Unleashed (The Brindle Dragon Book 6) Page 4

  “Thanks,” Eist said, eyes wide as she watched him circle. For being so nervous and shy, he certainly had a compelling confidence to him on the battlefield. Finally, she understood why so many at the academy were scared of him.

  “Watch yourself,” was all he said before the tentacles suddenly regrew, shooting through the air to separate the two.

  Eist peeled back, her and Fior spinning over themselves. When they were out of range, she saw Dille diving straight toward the creature’s head, the air around her glowing the same as the portals had just the night before.

  Of course, the Blight wasn’t dumb. It had been through hundreds of battles and no doubt could sense dangerous magic hurtling for it. Eist could see all of its legs retreating from their many confrontations, their only target shifting to the witch.

  Well, that couldn’t happen.

  “So if cutting them off isn’t a good plan, why don’t we just try shaking them apart?” Eist hissed. Somehow, Fior seemed to hear her and let out several barks, spiraling down into the most dangerous part of the fray.

  Or it would have been dangerous if the Blight was paying them any mind. But its whole attention was on Dille, trying to overwhelm the woman with its dozens of spear-like legs. That was its mistake.

  Fior reached the closest grouping of legs, and Eist braced herself against his back. “Alright, friend, it’s been a long time since we’ve done this, but let me here your biggest, bestest roar.”

  She could feel his ribs expand between her legs as his jaw dropped open to allow more air into his body. It seemed to stay within him for a moment, building up pressure inside his body, and then the force of it ripped from his throat like a punch.

  Eist could hear a deep rumble, but that was all her ears could tell her. Her body, however, spoke of a great and terrible force pushing away from them, rattling her down to her bones. There was shifting pressure too, like something had been taking up too much space and then was suddenly gone before the world could react.

  The effect was nearly instantaneous. The three legs in front of them vibrated violently, jerking in multiple directions, before bursting into several sprays of black, noxious liquid. Eist guessed that it would take the Blight at least a couple of minutes to call that much of itself back to its form and urged Fior onto the next grouping.

  The rest of their group seemed to catch on, and began flying distraction, directly engaging the legs so that Dille could get close. And get close she did, throwing a vial a liquid down that burst into a colorful cloud on the Blight’s skull-like head.

  It let out a squeal, thrashing this way and that, before retreating into the water. Eist watched, a bit in disbelief, until it was completely gone from sight.

  “Was that it?” she asked, flying upwards to join Dille. “Did we win?”

  “No. We just surprised it,” she answered, her face full of determination. “I’m using old magic, magic that it thought was completely gone from this world. It’ll let its minions finish out the battle, exhausting us further, and then it’ll be back again with a plan.”

  “So what do we do?” Ain asked, setting his bow down for the first time since the creature had risen from the waters.

  “We rest. We eat. And then we research. As long as we can keep surprising it, we can buy ourselves times. The Blight is relentless, but it is cautious. It’s been beaten back too many times for being impetuous.”

  “Great,” Yacrist remarked with a sigh. “Nothing better than a world-ending evil with a sense of humility.”

  “Allynbach!” Eist bellowed, holding the massive net with Ain, Athar and Dille. “Now!”

  There was a moment’s pause where it seemed like there was no way they could have heard her order over the thundering din of battle, but then the water of the moat erupted in a splash and the purple dragon burst into the air, bringing a wall of liquid with it.

  Eist had never seen the dragon manipulate so much water at once, but he carried it behind him like a funnel, Yacrist determinedly sitting astride his back like they did it every day. Together, the two barreled along the choke point of the drawbridge, sweeping up the horde that had managed to breach the soldier’s perimeter and carrying the attackers out to the sea where they could sink to the bottom and drown.

  Granted, they would just be recalled to the Blight anyway, but they would at least be taken out of battle for the time being.

  With the abominations that had managed to break through the barricade taken care of, her friends wheeled around to make sure the breach had time to be reinforced as the drawbridge was slowly pulled up. It figured the Blight had learned when their supplies were usually delivered and had decided to attack right then.

  That was just war, Eist guessed.

  “Hey, Dille, tell me if this is of any use,” Ain said, tossing an open tome over at the girl. Eist coughed at the cloud of dust that rose from the pages. Clearly no one had been in the archive for quite a while.

  “Hmmm, minor banishment spells? That sounds promising.”

  Eist tried not to get her hopes up and instead looked to Yacrist. His head was studiously buried in a scroll and she wondered how he was doing. It had been a week since they had been on the battlefield, and they had received no news of his family. The whole city was picking through the rubble, but that was all they knew. She remembered when she had lost her own parents. It had nearly torn her apart.

  He must have felt her gaze on him because he glanced upwards. “Something on my face?” he asked, lips sloping into a very tired smile.

  “No. Just worried about you.”

  “Honestly,” he said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I’m worried about us all.”

  “Second wave, to the far side of the crevasse! Make sure it doesn’t isolate the human soldiers!”

