Dynalya
Everything stopped. Time. Sound. Her heart. The breath in her lungs. It took Dyna’s mind a second to comprehend, to make sense of the silver knife embedded in Zev’s stomach. Blood spread around it, soaking through his tunic like a bloody sun. Her mouth fell open in a silent cry as black webs spread beneath his ashen skin.
Reality snapped back into place. Everyone was still except for her. She kicked and thrashed wildly against Tarn’s iron grip to. If she removed the knife, she could save him. She had only minutes to stop the poison, mere minutes. But Tarn wouldn’t let her go.
Zev’s confused gaze found her. Panting breaths rattled in his lungs, and a choked whimper caught in her throat when black blood leaked from his eyes like tears. The horrid things she said to him only moments ago echoed back at her.I didn’t mean it. She didn’t mean any of it.
His body keeled, and he fell.
Dyna screamed.
The ear-splitting sound tore through her lungs, a violent, broken cry echoing into the skies for every god to hear. The barrier inside of her splintered. Green light blazed as Essence poured through the cracks, fueled by her sorrow and rage. The feeling swelled, burning through her pores, to every edge of her existence, filling and scorching, demanding to break free.
Green flames erupted out of her. It ripped through the air with a roar and wrenched everyone away, throwing them across the hill. As quickly as it appeared, that power vanished. Dyna’s legs gave out and her knees hit the mud. She gasped for breath, ears ringing and vision briefly blinded. She forced herself to move, dragging herself on her hands and knees to Zev.
Dyna repeated his name between gasping breaths like a prayer. She reached him and took his face, searching his unfocused eyes. Each painful wheeze for air pulled against his ribs. Black gurgled out of his mouth and trickled from his ears.
Her tears joined with the rain. “Stay with me, Zev. Stay with me.”
“Dyna,” he rasped.
“It’s all right. I’ll heal you. I’ll fix it.”
You cannot fix what is already broken.
Her shaking hands gripped the knife, but she couldn’t pull it free. If she did, he would bleed out. Leaving it inside of him kept death at bay while pumping him with poison, searing him from the inside. The stench of burning skin filled her nose. Zev’s face spasmed with pain as he coughed up more black blood. Choking on despair, she called on her power to begin the healing, but she had none. It had blown out with that blast. A fresh wave of panic rippled through her.
“You will be fine,” she promised with a shuddering sob. She needed more magic.
Dyna whipped around to the others. Tarn and his men slowly righted themselves, stunned by the explosion. Cassiel met her eyes as he jerked up.
“I need you!”
He tore out a handful of feathers and sprang across the distance between them. An arrow zipped from the trees. It pierced through his wing, and she cried out at the sharp pain bursting in her shoulder blade as he hit the ground. Raiders ran out of the forest. Cassiel stumbled to his feet, snapping the arrow free. He withdrewEsh Zayinand faced the faction of men dressed in black as they came.
Twenty against one.
It was a repeat of Corron. Her heart squeezed inside of her, but there was only cold calm on Cassiel’s face.
The clash of metal met white flame. Their cries vanished with the scattering of ash. He slew each one who tried to reach her, moving with swift grace. Bodies lit into plumes of divine fire before they burst into plumes of smoke, washing away beneath the rain.
None will get past me, he swore.
She shivered at the sensation of feeling him in her mind.
Rawn and Elon resumed their battle, their swords ringing across the clearing. Tarn came for her with the mage flanking his side, and Von approached from the opposite direction. Zev’s pulse slowed further beneath her fingers.
Cassiel, hurry!
He twisted, whipping his wings. The gust threw Von and the remaining band of Raiders away, creating an opening. He flew for her, and she reached for the feathers clutched in his fist. A blast of red snatched him from the air and slammed him down. Cassiel’s growled curse echoed through her mind. She flinched at the potent fury in it.
The mage waved his staff and dragged him to Tarn’s feet. “Thank you for returning my Maiden.”
Cassiel snarled. “She’s mine.”
Dyna grabbed a fallen Raider’s short sword from the grass. It was heavier and more awkward than her knife. Without magic, she was no match for Tarn, but it didn’t matter. She was finished cowering. By the gods, she would ram the sword straight through that man if he so much as—
With a swipe of his fingers, the mage tore the weapon from her hand. He ensnared her in a red mist and carried her through the air to Tarn. Her heart raced as those pale eyes assessed her. Before she could blink, before she could call on any remnants of magic, his hands came at her. She cried out at the bite of icy metal clamping around her throat.
