Chapter 7 #2
I grip the raven stone sword firmly in one hand as I circle the throne, trailing a free hand against its surface, hoping to find any hint of a seal or a plug.
It resembles a crudely shaped chair. A giant mound of crystal with armrests, a seat, and a hollowness underneath the seat that I often tuck my legs under.
But the armrests are cut in before it rounds back out into a chunk of quartz.
Like whoever constructed it couldn’t be bothered to whittle any more away.
Or, to make it look much more imposing than it already is.
The others gather around, silently waiting for me to finish my assessment. A vice grips my lungs, squeezing tighter with each pass around it.
Time is slipping through my fingers like grains of sand. Unease writhes under my skin, and my feet halt.
“I guess we’ll try piercing the front of the seat?
” I look around for confirmation or disagreement, but no one says a word.
“My hope is that the raven stone is not only strong enough to pierce the quartz, but will also protect us from touching the venom.” I give a small explanation, and I’m met with nods or blinks. “Uh, I’ll go first then.”
Luna steps forwards depositing the basin in front of the seat where the venom will drip if I do manage to puncture it.
“Thanks,” I say to her retreating form.
I take a deep breath, my eyes sliding shut. Please work.
Rearing back, I stab at the quartz with half my strength, and the sword embeds the tiniest amount into it. Lachlan grimaces, worry thinning his lips. This is going to take forever. But I didn’t want to swing too hard and risk cracking the chair.
I stab again, and my grip slips off the smooth hilt of the sword, and I end up punching the damn seat. The sword clatters into the basin. My hand throbs as I flex my fingers. Blood wells up on a few of my busted knuckles. Fuck.
“Try swinging up instead of right at it?” Tane offers. A large divot forms between his thick brows as he mimics the motion.
Lachlan shakes his head, crossing his tattooed arms over his chest. “Ye need to strike in the same place twice and much harder.”
“Let me try!” Mina pipes up, picking up the raven stone and stabbing at the throne. Her nose scrunches as she stabs again and again. Tiny flecks of crystal drop to the dirt below us, but no actual progress is achieved.
Evander chuckles at her as she backs away, glaring at the throne like it offended her personally.
“You need more muscle. Sword?” he asks, holding out a hand. Mina hands it to him, but sticks her tongue out at his back as he turns away from her.
Evander swings down with all his might and embeds the sword partially into the front of the seat. My heart stops. Close, so close. He yanks the sword out and tries again. It embeds a fraction further this time, but my anxiety ramps up.
Luna stands with her hands on her hips as she watches Evander’s arms flex with each strike. Her face gives nothing away, but I swear her eyes seem to glow.
“My turn,” she says, stepping up beside him. She holds out her hand, and he presses the sword into it, their eyes lingering for a moment.
Luna walks around the throne, her eyes narrowing as she scans it.
“Swing up,” Tane offers again, taking a step forward and mimicking an upward swing. Mathilda gazes sidelong at him and bites back a smile.
Luna waves him off and swings powerfully right where Evander had lodged the sword into the seat. She gouges the hole deeper, but it’s still not as deep as we need. She glares at the hole and yanks the sword free. “We’re going to need someone much stronger.”
Evander gapes at her before controlling his face. “No offense taken,” he grumbles.
The tiniest of smiles tugs at her lips before it slips away, and she thrusts the sword out at Lachlan.
“You give it a go. Those two,” she nods towards Mathilda and Tane, “might be too much for it and crush the entire thing.”
Her words give me pause. Shit. If they puncture it too hard or too deeply, it could crack. And that would spray venom everywhere. Gods dammit. My fear of time has made me reckless.
Lachlan swipes the sword from her, throwing her one of those mischievous grins I love so much. Fear slices through me, and I take a step towards him, grabbing a hold of his arm.
“Wait.”
He glances down at my hand, his tattoo shimmering in the blistering sunlight, before looking back up at me. “What’s the matter?”
I shake my head, clearing my mind. “This might be more dangerous than I originally thought. Maybe we shouldn’t.”
Mina walks up to the stone, studying the hole Evander and Luna created.
“We’re not that far away, it looks like.”
Lachlan glances at Mina before his attention swings back to me. “Let me give it a go. We’re so close.”
There’s determination set in his jaw and the way his pupils narrow, like it’s a project he needs to complete. I heave a deep sigh, stepping back and sweeping my arms open.
“Fine. But just the once.”
