Page 74 of Vathia
Ten shadows of moving smoke, gliding above the ground heading into camp. I watch as a few fae warriors charge the smoky beings, only to fall victim to a soundless death. The screeching gets louder and the creatures become faster with every life they take. At this rate they will wipe out the camp.
“Fuck, this must have been what demolished that town, which means…”
“That these must be the shadow wraiths born from the Soul Stone,” Nero finishes what I couldn’t.
Jesper pushes on my mind again. “Ravina. You need to take Vasari and go. I will find the others and meet you back at the castle in Kraryn.” The fear in his voice almost makes me listen. But I can’t just run and abandon my warriors. This is my fight too.
I shake my head. “No, let me help. We don’t have time for this!”
“Fine, but stay close. We swoop in, grab the others and leave. Do not get off of Vasari. No one knows how to destroy these things.” The devastation is clear in his voice.
My head dips and we take off. It doesn’t take us long to find Aemon, Killian, Roz and Ember. The latter two took to the skies as soon as they realized what was going on.
I begin to panic when I don’t spot Melissandre or Lennox anywhere, nor their gryphons. I almost give up hope when I see them and about a hundred of our warriors fighting in the center of the camp, slowly being closed in on all sides by the ten shadow wraiths.
“Mel! Lennox!” I scream, urging Vasari to fly faster.
Shadow wraiths hit the front line of warriors and my magick pulses inside of me before my shadows engulf me. For a split second I’m weightless, and then I’m on the ground in the fray next to both of my friends.
They’re covered in blood, their eyes wide with the adrenaline of the fight and fear for what’s coming to us. I grab their hands and try to pull back on the shadows that got me here in the first place but to no avail, they don’t come. It’s like fate herself has trapped me here.
I turn, facing my incoming death, my friends gripping each other for a moment. “I’m here. We live or die together, but let’s not go down without a fight,” I yell towards them.
My body seems to have a mind of its own as I hop onto the boulder next to me, almost like it’s not me controlling myself. My limbs feel foreign, even as the fear from Aemon’s and Nero’s bonds pounds at my mental barriers. Vasari, feeling almost as entranced as I am, lands behind me, crushing the tents that were still somehow standing despite everything.
As the wall of warriors opens up, I find myself standing nearly face to face with this creature of death and despair, as it closes in fast with maybe twenty feet in front of me. I unsheathe my sword and raise it above my head as Vasari’s shadow flames glow in an immaculate purple stream above me, hitting the two wraiths in front of me and lighting my sword ablaze. Their screeches shatter through the air, making me wince as my own control finally snaps back to me and I realize what happened. I barely have time to contemplate everything before I’m swinging my blade at the next shadow wraith. It crumples in on itself making the same horrifying noise as the other two.
My feet move with practiced ease, although exhaustion is consuming me quickly. Bursts of purple light up around me as I swing my blade over and over again.
The realm is silent for a moment. Nothing but my heaving breath and pride comes through my bond from Vasari, even though it’s tinged with annoyance. Something to ask her about later. I just can’t believe I’m alive.
Cheers erupt through the air seconds before Mel and Lennox have their arms around me.
Mel’s sobs break through my fight-induced focus, and I hug them back.
“I thought we were dead,” she says, clinging to me.
Even Lennox’s eyes are filled with emotion, leaving streaks of dirt and blood down his face. “We told our gryphons to take off. We couldn’t get out of the fight and it wasn’t safe for them to land so close to us.”
Mel hugs me tighter. “And then you and Vasari showed up looking like something not of this realm…”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
Before they answer, I’m being spun around and gripped tightly by my shoulders as Talyn, of all fae, looks me over intensely.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” he yells, shaking me a bit. “You could have died. You almostdied!” he bellows again, his normally stoic face gripped with fear.
“I’m alive,” I state as calmly as I can.
His head shakes. “You were supposed to stay in the fucking air, Ravina. You are supposed to make it through this war and lead everyone. You’re so fucking reckless.” His lips land on mine roughly, full of so much emotion and longing, before he rips himself away.
He staggers back and I can’t help but stand there touching my lips where the echo of his still tingle against mine. Without a word he storms away through the crowd of tired soldiers. The cheers don’t last long. Not as the sun rises and we find ourselves amidst a burial ground. Out of the ten thousand warriors we had, only a few thousand survived because of the wraith taking lives with no way for the living to fight back. Our army was almost completely destroyed, but we discovered something that could change the tide of the war: shadow flames can defeat the wraiths.
But even with all this going on, for some selfish reason, I can’t stop thinking about the rage-induced kiss Talyn gave me.
I shake my head, forcing it back. I need to help my warriors. We need to come up with a plan– but first I need my mates.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
