CHAPTER 27 #2
Both men turned and began stripping out of their clothes.
My eyes were glued to Eldreth, Wep, whoever he was, unable to look away as his longsword and scabbard hit the ground, followed by bracers, spaulders, chestpiece, short and long daggers, and finally his shirt, leaving him in pants, boots, and belt.
He pulled a strip of leather from his pocket and tied his hair up in a knot.
Ellán had tossed his belongings in the grass, though he had much less to take off—his tunic and a few trinkets.
They faced each other. Eldreth’s right side was toward me. I could see the spiraling of dragon tails across his shoulder and down his bicep. Below that, his forearm was mottled with deep red scarring. He drew his swords.
“Begin,” Dane called with arms crossed and teeth gritted. An attendant below the dais put a horn to her lips and blew.
Eldreth exploded into action. My mind cleared. He was the weaponmaster, Marr Wep by title, and he had been for years. The Training Hall was his. The warriors of Drakh were taught and led by him. He was an expert in combat and battle.
Ellán stood no chance.
I had seen them spar with short swords before, but this was different.
Eldreth moved with violence more forceful and aggressive than I’d ever seen from him.
His usual sweeping lines and redirected momentum were all sharper, using exactly what he needed and never more.
He was strength and precision, yes, but this was no teaching moment.
This was an attack. He drove Ellán back on his heels, forcing constant retreat.
This trial would be over before it had truly begun.
Even I could see that Eldreth was positioned to score a hit at any moment if my assumption about the right to first blood was correct.
But he didn’t take it. With comical exaggeration, he slapped the side of his blade against Ellán’s upper arm, leaving a welt.
Ellán yelped and spun out of reach, but Eldreth anticipated this.
He moved inhumanly fast and scored his second smack.
Then another. Then another. In moments, Ellán had welts on his arms, sides, and one across his back.
Red mottled Ellán’s face, and his next charge was sloppy.
Eldreth pivoted with one perfect step and elbowed him across the back of the head as he passed.
“Is this just a game to you?” Ellán bellowed, whirling around. “You would toy with our sacred rites?”
This broke the crowd from their stupor. Angry shouts sounded in response, some with him and some against him.
Eldreth disengaged, shoving Ellán to the ground with two pommels to the chest. He spoke in a low rumble, but the magic of this place magnified it for all to hear.
“I have a right to choice. I have a right to happiness. The only approval I will ever seek is that of Serae and the Great Dragon, herself.”
“Her trial was lost,” Ellán spat from the ground. “The decision is no longer up to you alone.”
Lost. The word echoed in my ears as cheers erupted in the stands.
Tears fell from my eyes, unbidden. The Riht began stamping their feet.
Someone started up a chant that caught on, mirroring my exact fears.
“Send. Her. Back. Send. Her. Back.” They wanted the betrothal annulled.
They wanted me gone from the Riht. With so many against me, how could Dane deny them?
Misery exuded from my soul, and petals as black as night piled at my feet.
As each one touched the ground, it withered to ash.
Eldreth shouldn’t have ever been mine, and now he’d be taken from me before I even had him.
He would win any trial he faced, but I had already lost mine. There was no going back.
Behind me, I could make out the voices of my ranng shouting their protests. In the pause, as Eldreth allowed his brother to get to his feet and retrieve his weapons, his gaze sought mine.
“It is time for all to know the truth. Show me your faith.” Vaya’la’s voice echoed in my head, and Eldreth’s eyes went wide. “You know what you must do.”
Eldreth held my eyes for a moment longer, and then he nodded. Fear clenched my gut when he turned back to Ellán, jaw clenched with resolve.
“We stay or go together,” he shouted.
“No!” I screamed. I could see his plan taking shape, but I was helpless to stop it.
Ellán charged in, but his form was wild. He had lost all control. Eldreth could’ve ended this easily, but he corralled his brother, forcing his strikes inside and back in line.
No, no, no, no, no, the word repeated on end in my head. The rite, the trial, the results—none of it mattered anymore. Not with what I was about to do.
