The deranged glee returned to Rhael’s face. “There is nothing like watching life drain from your enemy's eyes. I’ve killed a few other like this; it's fitting, because there is nothing special about you, Rayna Myana. No matter who Terayan thought you were, you’re just another decaying waste of flesh. A wild beast that needs to be put down.”
Her vision began to blacken, all her strength gave way to agony. Her arms fell to her side. Even if any of her friends were still alive, there was no way they could get through the enemies surrounding them. She was alone. Dying. Her chest and throat ached for breath. She only had a few heartbeats left, and they raced by without a pause…
An oaken scent with tastes of spring rain filled Rayna’s nostrils, despite her empty lungs. Her hand twitched toward her hip. It brushed against the inscription where the blade met the hilt on Coer’s knife. Coer’s knife. Her fingers grasped the hilt, and she tried to slip it free. Her lungs seared as if they were being flayed. Her arms felt like cold weights of steel.
But Rhael was laughing.
She sliced through her belt and freed the blade. She raised her arm and drove it into Rhael’s shoulder. He rolled to the side with a grunt, releasing Rayna. She sat up with a hoarse shriek, ripping the knife from his shoulder, slashing. She sliced his cheek, the tip of his nose, his mouth, an eye. She heard Rhael’s cries, felt the blade tearing flesh and scoring bone.
When she finally stopped, Rhael knelt in front of her, his face red and torn. Blood streamed down his neck, matting his hair. He screamed through mangled lips as he fell to the ground. Rayna stood above him as he blindly grasped his face, preparing to heal himself. There was no time for mercy. Her hand shook as she raised the knife one last time, plunging it into his neck.
He dropped, sputtering, into the blood and mud, struggling to form a few last words. “You ... were ... the … better killer … after all.”
Rayna backed away from Rhael’s mutilated body. She tried to stand, but tumbled into the muck instead. She rolled onto her back as the gray sky spun above her. Again her vision blackened, and this time she had no strength to fight the darkness.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
In her dream, Rayna stood on the hillside overlooking the valley. All around the battlefield, the Da’ Gammorn collapsed, the corpses they controlled littering the ground. In heartbeats, half of Rhael’s army disappeared. His men must have understood their leader was dead; one by one they threw down their arms. Cheers and howls rang through the blood-soaked fields as Rayna's people and allies realized the impossible had happened.
They had won.
Rayna turned from the scene below and found she was not alone. Lumae and Alvo waited by the tree line. She walked toward them, passing Rhael’s corpse and her own unmoving body.
She approached them. “Am I…?”
“Only sleeping,” said Alvo.
“What happened between Rhael and I? His magic no longer worked on me, even though it had before. Why?”
“You are an Awakened seer,” Lumae answered. “Soon you will learn more about what that means. For now, just know that no magic of demonic origin can touch you. By cursing Channon to Hell, Rhael may have controlled you, but he also forced you down the path that would sow the seeds of his own destruction.”
“But Terayan used magic on me after I returned from the mountain.” She touched her ribs, remembering nearly drowning in her own blood, and flinched as Bayne’s final moments replayed in her mind.
“Terayan wields many kinds of magic. He used word magic on you,” said Lumae. “Though his intentions were evil, the source of power for that spell is the same as your own.”
“But–” Rayna began, but a voice stopped her.
“Ray! Rayna!” Channon sprinted up the hill, falling beside her body. He lifted her in his arms, checking her pulse. “Help!” he called into the valley. “I need a healer! Help!”
Channon had survived, and he had found her. She reached for him before stopping herself. She was not ready to go back yet. “All of this—the visions, saving Channon, coming back here—was so I could defeat Rhael?” Rayna looked at each of her demigod guides. “To prevent Marielana's prophecy from coming true?”
“Your actions are your own,” Lumae chose her words with care, “and defeating Rhael is only the beginning. What your sister saw may yet come to pass.”
“But how can it when Rhael is dead?”
“If you are to live, you must return to your body,” Alvo said with sudden urgency.
“But I need to know! Enough of these riddles!”
