“You have no weapons. You think your magic can beat us?” the stocky man asked.
Snapping their hands out to the sides, a brilliantly polished sword appeared for each of them. The magic bowed around them, and the swords flashed to a tinted color.
Both of them, while mostly white, carried a hint of red magic.
Anger.
“Your treachery will not go unpunished,” Rilen repeated.
“Do you think we were raised to the robes because of our good looks?” Roran was always irreverent.
“The Spine needs to fall!” the tall one screamed.
“The Spine will fall, when the Breaker is ready.” Master Dorian had joined them in the clearing. “You are no one to determine what that time is. Only she breaks the Spine. Only she determines when that time is.”
“You talk like you know more than anyone else about this,” the stocky one said. “You could never know more about this than our Lost God.”
Tossing his head back, Master Dorian laughed. “And yet you stand there, drenched in hypocrisy, telling me thatyouknow when the Spine should fall.”
“The Breaker is a naïve fool, who doesn’t know what’s good for her.”
I was done with other people speaking for me.
Walking out of the bush, I pulled out my sword and held it at my side, in a neutral position. “I am the only one who knows when the Spine is ready to break. And I am the only one who will break the Spine.”
“Oh, shit.” This from one of the men who hadn’t said anything to that point as they stepped back away from me.
Master Dorian held up a hand, palm open. “It was not our wish that anyone would die from the end of the Spine. But you have made this a war, and in war, people die.”
He closed his fist.
The twins moved like lightning in high summer.
The steel they carried flowed through the air and beheaded two of the men by the fire before they even registered the swords had moved.
The other two tried to scramble away, down the path.
I hurled myself into their path and held the sword at attack ready. “No.”
Just enough time for Roran and Rilen to each take a head.
The bodies fell toward each other and paused as they collided. A moment later, they fell back, almost seeming to chase the heads that were rolling away.
For a few moments, the wind rustled the changing leaves on the trees. The fire crackled merrily. The scratch of small animals could be heard in the underbrush.
My legs gave out.
I was still holding the sword in a defensive position.
And my heart had cracked and shattered.
Chapter Seventeen
~ Kimber ~
Roran’s and Rilen’s swords disappeared. Master Dorian broke his stance and moved the nearest headless body.
Roran joined him while Rilen offered me a hand to help me stand. I waved it off.
