Chapter 31 #2
Chancellor Bren lifts two fingers in a signal, and Commander Guffian breaks forward from the pack. “Commander, there’s been a change of plans. We cannot have the remaining Huntresses return to Caligo. They’ve witnessed too much and now pose a threat. Kill them.”
“Father, no! They’re innocent!” Gabe shouts, and the chancellor holds up a hand.
“Innocent? Son, do you not see the treason flowing through her body?”
Aruna runs forward, distancing herself from me. “What about us? I swear, I won’t say anything!”
Chancellor Bren hesitates a moment before shaking his head.
“What if you change your mind? If I allow you to return only for you to slip up? Or worse, find yourself missing the sunlight? Longing to feel its warmth? No. Your bodies may not be contaminated yet, but your minds are, and I cannot allow that to fester.”
Aruna pivots her appeals to Gabe directly. “Gabe, please!”
Gabe tenses, turning his head between Aruna, his father, then finally to me. “Are you still you, Elle?”
“Now isn’t the time, Gabe.” I shake my head while pointing to the navy-clad figure who’s always stood between us. “You have to tell your father to stop.”
The icy rigidity of the chancellor carves through Gabe’s voice.
“This is the only question that matters, Orelle! I followed you up to this sun-damned graveyard to save you. And now you’re standing here—you, but not.
Make me believe that you’re the same woman who clung to me in the reservoir when we were sixteen, or the same woman who jumped into my arms before we crossed the threshold into our home on the eve of our wedding.
I know your body’s infected, but tell me your mind is yours.
That it hasn’t been twisted by those abominations.
If you do that, maybe I can find a way to save you.
” His voice softens to a plea: “Please, Elle.”
The memories of ignorant bliss haunt my next breaths . . . but I’m not the same. Could I really ever go back? Though I know the answer, the heaviness in my throat grows as I consider what Gabe might do if I say no to him now.
“I can’t deny I’ve changed, but I am still me, still human.”
He shifts his weight uneasily, as if sensing the difference in my tone—the firm confidence of a woman who no longer measures her identity based on the perceptions of others. Or is he actually considering his father’s delusions?
The oscillating glow of the light pulsing along my veins quickens with my heartbeat.
Gabe takes a single step backwards, angling towards his father. “I don’t recognize what you are anymore, but it isn’t human.”
Chancellor Bren’s voice rings out. “Step away from the Huntresses, son. I’ll manage this difficult decision for you. Commander Guffian, eliminate the remaining loose ends. Ladies, I’d advise you not to resist. It will be over quickly.”
The chancellor’s host descends in formation from the opposing dune while the chancellor, commander, and Pyres remain along the ridge.
Aruna is the first to run, booted feet sliding as she spins back towards the village. Twilynn and Demi follow. As the first row of guards charge the remaining distance between us, Gem and I turn to flee as well. She leans to grab my arm, relieving some of the weight that hinders my feet.
“Go!” I yell at Gem. “I can flare-jump away. I’ll buy you time.”
She continues to yank on my arm. “No! I won’t let you burn out.”
I relent and allow Gem to ease my escape. We continue to climb the opposing dune towards Lucis. As we crest the hill, I turn away from the village that faintly shimmers with the morning dew and twist to see the guards gaining ground, losing sight of Gabe in the columns of black helmets and padding.
But he was already lost to me, wasn’t he?
I never should’ve forgotten that he’ll always be his father’s son.
The mechanical whir that has stalked us throughout the Hunt crescendos, grating against my aching skull. A large cart, identical to those that transported us from the entrance of Caligo, careens through the valley at our flank, outpacing our ascent.
“Gem, you’ve got to let go. I—We don’t have a choice. We have to fight.” I wrench my arm from Gem’s firm grip. Nimble fingers quickly reattach themselves to my shoulder before relinquishing.
“Make this the last choice they get to take from us.” Gem only retreats a few steps.
The Caligans came to see a monster. Maybe they’ve made one instead.
My teeth grind together as I turn and unsheathe my own weapon, calling forth the tingle beneath my skin.
