Eryx had one of its remaining limbs locked in his ironfrost while our soldiers darted in from every angle, slashing, striking, retreating. Sowing chaos and confusion with each of their attacks.
Redthorne’s flames burned across the frostbeast’s side, the heat of his mana rippling against the chill of mine.
Another blood-curdling scream wrenched free from the beast’s throat before it freed itself from Eryx’s hold.
He flew backward, the force of the Korythid’s kick hurling him into a bloody snow bank lined with the corpses of fallen soldiers.
If we didn’t end it now, it would end us.
And if we couldn’t push the creature back… If we couldn’t kill it… Then I would drag it down into the frozen hells myself, if that’s what it took.
I refocused my attention on the ground beneath the monster. Ice and stone split with a thunderous roar as I unleashed the full force of my power. The storm screamed in tandem, wind lashing through the battlefield, ripping stones from the earth to widen the fissures into a vast chasm.
The cracks spidered outward from my boots while ice and lightning bled from the sky.
Redthorne’s fire flared hotter, molten streams cutting through the Elderborne’s damaged chitin, while Eryx shackled its skeletal legs to the ground that remained.
I didn’t need to shout over the blizzard for him to know what I was doing. The Lord General acted on instinct, forcing the monster toward the crumbling ground.
With a final push, I channeled everything I had, every shard of mana, every ounce of rage, into the storm wrenching free from inside me until the air itself fractured.
The wards trembled, but I could reinforce them later. Once the frostbeast was dead and buried.
Frost spread outward from the ground like wildfire, crawling up the Korythid’s hide until its plates began to splinter.
It shrieked, claws gouging the ground as it slid backward and tipped over the edge of the trench. Its body slammed against the frozen stone before crashing onto the chasm floor.
The frostbeast didn’t move after that. Its remaining legs were splayed, its chitin armor split open as it spilled inky blood out along the ground.
If there was any part of me that worried it was somehow still alive, that part was silenced as Redthorne roared and shot streams of liquid fire down to encompass its corpse.
The Korythid didn’t move or make a single sound as first its legs and tail shriveled beneath the flames, then the plates of armor splintered and fell away. Still, the emissary didn’t let up until all that was left was little more than charred, skeletal remains.
His flames fizzled down to cinders as he stared down into the pit. The entire field had gone silent save for the panting breaths escaping the soldiers strong enough to still be standing.
Even Eryx was uncommonly still, as if the slightest sound or movement might risk the victory that had cost us so much.
Snowflakes fell gently onto the bloody snow, soft and delicate and a sharp contrast to the violence that had been here a moment ago.
We weren’t safe. Not yet. Not truly.
I had torn power from the land to save my kingdom once, and it had fractured the balance of mana in the land and left the earth itself screaming in protest. But despite the bloodshed, despite the endless hordes of frostbeasts ravaging my Court, I wasn’t foolish enough to believe the cost had already been paid.
The land would not settle until what I had broken was made whole again. Or until it took everything from us in return.
And if one Elderborne had been able to claw its way back into this world, what else might follow? More Korythids? Or even worse monsters? Ancient things we had no names for yet and no hope of surviving.
Still, this was a small reprieve. It should have left me with at least a fleeting feeling of relief, but instead, the hairs stood on end at the back of my neck.
There was a feeling of wrongness I couldn’t suppress, like something writhing beneath my skin. It tugged at the back of my mind, begging to be acknowledged… No. Not something. The absence of something.
Everly.
I blinked, glancing toward the tower once again. I couldn’t feel her. Not even the faint hum of her presence through the bond. How long had it been since I last sensed her?
Ice crept into the edges of my vision as dread rooted itself deep in my chest. I spun around, searching for that invisible tether between us.
“My King—” Eryx began, instantly on alert once more, ironfrost curled around his fists as he readied to fight again.
