Hmm. That was not a good sign.
I raised my voice. “Gaven, can you get me out of here?”
I didn’t know if he could hear me, but calling for him was my only option. There was no clear exit to this place. I tried to wake up, but nothing happened. Heart pounding, I could only watch as the fury transformed Bellicent’s face into a portrait of deep lines and furrows that made her look like the Crones she’d sucked dry.
“No one can get you out of here,” she said, stalking toward me. “If you know your name, you must die, Tessa Baran.”
I braced myself. Bellicent attacked. She leapt at me with outstretched hands, her fingers morphing into claws. With a hiss, she swung at my face. I ducked low with only a breath to spare.
She growled and launched at me. Her body slammed into mine, knocking me off my feet. We hit the invisible ground. Breath flew from my lungs, and I grabbed her arms as she tried to rake her claws across my throat.
I shoved her off me and rolled to the side.
She leapt onto my back and sank her fangs into my neck. Pain exploded in my throat, a fearful reminder of what Andromeda had done to me.
“Gaven!” I shouted. “Help me, please!”
The light suddenly snapped away. A hazy room full of flickering shadows roared in around me. The weight of Bellicent was still on my back, and my neck felt wet. But stone was beneath my hands instead of the pale white nothing. I was back, but so was she. She dug her teeth into my neck again.
Gaven roared. The weight of her suddenly vanished. Before I could turn, I heard the sickening crunch of steel against bone. Blood sprayed the floor around my hands.
When I rolled over, Gaven held a Crone’s head by the hair. Her body was a ruined mess by his feet. My stomach turned. I swallowed down the nausea and climbed to my feet. Every inch of me felt like it was on fire, and my lungs could barely find enough breath to keep me from collapsing to my knees.
It was then I noticed the other two bodies. They were in a similar state.
Gaven dropped the head. “Are you all right?”
“You killed them,” was all I could say, feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders.
“They were trying to killyou, so yes.”
I sighed and closed my eyes. “It wasn’t their fault.”
“Fault or not, I wasn’t going to let them kill you.” At the sound of rustling clothing, I reopened my eyes. To my surprise, Gaven had knelt before me. He bowed his head and placed his sword at my feet. “You are my queen.”
I placed my shaking hand on his shoulder. “Thank you, Gaven.”
After a moment, he stood and examined the wound on my neck with gentle fingers. “What happened?”
I explained to him what Bellicent had said and done. When I was finished, he looked as uneasy as I felt.
“What does it all mean?” he asked.
“I wish I knew.”
Outside, the war horn wailed. Gaven and I both turned toward it. His lips settled into a hard line, and I knew my expression mirrored his. That sound meant the gods had been spotted from the bridge. They were close now, which meant the battle would soon begin. And I had no answers. No plan to save us. No greater power to offer.
Nothing but a determination to fight for a better world until the end.
Forty-Five
Kalen
There was nothing else like the sound of marching soldiers. Their uniformed steps formed a song of war, a promise of death and blood and fields of broken flesh. Many of the warriors who surrounded me at the edge of the chasm had heard this sound before. They’d been with me through it all, from the battles against Oberon to the skirmishes on the wall back in Dubnos.
But they’d never heard it quite like this. Neither had I.
The deafening march was only the start of it. The footsteps were punctuated by the roaring of beasts and the booming thunder in the skies. The rain had become a deluge, flooding the plain at the bottom of the hill, as well as the village of Teine nearby. Our boots were thick with mud, despite being on the rocky edge of the chasm. Soon, the water would reach us, too.
