Chapter 117
Chapter One Hundred Seventeen
The Bondsmith
Battles were all the same—time, distance, place didn’t matter. The smells and sounds, the actions and consequences, were nearly identical. Even now, if you compared the First Sundering to the Second, I doubt I’d be able to tell you the differences.
The scent of sweat and the tang of blood wafted through the humid, stagnant air as Ellowyn and Torin cut a path down the hill toward my daughter. The smells and sounds of battle were much more potent down the embankment, the light breeze we felt earlier woefully absent.
Sweat stuck my blonde curls to my brow and saturated my shirt within minutes.
The smoke from errant fire attacks hung in the air, nearly obscuring my vision with its dark fog. I hacked and coughed as we continued moving at a clipped pace, pulling my shirt over my nose at one point in an attempt to filter the air, but it was of little use.
Many of the lesser Elemental Mages were at the lowest dregs of their power, Air Mages now unable to create windstorms or gusts against their opponents—ones that earlier, kept the air clear.
Now, it was every man and woman for themselves. Steel rang loudly against steel as friend and foe clashed, each desperately fighting for their lives, for the lives of their loved ones.
We were no different.
Torin and Ellowyn launched fresh magical attacks in a frenzy, multicolored light shooting from their palms as their hands and arms swung wide.
Even with their power dampened by the loss of their tether, they were a force to be reckoned with.
They moved as if in a well-choreographed dance, each anticipating the other’s movements seconds before they happened.
Torin released a short blast of wind, knocking back a quickly charging woman with her bloodied sword lifted high, before Ellowyn enveloped her in a dark purple cloud of pain.
The woman fell to the ground with a high-pitched wail, seeing terrors only meant for her eyes.
Her writhing and thrashing form impeded my progress forward, and I quickly stabbed her through the heart, abruptly cutting off her screams.
Ellowyn and Torin never paused to look or check their handiwork, moving instead to the next attacker, their next victim, before the previous’ heart had even stopped beating.
Their expressions were carefully blank, masks of indifference, though I could see the rage and desperation in each movement, in each burst of power that released from their fingers.
They were a vision, like the gods of old, and a chill skated down my spine at the thought of them having control of every power in Elyria.
One problem at a time.
My eyes pulled away from the gods, quickly clearing a path through the waning battle to where my half sister had my daughter captured in her fist.
I squinted through the dark fog, watching as she was thrown to the ground as three others stepped in her way, blocking Solace completely.
“Idiots,” I whispered just as a jolt of Pain exploded from Lex’s hand, engulfing Solace completely. He held it, his arm shaking with the effort, as Solace screamed, lost to the throes of whatever Lex had thrust upon her.
Shouts rang out as his magic was broken, Solace wrapping a whip of Air around Lex’s throat. Folami and Ilyas instantly leapt into action, the first thrusting with her spear as she jumped straight at Solace, while the latter prowled toward the goddess’ exposed back.
Lex fell against the ground, hacking and spitting, as his Bonded moved and twirled with effortless grace in a deadly dance with the goddess. Solace procured blades of ice in each hand, stepping to the side as she raised both to parry Ilyas’ and Folami’s coordinated strikes.
She spun away, aiming a kick at Folami’s chest that connected with her shoulder as she ducked, sending the warrior back a few paces while Solace turned to engage with Ilyas.
Her white blades were a stark contrast to the black, acrid smoke that still hung heavy in the air as they whirled about her head, nearly a blur with the quickness with which she moved.
Solace struck at Ilyas once, then twice, the bigger man shuffling backward as he moved his blade sluggishly in an attempt to block both.
He parried the strike aimed at his heart and neck, but barely glanced the tip of the second sword.
A roar rang loudly through the air as her ice made contact with the side of his thigh, splitting open his pants and the skin beneath.
Instantly, his pant leg filled with blood, his free hand moving to clutch his wounded leg.
I held my breath, grasping the hilt of the knife I stashed in my belt, preparing for the strike that would end Ilyas’ life.
Folami’s warrior cry echoed through the night, startling us all as she launched herself a second time at the goddess. Her moves were desperate and jerky, nothing like the smoothness I’d come to expect, fueled now by anger and desperation.
My eyes flitted to Lex, where he had crawled to my daughter, desperately trying to pull her from the ground and away from the fighting.
Faylinn—my beautiful, stubborn, brave daughter—shook her head, shaking hands grappling for the knives stashed into her boots.
I growled, understanding her intent to join the fray.
A scream of pain pulled all of our gazes to where Solace had struck true once more, her blade of ice lodged firmly in Folami’s dominant shoulder, causing her spear to drop to the ground from deadened fingers.
“Closer,” I whispered to Ellowyn and Torin. “Get me closer, then cause a distraction. I need her attention on you two.”
Torin grunted his agreement, exchanging an unreadable look with Ellowyn.
As one, they sent a combined blast of magic to my left, creating a small pocket of air that allowed me to travel undetected.
“Go. Now,” Torin said, moving to grip Ellowyn’s hand as they ran toward Solace.
“Fools,” Solace spat at Lex and his Bonded, who were limping toward each other, bloodied and defeated, eyes wide with fear.
Yet they did not bow, they did not break.
Fierce determination sparked in their eyes and straightened their spines as they huddled together, still protecting my daughter, who stood behind them, twirling her daggers menacingly in shaking hands as she snarled at Solace.
I crept closer, watching as Solace’s gaze transferred from the Bonded group to Ellowyn and Torin, who emerged from the swirling ash in the air like some sort of avenging demons.
A sickening smile spread across Solace’s face as they came ever closer.
“You think these godlings have what it takes to kill me?” She threw her head to the sky and cackled, the sound ominous and disturbing. “They are no longer gods. Their power is trapped without their tether.”
“That’s why you never select a mortal as your tether,” she sneered at Torin and Ellowyn. Her comment hit where it was intended, forcing Ellowyn’s face into a mask of unadulterated rage as exclamations of anger came from Lex and his group.
“You bitch,” Folami hissed, fingers curling into fists. “I will kill you for taking him from us.”
With a cry like a feral cat, Folami jumped toward Solace, injured shoulder be damned.
Solace caught her midstride, magic suspending Folami in midair as she thrashed against the tightening hold.
“Fools,” Solace said again, slowly constricting the bonds of her magic.
I heard the telltale crunch of bone as Folami’s leg snapped from the pressure.
“Only a god can kill a god”—her eyes flicked to Lex, tears streaming down his face—“despite your inflated sense of worth, you are not that,” she sneered.
The Air Bonds tightened once more, forcing a guttural cry of agony from Folami’s chapped and bleeding lips.
I slipped into place behind my sister, my knuckles white around the black blade clutched in my hand.
My eyes connected with Faylinn’s at the last second, understanding widening her eyes.
I smiled at her, a feral thing full of teeth, as I grabbed my sister by the chin, forcing her body back against mine.
Taken by surprise, Solace fell against me, releasing her grip on her magic.
I pressed the knife to her throat, taking great pleasure in the smell of her fear when she recognized the blade.
“No, they are not,” I whispered in her ear, my breath a phantom across her cheek. “But I am,” I declared, loud enough for anyone in the vicinity to hear as I drew the blade savagely across her throat.