Gates of Ruin (Magelands Eternal Siege, #6) Christopher Mitchell (classic reads .txt) 📖

The silver dragon let out a scream. Her wings went limp, and she plummeted from the sky, falling like a stone into the forest. She crashed through the branches and disappeared from sight.

Kelsey stared, her mouth open, then she began to run.

‘Wait,’ cried Aila; ‘what are you doing?’

‘You were right,’ said Kelsey, turning. ‘We have to save her.’

‘But…’

‘Stay if you like, Aila; I’m going.’

Kelsey reached the edge of the wide ledge and leaped down into the forest. Aila stood frozen for a moment, then followed. She reached the lip of the ledge, paused, then rushed back to the cave entrance and picked up their knife. She shoved it into her belt, then ran after Kelsey. The young Holdfast woman was racing through the trees, following the track to a small stream that supplied the lair with water. Aila caught up with her by the banks of the little river, and they splashed across the shallows to the other side.

‘If there are soldiers,’ said Aila as they ran; ‘leave them to me. Go to Frostback and I’ll cover you.’

Kelsey made no indication that she had heard, her eyes on the trees ahead of them as they raced through the undergrowth. They reached a burnt part of the forest. Some of the branches were still burning, and ash was floating through the air. Aila counted the bodies of two soldiers, their steel armour blackened but intact, and they slowed. They began to creep through the trees, their eyes glancing around as if expecting an attack at any second. They arrived at a clearing, where trees had been knocked over, and saw Frostback lying there, her eyes closed. Her body was stretched out amid the broken trunks and twisted branches, and a soldier was standing by her head, a heavy crossbow in his hands.

Kelsey put a hand to her mouth as she stared at the immobile body of the dragon.

‘Go left,’ Aila whispered. ‘Distract him, but for Malik’s sake stay low in case he shoots.’

Kelsey nodded, and stole away. Aila glanced around, then took the knife from her belt. The soldier seemed to be focussed on the dragon, the crossbow pointing at her head. Aila crept through the undergrowth until she was behind him, then she heard a noise over to the left. The soldier’s attention went to where the noise had come from, his eyes squinting into the gloom of the forest.

Aila tried to imagine she was Stormfire. She sprang at the soldier from behind, and with a quick motion of her hand, sliced through his throat. She leaped back a step as the soldier dropped the crossbow, his hands going to his neck, then he collapsed to the ground. Aila’s eyes went from him to the bloody knife in her hand, her heart racing. She looked at the soldier’s contorted face. He had been young, in his early twenties, just doing his job, and she had snuffed out his mortal life with a flick of her wrist.

Kelsey appeared before her. She stared at the body, then grabbed Aila’s arm.

‘Search him,’ she said.

Aila blinked. ‘What?’

Kelsey went down to one knee next to the soldier and began looking through his pockets, and into the hiding places behind his steel breastplate, as Aila tried to regain her composure. What was wrong with her? She had killed before, and the soldier would have shot or arrested them, yet all she could think about was the waste of life his death represented.

‘Snap out of it,’ said Kelsey, glancing up; ‘the other soldiers can’t be far away, and they’ll be coming.’

Aila nodded, and peered through the trees, her hand still gripping the hilt of the knife.

‘Got it,’ muttered Kelsey.

‘What?’ said Aila again, her thoughts spinning.

Kelsey held up a small vial. ‘Salve.’

Aila’s eyes widened. ‘How did you know?’

‘I spent a lot of time with Van,’ she said. ‘He told me that many Banner soldiers carry this into combat, in case they’re injured. Stay on guard while I try to give it to Frostback.’

‘Will it work?’

‘How am I meant to know? What else are we supposed to do; just leave her here to die?’

She clutched the vial in her fist and raced over to Frostback’s head. Aila stared at her for a moment, then turned, her eyes scanning the forest around them. The trees were still and quiet, but she knew the Banner soldiers were professionals; they could be anywhere; they could be watching her and she wouldn’t know.

A crossbow clicked.

‘Don’t move,’ said a low voice. ‘Drop the knife and raise your hands.’

Aila turned her head. A soldier was crouching in the undergrowth five yards from her, his crossbow trained on her chest.

‘Last chance,’ he said; ‘drop the knife.’

She let go of the hilt, and the bloody knife fell to the ground. The soldier rose to his full height and stepped forward. His eyes flickered over to the dragon, but Kelsey was out of sight on the far side of Frostback’s head. He spotted the body of his fallen comrade and his features hardened.

‘You’ll pay for that,’ he said, raising his bow and aiming along its sights.

Aila stood frozen as the soldier’s finger went to the trigger. She had taken a crossbow bolt before, and tried to prepare herself for the rush of agony.

A silver-scaled forelimb burst through the undergrowth, there was a glint of claws, and the soldier was torn in two where he stood, a spray of blood spattering the trees. Aila staggered back, her eyes staring at the bloody mess on the forest floor where the man had been. Nausea gripped her stomach, and she fell to her knees and threw up onto the ground.

A hand grabbed her shoulder, and she looked up to see Kelsey.

‘Come on,’ the Holdfast woman urged.

Frostback’s head appeared in front of them, her eyes glowing bright.

‘I… I owe you insects my thanks,’ she said, as if the words pained her. ‘You saved my life. You were right, Aila; a god is among them. We must leave,