42. Tanzanite
Iam not a stranger to death and carnage. I have seen executions, whippings, and fights between slaves and giants.
But nothing—not the training with Svanna or a lifetime of torture—prepared me for battle.
Everywhere I look, blood spurts, and flesh is cleaved.
A thousand miniature battles are fought against the larger massacre, and it’s unclear who will come out as victor—even though golden armor is glinting more abundantly than bare giant chests.
The first elf I saw impaled didn’t look like she was going to be bested by the giant. Even flinching away from such a gruesome death didn’t save me either from seeing a giant torn in three.
When I catch sight of a helpless slave lying in a pool of his own blood, I foolishly look away only to see the severed arm of an Enduar. Blood and gore are everywhere, and yet, none compares to the smell.
Thousands of bodies are strewn on either side of the mines. It takes effort to keep from leaning over drathorinna and vomiting all over her crystal scales.
I think that most of the dead are giants, but that doesn’t quell the sickness.
Power thrums under my skin.
The cost… the cost is too high.
I hadn’t anticipated my instincts to have such a sway in my plan.
What’s wrong? Teo asks through the bond as the wind rushes past us, blasting my skin with icy air.
I have to help.
Estela, we had a plan—he starts, only for my control of the crystal drake to twist us to the side.
Her power doesn’t come from breathing fire or ice; it comes through me. While working through her eyes, I realized she can act as a focusing crystal for my light.
The light around me begins to glow stronger, and the shouts that had called to us now intensify. I feel the power of the dragon well up inside of me, and the same fear I’ve felt before mounts.
I haven’t practiced enough. My breath freezes in my throat for a terrifying moment while the power surges through my body.
It overtakes me, aiming at the dozens of giants running toward the group of elves fighting with everything they have.
The power reaches its peak as quickly as a gasp, and then the lyre string inside of me is set free. The magic zings past me, and into the group. In an instant, screams are cut off as a blackened hole tears through flesh, stone, and earth.
I slump back toward Teo, feeling the effects of such a strong burst.
That wasn’t wise so early on in this battle. You will tire quickly if you continue this way, Teo expresses with his battle-worn experience through our bond.
I reluctantly agree.
With one last heart-shattering look, I tear myself away and head back into the mining compound. In the corner of my eye, something hurls towards us.
It’s Vann who calls out a second before a large boulder crashes into the side of drathorinna.
The horrible sound that emanates from us must be heard throughout the mine.
My hand flies to my own side as I feel some of her scales crack. I sense the reassuring weight of the armor shielding my growing child within. Hot tears well up, threatening to spill, while a surge of fierce determination floods through me, fiercely protective of the life blossoming within my womb.
When another rock hurls at us, I am more careful. We evade it with more ease. My blood pumps, and I’m coated in sweat.
The wall is mostly broken, but the stone benders’ attack wasn’t enough to thwart the use of the catapults.
Another stone nearly hits us as we rise over the compound, looking for a place to land. My senses are heightened as I look at the arrows, spears, and rocks preparing to be launched at us.
How are there still so many?
My question is left unanswered as the hiss and wizz of lethal objects flying past us quickly depletes the energy I thought replenished.
It’s then that I notice movement from the mouth of the mines. I had seen humans fleeing, but now hundreds of them begin pouring out of the caves.
Some of the giants who were fixed on us now turn on them, and with swipes of their massive weapons, begin to cut them down.
“No!” I scream.
Teo’s mind reaches out to carress my own, and together, he helps me angle drathorinna down toward the ground. His hand slips around my midsection.
I suck in a breath.
We’ll do this together,I say.
I’ll keep both of you safe.
I feel the nudge of my power, but I’m acutely aware of my limitations. I know that I can’t both hit the giants and avoid the humans.
The ground gets closer with every second, and I cast my thoughts back to my husband.
We need to jump, I shout down the bond.
Not yet, it’s still too high. You’ll both get hurt, Teo pleads.
The wind blows back the skin on my face, burning it from the sheer speed and force. Just as the screams of those worrying we are about to crash touch my ears with shattering magnitude, I pull up.
“Now!” I scream, ready to go, only for drathorinna to be violently shoved to the side with the impact of another boulder.
The collision throws all three of us from our seated positions. My heart stutters, and I scream at the weightless horror.
Death, death, death, death comes.
The voice that had been quiet for weeks whispers.
I hear, not feel, the ground rumble beneath me. It moves and shifts like a torrential wave, part of it reaching up to cradle me and the men.
The breath is still knocked out of me when I crash into it, but the shifting formations of stone guide my body to the ground unbroken. My hand goes to my midsection.
Nothing feels wrong, so I leap up a second later, surrounded by fallen humans and giants. There are many more still fighting than we had anticipated while we landed.
When I look at the manor, I find it surrounded by black mist.
Damn.
