Chapter 3 #2
I winced as one strike hit me particularly hard, sending a flare of pain racing up my arm, and Rynn jumped back with a yelp. We were only feeling a fraction of the assault against the townhouse’s defenses, but it was still considerable. The ward’s glow was beginning to transition to orange.
If it took on shades of red, we had at best a minute or two left.
Inwardly, I monitored my strength levels and found I’d already lost a third of it in just fifteen minutes. If I drained much more, I wouldn’t be able to portal us across the Sobaryan mountains, and we’d have to stay on this side of Zadrya.
My arm ached from the pain of pushing so much magic through it while catching the shocks from the continuous attack.
I wasn’t used to it, and neither was Rynn.
Tears had formed in her eyes. I wished I could have protected her from this, but instead, she had to learn about fighting for survival at a young age. We had no choice.
The minutes dragged on as I grew weaker, and right when I thought I couldn’t hold out much longer, a familiar figure appeared down the street.
From my angle, I could just make out Darrow as he strode toward the dark elves with his hands extended, and power unlike anything I’d felt before crackled through the air so thickly that it stung my face from a few hundred feet away. What had he done?
I risked leaning within view of the doorframe, stirring up the enemy further at the sight of me. Rynn followed my lead. I would have admonished her, but something told me it wouldn’t matter. We were the perfect distraction.
The enemy didn’t notice the threat in time, and they died brutally for their mistake.
My husband crushed them in seconds. Their broken bodies crumpled to the street in puddles of blood, skin, and shattered bone.
Bile rose to my throat. Rynn and I stopped channeling to cover our mouths, trying not to heave.
As Darrow came closer, I caught an eerie glow in his gray eyes.
I’d never seen him that way before. His expression was cold, yet also burning with rage.
I gasped in disbelief at the way he’d destroyed the dark elves in moments when it would have usually taken him much longer to handle more than twenty of them.
He shouldn’t have had that kind of power.
Skirting the dead bodies, he and the others following behind him—shock on their faces at what he’d done as well—headed toward the house.
As he crossed the small front yard with scorch marks running through it from the attack, the rage and power emanating from him intensified in the air.
I noted his torn clothing and the dried blood on his skin.
He’d been injured, but I couldn’t find any wounds now.
His smooth and bold strides told me he wasn’t in pain anywhere.
I grabbed Rynn’s hand and pulled us back.
Darrow may have saved us, but I didn’t know how to react to this version of him.
He stopped in the doorway, filling it with his large, muscular body as he looked me up and down.
The half-dark elf was as startlingly good-looking as ever, but I couldn’t find a hint of kindness or compassion in his gaze.
“Are you hurt?” he asked. Even his voice had deepened and grown gruffer.
I clutched Rynn’s hand tightly and shook my head. “No. Only exhausted. I don’t think I have enough power to get us to Darynia.”
“We aren’t going there anyway,” he said, checking over my cousin next. At least he appeared concerned about us.
I took a deep breath. “Then where?”
“To the Andalagar tribal lands in Therress.” Darrow moved farther into the foyer, and my eyes rounded as Prince Armin followed behind him. “The king may be dead, but we need to get all his heirs to safety before something happens to them as well.”
I agreed, but I’d had no idea that was why he’d left so quickly after we arrived. It hadn’t occurred to me that he went to find them. Had that been part of his deal with Zadrya’s monarch, and how he’d curried so much favor with him?
In the distance, pounding footsteps and shouts filled the air as more dark elves moved down the street. The time for questions would have to come later. “I’ve got the portal ring case by the back door.”
“Good,” Darrow said, taking a step toward me.
The fury in his gaze hardly softened even when he looked at me.
It wasn’t as maniacal as my uncle’s, but it was terrifying enough that I couldn’t stand to let him near me.
How violent was he in this state? Would one wrong word set him off?
I spun on my heels, taking Rynn with me as we hurried through the house.
Neither of us should be near him like this.
As soon as we approached the kitchen, I glanced at my cousin. “Get the door open, and I’ll grab the case.”
“There’s no need.” Darrow brushed past me, bringing chills to my skin. “I’ll set it up.”
I turned my gaze away from him and met Armin’s.
