CHAPTER 36 #2
He shot a hard look at Bale, then sheathed his sword. “Drop your blade,” he commanded. “Riht steel stays in the Riht.” Then he turned back to me. “I trust Wep, and I trust Dane. They seem to trust you. Swear to me you know how to end this.”
“I swear it, but you have to let us both out. It’s the only way. Once I’m back, I’ll go straight to the Receiving Hall with Dane.”
His shoulders tensed, and his eyes searched mine. He was wavering.
“Protecting Drakh must always come first. Over any one life. Please.”
“I break no oaths today,” he said, but he stepped aside all the same.
I tried to push up to my feet, but sharp pain radiated down my right arm, which collapsed under my weight. Metal clanged to the floor, then Bale lifted me from under my arms like a child. I cried out when he gripped my arm, stemming the blood flow.
“Let’s get outside,” he muttered.
“Thank you.” With a final look at Braedur, I shot out my left forearm, and he gripped it without hesitation.
“Blessings of the Great Dragon are upon you.” He nodded.
We rushed out the door with Bale supporting my every step. I led him toward the northeastern corner.
“Stop,” he said. “We need to wrap that, or you’ll bleed out.
He had a point. My entire sleeve was thick with blood. I was moving forward on adrenaline alone. Bale ripped a strip of cloth from his already tattered shirt and tied it tight above my wound like a tourniquet.
“We’ll need to clean and bandage that soon,” he added grimly.
“As soon as you’re out, I will,” I promised. I needed to preserve my power rather than risk using too much trying to figure out how to heal myself.
We took off through the gardens, bypassing the sacred tree, my corner of lavender, and the vegetable patch. It was a gnarled old apple tree I was after. It grew in the corner of the gardens, right by a wall, and it was our best chance of climbing over.
Vaya’la’s presence filled me, and the pain in my arm lessened.
A new clarity overtook my mind, and I connected with the apple tree.
Her lifelight pulsed, and through it, I could feel her—the tree—ancient and strong.
She had nourished the people of these lands for generations, and she was eager to help.
“Grow,” we told the tree, and her branches grew and twisted until they interlocked, forming rungs like stairs. I watched in awe at the beauty and simplicity of the magic. All I had to do was ask, and she listened.
As soon as the branches moved, Bale climbed.
He leapt off the last branch and gripped the side of the wall, pulling himself up.
He surveyed the river below, and without a glance back at me, he jumped.
There was no time to think this through.
I ran up each branch, leaping to the next before my balance had a chance to fail me, and flung myself over the wall.
I screamed as I fell. By some miracle, I missed the rocks surrounding the castle walls and plunged straight into the river.
I tried to swim with one arm, but the current twisted me this way and that.
I kicked my feet as hard as I could, struggling toward the direction I hoped was upward.
A shudder racked through my body as my lungs began forcing out air.
Just in time, my head broke the surface, and I gasped in a breath.
“Serae!” Bale shouted.
Rough hands gripped me and yanked me out of the cold. We had made it to the opposite bank. Bale was soaking wet and bleeding from his side. His eyes were blown wide, but he was standing.
I got to my feet and stripped off my skirt, leaving me in my tunic and leggings.
I couldn’t carry the excess weight, and I didn’t have the strength in both arms to wring it out.
I dug through my sodden pockets and found both sollars still there.
They were wet, but they would do. Before I slipped them on, I paused to find the thread that connected with Naton.
His vomit-inducing rage pulsed toward me from the southeast.
“Let’s go,” I said to Bale, who nodded at me without a word. He asked no questions about the powers he’d just witnessed, but his eyes searched mine for answers all the same.
We were still within the walls of Drakh, less than halfway to where we needed to be. I scanned the sky. It was well past midday. Sprakt was nowhere to be seen. He had disappeared when the fighting broke out in the corridor, but there was no time to double back and search for him.
I led the way through the lower city. With each step, shouting grew louder.
People rushed through the streets, carrying arrows, water, weapons, and armor.
Some had carts laden with food, while others carted blankets and medical supplies.
No one stopped us as we walked, soaked and bleeding, toward the epicenter of the warriors and noise.
Each step was an agony that needlessly lengthened our journey.
When we made it past the last row of houses, the full scope of the eastern gates finally came into sight. I drew up short.