Teo and Vann are faster than me, and I watch them draw to each other like moths to a flame. I’ve never seen them fight together, but they move in synchrony as they slice through scarred flesh.
A leg is cut away from a body, a stomach stabbed. They plow through the field like the terrors that I have only heard about.
The Butcher and his Cleaver.
My mouth falls open, stunned, when I see Svanna cut a giant clear in half in the distance. She bangs her sword against her chest, roaring with blood spattered across her armor. This isn’t the woman who taught me how to hold a sword. Another Enduar catches my attention just as my hair stands on end.
There are human screams behind me. I turn around, spot three slaves, and charge. When I am face-to-face with a giant warrior, I feel nothing but courage. He grins down at me, hair matted with blood and tattooed chest heaving.
“Run!” I shout at the slaves, and they scramble.
“Yes! Scatter like the insects you are!” he roars.
There is something familiar about him as he laughs and reaches forward, his fingers trying to grasp my armor. The brilliant magical string within me flares, and my glowing skin burns his hold. The sound of sizzling skin and smell of charred flesh fill my senses.
Holding up the sword I’ve been training with for months, I adjust my stance. My gifted power makes me that much more formidable against him.
“The king’s little whore,” the giant spits at me.
I don’t wait for him to taunt me more. I thrust the sword toward his legs. A downed giant is much easier to stab.
He jumps back from the attack, laughing. “Now I see while Rholker kept a collar on you. The bitch can fight!” Then he swings his spear.
My eyes widen, and I just barely duck out of the way. The force of air coming with his spear causes me to tilt, and I fall on my side. I cry out.
He is bolstered by the sound, and I see the humans flocking behind him.
He’s getting close to my child. Too close. I force myself to my feet with a yell and look back to see Vann and Teo fighting off seven giants at once. Adrenaline refuels me as I lift my sword again. Rallying every bit of strength in my human body, I charge the giant.
As I swipe left and right, he finds the attacks pathetic, like a lamb charging a warrior. He laughs again and deflects each one with ease. The force of his block jostles my shoulders.
“Where is Rholker?” I yell back.
He smirks. “Preparing to kill you, should I fail.”
Then I lunge forward, slicing across his leg. Somehow, I catch how his eyes go to the manor, the one we planned on Rholker staying in.
Good.
The giant shoves me away. I fall on my ass with a yell, then scramble to my feet.
He hisses at the blood staining the fabric around his thigh, then spits.
“I led you around the night of the coronation,” he says, his eyes on fire. “I preferred you with more flesh showing.”
He hauls all his weight back and wedges the tip of his spear between my breastplate. The metal strap groans as he tries to pry it off.
I scream at the force. Light from within fills my eyes, and I grasp at a fallen sword. He shields his eyes, but I spot the space under his ribs that would kill him almost instantly. I thrust the blade through, up into his stomach. He roars, and I angle the blade skyward, piercing his lungs and heart. He stumbles and collapses.
I fucking did it.
I sink to the ground, exhaustion wearing on me as I grab my stomach. All the training wasn’t enough. It was never going to be enough.
I can’t keep doing this.
But the war inside of me is cut short when several more humans run past, grabbing weapons from the fallen giants.
“?Por la libertad!” they scream, thrusting weapons in the air. Their emaciated forms twist as they thrust themselves into battle, hacking a way to the exit.
When the first falls, I force myself to get back up.
Por la libertad. Forfreedom.
For my freedom, and theirs. For freedom against the threats on the Enduares. For a better life for my baby.
I must end this.
Weary, I press my hand to my throbbing shoulder, and then I pull my hand away to find it coated in crimson.
Hostia puta?1.
My Fuegorra glows to life, but I push on. I drag my dizzy form toward the manor. Not two steps in, I trip. My gauntlets land in a puddle of blood. I twist around to see the ripped open stomach of a slave.
I gag, trying to drag myself to my feet while avoiding catching my feet on any more lifeless forms.
There are few giants left, and all of them are engaged in battle. It’s pure luck that my stumbling is met with no resistance.
When I finally reach the manor, a tendril of cold, black mist extends toward me.
Grey hands reach out and latch onto my arms.I turn abruptly to come face to face with a vaimpír. I screech, scratching at their limbs with my gloved hands, but the creature is not the same skulking, hunting demon from the caves. It holds me in place as it drags me along—as if it were following orders.
“Estela!” my mate screams across the battle.
Turning toward the sound only makes me stumble. My strength is depleted. There is none left to fight against the gray hands. While my energy is sluggish, they don’t seem like they are going to hurt me, and I need their help to get to Rholker. I feel my magic working to save me, but between riding drathorinna and fighting that giant, everything is moving in slow motion. This might be a mistake, but…
Seconds later, just as the door comes into view, a vaimpír hisses, and chilled blood sprays over my face.
