Chapter 23
Amelia
“Shut up,” Salkin snarled at her. Casyl and Ruven moved like lightning, but she wasn’t going to wait to be rescued again. Salkin expected their reaction, but not hers. She twisted his sword arm and kicked him to the ground, wrenching the weapon from his grasp.
Then Casyl was upon him, pummelling his face with his fists. If he could die, Casyl would have ended him there.
The ferocity of Casyl’s onslaught scared her a little.
“Stop!” she yelled at him. “I’m alright.”
He stood, his fists bloody and his lips drawn back in a snarl. “Restrain him. Keep him that way. I know what to do with that weasel.”
Salkin lay on the floor, his face bleeding and swollen. He would still be able to feel the pain of it.
“How are we going to destroy the mine entrance?” she asked.
“We can use the explosives,” Ruven said, his mouth twitching. “There’s something poetic about using it.”
The others agreed. They left Elthar and Tharos at the mine with part of the army and returned to the city to retrieve the explosives.
Salkin had been shackled, along with his traitorous men. Casyl considered an attack on her an attack on himself. Treason.
“What are you going to do with them?” she asked as they approached the city.
“You’ll see.”
They came to the hole in the earth where the creatures were trapped. Their shrieks echoed endlessly from the depths.
Casyl dismounted and grabbed Salkin by the arm, dragging him towards the hole.
When Salkin realised what was about to happen, he writhed and fought. When he could not escape Casyl’s grip, he began to beg.
“Any last words, Salkin?” Casyl asked.
He turned to Amelia, his expression shifting. “You really don’t know, do you?” he spat through bloodied teeth. “Tiryn was right.”
Casyl launched him into the pit. The creatures’ shrieking ceased, replaced by Salkin’s screams.
Her stomach twisted as Salkin’s men met the same fate, joining the bodies in the destroyed catacombs beneath them. It reminded her that these were fae, not humans. They didn’t play by the same rules.
The pit would be their tomb.
Amelia remembered the bones she had crawled over when she was first trapped inside the mountain. It had looked like a mass grave. The thought made her skin crawl.
They entered the city to retrieve the bombs and returned to the mine.
“So, we’re going to destroy the mine entrance with the explosives and then what?” She thought she already knew the answer, but she needed to hear it from him, even though it would tear her apart. “What happens then?”
“Then we return through the rift and try to close it before anything else breaks through.”
“What about me?”
“You belong here more than we do.” He didn’t say it to hurt her; his pain was clear. He was being honest.
He cupped her face and leaned in to kiss her. His lips pressed against hers, and the taste of him lingered.
She closed her eyes, trying to lose herself in the moment, but she couldn’t stop the tears from falling. He wiped them away with his thumb and pulled away to look at her.
What would she do without him? Her home had been destroyed, and the people she’d known were most likely all dead. He was the only thing she had left, and she didn’t really have him.
She longed to go with him, but he was right. The few people who remained would most likely rebuild the city once the fae had gone.
Every moment with him was borrowed. As he made to leave, she clasped his arm. He turned to her.
“Casyl, I…”
He leaned his forehead against hers. She would savour the way he looked at her.
“Me too,” he said.
Tharos greeted them as they arrived back at the mine. “Eleandor’s found something of interest.”
“The runes!” Amelia said. She’d almost forgotten about them.
“Yes.” He was surprised that she’d guessed.
The runes in the cave had been a mystery to Amelia. She was now sure that they were linked to the ones she’d seen on the mountain. If Eleandor could read these in the mine, he was sure to understand those on the mountain.
She found Eleandor beside the runes.
“What do they say?” she asked as she approached him.
“I’m not sure exactly. Parts of it are missing.”
“There are more.”
His gaze snapped towards her. “Where?”
“They’re back at the mountain. I can show you.”
“We need to start moving out,” Casyl said, coming towards them with Elthar. “This place needs to be clear in the next few minutes. We’re ready to plant the bombs.”
“She says she knows where there are more runes on the mountain,” Eleandor said to Elthar. “Perhaps they’re linked.”
“Amelia, travel with Elthar and his army,” Casyl said. “Head towards the rift and we’ll catch up when we’re done here.”
“I’m staying with you,” she said.
“No.” He wasn’t used to people disagreeing with him.
Elthar gestured towards the tunnel. “We’ll wait outside.” He led the others away, giving them some privacy.
“Amelia, I need you to go with Elthar.”
“I’m staying with you.” She wasn’t about to just leave him there, not knowing what would happen to him.
