Page 72 of The Blade in the Ashes
“Comfortable?” he asked, his hand still lingering on my hip as he stood as close as Netta would allow.
I watched Hyrax throw a leg into his stirrup and launch himself onto his own steed. He sat straight-backed as he stared out into the cloudless sky that stretched before us. A gust of wind smacked against my skin, blisteringly cold.
“Where are we going?” I asked softly, looking down at Caldrius.
Hyrax took a deep breath, seeming to savor the fresh air. “To Hyrax Manor, of course.”
I couldn’t stop my eyes from widening. I couldn’t stop the way my breath caught.
“There’s something I need to retrieve,” Hyrax announced, pressing his heel into the belly of his horse to urge the creature forward.
No.
No.
I knew the rebels would have left Hyrax Manor the second they were able, so I didn’t have to worry about Hyrax finding any of my friends there.
But there was only one thing at Hyrax Manor that Hyrax himself would want to be present when retrieving.
The Bident. Hyrax was going to retrieve his Godly weapon—the weapon that would strengthen his powers to their fullest might.
I didn’t know how I could have forgotten about it.
And Gods help us all if he had that weapon when this war erupted.
Caldrius patted my thigh, squeezing it once before moving aside to mount his own horse.
Our party moved slowly at first until the hooves of our horses beating down against the pavement became a steady drumbeat warning all those in our path. Even the animals fled—squirrels, rabbits, that damn stray cat that'd been following me all scurried as the God of Death led us towards the ancestral home of his Descendants.
I had to remind myself to breathe throughout the entire journey.
Chapter Twenty
Iris
Nikolai and I each fell silent as we entered the small town of Fredrington.
I’d only been here once or twice before, but that was enough to know that what we were looking at now was definitelynotnormal.
Fredrington wasn’t a large town by any means, but it was home to many well-off merchants. Finely made houses lined the cobblestone streets within the main square, accompanied by various shops. On my last visit here, the streets had been bustling. People had bumped into one another as they rushed back and forth. There had to have been two to three hundred people who milled about this square on a daily basis.
Or at least… there used to be that many.
Now, there didn’t appear to be a soul in sight.
I jolted at the sudden sensation of Nikolai touching my wrist, instinctively reaching for my blades before I realized it was him. Amber eyes met mine with a look of utter seriousness as he waited for me to calm and relax my grip on the weapons. As his gaze lifted over my shoulder, he jerked his chin in the direction behind me. I turned, following his line of sight, and gasped.
“Dear Gods.” The words were barely more than a whisper.
Corpses.
Three bodies all outside the open doorway of a home, as if they had been trying to run outside.
It took me a moment to force air back into my lungs, but once I did, I urged my horse forward tentatively. Another body lingered on the front lawn of the next house. Another lay in the street across from that. The once-bustling town was nothing more than a graveyard.
I lifted the scarf around my neck, covering my nose against the stench of death in the air. The corpses were nothing more than bits of mangled flesh, skin torn open by what looked like claw marks and imprints of teeth. I kept my hand on the Blade of Arto strapped to my hip, ready to grasp it if need be.
What kind of creature could do something like this?