The prince, who was clearly injured without so much as a bandage to staunch his wounds, shook his head slowly.
His health would be our next priority once we reached safety.
I looked at Jax and Loden next. Anxiety reflected in their features, making me wonder what had happened while they were out there. How bad did it get?
They took mine and Rynn’s bags but said nothing.
Forcing myself to concentrate on the task at hand, I hurried outside. Darrow was stretching out the metal ring. I cleared my throat, not interested in drawing his attention again, but I had no choice. “The horses…”
He glanced at me as he adjusted the last part. “There’s no time.”
“We aren’t leaving them,” I said, trying to put some strength into my voice.
“Horses can be replaced.”
As I recalled, he was fond of his mount, but apparently, not right now.
I straightened my spine and met his gaze, trying not to balk at the coldness within his glowing gray eyes. “If you want me to open the portal, you’ll get the horses out here now…or I swear to the nameless ones I’ll let us all die right here.”
No matter how much Darrow frightened me at this moment, I wouldn’t leave innocent animals to the dark elves’ mercy.
Considering all the fires they’d set around the capital, if the thick smoke outside was anything to go by, there was a chance they’d light up the barn as well.
I wouldn’t take that chance. He’d thank me for it later when he came to his senses.
At least, I hoped his current state was temporary.
Loden stepped closer to me. “This isn’t the time to argue with him, Aella. He’s not himself.”
“Maybe not.” I shot him a look. “But he can’t hurt me without hurting himself—our wedding vows ensured that.”
We’d taken a blood oath that we couldn’t harm each other without the other receiving the same injury.
It was the only thing that kept me from quaking under my husband’s wrathful glare right now.
His expression was a little too close to my uncle’s and cousin’s when they were angry with me, except Darrow’s showed none of the evil glee.
Be brave, Aella. Stand your ground, I told myself, and lifted my chin in defiance.
“Very well.” He glanced at the barn behind him with a scowl. “We’ll get the horses while you begin channeling.”
“Fine,” I said, relieved to turn away from him.
At least we were going somewhere easily accessible. The Andalagar didn’t have wards set up against me, so it was only the distance that would put a strain on my powers. Even then, their land was on this side of the mountains, so I wouldn’t fully deplete myself.
I jerked open my bag and grabbed a large cream vase with silver filigree vines painted along its sides.
Pulling the stopper, I poured just enough holmium into my palm for the journey.
The precious ore was ground into a fine, dark powder and primarily used for portal channeling.
Energy hummed from it. Rynn took the vase from me to put back in my bag, saving me the trouble.
The sounds of the dark fae’s pounding boot steps were getting closer.
I stretched a hand toward the portal ring on the ground and began chanting.
Power filled my body and raced through my arm.
Streaks of light flew from my fingertips toward the seventeen gray algodonite stones spaced evenly around the thick metal circle.
Each one had a different rune carved into the surface.
I guided my magic to five of them in a sequence that would take us to the Andalagar territory southeast of us—there were four across Zadrya in total.
Luckily, the one where we went was the place the Prime Chief of the tribe lived, and I’d visited there often enough to have memorized the rune order.
By the time I made the connection and blue light filled the ring, Darrow and the others were leading the horses from the nearby barn. They would barely fit through the portal, as it was on the smaller side, but at least we could get them to safety.
I gestured at Rynn. “Take the prince and go. He’s going to need your help after he gets there.”
Armin had grown paler in the last few minutes and desperately needed tending. Rynn could use her powers to stop the bleeding and perform some minor repairs until a more experienced healer could reach him.
She squared her shoulders, brave as ever. “I’ll take care of him, Aella.”
My little cousin continued to amaze me. She had the heir to Zadrya as her temporary responsibility, and she hadn’t balked at the task. If circumstances weren’t so urgent and I didn’t have a portal to maintain, I would have hugged her.
The wounded royal guards went next. After that, Darrow and his two friends guided the horses through one by one.
While mine was familiar with rings that lay on the ground, a couple of others weren’t.
They balked at stepping into the blue pool at first, but Darrow’s impatient growl encouraged them forward quickly.
Perhaps the portal was the lesser of two evils.