The woman snapped her eyes open. “Shaman Adrina has betrayed the emperor. It means my son’s blood is now in the hands of the enemy, and our one chance at survival has now become our doom.”
Chapter thirty-six
Fake
Katsi gasped as Migo let go, tempted to follow after and try to catch him, but when his black robe flew off, fluttering behind him, she knew exactly what he was doing. Show off. She withdrew the potion Daraden had made for her and drank its contents in one quick gulp. It instantly filled her with a warm sensation.
She smirked, then moved out toward the incoming bleeder army. It was far greater than she could have possibly imagined. They’d worried about what a few hundred waheshi would be able to do. Her imagination had never grasped the possibility of such an army.
She started calling up the winds, some low, some high. This always helped create more optimal conditions for summoning lightning. Again, she tried to draw more strength from the new armlet, but it felt weak. It still carried some semblance of energy, but it seemed even weaker than the other two she had. She tried to draw on its strength, preparing to cast her first bolt of lightning, but the armlet stung her in response, like needles had sprung out into her skin.
Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.
“Migo!” She shouted down to him as she looked at the armlet, trying to pry it off. It had indeed sprouted tiny spines that pierced her skin, but she gritted her teeth and pulled it off anyway. They’d betrayed her. Sands, Jafir had betrayed her!
Migo was spiraling out over the swarming waheshi, dodging a hailstorm of stone spears. A burst of red flames erupted from his mouth with a terrible sound. The flames engulfed several waheshi as he passed over them, the fire turning blue as it licked their flesh from their bones.
But it was barely a dent. How could the deaths of ten waheshi even matter when a hundred thousand still remained?
Katsi flew after him, tempted to throw the cursed artifact away, but afraid to do so. It had pierced her, after all. Did that mean it had done something with her blood? Would something else happen to her? She tried not to panic, focusing instead on reaching Migo.
Having disconnected from the cursed armlet, she flexed her hands, channeling a bit of lightning around her as she arced out over the enemies like her own bolt. The energy crawled across the ground beneath her like static, zapping waheshi as she passed over them
“Migo,” she yelled as she came up behind him.
Migo pounded his wings and turned up to meet her. She flew in and grabbed onto his neck as he flew back toward the city.
“The armlet was a fake,” Katsi said.
“What?” Migo grunted.
The heat emanated from Migo’s body like a fire.
“Jafir must have given me a fake one. Without the real one, I won’t have enough power to fight the waheshi.”
Migo’s growl vibrated Katsi’s entire body. He knew where to go as he raced back toward the portaj. Without that armlet, Katsi couldn’t hope to save Jehubal, but the waheshi were already almost to the walls.
She had a feeling that three hundred soldiers wouldn’t be able to hold a wall for very long, no matter how skilled they were.
After passing over the city, Katsi let go of Migo’s neck and darted down to the area where they’d arrived. She spotted Jafir, sprinting toward the city. Alone.
Migo crashed down in front of him, gnashing his teeth right in front of Jafir’s nose. The enchanter fell to the ground with a yelp, holding his hands out.
“Why did you do it?” Katsi screamed at him.
Jafir shook his head. She just noticed that he had a bloody nose. “I don’t know what you mean. Adrina whipped the return portaj from my hand and knocked me out with a boulder. I only just came to. She’s gone.”
Katsi held up the cursed armlet. “This isn’t even real. Did you intend to betray us all along?”
The sharp points of Migo’s wings hung dangerously over Jafir’s head, and his eyes widened ever further. “No, I didn’t betray you. If that’s fake, then somebody has the real one.”
“And we also have no way back to Mazanib to try and retrieve it,” Katsi said, looking at Migo.
That was it.
They would lose.
The air left Katsi’s lungs.
But they wouldn’t let Jehubal fall without a fight. She could sense that Migo had the same thought as his dark eyes settled on her.
Katsi clenched her fists. “Let’s go, Migo. We have some waheshi to decimate.”
Chapter thirty-seven
Adrina
As soon as Adrina appeared back at the castle in Mazanib, she reached out to the wall, sinking into the stone. This was her home. Her castle. She’d built it with her own hands. Every brick. Every stair. Everything. It was the most beautiful structure on Malahem. And the armlet? That belonged to her too. Nobody else deserved to carry it.
The stone carried her through the walls of the castle, like a cool river soothing her burning heart. Pain still lingered there. She’d endured so much pain over the years. Living in the castle had been torment, but all that suffering was worth it.
She could feel the whole building. In a way, it was an extension of her. The flowing stone brought her out on the exterior of the castle to the small balcony just outside Emperor Ranaz’s bedroom. Not Migo’s. Not that murderer’s.
From here in Mazanib, the sun was just nearing its peak. In time, this region would grow colder. Fitting.
An object slipped out of the stone and into her hand. An orb. Another object slipping out into her other hand. The armlet.
The orb was one she’d hidden as soon as she’d seen Ranaz’s dead body on the floor of his room, sinking it into the wall behind. It had been too easy.
