands furiously slammed against the wooden stake until its chest cracked, and she waited for the life to drain from its eyes.
Hot blood poured onto Kienna’s clothes, stained black as the Vorthakai dropped lifeless to the ground. The smell of burning copper soaked in ash filled the space. She wanted to vomit. She wanted to mourn. She wanted to curl up and die from the threat that loomed in front of her.
All she could do was blink.
Kienna stumbled as the room filled with Vorthakai, followed by Umbrin. The Umbrin were swift and fluid in their movement. Their smell was distinct from the Vorthakai—like soot and moss. Not death. Only shadow-touched. Kienna’s body shook at the sight of them.
If she let these creatures through the tunnels, they would reach every other barricade and the others she sent through.
Their lives… She couldn’t bear knowing she wasn’t enough for them.
She would die for them. Kienna closed her eyes for a moment and stepped back to the opening of the path she had to protect.
Her fingers brushed against her wrist, pulling her charm away from her skin.
Kienna dropped it at her feet and then summoned enough energy in her body.
She thought of the spells she had known her whole life.
The barrier. She dedicated everything to the River Storm barrier, putting all she could into it to keep out the demons.
She was born for this, finally strong enough to push them out where they didn’t belong.
The wall appeared in front of her, magic surging through her spine. It held her upright.
Magic that once formed from duty flowed through her, deep and pure, from the love of the people around her. How long she could hold it without imploding, she did not know. All she knew was she had to try.