Shattered

by Stef M Ensing

  “Acceptable logic within reason,” he replied. “But you’ve decided it’s your job to protect everyone. Your brothers, father, your friends, all of us. Somehow you’ve managed to place yourself in the front of everything thinking you have to face the world alone because that’s the only way to save everyone. But we all have choices too, Payton. Each and every one of us. And you know what?” He slipped his hand over hers. “We’ve all chosen to stand right here beside you because screw the danger that could come. We can take it on together.”

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  “Look! There in the distance!” the shout was one of the first things spoken since they had started their trek that day and caused everyone to halt. Even the yaks stilled after a groan of uncertainty. Everyone anxiously looked in the direction Nyla was frantically pointing as she bounced up and down.

  At first, Payton saw nothing but more ice and snow. More wind blowing the frigid flakes in their face. More frozen hell. But then, just on the horizon, there was a moment of stillness, a gap in the flurry of white and they could all see what the smallest of them was so excited about. Looming ahead were white-coated structures that were very much not like the jagged mountains of ice and snow they had passed thus far. They were squared and boxy, various sizes and lengths, stretching to the sky. Shadows of shapes that clearly made up a city. A massive city just waiting for them.

  Creators, nothing had ever looked so inviting and frozen before.

  “How far away is that?” Payton asked.

  Captain Marrett squinted, his eyes barely visible beneath his thick cloak and scar. “Could be an hour, could be a day. Distances are tricky without things to measure by.”

  “What a repulsively vague answer,” Atherly said.

  “Think you could do better?”

  “Just commenting that there are easier ways to say that you don’t know.”

  “We should make it by dark. I can tell that much despite this infernal weather.”

  Nyla clapped her hands gleefully, the noise completely muted by her gloves.

  “Let’s keep moving before Nyla races us there,” Payton said with a shake of her head in an attempt to stave off any further tension.

  Thankfully everyone was more than willing to take up that suggestion and they began to trudge forward again. Perhaps they hoped like Payton that once they reached the city they could seek shelter in one of the buildings. Maybe the walls would block that infernal wind.

  True to his prediction nearly an hour later they began to come upon broken remains of buildings half covered by snow and ice. They outskirts of Kydessa. They passed structures with a buzz of anticipation barely sparing a thought for their state until suddenly the mages at the lead of the group – Samuel and Ioannu – stopped in unison. Her brow furrowed and she moved to the front to question the stall only to comprehend the moment she came close.

  It was like a ripple of tangible magic was hovering in the air when she stepped from one place to the next. It made the hair on her arms stand on end and gave her a sense of unease.

  “What is this?”

  “Aura. Left over from the war,” Ioannu stated. “Pockets of it exist where battles took place and alchemy and magic intermingled. The magic can’t dissipate so it lingers in the air.”

  Battles… that meant—“Look out!” she tackled her brother to the ground seconds before the ice exploded at his feet.

  The origins of the attack were faint at first, the figures barely visible against the snow and wind but that did not last long. And neither did the weakness of their magical attacks. Two more in quick succession were flung at the three of them as they hurried out of the field but it did not matter. The shadows had already taken form.

  “Echoes!” she shouted back to the others as she grabbed her weapons, dropping her pack into the snow so she could free her mobility.

  Echoes had been a legend. A ghost story to keep children away from the icy tundra. After all, who could believe that reflections of the mages that were lost in the Great War could truly be trapped in the last battle and forever doomed to fight and defend their land, never allowed to pass on and meet the Elder One. In researching for the trip Payton had never found conclusive proof that they were real.

  She dodged a fire blast that melted a two-foot crater in the ice. Well… myth broken. Now, how do you kill a ghost?

  Ducking under a sweeping blow that sent lightning out where she stood, Payton stabbed her dagger into the shadowy gut of the closest Echo. Only to have no resistance. Her hand just continued through. She let out a hiss of pain and jerked her arm back. Her hand burned where it had sunk into the swirling dark space that should have made up the Echo’s gut. Along her dagger was crystalized ice but it was dark as if it was stained with dirt or soot. Twisting onto her feet, she tried to deflect the creature’s staff as it aimed toward her but her weapons slid straight through the wispy nature of the staff, unable to stop it.

  “Shit!” She dropped herself flat to the floor and then scrambled backward. She skidded behind a blockade of ice alongside two of her fighters. “We can’t hit them! They aren’t solid enough, my daggers are going right through them.”

  “We noticed,” Caius said breathlessly, holding her arm where those same dark crystals had formed.

  “Damn it,” Payton muttered. If that hurt anywhere near as bad as her hand did, one warrior was likely down for the count until Atherly could get to her.

  She peered out from behind the ice, flinching when it continued to be bombarded with a barrage of spells. She could see that Isiah, Nyla, and the captain were near the carts, her twin looking irritated that he was reduced to hiding as two Echoes were slowly making their way toward their cover, Jolene attempting to run interference.

  The other two shipmates and her remaining fighters were cowering behind an overturned cart, pelting flashbombs that… kind of worked? Each time one went off it made the Echo waver, the entire shadowy figure flickering as though its existence was in question but it never stopped the advance nor the attack of ice spells.

