Page 261 of Eldritch
“I must’ve dropped it somewhere!” Dravien sank his hands into his pockets. “Fuck!”
A gut-wrenching outcry ripped from Ravezio’s throat as his scales were torn away from his body.
Terror burst through my chest, gripping my lungs.
Beside me, Kazhimyr collapsed to his knees and the sound that tore out of him rivaled the painful cry of his friend on the other side. He pressed his forehead to the barrier and his body shook with a sob. “Ravezio!”
Tears blurred my vision when Zevander collapsed beside him, the expression on his face tearing at my heart.
Kazhimyr let out a roar of anger, hammering his fists against the cruel, shimmering wall that refused to give. But it was too late.
Ravezio was gone.
Zevander charged for Cadavros and the agony in my chest tightened. Swords clashed and clanged as they fought each other, Zevander’s skills far more honed than his enemy’s.
Cadavros swung out at Zevander, his strike weak, as the grip of his sword—minus the three fingers I’d dissolved—faltered. Zevander parried with a powerful strike that knocked the mage backward with fumbling steps, bringing him closer to the Umbravale.
The fight lasted only minutes before Zevander gained the upper hand, standing over his opponent whose back faced us.
Cadavros shook his head, weakly raising his sword. “Deimos wasted his power on you. A foolish boy! You could’ve been king! All of Aethyria would’ve bowed to you!”
“You must’ve forgotten your history, old man,” Zevander rasped through heaving breaths. “Deimos didn’t long to be king. He longed for Morsana.”
“Yes,” the beastly man hissed. “And that is precisely why he perished in the flames. He was weak for a woman! Just like you!”
“Why show me visions of her?” In spite of his obvious exhaustion, the slouching of his muscles and contractions of his chest, Zevander held his sword steady.
“I misjudged. I thought you longed for more than your pathetic life. Instead of conquering kings, you cowered for the love of a woman.”
Zevander pressed the tip of his blade to Cadavros’s throat. “I cower for no one. Man, king, orgod.”
“Killing me will unleash the plague,” Cadavros taunted. “Go ahead, if you love her so much.”
Zevander sneered. “She’d kill you herself if she were here.”
I would’ve laughed at his remark, true as it was, if my body weren’t locked in a state of panic.
“Get to your feet. I’ve no intention of killing a man on his knees,” Zevander ordered.
“Fucking hell, he’s going to unleash a plague on Aethyria!” Kazhimyr shouted beside me. “What is the chant!”
“I can’t remember!” Dravien growled.
A frantic tension slithered beneath my skin turning my muscles rigid as the two bickered beside me.
“How dare you.” Cadavros rose to his cloven feet. “I am a high mage who wields the power of two gods!” The fury in his voice shook the barrier.
“Remember that as you fall,” Zevander gritted out and as the mage raised his palm, Zevander lashed out first, sending him hurling backward on a gale of Aeryz.
My heart beat an anxious rhythm.
I couldn’t see where Cadavros had fallen. Only that he’d disappeared out of view.
Zevander collapsed to his knees, chest heaving, and I noticed a small patch of blood at his side where he must’ve been struck by a sword. He raised his hand again showing an intricate glyph glowing across his palm.
“Zevander, hurry!” I said, too impatient at him remaining on the wrong side of the archway.
The barrier flickered and wavered.
