37. Chapter 37
CHAPTER 37
Dynalya
A thick veil of smoke hovered Argent Cove. Dyna didn’t know who survived the blast and whether anyone was looking for her, but she had to get them out of view first. Dyna reached into her satchel and called on the last of her Celestial feathers. Two appeared in her hand, one black and the other…red.
Still wet.
Dyna ignored that one.
She tossed it back in and kept the black one. It glowed bright gold as it dissolved, and her barrier dropped. It wouldn’t stay down for long.
Casting it out over Von, she lifted his unconscious body. She moved quickly off the beach and took the crude steps on the rocky hill. They needed shelter out of this cold and rain. Von hovered beside her on a mist of Essence until she found an abandoned cargo bay on the far end of the pier and went in. It was dark inside. Not much there but broken crates, wheelless carriages long rotten, and rope hanging from old, rusted pulleys. Rain beat on the leaky roof as she laid Von down on a dirty pile of canvases. He was unconscious, pale, his breathing shallow.
Dyna removed his bandoliers and pulled up his tunic to assess the damage. A hiss passed through her teeth at the deep wound. He’d been stabbed. She placed her hands over it and his blood seeped through her fingers as she called on her Essence to heal. It surged forward with eager intent, and she had missed that warm feeling of her power. She took her time repairing the damage to Von’s organs. Piece by piece the tissue and muscle sowed back together until all that was left was a fresh scar.
Dyna got a fire going, to warm up. She hung up her cloak and Von’s coat above it to dry. He had traded his black coat for a one deep auburn. It reminded her of the color of Yavi’s hair.
By the time she finished cleaning his wound, he woke. Von looked around them weakly, finding her.
“Dyna…”
“Yes, I’m here.” She moved closer. His shaking hand reached toward his stomach. You’re healed. I closed the wound in time.”
Von shut his eyes and laid an arm over his eyes.
“Von? Are you all right?”
He began to shake, and she saw the tears rolling down his temples. “Why did you keep me here?” He wept. “Why didn’t you let me die? I was ready to die!”
Dyna’s vision stung at the pain she heard in his voice. “I’m sorry … for what happened to Yavi. I saw what happened in Tarn’s memories.”
Von looked away from her to the ceiling. “Why were you there?”
“I suppose for the same reason you were.” Dyna sighed. “You had stowed away in the cargo hold, hadn’t you?”
“I intended to blow them all to the Netherworld, but I wanted to see his face when he realized death was coming for him. I wanted to see the fear in his eyes knowing he would never accomplish everything he desired.” Von sat up. “If I had not gone up there, you would have died as well.”
“That was not our fate.” Dyna held up a waterskin to his lips for him to drink. “Our paths were meant to cross, Von. I had come for you as well.”
He sat up, wiping his mouth, as he stared at her. “What you said at the beach … I thought I had imagined that.”
She shook her head. “You are my fifth Guardian.”
“Guardian?” Von laughed and it sounded so brittle. He sat up. “I’m your Guardian ?” Rising on his knees, he laughed so hard it shook his body. “No, see you’re wrong, lass. Guardians protect . The one person I wanted to protect died before my eyes, and in the most brutal way possible.” His laughter turned to wretched sobs. Von fell forward on his hands and the sounds he made, the heartbreak was so strong Dyna felt it. Tears rolled down her face. Von beat against his chest as the sounds of his broken sobs filled the space. “She’s dead because of me . The fates predicted it. They warned me, and I killed her. I killed her!”
“No, Von. You didn’t.” Dyna reached for him, but he pushed her hands away.
“I am not your Guardian!” he shouted. “I am nothing! My only purpose was to kill that man. I should have killed him a long time ago.”
And she knew they were both thinking of that day the Horde came.
“He’s dead now,” she said quietly.
Tarn went down with his ship. And for some reason, it didn’t give her any satisfaction.
“Then I can die in peace.”
“Von…”
“Leave me! I serve no purpose now.” He curled on the dirty floor. She didn’t know what else to do but go as he asked.
Dyna stood. “You do have a purpose, Von. Meet me in White Woods if you want to find out what it is. If you don’t arrive by the third dawn from today, I will assume your answer.” She walked away for the doors and paused. “I hope you come.”
Then she closed the rickety door behind her.
Taking a deep breath, Dyna ducked into an alley and went west. And soon found that the fire had spread through Argent. People screamed, fleeing from the burning buildings. Shieldmen swarmed the streets, calling for them to evacuate.
At first, Dyna thought the ships’ explosion had somehow cast burning debris onto the roofs and it had spread. Until she saw the bodies. They were armed elves with red cloaks.
Red Highland soldiers.
Dyna gasped and looked around her wildly. “Zev!” She shouted into the chaos. “Rawn!”
She ran against the swarm, following the trail of destruction. They would have come after her and they did. But Red Highland found them first.
Dyna shouted louder for them with no reply. She coughed on smoke and covered her mouth with her sleeve as she kept searching. “Lucenna! Klyde!”
They had to be here.
But if they were, they would have reunited with her by now. Dyna tried to connect with Lucenna’s Essence, but she didn’t know that spell and the barrier had already fallen into place. Stamping down her panic, she kept going.
Her feet skid to a halt when she came across the body of a massive doglike creature in the middle of the street. Many more of them lay dead either with missing heads, torn out throats, or gutted. Blood leaked from their brown fur where claws had slashed through them. She looked down at the puddles of blood and noticed the tuffs of black fur and arrows at her feet.
“Zev!” Dyna called again, her voice breaking. “Where are you?”
Black smoke spiraled from the sky as rain came down hard her, slowly putting out the fires. She kept running and calling for her Guardians.
It was raining so hard it was impossible to know if she was blinded by her tears or the rain. Fear of what she would find made her hands shake as she kept running. The town had been destroyed by spell and fire.
A unit of Shieldmen in their orange cloaks were gathered ahead. She ran toward them to see what they had found.
“Damn red elves.”
“They disregard our laws and tear apart our town without a care.”
“All of this to capture one elf?”
“Excuse me,” she pushed past them. “Please let me through…”
Dyna made it through the wall of spectators and came out into the crossroads. She stilled at the destruction. At the blood filling painting the streets. It poured from the one left lying there.
“No…” She stumbled toward the white horse. “It’s not him. It’s not…”
But Dyna already knew.
She came around and choked back a cry at the sight of Fair. Blood leaked from the gaping hole in his chest.
Her legs gave out and she fell beside him. “Fair…”
Dyna shook her head and reached out shakily for her dear friend, but she already knew Fair was gone. Tears rolled down her nose as she brushed his mane away from his blank eyes.
“Is this your horse?” One of the Shieldmen asked. “Do you need help to move it? We must clear the road.”
Help? There was no one to help her. Dyna trembled as she at last met her reflection in the puddle of blood and rain at her feet. And she could not stand what she saw in the mirror.
Clutching Fair’s head on her lap, Dyna held him as she sobbed.
Every action had consequences.
This one was hers.