Chapter 25 #2
With a cold sneer, Eryx called on Taryn’s Oathmark.
The dragon tattoo ignited into a glow, searing Taryn’s skin ever so slightly.
Taryn hissed, shuffling on his feet despite the rising pain.
Airess looked between him and Eryx. Her face fell, melting into fear.
She returned to Taryn’s side and gripped his arm, steadying him.
Realization dawned on Eryx, no doubt seeing the extent of Taryn and Airess’ relationship. “Oh my, you two have grown quite fond of one another.”
Eryx paced slowly, like an animal hunting its next victim. “I’ll sweeten the deal of my previous offer. You come with me, girl, and I’ll release this male from his Oath. I would hate to cause any bloodshed.”
Taryn shook his head. “She will do no such thing.”
“Very well,” Eryx said. He raised his fist and squeezed. Taryn fell to his knees and clenched his jaw, refusing to cry out as the Oath Mark's seared his flesh.
Airess took a step forward towards Eryx–
“Ah, ah, ah!” Eryx waived his pointer finger in the air. “You move and he dies. You come with me, and I’ll release him.”
Airess looked to Taryn, her eyes desperate. He hated what he saw in her eyes at that moment, a promise he didn’t want her making for him. A promise that she would do it. Taryn shook his head as he gritted his teeth.
“Cease inflicting pain on him and I’ll consider.” Airess bargained. Eryx released his Magickal grip on his body and mind. Taryn loosened a breath, his muscles now relaxed. The Guildmaster nodded slowly, a sardonic grin upturning the corners of his mouth.
“Airess, stop.” Taryn begged.
Airess charged forward, intending to strike Eryx before an object zipped through the air and met its mark, a small arrow only a few inches long embedded in Airess’ arm, completely covered in the green glow of donstenyte poisoning.
It wasn’t big enough to cause serious damage.
No, these arrows were ones Taryn was familiar with.
They were designed to inject a substance or poison into their target.
Airess hissed, her hand instinctively covering the flesh wound, the arrow still in her arm.
“Sorry dear, we can’t have you losing control when I kill him, or when he kills you.”
As Taryn began to move, intending to attack the Guildmaster, Eryx gripped Taryn’s body and mind with his Magick once again, this time with an iron fist. Airess screamed to stop him, but someone rushed out to restrain her. Taryn looked up, betrayal rooting deep in his chest.
Raiden had come from another room and had Airess in a chest lock, a bow and arrow strapped to his back.
He looked to Taryn for a moment before looking to Eryx for further direction, like the docile servant he had turned out to be.
Taryn supposed he should have expected Raiden to choose the Guild over him, it was where his loyalties have always been, and always will be.
Still, the betrayal had stung nonetheless.
White hot pain overcame his vision, his ability to hear had been taken away, save for Eryx's condescending voice. “You could have had a long life if you hadn’t chosen betrayal. Pity. I suppose it would have always come down to this either way.”
Eryx stepped closer. He bent down and whispered, “Kill her.”
No.
No.
No!
Hands gripping the floor, Taryn tried his best to fight off the compulsion Eryx set upon him. He would not harm Airess, he couldn’t. And yet, his body trembled, aching to harm her. Taryn gritted his teeth as pain seared hot in the back of his mind.
“Quit fighting it, boy.”
Taryn looked up, eyes watering as he looked at Airess in Raiden’s grip. Raiden looked away, letting go of Airess and shoving her on the ground hard. She fell a few feet away from him, and the desire to harm her from the compulsion burned stronger.
“Do as you are told. Kill her!” Eryx ordered impatiently.
Taryn cried out in frustration as his freewill over his body broke.
He got up, and strode over to Airess. She was struggling to get to her feet when he grabbed her by the hair and yanked her to standing.
She shrieked as he spun her to face him, gripping both of her arms and slamming her against a crumbled wall.
“End this,” Taryn pleaded to her, eyes watering. “You can make it Rune. You have to.”
Her eyes were a mixture of fear and anger. He shuddered at the thought of her fearing him, at the thought that she believed he would ever harm her.
Slowly, she shook her head and whispered, “You can fight this.”
Taryn growled and threw her on the ground, part of it being the compulsion, and the other part trying as hard as he could to stall. She fell like a rag doll, crawling to get away, but she wasn’t quick enough.
Taryn pounced on her, dragging her back down and straddling her waist with his own, all the while shaking his head as he watched his own body in horror.
“You can kill me,” He begged. “Just do it.”
He unsheathed a blade strapped to his waste and held it up to her neck, watching his own limb betray him, betray her. Airess breathed shallow breaths, the fear growing all too real, as she angled her neck as far away as she could, his blade grazing her neck and drawing blood.
“Fight it,” She whispered. “We have plans. I can’t do them alone.” She gave him a weak half smile.
The blade trembled in Taryn’s hand, the compulsion overriding his free will.
We have plans. I can’t do them alone.
Taryn didn’t want to leave Airess alone in this world, just as he had been.
She deserved better–more than that. His heart pounded incessantly, and the ringing in his ears grew louder as he strained against the compulsion.
Taryn gritted his teeth, and in a split moment of free will, he twisted the blade, and plunged it into his own stomach.
Taryn’s scream mixed with Airess’ as he fell onto her, his body convulsing, blood inking across his tunic.
“Bastard!” Eryx exclaimed, claiming his grip on Taryn’s mind through the Oathmark, torturing him.
Heat flared within every pore of his body.
So hot. Too hot. His vision ran red. It was as if his body was on fyre.
Taryn screamed in Runean. To anyone, everyone, to help him.
Perhaps in the distance he heard Airess screaming.
