Chapter 8 #2
Auriel wrapped his arm around my waist, practically lifting me against him to pull me away from the glass. More shadows filled the windows.
“GO!” I screamed at the seraphim. “Fly!”
“Volara!” Auriel yelled. He reared his elbow back and then launched his fist through the window.
The carriage floor vibrated, rocking side to side as the seraphim rose to her feet.
“Come on, come on! Vra! Volara! ” I yelled. But we were still on the damned ground.
“They’re on the wings!” Auriel spun wildly on his heels, and grabbed the sword I’d strapped to my back, the metal singing as he withdrew it and returned to the window.
His eyes narrowed, moving back and forth across the glassless pane.
He wrenched his arm back, adjusting his hold of the sword just so, then hurled it through the window.
Screams exploded outside, the sound ending in a heavy thud. Auriel crouched on the ground, picking up the largest shards of broken glass, and with a speed that was almost hard to comprehend, he approached a second broken window, flinging shard after shard at the soturi.
The floor tilted, the entire carriage was shifting as the seraphim stood, preparing to take flight.
She was agitated, but I didn’t blame her.
Another sharp tilt of the floor flung me against the wall.
My head slammed into a cabinet. Heart racing, I looked out of the window just in time to see the seraphim rising.
We flew, ascending higher and higher, the shore falling away from us.
In the middle of it all was the Guardian’s headless body, growing smaller and smaller as we rose.
“We need to tell it where to go,” Auriel said, rushing to the window. “Fuck!”
“What?” I yelled.
“They’re following. We have three carriages on our tail.”
Where could we go that was safe? Safe enough to hide?
Auriel turned to me, our eyes locking. And we both seemed to know the answer at once. Nowhere. I was wanted across the entire Empire. And he wasn’t supposed to exist.
“We just need to get ahead of them,” Auriel said. “Then it doesn’t matter where we go. As long as we get there first. So pick something.”
“Elyrian outpost,” I blurted out.
“You sure?” Auriel asked.
I nodded. It was the first thing I could think of. The outpost took us west to the Bamarian border. If we could outfly the enemy, we could land and vanish into the woods. We’d be near the brothel where Rhyan and I stayed. They’d kept us hidden before. Maybe they would again.
The carriage shifted, gusts of wind blasting through the broken windows as the seraphim turned west. I lost my balance, falling into a seat. My vision doubled, sweat pouring down my forehead and back.
Auriel rushed toward me, crouching low, as he took me in.
“Lyriana! Your arm! What the hell happened back there?”
I shrugged, wincing. “I stabbed a soturion through the gut.”
Auriel’s eyebrows knit together with concern. “I see. And did you stop to think when you went in for the kill about protecting your flank?”
“No,” I seethed. “I was thinking I needed to kill him.”
“Kill him, but not keep yourself from injury?” I looked away.
Auriel scoffed. “I know for a fact that you’re a better warrior than that.”
“Really? Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m sure. Just like I know you, I know this.
” His jaw muscles flexed as he reached for the shelf above my seat, hauling down one of the first aid kits always kept on board.
He pulled out a cloth to tie around my arm and staunch the wound.
“We’re going to have a little discussion later about your survival skills. ”
“Maybe not while we’re being chased through the sky by a wolf legion.”
“Maybe.” He tightened the cloth, and pressed his hand to the wound, applying more pressure.
I gasped at the pain, biting back a scream, as he pressed.
“But we’re definitely having a talk. And the next time you think about letting one of those bastards get in a hit on you just so you can exact your revenge, or whatever the fuck that was back there, think of Rhyan.
Do you think he’d want you acting recklessly on his behalf? That he’d want to see you hurt?”
My chest tightened. Because I had thought of Rhyan. And somehow, that had almost made it worse.
“Hold this right here for me,” Auriel said, replacing his hand with mine. “Tight! And don’t move! It’s deep. I’ll need to take a closer look once we land.” He stuck his head out of the window, calling orders to the seraphim, urging it to calm down, while simultaneously telling it to fly faster.
The wind gusted in thick howling waves through the carriage, the walls rattling as we picked up speed.
“By all the damned fucking realms,” Auriel yelled.
“What?” I asked, already standing and heading for a window. “What happened?”
“I said don’t move!” He crossed the cabin, running to another window, sticking his head out. “Oh! Fuck!” Then he screamed at the seraphim, “Dorscha! Dorscha !”
