Chapter 47
Chapter Forty-Seven
Torin
It was a blood bath in the darkness of the courtyard; the slowly dying Mage Orbs did nothing to illuminate our way, but the blasts of orange and blue from Mages unknown cast a fiery pallor over what was our wedding party.
Fuck. How did they know?
There had to be a rat.
Though, I had to reluctantly admit that Ellowyn was correct. Right now was not the time to think about revenge and betrayal; there would be time for that after we saw our people to safety.
Whatever that looked like in the dark.
The courtyard beneath my feet rocked and rolled as an Earth Mage pushed their power into the soil.
With a growl, I responded in kind, stretched my hand out and commanded the earth to calm.
Blessedly, it listened, but I was unsure how long that would last.
“Find Fay and Rohak. Tell Rohak that we need to evacuate,” I commanded, spinning to see the steel glint of determination in my wife’s eyes.
Ellowyn nodded mutely, kissing me swiftly before disappearing into the dark.
Fuck this, I thought, before releasing a stream of fire into the sky, turning it into vapor as it crested overhead. It cast an eerie glow below and elongated the shadows disproportionately, but at least we could see.
Everywhere I looked, our people lay dead or dying.
Men and women. The old and the young. All caught completely unaware while in the throes of celebration.
Godsdammit.
I stepped around corpse after corpse, bending to check quickly for signs of life on each before moving onward. Some had burn marks and skin that bubbled and melted. Others clearly choked on nothing as the air was quite literally stolen from their lungs.
In the dozens of bodies I’d checked, not one was alive. Of course, Lord d’Leocopus was nowhere to be found.
A slithering feeling coiled in my gut at the lack of Lishahl’s leader. Something about his disappearance felt . . . wrong to me.
Was he the rat? Were Razia’s words coming true—was Solace here for my wife?
My blood ran cold at the thought.
The lord’s son, Praetor, lay amongst the dead in the first row, his flame-red hair burnt to his scalp.
Fresh screams rent through the air, the unmistakable sound of Talamh’s roar sounding soon after. I pushed away from Praetor’s corpse, jogging toward the sounds of battle as I pulled Fire and Air into my palms.
A snarl and the unmistakable feeling of magic drew my attention to the right as I neared the last place I heard Talamh.
Without thinking, I launched a massive fireball from my right hand before coaxing it forward at impossible speeds with Air from my left.
The feeling of magic died instantly as my attacker succumbed to my magic.
Curious and more than a little enraged, I approached the area where I loosed my fire. The grass still crackled and spat small flames. Nothing remained of my adversary but a pile of ash, and I inwardly cursed my inability to leave some form of evidence.
I have to know who is attacking.
“This way!” Talamh sounded, his voice much closer than it was a few minutes prior. “North, out of the city!”
“Talamh!” I called, my voice cracking through the night. Magical attacks lit up the darkness in a swath of colors, briefly illuminating our people as they fell over each other in their haste to escape certain death.
“Torin,” Talamh shouted back, a wall of dirt exploding behind me just in time to take the impact of an incoming ice spear. Soil rained down on my head as I jumped out of the way, sprinting the last few yards to where the towering Mage stood.
“Help me,” he added with a grunt.
I quickly spun around, panting from both adrenaline and exertion, and reinforced his wall with my own Earth Magic. The pieces that were crumbling from the onslaught of attacks slowly knitted back together, the depth and width of the structure muffling the noises beyond.
“Make it hard for them to get over,” I called as my magic wound into the barrier, spikes erupting from the topmost part of the wall.
“Step back!” Talamh called. My feet obeyed automatically, and I watched in awe as the ground fell away to reveal pits full of wooden spears at the base of the wall.
Talamh released his power with an audible grunt. “Can you pull the fire from the sky?”
I nodded as I focused on the magic hovering like a thin haze in the air above and pulled as hard as possible, sucking the essence into my well until it felt fit to burst.
Immediately, we were plunged into darkness, the night seeming more oppressive than before.
“Talamh,” I panted, briefly clasping arms with him. His green eyes glinted fiercely in the dark, his face smeared with dirt and blood. “Do we know who let them in?”
