Chapter Twenty-One
THE SPY
“Run,” I breathed.
There were three of them, heralding a darkness beneath their waxen wings.
Their leathery bodies traveled close to one another, searching the grounds with intrusive eyes.
Their bodies were human in shape, yet their limbs elongated well beyond what was normal.
It resembled the same creature I had seen in the alley back in Haluma. I stumbled in my hasty retreat.
A screech pierced the air, forcing my eyes shut with its sharpness as if the sound had talons. The general ran beside me, his double longswords flashing in both of his hands. The rings on his fingers flared like embers waiting to catch fire.
A bell rang feverishly across the Liberation’s territory. Streams of soldiers poured outside, dressed in their scaled leathers.
The beasts dipped toward me with outstretched hands. Long claws extended, sharpened into razor-sharp blades. As they descended, I saw thick spikes along their backs and smaller spines down their limbs. Their heads were as bald as a vulture’s. I ducked to avoid its grasp, narrowly missing a claw.
We zigzagged through the fields, leading them away from the rest of Aphellion. The cold sweat of fear dampened my top.
Another creature dove at us. The general’s rings immediately shifted into arrows. Several glanced off of their bodies. They returned to the general’s waiting hands, and he cast them toward their inky eyes. One hit its mark and the creature hissed, retreating back into the sky.
A second beast changed tactics, landing on the ground in front of us. It’s grotesquely long limbs moved with unmatched speed. It strode straight toward me, reeking of rot and decay.
The general fought back the third creature, sprays of metal arrows sailing through the sky. It cocked its head toward the general and its pupils widened in a flash of fear.
“Don’t provoke us. We aren’t here for you,” it uttered with feigned bravery.
Judd advanced on it, ignoring its plea. Soldiers were still racing in our direction, their weapons unsheathed, Finn leading their attack.
The creature before me loomed, unperturbed. “Ruin of the Scourge, you have betrayed the Good King. Come with us and face your punishment.” Its voice was grinding and sharp. I blanched at its words, my courage curdling inside me. My pause opened an opportunity for abduction.
The beast lunged for my arm. I twisted out of its reach, but it closed the space between us quicker than I could recover.
A scream tore out of me as the ground melted away.
I suppressed a gag as the rancid scent of death smothered me.
I clenched my eyes shut, focusing on my magic.
I had never summoned the clouds before, but I was frantic to try anything to destroy these monsters.
I pulled on the water in the air, imagining the clouds condensing at my call. My fear slowed me down but I fought through it. “Do not be shaken.” I would die before I allowed this vile creature to win. Below me, I watched as the general yelled skyward, his voice stolen by the winds.
Finn and an army of soldiers surrounded the remaining beast. Manacles of magicked metal appeared on its wrists and ankles. Chains coiled around its body, tightening until it collapsed into the dirt. The clouds around me turned dark. The beast would not return me to Haluma. Not today.
Hail responded to my call, descending mercilessly upon the creature, beating against its bat-like wings.
I forced my body to freeze until it burned the claws that bound me.
It snarled and lurched, discharging an acid that burned through my leathers, but released me from its clutches.
My scream twined with the air as I plummeted toward my doom.
The flying creature above me writhed and hissed against my magic’s effects.
The general shoved Finn, pointing at me. Finn raised his arms and my descent slowed until my feet kissed the ground. I fell to my knees, recovering my breath as the weight of true gravity returned. The creature above retreated.
The general’s attention on me allowed the beast at his feet to gain ground.
Its claws slashed at Judd’s armor, shoving him into dirt and hailstones.
The repeated blows finally tore through the scales, sundering the flesh across his chest. The sight viscerally impacted me.
A scream tore loose as the beast leered over the general.
My body grew desiccated— lips chapped, mouth parched.
I gathered small hailstones in my hand, reabsorbing my essence.
I had just enough affinity for a final blow.
I dug down deep, yanking a thread that tethered me to the clouds above.
Hailstones formed into lethal blades, this final beast their sole target.
Acidic poison dripped from the spikes on its arms. Malice coated its features.
I unleashed. Rain and hail descended in a torrent, aiming exclusively for Nolan’s creature.
