Arii felt a thrill at the prospect of a fight on the horizon. She was sick of holding back her strength, tired of pretending to be someone she was not.
Quinn chuckled sardonically. “If it were not for the fact that the Nymphs sucked the blood from your body, I’d willingly let them suck my-” He was interrupted with a slice of bread to the face, before Tikkani again tangled with him on the stones, raining punches to his gut.
Quinn’s warbled laughter rang in the air.
Arii and Emerson both rolled their eyes in unison and watched as Tikkani shoved the same slice of bread into Quinn’s filthy mouth as he gurgled laughter.
~~~
“Up now, rise recruits!” called Hawke as he smacked his sword against the solid stone wall of the barracks, causing many of the bodies inside to jerk and arise quickly from their beds.
Having been in the castle for four days now, Arii knew this was not the usual waking routine.
She felt a layer of urgency in the air as the Commander clapped the sword against the leg of Tikkani’s bed.
“Rise! There have been reports of Kryvern sightings in neighbouring Amberbourne.” He sheathed his sword and spun on his heel, facing the bleary-eyed recruits as they flailed around the room, preparing to depart.
It was still dark outside as the recruits hurried about the room, readying themselves to set out.
Soon the group was mounted on horses, their recruit clothes replaced with leather and armour as they followed a procession of soldiers, headed by Commander Hawke. Passing through the colossal gates to the bridge leading from the castle across the water, Arii peered from under her silver helmet at Tikkani riding beside her. The girl looked nervous, and Arii did not blame her.
“Argh, I hate Kryverns,” muttered the girl.
Arii glanced at the elf sideways as she stated, “You’d have a tough time finding anyone who likes them.”
Tikkani offered a weak chuckle as she clutched the reins, knuckles white against the dark leather.
Kryverns were fierce, feral creatures and they were hard to take down. Arii had made it look easy in the throne room, but she had taken the beast by surprise. Without that, they would have a real challenge on their hands.
The ride to the town would take hours, hours that Arii knew would raise the group’s anxiety to high levels. She could smell it on the air, laced with the earthy scent of the horses they rode.
Fear.
The forest grew thicker as they snaked along the dirt road, the sky lightening with spearing rays of orange as the sun rose from behind the jagged mountain peaks. Amberbourne, a large town to the east of Viridya, was roughly three hours’ ride on horseback. The houses were small, but there were many, with cream walls and dark wooden frames, the roads paved with stones. Not many of the towns featured stone roads, most had dirt and mud – poorly maintained and neglected by the current government.
Situated south of The Dragon’s Teeth mountains, Arii was not surprised that a Kryvern had made its way into the town. They were said to inhabit the old caves and tunnels there which were once home to wild dragons, sometimes venturing out further in search of food.
“This is becoming far too often an occurrence for my liking,” said an older man as he rode at the head of the procession with Hawke. His words had Arii’s ears twitching.
“The beasts are hungry. The people need funding to better protect their stock. Perhaps if the livestock were not so easily accessible, the beasts would be deterred,” said another as the group moved at a steady pace.
Arii was not a stranger to the fact that the towns of the North Court were slowly declining, their taxes high and their wages slim due to lack of trade with the other courts.
As their procession neared the town, the thatched roofs became visible. Rising above the area was a thick, dark spiral of smoke.
Commander Hawke nudged his steed’s sides with his heels and broke into a gallop. The procession followed suit, and soon they were entering the town to sounds of screaming.
People were running for their lives, women and children and men.
Ahead, a resonating roar sounded, and a mass of black scales flashed into view as a full grown Kryvern leaped upon a fleeing townsperson. Its jaws teared into flesh and sinew as it ripped the poor man’s leg from his body. Red ruby eyes lifted as the guard’s horses skidded to a halt in the street, the beast’s lips rippling over jaws of flashing silver teeth.
Many of the horses whinnied and reared as the Kryvern’s long neck lifted, nostrils flaring as though inhaling the fear in the air. It dropped the man’s leg with a sickening thump and turned its massive reptilian form towards the newcomers. The thin skin from its legs to torso shuddered as a growl rippled within its barrel chest.
About the size of a large horse, the beast was the largest Arii had seen, bigger than the one she had slayed at the celebration days earlier.
Commander Hawke was quick to dismount, slapping the rump of his stallion and causing it to flee. His cloak whipped about his form as he unsheathed his sword, facing the beast without a sliver of fear. His jaw was set, his eyes hard.
The guards around him followed, as did the recruits.
Arii could hear the low whispering of fearful curses beside her as Tikkani drew her bow and notched an arrow. Quinn drew a sword, as did Emerson. Arii could smell the overwhelming stench of fear in the air as she drew her own weapon, eyes narrowing.
Quinn whispered beside her, “Come on, Kryvern slayer, you’re up.”
His attempt to lighten the situation fell flat.
The beast’s eyes ran across the small party and it stepped forward, eyes alight with blood lust, long black tail whipping back and forth. Ruby droplets tapped the stone as saliva mixed with blood dribbled from its maw.
Suddenly its neck snapped forward and the beast’s jaws widened as a screech assaulted the air, the only warning before two more massive forms smashed over the houses either side of them.
