Page 100 of Ash and Feather

Clearly anticipating it, Andrel leapt aside as my sword slashed forward—but he wasn’t fast enough. The still blade caught him in the chest.

Blood showered the singed ground.

I adjusted my grip on the weapon and stormed forward again.

He staggered backward.

Every sword-fighting lesson I’d ever had was forgotten—I was wild, formless, thinking of nothing except running the blade through his body in the most painful way possible. I didn’t merely want to kill him. I wanted toguthim and leave the pieces of him in an unrecognizable heap on the ground.

But just as I stabbed, another arrow pierced my shoulder, striking right below the mark the first one left.

I looked toward it for a fraction of a second. Enough time for Andrel to twist aside and avoid a fatal blow from my sword—though I did draw more blood, cutting a shallow gash into his lower stomach.

He dropped to one knee, breathing hard.

I stalked toward him, sword at the ready, but he didn’t attempt to back away this time.

He didn’t need to.

He was no longer alone.

I realized then that he’d been trying—successfully—to draw my attention away from everything else happening around us. An entire section of my fiery wall had collapsed while I was distracted. Soldiers poured through it, racing to his aid.

I considered gutting every last one of them as well.

Something stopped me, however—a sharp prickling sensation sweeping down my arm, which soon turned to a burning I had no control over. I shifted my sword to my other hand and reached to put pressure against my shoulder; the discomfort was radiating from the spot where the first arrow had struck.

What had that arrow been laced with?

This question quickly became the least of my worries.

The ground was shaking again. Not from an explosion, this time, but from a rush of pounding hooves and boots. What appeared to be the rest of the elven army was thundering our direction, their retreat more frenzied than ever, whatever disaster they were trying to get ahead of clearly imminent.

Andrel paid the fleeing crowd no mind as two soldiers helped him back to his feet. He remained surprisingly steady once upright—steady enough that he managed to meet my gaze and hold it as he asked, “Did you even wonder why we decided to target these training grounds, of all places?”

Something in his voice made me forget about our personal battle for a moment. I clenched my shoulder more tightly as I looked back toward those grounds, pulse quickening. Another rumble echoed in the distance. Frantic shouts followed soon after—the cries of countless soldiers running toward a large grey building near the main docks.

“Because an honored guest is visiting the grounds this very night,” Andrel said, answering his own question. “The King of Galizur, himself. I believe you know him?”

My hand fell to my side, wounds momentarily forgotten. “You lie.”

“Afraid not. Idohope he’s not in that building there in the distance,” he said, gesturing flippantly at the one I’d just been staring at. “Would be a shame if he was there when our main bombs ignited.”

The itching and burning in my arm grew more intense than ever. I was certain of it, now: It had not been a normal arrow that pierced it, but likely one dipped in whatever disgusting sort of anti-divine poison they’d come up with…and I’d sealed that poison inside my body with my hasty attempts to stop the bleeding.

Fuck.

A crowd of elven warriors appeared behind Andrel, their movements as silent as fog rolling in. Several carried bows. Arrow tips glistened in the moonlight as they were nocked and pointed my direction.

How many of those arrows were laced with poison? How much could I withstand before I collapsed?

I would not find out.

I calmly sheathed my sword. Then, with a furious roar, I swung my hand forward, throwing fire to the ground before the elves, setting the grass around them ablaze.

A few attempted to skirt around the flames and challenge me, while others took aim at me through the fires themselves, rapidly unleashing arrows from all directions. A few grazed my skin, but most I ignited in mid-air, turning them to ash that drifted harmlessly to the ground.

The chaotic battle was soon interrupted by a falling blanket of ice, followed by the screech of a dragon. As Mai and Valas descended over us, I caught sight of someone helping Andrel onto the back of a new horse.

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