“Rhael was the most powerful Covenant mage Osterna had ever known,” Lumae took Rayna’s hand, guiding her back to where Channon held her body, “but ambition is more dangerous than power, and Tallis Terayan is not so easily swayed from his. Now please, you must wake.”
“One more question. When Rhael was suffocating me, I sensed my father. He was the one that guided me to Coer’s knife, isn’t he?”
“Your actions are your own,” Lumae repeated, “but death cannot sever the bond of love, as you well know.” Rayna thought of Bayne’s words to her months before: “Remember that you are not alone. The pack is with you always. I am with you always.”
Rayna’s eyes blinked open to a world of pain. She cried out as Channon pressed his hands to her ribs.
“Ray!”
“Channon. It hurts.” No other thoughts formed in her exhausted mind. There was so much she did not know, questions she should be asking, but none came to her. All that mattered was Channon. They had survived. They were together.
“I know, Ray, I know. I think one of your ribs is broken, but I have to stop the bleeding. I’m sorry.” He shouted over his shoulder, “I need a healer!”
“We won.” She bit her lips to keep from crying out again.
“Aye, Ray, we won. Thanks to you. Pheros, Seperun, and Arlo are accepting a surrender as we speak.” A tear dripped from his face onto her nose.
Suddenly, Rayna remembered what she needed to know most. “Silver!” She tried to sit up, but found she could not.
“Shh, Ray. She’s all right. She went to get help.”
Relief flooded through her, clearing her mind. Silver was alive. Rhael had not taken all her family. Footsteps pounded up the hill, and Rayna winced.
A young, fair-haired man appeared on her other side. “Hey, there, remember me?”
“Winiam,” she said. “You’re one of the Alvornians who worked the river magic.”
“That’s right.” He pulled out a waterskin and turned to Channon. “I need you to remove her shirt. My apologies, my lady.”
“What are you going to do?” Channon asked with a trace of a growl.
“I can seal her wounds with Amne Vena. It will stop the bleeding, but it will leave quite a scar, I’m afraid.”
Channon exhaled a sharp breath and extended his nails. Carefully, he sliced off her shredded leather vest and undershirt up to her chest.
“I have so many new scars,” Rayna said. Her head felt fuzzy again.
“But you’re more beautiful than ever,” Channon said, gripping her hand. He nodded to Winiam, who poured water across where Rhael’s sword had slashed her. She cringed from the cold, but as soon as the Alvornian started chanting, the pain lessened. Her ribs still ached, but the burning, open wound sealed shut. Channon wrapped her in his vest, and she sat up.
“Thank you, Winiam.”
“No need, my lady. I’m alive because of your friend Mina. After the Corsairs… killed Jayden, I thought I wouldn't survive. But she and your Beta male came out of nowhere and helped us push them back. The least I can do is help someone they love.”
“Mina and Roxen? Are they all right?”
“Yes, my lady.”
More relief spread over her. Channon, Mina, Roxen, and Silver had all survived. She was sad to hear of Jayden’s passing, though, fearing he was not the last ally of whose death she would learn.
Winiam turned toward the valley. “Stay here and rest.
I'll find a proper healer to look you over before you’re moved.”
“Winiam, wait.” She took his hand. “I’m sorry about Jayden.”
The Alvornian looked much younger than he had a moment before. “I am, too. He was my—he was engaged to my sister. She’ll be heartbroken.” He cleared his throat, walking back down the hill.
Rayna blinked away tears. She feared if she started to cry, she might never stop. “You said Silver was all right?”
Channon tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Yes. She was waking up just when I found you. After making sure you were alive, she helped organize healing parties. I don’t know how she’s still walking on that leg, but you know your aunt. She probably sent Winiam.” Rayna thought she had only been asleep for a moment, but she had missed more than she'd realized while she dreamed.
“Any word on anyone else?”
Channon smiled. “Look at you, lying in a pool of blood and still worrying about everyone else. Gar and Pike are alive. So are Willow, Sorrel, Lichen, and plenty of other Trues. Pike looked injured, but I saw Jaline tending to him. I think he’ll be all right.”
