Page 69 of A Spell of Bones and Madness
“Where is Kristos? Cal left him with a special vial of potion and I need that now. It’s Jax.”
Lying face down, unmoving, was the commander. Blood pooled down Ajax’s back where the thorns were lodged deep into his skin.
“What the fuck happened to him?” Leighton asked, sending one of the crew below to get Kristos.
“Hades is back, I don’t know what spells he used to bind him, but those vines are coated in viper venom.” Ander turned to Ember who knelt by Ajax’s side. “Do you know what he did? What spell he used? What he said?”
Her mouth opened but no words came out.
“Ember, this is very important. We need you to tell us what happened,” Ander pried again. If he used blood magic then it was possible the venom antidote Cal had sent them with would not work.
The princesses eyes were snaked with red, her lower lip trembling, but she said nothing.
“I’m here! I’m here!” yelled Kristos, running over to the commander and flipping him on his back. Foam coated the outside of Ajax’s mouth and his eyes were washed over with a glassy white film.
“Come on, boy,” Kristos slapped his cheeks trying to rouse him, but Ajax’s breathing got progressively more shallow. “I’m going to have to force his jaw open. Ander, I need you to pour this in his mouth.” He uncapped the vile, thick concoction, handing it to Ander. A loud snap hung in the air as Kristos broke Ajax’s jaw, giving Ander enough room to pour the thick liquid down his throat.
“He’s going to die,” Ember finally said, her eyes slowly returning to their amber hue. “It is the will of the Fates.” She began to break out in uncontrollable sobs, throwing her body on top of him. “It is all my fault.”
“He is not going to die, young Prytan,” Kristos said, placing his palm on her back. “Cal’s potion will work, he will heal.”
“But he will still die. We all will.” Ember’s voice had a ghostly chill about it. “They…they said…” Vomit coursed from her stomach, landing with a splat on the deck. It was a strange blend of black and crimson, appearing more akin to poison than bile.
“What did they say? What did they say to you, Ember?” Light flared all over Katrin’s skin.
“They said the Grechi will fall. They said I’m…they said we…”
Ander couldn’t make out the last words Ember spoke, he was consumed by a flash of images in his mind of two young girls under a mountain, entombed in golden coffins. Markings were painted above them in the same kind of runes that peppered the walls of the caves they’d used to escape in Alentus. These were not his thoughts, his memories. They were Katrin’s.
Katrin fell to her knees before him, eyes brimmed with tears that threatened to let loose. It wasn’t possible—these couldn’t really be memories? But when he met the stare of the woman he loved, the light around her began to glow blue.
Bonus Chapter: The Wooden Hydra
Chloe
Castle Alentus was more daunting than Chloe had expected, towering well above the height of her own home. Or maybe it just seemed that way, the monstrosity perched on the top of a sheer cliff rather than built into one. Its dark gray stone contrasted against the bright white glow of the moon above and fire raged along the gate of the wall, casting winding shadows in her path.
Walking behind Chloe were six men from Alexander’s crew, three originally hailing from Leighton’s village and three from the mountains north of Hespali in Voreia. Each of the men had spent time in the caves of Cyther, either as captives or as sorcerers, though those who once thrived on power dared not touch the blood magic anymore. All of them wore long black cloaks rimmedwith fur, beneath they donned white ropes, held tight by red chords. They were careful not to show any piece of their tattoos, the Skiathan mark inked on different parts of their bodies. Instead each bore a temporary burn on their forearm, thanks to a spell Farah had cast, of the twin snakes.Hismark.
None of the men were forced to come, to walk into what may be their death. Only volunteers were ever allowed to risk their lives in Nexos. Alexander had instilled that same rule, one that allowed for voice and autonomy, with his crew. Like Chloe, they were ready to lay down sword and life for not only their captain, but all of Odessia. That didn’t stop any of the uneasy steps or shallow breaths that bounded in Chloe’s ears. It was one thing to fight for the good of the world, it was another to do so unarmed—and unarmed they were.
Behind the men, a small wooden hydra was dragged on a wheeled cart. A gift built by her uncle, an ode to the forbidden texts Alexander loved so dearly. She reveled in the fact that the same texts King Athanas and King Edmund burned were the same ones that could have saved them—warned them what was coming. The wolf in women’s clothing. Instead, the self-righteous men would believe the Olympi they worshipped would grant them such a gift.
Chloe approached the gate, which opened slowly, a single guard dressed in Morentian red and black leathers stepping out. His sword was drawn and his lip was curled up, revealing the shaven teeth the soldiers of the southern isle all bore. If only she could raise her lip in turn, show off her own sharpened canines that could just as easily kill the man before her as if she used a blade.
“Who dares to disturb the castle without invitation from its king?” the guard bellowed, brandishing his sword as if that would frighten them back into the woods.
Stiffening, only slightly, Chloe rolled her shoulders back, inching closer to the guard, locking her gaze directly on his. Her ice blue eyes sparkled in the moonlight, pupils dilating, inching out the blue for a deep abyss of black. A trick her mother taught her.
“How dare you speak to the lord’s favoriteErinyeswith such vitrole,hamartolos?”
The guard’s eyes glazed over and his shoulders slouched, dropping the sword to the ground with a clang. “I am so sorry, my priestess. I do not know how I didn’t recognize you,” he said, his voice monotonic.
“Well you best make it up to me. We have a gift from the lord to his loyal servants. A token of his appreciation.” Chloe glanced backward, holding her hand out toward the wooden craft.
“Of course, priestess, please have your men follow us in.” The guard turned and signaled to the two other soldiers who overlooked the encounter from the parapet above.
The main gate to enter the castle walls opened with a creaking sound, the soldiers cranking the chains that split the doors. Fire pillars lit a path all the way from the wall up a sheer set of steps to the entrance of the castle. In the dark it looked even more treacherous than the fall down the cliff outside the gates. Katrin had warned Chloe to tread lightly though, to keep her wits about her. There was no escaping the castle once you were inside the walls, except through the passages. Chloe only knew of the one in Katrin’s bedchambers, the directions she must take to get there on a constant loop in her head.