Then Teo’s hands are on me. The smooth surface of a crystal is pressed to my face, and a few coarse notes of song pass through his lips. A wave of energy washes over me as the stones on my armor glow to life. Strength returns to my legs, and I can stand.
Vann appears next to Teo. They hold onto either side of me.
“We need to find Rholker,” I pant, even as the mist fills my lungs, and a memory of torture returns.
Teo doesn’t speak as he pushes open the door. I step across the wooden threshold and choke. Waving my arm, I inhale deeply and use the heat of my magic to burn away as much of the mist as possible.
A staircase materializes abruptly in front of us, just as the piercing wail of a baby shatters the silence. A forceful gust of wind surges through the room, hurling Teo and Vann backwards, out of the manor.
“No!” I scream just as the heavy door slams shut with a resounding thud. My anguished cry echoes as I whirl around to pound on the solid wood barrier.
The piercing wail of the newborn reverberates through the room, triggering a surge of primal urgency within me. My imagination conjures thoughts too awful to speak out loud. Babies are so fragile—akin to the life blossoming within me. That fuels my determination to ensure its safety. As I take a step towards the staircase, a chilling creak sounds from the door to my left.
I leap back as Dahlia steps out. And then, towering behind her, Rholker emerges holding a massive baby in his arms, a surreal and primal sight that sends shivers down my spine.
My eyes go wide, and rage coils itself up my spine. I need to get that baby away from him.
“Estela.” My name on his tongue sounds like an exhalation. Almost as if he’s been holding his breath since I left. Then his voice deepens. “Have you come to kill me?”
Our eyes meet, and I see the red that rings his once-yellow pupils while black veins creep up his neck, like rot.
There is an undercurrent of dark magic in the room.
He’s turning into a vaimpír, I cast the words to Teo.
I feel his recognition spark as he pounds against the magically sealed door. When he tries to reply, his message is muffled.
My gut drops, and I take a slow step forward, looking at the child squirming in his arms. He could kill the helpless thing faster than I could blink. Rholker would only keep a baby if it would be of use to him.
Nandi’s face flickers in my mind. I remember her screaming at Rholker, dirty and hungry. She called for her son, the true heir to the throne.
Do you see Nandi’s son in this court?
He never said the child was dead.
Thatmust be her son.
New emotions war inside me. On the one hand, giants are evil and dangerous. On the other… it’s a baby.
A baby I can’t watch die.
My gaze returns to his face. “I’ve come to free the humans.”
His red eyes search mine, unfeeling. “Humans will never be free.”
I remain silent, looking at Dahlia who merely watches, curious and threatening. I killed three of her sisters, where the other two are, I don’t know.
“You once offered me a measure of freedom,” I say slowly.
His grip tightens on the child, eliciting another sharp cry.
“Because I loved you. I have been far too kind—I spared you once. I spared Fektir’s daughter. Even my brother’s son… I thought it would be cruel to kill a babe, so I brought him here. He could grow and die as a man with a weapon in his hand, without knowing who he was.” He looks down at the child, and memories of Nandi’s screams fill my ears.
I thought he had taken the baby to kill it.
He takes a step forward.
“Even after you ran the first time, I loved you. But you ran again. You destroyed my chance at ruling.” He takes another step. “I made you a promise that I would kill all you love.”
Every muscle tightens.
“I don’t love that babe. Spare it, please,” I plead.
With almost robotic movements, he continues to approach me. “He was found out by Lord Fektir. Others will come soon to take him home and claim the throne. The time for weakness has passed. I must kill it.”
Dahlia looks at me with a curious expression, then says, “Give me the child, Rholker. Be with your love.”
My stomach twists as my gaze drops to the woman who tortured me. I don’t trust her any more than I trust Rholker.
“You told me I must kill him,” Rholker says mechanically.
Dahlia looks up at him. “I will handle it for you. Take the Light Weaver’s daughter and show her your gift.”
Rholker’s glossy gaze changes, softening into something more giant and less undead.
My mate continues to beat on the door behind me, and the ground rumbles again.
“Tell the troll to call off his magic. I have something to show you,” his voice rumbles.
I swallow.
“Do it now,” he demands.
Teo, stop.
No,his voice growls back. I could cry when I hear him clearly again.
Please, or they’ll kill the child.
From the deepest place in my soul, I cannot handle the death of something small and innocent. Not the giant baby, and not my own child. The feirce instinct guts me from the inside out. My breath holds, but the rumbling beneath my feet stops.
Rholker smiles and passes the baby onto Dahlia. It’s only then that I hear the slither behind me. Pain quickly blossoms from my thigh as it latches onto my flesh and poison leaks into me.
“Not again,” I groan as the familiar paralysis floods my body. I stagger and fold onto the ground, as Rholker’s boots walk up next to me.
Please, don’t let this hurt my baby. Please!
Then the world goes black.