When our lips meet, it’s soft, tender, and filled with unspoken promises. His arms wrap around my waist, and I shift, straddling him as my arms loop over his shoulders. When our lips part, he presses his forehead against mine.
“For what it’s worth, I’m glad to have met you, Durvla Garrick.”
CHAPTER 74
Durvla
A flockof sheep roams through the winding green valley as we walk in the shadow of the towering mountains. A monstrous slope of steep, black stone looms ahead of us like a fortified wall, the peak beyond what I can see. It would take scaling the face of the mountain to make it through without magical means. A lush forest is somewhere to our right and the ocean is to our left.
“Here we are,” Alys signs.
I stop walking and grip Ghendor’s reins perhaps a bit too tightly. The horse paws the ground restlessly and Kilkenny takes the reins from me. Doom hangs above my head like a guillotine set to fall, and my skin crawls. “Durvla, what is it?” Kilkenny signs.
“I don’t know.”
Chiyo releases Ffion’s reins and turns to fully face me. “If you sense something…” she begins.
Everyone’s attention shifts to me, and I resist the urge to cower. “I’m just anxious,” I admit.
We continue onward, following Alys since she knows the exact point of the entrance to the Verge. I cannot fathom what lies beyond the wards, because as far as I can see, there are just mountains, pastures, and woodland. Alys gave us a refresher on the runes and the incantations earlier, before we got in the vicinity of the wards. There’s a winding path up the mountain that makes my stomach dip with anxiety.
Kilkenny slips his free hand into mine and gives it a small squeeze.
The closer we get to the base of the mountain, the more nervous I become. Each step makes my pulse quicken and my stomach churns with dread. We let go of our horses’ reins as we make it to the rocky face of the steep mountain. We’re so close we can touch it, and I can alreadyfeelthe energy sizzling before us. I recoil, daunted.
Kilkenny shifts his focus to me. “I feel it, too.”
“Let’s get started,” Alys says.
We all stare up at the rocky mountain as Alys takes a stance, her legs shoulder-width apart. She flexes her fingers a few times as if warming them up, then takes a deep breath. An immense sense of foreboding burrows into my head, and Alys collapses to her knees.
I barely have time to register anything before Kilkenny unsheathes his swords and whirls around. Chiyo grabs a few daggers, getting into a fighting stance as six figures in black cloaks materialize before us. Alys is on her hands and knees. An arrow has gone straight through her back, the tip protruding from the right side of her chest. She places a shaky hand against the mountain’s side.
“Alys!” I start to move toward her, but Kilkenny shoves me behind him as his voice fills my mind. “She can heal herself.Youcan’t.” He charges toward a figure with spiky white hair and an oddly curved blade in hand. I force shallow breaths into my lungs as the fightunfolds. The man doesn’t remain in one place. He disappears and reappears every time Kilkenny’s sword gets close to striking him. Gods, that’s… shocking. Terrifying.
I stand frozen, watching the clash of swords, the whiz of arrows and daggers. I count six attackers, nearly doubling our small party, and with Alys and myself unskilled in weaponry, that impending sense of doom surges in my chest again. As if things aren’t dire enough, three others in bright white cloaks appear. I stare for a moment at the startling contrast.
The horses are uneasy, pawing at the ground and tossing their heads. Ffion rears back on her hind legs before running away, but somehow Ghendor and Mirren stand their ground.
“They’re Dispellers,”Kilkenny says into my mind, his mental voice breathless. “If they get close, use your dagger. Don’t let them touch you—they can vanish you to wherever they desire.”
One of Chiyo’s daggers finds its place in the forehead of one of the white-clad figures and they drop. Another white-cloaked figure faces the same end just as they turn on Chiyo. Seven attackers remain.
The remaining assailant in white takes out one in black. Six.
Then five as Kilkenny’s sword goes straight through another in black.
My back to the mountain, I sidestep toward Alys. She snaps off the arrowhead protruding from beneath her clavicle. “I need you to pull the shaft out,” she says.
What? “Alys, I can’t,” I say, shaking my head firmly.
“Yes, you can. Make it quick, sweetling.”
I scrub my sweaty palms on my trousers and grasp the shaft, closing my eyes before wrenching it free from Alys’s back. I toss the arrow aside, swallowing the bitterness in my mouth. It takes a moment for Alys to gather her composure, but then she struggles to her feet.
“Are you alright?” I ask.
Her smile is almost convincing. “It’ll take more than an arrow to stop me.”