“Lord d’Leocopus,” he sneered as the ground moved beneath our feet.
“Fuck,” I swore, stilling the earth once more before sending my own powerful shockwaves through the crust. Shouts and surprised exclamations came from the other side of the dirt wall, which I quickly expanded and strengthened while kneeling on the ground.
At the very least, the wall in the darkness should confuse them enough that we’d have time to put some distance between us and them.
“What do you mean Lord—”
“I watched as Razia slit his throat. That evidence seems rather damning,” he muttered.
I nodded my head in agreement, shocked the betrayal didn’t come from Razia.
“We need to get out of here. Staying in Lishahl is a death trap, especially if Lord d’Leocopus helped plan it.”
Talamh grunted as we started picking our way through the dark, rounding up survivors as we did to push them northward.
“If we can get to the mountains, we can take the passageway through the mines and into Alvor,” Talamh muttered loud enough only for me to hear.
“And you know of these how?” I panted, the adrenaline causing my body to break out in a sweat as my muscles jumped at every sound.
“I’m the Prince of Deucena. I should know—”
“Torin! Talamh!” A familiar deep growl had relief sagging my shoulders as Fay, Rohak, and Ellowyn came into view, lit by a Mage Orb clutched in the Rune Master’s hands.
My eyes skated over my bride, and my hackles raised at the cut on her cheek and blood marring her dress.
“It’s not mine,” she said quietly, wiping shaking hands on the dirty dress, only to leave more blood behind. Ellowyn’s eyes scanned me, too, obviously checking for any sign of injury. Satisfied I was unhurt, she turned her attention to Fay and Rohak.
“They need to get back to Vespera, make sure there isn’t a two-pronged attack happening,” she said, indicating the General and his Bonded.
“Fuck, I didn’t even think about that,” I admitted, carving my hands through my hair.
Rohak’s shoulders tensed as his intense gaze bored into mine.
“I wish we could stay and help, but if this is the start of the Sundering . . .” he trailed off, a silent exchange happening between him and Fay.
“We need to make some quick adjustments and moves,” Fay finished, pulling her eyes away from Rohak.
“I understand,” I grunted.
“Where will you go?” Rohak asked, eyes darting between Talamh, Ellowyn, and me.
“Alvor,” Talamh interjected quickly. “Alvor. The mountains—”
“Have passages that lead all the way through,” Fay breathed in admiration. “Brilliant, Talamh. Find the Bondsmith. Take her with you and have her ward the cave—”
“I’m here and will do what I can once everyone is inside the passageways,” the Bondsmith concluded, appearing from thin air.
“What the fuck!” Rohak swore as we all jumped in surprise.
The Bondsmith’s feral smile was only made creepier by the shadows the Mage Orb cast across her features.
Fay simply rolled her eyes before turning to Rohak. “We need to leave. Now.”
He grunted, clasping his hand in hers. “Send word once you reach Alvor.”
Fay passed a second Mage Orb to Ellowyn before fleeing into the night with Rohak.
“She’s avoiding me,” the Bondsmith mused, cocking her head.
“Perhaps now is not the best time to think about that,” Ellowyn said, her voice edged in steel. The Bondsmith seemed to only find her ferociousness amusing, but she tilted her head in acquiescence. Ellowyn held the Bondsmith’s gaze for a second longer before turning to Talamh and me.
“The majority of our people—or what remains—are with Lex, Folami, Ilyas, and Peytor at the northern edge of the city. Or they will be. They were fleeing that direction when I’d seen them last. What is happening?”
“They are without light,” Talamh said, dark amusement coating his words. “We erected a rather large earth wall with a few surprising traps at the top and bottom. It won’t hold them forever, but should give us enough time to make it to the mountains.”
“Not soon, it won’t,” the Bondsmith interjected, her voice taking on that dreamy quality. “Not when my sister joins.”
My veins turned to ice at the casual mention of Solace, and a quick glance at my wife showed a similar reaction.
“Then we move. Now,” Talamh grunted, pushing past my shoulder to lead the way out of the city.