Page 135 of Heart Cradle
The forest was too quiet, and Soren didn’t like it. He crouched low in the underbrush, fingers resting on the hilt of his axe, flame magic humming faintly along the edge of his skin.
“Scouts should’ve shown by now,” he muttered. “You see anything?”
Calen replied, “Not yet, but Ven can smell them. Winds shifted, south-by-southeast.”
Soren swore under his breath and mentally signalled to Brontis, who hovered just above the tree line, hidden in clouds thick with warded mist.
Brontis rumbled in reply through the link, voice deep and grim.“I see them, just say the word.”
The trap had been simple, draw out the Avelan scouts with false transport flare runes, then slaughter them before they could report back. Standard ambush protocol, except the bastards were late.
“Three to your left,” Calen murmured. “And two flanking west.”
Soren didn’t hesitate, he burst from the brush in a roar of fire and fury, his axe cutting a swath through the clearing as Avelan scouts sprang from the shadows. Flame arced from his shoulders as he moved, licking the edges of his leathers, lighting the battlefield in hellish brilliance.
Calen moved like a storm beside him, fluid and deadly. His wind magic shredded the enemy’s arrows mid-flight, his long sword singing with the precision of a master duellist. Together, they were a machine of ruin.
Then came the second wave and Soren barely had time to shout before the forest erupted with figures, dozens more than they’d planned for.
“It’s a full patrol!” he roared. “Hold the line, brother!”
The clearing exploded into chaos. Soren and Calen moved as one, fire, wind, metal and grit. The enemy still surged, masked fighters pouring from the trees like a wave of threat. Brontis dropped like a meteor, wings wide and talons gleaming, his roar shaking pine and stone. He slammed intothe earth with bone-cracking force, claws tearing through armour and bodies in a blur of brutality. His jaws snapped shut around a screaming figure, and fire burst from his throat, turning trees and men alike into blackened silhouettes.
“Two trying to run north, I’ve got them.”Venleo sent.
Where Brontis was a roar of fury, Venleo was a whisper of death. She didn’t roar, she sliced. A pale streak through the canopy, she moved like air given form, her white flame carving silver through the underbrush. One scout reached for an alert horn and his body fell in two before he could draw breath. Another fled into the woods, but Venleo’s tail lashed through him like a whip. Her wings didn’t crash, they murmured, her fire didn’t rage, it hunted in thin, slicing trails of heat that cut through enchantments.
Venleo said.“Rear flanks scattered. I’m sweeping low.”
“Stop toying with them, sweet.”Calen half laughing through mind-talk.
Venleo, with a mental smirk. “Then tell them to stop squealing.”
The enemy faltered, then buckled entirely, with dragons above and the brothers beneath, there was no line to hold. The Avelan patrol broke, but there was nowhere to run. When the last dropped, twitching and half-charred, Venleo landed in a rustle of wings, smoke curling off her talons.
Soren stood in the ring of ruin, chest heaving. “That’s all of them,” he said, voice ragged. “No one’s left to report.”
Calen staggered forwards from the smoke, his face pale, jaw clenched tight, one hand pressed hard to his side.
“You’re bleeding! I can feel it.”Venleo started.
“I didn’t say anything,” Calen said, voice tight but wry. “Didn’t want to mess up the ending, I’m sorry.”
Soren’s stomach dropped. “No,” he breathed. “Cal…”
Blood streamed between Calen’s fingers and Soren surged forwards and caught him as his brother’s knees gave out. “Fuck. Fuck, why didn’t you say?!”
“Because we won.” Calen coughed, and blood speckled his lips. “And I knew you’d carry me.”
“He won’t die, not if we move now,”said Brontis landing hard beside them, claws churning the earth.
Venleo, eyes blazing.“Let me carry him.”
Brontis shook his massive head, voice low but firm.“No. Soren rides with me and he’ll need to be with Calen to keep him alive.”
Venleo bared her teeth in protest, but Brontis met her eyes, steady and rare in his softness.
“Shadow me.”Brontis paused, now quieter.“Keep us all safe.”