Perhaps he felt her utter terror as Taryn’s mind began to unravel as he defied Eryx’s compulsion.
Eryx approached them, grabbing Taryn’s body and yanking him off of Airess. Pain seared, the dagger sliding out of his flesh as he was tossed to the side. Though the world seemed to shift, Taryn caught a glimpse of the dagger that rested in Airess’ hand.
In the split-second Eryx’s back was turned, Airess sliced the knife through the air, right across Eryx’s achilles tendon.
Everything happened in a blur after that.
Eryx tumbled to the ground, shouting in pain as Raiden advanced towards Airess, his Haelethblade out.
Seeing a weapon heading towards Airess’ direction was all the fuel Taryn needed to fight on.
Fear for Airess’ life quickly overpowered his pain from his knife wound, driving him to move.
Taryn forced himself upwards, tackling Raiden to the ground, Raiden’s blade inches away from making contact with Airess. Taryn held Raiden in a headlock, snarling, seconds away from snapping his neck.
Eryx rolled over to face Airess. She was one step, one plunge downward from killing the Guildmaster. Eryx simply lifted a hand and commanded, “Stop!”
Airess froze as commanded, blade still in hand, as if she were stuck in time. Eryx’s lips trembled as he spoke, a hatred shone in his eyes, “You bitch! You will pay for what you have done. Come here.”
“You touch her, and he dies.” Taryn threatened, his forearm squeezing into Raiden’s windpipe.
Eryx’s gaze slid over to Raiden, weighing the situation.
Without acknowledging Taryn’s threat, Eryx looked back to Airess with a greedy smile as she lowered to her knees in front of him.
Her brows were furrowed in resentment at the compulsion, now on her knees in front of Eryx’s fallen position.
Eryx lifted himself up, holding out his hand, “Hand it over.”
No.
Taryn screamed out to Eryx, “I’ll kill him! I will fucking kill him if you hurt her!”
Raiden squirmed for breath underneath his arm, his face now turning purple. A messy mix of rage and regret budded within Taryn. How has it ever come to this? Could it have ended differently, or would Taryn have always been destined to betray his own best friend?
Airess’ hand trembled with rage as she began to lower the blade down into Eryx’s palm. She breathed heavy breaths, squinting her eyes closed as she tried to fight the compulsion.
When she opened her eyes, it was as if the gold in her irises burned slightly brighter, a look of newfound determination overcoming her. Suddenly, a smirk grew on her lips as she yanked her knife back and plunged it into the side of Eryx’s neck.
Raiden tried to scream out as Eryx met his silent death, blood splattering onto the floors, the walls, and Airess. The side of Airess’ face, neck and chest bore splatters of crimson, the remnants of her murder evident.
Eryx looked up to Airess in pure shock at her ability to resist his compulsion, falling to the floor silently.
How–how was it possible? How had she resisted?
Taryn didn’t remember letting go of Raiden. He only watched Airess stand over Eryx, cruelty on her perfect face as she bent down, and ripped the blade out of his neck.
Raiden shifted to grab his dagger that had fallen to the ground. Taryn drew his broadswords from behind his back, rushing in front of Airess and pointed the blade at Raiden, stopping him in his tracks.
“I’ll let you go just this once. Leave,” Taryn bellowed, pain laced in his voice,
Raiden stared at the body on the floor in horror, his eyes looking between Taryn and Airess. Taryn watched the last of his brotherly love wash away as Raiden’s eyes hardened.
“I don’t know you anymore,” Raiden spat as he took a step back. “Fuck you. You both deserve each other.”
Raiden fled out of the crumbled opening in the wall. Taryn heard his footsteps fade off, until the adrenaline started to fade, and the pain from Taryn’s stomach wound surfaced. They stood there, panting, as they both gathered their bearings.
She killed him.
She killed him
She killed him.
The silence was overwhelming, the both of them heaving for breath, covered in blood. Taryn’s tunic was soaked from the knife wound and he fought to ignore the pain, as he noticed the miniature arrow still stuck in Airess’ arm.
He turned to face her. “We need to get that arrow out of your arm.”
“Do it,” she said weakly, glancing down at the arrow.
Taryn grabbed her free arm and told her to brace herself, tearing some cloth off of his own shirt for her to bite down on. Once she had the cloth in her mouth, he gripped the arrow.
Taryn grimaced. “I’m sorry,” he said, before ripping it clean out.
She screamed as her legs buckled. Taryn snaked his arm around her waist and held her up before she could fall to her knees. Once her breaths finally evened, they stood. She eyed his abdomen and commented, “You’re next. That needs to be taken care of.”
They worked together, quickly wrapping the fabric from Airess’ skirt around his waist. Airess tied the knot, making sure the fabric was tight enough to apply pressure to the wound.
“We have to leave. Now.” Taryn uttered, his voice wavering slightly.
They scrambled outside, arm in arm, trudging towards their horses despite the pain.
“We just need one horse to make it to the docks. Untie the other one so it can roam free.” Taryn said with a grimace, as he untied the horse.
“Taryn, you need to rest. Surely we can find somewhere–”
“No,” he snapped. “You just killed the Guildmaster of the Mrkynian Guild. They will be coming for us, and soon. We have to leave this country immediately.”
Taryn mounted, hunched over with blood oozing from his knife wound. Airess climbed on behind him, wrapping a firm arm to add pressure to his stomach. They rode to the docks.
“Taryn, we are a vision of murder. We will get arrested on sight. How exactly are you planning to make it out of here alive?” Airess asked as their horse accelerated.
“We will do what we must,” Taryn said darkly. “We have to.”