Page 26 of The Sundered Blade

Like an arrow from a bow, it flew towards its target faster than the eye could follow and hit the sword-wielder’s shoulder. Driven and strengthened by magic, it sank deep, drawing a scream from the man’s throat as he dropped his blade.

Another flick, another fiery dart that hit the target’s thigh. The man crashed to the ground, bleeding from both wounds and snarling threats that both Kyrion and Vaniell ignored.

“Can you walk?” Vaniell barked, dashing to Kyrion’s side and offering his hand to help the night elf to his feet.

Glowing silver eyes met Vaniell’s gaze, their depths swirling with anger, doubt, and indecision.

“I swear I did not betray you,” Vaniell told him fiercely. “But if you still want to hurt me, at least wait until we’re elsewhere. This one has friends, and they’re probably right behind me.”

Kyrion’s gaze cleared as he reached up, grasped Vaniell’s hand, and rose to his feet, teeth clenched tightly together. “I can run,” he said grimly, “but not much more as of yet.”

“Then we run.” And he would improvise again if the occasion demanded it. He had no desire to kill, but if driven to do so, he had no doubt he could find a thousand ugly ways for their enemies to die.

With Kyrion in the lead, they raced across the side of the slope, hearing the sound of running footsteps and shouts behind them.

“Any idea where we can go to hide?” Vaniell panted, but Kyrion did not answer. He’d turned towards the mountainside and was scrambling up, using his uninjured hand as an anchor. Vaniell was forced to follow suit, his heart in his throat as his boots slipped and his fingers tore and the slope grew ever steeper.

A cracking sound sent Vaniell jerking to the side as an arrow splintered against the rock only an arm’s length from his face.

They were clearly too visible to their enemies downslope.

“We need to go down,” he gritted out as he tried to climb faster. “We’re too exposed here.”

“No,” Kyrion growled back. “Trust me. I know where we are now.”

Trust him. While arrows flew at his head and a steady ache grew between his shoulder blades. Trust him, when he might well believe Vaniell had already betrayed him once.

But he had no choice, so he climbed, and could barely believe his eyes when his boots suddenly reached firm footing on a narrow, all but invisible track along the mountainside.

“This way.” Kyrion led them onward, not down, but up, on a trail that appeared to have been made by mountain goats.

Only once did Vaniell make the mistake of looking down, and instantly felt so ill that he nearly collapsed on the spot. But the memory of arrows kept him upright and moving, grimly focused on the back of Kyrion’s head.

So focused that he ended up crashing into the night elf’s back when he came to a sudden stop, his hands raised to the side, his posture unthreatening.

“I swear I mean no harm to any in your community,” he said, as if to the empty air. “I wish to speak with Yvane.”

“You again.” The man who appeared seemingly from the middle of a rock face did not look particularly pleased or displeased to see Kyrion. His eyes were sharp and his expression unreadable as he glanced towards Vaniell and then back to the night elf. “And your companion?”

“I stand responsible for him,” Kyrion replied without hesitation. “But our errand is truly urgent, and we are being pursued by soldiers of Garimore. Will you allow us entrance, or should we make other plans?”

The man grimaced, but shrugged as if he cared little one way or another. “Seems you always bring some trouble or other to our door, but Yvane has granted you her trust. I suppose you’d best follow me in and she can decide.”

He turned and disappeared, and Kyrion looked back over his shoulder with a nod. “We’ll be safe enough here,” he said, and then he, too, simply stepped into the rock and vanished.

“Wait, where are we…”

A hand reached back out, gripped the front of Vaniell’s coat, and yanked him right into the side of the mountain.

CHAPTER8

That night after they’d camped and eaten, Senaya took an audible breath and seated herself across the fire from Leisa.

“Very well. Tell me what you want to know about your magic and I will do my best to aid you.”

Leisa was silent for so long, Karreya began to fear she did not intend to answer. But eventually, she set aside her cup and folded her hands before speaking.

“Tell me what you would have said if… If you’d stayed. If you’d trained me as a child first coming into my power.”

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