Page 66 of Oath of Betrayal
The fleeting glimpse of the decaying flesh was soon obscured by a set of claws slicing past my eyes. As I fell back, I saw Orm, motionless yet relaxed, with an intense focus in his eyes. Icursed, flicking out my fingers, creating another shield, this one a little different. I added a twist—an outlet for the magic that shortened its lifespan but propelled it forward at speed—and grinned as the strigae were knocked from their feet.
I looked back at Orm, another spell already primed to protect him.
My jaw dropped. No longer was the warrior standing still. He ducked the wild swing of the troll’s arm, launching himself forward and cutting across his body with his sword. I watched as half the creature’s hand sailed past Orm’s head, falling to the ground at the kirbai’s feet as it circled around, clawing at the monster’s back. Orm rolled, and the sword licked out, carving more flesh from the troll’s arm.
He was glorious.
I wished I could stop to admire his technique; efficient, deadly, no movement was wasted or unnecessary. Where I relied on dancing steps, Orm was pure, focused power: one move, one strike—resulting in devastating ruin. I couldn’t drag my eyes away from the single combat; that is, until a striga’s claw tore through my shield and sliced into my arm. It hurt, but it helped me focus.
The next time she tried to attack, I was already weaving the aether. My incantation created thorny vines that slashed through her torso, forcing her away. As my confidence grew, everything suddenly went blurry as a torrent of foul magic assaulted my senses.
I knew there was a fourth attacker, but I had forgotten about them in the heat of battle. The ground beneath us shook—once, twice, the earth suddenly moving and nearly knocking us from our feet. That could mean only one thing: an olgoi worm2 was heading for the surface to devour its prey—and it was aiming to make Orm and me its next meal.
‘Orm, get away from the centre!’ I shouted to him as he stood within the rapidly growing hole beneath his feet. I could fight an olgoi if I had to, but the creatures were famously hard to kill. It usually took several battle magesandsoldiers with axes to fell one.
I felt conflicted despite the danger; olgoi worms weren’t evil. They could be dangerous, but as they tended to live in isolated areas and mainly fed on carrion, it was rare for anyone to encounter them. This one must have travelled from Barren Lands; I could tell its energy had been tainted by the Lich King’s magic—another testament to the fading barrier.
Orm looked at me then, before glancing at his feet as the hole he’d been standing in erupted, forced up by the giant worm as it burrowed its way to the surface. Uttering a heated curse, he threw himself to the side—but it was too late.
If I’d only warned him sooner, he might have stood a chance. A row of teeth burst from the ground, and the injured troll disappeared with hardly a sound, quickly followed by a twisting, snarling Orm. As the warrior’s legs disappeared into the yawning maw, he thrust his sword into its glistening flesh and managed to lodge it firmly to halt his fall.
He was now dangling over the gullet of the worm, relying solely on the sword to not plunge to his death. To make matters worse, the worm was trying to pull back, and its mouth locked onto the wedged sword just as Orm gained his footing. The sound of teeth scraping over his breastplate was deafening as the worm fought to move backwards.
‘Oh no, you fucking don’t!’ I swore, screaming out in my mind, hoping Vahin would answer my call. I dropped to my knees and scratched a glyph in the dirt, ignoring the strigae as they struggled to even stand. I tried snaring Orm or the worm with ropes of aether before the warrior could be swallowed completely.
‘Run, Ani. Go back to the fortress. The kirbai will take you,’ Orm grunted through gritted teeth, shaking his head when a piece of debris fell on his face.
‘No,’ I snapped, once again cursing an unfeeling fate. The only Anchor I had was too far away to help, and I needed him desperately. I knew with my distress broadcasting over our link he’d come eventually, but Orm didn’t have that much time.
‘Just run. My death will end your servitude to the Crown. You will be free, Annika. The parchment … I burned it. I’m the only one who knows the incantation. Do it for me and live free, Nivale.’
Orm’s words triggered something deep inside me. He’d burnt the damn parchment and was willing to die to set me free. I no longer cared if he held my geas or that he hid the truth from me. He’d made a mistake by not telling me, but so had I by not admitting that this grumpy, overprotective bear wasmine, and I couldn’t let him die.
‘No!’
‘Please don’t make me use the geas to save you again,’ he threatened while I felt myself being pulled inexorably forward by the magical ropes as I held onto them with all the strength I had.
‘I can forgive you for using the geas when I was unconscious and dying, but not now. Now, I get to make my own choices, and I choose you. No matter what happens,we do it together.’
I saw the desperation in his eyes, the need to save me warring with what he knew to be right. As I slipped further towards the growing hole, I saw him smile as he seemingly made his decision.
He’s going to let go.
I could see it in his eyes, in his calm acceptance. As he released his grip on the sword, I whipped a string of aether that wrapped around his wrist, preventing his fall.
‘Don’t you dare give up. Hold on to the fucking sword,’ I hissed through clenched teeth, and to my relief, he listened. This lumbering bear of a man, whose gentle hand had shown me the proper way to stroke a dragon, frowned, but he listened, letting me focus on my next move.
‘Trust me,’ I said, digging my fingers into the soft forest ground. This time, I didn’t reach for the aether but simply let it flow through me like a river. I whispered an incantation, gently shaping the primaeval power into a depthless void, knowing that I risked catastrophe with no one to stabilise me.
Magic funnelled through me like an endless vortex, an unholy amount of power penetrating the ground. A wave of frost spread from my fingers, all the warmth in the earth pulled into my spell. The magic delved deep beneath me, freezing everything in its path and destroying the strigae.
I felt the searing pain of frostbitten fingers that almost stripped me of my sanity, but I kept going. I needed to stop the olgoi from retreating underground and taking Orm with it. I opened myself to the wild, primal magic of the land itself, allowing it to course through me.
In an instant, the ground froze solid. I heard the kirbai snort anxiously in the background as it danced away. My eyes were on the olgoi, though, whose movements slowed before they stopped altogether, a thin sheen of ice moving up its body. I tore my hands from the ground when the ice came too close to Orm’s body.
I watched the commander pull his arms free.He is safe, I thought, sitting on my heels.He is safe. That was all I could think of. My teeth clattered, and my entire body shook from the cold, slowly shutting down. I had saved him, but I was losing control.
Nothing I did seemed to affect the onslaught of magic pouring through my body. I was in danger of joining the giant worm inbecoming a permanent feature of the forest. My vision blurred, but I could still make out Orm’s form as he forced himself free from the olgoi’s maw. He used his sword to break its jaw and clambered free, rushing to my side.
