Page 48 of An Honored Vow

I lit a circle of flame around the middle carriage. The Mortals lurched back in fear of being burned. They saw my golden eyes and ran in the other direction.

I snuffed out the flames and opened the door. Six Halflings trembled inside. Two in servants clothes and the rest dressed for the ball. “Run to the western edge of the city,” I told them as I helped the first out of the carriage. “You will find Halflings wearing white pins around their necks. Trust them.”

They nodded and ran.

I grabbed a fallen sword and joined Gerarda sparring five soldiers on her own.

“Why did Elaran find the Blade bound and stuffed in a crate?” she asked, pressing her back to mine.

“Duck!” I shouted. We moved as one, avoiding a soldier’s swing. I gutted him through the belly with his comrade’s sword. “Apparently he’s too big for the sleeping draught to work.”

Gerarda knelt and swiped a soldier’s legs. “Did you only bring one dose?”

“Of course not,” I shouted, shoving two soldiers to the ground with their bows jammed through their eyes. “We brought a second. It didn’t work either.”

Gerarda clenched her teeth. “Was Riven opposed to a third?” She switched to throwing knives, and soldiers started dropping in every direction.

“He’s unconscious and in a cart.” I rolled my eyes. “Why does it matter how he got there?”

Gerarda rushed forward, the man still on her sword, and pinned a second to the door of someone’s house. “Just once, I would like to go on a mission without you complicating it.”

“I don’t complicate.” I slashed my blade across my new opponent’s neck as thewaateyshirrained down black flame from above. “I improvise.”

The soldier in front of me dropped to his knees. Dead. Gerarda shot me a look and I held up my hands. “I didn’t touch that one.”

His upper body crashed to the ground, shaking the long shaft of the spear sticking out from his skull. Vrail stood behind him, her arm still extended from her throw.

“Where did you come from?” I swung my sword. “You’re supposed to be in Myrelinth.”

A sword sliced the throat of the man I was fighting. “She came with me,” Gwyn said with a proud smirk on her face.

My nostrils flared. “We agreed you needed to study your runes.”

“Gerarda sent word that there was trouble.” Gwyn blocked a loose swing with the axe she held in her other hand. “We passed Riven on the way.” My chest heaved with relief. “He got a group of Halflings and a few carriages out of the city before alarms were raised,” Gwyn continued. “Says reinforcements will be here soon.”

“Soon?” I ducked under Gerarda’s swing as she took down two men in one blow. She turned to fight another, and Fyrel had taken my place against her back. I sighed. Of course Gwyn had brought her too. “How did you get here before the reinforcements?”

Vrail looked down at her opponent guiltily, but it wasn’t for his death.

My head snapped to Gwyn.

She levied a heavy swing at a soldier. “We might have been studying at the edge of the portal so we would know if you needed help.”

“How chivalrous of you.” I gritted my teeth. “Gwyn, we can’t let Damien’s men see your eyes. It’s not safe.”

She held up her wrist and the glamoured bracelet that dangled from it. “I planned ahead.”

My nostrils flared. “I think it’s best if—”

“Get mad at them later!” Gerarda shouted. “We need as many people as we can get.”

Gwyn laughed but then her face turned dark.

From the shadow of thewaateyshir.

“Duck!” I shouted as the beast opened its beak to attack. I pulled up as much stone as possible to create a shield over us. The black fire poured over the edges, but no one was hurt.

I lowered the rock back into the ground. Elaran stood on the other side of it with Dynara and Crison. “I found some friends,” she said with a smirk.

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