I’ll stop before I burn.
Fire flows down my veins, and I extend a hand toward the cart.
A magnetic pulse erupts from my outstretched fingers, humming with brightened strokes of light.
Crackles resound across the dunes as the stunning blast reaches the steel-framed transport, tipping it onto its side.
Dust detonates in a cloud around the fallen vehicle as it tumbles into the valley and impacts the corner of the guard formation.
A motorized echo continues to stir the air as I spin to find the others arming themselves against the outpouring soldiers from a second cart blocking our path towards Lucis.
I reach out my hand again, aiming to stun the man leading the blockade.
My jaw slackens as the subsequent burst dissipates instead of disarms, as if the black chestplate I’d been aiming at swallowed the full weight of the flare.
“Shit!” I backtrack closer to Gem. “Their armor is made of nightstone.”
The guards at the base of the hill reform their disjointed line, and begin to advance, tightening the invisible noose around our necks with each step. Gem and I clamor towards the group of three women who have their weapons pointed at the five guards frantically spreading to surround us.
Twilynn’s wail pierces through the whine of the transport’s engine. “Please, stop!”
Still, the advance continues from all sides as the Huntresses become the hunted.
“I’ll make sure the rest can’t follow, but the others are too close. You need to fight! Each of you. All that armor’s gotta be weighing them down. Dodge like Kalden taught you.” I stare at my illuminated reflection in the visor of Gem’s helmet before she dips her head.
The Huntresses split into pairs. Gem and Demi attack the leftmost guard while Aruna and Twilynn attack the right. Averting my eyes before the pairs clash, I turn to fight my own battle.
The sun’s radiative reflection simmers within me. I summon the heat again, kneeling to plant my hands deep within the grains of warm powder, just as the mender had at Yvonne’s burial.
Pinpricks race along my neck.
How far can I go?
The sand pulses with my heartbeat. Grains jump in time with the escalating rhythm while my feet sink deeply into the rumbling ground.
A chasm forms, splitting across the dune and entrenching those who’ve yet to reach the peak.
Thrashing limbs pry against the flow of rock and sand without avail.
The guards that don’t find support are sucked into the earth’s depths—an abyss of my own making.
I staunch the outpouring energy and attempt to unbury my limbs from the compacted terrain. My arms pull free easily enough, but the dwindling strength in my aching muscles is no match for the earth’s greedy hold on my legs.
“Gem, help!” I shout, watching a few remaining guards scale the rift. The commander tugs Chancellor Bren and his prodigy further from the crumbling edge.
“Holy shadows, Orelle!” A dark poniard dripping with blood falls at my side, and trembling arms wrap around me before pulling to release my legs from their cell.
I scan the blood streaking across Gem’s leathers. “You’re okay?”
Without a response, Gem picks up her dagger and rushes back towards the fight.
Glancing down at the sand coating my knees and shins, I busy myself with wiping off the chafing grains, protecting my heart for one more ignorant breath before looking to see whether I sent the other Huntresses to their deaths.
The last guard falls on his knees, succumbing to Aruna’s blade as it plunges into the gap between the helmet and breastplate.
Each Huntress nurses a wound, but all are standing, except for Demi.
Her frame caves in on itself as she kneels, clutching at the steady crimson spouting around the dagger jutting from her ribs.
Twilynn darts toward her while the rest of us take up a defensive circle around the two.
“Stop! Pull back and reform!” Commander Guffian’s voice carries over the wind, though I can barely make out what he’s saying over Demi’s choked wail.
The chancellor turns a knob on the remote, and the Pyres settle into their haunches.
Their foreign power pushes at my senses before they release it to propel themselves over the valley.
Familiar thunderous cracks ring out as the wave of Pyres ascends, nothing but ravenous hunger in their black-and-gold eyes—eyes that will match mine, if I push myself much further.
The echoes of their assault reverberate around us as a dozen glowing figures land mere yards away. Scorching energy rains from above. The heat of the strike glasses the sand around several Pyre’s feet.
My lungs lift with renewed vigor as I realize the newcomers aren’t Pyres at all.