Of Whispers and Daggers ✓ [TLRQ #2]

Chapter 61 - Aster

The Kadranians begin to scatter. No one has any orders—they're just trying not to die. As the crowd thins, I wonder how much of that is them fleeing and how much is bodies lying on the ground. Like the kadreaux.

Numb and stumbling away from the fighting, I cast a desperate glance behind me. I still don't see Leavi, Riszev, or Reyan. I can't even find the priestess.

A Kadranian raises his sword at me as he passes, and I duck under the blow, plunging my dagger into his side. Kill or be killed. My vision wobbles. I take a couple steps toward the castle wall, and my foot bumps into something. I look down.

A woman lies at my feet, blood blossoming from her side, turning her blue dress black. I freeze in recognition.

Amarris stretches a weak hand toward me. Under the chaos, her voice barely reaches my ears. "Please."

This woman bears the blood of uncountable soldiers, betrayed my people at every turn, and caged and starved and tortured me. How can she now ask for mercy she has never shown a single soul?

Her glazed eyes focus on my face, and fear bleeds across hers. "Ast—my lord, please." Her trembling, outstretched hand reminds me of D'orien, whose dying request was for a lie. The snow around her glints red in the moonlight, and tears streak her face.

A man charges us, and I cast on my dagger. It hurtles toward him true, and I drop the spell before contact. He stops dead in his steps and falls.

Vision swimming, I crouch beside her. I couldn't save the kadreaux.

"Thank you, thank you..." she blubbers.

I glance over and telekinese the dagger back to my hand. Justice has already claimed her, just like it claimed the kadreaux. And if justice demands her death, who am I to fight it? My red-stained hand rises, and she whimpers. Around me, fires roar and people moan as the harvest is taken, good or bad, right or wrong. They all fall before justice's balanced scythe.

My dagger thuds into its scabbard. I push to my feet, stepping over her dying form. The snow is already too battle-stained to care about her blood. Whether justice will take it anyway is its business.

My steps are slow and stumbling as I walk away. I reach the wall and look around, confused. The entrance is twenty feet to my right. I turn to face the battlefield. Bodies litter the grass, and the snow is trampled and brown. Fire still rages across tents. Shouts and clanging swords foul the air.

My head aches. I slide down the wall and watch the battle. Death has swallowed everything here. If it swallows me too, then justice has done its due.

Reyan stands beside me, yelling as though through water. "Aster!"

I jerk and stare at him. It's eerily silent. I look over the battlefield again and see only fire and Morineause men.

"Aster!"

I look up at him. "Ren."

"Are you injured?" he demands.

Confusion clouds my mind. How would I be injured? I've just been sitting here. Blankly, I shake my head at him.

He grabs my arm and heaves me up. The world blurs, and my traitor stomach clenches. Nothing comes up. My knees are as rigid as cotton, and Ren catches me. He slings my arm over his shoulder and mutters, "Brother, what is wrong with you?"

I try to walk with him. He all but carries me. Away from the destroyed camp, through the wall, up the castle stairs, into the infirmary door. I think I black out during part of it.

The halls are crowded, the infirmary even more so. Soldiers on the beds, the floor, the hastily cleared-off counters. Illesiarr sees us. "Is he injured?"

"I don't think so. I don't know what's wrong with him."

He nods and points up, already moving on to his next patient. Reyan takes me upstairs.

"You coulda," I murmur.

"What?" He opens the door to the extra bedroom. "What in Antium?" His arm rakes over the bed, and things clatter to the floor.

"You coulda taken..."

He lays me down on the bed. "I can't tell what you're saying, Aster."

"Bedroom." My eyes are drifting closed, but I push them open.

"Yeah, you're in a bedroom. You're going to be alright."

"No, the... my..."

"The doctor will see you as soon as he can. You'll be okay."

"I'm, ahm." My eyes close.

"Go to sleep. It's okay."

"Mmm." I'm slipping down a tunnel. The tunnel out of the castle. Do I have to go fight the Kadranians? No, we already did that...

He talks through the tunnel. "I'll make sure you're okay."

The tunnel closes.