“What? Auriel, no! Why are you telling it to go down?” I yelled. By the looks of the landscape beneath us, we were just barely on the easternmost edge of Urtavia. Nowhere near Elyria, or anywhere remotely free of soturi. But we were already starting our descent.
“Because,” Auriel yelled, then his eyes widened. “Shit!” He shot back over to me, wrapping me in his arms, until my entire body pressed against his, my face buried in the crook of his neck.
“What—” I started, and the carriage jolted.
An awful wailing sound screeched across my ears. My stomach lodged itself in my throat and Auriel tightened his arms, pulling me even closer. Realization settled over me with a kind of silent finality. We were no longer descending.
We were falling. The wolves had struck down our seraphim.
“We’re going to die,” I whispered.
“We’re not,” Auriel hissed. “We’re not!” He took a large gulp of air. “Do you trust me?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Good enough.”
We were hurtling toward the ground now. My entire body seized up, my stomach pinching in painfully.
Auriel lifted me against him, taking on all of my body weight. I squeezed my eyes shut, as fear wrapped around me.
“Hold onto me,” he commanded, his hand sliding down my back, urging my legs to wrap around him. “Don’t let go.”
“AURIEL!” I screamed, as he leapt through the window with me. For a second we were airborne. My arms tightened around him, my heart stopping. And then we were falling, just as fast as before.
“Hold on,” Auriel gasped, stretching his body until we turned midair, his back facing the ground. “I’ve got you—I’ve got you—”
There was a quick burst of something that felt like magic, like a cloud that stilled our bodies, but then there was a sickening thud and all the air whooshed out of me.
“Lyriana?” Auriel gasped, breathless.
Slowly, still filled with terror, I opened my eyes.
I was sprawled across Auriel’s body, our limbs entangled.
I barely dared to breathe. My body still felt like it was falling, my stomach still dropping.
My arm screamed where I’d been stabbed. But we weren’t moving anymore.
We’d hit the ground. Auriel had taken the brunt of the fall, absorbing the worst of the impact.
“Auriel?” I asked. “Auriel!”
His eyes were open, green and blazing, and staring up at me. “Lyriana,” he croaked.
“We’re alive?” I asked, gasping for breath. “You’re okay?”
He winced, clearly winded and in pain. “One word for it.” Something flickered in his aura, dark and foggy. It was even cloudier than before. He gritted his teeth and turned his head. “Realms. I feel mortal.”
Our seraphim had fallen not far from us. Her wings twisted, her eyes closed. A sword pierced her heart.
“No,” I cried.
“She’s dead,” Auriel said. “Nothing we can do.”
My eyes watered, as I nodded against his chest, and tried to breathe. But the fear was beginning to leave my body, replaced by exhaustion. My body began to tremble, every shake sending a new shock of pain down my arm. “How? How are we okay?” I asked.
“I jumped,” he groaned. “It restarted the fall, closer to the ground. So we had less time to build speed. And … I used a little magic to give us a boost at the end, slowing us down further. But I think … I used up what I had. For now.” He frowned, looking me over.
He winced again, looking almost as if he were having trouble breathing.
He was clearly in more pain than he was admitting to, but I could see in his eyes he was far more concerned with me. “Can you move at all?”
I nodded, and gingerly rolled off him, giving the world a moment to right itself.
As I stood, my vision doubled and my ears filled with the sound of rushing water.
I swayed, closing my eyes as a rush of nausea flooded through me.
My body felt so hot. Almost feverish. I blinked hard, forcing back the tears in my eyes before Auriel could notice.
“What about you?” I asked quickly, diverting his attention from me. Auriel was motionless on the ground. He still looked like a God. A fallen God. But it was more than evident, seeing him like this, just how mortal he was. “Can you move?” I asked.
His chest heaved, his face and neck still red from exertion, but he reached for my hand, and sat up, taking a few labored but deep breaths. Then slowly, I helped him to his feet. “I guess, I can,” he said breathlessly.
Our fingers entwined together, the gesture as startling as it was natural, and something pounded in my chest.
“You’re sure?”
Auriel nodded, smiling softly, until his eyes dipped with concern to my arm. The cloth was matted with dirt from our fall as well as my blood, still seeping from the wound. Quickly, I placed my hand back over the bandage.
“Looks a bit different since the last time I was here,” Auriel said with a smirk.