“Gone?” Mirella’s eyes are wide. “Yes.”
My heart stills as I hear a growl outside.
At that moment, a window breaks, then another. Their frames explode into thousands of wooden pieces, while the front door collapses, and ghouls enter the house. I push back my sister and Lidiane, and we retreat to the windowless kitchen, where I grab a heavy frying pan. Someone tilts a table, and all I know is that Renel jumps in front of us, sword in hand, while I do my best with the pan.
The ghouls retreat when they’re hit, and if they’re beheaded or hit enough, they fall, but they’re strong and too many.
Hit, hit, hit, hit, and then more and more come, an interminable ocean flooding the house with bodies made of earth. My pan connects with a head, then another, getting heavier and heavier in my arms.
My sister and Lidiane are behind me, defending themselves with daggers. Nelsin and Ferer have swords, and it’s the two of them and my brother doing most of the work. I don’t know how long they’ll last.
I can’t even check on them, trying to push back the ghouls coming on my side, but a glance tells me Renel’s bleeding. And I can’t do anything. We’ll die here, trying to fight like this.
And yet I don’t know what else to do.
ZIVEN
Astra’s poisoned, fallen, unconscious.
I’ve heard of black worm ooze, the substance she identified before passing out. The problem is that I have no idea what the antidote is. She was trying to tell us, but didn’t have time. If only I had stopped Sayanne earlier, perhaps even earlier than this, when she tried to kill Tarlia, but I can’t change the past now.
Azur looks at me, his brows contracted. “Do you know the antidote?”
“No.” I try to think. “I could check a book, but I fear it could take too long.” My pulse quickens with anxiety, as I try to push away the fear and find some clarity, some answer.
Clarity. Light. I recall Astra reciting a prayer, blocking our bedroom once, and remember her faith. I think about the Almighty Mother, and ask her to help me save Astra.
Clarity. It comes to me suddenly. “If Sayanne’s blade was poisoned, Otavio knew about it, and if he did, he would have the antidote close by, just in case.”
“True. And it would be within reach.”
The strange dark smoke still hovers over the bed, and I condense some water above it, so that it brings it down, then I search the corner of the mattress, under the pillow, while Azur searches the other side.
“Here,” he says, and shows three bottles.
One of them is a cylinder, one has a square bottom and shape, and the other has jagged corners.
I point at the jagged one. “It’s something they’ll want to find quickly, when their mind might be confused.”
“Let me check.” He opens it, then raises an eyebrow. “My sense of smell is better than yours.” His face turns into a grimace. “This is the poison.” He closes it, then takes the square bottle and opens it. “It doesn’t smell toxic. It could be.”
I double check the bed again, to see if there’s any other bottle. It has to be the square one. Azur drops some of the liquid on her arm wound, then some of it in her mouth, then says, “If it doesn’t work, the Nymphs might be able to heal her. They practically brought me back from the grave.”
“That might work.” Only if she survives getting there, but I don’t dare say it, don’t dare voice my fears out loud. I’m so scared for my friend that I’m trembling.
“We need to get to the River of Tears.” He sounds calm, but I notice he’s also holding back his emotions. “Once we cross it, I’ll be able to transcend. What’s the fastest way to get there?”
I swallow. “We’ll need to get some horses from the stables.”
“I can carry her. What are we going to do about the guards?”
Guards. There will be so many of them, patrolling the royal wing, the castle, and keeping the horses safe. Guards, guards, guards, when there’s only two of us, and Azur’s hands will be busy.
Except that… an idea hits me. “They won’t bother with us. We’ll just walk calmly and confidently, like we’re doing our business, and nobody will notice.”
Azur stares at me as if I was crazy, and I add, “Guards are trained to stop intruders, take care of disruptions. They won’t blink at two men walking. And we’re wearing the capes.”
Azur puts her on his shoulder. “She’s breathing.”
