I scampered from beneath the blade, retreating to where Claire and James stood in awe.
"I never thought Ophidian would've gotten in this far," James breathed with disbelief, placing a protective arm around me.
Sweat dripped from Silas's brow as he struggled with the sword. "You didn't defeat me before," he panted. “And you won’t defeat me now." Black blood drained from the cut on his chest onto the sand. Silas plunged the sword into the black pool, unleashing an ear-piercing scream from the liquid.
We covered our ears until the noise subsided. Silas stood still, staring at the sword protruding from the ground. Nobody moved.
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
The clock pounded in my head.
As soon as Silas glanced up, grains of sand shifted behind him, creating ripples in the ground. A new fear pierced my heart. Something was beneath the surface. The granules rolled away from each other, creating a circle around the four of us.
I waited for the same ripples to return, but they didn’t. As I leaned to the side and started to stand, a giant creature jolted from beneath the sand, sending us on our backs.
Shaking my head from the fall, I placed my hands on the ground to try to stand once more, until the earth rumbled beneath my palms. Camouflaged to blend in with the desert, an enormous snake overlooked us. It flicked out its tongue, taunting me to make a move. I stilled in my crouched position, scanning the dunes until I spotted my alme twenty feet away. The black rod was just on the other side of the snake’s swaying body. My muscles screamed as I slowly faced the creature. I really wished I hadn't just battled Silas.
Sweat trickled down my temples, matting my hair to my cheeks as I slowly stood. This must be the sand serpent that guarded Ophidian’s lair.
Neither the snake nor I blinked as we faced one another. If I kept eye contact, maybe it wouldn’t make a move toward anyone else. Yet, as I glared into its endless ebony eyes, I understood that it would attack all of us regardless.
Directly behind the snake, Silas rose, slowly retracting his sword from the sand, his veins now cleansed of the poisonous black blood.
Silas raised the sword above his head, ready to slice through the large reptile. As soon as his blade moved, another creature torpedoed through the surface, knocking Silas back down before it disappeared beneath the dunes. The snake facing me whipped its head around and dove back into the sand, giving me enough time to rush to my alme.
I quickly glanced over to check on Silas. He was moving slowly, but still moving.
My alme was now only a few feet away. I lunged to grab it before the snake’s head crashed into my stomach. Cracks resonated throughout my body, and I cried out.
“Addie!” Claire and James yelled, rushing toward me.
James's weapon appeared in his hands. He instantly held it out in defense as Claire checked my side. Every time I took a breath, pain unleashed its fury in my chest.
“You better explain what happened with Silas later,” Claire said as she gently prodded. “You also just broke some ribs.” Trying to lift me up, she called to James. "We have to get out of here."
Silas limped toward us, still holding up his sword. The arenam had disappeared.
“Addie,” James scolded. “These are what Bocaj was talking about. The arenam guard the passage to Ophidian’s Realm on Regno. They won't rest until we’re dead.”
I sucked in another breath, cringing at the pain. “More of a reason to kill them, don’t you think?”
Silas slumped forward, his breaths heavy as exhaustion wrapped around him. He averted his gaze from me, facing the sand around us instead. "What do you want to do, Addie?”
His voice sounded drained as his shoulders heaved. Our battle must have exhausted him, too.
The sand stopped shifting, but I was sure the arenam would return. Several feet away lay the black rod. If I wanted a chance at survival against these creatures, I was going to need my alme.
“My alme ...” I murmured, pointing to it as I leaned away from Claire. But she yanked me back, and I yelped.
"Don't move," she demanded before turning to Silas. "Silas, since you have enough energy to battle everyone in our group, go get Addie's alme." He hesitated, and Claire thrust out her hand. "Now!"
Silas sprinted to the rod and hastily placed it in my hand.
“Okay,” I said as the power of my alme rushed through me.
A soothing sensation enveloped the cut and my ribs. The bones snapped back into place, and I stepped away from Claire, stretching my shoulder. Though there was still an ache, it had been muted enough for me to fight.