“Did you see Thera out there? I would think she–”
Channon shook his head. “Ray, Gar didn’t tell us in Alvorn. He wanted us to focus on what we had to do, but Thera’s dead. Nero killed her weeks ago.”
“Nero?” Rayna sat up in Channon’s arms despite his attempts to keep her down. “What do you mean?” Nero had been a hateful man, but he had been a part of their pack. She could not believe him capable of hurting Thera.
“I don’t know the details. But he killed Thera before joining the Maenorens. Roxen killed him on the battlefield before we arrived.”
Rayna could not stop the tears. Thera was dead. She had been murdered. Rayna would never be able to tell her everything she had learned about her dreams or what it meant to be a seer—or how wrong they had been to be afraid of her gifts. She did not blame Thera or her mother for trying to protect her. They'd been scared for her, and Rayna had been afraid, too, when she'd learned the truth. But she had embraced that fear to save Channon and defeat Rhael. The visions could drive her mad, but then, her life could not get much more insane than it had the last few months.
“Ray? Are you okay? You started laughing.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. You’ve been through a lot. We all have. Hold on a little while longer, and then we can go home.”
She nestled closer against him. His heart beat a steady rhythm against her ear, and she thought she might drift off again, but then his heartbeat hastened and his arms stiffened around her.
“What is it?”
“There’s someone in the trees,” Channon whispered as he swept his arms under her. He stood, cradling her head on his shoulder. “Who’s there? Show yourself. The battle is over.”
A woman emerged from the shadow of an oak tree. Rayna recognized her long dark hair and full figure. Morna’s gaze swept to Rhael’s mutilated body still lying only tail-lengths away.
“No!” She broke into a run. Channon backed away as she collapsed by Rhael’s side.
“Wake up!” she shrieked. “Heal yourself! My lord, Rhael, please, no.” Her words withered into sobs as she pounded her fists on his breastplate. “When my Da' Gammorn escorts collapsed, I knew you might be in danger. But not this, never this!”
Rayna knew Morna had been close to Rhael in Maenor, but she could not understand how anyone could grieve the loss of someone so cruel.
“Morna,” she said from Channon’s arms. “I’m sorry, but I had to.”
Morna’s cries turned to stony silence. When she spoke, her voice was so cold, it cut to Rayna's bones. “You killed him. You?” She rose, her fine silk dress stained with Rhael’s drying blood.
“I had to,” Rayna repeated. “He gave me no choice.”
Morna did not seem to hear her. “You killed him. Rhael is dead.” She turned and lifted something off the ground. She raised Rhael’s broadsword, her arms trembling as she met Rayna’s eyes.
“Morna, you don’t have to do this,” Rayna said as Channon helped her stand on her own. She clung to his shoulder to keep upright. “Put it down.”
“We were going to be together. Rhael, me, and...” She pointed the sword at Rayna. “You killed him.” Morna’s speech turned to a scream as she sprinted toward them.
“Stop!” Rayna yelled as Channon’s claws extended. “Please!”
“You killed him!” Morna screamed, but she stopped short, a blotch of red blooming in her chest. She staggered forward and fell. An eagle-feathered arrow extended from her back. As Morna hit the ground, Mina walked from the tree line.
“Mina? How?” Rayna asked as she stumbled. Channon caught her before she hit the ground.
Mina hurried to them, careful to step around Morna’s body. “I went to find you two and saw her, so I went around just in case she…Who was she?”
“Another one of Rhael’s victims,” said Rayna. “The last.”
Rayna’s hand shook as she handed the torch to her aunt. The Southern Densite was packed but silent as Silver lit the last of the countless funeral pyres that had burned over the past two days. Rayna turned away as the flames engulfed her uncle's body. She walked past the Fenearens, the Trues, the scattered Alvornians, and the Resistance. She sat on her favorite spot: the moss-covered rock now powdered white with snow. Silver began her eulogy as Rayna’s exhausted mind drifted in a half-waking state.
When she had awoken the day after the battle, part of her had wanted to believe it was a dream, but she could not believe it for more than a moment. Besides her healing wounds and scars, there were deeper pains which would never go away. She had lost so much. They all had.
