Page 150 of Earthbound

Second, Rayan, who was the one to wield the magic that struck Malak, appeared behind the fallen chieftain.

Dah.

And third, Ajax lunged.

He dived in front of the drumfire meant for Lettle.

Chapter Thirty

Lettle

Blood sprayed across the clearing and Lettle knew instantly: Ajax was going to die.

‘Ajax!’ she cried and fell to her knees beside the obeah. There was a gasp behind them and Lettle turned to see Rayan standing in the tunnel entrance. The king had been the one to strike Malak with his magic, but he’d been too late to stop the drumfire meant for Lettle.

Rayan’s mouth parted in a small smile as his eyes met Lettle’s. He was dressed in an embroidered purple cloak; his crown, a copper vine set with fraedia, was something she rarely saw him wear. A distant part of her mind wondered where he had come from to be dressed so formally.

The darkness of the tunnel blurred his edges, but his face was cast aglow in a single ray of sunlight. The sky seemed unaware that this was not a moment for sunshine and blue horizons. This was a moment for rain and thunder and lightning.

For this was the moment Rayan was going to die.

He fell to the ground with a sigh.

‘No!’ Lettle screamed. She closed the space between them and pulled Rayan into her arms.

Rayan looked up at her, his eyes glistening as he took her in. ‘So beautiful,’ he whispered. ‘More so with my sight than his.’

Lettle’s tears splashed onto his cheeks as she pressed her forehead against his. They shared the same shallow breaths.

But only one of them was dying.

‘This cannot be how it is,’ she sobbed. She brought her hands to Rayan’s face, leaving smears of Ajax’s blood.

Lettle looked back at the obeah lying in an ever-growing pool of crimson. Alder was by his side, his face ashen. He had torn a strip of his shirt and tied it around Ajax’s wound to stem the bleeding.

But Lettle knew a killing blow when she saw one. Her father had taught her that much.

‘Take me to him,’ Rayan whispered. ‘Let us be together in the end.’

Despite having built up her strength, now she was weakened by grief, she struggled to pull Rayan much further than a foot.

She cried out in frustration, sobs racking her chest until she was heaving on the ground next to her dying love.

Gentle hands touched her shoulder and Lettle looked up into the violet eyes of her sister.

Yeeran gathered her into her arms. But Lettle could not linger in her comforting embrace for long.

‘He’s dying,’ Lettle said. She didn’t recognise the voice that came out of her. It was coarse and felt as though it came from beyond her body. ‘Help me take him to Ajax.’

Tears began to make tracks down Yeeran’s face as she picked up Rayan’s weak form.

‘The bandage is sodden through,’ Alder said as Yeeran lowered the king next to his obeah. ‘I don’t know what else to do.’

‘Nothing,’ Lettle said, her voice still raspy and unfamiliar.

Rayan’s hand reached out and grasped Ajax’s paw. The obeah let out a slow whimper.

Lettle sank to the ground and pressed herself against the curve of Rayan’s body, her cheek against the cold earth. She wrapped her arms around his chest, feeling his breath rattle in his lungs.