Page 203 of Eldritch
The guard jerked, trying to lift his foot, which had likely gone numb, as Kazhimyr had essentially turned it into blocks of ice.
As if understanding the guard’s dilemma, Dravien’s shifted his gaze from the guard to General Loyce, who hadn’t yet caught wind of what was happening behind her.
“No. They didn’t just offer up the information,” Dravien said. “They told me in exchange for your life.”
The frozen guard finally screamed, but before his fellow guard could react, Kazhimyr sent blasts his way, as well. Both of them cried out, as they attempted to lift their frostbitten feet.
The general glanced over her shoulder then back to Dravien, who wore a smug grin on his face.
Kazhimyr and Ravezio shot up from their hiding spots, and as Kazhimyr sent a mist of cold toward the other guard, Ravezio lopped off the head of the second guard who’d toppled over himself.
Loyce shoved the other Bellatryx toward them. “Kill them!” she ordered, before propping her sword beneath Dravien’s throat as she moved to the other side of the tree.
Kazhimyr ducked when the Bellatryx swung her sword, then jumped back to miss the low slice of the guard whose feet remained frozen. He hurled a wave of ice over him, his body a glistening sculpture as he held his sword up for a parry that he never got the chance to complete.
The Bellatryx railed a powerful blow to his chest, the impact knocking the air out of Kazhimyr’s lungs when his body flew backward, before smacking against the trunk of a nearby tree. He grunted as he hit the ground, and as she lurched toward him, Kazhimyr sent her flying backward on a blast of Aeryz.
The Bellatryx growled, pushing to her feet, but Kazhimyr jumped to his first.
Before she could counterattack, he sent a plume of mist over her, freezing her in place, just like the others.
“Release me! Now!” she screamed, her head jerking in her efforts to move her muscles.
He summoned the lysing glyph to mind, and his lips twisted with a smile when the first pop of her blood cells crackled over his palm.
Her eyes widened, her bottom lip trembling. Seconds later, blood leaked from her eyes, nose and mouth, as the cells in her body split open. She coughed and wheezed, but her lungs had undoubtedly begun to fail her, her internal organs rupturing, hemorrhaging.
Kazhimyr strode past her to General Loyce, who stood with her sword at Dravien’s throat. Across from them, Ravezio kept his gaze on hers, but she didn’t bother to look at him, as if she knew doing so would turn her to stone.
Wasn’t a good idea, anyway, seeing as it would result in that blade being permanently propped at the Elvyniran’s throat.
“Release him, and I won’t turn your organs to liquid.” Kazhimyr raised his palm toward her, and the glyph on his hand tingled with the urge.
“You kill me, and you’ll be hunted by the greatest army in all of Aethyria.”
“We’ll be hunted, regardless.”
She lifted the blade, forcing Dravien’s chin higher, the barbs digging into his throat. “He claims you long to kill me, yet I cannot place your face, at all. Do we know each other? How have I wronged you?”
“It isn’t me you’ve wronged. But examine my face carefully. It’ll be the last you see.”
As she stared back at him, a smile pulled the corners of her lips. She dragged the blade over Dravien’s throat, but failed to follow through, thanks to a dagger hurling through the air toward her and striking her in the side of the neck.
The sword fell from her hand, and Kazhimyr strode toward her, intent on finishing her off. The blood that gushed out indicated Ravezio had severed her vitaelis vein, further confirmed when she gasped for breath.
Kazhimyr snorted. “Nice hit,” he said, nodding toward Ravezio, as the two untwined the barbs from the tree and carefully pulled them from Dravien’s neck.
“Practice makes perfect, yeah?”
The gash at Dravien’s throat was bloody, but not deep enough to sever anything. A quick kill would’ve surely disappointed her. “Here, I thought…you cunts had skipped off…without me.”
One more glance toward Loyce showed her on her knees, blood coating the hand she pressed into the side of her neck. Her mouth gaped as if she wanted to scream but couldn’t. She collapsed to the side, her face turning a ghostly white.
She stilled.
“Wanted to. But I was impressed to hear of your leg suckling skills.”
Dravien gave a weak chuckle. “Don’t imagine…I’ll offer…that again.”
