Page 168 of Ash and Feather

I forged those ribbons of flame around us into a sword of my own.

And for a moment, we were again our younger selves, reborn into our old life—a life filled with the two of us fighting back-to-back. Watching over one another. Where I stumbled, she stepped in to lift me back up. Where she missed her mark, I followed up and struck with more precision.

We were invincible.

Until we weren’t.

Until I went one way, impaling my target with my blade of flame, searing my way through his heart.

Savna went the other way, dealing with her own attacker with the same sort of finesse—knocking him off his feet and stabbing smoothly into his chest when he struggled to sit up.

But there was another taking aim; I twisted around just in time to see him darting out from behind a nearby tree, silent as a falling leaf.

Lightning flashed, illuminating the whites of his eyes, wild and wide.

Thunder followed at the exact moment he stabbed the blade into Savna’s back—a sound that seemed to fit the sensation of my heart collapsing into nothing, nothing,nothing.

My sister was looking at me as it happened. Starting to reach for me again. Ready to trust me. To let me carry her away from all of this. As her attacker withdrew his weapon, she dropped slowly to her knees before tumbling face first onto the grass.

I stumbled toward her, reciting my next steps to myself, trying to force myself to stay focused.

Slow the bleeding.

Get her away from here.

Save her, save her, save her—

My earlier suspicion was proven true; my sister had been the target of these assassins. And now that she was motionless on the ground, the one who had stabbed her seemed completely uninterested in me.

He took several steps back, sword still held at the ready, but only appraised me with a cold, distant look as I fell at my sister’s side and gathered her into my lap. Remembering the divine mail I wore—and the magic it was infused with—I pulled her closer to it, hoping that the Healing God’s power might seep into her somehow.

I held her the way she used to hold me when I was sick—enveloping her entirely in my arms, folding my body over hers until we were one singular being, our heartbeats echoing one another’s, my breaths in sync with hers, even as they became shallow and slow.

I pressed a fist against the wound on her back, trying to stop the flow of blood. That blood quickly soaked through my sleeve and trickled down my arm, but I only pressed tighter.

Whatever magic lies within this armor, whatever healing power still sleeps within my elvish blood, let it pass to her

The chaos in the distance raged on.

I could sense Dravyn still battling within it. He wouldn’t leave until I was gone, I knew; so of course he was still fighting, still drawing as many as he could away from us. He’d killed plenty—the stench of blood and death, of scorched skin and bones, was overwhelming—yet more had managed to peel away from that main battle; they were making their way toward me, surveying the scene. Sizing up the goddess before them. The blood soaking me. The smoke spiraling around my arms—all that remained of the fires I’d started to wield moments ago.

I barely glanced their way. There were too many to count at just a glance, but I didn’t care. Didn’t care that I was outnumbered. That I felt cold and empty of all fire, divine or otherwise. That I could barely breathe.

I didn’t care aboutanythingelse except the weight of my sister’s body in my arms. I saw nothing else. Felt nothing. Heard nothing…

Until the one holding the sword—the sword stained with Savna’s blood—spoke.

“You were warned,” he said.

I swallowed away the bitter dryness coating my throat. “…What did you just say?”

“The message we were instructed to give you,” said the elf, cooly. “You were warned.”

Andrel’s words from days ago snaked into my mind.

You’ve already lost enough. I would so hate for you to lose anything else…

Slowly, carefully, I untangled myself from my sister. Laid her shivering body on the ground. Rose to my feet. My blood-soaked clothing stuck to my skin. Heat flared around me, drying it, turning the cloth stiff. Symbols ignited across my body, blazing so brightly they could be seen even through my armor.

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