Child of Blackwen (An Artemis Ravenwing Novel Book 1) (32 page)

Arlina froze once she saw Artemis and the mare disappear. Her niece was in her grasp and that witch let the dhampir brat slip through her fingers!

“Better luck next time, Arlina,” Talisa smiled. Her chin was red from the earlier punch the Mistress of Blackwen dealt her. “You’ll never catch her. Not while I and Shadow are around to protect her.”

“I will kill all of you if it is the last thing I do!” Arlina swore.

Arlina gripped her sai. The cries of those calling her name stopped her from attacking that damned crone. She spotted Latos and several other soldiers running towards her. Latos joined her side, his jaw and other parts of his body covered in congealed blood. The soldiers flanked in between Arlina and the witch. Talisa merely glared at them.

“Why are you here?” Arlina hissed.

“I did not spot the Tamina look-a-like, but I did find the Hall of the Elders,” Latos reported. “I thought perhaps she would be hiding there.”

You’re too late, imbecile
, Arlina thought. She suddenly found herself smiling. Artemis slipped away, yes, but there was one more person in this wretched realm worth killing.

“Well done,” Arlina replied. “Take me there at once.” She glanced at Talisa and waved. “Catch me if you can, crone! I have a meeting with a certain rose.”

aresu raced through Ellewynth to locate the jail that held Netira prisoner. When attacked by an elf soldier, he held back any killing strikes and simply incapacitated them so that he would not be followed. When encountered by his fellow full-bloods, Karesu came up with the excuse that he had an urgent message for the Mistress.

The full-bloods of Blackwen had always been confused at Karesu’s “code” of fighting; he would always meet an opponent head on. He may have pretended to be a despicable person, but Karesu still valued the ideal of the “honorable warrior.” If it weren’t for him being a mage, Karesu was sure Arlina would have disposed of him because he gave too much respect to those he met in battle.

As Karesu ran, he wasn’t sure what worried him more—finding the prison yet being too late to save Netira, or encountering Arlina and being forced to hunt his love with her. In the end, he decided his ultimate objective was to find the prison and figure it all out from there. To do that, however, he would have to locate an Elder.

In the elven society, the Elders were the ones who had complete control over the prison. Karesu scowled as he thought he should have kept that bothersome witch hostage. Surely Talisa would have saved him the time and effort of locating the prison.

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, an arrow grazed his right ear. As his fingers brushed his cross charm earring, he was relieved to find
it still intact. Another arrow shot past the now torn sleeve of Karesu’s tunic, and when he found the tree that concealed the archer, he leaped and knocked down his attacker. When they both reached the ground, he was horrified that the archer was nothing more than a youngling.

She stared at him with angry blue eyes, her long blond hair now filthy with dirt and scrunched leaves.

“Do your worst, vampire!” she spat. “I do not fear death!”

Karesu sighed and got off of the girl. He stretched out a hand to help her up, and she stared at him with confusion.

“Do you wish to keep to the ground?” Karesu asked, kneeling on one leg while still holding out a helping hand.

“You’re trying to trick me,” the girl said. “If I let you pull me up, you’ll slip that fancy sword of yours into my belly and drain me of my blood.”

“I thought you did not fear death.”

“I don’t!”

Karesu rubbed his temples. “Just how old are you? Why are you fighting?”

“I’m defending my home like any other elf of Ellewynth!” she snapped, pushing herself from the ground while keeping her distance from him. “I’m older than you think. I’m as old as Shadow of Ellewynth when he first became a soldier. You know of him, I know you do.”

“You may be trained, but you’re no soldier, girl,” Karesu replied. “Don’t go chasing the fame that will curse instead of enrich you. Go run to the veils while you still can. Ellewynth has fallen. There’s nothing more you can do.”

“I can still fight!” she yelled, pointing to the tear in his sleeve.

Karesu chuckled. “I don’t think your intention was to rip my clothing.”

The girl flushed and went to charge him. He sighed and was about to side-step away from her swinging bow, until he saw one of his full-blood comrades run toward the girl from behind. Karesu saw the girl’s eyes widen as he moved his sword forward. She fell to the ground to avoid his swing, and she was startled at the sound of Karesu’s blade parrying the other full-blood’s short sword.

“What treachery is this, mage?” the full-blood spat, his fangs fully elongated and his face and clothing covered in elven blood.

“It’s none of your concern,” Karesu answered. He looked at the girl after shoving off the full-blood. “Run.”

“What are you trying to pull?” she said, evidently shaking.

“I already told you! You’re just a youngling,” Karesu explained. “It is not yet your time.”

“Arlina will hear of this!” the full-blood threatened, as he pressed forward for another attack.

