Ethon (The Other Worlds Series Book 2) (39 page)

22

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Tiara’s heart was pounding inside her chest. Her grasp on her sword was so tight it was turning her knuckles white. She knew she was shaking and was grateful for her bouncing in the saddle so that Archrin wouldn’t notice.

Less than a year ago, Tiara had been a simple Drivian with humble expectations for her life. The most excitement she ever had was from her long rides through Ildatch Forest. Those days were gone forever. The moment the Kendrens stepped foot into Drivian, her life made a drastic change. She’d wondered countless times during the past few months about what would have become of her if it hadn’t been Archrin sent to her home. It didn’t really matter what the scenario, if the outcome didn’t include Archrin in it, then Tiara doubted she’d ever be truly happy. Even though she’d been in mortal peril on more than one instance since that first day, Tiara wouldn’t change a thing so long as her life included her Tlaidian Craele.

Now, as she and Archrin rode into battle, she was faced with the very real possibility that she or he could die. Oddly enough, it wasn’t her own death that frightened her – it was the thought of Archrin dying. Tiara hated the idea of living without him. She might have been his mate, but he was her family. If he were to die, she would be basically alone. Yet, if the time they’d spent together was all she was meant to have with him, it would have to be enough. Archrin wouldn’t want the fire inside of her to die with him.

Tiara fought back tears as she felt her braided hair hit her back with each stride of the horse. If Archrin should die before the day’s end, Tiara would give her enemies a brawl they’d never forget. Even if it killed her, Tiara would make it into those Legends as the first Saerd Queen to terrify the Velvitors.

Slowly, Tiara raised the hand holding her sword high above her head and glanced back at the faces of the men she led. Each one held the determination of a skilled warrior. These were men she’d once despised, unaware of their own hatred toward the Kendren brothers. Now, Tiara was proud to be their queen.

“To victory!” She screamed.

Somehow the men heard her. A thunderous war cry was her reply, followed by a repeat of her own words. “To victory!”

They were almost to the front of the castle. Just before they rounded the last corner, Tiara felt an intense pain in the back of her head. She nearly fell off the horse. If Archrin hadn’t been gripping onto her arm around his middle, she probably would have. Blinding hot flames spread into her brain and then through her veins. Something was terribly wrong. It was as if her mind were trying to shut itself off. Tiara cried out as another wave seeped through her.

Archrin noticed. “Tiara, what’s wrong?”

She couldn’t answer him. It took all her effort just to fight back the numbing darkness that was attempting to force itself into her mind. Her hand pressed up against her forehead as if to push out the pain. Tiara realized she’d dropped her sword. Not that it really mattered at the moment. A sword couldn’t help get rid of the absolute torture.

Sweat beaded on her forehead. She was vaguely aware of Archrin engaging with a wolf. She clung to him, afraid that if she let go her body would give into the nothingness. It hurt. She hurt. Her lungs struggled for air – squeezing and contracting inside of her. She was dying. Perhaps she wouldn’t have to live without Archrin after all.

“Tiara!” Archrin’s yell penetrated into her skull. He sounded desperate. Could he feel her weakening lifeforce? It’d be so easy to give in to the numbness. As easy as falling asleep.

No!
Tiara’s mind shouted in rebellion. She couldn’t die now. The Legends wouldn’t take note of a queen who died silently without any wounds. Tiara clenched her jaw and forced her head up, but almost immediately wished she hadn’t.

She was in the middle of a warzone. The carcasses of both human and animal were strewn around her. Tiara desperately wanted to clamp her eyes shut but couldn’t. It was easier to fight the internal pain with her eyes open.

“Stay with me,” Archrin pleaded to her as he faced a new opponent. This one was human. Gray-skinned – a Nagreth. He was on foot. Archrin had the advantage from on horse even though he had the disadvantage of Tiara restraining his mobility. The Craele reflexes seemed to help, too. Archrin sliced through the Nagreth, but not before Tiara saw the blank look in his steel eyes.

The numbness. Tiara gasped. The Nagreth looked like what Tiara felt like she would have if she had succumbed to her pain – if she let it shut off her brain. There was only one thing she held in common with the Nagreth, and that was that they both had Talik’s Bead inside of them.

