Page 260 of Eldritch
As Zevander drew nearer to Ravezio, he took in the state of his friend and felt a tight clench in his chest. The irreparable damage that would ultimately kill him.
He collapsed to his knees.
Blood seeped out of the small pockets scattered over Ravezio’s raw flesh where his scales had been torn away. Long, ragged breaths sawed in and out of Ravezio as he lay on his side and he coughed, sputtering blood onto the snowy ground. “Kill me,” he rasped, coughing again. “Please.”
Zevander wanted to take his hand and assure him that he’d live but touching him in his state would be deadly. “I’m going to return you to Aethyria. You’re going to get help.”
Ravezio sucked in a sharp, strained breath. “No. I won’t…make it.”
“It’s true,” Cadavros said, standing at the archway, as if he intended to block their passage.
A deadly fury burned in Zevander’s heart as he stared back at his dying friend through a mist of tears. His muscles trembled, teeth clenched so hard they could’ve cracked from the pressure.
“Please. Do it.” A tear spilled down Ravezio’s temple and Zevander turned away, nostrils flaring as he fought to hold himself together.
He nodded.
“Thank you …” Ravezio wheezed and sucked in another rattling breath. “For your…friendship.”
“Dormisz qumeht lunadei, meh’amij.” Rest with the gods, my friend. Zevander rose to his feet and held a trembling hand out to the man he’d known as a brother. One who’d never hesitated to fight on his behalf. He closed his eyes and summoned the flame.
Ravezio let out a single quiet grunt and when Zevander opened his eyes again, nothing but small blood stone remained on the ground where his friend had lain only moments ago. He swiped it up, stuffing it in his pocket and turned his attention toward the mage still standing at the archway.
“I didn’t want to harm your friend. And I don’t wish to fight you,” he said, as if that would erase the wrath Zevander intended to inflict on him.
Zevander let out a bitter and mirthless chuckle and shifted his sword in his hand. “Perhaps you should’ve thought of that before you killed him,” he said, and charged toward Cadavros.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-TWO
MAEVYTH
Twenty minutes earlier …
The moment Kazhimyr carried me through the boundary, I squirmed and clawed for escape. “Let me go!” I screamed and he finally set me on my feet. Twisting around, I bolted for the archway where I could see Zevander on the other side of it. Beyond him, the gigantic spider that’d attacked only moments ago had turned to stone, and I exhaled a relieved breath, watching Ravezio crawl from beneath it.
“Come on, Zevander. Hurry,” I muttered, watching the two of them smile as they made their way toward the archway.
Ravezio froze in place, his eyes wide with panic.
Kazhimyr surged to my side. “What is he doing? Come on!” He smacked his palm against the watery shield, and while it flickered, it didn’t give. “Hurry!”
A figure stepped through the flames and dread twisted in my stomach as Cadavros slowly approached.
“We have to go back.” Pushing at the boundary was futile and a paralyzing helplessness tremored beneath my skin. “We have to go back right now!”
A battle of flames ensued and my breath hitched every time Cadavros slung his flame at Zevander.
“Where’s the scroll!” Kazhimyr patted at his trousers, his eyes wide and panicked. “Where’s the scroll? I need to find the scroll!”
The stranger named Dravien at the other side of him rifled through his cloak and I frowned.
“What is it? What are you doing?” My limbs trembled as I held my palms pressed to the barrier.
“I need the scroll to go back through!” Kazhimyr kept on with his search for it and I turned back to see Ravezio suspended in the air, his arms outstretched.
“Oh, gods.” The words shook from my throat, as his clothing tore away from his body.
“No. No, no, no.” Kazhimyr pounded his fist against the barrier. “Ravezio! Ravezio!” He twisted around to where Dravien patted and rifled.
