She aimed, sunlight glinting off the arrowhead. The twang of the bowstring echoed in his ears. The arrow hit the water beside them with a soft plunk. Her skill had reached its limit.
Lord Norrlen removed his bow and drew an arrow from his quiver in one swift movement. He let it loose. All was still, the breeze and rustle of the forest muted as the arrow zipped away. It flew true through the air and found its mark, piercing the archer’s chest. She fell flat without so much as a scream. The men were unmoving for only a moment before two of them took the fallen body and dragged it away.
How had he made such an impressive shot?
The horse rider dismounted in no rush and casually withdrew his sword. It couldn’t be for combat when they were so far out of reach. Rawn dropped his bow and withdrew his weapon. The hooded adversary spoke. The wind muffled the foreign words, but Zev recognized the elvish language and realized who confronted them now.
Captain Elon, the boy had called him. Their second-in-command worth one-hundred men.
The familiar tug of Essence prickled against Zev as it churned in the atmosphere. The way it did when Dyna was gathering her power, but this was different. Stronger. Violent. A vivid blue spark sprouted from the captain’s hands and wrapped the blade in a crackling swath of blue electricity.
Cassiel’s eyes grew wide. “What spell is that?”
“Anadaug Luza,” Rawn said, his jaw clenching. “The Blue Scythe.”
Cassiel threw himself on the raft, rocking it unsteadily as he tried to grab Dyna. “Give her to me!”
“Be calm,” Rawn said. He planted his feet and raised his sword. Sunlight kissed the edge. Not once did he look away from the hooded figure. Opponent set and match. “Come.”
Captain Elon swung his sword. Magic exploded from the blade in an arc, speeding for them in a blinding inferno. There was no place to run, no place to hide. They were dead in the water.
Zev’s mind went quiet for once. The Madness had no response to this.
Rawn parried the Blue Scythe, and it rebounded off his weapon with a crack of thunder. The spell returned the way it came and crashed into the bluffs with an ear-splittingboom. The Raiders shouted and scrambled back as the cliffside crumbled beneath their feet. Chunks of solid rock crashed onto the bank of the loch.
A massive, smoking crevice marred the Kazer Bluffs as if a giant had taken to it with an ax.
“How … how did you do that?” Cassiel asked, gawking at Rawn.
“My sword is enchanted to dissipate magic,” he said, “or rather, in this case, reflect it.”
Captain Elon made no more attempts to attack, watching the current carry them away. His faint voice reached Zev, as he imagined it had reached Rawn. “Lord Norrlen, we shall meet again.”
Rawn sheathed his sword. He retrieved the rod and steered the raft with no further acknowledgment.
Zev and Cassiel stared at him, then at each other, equally speechless. Whatever the boy had said about Captain Elon, they may have met someone who was worth much more.
Chapter 43
Von
The night chill was as cruel and unrelenting as the quiet wrath rolling off Tarn’s presence. Von braced himself where he stood at the center of the dark camp, stripped to his trousers. Geon shivered beside him, huddling his scrawny arms to his bare chest.
The firelight from the torches staked into the ground shone on the grim Raiders who had gathered to witness. A requirement during lashings. Benton wore a gleeful smile. Dalton and Clayton stood with him, their umber robes swaying in a passing gust. Elon and Bouvier lingered in the shadows as still as ghosts.
Geon flinched at the sound of the whip unfurling to the ground behind them.
“I will take the lads lashings, Master,” Von said.
“No.” The boy stood erect, clenched fists shaking at his sides, with all the bravery he could muster.
“Kneel,” Tarn said, his voice set with a dreadful calm.
Von and Geon lowered to their knees. The dirt coated his palms layered in sweat. He dug his fingers deep, burying them against the bite of sharp rocks.
“You cost me twenty-two assets. Twenty-two lashings you will receive.”
Twenty Raiders plus the pendant and the Maiden.
