offered me a new purpose when I had lost mine. More than that, I cared for Navara. She was good, open-minded and unsullied by the political cynicism that sometimes plagued me, yet mature enough to act nobly and bring hope to her people.
“Commander Larsio will help you,” she continued. “But this scroll says a thousand armies could never defeat Nexantius.”
“Finish up!” Viteus commanded. “No more talking.”
Navara ignored him. “You have to offer yourself as a vessel to one of the Holies and banish Nexantius back to darkness, as the Holies did before. Then you and the other elicromancers can kill Ambrosine.”
“Bring her here!” Viteus said.
I secured the knot and led Navara to him.
“Good enough,” he said. “I’ll take them both and release the boy when we’ve traveled a safe distance. If any of you follow us, I’ll slit his throat.” He looked over my shoulder at Kadri. “You can assure the others this is not an empty threat.”
“They agree to your terms,” Navara said. She looked back at me. “Use the elemental ritual to summon a Holy. It’s in the first chapter of the Book of Belief.”
“Stop talking!” Viteus shouted, and reared back the crossbow as if to strike her with the metal stirrup. He didn’t, but it was too late. He had revealed how he truly viewed his divinely appointed leader—as an object to control. “Follow close behind me, Princess.”
He backed away, using Jeno as a shield. Navara followed. But as they moved, Jeno saw an opportunity to grab Viteus’s hand and yank the knife down and away from his throat. He slipped under Viteus’s arm and stepped out of the way, pulling Navara with him. Sev reeled back and flung his axe. It flew through the air and lodged in Viteus’s thigh.
Viteus screamed and dropped the knife as blood spurted over his breeches, but his left hand managed to cling to the crossbow. He clumsily pointed it at Sev and released the lever.
I heard the slender bolt whistle by, followed by the wet noise of it sailing through flesh and muscle. I pivoted and saw Sev gripping his upper arm. Dark blood stained his sleeve. He bared his teeth and staggered back against the doorframe.
My voice sounded far away when I called his name. I covered his hand with my own, pressuring the wide wound where the bolt had passed clean through. We sank to the ground together.
His blood leaked between my fingers, pooling in the basin of each knuckle before dripping down in jagged stripes along the back of my hand.
I can help you.
The disembodied whisper tickled my ear. I shook it off, pressing my skirt against the wound. But the whisper came back on the other side, and then it hummed inside my head, passing from ear to ear until I felt surrounded.
Is this what you want? it asked.
I heard a scuffle behind me. I turned to find Viteus yanking off Jeno’s quiver of crossbow bolts. He pushed the boy to the ground and stepped into the stirrup to reload the weapon. Navara screamed at him, her hands tied helplessly behind her back.
Kadri cut in front of me, her elicrin stone bright. Favoring his injured right leg made Viteus sway a little, but he managed to heave up the crossbow and loose another bolt.
It went clean through Kadri’s chest and over my head, embedding in the cabin door next to the one that had struck Sev. She flailed and sank to her knees.
This can’t be real, I thought. I couldn’t move. Anchored in place, helpless, I watched my dearest friend die.
Jeno was next. The bolt sank through his chest as though his body were a pin cushion.
Viteus reloaded the crossbow yet again and pointed it at Navara. “We don’t need a faithless queen,” he said, and buried a bolt in her belly.
I knew this couldn’t be real. If this were real, I would be able to move, to fight, to scream and sob. Instead, I was frozen in horror. It was like the blood running down my arm and filling the stream.
Viteus tossed the crossbow and empty quiver and collected his knife. He limped past the fire toward me, but I couldn’t so much as reach out to catch his leg. He stepped over Sev’s body and entered the cabin.
I heard the pleas of Sev’s mother and the cries of the children as he cornered them. I tried to close my eyes, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t escape the horrific nightmare.
After the slaughter, Viteus trudged out