Tiara would have cursed if she could have spoken. She gritted her teeth. All this pain was from Talik! This realization gave her vigor anew to push it back. She was not going to become some Velvitor slave just because there was a mix-up between her and Olinia.

“I’m going to take you out of here,” Archrin told her, while batting away a bird the size of a horse. “You won’t last like this.”

He couldn’t retreat now. What would her men think? She’d be nothing more than the coward who brought them into peril only to flee from it moments later. She might as well kiss her throne goodbye.

Archrin clasped the reins in one hand and his sword in another before barreling his horse forward. Tiara tried to yell at him to stop but all that came out was a grunt. It was no use. She could barely breathe, let alone stop him. Her idea to help the Eves was falling into shambles.

Suddenly, the fire that coursed through her slowly retreated into the back of her neck – condensing into one location. Although the movement caused her some relief, it wasn’t quite enough to make Tiara all better. Something was going on with her Bead. She could feel an unseen force trying to yank it out of her. The Bead wasn’t willing to let her go, though. Tiara cried out as the Bead dug its grip deeper into her tissue. What was going on? Was someone really going after her Bead, or was it some sort of crazy malfunction? Tiara was confused and in agony. She cringed against Archrin.

The stubborn Bead apparently wasn’t as strong as the force that wished to remove it. After one more quick jerk, the Bead shot out the back of her neck. Tiara went flying backwards, knocked from the horse at the Bead’s sudden release. She hit the ground on her back, and her breath rushed out of her.

Tiara sat up, wheezing for air and relieved to be free of the Bead. She wondered if Archrin had detected her fall, but couldn’t see to search if he had. Her eyes were blurry again – just like when the Bead had been implanted.

“Well, well, who have we here?”

“Aeorin?” Tiara croaked, blinking upward. She’d recognized the voice.

“You keep managing to find me,” Aeorin sneered.

Tiara wanted to point out that it was Aeorin who had spotted her, but it required too much effort just to breathe at the moment. So, again, all that came out of her was a grunt. Aeorin must have taken the noise as a sign Tiara was injured because she laughed. “I was told as a child to never kick an ailing dog, but it gives me so much pleasure.”

If Tiara had had her eyesight, she could have seen Aeorin’s kick to her face coming, instead of being utterly blindsided by the sharp pain to her jaw. Her teeth clamped over her tongue as she was knocked to the ground again. She tasted blood and could almost hear Aeorin smiling at her back. The good news, though, was her vision had cleared. She could see the grass her face was now planted in just fine.

“You never should have stolen my amulet,” Aeorin told her.

Tiara had never done any such thing. She lifted her head to spit out the bile collecting in her mouth and rolled over onto her back. She felt her jaw with one hand. It throbbed, but she doubted it was broken. Aeorin’s momentum hadn’t been strong enough.

Now that she could see again, Tiara was able to fully take in her surroundings. Aeorin stood over her in chainmail and a violet gown with a sword pointed downward at Tiara. Several Eves and Craeles battled around her and Aeorin, but without giving them any notice. It was almost as if the two women were in their own bubble somewhere. Where was Archrin? He had to have noticed by now that she’d fallen.

“Where are your gifts now, Olinia?” Aeorin smirked down at her. “Too weak to use them?”

“You’ve got to stop making that mistake,” Tiara retorted. “I’m not Olinia.”

Aeorin blinked. “Who are you?”

“Tiara Anteal, queen of the Saerds.”

At that moment, Tiara felt the hilt of a sword pressed into her palm. She didn’t hesitate, didn’t even think. In one swift, fluid swipe, she batted Aeorin’s sword out of the way and slid the blade between her ribs. The thin chainmail gave way like butter. Aeorin gasped in for air, her shoulders caving inward. Tiara released the hilt as if it burned her fingers and pushed herself up onto her hands, staring wide-eyed at what she’d just done.

Aeorin’s hands clasped around the sword in her chest, but before she could yank it free, she collapsed into a heap. Dead. Tiara pulled a face. “May your name be forgotten among the worlds.”

“Is that Oldron’s daughter?”

An Eve appeared at Tiara’s side, clearly surprised. Tiara glanced up at him and stood. “She was, and then she married Talik.”

He frowned. “From a distance, I thought you were Olinia.”