The deluge of ice froze the poison beading out of the monster’s body, crystallizing it.
Hail razored through its leathery hide. Black, tarry blood oozed and spattered the ground.
It screeched and wobbled on its feet before finally succumbing to its injuries.
I dragged myself toward the general on shaking hands, the acid on my leathers still burning through my flesh.
Judd locked eyes with me. I rolled onto my back, weakly trying to pull my leathers away from my burning skin. Soldiers and healers swarmed around us as my awareness flickered.
“Dom!” Finn yelled. I fought for lucidity, looking around for the person he addressed. Finn knelt in front of the general, assessing his wounds. His shadows hovered around him. Dizziness washed over me and I closed my eyes. Dom? No, his name was Judd.
A man named Bowen knelt beside me searching for injuries. The healers and elixists had arrived. I reached for Bowen in a desperate bid to help me with my leathers, the smell of my burning skin consuming me.
“Get it off. Get it off,” I begged. He began trying to remove my clothing but fumbled with the clasps.
A large hand pushed Bowen back followed by a domineering growl.
The flash of a dagger made me gasp. The blade sliced down a seam in my leathers, relieving me of the acidic compression against my skin.
Someone covered me with a cloak, and I was lifted off the ground.
The burning against my skin immediately receded.
Strong arms enclosed me. I sagged against a broad chest. It smelled of safety. It smelled like the general. My mind churned as if through marshland. The king had sent acid-spewing flying monsters to hunt me. I shivered in the aftermath.
“I will repay the King for all the harm he has caused us. What he has done to you.” His words penetrated my haze, echoing a similar threat made long ago to a frightened girl in the woods.
But could it be? The pieces clicked into place.
I blinked to clear my vision and regarded the grim-faced warrior who protectively held me with fresh eyes.
Human blood and monster ichor mingled with the stubble of his cheeks.
He had the same dark hair. The same honeyed eyes that glowed with a piercing luminosity.
All the signs were there. Was it really Dom?
Anger at all the years of his silence crouched on the fringes, but the truth was I had missed him.
I sank into his protection. For just this moment.
He held me tight against his chest the whole way back to the healing quarter before reluctantly laying me on a bed. Concern marred his tired brow as he backed away. He used his broad shoulders to push the healers back, ripping their salves from their hands and tending to my burns himself.
I dared a glance at my wounds. Char crusted the borders of my seared skin.
The soothing pressure of his hands relaxed me and I dropped my head back on my pillow.
Despite his obvious distrust for me, his calloused fingers applied a gentle balm.
His touch was careful, unhurried. I didn’t understand why the leader of the rebellion would stoop to a healer’s station.
I didn’t contemplate the effect it had on me.
Finn interrupted my care, gripping the general’s shoulder in agitation.
“Dom, you’re fading. You’ve waited too long.” His second didn’t back down from the general’s violent glare.
My vision focused long enough to notice the darkened veins beneath his skin. What had those monsters done to him?
Sieren ushered the general out of my space. Her brow furrowed in concern as she urged him into the other room. He glanced back at me, lips pursed, as if reluctant to leave my side. The door shut firmly behind them, sealing me away from the general’s fate.
I watched through murky consciousness as a flurry of healers entered and departed Judd’s—no, Dom’s room. An elixist hurried by, and I flagged him over. He stopped short, inclining his head with impatience.
“Is the general okay?” I asked.
He shifted on his feet, agitated. His hands were full of multiple vials whose contents sloshed with his jerky movements. “He’ll be fine by tomorrow.” The man hustled away, the glass vials rattling in his wake.
I fell in and out of sleep, and I eventually felt strong enough to sit up. My wounds became numb, and my tissues had already started to mend back together. I was even able to eat and drink. I observed as the Prime Healer departed from the general’s room.
I had to speak with him. I had to hear his name from his own lips. I shuffled over to his door. A guard I had somehow missed inserted himself between me and the door.
He held himself straight, slightly threatening. “The General cannot see you.”
I bristled. “I just want to check on him.”
“No one except the Prime can enter until tomorrow.” He puffed his chest and subtly gripped the hilt of his sword.
Alarm coursed through me. Why this show of force? What was happening?
“Let her in,” the general yelled from the other side.