Page 120 of A Deception of Courts

Dove-grey wings unfurled, and a golden hammer swung in one wild move that popped skulls like grapes between teeth. By the time Rafaela righted herself, the smooth edge of her weapon was coated in chunks of bone and gore. Her skin glistened with the blood of those her fall had killed. The cream robe she wore had stained to a dark crimson that would never truly be cleaned from it.

“You did not give me the signal!” Rafaela shouted as the flat head of her hammer split the skull of a Hunter with ease.

Her presence alone rejuvenated the adrenaline within me.

“I haven’t exactly had the chance!” I grunted, ducking as a blade passed over my head, but I thrust pelts of ice forward, tearing the skin from the face of my attacker.

“Focus,” Rafaela cried, twisting her wings and knocking multiple humans down with little effort. “Don’t let the gate taste your blood. It will not stop drinking until you are empty.”

“You said it didn’t need my–”

Rafaela’s eyes flew wide. “I have said a lot of things that are not true, Robin Icethorn. Keep your blood away.”

If I had the time to contemplate her words, I would’ve perhaps faltered beneath the realisation that she’d lied to me.

Aldrick was right, and I’d unknowingly put myself in danger.

I swallowed hard, hyper-aware of the labradorite behind me. Its presence seemed to be the only thing to offer a sense of calm patience. It was waiting for me, stalking my every move. My false sense of control slipped away like ash on the wind, carried so far away there was no hope I could claim it back.

I opened my mouth to question her, but Rafaela worked her way through the crowd as more Hunters attempted to overwhelm her. And it was working, cleaving me a path to get far away from it.

There was no chance but to take it – until my window to move was swallowed by a wave of leather and flesh.

Feral, skin-flaying screams split the air. Thunderous roars responded. I couldn’t look up at first, not as a Hunter grappled onto my jacket and pulled with all their might. Stumbling over my footing, I almost fell, but Duncan reached out and grabbed my shoulder. His grip pulled hard backward, giving me a moment to thrust another spear of ice straight up from the ground beneath the Hunter. It pierced, at an angle, through his chest and neck. He hung there with wide, all-seeing eyes. It took a moment for death to claim him.

“We are close to victory,”Aldrick screamed, forcing his voice into every mind. I’d enjoyed the knowledge that he was lying before, but now the truth hit me as hard as the fist careening into my jaw. I wondered if it was my deep-rooted exhaustion, or the Mariflora that was weakening, because, for the first time, I felt his innate demand. For a moment, my soul wished to bend to it.

My head snapped to the side, teeth cutting into the insides of my cheeks. I blindly reached up, watching as Duncan fought with a sword he’d taken from a Hunter at his feet, trying to reach me. He swung it, two hands holding firm. Lightning twisted down the metal of the blade until it glowed a furious red.

I fought, tooth and nail, to get out from beneath the Hunter atop me. I bit at his hands and arms and gouged my fingers into his eyes. He shook me violently, slamming my back against the ground with such a thud my breath evaded me.

“Robin!” Rafaela’s muffled cry reached me. Her voice was laced with fear for the first time, she knew we were close to failing.

Someone growled. The air hissed with the cut of steel. I barely had a chance to close my eyes before blood exploded over me, raining onto my face, into my mouth. When I opened my eyes again it was to see the headless body swaying to the side, falling off me.

“No man touches what is mine and comes away with their head,” Duncan growled, standing just shy of where I lay, his blade dripping fresh blood.

I took his hand, and was hoisted up. “Thank you–”

“ROBIN!” Rafaela screamed again.

I turned back to find her but could no longer see her among the sea of Hunters. As I scanned the crowd, fey roaring with each burst of their magic, I noticed that Althea hadn’t announced her location with fire for a while. Nor had I seen Gyah in her Eldrae form. All around me were the angry faces of our enemies whose bodies no longer belonged to them but to Aldrick, who pulled the strings from his unknown location of safety.

I forced three words into my mind. “This must end.”

“You know what is required. Give yourself up freely,”Aldrick replied quickly, as though he had waited for me to reach out. “Hasn’t enough blood been spilled? If you stop, I will call back my warriors. No one else needs to die today.”

Duncan snapped his head to me. His wide eyes revealed he had heard Aldrick. “This is not–” his teeth parted as he emitted a growl, hacking through the arm of a Hunter before pulling his blade back and driving it through their soft belly– “the time to be the hero, Robin. Give him what he wants, and we all die. Aldrick does not know mercy. We have a plan,yourplan, stick to it.”

Deep down, I knew Duncan was right. I couldn’t trust a word Aldrick said.

“Give the gate your power. One sacrifice to save them all.”

Another scream lit the air. Then another. And another. But they were different. It wasn’t the keening cry of death, or the song of agony as fey and Hunters fought. This was a sound that once haunted me.

I risked a glance and saw the sky filled with winged creatures. Like flies to rotten meat, they swarmed the three Draeic. The cloud of grey limbs slashed and picked at the demons whose roars no longer sang with terror but bled with their own fear.

Gryvern. A cloud of claws and fangs attacked the Draeic. I felt a drop of blood land upon my upturned face. I lifted a finger to my cheek, and it came back black.

---