“We don’t have time to argue about this. I need you to go. If you stay, I can’t concentrate. It’s too dangerous for you here. We can’t die, remember? Please, Amelia,” he pleaded, and she relented.
They walked out of the tunnel to find Elthar waiting with his brows raised.
“She’s going with you,” Casyl confirmed. “Look after her. I’ll send Danae with you.”
“Of course. We’ll make our way towards the mountain and wait for you there, far away from the blast. Good luck.”
They clasped hands, and Elthar mounted his horse. His men were ready to leave.
Amelia turned to Casyl. “Be careful,” she said, and kissed him.
He returned her kiss fiercely. “Go.”
Danae was already mounted, waiting for her with her horse. “Are you ready?” Danae asked.
“I’m about as ready as I can be. I’m glad of your company, though.” She smiled.
Danae was the only other woman among thousands of warriors. Somewhere along the way, she’d become Amelia’s friend.
She mounted, cringing at the thought of another long ride, and turned to watch as Casyl, Ruven and Tharos started helping to load the explosives into the mine.
They disappeared into the dark tunnel, and she trotted to join Elthar at the front of his army.
Stars shone in the night sky as they travelled towards Mount Ryjul. The fae had no issue seeing where they were going, their vision superior to hers. She followed them blindly into the darkness.
Eleandor pulled his horse up beside her. “When we get to the mountain, we’ll look for the runes.”
“Will you go back through even if you can’t close it?” she asked.
“That will be up to King Elthar and Casyl. We can’t remain in your world much longer. There may be implications.”
Casyl, Ruven, and Tharos were at the mine now, planting the explosives.
He had assured her that the blast could not kill him in this world, but what if they were buried alive like the creatures?
What if he sustained injuries that followed him through the rift?
Could those kill him once he returned home?
“You said there was a prophecy, that a descendant of both bloodlines would unite you. Do you really believe that?”
“Tiryn did, but there’s a lot in the holy lore that I don’t believe.” He smiled. “The priests also claim that in ascension, you join the sky in eternal rest at the summit, and your energy becomes part of the veil that keeps the shadows out.” He shook his head.
“What if you descend?” she asked. The idea of their religion wasn’t too dissimilar to what humans believed.
“Ah, descension, that’s what you humans call hell. Beneath the sacred mountain, abominable creatures, shadows worse than the Leshies, lurk in utter darkness. If a soul descends, it will spend eternity being chased by the creatures of the dark and their shadows until it is caught.”
“And if it’s caught?”
“It will be caught,” he said quietly, his pale eyes boring into her. “The soul is torn apart, and a new creature is created from the remains.”
Amelia shuddered. She wasn’t sure if he believed this himself, but the way he was retelling this lore scared her.
“I’ve never been a religious man, but I do believe in the energy of the world. We are all made of energy, the same energy that is in that mineral and protects the world. It doesn’t just disappear. You have to read between the lines of the holy lore.”
The ground shook.
The army halted.
“What was that?” Danae asked.
A wave of force threw them from their mounts. Horses and fae screamed alike as they hit the ground.
“What was that?” King Elthar yelled. “Was it the rift?”
They had drawn closer to the mountain.
They looked back in the direction of the mine, and a huge plume of dust began to rise in the sky, illuminated by a fiery glow.
Her stomach dropped. “The mine! That was the shockwave from the bombs.” The force of the blast had reached them even here.
“We have to go back!” she cried.
“I’m sure they’re fine, Amelia,” Elthar said, but his expression said something else.
“Please, we need to go back,” she begged.
“We can’t. My primary responsibility is to my men. I must get them back through the rift to our land. I promised Casyl that I’d also keep you safe. That explosion will have been seen for miles. If we fight more humans, they’ll die, not us. Do you want that?”
She was lost for words. She didn’t want to admit that she had begun to care more for Casyl and her friends than her own kind.
“Casyl and his men should be on their way to us. They would have got away before the blast,” he said.
“Send a scout back,” Danae suggested.
The king agreed, and someone was sent back towards the looming cloud of smoke in the distance. They continued towards the mountain, but Amelia kept looking behind for any sign of them.
After a while, a lone figure rode towards them. The scout had returned.
She reminded herself that a single rider could travel more swiftly than an army.
“The mine entrance has been destroyed,” the scout reported.
It felt like an eternity until the scout spoke further.
“Some of the men are missing.”
A cry escaped Amelia’s mouth.
“Who?” she whispered.
The scout hesitated.
Her heart stopped.
Casyl.