Page 59 of Pawns of Fate
Rose felt heat rise to her face. What she’d done wasn’t worth that much praise.
“She is a great lady! I wouldn’t have made it a week herewithout her.” Ava hugged her sister-in-law.
Rose couldn’t help it. Her aura began to shine, enveloping the four women as embarrassment washed over her.
“Except for healers, I’ve never seen aural magic,” Kreystallia said after Rose untethered her senses from the aural plane.
“It’s nothing special. I have a soothing aura. It isn’t very useful.”
Ava huffed, “Don’t downplay it, Rose! You can calm people’s emotions with it. I think it’s beautiful, too.Andit matches your hair.”
Kreystallia nodded in agreement and was about to add her thoughts to the conversation, but Camillus reappeared, having put the baby to sleep.
“Would you like any more wine?” he asked the four women seated around the table.
Lyla had been staring out the window for the past quarter hour. She would be uncomfortable with Rose and Ava being inebriated outside the safety of their warded house.
“I think it is probably time for us to head home,” Rose said.
Ava added, “This has been a lovely evening.”
The women stood and exchanged their goodbyes. Their two guards met them on the street, and the party made their way home in the dwindling sunlight.
About halfway through their walk home, a huge shadow flew over the party, far larger than any giant crow Rose had seen.
“What was that?” Ava yelped.
A reptilian roar sounded in the direction the creature had flown. Fiery breath flickered in the sky. Both guards put theirhands on the hilts of their swords.
Rose didn’t think swords would do much good if the creature returned.
“It’s a fire drake,” Lyla replied coldly, then nudged Ava’s back. “Let’s go. Quickly.”
“Do drakes usually fly over the city?” Rose asked their guards.
Both men shook their heads. “Perhaps it was hunting a crow.”
The excuse sounded hollow to Rose. She kept her eyes glued to Lyla for the rest of their journey home.
Chapter 20
NICHOLAS
Nicholas brought his sword down, cleanly slicing the tentacle rising from the muck. Of course, the damn creature responded by spewing ink into the air. But after three weeks of fighting octupi, lizardmen, and the occasional swamp troll, Nicholas had become immune to the shock of the putrid ink spraying in his face. He located the creature’s beak and stabbed the fleshy head just above it.
Resting on his sword momentarily, he caught a flash of York’s lightning as he took out three octupi in one fell swoop. Nicholas was too exhausted to be jealous of his brother’ssuperior fighting skills. York could become the God of War and blast every creature in this swamp. Nicholas would build a temple in his honor without a hint of jealousy ever crossing his heart if it meant this campaign would be over sooner.
A green lizardman stepped out from behind a large fern, growling and raising its claws. Nicholas noticed one of the strange runes on its scaly hide. Almost every monster they’d encountered had one. Seven circles of ancient script and an evil eye at the center. About the size of a fist. Blood red, like a ruby, when activated. Someone had been busy, because there were hundreds of them.
And whoever they were, they didn’t want anybody in this swamp. Nicholas needed to know why, and soon. The men lost a little more morale every day they stayed here; supply chains became more difficult to maintain; this was never supposed to be a long, drawn-out campaign.
The lizardman charged. Tendrils of shadow grabbed its legs, sending it sprawling. When the shadows pinned it to the ground, Syzman snapped its neck, ending its life with a quick mercy.
“I need to show you something,” the shadow mage said as he stepped over the corpse. Wisps of darkness writhed at his feet. Nicholas fought the urge to step back. “I might have found the source of the runes.”
“What? Really?”
Syzman scowled. “I wouldn’t joke about something like this.”
