Page 64 of An Honored Vow

“A forgery?” the Arrow spat, though it was Damien who was truly speaking. “I will gut your filthy Elf, and then I will call every beast for miles to burn everyone you love to the ground.”

The pendant in the Arrow’s chest began to glow. Damien lifted the blade over his soldier’s head, ready to plunge into Nikolai’s chest.

“Enough.” Syrra stepped from the group. “Drop your blade and let my nephew go.” She pulled something from her pocket and tossed it onto the ground.

The pendant.

The real one.

The amber pupil flared bright as Damien’s glance darted between Nikolai’s limp body and the pendant on the ground. He dropped the blade and dove for the pendant. Riven was there before the Arrow hit the ground. He scooped Nikolai in to his arms and ran for the portal hidden in the tree line.

“You broke your vow.” I turned to Syrra. “And you may have just cost us the war.”

“I made no vow to you.” Her neck flexed. “You may not be willing to trade one life to save many, but my sister’s line will not die because of you.” There was no hostility in her words, just truth. Syrra had known what she was going to do from the moment we took that vote.

The Arrow stood with the second pendant around his neck. “Arm yourselves!” he shouted to the soldiers Riven hadn’t struck down. “And fight for your king.”

Damien’s unmistakable smirk crept up the Arrow’s freckled face. Both the pendants in his hands glowed bright.

And the ground shook with the piercing calls of theshirak.

Fyrel and Gwyn stepped beside me, swords already drawn in their hands. Another piercing cry rang out. Torches were lit along the ridge, illuminating just how much force Damien had brought to takethat pendant. He didn’t care if his men were caught in the devastation. The body he controlled would be safe as long as it held that pendant, and if it wasn’t, Damien was secure in his palace with a pendant of his own.

I flicked my wrist and a wall of flames cut the Arrow off from his horse. A foul smell permeated the air, and the wind blew upward. The beast was right above our heads, disguised by the darkening skies.

“Move!” I shouted to Fyrel and Gwyn as I leaped away from the shadowy blast. The soldiers surrounding Kairn had not been so quick. Their bodies writhed in pain as the shadowy ash ate their flesh and turned their bones to dust. The shadows of their skeletons fell to the ground. Kairn crouched just outside of the wake with wide eyes.

An owl call echoed from behind me as Elaran and Gerarda charged forward. The soldiers that had been guarding Nikolai fled toward the hills, but their screams only drew the beast’s attention.

“Get that pendant,” I told Gerarda. “Syrra and I will kill the beast.”

Syrra drew her sword and pointed up at the beast setting the fleeing soldiers aflame. I opened my waterskin, and Syrra ran forward without hesitation. I pulled the water from the spout in a giant floating orb and dissected it into tiny spheres. With a wave of my hand, they each flattened into discs that I sent hurling into the air.

Syrra leaped and I froze the first disc to ice. Each step, I froze another disc until Syrra was running through the sky, climbing higher and higher toward the beast. It scanned the ground, looking for more men to devour.

Syrra let out a feral battle cry and the creature turned its billowing head. Its red eyes flashed bright as it saw Syrra charging after it. I lifted the last disc, propelling Syrra high enough to jump onto the beast’s back. She wielded her sword above her head, ready to pierce it through, but the beast dodged her strike.

It snapped at Syrra as she fell, nearly cutting her in two. Panic pulled at my chest as I tried to conjure enough water to catch her fall. I missed, but Syrra reached out and plunged her free hand through the orb.

That was all I needed. Syrra held her breath and let the water envelop her completely while my magic gently lowered her to the ground. Sweat pooled at my brow. The heat of death radiated from the beast as it banked along the air toward us.

I bit my cheek. I could distract the beast—lead it to Syrra’s blade in my eagle form—but I couldn’t use magic in that form. I would leave everyone too exposed.

The beast opened its beak, whistling as it sucked the air into its belly. The Arrow, still controlled by Damien, ran around the flames for his horse. Both pendants glowed around his neck, the one encrusted in his leathers and the one Syrra had given him.

I raised my hand, but Gerarda got there first. There was a metallicringas her throwing blade grazed over the bottom belt of the saddle, slicing through the leather completely but leaving the horse unharmed. The Arrow collapsed into a dazed pile as soon as his foot hit the stirrup.

Elaran released an arrow of her own, pinning Damien’s host to the ground by his cloak. “We have this.”

“Aid Syrra,” Gerarda shouted over her shoulder as they ran after the pendant.

Syrra erupted from water.

“Keera, pin it with pillars!” Gwyn shouted as she and Fyrel battled with the three soldiers who hadn’t fled.

Syrra brandished her sword above her head and let out another cry. The beast whipped its head and soared low toward her.

I shot three stone pillars into the air, and the beast banked to the left.

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