Thankful for the alme, I faced Claire, Silas, and James. “There are at least two of those things circling us. Silas, you take James and try to lure one away from here while Claire and I do the same to the other one.”
For the first time since our duel, Silas looked at me. Sand stuck to the sweat coating his forehead. “And if there’s more than two?”
I resisted the urge to brush the grains away. “We’ll deal with them, too. We have no choice.”
“Ready?” Silas asked James, his voice weary.
My grandfather grunted, and the two of them ran in the opposite direction from where we stood. Within moments, the sand shifted into a line following behind them.
I sent a prayer to the Heavens for their safety and hoped for another day to talk with Silas.
Closing my eyes, I pushed the serpents from my mind, focusing on the thrum of my heart. The crisp energy surged into my veins, and I directed it into my alme. The blades extracted from the now-white staff, transforming it back into a deadly weapon.
When I opened my eyes, I saw Claire gawking at me. “What?”
She pursed her lips. “I had that stick for years, and it was never that cool.”
I snorted, thankful for Claire's humor. “Come on!”
We sprinted until the sand moved beneath our feet. An arenam shot out of the grains a few feet ahead of us, scattering granules in different directions.
“I’ll keep it distracted!” Claire yelled, running opposite me. “You kill it!”
Nodding, I darted around the backside of the snake while its focus was on Claire. Not wasting any time, I twirled my alme in the air and stabbed it into the arenam’s neck. A loud hiss escaped its mouth before it faced me. Red liquid pooled from its black mouth, steaming holes in the sand as the venom dripped to the ground.
Claire whistled and hollered in the distance, but the snake focused on me.
Sucking in a breath, I spun my alme again and pointed it at the snake. “I’m not afraid of you or your master.”
The arenam hissed loudly, sending red venom through the air. I ran backward, dodging the poisonous droplets as they scattered in the sand. Behind me, the clanging and yelling of Silas and James trying to lure the other arenam away echoed against the dunes.
As I readied myself to strike again, the sand shifted once more. In a matter of seconds, another arenam burst through the surface, pinning me between both creatures.
The arenams hissed and swayed, closing me in. When I tried to run forward, they blocked me. It was the same when I tried to escape from the side. I was trapped.
Their hissing surrounded me, muddling my concentration. Venom pooled on the ground, sizzling as it hit the sand. Smoke lifted from the granules, obstructing my view.
Silas’s and James’s voice rang through the desert, assuring me they were still alive and fighting. If they were still fighting, I would too.
An idea pulsed from my heart to my head, and I waited for the snakes to fully envelope me. Once their rough scales scratched my cheeks, I took the blades of my alme and simultaneously stabbed them through the sides of both arenam. The sand serpents let out a deafening scream before slithering back into the ground.
I glanced over my shoulder. Silas and James were running toward us. At first, I thought they had defeated their serpents, but when I saw their wide eyes and frantic sp
rint, terror coiled in my gut.
“Run, Addie!” Silas yelled, waving his arms. “Run!”
But we didn’t have enough time before countless arenams bolted out of the ground, bigger and angrier than the others. Red venom dripped from their fangs as they hissed and swayed. Silas, James, and I wielded our weapons.
Claire scoffed. “Everyone else has something to kill the snakes with, and all I have is my mouth.” James chuckled, then handed Claire a dagger from his pocket. She frowned at the weapon as if it were nothing but a child’s toy. “This is so small. It won’t do anything.”
James clucked his tongue. “It doesn’t matter the size of the weapon, but how you use it.”
Sighing, she nodded and gripped the dagger tightly in her hand.
Silas’s back pressed against mine as we faced the circle of serpents around us. I yearned for him. I wanted to go back to my Heart Reign, tell Silas about my pure heart, and together, we would figure everything out. But it was too late. Darkness was consuming Silas, and there was nothing I could do to help him.