Lachlan grins triumphantly at me and takes a near-charging run at the crystal.
Holding the blade level, he pierces it much deeper than anyone else has.
A breath of relief slips through my lips, and my shoulders lower when it doesn’t smash to bits.
But when I step closer to inspect how deep he went, I see tiny spiderweb cracks branching off from the main crevice.
“No,” I shake my head, “no more.”
Tane swipes the sword from Lachlan. “I haven’t even given it a go yet.”
There’s an eager gleam in his dark eyes as he tosses the sword between his hands. Mathilda pouts. Her light blue eyes fixate on the sword as she lurches to grab it from him.
“It’s not your turn,” Tane says, moving out of reach.
“I will do it—ladies first,” Mathilda spits, trying again to grab the sword from Tane.
“Absolutely not. You will probably crush it and get hurt,” Tane retorts, twisting it out of her grip and taking a step away.
She stomps her boot on the ground, and a plume of dirt wafts up. “And you wouldn’t?”
“I can’t have you getting hurt,” and then in a smaller voice he doesn’t want us to hear, “it doesn’t matter if I get hurt.”
A retort flies from my lips, but Mathilda beats me to it.
“It absolutely matters if you get hurt, you oaf!”
Mina shares my sentiment as she crosses her arms over her chest and glares at Tane.
This is becoming out of hand, and the likelihood of one of them getting hurt if they crack it stresses me out even further.
Lachlan came very close, and he doesn’t have the strength that Tane or Mathilda does.
Elowen’s last moments circle my mind, and I shake my head. I can’t have anyone else getting hurt.
“Guys!” I yell, and they turn towards me. “Neither of you should do it. It’s too dangerous. We need another plan.”
Luna crosses her arms and shakes her head. “We already wasted five days just constructing this plan. We’re running out of time.”
Lachlan takes a step forward, placing himself right next to me. “Lena’s right, we need a different plan. A safer one. What else did the books have to say?” He looks between me and Luna.
“Wait—so you guys can throw yourself in harm’s way and attempt to puncture the quartz, but we can’t? That’s not fair.” Mathilda glares at me.
“None of us were even close to breaking through the quartz, and we were a safer gamble,” Evander adds in.
“I will not jeopardize any more lives, Mathilda,” I reply. Elowen’s face stays at the surface of my mind like a trap, ready to spring as soon as I close my eyes for too long.
But my words reach deaf ears.
Mathilda swipes again for the sword, but Tane is quicker.
Instead of moving it out of her reach, he shoves her off balance with his free hand. The motion has her stumbling backwards and away from him.
In the same heartbeat, Tane steps towards the throne and swings the sword in an upward motion, aiming for underneath the crystal seat.
The blade of raven stone pierces through it and into the belly of the crystal, where the green color is the brightest. He beams at us before turning back to the stone. “There. I told you guys—upward motion.”
But before I can yell to stop him, he wrenches the blade free. Leaving a hole in the crystal that has venom trickling out.
And on to his unprotected hand.
Mathilda screams before Tane can even register the pain. The venom burns through his flesh and bone. The sword clatters into the dirt, black smoke curling from the blade as the venom leaking onto it from the punctured throne dissolves.
Tane turns towards us, dropping to his knees before the throne. His hand is outstretched before him, and his mouth stretches wide open in a silent scream. Mathilda hurls herself to his side, all the while screaming his name.
I’m stuck in frozen horror as the smell of venom burning through his hand and wrist coats the air. Evander kicks the obsidian bowl underneath the chair so that it’s under the venom still dripping from the throne and rushes to Tane. Lachlan is right behind him.
Mina’s cries cut through my horror, and I instinctively step closer to the chaos, needing to help somehow. Luna pulls the blade from beneath the bowl and rips Mathilda out of her way. The raven stone gleams in the sunlight as she raises it.
“Hold his arm out!” Her voice rages with command.
Lachlan stares, mouth open, at Luna as she holds the blade high above her head before he grabs Tane by the bicep, holding his arm up.
Like a lamb to the slaughter.
Tane struggles to pull himself out of his grip, thrashing his body around. But the venom is faster, eating through his forearm as it makes its way up his elbow. Tendons, ligaments, bones, and muscles…all gone.
Evander grips Tane around the neck, yelling in his ear, “Hold still! It’s your arm or your life!”
“What are you doing?” Mathilda screams, her eyes flaring wide with terror as she frantically tries to scramble back to Tane’s side.