Page 49 of Blade Breaker (Realm Breaker 2)

“Your Highness,” the woman muttered, and Ridha realized with a jolt that the woman was not raider, but Veder. Her own people.

They all were.

“To the gate,” she forced out, as shame crashed over her.

The third Veder was not harmed, and he helped the others to the gates, smoke blowing at their backs. The snow melted in the heat, turning the gateyard to mud. Ridha held firm to the other immortal, using all her skill to keep from falling, while sweat poured down her face and neck.All those centuries in the training yard,she thought, cursing,and I’m spent in a few moments.Weariness clawed at her limbs, threatening to pull her backward into the dragon’s jaws.

“Almost there!” she heard Lenna shout, and Ridha gave a mighty lunge toward the gate.

A tail swung like a battering ram, stirring the air inches from Ridha’s face. The Veder under her arm disappeared, swept from her grasp by the dragon’s pendulum of a tail. She caught a glimpseof the immortal’s face, her jaw wide in a soundless scream, as the dragon slammed her body into the gates. The sheer force smashed the carved bears and the walls apart, splintering the wooden palisade. The doors fell together, cracked in half, as the rest collapsed in a heap of burning rubble. Lenna shrieked as the embers rose in a spiral, burning against the starlight.

Ridha fell to her knees, staring at the flames where the gate used to be. Her fingers trailed through the melting snow and she closed her fist, holding on to the cold. The ice bit under her fingernails.

It might be the last thing I ever feel.

She stood rooted to the ground, numb, as another sweep of the dragon’s tail cut through the gateyard. Lenna leapt out of the way, landing face-first in the snow, but the other wounded Veder was not so lucky. The dragon’s tail launched him up and over the crumbling wall, the Veder howling as he plunged over the edge of the cliff.

“Move, Elder!”

This time it was Lenna screaming in her ear, close enough that Ridha could smell her hair. Smoke, blood, burning pine—and something sweeter beneath.Wildflowers.The chief hauled Ridha to her feet as best she could, forcing the princess to find her bearings. While the dragon rounded the enclave, its shrieks echoing off the mountains, Lenna ran to where the gate once stood, trying to clear a path through the burning ruins. The third Veder joined her, shouldering aside broken planks and logs.

Ridha flexed her hands, willing the feeling to return to her body. Her breath came in short, stinging gasps, the smoke threateningto suffocate them all.I will not die this way,she thought, throwing herself at the rubble. Her bare hands bled and burned as they worked, furious and desperate. Ridha winced, but every splinter pushed aside was one more gasp at life.

Lenna did not falter, mortal as she was. Tears ran down her face, from pain or the smoke or both, but she fought on, throwing aside debris.

“There’s a path. At the bottom of the fjord, behind the waterfall,” the chief forced out, stifling a cry as sparks rained down on them. Her coat caught flame and she shook it off, leaving it to burn. “The Yrla know the way.”

So will Eyda,Ridha thought, relieved.At least the Ward will not die with us. There is hope still, small as it may be.

“Here,” the other Veder said, getting his shoulder under one of the larger logs. Panting, he pushed with all his strength, dislodging a cascade of logs and planks. They rolled apart, spitting embers, and Lenna kicked through the shattered remains of the carved gates. Ridha nearly wept, her throat burning like the enclave.

The cliff road waited, the fjord beyond it, a knife of moonlight between the raging curls of smoke.

They made for the gap in the rubble, stumbling together, covered in ash. Lenna clutched at Ridha’s arm as they pulled each other along. A cold wind blew, a brief respite from the dragon’s onslaught, and Ridha drank it down gratefully, her lungs screaming for fresh air.

The dragon struck again, trying to bring the wall down on them. Ridha pulled Lenna with her, planks splintering over their heads and down the cliffside. The other Veder managed to dodge too, taking his first step onto the road down to the fjord, and safety.

Ridha’s heart hammered in her chest, and Lenna’s beat in time, singing out their fear. Another rhythm rumbled, beyond her own body, shaking up from the ground itself. It was almost familiar.

Hoofbeats?Ridha thought, a half second before the rider turned up the path, taking the sharp corners at a gallop not even an immortal rider would try.

The stallion snorted, blowing hard, almost roaring against its bridle, near to madness. He wore armor to match his rider, plates of onyx so dark they did not reflect the moon, or even dragonflame. The knight in the saddle urged him on, kicking with spurred boots, his face obscured by his simple helm. He wore no tunic and held no flag, his body covered from gauntleted fingers to booted toes. There was no insignia on him or his horse, no sign of any kingdom he might serve. Nothing but the black armor. It seemed made from precious, impossible stone instead of steel.

“Turn back!” the other Veder shouted, raising a hand to wave down the knight.

A sword passed through the air, cutting through his wrist in a clean, effortless line. The Veder fell to his knees, howling, as the stallion rode on, closing in on the broken gates—and Ridha.

“Do not stand in my way,” the knight hissed, his voice low and serpentine. The chaos should have drowned him out, but Ridha heard him clear as a bell, even from a dozen yards, over the thunder of hooves and a dragon’s rage.

She clutched at Lenna, gathering the chief to her body. There was no time to explain, no time to think. The dragon roared above, rearing up for another strike, as the knight ascended, his blade asblack as his armor, dripping immortal blood. It seemed to swallow the world, and even the dragon receded from her mind.

Ridha ran, not for the gate, not for the winding path down the cliffside—but for the waterfall next to them.

The water was icy cold, a thousand knives stabbing at every inch of her skin. It was not the water Ridha feared, nor even the waterfall.

They went over the edge together, falling through open air. A single thought echoed in Ridha’s mind.

The dragon did not come through the Spindle alone.

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