“Oh, Creator fuck me,” Bale groaned.
I had to agree. The top of the wall was lined with archers in either direction.
Warriors were clustered into groups all around the gates.
Everyone looked to have a task, and each group worked in tandem, restocking quivers and running supplies.
There were groups leading dowsae in front of the gates, keeping the warriors limber enough for when their time came to rush out.
Our best chance was to wait with one of these groups and dart out in the chaos.
Cries of death and pain echoed from over the walls, chilling me to my core.
People were dying because of me, and both sides were my people.
I reinforced my will to keep my second sight firmly closed.
With so much going on around us and so many emotions, an explosion of rainbow light was threatening to slip through and blind me.
“WARRIORS OF THE RIHT,” a voice cried out from above.
It was a voice I knew as well as my own.
My heart ached, begging me to move toward him, but I resisted.
I searched the battlements until I found a streak of copper amid the sea of blond.
“The time has come for you to protect your people, protect your land, and protect your way of life! Show them no fear.”
The crowd cheered and banged their shields. Eldreth was there, bow in hand, commanding the forces from within the walls. A wave of relief hit me. I had expected him to be part of the melee that sounded beyond. Within the walls, I knew he was safe.
“When these gates open, we must push forward.”
“AS ONE!” they cried out.
“We must do more than hold our lines.”
“AS ONE!”
“We must make them rue the day they challenged the Riht!”
The warriors dissolved into a mix of shouts and cheers.
Then, the banging started. It began with one group thumping their shields, and more joined in.
Those holding spears slammed them into the hard earth in time to the rhythmic beat.
Others stomped their feet. The result was a drumbeat that shook the ground itself.
The cacophony was so loud, so jarring, I felt it in my teeth.
It was a sound that struck fear into the hearts of its enemies, reminding them of the ferocity of the Riht.
“Brothers and sisters!” The pounding eased to a rumble so they could hear their future dane’s voice. “Never would I ask you to do what I, myself, would not. WE GO TOGETHER!”
“AS ONE!” The cheers were deafening.
Bale gripped my shoulders, propping me up when my knees weakened. He shouted something in my ear, but I couldn’t hear him over the throng.
When the uproar dwindled, Eldreth called, “May our archers’ aim be true!”
The warriors echoed back, “Our arrows will fly true!”
“May our blades find their marks!”
“Our blades will find their marks!”
“May we all go home as one!”
“To Dane’s halls or Veyhallah’s!” They took up the drumbeat again. “AS ONE! AS ONE! AS ONE!”
Eldreth disappeared from his post atop the battlements, and I knew he was readying to lead his warriors on foot. Fear, hot and feral, raged through me.
I gripped Bale’s arm and shoved between the nearest groups of warriors. Our only hope was to circumvent the fighting and pray that we managed to stay alive. My arm was throbbing, and Bale’s side was still seeping blood.
Could we even make it?
There was no time to consider. A hulking, grinding crank began to turn, opening the gates.
Between the slim gap, one of the curved talons peeked into view.
As soon as the gates parted, the warriors began to pour through, dashing beneath the dragon’s monstrous claw.
When it opened to the width of four people standing abreast, it ground to a halt.
With horror, I saw Eldreth raising his sword in salute to each group that passed through.
A hawk screeched overhead, and I turned my eyes to the sky. My heart sank. I knew the outline of that sparrowhawk. He was circling low. My eyes flew to Eldreth, who had paused his salute to watch Sprakt’s descent. The bird would lead him straight to me.
No, no, no!
Sprakt dived and landed, not on my shoulder, but Eldreth’s.
“We have to go, now!” I shouted to Bale. I gripped his hand and pulled us as far to the left as I could manage. I kept my head down, but with the bottleneck at the gates and my hair shining flame-bright in the sun…
“What’s wrong?” Bale shouted in my ear over the clamor of the ranks.
We were nearly there.
“Later,” I said, not daring to raise my voice.
Just a little farther…
“Serae?”
Fuck.
Eldreth’s next shout was strangled. “No! Serae!”
I did not turn. I clung to Bale’s hand and shoved forward as fast as I could, ducking between the last few rows of warriors blocking our path. With a final push, we squeezed through the gates.
“Stop! STOP!”