“Nothing would have given Bayne greater happiness than to see all of you assembled today: Fenearens, Alvornians, Maenorens, side-by-side. His dream was to restore the unity of the four nations, and tonight, his dream will come true.” Silver’s voice wavered as she finished, but she did not cry. Instead she dropped the cane she had been using to stand, took her blue-gray wolf form, and sang. Rayna joined in without hesitation, and then the other Fenearens and Trues did as well. The Maenoren Resistance chanted their motto, Poro Ajo Rex, and the Alvornians all bowed their heads.
As the song died away, Rayna felt a gentle hand on her shoulder.
A tall, dark-skinned man bowed and introduced himself. “Miss Myana. We met on the battlefield. I am Markus Seperun, leader of the Maenoren Resistance. Or I suppose I was. I am not sure what I am now the Resistance has won. Temporary shepherd to a lost Maenoren flock perhaps, a regent until an election can be held.”
“Seperun. I can’t thank the Resistance enough.” Tears pressed at her eyes as she thought of Coer and the thing he had become. “You saved my life. Thank you.”
“I would like to show you something, if you don’t mind.” He offered her his arm and led her from the Densite toward the coast. They crossed the brook where Silver had taken Rayna the night her mother had been killed. Seperun stopped, gesturing toward the ground where it was overturned against the pale snow. A small round stone crowned the edge of it. Familiar markings etched the rock, but Rayna could not read them.
“What is this?” Rayna whispered, kneeling and smoothing the carvings.
“It’s Heitich, Rayna. The Resistance members are all trained to read the ancient Delian language, because no Kyrean or loyal Maenoren would dare learn it.” He knelt beside her. “It reads: Here lies Coer Vantergard, son of Cannor Vantergard. Friend to some, hero to all. Year of the Father, 1622.”
Rayna's tears fell as she touched Coer’s grave. “I have to help him, Seperun. He's trapped and I…I need–”
“Rayna my dear,” a warm smile spread over Seperun’s face, “you already have.”
“No, you don't understand–”
“The Aetolo Avemn, the ritual Rhael performed on Coer’s body. Through dark magic, he allowed thousands of low level demons to escape Hell, and Coer’s
soul was forced through the Mouth of Hell in their stead. But when the demon’s mark is severed, those demons are sent back, and the soul who once occupied the stolen body, well…”
“Is freed?” Rayna finished for him, wiping her tears.
“Yes. Not only is Coer where he belongs, all those men who long ago stood up to Kalmor in the first rebellion and were so cruelly punished have also been saved.” Seperun offered Rayna a hand, pulling her to her feet.
“Rayna,” he began as they returned to the Densite. “Your uncle was one of the finest, bravest, and most compassionate men I have ever had the pleasure to know.”
Rayna attempted a thankful smile.
“He loved you very much. He never gave up on you. He was sure you would find your way back to him.”
“I just can't believe he’s gone,” Rayna whispered.
“I know the feeling.”
“Does it get any easier?” Rayna asked as they reentered the site.
“You can answer that yourself, can you not?” Seperun bowed and turned toward his men, but Rayna stopped him.
“Back in Maenor, Coer told me of a mage helping you—that he was the one who discovered how I could save Channon. I was hoping to thank him as well.”
“I’m certain you will have the chance to do so soon. Until then, Rayna Eye Traveler,” he paused and bowed again, “Rayna Hex Breaker.”
After he was gone, Rayna wandered like a ghost around the assemblage. She trained her gaze to the ground to avoid the awkward glances from people she did not know. Already rumors circulated about how she had killed Rhael and rescued Channon. Seperun had not been the first to call her “Eye Traveler” or “Hex Breaker,” and though she knew the titles were complimentary, they only reminded her of the terrible things that had happened to her and the ones she loved.
The war with Maenor was over, and she had what she’d once wanted most of all: a memory of her father. She had so much to be thankful for, but still, it would take time to heal.
“Ray.” Channon walked over, holding out a fur mantle. “How are you feeling?” She had not noticed the cold until he draped the blanket around her shoulders.
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