  Near the aura field, she spotted her brother holding his own against three of the Echoes, his staff moving so quickly about it was nothing but a blur of wood and flashes of light. A shield would repeatedly flicker into light in front of him, protecting him from the blasts, and then drop when he attacked. Ioannu was near him raining a wall of lightning down. She had never seen such an attack before and it was clearly hurting the shadows as it forced several into retreat. But where were… Shit!

  Atherly and Jarrett were cornered together. And Jarrett was still trying to fight! What was he thinking? Atherly was making a strange sort of light show with his staff. It did not appear to be doing damage but it did distract the Echoes that kept trying to advance toward Jarrett, giving the warrior seconds at a time to back up but the stubborn idiot kept swinging his sword, trying to fend them off. Every time he did so, he drew their attention again!

  “I’ll be back,” Payton said to the two beside her.

  “Are you insane?” David Eccleston, a rogue she had pulled from the Foxes, questioned. “You can’t do anything against these things.” They all collectively flinched when the next hit on their barrier made it crack but not collapse.

  “If this thing falls, get to Isiah and the others and just keep running for the city,” she ordered, ignoring him. “The rest of us will catch up.”

  Without waiting for a response she sprang into action. She felt for the right pouch on her belt before tossing one of the flashbangs she had down. In the same moment, she raced across the icy ground. She heard Isiah shout her name but she did not stop. Using the ice to help her, she slid under the arch of an attacking Echo and popped up directly in front of Jarrett.

  She flashed him a smile and then threw two more bombs down. “Time to run.”

  She grabbed Jarrett’s bicep with one hand and the back of Atherly’s cloak with the other, yanking them along. The moment the two bombs hit the ground a funny thing happened. It was something she had dis
covered by accident one day while fiddling at the Wyverns. Their smoke bombs were flammable. The flashbang ignited the gray smoke that billowed out creating a surging mass of fire that engulfed the area the two men had just stood. The three of them dove behind a chunk of ice just as they were hit with the shock wave.

  “You’re insane!” Atherly exclaimed laughing, grabbing her and planting a kiss on her lips. “I love it!”

  She shoved him off. “Go and help Ioannu and Sam. Magic is the only thing that can hit these creatures.”

  Atherly gave her a two fingered salute and jumped to his feet. “Ssshhiiiittt!” he shouted fumbling with his staff. A shield flickered into life, not even a second before a flame struck the shield. “You lit them on fire! How can you light non-corporeal things on fire?!”

  Payton stared in horror as she saw that, instead of a magical attack, the Echo was flinging itself against the barrier. How could something be a mass of swirling shadows when it was fucking on fire?! Her eyes were wide as it hit against the shield, again and again, the purple-white light growing weaker and weaker.

  “Aw, crap…” Atherly muttered before going limp – his way of dodging apparently because the shield fell and the creature got through.

  It was in mid-lunge at them and Payton was trying to pull Jarrett and Atherly away with her at the same time when suddenly… it vanished. Breathing heavily, her heart hammering in her chest, she looked frantically around, wondering if it had just somehow transported itself elsewhere. She noticed that the others were searching about as well for their enemy.

  But the Echoes were simply… gone.

  “Sam?” Payton called warily when she saw he was doubled over, his hands on his knees.

  He waved at her dismissively. “Fine. Just… fuck.”

  Assured that he was not dying – at the moment – Payton turned back to Jarrett. “Are you out of your Creators damned mind?! Why didn’t you run? We couldn’t hit them! Why didn’t you just…” the anger and frustration in her voice seeped away as she asked each question, fading into concern and then just fading away entirely as she finally got a look at Jarrett.

  His hood had fallen down completely and he was covered in a fine sheen of sweat that was freezing to his face, snow coating his black hair turning it white. His sword and shield were completely coated with that dark crystal and there were several strips of the same stuff across his chest. The fact his breathing was shuddering only made her concern grow.

  “Are you alright?”

  She reached out, her gloved fingers brushing the dark formations on his fur cloak. He flinched, recoiling as if the touch hurt him or… or he was frightened of her touch. She pulled back, trying to ignore the ache that blossomed in her chest at that conclusion. Flexing her own hand which still had not recovered from its contact with the Echoes, she looked to Atherly who had regained consciousness.

  “The touch of the Echoes did something.” She sensed Jarrett stiffening beside her and looking at her in betrayal but she lifted her hand for Atherly to examine.

  The blond immediately took it, feeling her palm and fingers with his before the white glow of healing magic came forth. “Bloody hell. It’s a burn. Like frostbite but… not.”

  “Because that makes sense,” she said snarkily.

  “I’m only telling you what I feel,” he retorted. “It goes deep. Could you move your hand at all before?”

  She thought for a moment and shrugged. “A little. Not much.”

  The tingling probe deeper, hovering for several seconds before retreating. “How’s that?”

  She flexed her fingers and rolled her wrist. “Better. See to Caius and the others. I doubt I’m the only one hit,” she ordered.

  Atherly’s steel gray eyes went to Jarrett but the man was glowering at him, his jaw clenched, his hand still clutching his sword. Payton shook her head subtlety and the blond rolled his eyes before walking off.