"Addie," Silas said over his shoulder, caution in his voice.
My breath hitched. Maybe it wasn’t too late. "Yes?"
"I'm sorry. About everything."
Hope fluttered in my chest. “Silas?" I breathed.
"Yeah?"
"Me, too."
We raised our weapons, ready to meet our end. Gold and orange glowed from our blades, intertwining with one another.
As we readied our stances to charge, a figure appeared in the distance. We paused, amazed as a leather-clad warrior sliced through the snakes with two black swords.
After decapitating four of the arenam in a row, Romen jumped from one of the carcasses with a grin. I gawked at him, slack-jawed. Where had he come from?
“Miss me?” He grinned while holding a black blade in each hand.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, still pointing my alme at the other snakes closing in.
“You looked like you needed me.”
Before I could respond, he took off running and jumped on another snake, slicing its head clear off. Bright red blood spewed from the wound as the arenam’s body writhed on the ground.
“Whoa.” Claire jerked back, her eyes sparkling with admiration. “That was amazing.”
Adrenaline pulsed through my veins. With a new sense of confidence from Romen, Silas and I charged at the snakes facing us, while James and Claire took the others. In a matter of moments, headless arenam carcasses surrounded us.
“That was fun,” James said, wiping his hand covered in sand and snake’s blood on his pants.
“Yes, it was,” I agreed.
“You are fearless, Bellata,” Romen said, sheathing his swords behind his back. “For that, I’m honored to fight with you whenever you need me.”
“Thank you, Romen,” I said, relishing the compliment. “But it wasn't only me. Without all of us fighting, especially you, I don’t know what we would’ve done.”
A smirk came to his lips. “I’m sure you would’ve thought of something.” He turned and started walking in the opposite direction of where we were headed.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“You no longer require me,” he said over his shoulder.
“What if they come back?” Claire asked with a slight plea.
But before he could answer, a blue streak of lightning came from behind us, striking Romen in the back. He grunted, falling to the sand.
“Romen!” we all yelled before rushing toward him.
Several more bolts singed our bodies; the putrid smell of burning flesh coated the air. My friends' grunts and cries filled the night sky until a jolt of electricity paralyzed my limbs.
Numb, I fell to the ground. I landed with my body facing a woman with beautiful blonde hair and a shimmering, yellow necklace.
Dacenda had found us.
A triumphant grin adorned her lush, red lips as she toyed with the gem around her neck. But what confused me the most was the man to her right. Next to the woman who killed my parents was none other than Damien.
Chapter 34
Currents of electricity pulsed through my nerves as I lifted my head from the frigid sand. Dacenda grinned wildly as she sauntered across the dunes, nonchalantly stepping over the arenam corpses. Horror clenched my chest. Straining, I tried to lift my hands and legs to get away or defend myself, but my body was stiff, paralyzed by her power.
The bodies of my loved ones laid sprawled around me. James had face-planted into the sand. Claire lay as still as stone on her back, facing the night sky. Silas’s sturdy shoulders sunk into the grains a few feet away. I tried to call out to him, out to any of them, but my voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper.
Dacenda approached Romen’s motionless body, which was face-down in the sand. With her petite foot, she kicked him in the side with an incredible force. Frustration clogged my throat as I struggled to move again, but my limbs refused.
Dacenda sneered at Romen before rummaging through his armor. I half expected her to zap him again, but she didn’t. Instead, she laughed when she found what she was searching for. In two more strides, she stood over Claire. What had she taken from Romen, and what did it have to do with Claire?
I could make out a gray object in Dacenda’s manicured hand, and everything clicked into place. Eman had said he knew where Claire’s heart was. Romen had found it. But now Dacenda had it.
Tears brimmed in my eyes as I strained to move and yell. But my arms stayed limp, my voice not even a whisper.