Three Kryverns. Three goddamn Kryverns!
Chaos erupted as the party split, leaping out from under the two beasts as they came crashing down.
Commander Hawke was sprinting at the first Kryvern, slashing with his sword. It screeched in fury as the two forms danced, Hawke parrying the swiping claws as best he could with nothing but a sword.
Arii was swift in pushing Quinn through a nearby doorway, and soon after she grabbed the twins by the scruffs of their uniforms and dove into the opposite abandoned house just as the guards before them were set upon by the two beasts.
“Fuck!” screamed Tikkani, amber eyes wide with panic and breath rasping in terror, hyperventilation apparent. Arii grabbed her tunic and yelled in her face.
“Get somewhere high! Load your bow and aim for the eyes!” she bellowed, pulling the girl to her feet and shoving her towards the back door of the house.
Emerson was not stupid, he nodded and pushed Tikkani towards the door. His face was white with fear, but his movements were surer than his sister’s.
Arii pressed her back against the wall and twisted to peer out and down the alley. The Kryverns were preoccupied with their prey, two of the four guards who had accompanied them from the castle. Blood sprayed across the cream sandstone walls of the alley; the sound of bone being crunched audible over the snarling.
Arii’s eyes met Quinn’s over the space. His were lucid with fear, his arms shaking violently as he struggled to keep hold of his sword.
Arii cocked her head, indicating to run.
“Go!” she mouthed.
She was surprised to see the boy shake his head in response.
Not without you.
Arii wanted to snarl at his recklessness.
Blowing out a breath, she slid into the alley and flourished a kitchen knife in her right hand, retrieved from the house, her sword in the other. She
could smell the coppery tang of blood on the air.
“Hey!” she yelled, causing the two beasts to lift their heads and stare in her direction.
Quinn decided then to do as he was told and slipped into the street before sprinting the opposite way.
Ari’s lips curled, adrenaline shooting through her veins as she prepared herself under two sets of blood red eyes.
The beasts roared and crashed towards her, almost fighting one another to get to their new prey. Arii let her magic drop, the veil over her eyes fading and their violet depths brightening, her Fae vision becoming crystal clear and homing in on her target.
Her body turned slightly before her right arm struck out, and the knife was flying. It whistled through the air before lodging in the eye socket of the far-left beast.
The Kryvern screamed, losing its footing and crashing to the stone in mid momentum, causing the beast beside it to trip and fall.
Using the lip of a nearby window, Arii dashed up the side of the house and pulled herself onto the rooftop, narrowly avoiding the crashing beasts.
It was highly likely they were both still alive and very pissed off.
She sprinted across the rooftops, screeching roars reverberating from the alley in her wake.
“Arii!” came Tikkani’s voice from the top of a nearby two storey house.
Arii’s head snapped up to see the twins notching arrows in their bows. Close behind her, one of the Kryvern was in hot pursuit, its massive bulk causing the rooftops to crack and splinter as it leaped across the structures.
Arrows whistled past her head as she sprinted, lodging themselves in the beasts’ shoulder, ricocheting off its chest. The beast bellowed, enraged.
“The eyes!” screamed Arii as she leapt over a narrow opening between rooftops. Arrows whistled past again, and one hit its mark, spearing through the beast’s eye and into its brain. The Kryvern roared, crashing with a resounding boom through the wood and tile, its dying cry echoing across the town as wooden stakes from the ceiling pierced its belly.
From the rooftop above, Arii heard Emerson’s cry of triumph, and felt a strange flicker of pride.
Gods, she was growing soft.
Her breath whistled through her lips as she sprinted the rooftops, heading for where she had last seen the Commander. As if the thought brought him forth, she heard a yell and a roar in the distance. She had grown strangely fond of the old man; it would be a shame for him to become a Kryvern’s meal.
Flying across rooftops, she saw now two Kryverns facing off against the Commander and his men in what looked to be the town square. A fountain bubbled in the middle, blood and debris strewn across the stones, a cart left in tatters.
Arii saw the torn-up bodies of townspeople, counting at least three.
They had not stood a chance.
One of the beasts still had the knife lodged in its eye socket, blood dribbling from the wound.
The men looked worse for wear, covered in crimson and scratches. The Commander was in front, attempting to shield his guards. Arii felt her chest compress as she neared the scene.
He was so selfless, such a different man compared to Lorch’s father.
Arii felt a flicker of memory for her own father, a tall man with delicate pointed ears, strong features and blue eyes, dressed in fine councilman’s clothing.
The image faded as quickly as it had appeared.
Arii leapt from the roof and rolled on impact as she hit the stone street, continuing her sprint as she slashed her sword along the nearest beast’s flank. It twisted, one good eye now on her as she spun and severed the tip of the animal’s tail. It screeched, jaws snapping as Arii danced away, her bloody sword striking out and attempting to lodge her blade in the Kryvern’s remaining eye. The blade glanced off its thick scales and she felt the impact reverberate up her arms.
