He checks on Aura’s condition and is pleased to find her managing on her own with her father’s axe andseidrfire.
Her open palm clutches flames that she hurls at the drauger while her violet companion bounces off any nearby foes, igniting them in fire.
Calder freezes and cleaves the remaining drauger as he wades toward her, who is now surrounded by burning and dying creatures of the Abyss. As he reaches the Princess, he sends more ice spikes through the others, beginning to surround her.
An ear-piercing scream from Aura halts the rhythm of his heart. A drauger with a burning hand clutches her arm, searing into her tunic. Calder slices the head off before it can do more damage.
“This may hurt.” He gently grasps her arm and hovers his palmover the burn, offering the faintest iceseidr,a soothing, cool sensation to treat the wound. Once her burn heals, they return to fend off the growing horde, which quickly overruns them.
Calder hears Makt’s voice in his mind as before.“When my drauger slay you, nothing will stop me from taking the Princess’ body for my own. She will agree to be my vessel. Imagine all the pleasure I can have with her.”His maniacal laugh sears his ears.
“Stand behind me!” Calder commands as he drops the great axe and slams both fists into the sand.
Already, he can feel his exhaustedseidrapproaching its natural limit. He knows this action is reckless, with dire, if not deadly, consequences.
“No, Calder!” Aura warns him, already sensing his next move as the horde expands to nearly three hundred.
“If it’s between you and me, Aura, you will be the one to walk away from this with Makt’s axe.”
His bellows echo off the walls as ice coats the room and every undead within it. Calder continues to push into the ground, banishing any lingering drauger below him. A tremendous amount of power expels from his palms, draining his energy. The sound of ice hissing is the only noise heard when movement comes to a halt.
His knuckles relax under his pressure as he can no longer exert hisseidr.
“Calder…” Aura’s voice is a distant light, drawing him to the only home he has ever known.
I will keep the truth about my parentage from her for as long as I can. Let her think the best of me for as long as possible.
He stumbles to his feet, placing a hand on Aura’s shoulder before collapsing onto his back.
As he loses consciousness, he becomes aware of a winged, heavily armored woman bursting through the stone. Something about her feels familiar.
Makt’s voice once more pierces through his skull.“I told you, my son,you are too weak tohandle yourseidr. But Aura, on the other hand…”
32
AURA
October 8, Year 21, 10th Era
Makt’s Temple, Skalor
“Get away from him!” Aura’s axe clashes fiercely against the vísir’s raised weapon.
She positions herself protectively between Calder’s lifeless body and the female warrior chosen by the Norn to guide the souls to their afterlife.
How did this fucking happen? He is the Iss Drengr. He cannot die!
Somehow, she swallows down her rising agony and grief to tap into the only emotion motivating her actions.
Rage.
Aura screams as she grips her axe with both hands and drives the blade into the side of the immortal warrior. The clash of ebony against steel reverberates up her arms, compelling her to step back and tower over Calder’s body with a snarl.
The vísir wears solid Astrian steel armor like none Aura has ever seen. The iridescent metal conforms to her athletic body like a second skin. A pair of black wings sprout from her back, with strips of sapphire embedded in her veins. The shiny helmet may conceal herface, but a set of haunting dark eyes peer out through slits at Aura’s bold defiance.
“How can you see me?” the vísir’s muffled voice demands as Aura commands her violet fireball to explode in a burst of flames, causing the warrior to shriek and stumble away.
“You will not take him from me!” Aura thrusts her father’s blackwood axe at the vísir’s face.