“Be ready, Small One.”
“NO!” I screamed again as Eldreth took a single perfect step into his brother’s sloppy thrust. The blade pierced his abdomen. I could hear the great woosh of air from his lungs as the blade plunged in.
Ellán jumped back in shock. He looked at his hand in horror. “What have you done?” he hissed, dropping his other blade. He gripped Eldreth, who sank to his knees. “Get the healer!” He bellowed, tears falling from his eyes and onto his brother’s chest.
“Worry not,” Eldreth rasped.
“She’s not worth your death!” Ellán screamed.
At my side, Dane was frozen, but the sight of bright red blood seeping from Eldreth’s wound spurred me to action.
I leapt to my feet, fear giving way to fury.
Eldreth would not die today. I stripped off my cloak and boots.
The pain from my arm, my hand, and my breast all screamed at me, but I pushed everything aside.
I pulled my arm free of the sling, jumped off the dais, and ran barefoot across the field.
Others were running out too, faster than me.
“Move!” I screamed as one of Dane’s guards gripped me, blocking my path.
“MOVE,” we commanded, and thick roots erupted from the ground, pulling everyone aside.
I ran to Eldreth, ignoring the screams of shock and fear in my wake.
Ellán was cradling Eldreth’s head in his arms, weeping and muttering his apologies.
They were surrounded by a pool of Eldreth’s blood, staining the grass crimson.
“You idiots,” I fumed. I dropped to my knees beside them, blood already seeping through my dress where I knelt.
Ellán moved toward Eldreth’s wound, and I slapped his hand away. The sword was still embedded in his gut. It was the only thing stemming the flow of blood.
“She spoke to me,” Eldreth rasped. “In my head.”
“I know.”
Ellán sobbed. “He’s fading. He’s no longer making sense.”
There was no more time to waste. I gripped the pommel and said, “I’m sorry about this.
” Eldreth’s laugh came out as a wheeze. I yanked the blade free, and Eldreth growled in pain.
Ellán screamed in protest. I ignored them both as I plunged my fingers into his wound.
My toes were already digging into the soft grass.
It took less than a thought to pull from Vaya’la and focus her energy into healing light.
I let it fill me until the light leaked from my pores, until I thought I might burst from the weightless pressure of it, until I threatened to burn up from within.
Then, I forced it into Eldreth, every last drop.
My hands were awash with light so bright, it was hard to look at.
That searing light was more focused and intense than any of my previous creations.
My own gut screamed with unimaginable pain.
It nearly overtook me, but I would not allow it.
Not now, not today, not when Eldreth’s life was at stake.
The light itself guided me. As I withdrew my fingers one layer at a time, tissue mended, and organs and muscles knitted back together.
I pushed the light, focusing it further, and his veins fused, his ligaments reconnected, and finally, his skin merged until there was nothing visible but a pink line.
The pain receded. His eyes popped open, and they were alert and bright. My second sight revealed his lifelight radiating brighter than ever.
“Look at you,” he whispered.
I smiled through the tears that sprang from my eyes. “I could say the same to you.”
“Wings,” Ellán gasped. He was staring behind me, his lifelight exuded in bright teal waves of awe. Gasps echoed all around, and I heard others cry out, “Dragon wings!” and “She’s been chosen,” and “They’re wings of light!”
Eldreth sat up, his arm encircling my waist. The backs of his fingers stroked down my cheek. “Now everyone sees you as I do.”
I huffed out a laugh and kissed him. This insane, beautiful man had seen a way past my failed rite. How could the Riht refuse me once they knew who—what—I was?
With a strength I did not have, I rose to my feet. Vaya’la’s will pressed in on me, guiding me. “Name me,” we commanded, and our voice boomed through the arena.
Eldreth stood before me, naked to the waist and completely healed. Then, he dropped to one knee. His voice rose and echoed in every crevice and corner of the stands.
“SERAE, DRAGONBOUND!”
Vaya’la purred her pleasure in my mind. “Sleep. Your work today is done.”
I collapsed into a fold of strong arms, rosemary, and mint.