Page 2 of Oath of Betrayal
Talmund’s voice echoed through the valley right before several rocks crashed over the ledge. I barely had enough time to reach for the aether and create a shielding glyph before they fell towards me, smashing into the invisible barrier. I shook violently, choking back my fear, before facing the wlok as it tumbled forward again while my men took their positions.
My gaze went to the man we were supposed to guard. I watched in horror as the mage tried to cast spell after spell aimed at the vortex of bones, each one hardly slowing the wlok as it reformed and attacked again.
But before I could form a coherent thought, he was engulfed, and that scream … the soul-shattering scream of pure agony still echoing in my ears, stripped away every rational thought.
He’d been ripped apart within seconds, and as I added my own scream of terror to the unfeeling universe, I realised the same rule that made a conduit mage leader of their battle group meant that I was now in charge.
Our small group didn’t have a hope of escaping this alive.
‘Annika, for fuck’s sake, what do we do now?’ Arno shouted from over the boulder, and I stood up, brushing away the debris covering me.
Talmund answered before I could. ‘Run. I will hold it off for as long as I can. Go to Varta Fortress. Maybe the dragons can burn this bastard to dust.’ He stepped up from his hiding place, sword held aloft, and ran a hand over his blade, setting it ablaze—a paladin mage ready to sacrifice himself to save others.
Although my conduit abilities made me the strongest mage, it was Tal who always led us and most often shouldered the burden of responsibility. He once again stepped up when I had frozen. Now, one of the men who was bound to me for life stood against the fiend like a hero of old.
‘I will always protect you, Ani. I will be your shield, guarding your back when you do that insane thing with your magic.’I could still hear his loving whispers as we lay together, his breath caressing my neck. I loved him more than I feared the wlok, and I couldn’t let him face this alone.
‘You’ll die if you do that. We’re not leaving you behind,’ I answered, and Talmund shrugged sadly, his expression forlorn. ‘Unless you have a plan, we’ll die here anyway. At least this way, the people in the valley will have some warning,’ he said, and I knew he was thinking about his mother and sister, who lived in a town hardly three days’ ride from here.
‘Tal, I mean it, get the fuck away from there,’ I shouted. As he braced himself for the nearing wlok’s charge, I threw a hastily created fireball at the monster to buy Tal some time, but he didn’t budge. To make matters worse, Arno stepped forward, heading towards the warrior, his arms outstretched and healing tattoo sigils gleaming on his palms, ready to support him.
My hands shook as I drew a fire sigil. I didn’t have dragon fire, but with two Anchors, I was capable of fuelling a limitless spell, even if I wasn’t sure how much of it my body could withstand.I knew Tal was right; one of us should run, but I couldn’t leave them to their fate.
A sudden pull on my aether broke my focus, shattering the half-made sigil, and I screamed when Tal charged, drawing power from our bond. Blue flames of pure aether enveloped the outer edges of the wlok, burning its bones to cinders—but it was too big, too strong. For each stroke of Talmund’s sword, another sharp edge of bone ripped a piece of flesh from his body.
More and more blood filled the air, scintillating like a red haze while Tal danced with his sword, eyes filled with pain. My paladin, my heart, my everything, unwavering in the face of death, was buying us time as the mindless truss of animated bones ripped him apart.
The pain I felt through our bond brought me to my knees, blinding me with its intensity. Talmund was drawing on my power hard, so hard I could barely contain the stream of aether, but he needed it. So I dug my hand in the dirt, focusing in order to direct the onslaught of magic.
Something swelled inside my chest, a pressure that caused Arno’s gaze to snap in my direction. He could always sense me. I didn’t need to look at his face to know the strain he was under, yet I did. He was pale, so bloody pale that I knew he was draining his life force to keep Tal alive for as long as he could. I took a deep breath and pushed some aether into my bond with him as well.
Maybe if I’d been experienced I could do more, but I was an untested conduit who could only use my skill to sustain their spells or fight the wlok myself. I couldn’t do both. Worse, I suspected that even if I channelled all the aether of the Lost Ridge into their magic, it would only prolong our agony if they insisted on fighting this demon.
‘Run,’Arno mouthed, but I didn’t move. Arno—my gentle fae, scholar, and healer, the only man who could make me laughwhen I was ready to rip the world apart. The man who kissed away my scrapes and bruises … was standing his ground while asking me to run.
What life would I have without them?
If they were going to die, then I would die with them.The thought hardened my resolve, and I reached for the aether, feeling Tal’s and Arno’s spirits grounding me as I opened myself to the primordial power that sustained our world. The air shimmered as my mind seeped through the cold stone beneath my feet until I touched the pure, wild magic of the mountain. It blazed with power, and I took it in, moulding it to my will.
Tal’s agonised scream broke through my concentration as the bedrock responded to my call. I saw the sharp bone piercing his chest, his eyes glazed with torment, when he stumbled towards me. He knew he was dying, yet he forced another painful step, reaching out to touch me.
A smile blossomed on his bloodless face when another bone pierced him from behind. He didn’t falter but looked at me as if, in his last moments, I was all he needed. ‘You can do it, Ani. I believe in you. I’ll wait for you behind the Veil.’
Tears poured from my eyes as I shaped my magic into a spear of pure power, the mountain trembling when I released it. The only way to stop a wlok was to prevent its relentless tumbling, and I was going to bury it with us. The elemental force smashed into the cliff above the wlok, shattering the granite to send down an avalanche of stone and dirt upon us all, inseparable even in death.
Tal’s family would be safe, and even if no one found our gravesite, it was the right thing to do. My magic raged, ravaging the mountainside, when I felt Tal’s tether vanish from my core.
My unyielding heart, who had walked through life armed with an incorruptible code of honour, had died trying to keep me safe. Agony blasted through my senses and unbalanced my magic. Iscreamed and screamed, tears leaking from my eyes. I prayed for death to take me; losing Tal was unbearable.
Arno’s eyes widened. I knew he felt the same pain I did and that he tried to take mine away, but nothing, not even his healing skills, could numb this wound. He whispered my name. I saw the desperation in his eyes and watched in disbelief as a man who valued life reached for death.
My healer cut his forearms, letting blood pour over his fingers in the direst of rituals to draw a sigil. Arno was no longer trying to heal me. Instead, he channelled foul magic, forbidden to his kind, tainting his soul in a living sacrifice in order to summon enough power to create a protective spell around me.
The avalanche crashed into us, and I screamed as the wlok tore Arno apart moments before the granite boulders buried them together. Arno’s tether, too, vanished from inside me. I was left empty and numb to the world, cursing his name for condemning me to live while they both died.
Earth-shattering power still raged around me, as uncontrollable as my grief. With no Anchors, I was unable to stop it. I didn’t even try, hoping that it would consume me or the protective spell keeping me safe from the rocks above.
The mountain shook again, its walls distorting, the ground rolling like the sea as an earthquake broke it apart. Aether mauled me like a dog that had finally turned against its owner. Blood flowed from my eyes and ears, my body shutting down, overwhelmed by the power tearing through me when a deafening roar penetrated my living tomb and the anguish in my soul.