Dacenda grasped Claire’s heart and squeezed. Claire’s body was motionless like the others, until her limbs spasmed, her eyes wide open. Dacenda’s thin brows furrowed in concentration as she tightened her grip. Claire’s mouth opened slightly, the faintest scream escaping her as her body convulsed violently.
Guilt and anger raged over me as I helplessly watched my friend being killed. A slight heat tinged my fingertips, alerting me that Dacenda’s bolts were beginning to wear off. Hope tweaked my heart. Maybe I could stop Dacenda and save Claire before it was too late.
Reaching within myself, I focused on grabbing the rage I was trying to forget. It was red-hot, ready to burn the second I grasped it. My anger may destroy me, but Claire was worth it.
As soon as my power wrapped around my fury, Dacenda cursed loudly. I looked up, relieved to find Claire’s body still intact. Dacenda placed the heart in her pocket before summoning another blue bolt of electricity, shooting it straight into Claire. Her body jolted from the impact before her eyes rolled back.
“No!” I shouted.
The rage slipped from my grasp as Claire’s body sagged, lifeless. I tried to grab the rage again to fuel my power, but tears clouded my vision, and I sobbed. My arms shook, still too weak to lift myself up. When I managed to lock my elbows, electrifying, blue heat pierced my veins. White lines dotted my vision, my back arching at Dacenda’s attack before another jolt of pain paralyzed my limbs.
I slammed into the sand, the grains scratching my cheek and sticking to my tears. I wailed uncontrollably while my body laid defenseless. Footsteps crunched through the sand toward me before a large pain crashed into my head, leaving me in darkness.
The ticking returned, pulsating my nerves with vigor.
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
I was positive a tree had landed on my head, because it wouldn’t stop throbbing. And the ticking, the merciless ticking, had returned, amplifying my pain to a new level.
My eyes refused to open as if they had been sewn shut. The last thing I remembered was the piercing energy slicing through my body and seeing Damien standing next to that witch.
Silas’s words branded into my thoughts. How many times have you said ‘I’ since we left Ramni?
I swallowed the bitter truth. I had been so focused on myself and my journey. What happened to James? He had kept our group together through countless arguments and had left Nana
in Ramni to protect us and guide us with his wisdom. Had I ever said thank you? Or asked if he was okay with leaving Nana?
My head sagged lower as I thought about Silas. He could always see right through me. Even when being controlled by Ophidian, Silas understood what was going on inside me, and now I had no idea where he was.
The memory of Dacenda taking Claire’s heart punctured my thoughts.
Her lifeless body.
Claire had patched me up so many times, I had lost count. Had I ever thanked her? Had I ever told her how much I admired her skills and knowledge of healing?
No, not Adelaide Tye, the once burden-turned warrior, who dismissed the people who loved her when she was nothing.
How was I going to tell Lyle? Right when they were beginning a beautiful relationship, the love of his life, murdered. Or Doctor Magnum? He and Claire had just seen one another for the first time in years.
Indignation riled in my stomach as I focused on the final person from our group. Though he had helped us before, the only way Dacenda could have known where we were was if Damien led her to us. Had he been deceiving us the entire time? Or was it only after Silas had attacked him? Regardless, I hated that I had trusted him. I hated that Claire had trusted him, and he led her straight into our enemy’s hands.
My anger dwindled for a moment as I thought about the conversations Damien and I had. I thought he wanted to be friends. I believed he wanted to defeat Ophidian. But I was wrong.
I clenched my fists in frustration, but my arms fell to my sides, heavy. Finding the strength to open my eyes, I saw worn, rusted shackles tightened around my wrists. I shook my hands to try to loosen the shackles. But, of course, they were tightened to bone-crushing strength. After straining to rise from my position on the cold ground, I wished I hadn’t woken up.
“Well, well, well, the Bellata is finally awake,” Dacenda purred as she peered down at me through thick iron bars. She latched a torch onto the wall behind her. Her full height was shorter than I thought, but that didn’t stop her from leering at me as I sat, stuck in my crouched position.
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