Chapter 7 #3
Luna doesn’t spare a moment to answer as she slices down in one swift stroke, cutting Tane’s arm off at the elbow. Blood spurts from the stump, and my knees wobble.
The remaining mangled slab of flesh squelches to the ground. The venom keeps eating through it until nothing is left.
Luna stabs at it, dissolving the venom completely.
It’s quiet for a heartbeat.
And then all hell breaks loose again. Mina vomits in the dirt.
Mathilda sobs, the blood from Tane’s severed arm sprays her face and body.
Tane passes out, collapsing against Evander, who gently lowers him to the ground.
Luna claws at Lachlan’s belt. “Get this off! We need a tourniquet, or he’ll bleed out.”
Blood coats everything. The soil turns dark, and a coppery tang hangs in the air.
I take a deep breath, counting to four. My ability to move returns, and I jump into the fray, ripping Lachlan’s belt off while he and Luna are trying to apply pressure to Tane’s arm.
“Mina! Go grab the linens!” I order, wrapping the belt as tight as I can around the amputation. Warm blood slicks my hands and fingers, making it difficult to wrap the belt tightly. It oozes down my arms and splatters onto my pants.
She sprints from the training grounds, dirt kicking up in her wake. A strong wind blows through the grounds, the coolness of the air sweeping the dirt up and coating it into the slickness of our sweat and the blood.
“Mathilda, get it together and go get a healing tonic. Now,” Luna orders.
“Lena, a little tighter right here.” She nods to where her hands are, and I pull the belt tighter.
The blood has stopped spurting out, but it’s still pooling onto the ground below us.
The color is almost black where it puddles underneath Tane.
Mathilda hiccups and clambers to her feet before racing off in the direction Mina went.
“Is—is he going to die?” I whisper.
Trying to hold the fractured pieces of myself together.
I can’t lose anyone else.
“No,” Luna snarls. “He’s going to be fine. He’ll just have to learn how to fight with one arm.”
We sit there for what feels like hours, holding our friend together and watching his chest rise and fall, before Mathilda and Mina come racing down the path to us.
Luna sighs and rips the linens and vial from their hands before grumbling to herself. “It was a good thing the big guy passed out.” She steadily wraps the rest of his arm with white linens that immediately turn a bright red.
“Hold him tight. He will not like this when he wakes,” she says to Lachlan and Evander.
Luna grips Tane’s face, wrenching his mouth open before tipping the entire vial into the back of his throat. Mina holds Mathilda’s hand as they both watch Tane with a mixture of horror and despair.
He will never be the same after this.
His eyes flash open, and he thrashes around. Lachlan and Evander grunt, trying to hold him still. They use their entire bodies, their faces turning red under the strain.
“Tane!” Luna yells. “Hold still. Let the vial work and don’t rip off those linens.” Her words either don’t register, or the pain is too much because he continues to convulse under Lachlan and Evander’s hold.
“Mathilda, do something,” Mina whispers, urging her forward.
Mathilda takes a shaky step forward before collapsing to her knees at his side. Tears streak down her cheeks, leaving trails in the splattered blood as she caresses his face. His jaw turns to stone as he grits his teeth to keep from screaming.
“Shhh,” Mathilda whispers. “It’s going to be alright. You’re going to be fine.”
The love pouring from her eyes is enough to make me look away, feeling like an intruder at a pivotal point in their relationship.
I glance at the quartz throne just in time to see the last drop of venom drop from the chair and disintegrate into the basin.
Now that the haze of green is gone, a small globe carved in the middle of the seat is visible behind inches of quartz.
Tane pierced it perfectly, right at the bottom.
A shudder goes through the training ground.
A wave of power spears from the crystal and across the capital, as if we poked a hole in a dam and stood by the water as it overflows.
The air feels clearer as a tingle washes across my skin like a current of electricity.
Tane relaxes, and Lachlan and Evander ease their grip on him as their wings burst from their tattoos, the black feathers shining like oil on the water.
A breath later, mine, Mina’s, Mathilda’s, and Luna’s are bursting from our backs.
The familiar weight is a comfort I sorely missed.
“It worked!” Mina cries, spinning in a circle, her scarred wings fluttering in the breeze. “And look, the venom hit raven stone.” She points to the puff of smoke coming from the hand-sized hole in the ground where the venom leaked before the basin was in place.
Tane eases up onto his elbow and stares at the missing portion of his right arm. His voice is rasping and gruff. “The pain is gone.”
Mathilda pats his other arm soothingly. “Then we can figure out the rest together.”
He looks up into her eyes, his own limning with tears. “I’m even more undeserving now,” he whispers, averting his eyes when her lips quiver.
“Never,” she breathes, and his gaze returns to hers.
My own heart is close to bursting seeing them finally be honest with each other.
But Luna’s voice cuts through the emotion. “We need to find the rest of the quartz and destroy it.”
My mouth drops open as I reel back in shock. How dare she? Tane lost his arm, and she’s already moved on? My wings tuck in tight to my body as I prepare to launch myself at her. Lachlan grabs my hand, pulling me to a stop.
“We can do that later,” he orders. “Let’s get Tane inside and settled.”
“Absolutely,” Evander agrees with him, but steps closer to Luna.
Lachlan and Mathilda hoist Tane up between them, standing still as he becomes steady on his feet.
Tane leans more on Mathilda’s side than he does Lachlan’s, and they trek back up the path to the Great Hall.
Mina races ahead to make sure our path is clear.
And Evander becomes a shadow behind Tane. I follow a few steps behind Luna.
“You cut his arm off like you’d had experience with that before,” I murmur, keeping my eyes on Lachlan in front of us. Afraid that if I look at her, I’ll snap again.
She glances sidelong at me before staring straight ahead again.
I had almost given up on her conversing with me when she grumbles, “In my life before, at our village, a big part of my duties as a sorceress was healing. Magic was in abundance in the human lands, and so were magical creatures. So I had to know a variety of healing methods for all kinds of beings.”
I nod thoughtfully, thinking through everything she’s told me already.
“Was your sister a sorceress too?” Her foot catches on a protruding cobblestone. She stumbles, but lurches upright, steadying herself.
“She was,” she grits out.
“And you said you were turned? Was your sister turned, too?” I study her profile. Her face gives away nothing.
“My sister had a separate path.” Her tone is curt, obviously not wanting to elaborate. “Why are your wings not white?” she asks me, glancing at my silver wings that are still out on display. My brows raise in surprise. I had not expected her to continue the conversation.
“I have no idea.” I shrug, looking around at the poppies that wave in the breeze.
“Were they always that color?”
“Yes, they came in that way. We thought it was because they were new feathers, but now that my wings have fully grown in, I think they’re going to stay this way.”
“Interesting.” Her eyes narrow on a silver feather closest to her.
“Do you know why—”
My question is cut off. Mina stands at the edge of the terrace looking down at us. Her face contorted with fear.
“The bridge is doing something!”
I sprint past everyone, up through the terrace, and into the Great Hall before sliding to a halt in front of the rune etched into the white marble. The gold markings are flaring and dimming over and over. The light I saw during the district meetings wasn’t a reflection—but this. A signal.
Lachlan, Tane, Mathilda, and Evander trudge into the throne room and come to a halt beside me.
“Is someone trying to reach us?” I ask, staring at the light flashing from the rune.
“It’s possible …” Lachlan trails off.
“Without destroying all the crystals, they won’t be able to come through,” Luna adds.
“Are we sure we want them to come through?” Evander asks, eyeing the rune with wariness before looking up at Luna.
“Our enemies breached us without the bridge being open,” I answer. “This could be our allies.”