  Fior reacted before Eist could, zooming away from the heart of battle to the far end of the massive canyon that had suddenly split the ground. Her cheek was bleeding, but she couldn’t remember why. All she knew was that she needed to make sure the Blight didn’t break through the Margaidian army’s lines. The longer they kept it occupied, the less likely it was that it would spread to other cities, and the more citizens that could escape during the lulls in battle.

  It was just a waiting game.

  A waiting game where a lot of people died.

  “What’cha doing?”

  Eist sauntered up to Yacrist, who was sitting on a log by himself in the center of their little camp. She slowed to a stop as she caught the expression on his face and the red in his eyes as he quickly glanced away.

  “Yacrist, are you alright?”

  She walked to his side and saw a crumpled piece of parchment in his hands.

  Oh. He must have gotten a raven.

  “What does it say?” Eist asked quietly, fearing what he might say.

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he just handed the crumpled thing to her without a word. Carefully, Eist took it and straightened it out so she could read the smeared ink.

  Lord Yacrist of Aubor

  We regret to put to letter that the body of your mother, the Lady of Aubor, has been found. We know not if it brings you comfort, but she had passed before the collapsing of the tower.

  Our healers who examined her found evidence of a painless poison in her stomach. When she left us, it was peacefully in her sleep.

  Your fathers and brothers are still missing.

  As difficult as it is to admit, we are outside of the time where anyone trapped within the rubble of the castle will have survived. If we do find anyone from this point, they will not be living.

  We have received word that you are serving at the battlefront with the terrible creature. We know your assistance is no doubt vital there, but as the last surviving member of the House of Auber and the eldest son, it is your place to rule as regent until the council can vote upon the next keeper of the house. Even if there is no castle now, our people need a figurehead.

  We are well aware that your mother’s wishes for her final rights
were no doubt in your family’s crypts, but we are not able to excavate that part of the castle yet. We ask your input, should you have it. If you are not able to respond while the body is still viable, we will follow standard Truth of the Three rituals.

  With the warmest regards in this tragedy,

  The Healers’ Circle

  Eist read it over twice before letting it fall to the ground.

  “I… I’m so sorry, Yacrist.”

  He sniffled, keeping his eyes on the ground. “It’s fine. It’s not like I didn’t know this was coming. I watched as that whole castle collapsed. There was no way they survived all that.”

  Eist was sitting beside him in an instant. “But it’s not fine. When I received word that my parents were dead after I emerged from my sickness, I thought that I was going to die. The entire world ended right then and there. I cried. I cried for hours. I cried even though I couldn’t hear myself weep. I made myself sick again with my grief. I threw things. I broke things. I even struck my grandfather.”

  “Your grandfather?” Yacrist asked, looking up in surprise. “The man that you nearly got yourself beaten to death trying to cure?”

  Eist nodded. “Yup. I blamed him. I blamed everyone. So believe me, if anyone knows that it’s not fine, it’s me.”

  He finally looked at her, truly looked at her, blue eyes sparkling. “Eist… I…” He cut himself off, sobs punching out of his mouth. Eist wrapped her arms around him, pulling him down to rest his head against her.

  Over the years, she’d heard idiot young boys talk about how men didn’t cry, or how it was womanly to shed tears, but they were all morons. Crying, mourning, feeling was a bitter part of life that had to be gone through if he ever wanted to be healthy again.

  So, she held him. She held him and listened as he asked why, asked what he was supposed to do, begged to see them just one more time. She held him until her arms were heavy and his tears stalled.

  Eventually, he sat up, slipping his hand into hers even as he untangled himself from her embrace.

  “How is it you always know what to say?”

  “Both you and I know that’s definitely not accurate, but I appreciate that you think so in this moment of weakness.”

  He chuckled at that but stilled as she wiped his tears away with her sleeve. His own hands drifted down to her waist, where he lightly rested them. “Did I ever tell you the first time I ever saw you?”

  Eist shrugged, continuing to pat at his face. “We were both there, why would you ever have to tell me about it?”

  “Because you only know it from your point of view.”

  “And is that so different from yours?”

  “I’m willing to believe it is.”

  Finally, his face was dry, and she sat back, studying his expression. “Then enlighten me.”

  “Alright. Well, if you’ll recall, we were standing and waiting for our trials. I remember I was talking to a whole crowd of people, but nobody really stuck out. See, they all faded from my memory because then you walked in the door, and it was like the entire world had shifted.”

  Eist snorted. “Come on now. Be serious.”

  “I am,” he said, squeezing her waist. “I remember you striding in like you owned the place, like nothing could possibly bother you. And suddenly I knew that you had to be a part of my life. You see, I was always surrounded by kiss-ups and sycophants, people eager for power or wealth. But I could tell just by looking at you that you couldn’t care less about any of that.

  “I was thinking about how I was going to introduce myself to what could be the most important ally I ever made, when suddenly Ain and Athar started talking to you. I crept over, thinking perhaps they were making their move before I could, and that was when I realized that Ain was being his smart-mouthed self.”

  Eist stared at him with wide eyes. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  “I’m not. I am as serious as I can be. I’ve known you were going to be a force to be reckoned with, and you prove that more and more each day.”

  Eist felt herself blushing and looked down. “Why are you saying all this?” she muttered, feeling her emotions swell up in ways she didn’t understand.