  “Jarrett,” she started but that fierce gaze turned to her.

  “No.”

  “You’re hurt.”

  “You cannot ask me to let that Malvathar touch me,” he growled.

  “He’d be healing you.”

  Jarrett didn’t say anything, only looked at her with such intenseness that she felt a shiver run down her spine that was decidedly not from the cold.

  “Will you at least let me see how bad it is?” she asked after a moment.

  His brow furrowed at the question as though it might be just as absurd as asking for Atherly to heal him.

  “You need to be treated,” she insisted.

  “Aloeroot will suit me just fine,” he said stubbornly.

  “I can hear the labor in your breathing. The injury in my hand went deep, how far do you think yours goes? A simple aloeroot potion may not be enough.”

  “And you think you would be able to tell by looking?” His tone was almost derisive, his sharp brown eyes narrowing at her.

  “I’m a jack-of-all-trades,” she replied glibly. He just stared at her. “A jill-of-all-trades? No? Look, you know that I don’t do well confined to one job. In Aodhan I floated around. A lot. I wound up learning some pretty random stuff. I know basic medical treatment and alchemy thanks to a summer when I was sixteen. I also know how to bind books, carve wood, whitesmith, blacksmith, make pots, bake, and embroider. I failed to do well at any of those but I do know how to do them.”

  He blinked and then did it again. “You… embroidered?”

  “Not very well. Most of my thread wound up in knots. I’m better at sewing stitches on battle wounds,” she replied with a smile before it fell and her attention was back on his injury. “Please Jarret, let me help you.”

  He regarded her uncertainly.

  “Trust me?”

  Chapter Fifty

  It took a bit of convincing - or perhaps ignoring – for Payton to set up a sort of medical tent in one of the crumbling buildings that had most of its walls. Atherly and the Captain were the most vocal in the idea of forcing Jarrett into healing to speed their time out of the potential war zone. But despite her own fears of Jarrett’s rapidly deteriorating health – even with the aloeroot potions – she refused to break the trust he had placed in her. So she ignored their irritations and Nyla’s glib comment on how good she is at making friends when Captain Marrett stormed off in a huff.

  When she finally ducked inside the tent she felt her heart clench in her chest at the sight of Jarrett. He was pale-faced and wheezing as he huddled near the fire. His fingers were stilled curled as though he held his sword and shield though they were abandoned beside him. Pain and uncertainty shined in his brown eyes as he looked at her.

  Putting on a brave front, she gave him a tight smile. “I have to see the wounds to treat them.”

  “I… I know. I… I cannot work the straps.” Shame lit his face as he shivered and forced out the words.

  Kneeling in front of him, she reached out only to slow her movement when he flinched. Carefully she undid the buckles. The plate and leather were stiffer than they should have been as she had to force them to move. She inhaled sharply at the sight of his hands: raw red with a purplish hue. Like the skin had been eaten away. There was no blood like the very burn had frozen or cauterized it.

  Shit.

  She had never seen anything like this. No wonder Atherly was confused by it.

  Her hand flew to his chestplate, removing it and working with him to remove his ice caked undershirt. It cracked and splintered, the shards of crystal falling away as she put it aside to examine his chest where a stripe of harsh red cut across his abdomen and up to his shoulder. Straight across his lungs. It continued over the side in another blow and she followed it around only to still, her eyes widening in shock and horror at the sight before her.

  His back was covered in scars.

  Not new wounds made by the Echo attack but old ones. Thick red and white marks cutting down and crisscrossing along the skin in harsh deep lines. And she was ashamed to admit that she stared at them, her hand
trembling as it traced one of the boldest scars.

  “It… is getting… harder… to breathe.”

  His voice snapped her out of shock and made her hand shoot back, her fingers curling into a fist. Swallowing hard she quickly tugged the blanket of furs up and wrapped it around his bare shoulders and circling to face him again, trying to hide how much what she had just seen affected her.

  She pressed another vial of aloeroot potion into his hand as her mind raced. “Jarrett…” she said hesitantly.

  As if he could read her thoughts he stiffened and glowered at her. “I won’t… let him near me.” There was less conviction in Jarrett’s voice now and more fear.

  “I need his help to heal you. This burn… it’s not right. I don’t have the knowledge in alchemy to treat this. I’d be guessing.”

  “You don’t… understand what you’re… asking.”

  “I’m asking you to trust me.”

  “You’re asking me… to trust… him.”

  “You drank the tonic on the ship. We made it together. How would this be different?”

  He stared intently at her, each breath growing more erratic.

  “Please.” There was a heartbeat of nothing. Nothing but him wheezing. “I don’t want to watch you die.”

  He looked away. “I don’t want… him touching… me.”

  “No touch then. Just let him see the wounds.”

  Slowly Jarrett nodded and with that she was off, bursting out into the cold again. Atherly was by the cart securing the supplies that had tipped over. He saw her approach and scowled petulantly.

  “Let me guess, the racist needs help.”

  “Shut up and come examine him.” She quickly explained what she had seen and how she thought they might fix it along with Jarrett’s request only it did not garner movement in the blond.