Page 48 of Oath of War
We landed in an open space within the courtyard, and only then did I realise why it was empty. A lone, charred red boot lay abandoned, its flamboyant leather scorched black, the ashes of its wearer still clinging to the remnants of a foot. It had belonged to the fortress mage—a young orc whose talent lay in manipulating fire. The scorched earth we now stood on had clearly been where he’d taken his last stand.
I dismounted, standing motionless as my ragged breaths filled the stillness. Wild magic raged within me, clawing for release, demanding I let my pain erupt in a berserker’s rampage. As my hands shook and my muscles tensed, a pair of eyes filled with crimson fire and understanding flashed through my mind.
It surprised me that it wasn’t Annika’s presence I reached for in that moment, as I might have expected, but Alaric’s. Ani would have told me it wasn’t my fault; I knew that well enough. But Ari ... Ari would have held me through the grief and the rage and just let it burn until I felt under control.
Vahin’s mind brushed against mine, searching for the words that would ease my conscience, just like Annika would. He was my dragon, but he was Annika’s Anchor, through and through.
‘Don’t,’ I rasped. ‘I need this. I need this ... hatred. Maybe when I’ve drowned Katrass in the blood of my enemies, I’ll be able to live with this guilt.’
Vahim rumbled softly, a sound more sorrow than reproach. ‘No one could have stopped this, Ormond,’ he offered, but he withdrew from my mind, giving me the privacy I needed.
‘Search for survivors,’ I ordered, my voice rough. ‘Burn the dead. They don’t deserve to lie here and rot. Turn this whole place into a funeral pyre if you want but give them peace.’ I couldn’t help them, but I could give their memory the dignity that death had failed to provide.
He nodded and took to the air, his flames igniting the broken structures from above. The acrid scent of smoke and charred wood mingled with the sickly stench of death as I moved from body to body, turning them over, hoping for a sign of life, and finding only the faces of the dead—twisted with terror and pain.
The burning fortress cast flickering shadows as Vahin’s grief poured into the flames. Each burst of fire was a lament for his kin, and it mirrored the anger roiling inside me. The very walls of Roan Fortress seemed to cry out in mourning.
If not for Ihrain’s treachery and betrayal, Annika could have been here fighting the spectrae while the soldiers dealt with the other monsters. The very thought was painful.Oneperson,oneconduit mage connected to a dragon, could have saved them. Instead, she was stuck in the capital fighting a senseless trial to amuse the dark fae empress.
‘Fuck! Fuck!Fuck!’
I smashed my fist into the black stone wall until the skin of my knuckles split and blood stained the surface. Not that it made me feel any better. My mind was spiralling into a mindless rage when Vahin’s voice cut through the destructive thoughts.
‘Ormond. Enough. We have no time for this if you want to make it back before the trial.’
I focused on my dragon’s words. Taking control of my rage and wrestling it into submission was hard, but eventually, I pushed it to the dark recesses of my mind, ready to unleash it on my enemies when I encountered them.
‘I’m calm now,’ I muttered. I brushed my hand over the ridges of his eyelid, drawing strength from the contact. ‘Just give me a moment to check the commander’s log. Maybe he left behind something that’ll let us know what happened here.’
I could still hear the hissing of the flames behind me as I climbed the steep steps to the office. I paused, watching the raw anguish of my dragon as he burned the bodies of his kin. The fire was growing, spreading to engulf the fortress.
With a deep cleansing breath, I hurried onwards, ripping away the broken door to search for clues until I found the logbook, miraculously intact.
‘Who are you? How did you get here?’
The voice startled me, and I spun, my sword already drawn. A young rider stood at the doorway, his leather armour tattered and streaked with grime. He clutched an iron key, his eyes wide with terror.
‘My name is Ormond Erenhart,’ I said, lowering my blade as the boy’s knees buckled, sending him crumpling to the floor.
‘Are you ... are you really him?’ His voice trembled. ‘The Lord Commander? Does that mean the Varta riders are here with a mage? Please, gods, tell me you brought a mage. We need one—badly. The spectrae come whenever the sun sets, as if they know we are still here ...’
The desperation in his voice was a knife to the gut, and I hated that I had to crush his hopes. ‘No. I came alone. Tell me what happened. Are there other survivors?’
‘Just me and my dragon. He’s injured—his wing membrane was torn during the attack, and the commander ... he told meto stay hidden in the caves. Gods, you have no mage. Quick, you must hide before the spectrae come.’
Though the young rider was shaking, he managed to grab my sleeve with a firm grip. ‘The sun is almost set. We must gonow.’
‘Vahin, there is an injured dragon in the caves. Please check on him.’ I sent the thought out before assessing the soldier in front of me. He was maybe sixteen years old and a skinny little thing, far too young to face the horrors of war.
‘What’s your name?’ I asked gently.
‘Adam, junior rider, second unit, sir. Come with me if you want to survive. What those creatures did to the dragons ...’ His voice faltered, and a tremor ran through his body as I helped him stand.
‘I need to fly to the capital, but as soon as your dragon has recovered, I want you to go to the other fortress commanders. Start with Seren, then go to the next in line. Tell them what you saw and deliver this log,’ I said, handing him my discovery. ‘Now, let’s go see your dragon before I set off.’
‘No, you can’t go now. The spectrae—they’ll be circling the fortress until the morning,’ he sobbed, looking at me as if I were insisting on suicide. ‘Please. Come with me. I’ll show you where we can wait out the night.’
Adam led the way down to the dragon caves and brought me to one of the smaller nooks where a dragon rested on a flat rock. He wasn’t moving, but he and Vahin had their foreheads pressed together, a blue glow pulsing where they touched.