  “Because every day here could be our last, and I figured that you ought to know.”

  “Well, uh…thanks.”

  “Besides, I’m not sure I’d be able to survive the death of my parents without you. So, be careful with yourself, okay? You kill yourself, and I’ll just follow right after you.”

  “Uh, I don’t like that deal.”

  “Good,” he said with a smirk before leaning forward and kissing the top of her head. “Then don’t die.”

  “So how exactly did you get this slash across your face?” the healer asked, rubbing some sort of cleansing salve onto Eist’s cheek.

  “The same as anybody else around here. Got too careless in battle.”

  “Hmm, well, it won’t scar. As long as you keep putting the ointment on it after I sew it up, you might have a thin light spot, but that’s it.”

  “Really?” Eist asked in disappointment. “I thought a scar might help me with the whole baby-face situation.”

  The healer let out a dry laugh before sticking a bit of soft bark in her mouth. “Bite on that for the pain. I used numbing herbs as best I could, but you’ll still feel the sewing as I finish cleaning you up.”

  Eist nodded, hoping that perhaps getting her face sewn up wouldn’t be as painful as it sounded.

  It was.

  By the time the whole process was finished, her head was spinning, and she was covered in sweat. The healer handed her a water canteen and a vial of salve and then moved right along.

  “Hey, Eist, can I t-talk to you?” She looked up to see Athar standing a bit away from her, some dried meat in his hand. “I got you food.”

  “I, uh, don’t know if I can really chew right now,” she said, pointing to her cheek.

  “Right. S-sorry. I brought bread too.” He reached into his satchel and pulled out a soft roll that she recognized from the city bakery.

  “Where did you get that?” Eist asked, sitting up with interest.

  “I bribed an urchin yesterday.”

  Eist’s heart swelled a bit at the gesture. “You did that just for me?” He nodded, crossing to her to hand her the roll. “Well, talk away, my friend. I can’t remember the last time I had something like this.”

  “I, uh… This is a kinda, ma-mah-maybe a p-personal topic, but I just, I, uh, I, I—” He stopped to take a breath. “I am worried about something. Someth-thing concerning you.”

  Eist sighed. “I love the dessert, but please tell me that you’re not about to lecture me on my brash actions too.”

  He shook his head. “No, uh, I th-think we have discussed that to dea-eath.” He fiddled with his thumbs, and this time, Eist waited until he was ready. “I wanted to talk to you about Yacrist.”

  Well, that was something she hadn’t expected.

  “What about him?”

  “L-look, I know that you are a beautiful and powerful person, and th-that you’ve no doubt de-dealt with many people who’ve taken a shine to you, but I th-th-think that you sh-should maybe be cautious around Yacrist.”

  Eist’s eyebrows pushed together. Careful around Yacrist? What? “I’m not beautiful. But what do you mean about Yacrist?”

  “N-not beautiful?” He stared at her like she was insane before shaking his head. “Never mind th-that part.”

  “Alright. Never mind it. Why are you telling me to be careful around one of my closest friends?”

  Athar didn’t answer right away, seemingly gathering up the right words. “I have no doubt th-that Yacrist cares very dearly for you, but I worry that his f-f-fe-fe-” He growled, shaking his head and pressing his hands to his temples in frustration. Eist reached up, patting him soothingly.

  “Hey, it’s alright. You know you don’t have to get the words out all at once. I’ll wait.”

  He sighed and looked to her gratefu
lly, then continued, “I worry that his affections are a bit-t, uh, possessive.”

  “Possessive how?”

  “W-well, how he touches you. I c-could tell when he kissed you th-that you weren’t comfortable. He presses boundaries that you aren’t ready to c-cross yet. And when he talks about you when you aren’t h-here, he makes it sound almost as if, as if…as if he owns you.”

  “Is that so?”

  Athar nodded. “I underst-stand that we are all young. And he may just be showing off as we dumb men like to d-d-do. I know if I had yo— someone like you, I would b-brag about it as much as I could.”

  “He doesn’t have me,” Eist said gently. “No one does. But I really appreciate that you’re looking out for me, Athar. You really are a good friend.”

  He beamed at her, his cheeks flushing pink. “I never th-thought I could ever have a friend like you.”

  “Like me?” Eist laughed. “I’m just a deaf girl with a slashed-up face. Nothing special.”

  “Oh, my f-friend, I could not disagree more.”

  “How much longer can we keep this up?” Elspeth asked, her head bowed in weariness as she handfed some unidentifiable meat to her dragon. The beautiful, white beast looked just as exhausted as her rider, its glimmering, gleaming hide as scuffed and dirtied as everyone else’s.

  “Supplies are getting low. We’ve been switching our fetching times to keep the Blight off our schedule, but it seems to already know Margaid’s schedule for its imports and exports. While we’re busy in battle, it’s been sending small raids to haze them. Some are completely destroyed and the caravans that do get through often have much of their supplies damaged.”

  “Ugh, it’s done this before. Although the Blight needs to rest, and gather itself, that’s all it requires. It knows the best place to strike us is our food, water, and healing demands.”