Arrows whistled through the air again, some flying off the beast’s thick scaled hide, and one lodging in the soft skin between its neck and shoulder. Arii’s head snapped up to see Tikkani, Emerson and Quinn all hurrying to reload, firing arrows as fast as they could. The beast roared and reared its head at the distraction, and Arii took that split second to glide underneath, sliding her blade across the soft skin of its throat. Blood poured like a red waterfall, drenching the stone as the creature gurgled, its bulk flopping to the ground like a sack of bones.
Two down, one to go.
Arii turned, and her eyes met Hawke’s. In their depths she saw awe, mixed with pride, and she swore she also saw confusion.
Before she could wonder where the confusion came from, the Kryvern’s shadow drifted over the Commander, soon followed by massive jaws opening wide.
It was if the world moved in slow motion as the beast clamped its jaws around Commander Hawke’s middle and lifted the man from the ground.
Arii felt her body move before thoughts entered her head.
She swore she could hear screaming nearby. Furious, gut-wrenching screaming, which she realised was ripping from her own lips.
The recruits above were yelling, the firing of arrows lessening as they ran out of ammunition.
Arii flew at the beast, leaping on its back and gripping the raised scales protruding from its spine. Grasping a dagger from her boot, she stabbed into the beast’s neck with a yell, aiming between its scales and holding on as the animal bellowed, causing its jaws to let go of the Commander.
The man was tossed across the square, his body landing in a crumpled heap.
The world was chaos around her, voices yelling amongst the screeching of the beast as she held on. The Kryvern attempted to clamp her in its jaws, but its neck was just shy of reaching her as she dodged its teeth.
Suddenly she felt fire across her thigh and saw a flash of foreclaws raking her flesh, cleaving through her armour like butter. She screamed in pain as the claws caught and she was thrown from the beast’s back, tossed to the street, the breath punched from her lungs as her back hit stone.
Fire erupted and ignited her veins, agony rippling throughout her entire body. Her vision suddenly dulled as her magic fled her, and at that moment Arii realised that the Kryvern had claws made of iron.
Iron was almost deadly to the Fae, caused their magic to flee them for a short time and if the metal touched their skin, it burned them as if the material had been sitting in a burning hot forge.
Just my damn luck.
With an agonising groan, she attempted to rise. The beast was close now, jaws dripping with saliva, its iron claws glittering with blood. Its eyes were alight with ravenous hunger. How had she not noticed the claws before? It was not natural; these beasts had been modified to have iron where normally dark bone sprouted.
Who would do such a thing?
Arii grabbed the base of her helmet and yanked it off, her hair flying in a wild, sweaty mass, before throwing the protection away.
The Kryvern roared, saliva flicking over her face as she bared her teeth in response. If anyone were close enough to see, they would have glimpsed elongated canines flashing in defiance.
A Fury greeted death with a snarl and a baring of teeth, defiant until their last breath.
Then the beast paused, and suddenly its head dropped from its body, severed where the skull met the spine. The head thumped to the stone, soon followed by the body as the beast fell, lifeless.
Standing over the twitching corpse stood Commander Hawke, sword raised, his face speckled with the beast’s blood. Breathing hard, he swept to her side and surveyed her wound with dark eyes.
As he reached for her leg, she hissed savagely.
“How did you - arghh!”
“Let’s get you back to the castle, Miss Clearwater,” he said and lifted her into his arms as her vision turned black.
Chapter Six
“Get up, Miss Trillia. Get up an
d for the love of the Gods try again.”
Dashing her sleeve across her split lip, Arii slowly pushed to her feet, eyes narrowing at the woman above her as Klotho stepped back, golden eyes luminous in the moonlight.
Arii slid her tongue over her lips, wincing as salt from the air touched the wound, a result of the blow delivered with the intention of teaching her a lesson.
Waves crashed like thunder against the bluffs, the purple night sky sprinkled with a handful of stars.
The courtyard was haloed with flickering torchlight casting dancing shadows along the ancient, crumbling stone walls. Salt gathered within the cracks, the moist ocean air causing the grey walls to glisten with tiny droplets.
The School of Fates was a crumbling shell of its former self - once a towering, solid and proud structure that held generations of proud Fae families.
Now, it was home to killers and a magical, sentient Tapestry.
Weeks had passed since her arrival, yet the pain still thrummed in her heart like a cancer. She missed her family, their absence like a hole in her chest.
It had taken Arii this long to get used to the sound of crashing waves, the cawing of seabirds and distant boom of storms offshore. Her clothes stank of sulphur and the meals tasted strange on her tongue – as if just a little too much salt had been used in the cooking process.
Then, there was the magic.
That she had not gotten used to yet, but so far she was finding it much easier than the unfamiliar sounds and smells of the old castle. The magic filtered through her veins like starlight, tingled her fingertips with a feeling of cold that had nothing to do with the night air. The magic had entered her life like a hurricane, awakening a beast inside that had scared her at first. Yet, as much as she feared the beast, she also could not imagine her life without it. Knowing it was there – even though she was not entirely familiar with how to use it – brought a mild sense of tenacity to an otherwise crippling situation.
Arii’s amethyst eyes drifted across the small gathering of women around her, a rainbow of odd coloured irises watching.
Love, Blood & Fury Page 8