Karesu pushed off the full-blood once more and parried multiple sword strikes. With a sweeping arc of his blade, the full-blood’s head rolled to the ground. The elf girl shut her eyes while covering her mouth. The calligraphy suddenly brightened, and then it dimmed once the blood disappeared off his blade. Karesu knelt beside the girl.

“Now you see that if I wanted you dead, you would have been,” he explained. “Run while you still can.”

“But…why?”

“I…I’m not the same as them,” Karesu said, remembering his conversation with Talisa. “Perhaps you will be willing to trade some information with me in exchange?”

“I don’t trust you, full-blood,” the elf girl growled. She then sighed. “But for saving my life, I might feel a little generous.”

“Where is your prison?”

The girl was confused. “What for?”

“I need to save someone I love before my kind gets to her first.”

The girl was silent and looked away. “Love?”

“Yes. It’s imperative that I find her. Can you tell me where your prison is?” Karesu begged.

The girl stood up and grabbed her bow, notching another arrow. Karesu’s grip on his sword tightened, but she shot the arrow in the western direction. Confused, he noticed her preparing to dash away.

“Looks like I missed,” she said, with a hint of sarcasm.

Raising an eyebrow, he realized she had given him a direction in which to find the prison.

“Will I know what it looks like?” Karesu asked.

She nodded. “You’re bound to find an Elder in that direction. One of them is sure to be guarding the prison.”

He watched her dash away before he could thank her, and he smiled when he saw her run in the direction away from the fighting. Running west, he took a deep breath and prayed.

Arlina stood before the Hall of the Elders and frowned as she stared at the carvings and other intricate woodwork. She very much wanted to destroy the building and see who would call it “pretty” afterward.

“
This
is the Hall of the Elders, Latos?” she said, unimpressed.

“Yes, Mistress,” Latos answered. He licked what was left of the congealed elf blood from his chin. “We’ll burn it once your business with there is done.”

Burning it wouldn’t be enough
, Arlina thought as she kicked the door down to enter.

The scent of tea wafted through the hall, and Arlina scowled. The damn elves and their obsession with tea! She never understood the need to consume watered-down leaves.

It was disgusting.

She spied the three main doors, and she grinned when she saw the door with the silver rose. “This one is Clarayne’s.”

“I would have assumed so, since she
is
The Rose,” Latos muttered.

He yelped when Arlina smacked the side of his head with the onyx-jeweled hilt of her sai.

“When I want your commentary, I will ask you for it,” Arlina berated him, as she walked closer to the door. “Stand guard outside of the hall. I do not want any interruptions from that witch or pitiful elves thinking to pull off a rescue attempt.”

Latos bowed his head while still rubbing it, and vanished from the hall. Arlina pressed a hand against the wood and felt excited when she noted the Elder’s presence on the other side. She tapped her nails along the door, and when she felt the Elder startle at the sound, Arlina kicked through the door and held out her arms as if expecting an embrace.

“Lady Clarayne!” Arlina mocked her with a bow. “What an
honor
it is to see you again! The Rose herself! Kiare be praised.”

“Spare me, Arlina.” Lady Clarayne’s hand gripped the hilt of her curved blade. “I knew you would come here. How could you pass up such a glorious opportunity, Mistress of Blackwen?”

“I’m touched!” Arlina put a hand over her heart. “Truly, Clarayne. Here I thought you’d forgotten all about little ol’ me.”

“Even when you’re sent to the abyss, I will
never
forget you,” Lady Clarayne hissed, pointing her sword at Arlina.

“Still sour after all these years?” Arlina sighed. She began to pace the room while twirling both her sai. “He was only a husband, you know. They
can
be replaced. It happens all the time! I’m sure there were plenty of other men who were willing to take his place.” Clarayne’s face darkened, and Arlina pretended to be shocked. “What? You mean to tell me after all these years you haven’t taken another man to your bed? That is a dreary thing, to deprive yourself of some fun.”

“Be silent,” Lady Clarayne demanded, her control of her patience diminishing.

“I’m sure your dead darling wouldn’t mind. After all, don’t they always say to live on, just for them? The whole ‘live for each moment’ speech?” Arlina chuckled. “Oh wait…he didn’t say any of that. What
did
he say before I broke through his ribs to rip out his still-beating heart? Oh, yes! I remember now.”

“Don’t you dare, you bitch!” Lady Clarayne yelled.

“He said, ‘I will always love you, my rose.’ He said, ‘We will be reunited in Willow’s Grove once more.’ Do you have
any
idea how hard it is to keep down the bile after witnessing such a sickening moment?” Arlina taunted. She enjoyed the growing anger she felt from the Elder. “I’ve heard better lines spewed from drunkards.”