Page 77 of Forged in Fading

“You will never win,” King Ulivar said, struggling against the guard who shoved him toward the altar. “Humans and demi-elves are more resilient⁠—”

King Einar sliced the dagger across the Malvan king’s throat. “I do tire of these end-of-life speeches. Anyone else?” His guards shook their heads frantically, and the king smiled, the movement stretching his features further than they seemed willing to go. His green eyes remained vacant of any emotion, even as hazy black tendrils seeped out from the altar, and the smell of rotting flesh drained every drop of fresh air from the forest. “Then welcome Helvati.”

The smoke grew larger and larger, spinning together to form the billowing figure of a female wearing a towering crown of bones. Whisps of what almost looked like liquid trickled from her scalp down her flawless skin and dripped into the sunken holes where her eyes should have been.

No sooner had she appeared than she was gone, absorbed back into the gruesome stone. Alvara’s magic whispered strangely despite the runes in the metal binding it, tugging toward something unknown but immensely powerful. An eerie silence settled into the Grove. Before she could draw another breath, an invisible wave blasted through the air.

Her back smashed into the dirt, scraping at her raw wounds and tearing a scream from her mouth. The ground beneath her trembled as if it too feared what it had just witnessed.

Magic was free.

So was Alvara’s, the runes on her shackles overcome by whatever power Helvati had just unleashed. But all her mind could focus on was every pebble and stick grinding into her tattered skin. She rolled to her hands and knees, heaving a ragged breath as she wobbled on the edge of consciousness.

The altar somehow remained, but every elf in the Grove had been knocked to the ground, some even pinned under trees whose roots had been ripped from the very soil they called home. Those who moved to stand found their limbs tethered to the ground by thick bands of earth.

Boden crashed to his knees at her side. His eyes darted along her back as he spoke, his voice unsteady. “I don’t know how long I’ll be able to hold them. We need to go.” He gripped her arm with his shackled hands and hoisted her to her feet, lighting her back with a fresh wave of flames. She bit down on her tongue to keep from screaming, and the metallic taste of copper flooded her mouth as she crumpled.

The fuzzy outline of encroaching green vines crossed Alvara’s vision, and she drew on what little strength she had left to erect a frozen barrier blocking their path.

Boden cursed as his fingers fluttered above her body. “I can’t—without my hands free…damn it. I won’t leave you here.”

She placed a shaky hand on his shackles and the other on her own, not even daring to use her life force to speak, and funneled her frigid magic into the metal binding them both. Her vision dimmed until only specks of light remained, but she finally felt the iron crack beneath her touch, setting them both free.

Boden slid his arms underneath her, somehow without placing pressure on her leaking wounds. “Stay with me, goose.”

Alvara’s mind screamed at her, begged her to stay awake, but her eyes fluttered closed. The darkness was so inviting as it wrapped its soft arms around her in a dreamy embrace.

Cold earth pressed against Alvara’s cheek. The stone walls around her flickered with an orange glow, but there was no sunlight to be found. An imposing silhouette she couldn’t quite make out blocked the entrance to the cave, and the creature stretched its furry paws in front of it and yawned.

“Boden.” Her voice was more rasp than substance, but the animal’s ears perked up, and soon her friend knelt at her side. His tunic clung to his skin in shreds of scarlet. “Your back.” She reached out a trembling hand, and an inferno seared along her injuries.

Boden clasped his warm hands around hers, and her fingers curled and spasmed through the pain, sinking her nails into his skin. He shook his head, jaw tight. “If you think mine is terrible, I wouldn’t recommend looking over your shoulder. Damn it, Alvara, what were you thinking? I’ve survived far worse.”

She hadn’t been thinking at all. She just knew, somewhere deep down, she had to protect him from more brutality at the hands of King Einar, even if it cost her life. Streaks of dried blood ran down Boden’s skin, much paler than its usual tan, and purple shadows hung under his eyes, but he was alive. “How did you…”

He lifted a roughly hewn stone bowl to her lips, and she gulped down the liquid. “I found one of the king’s horses farther in the Grove. We should be far enough to stay safe for now, but you need food and a healer. I washed your wounds as best I could, but if we wait too long to heal them, they’ll become infected. And the scarring…” He emphasized the last word as if it were a worse fate than a life-threatening infection.

Alvara let little bits of air dribble into her lungs. “The scars don’t bother me. They never have. We can match.” Each word burned hotter than molten metal, but she meant it. None of his scars bothered her—the ones she could see and the ones she couldn’t.

“I would’ve preferred tattoos.” The faint twinkle in his eyes faded. “There’s a town in Nyr not far from here. I have friends there who may be able to help. We can try to make it there before heading to the human realm.”

That was wasting time the humans didn’t have. Not with King Einar’s destruction of the magic barrier. Alvara spoke through clenched teeth. “The humans. You have to go.”

Boden leaned in closer and swept away the strands of gray hair that had fallen in front of her eyes. “I meant what I said. I won’t leave you. You can’t take a lashing for me and then expect me to toss you aside like day-old bread.”

If she had the energy, Alvara would have explained that day-old bread could actually be turned into a dessert that some would argue tasted even better than the original. But Boden scooped her into his arms once again, and she settled her head into his chest, letting his steady heartbeat lull her into a deep sleep.

Something wet touched Alvara’s skin and dragged her to the realm of the living. An ice fox sat a fingerbreadth away, its furry white head tilted in what was surely curiosity as to why she was face down, alone in the middle of gods knew where.

Alone?

Alvara scraped her fingers through the dirt and wriggled to her knees, swaying back and forth. Her palms drove into the ground. Had he actually left her? She was trying to be heroic, but she obviously hadn’t meant it.

The fox scampered into the trees, leaving her alone to inspect the strange stone structure that curved around her. Boden must have built it with what little magic he had to try to keep her from view.

She could either sit in the forest, waiting to be kidnapped or eaten by whatever beasts lurked about in the first few days of nyr, or she could grit through her injuries and find help. Dalviri knew how far the nearest town was or when he would be back, and Alvara was hungry.

The new season had started to breathe morsels of life into the animals and plants, cracking through ice and warming the air just enough to hold back the bite of dalvi, but it wasn’t enough to grow vegetation, let alone anything edible. And the last thing Alvara needed right now was to eat something poisonous out of sheer desperation.