“I’m not.”

“I can see that.”

“Were you the one who gave me the sword?” Tiara asked.

He nodded. “I sent it to you.”

Tiara gave him a curtsy. “Thank you, Eveon warrior. What’s your name?”

“Dallyn?”

The Eve turned and smiled. “Archrin, good to see you again.”

Archrin walked up to Tiara and slipped an arm around her waist while dangling a bloodied sword from his other hand. “I would have come sooner but was detained elsewhere.”

“How do you two know each other?” Tiara’s eyes darted between him and Dallyn.

“He’s a friend of Will’s.” Archrin replied.

Dallyn chuckled. “That’s as good a title as any, I suppose. Until next time.” He bowed and headed off once more into the fray.

“I lost the horse,” Archrin commented.

“I noticed.”

“Do you think you could manage this on foot?” He asked.

“Not alone.” Tiara shook her head as she crouched down and yanked Dallyn’s sword out of Aeorin’s chest. She then turned to Archrin, went on her toes and kissed him. “But with you, I think I’ll survive, just as I always somehow manage.”

:  :  :  :  :

As Sazx rounded the castle, the battle came within his view. He realized very quickly that the Eves had more than one enemy present. The Crystal Castle sat on just enough of an incline that Sazx could see a new throng arrive at the scene from the road that passed between two bodies of water. Sazx was stunned to see Dagon atop his horse at the head of his Nagreth. For Dagon to enter a battle, it had to be part of a personal vendetta. This was the first time Sazx had seen Dagon not delegate a war to his Captain or Second. Then again, since Sazx’s betrayal, perhaps Dagon no longer fully trusted his officers to complete a task.

Beside Dagon, Talik’s daughter, Lilleia, was astride a steed. The horse must have been Dagon’s request. Velvitors did not ride any sort of beast. It was not considered appropriate in their world. Also, Velvitors rarely stayed in their human forms for the entire course of a battle. Sazx noted that behind Lilleia was an array of nearly a vatte of Velvitors, who must not have been loyal to her father.

Sazx wasn’t really sure why Dagon or Lilleia were there, but he didn’t have time to focus on them. He was about to reach the first line of the struggle, and he needed to locate Talik. Dagon probably wished to face Talik himself, but Sazx felt he deserved the honor. Talik, after all, had been the annoying thorn in Sazx’s side, not Dagon’s.

For the next ten minutes or so, Sazx fought Velvitors almost thoughtlessly. Between each stroke of his blade, he scanned the field for Talik. Before he had the chance to glance Talik’s face, though, a new internal agony unlike any he’d ever endured from the binding erupted through him. The absolute shock of it sent him soaring from his mount onto his back. He writhed on the ground from the invisible attack. He had not been ready for it.

Taking a deep breath, Sazx forced his heart to calm. Even though this was far worse than anything he’d yet experienced, he knew the pain was from the binding. He’d bested it before. He could do it again. He simply needed the right motivation.

An image of Olinia pulled in front of his inner eye. He grasped onto her face with all the strength he could muster. Olinia was the most beautiful woman he’d ever beheld. During their brief kiss, he’d tasted of her soft lips – caressed her smooth skin. Sazx loved her. He would do anything for her, even lay down his life to spare hers. The binding could not take away his love.

Sazx pushed himself to his feet, keeping Olinia’s Wend eyes in his mind. Her eyes were her best feature. Olinia could never fully hide her emotions from her eyes – they were her marvelous tell. Sazx gritted his teeth and raised his sword once more. The binding had subsided just enough for him to begin again.

Releasing a war cry that was mixed with some of the pain he still endured, Sazx rushed at the nearest Velvitor – some sort of large reptile that reminded him of an oversized lizard. Before he reached it, though, a blank-faced Nagreth blocked his path. The Nagreth’s lifeless steel eyes almost threw Sazx off guard from the swing of his sword. Sazx managed to hack the blade away, but he couldn’t shake his sudden anxiety. The Nagreth had rattled him. Never had Sazx witnessed a bound Nagreth turn into a mindless puppet during battle. Something was wrong. This wasn’t Dagon’s doing. Dagon believed his Nagreth should have their wits sharp during warfare – it made for better warriors.