Aezil tilted his head. “It’s a quick poison.”
Silac venom. Already leaching his strength. Grunting, Maddek fell to his knees. He could barely hold his sword.
The sorcerer smiled. “If only my father could see this.”
“Zhalen.” Maddek had promised Yvenne his head. And heart. He struggled to stand. “Where is he?”
“He has gone to retrieve my wayward sister.”
Maddek shook his head in denial. “He will not find her.”
“No? You have a spy among your own. We know where you have hidden her.”
Maddek’s heartbeat pounded in his ears. Again he struggled and his boots slipped in blood. He crashed backward, and this time it was Steel who saved him from tumbling into the eye socket, the wolf clamping his teeth around Maddek’s vambrace and pulling him from the edge. From below, he heard the drepa’s warning hisses.
“You fight, but you will not win,” Aezil told him now, slowly coming closer. The Scourge swayed with each step, the wind whistling past Maddek’s face. “My sister thinks to build an alliance against the Destroyer. But when everyone sees the power I have, when they see how I have crushed the Parsathean army, they will unite instead under me.”
“Crush the Parsathean army?” Maddek gave a hoarse laugh, then spit green foam before telling him, “You think this number is all we have? You will need a bigger monster.”
“In time.” Amusement lit the sorcerer’s eye. “Are you still trying to come after me with that sword? A fine weapon you will be against my enemies. Revenants have minds filled with hunger. But the silac venom leaves nothing, and it is so much easier to fill those emptied brains with one thought. To stand. To attack. What thought will I put into your head?”
“To slay you.” Difficult it was now to even sit up. “Monster.”
“Then lift your sword against me, warrior.”
Maddek shook his head. “Vela told me that a warrior relies too much on his sword.”
“Did she?” Aezil laughed. “So you will not swing it at me in hope that the goddess will save you in reward for learning a lesson?”
With this poison in him, nothing would save Maddek. “I expect nothing from a goddess. And so I will use my sword one last time.”
Grinning, Aezil spread his hands. “If you can make it this far, I will give you one swing.”
Maddek was not going anywhere. Rolling over onto his stomach and dragging himself to the edge of the eye socket took all his strength. As did shoving his sword across the slippery obsidian.
He did rely on his sword. So he let it go.
Like an arrow it fell downward, into the drepa nest—and speared one of the raptors in the haunches. A screech tore through the air, echoing from that cavern.
Heaving himself back, Maddek reached for Steel. “Dead!” he commanded gruffly.
Instantly the wolf lay against him. No effort it was for Maddek to remain still as the screeches rose in number. In a rush of clicking claws and racing feet, the reptiles poured out of the nest. Utterly still, Maddek didn’t look to see Aezil fleeing, but the jerk of the Scourge’s head and the whipping jolt of the rock beneath him joined the sorcerer’s screams. Then a harder jolt, as if the mountain suddenly fell again. The flames jetting through the vents abruptly went out.
Longer Maddek waited, as the drepa tore into the body and then carried the pieces back to the nest. Happy chirps from the infants soon followed. Steel whined and moved slightly, licking Maddek’s face.
Then Ardyl was rolling him over, tears streaming. She wiped the foam from his mouth. “Don’t sleep,” she begged him.
Kelir was there, his face a mask of anguish. “Maddek.” He took his hand in a crushing grip. “It is done. Enox stopped the poisoned soldiers. And the Rugusians are on the run.”
“I am not done,” he rasped. So little strength he had, even in his breath. “My bride. Take me to Yvenne.”
He saw the look that passed between them. Knew they thought it was impossible. A day’s ride it was.
Hoarsely he told them, “There are words left unsaid.”
“We will tell her for you,” Ardyl vowed on sobbing breaths.
Heart aching, Maddek shook his head. “No one can say these.”
Not if they were to mean anything. To hear love from someone else’s lips only sounded like a platitude.
“You fool,” Kelir snarled at him. “You didn’t tell her? You cockbrained fool.”
As if in rage, the warrior hauled him up, slung Maddek’s arm over his shoulder. Ardyl took the other side.
“Don’t sleep,” she commanded. “Whatever it takes.”
It would take all that was left of his strength. But it mattered not.
Only Yvenne mattered now.
CHAPTER 40
YVENNE
Seri raced ahead, collecting a sword and armor before catching up again with the slower Yvenne, and together they entered her tent.
Forever they seemed to wait. With quiver on her shoulder and bow in hand, Yvenne stood surrounded by walls of mammoth hide, listening for any sounds from outside.
The young warrior stood with her, breaths quick and sharp. “I hate this. I hate not knowing what is happening. I feel so helpless.”
As did Yvenne. But she had more experience with it. “We’re not helpless. We are waiting for our opportunity to act.”
Seri nodded. Some of the tension in her shoulders eased—then stiffened again as a shout sounded. A scream, a howl of rage. The clash of a sword.
Banek slipped into the tent, carrying a bloodied blade. “Come, my lady. We must run—”
The old warrior stopped abruptly, gaze dropping to her knee before rising again. For the longest moment, his eyes held hers, and she agreed with all that he said in that silent look.
He turned to Seri. “You must be a mouse, do you hear? Find three horses, and meet us at the north end, by the pool. Be silent and swift, and if you cannot find three mounts, then one will do.”
Face bloodbare, the girl nodded. Banek crossed the tent, his curved blade slashing the hide at the back. “Through here. Quickly.”
Seri darted through and vanished. Banek followed. Yvenne slipped through the gash into a swirl of choking smoke, then notched an arrow. The warrior stopped to listen. So many sounds she heard, a confusing clash of shouts and blades.
“Who has come?” she whispered.
The warrior’s jaw tightened as if he would not answer. Then, “Zhalen.”