Chapter 123 -Caylix-

Chapter 123 -Caylix-
\-Caylix-

The arrow punches through my side before I see the men in the trees. Pain tears through me so violently that my grip slips on the reins. My horse jerks beneath me, and for one disorienting second the road tilts as I fight to stay in the saddle.

Damnit.

I hear the second arrow fire, but this one I see. I throw myself forward as it cuts through the air where my chest had been a heartbeat earlier and buries itself in the side of a tree.

"Ambush!"

The Veylan guard riding ahead of us wheels his horse around just as another arrow tears through the trees. I don't need to tell Avi, the tether already has. Her fear slams into me almost as hard as the arrow did.

Caylix?

I'm here.

I get my feet beneath me and drop from the saddle, landing hard enough that the shaft protruding from my side shifts as white-hot pain sears through me.

What happened?

We're being attacked.

I draw my sword and move toward the guard with me.

I need you to pull out of the vision, Avi, right now...

Caylix, you're hurt.

Yes.

Another arrow strikes the road beside my boot. I find the archer between the trees and shift behind a tree before he can let another arrow loose.

I need you to pull out of the vision so I know you are safe. I need to fight these men without worrying about you. 

I don't have time to soften it.

Please.

I feel her hesitate as Elise's voice reaches me faintly through Avi's side of the tether.

"So eager to run?"

I can't see the witch, but I feel Avi's attention snap back to her. Elise laughs softly.

"Go on, little Queen. Your guard needs you."

Something about the satisfaction in her voice sends ice through me. Avi feels it too.

What did you do?

Elise's answer comes faintly through her.

"I?"

Another arrow slams into the wagon beside me. The woman inside makes a muffled sound behind her gag. Elise laughs again, then her voice lowers.

"You distracted me earlier..." She pauses. "Consider the favor repaid."

My blood runs cold. She knew. These men aren't by chance, they're hers... Or Rhydon's.

Avi. Out. Now.

This time she doesn't argue. I feel her reach for her body. Elise gets one final word in before the vision begins slipping away.

"Run along. Let's see if your precious Caylix lives long enough to tell you the secrets he’s been keeping from you."

Then Avi is out. I feel the instant she returns fully to her body inside Caelthar. 

I'm out. Caylix, I love you. Fight like hell and come home to me. 

Good. I close my eyes as her fear pulses through me.

I love you, too.

I narrow the tether. Not closed, just quiet enough that I can think. Then I turn around and finally look at the men trying to kill me. 

They emerge from the trees in disciplined intervals rather than charging blindly. Two remain high among the rocks with bows. Four spread across the road. More movement flickers deeper in the woods. Not raiders. The guard beside me sees it at the same moment.

"Caylix..."

His voice has changed. I follow his stare to the man stepping onto the road. Veylan armor is partially concealed beneath a dark traveling cloak.

The guard beside me goes pale.

"No..."

Another man emerges, then another.

"I know them."

I look at him. His sword has lowered several inches.

"Those are royal trackers."

Of course they are. Rhydon didn't send ordinary soldiers after me, he sent the men trained to find people who don't want to be found. The guard's eyes move between them.

"That's Tomas. I trained with him." His voice catches as another figure steps from the woods. "Gods. Bren too..."

A man's voice carries across the road.

"Release Queen Lenora and surrender the Caeltharian traitor!"

The woman bound inside the wagon begins struggling violently. The guard beside me closes his eyes for half a second.

"These men are my brothers."

He doesn't need to explain. These are men he'd trained beside, fought beside, and probably bled beside. And because of Elise, men who genuinely believe Erik is dead, that Rhydon is their king, that the woman tied inside this wagon is their Queen, and that I'm the enemy who kidnapped her.

Another arrow flies. I move before I think. My sword catches it badly, knocking it aside rather than cleanly deflecting it. The movement tears at the wound in my side.

I breathe through the pain.

"They'll kill us."

I look at the men spreading across the road.

"I know."

His eyes meet mine. I tighten my grip around my sword.

"We don't kill them."

He stares at me.

"Caylix, there are at least twelve."

"Then try not to miss."

He looks at me like I've lost my mind, then something settles in his expression. 

He nods. “Take no offense, but I pray the rumours about you are true.” 

"We’re about to find out…” The hint of a smile pulling at my mouth now.  “Remember, knees, shoulders, and hands. Anything they'll heal from."

"And if they don't give us the same courtesy?"

I look at the arrow sticking out of my body.

"I believe we've already established that they won't."

The first man charges and I meet him halfway. Killing someone is easy, that's the ugly truth no one puts into songs about great warriors. A body has too many places where one well-placed blade ends a fight permanently. But keeping a man alive while making absolutely certain he cannot pick up his weapon again? That requires precision. His sword comes toward my neck. I turn beneath it, catch his wrist and twist hard enough that the weapon drops from his fingers. My elbow drives into his ribs, breaking them, before my boot catches behind his knee.

He hits the ground hard.  That’s one down.

The next two reach me together. I know immediately that they're good. One forces me left while the other comes for my injured side.

They've already seen the blood.

Smart.

Unfortunately for them, I've spent most of my life training against men who know exactly where I'm injured. I let the first blade come close enough to convince him he's found the opening. Then I move.

My sword strikes the flat of his hard enough to knock his arm wide. I step inside his guard, drive the pommel into his jaw and catch him before he can fall into me.

The second man's blade comes for my ribs.

I could kill him. The opening is right there, just one thrust, and he would be done. Instead, I change the angle. My blade drives through the muscle above his knee.

He screams.

And the hesitation costs me as an arrow tears into my shoulder. Pain explodes through me as my body jerks sideways. My shoulder burns. Blood is soaking through my shirt, and somewhere beneath the pain, my runes are beginning to heat as my body tries to repair damage faster than these men can create it.