Page 92 of A Sea So Cruel
To her surprise, Gyrial and Linnea seemed to be a team, throwing opponents at each other and letting them be their own demise. Then, Asta saw the chains on Gyrial.
“Linnea!” Asta shouted as she threw the second signet ring toward her cousin.
At the last possible second, Linnea reached a hand up and snatched the ring midair. Linnea pressed the ring into the iron cuff at Gyrial’s wrist. It broke into two pieces and plummeted to the sand below while Linnea freed the other wrist.
“Keep that in case you have more trouble! It’s ours, anyway,” Asta shouted through the surrounding shrieks and grunts.
Gyrial dove in front of a finfolk holding an obsidian dagger aimed for Halsten’s chest, blocking the blow and shoving the merfolk back. Revna immediately jumped into battle the moment her feet touched sand, slicing down anyone within her radius.
A shriek startled Asta, a finfolk with black rotten teeth running for her with outstretched, tattered claws. Asta ducked and a flash of silver cut through the finfolk mutt.
“You shouldn’t be here!” Asta shouted at her father.
King Botmar wobbled. He held an iron sword, perfect for defeating the creatures before him, but he was struggling. He was not the soldier he had once been.
“I am right where I need to be, love!” King Botmar shouted as he used the metal in his hand to cut a siren in two.
Barking caught Asta’s attention and she saw Dyri barreling toward the beach from the terrace. The canine had never been brave once in his life, and she wished he had remained a coward.
She sprinted for the dog, diving under claws and jumping over fallen corpses. For four humans and a fae, her friends had really held their own.
Dyri barked and howled, bee lining it for Linnea who was fighting off a female half-finfolk. The female dug her claws into Linnea’s thighs and Asta’s cousin screamed. The dog made it to them before Asta did and muckled onto the finfolk’s neck, dragging the being down to the sand in a splash of granules. The finfolk thrashed under Dyri’s bite, but the canine didn’t let go. He pushed the creature to the ground by her throat as she lashed out with her arms and legs.
Asta watched in horror as she sprinted for her dog. He was not supposed to be here. None of her friends or family were supposed to be here. It was not their fight.
The finfolk that Dyri was pinning down grabbed one of his hind limbs, sinking her claws in and shredding through muscle and bone.
The canine whimpered, but never let go of his grip. He bit tighter, until the finfolk went limp and her limbs dropped to the ground in a thud.
After a moment of stillness, the dog fell, his blood staining the sand red.
Chapter 55
“Can you fix it?” Halsten shouted over the eruption of battle cries that carried across the shore. He shoved a finfolk back, guarding Linnea as she observed Dyri’s injuries.
Halsten hadn’t seen the pup get injured, but he knew it was a driving point for Asta now. The second Dyri had cried out in pain, the blonde princess had cut clean through two finfolk at once, stepping through their spliced bodies as they fell and targeting her next victim.
“He’s bleeding so much. I don’t know what to do!” Linnea had tears streaming down her face as she tried to staunch thebleeding with a wad of cloth ripped from Halsten’s shirt. “He saved me! I need to save him!”
A hissing siren swiped at Halsten’s chest, leaving claw marks in his shirt but luckily not making contact with skin. His movements were incredibly slow due to his leg injury, so he focused on holding his ground. The Ryktarvan warriors were multiplying at a concerning rate, more of them slithering up from the shoreline every minute.
Halsten did his best to keep them away from Linnea while she worked on Dyri, but it was not easy. His leg throbbed, hardly able to withhold weight. Even with Asta, Revna, and King Botmar joining the fight, and Gyrial being freed from his iron, the odds were not in their favor.
A gray mass stepped next to Halsten and held the line. Thurs, the alpha of the northern kelpies, had come to help him.
The mare kicked and bit the approaching opponents, her teeth terrifyingly sharp and definitely not horselike. She frequently checked behind her and Halsten was positive she was checking on Dyri’s condition. After all the times the dog had attempted to befriend the kelpie, something must have made an impact on her.
Halsten and Thurs worked in tandem to guard Linnea and Dyri, the mare’s help being the advantage they needed. If anyone had told Halsten two months ago that he would be fighting merfolk next to a gigantic flesh-shredding horse someday, he would have asked them what was in their glass—and if he could have some.
He also never thought that Niklas would be a “below the belt” fighter—both literally and figuratively. The man had no problem kicking the beings between their legs, pulling hair, or throwing sand in their eyes. Halsten supposed he had likely never been in a fight before. Even worse, he had likely never been trained in combat even once. So the fact that Niklas washolding his own against individuals with preternatural speed and strength was really quite impressive.
“Incoming!” Asta bellowed, pointing toward the shoreline.
Another hoard of Ryktarvans were crawling out of the waves, hissing and snapping at the air. The sea witch must have sent her most deranged soldiers to take care of them, and likely to also lure Asta away from the bigger fight.
Halsten knew that the sooner they were safe, the sooner Asta could return to Naltania and protect his best friend. He knew that the Salendronean princess would do anything to keep Kaid safe—something she had proved time and time again.
The onslaught of extra soldiers was their downfall. The line they had made to guard the castle, as well as Linnea and Dyri, was being pushed further and further back.
