Shift

Chapter 31

31

The first time, Drake had put someone else before his sister, the one-time his protection failed Valdor took advantage of it. His rage built within him; anger at himself for leaving her defenceless near-consumed him.

“Go, quickly!” Vera urged him, watching Valdor below. Drake took off, shifting mid-air into a magnificent owl. Bane was also rushing for Raven, and Vera finally figured out why they’d been together so much. He was in love with her.

A croak distracted her and she saw Irene standing up, trying to regain her voice.

“We need to help,” Vera said and Irene nodded in agreement. They helped Maya to her feet and together headed into the fray. The battle was fierce, every time one forsaken fell two more rushed at them. Vera drew her dagger and risked close-quarters fighting. She was strong enough to overpower many of them. Memories of attacking Drake flooded her and she took advantage of them, remembering her assessments of weak bones and their small frames. As she fought one a second rushed at her, there was no time to pull her dagger from the first, so she thrust her second dagger into his chest. She turned back to collect the both and came face to face with another, much larger, forsaken. He had a broadsword, and pulled his arm around to swing it at her. But before he got the chance an arrow burst from his chest and he crumpled to the ground. Vera looked up and saw Lana standing on the ledge of the plateau, bow in hand. She raised a hand in thanks and retrieved her daggers, turning back to the fight once more.

***

Valdor no doubt could have appeared wherever he wanted to; leaving Drake far away, but that would defeat the purpose. Instead he waited at the edge of the forest, just beyond the fighting. Drake reached him soon enough and drew his sword.

“Drake, once my trusted,” Valdor smiled.

“You trust none,” Drake spat.

“True, but you and I were close to trust. And you destroyed it. You crossed me and now you will pay.” The dagger pressed closer to Raven’s throat, biting into her skin. A drop of blood formed on the tip and Drake felt a terrible realisation. What if Valdor intended for him to pay not with his life, but with the life of his sister’s? He lunged forward, but Valdor merely stepped back out of range.

“No one has ever crossed me. I confess to being uncertain of what I should do,” Valdor purred in his slow, slimy accent. “Perhaps I should force you to shift and tear your wings from your back.” The words made a memory resurface at the back of his mind. When Vera had been torturing him she’d threatened to force him to shift. At the time he’d still been wriggling under Valdor’s thumb, and hadn’t believed such a thing could be done if Valdor couldn’t do it. But of course it could, Drake realised now, and Valdor most certainly could do it.

“If you could force us to shift, why didn’t you force the others to shift so you would have a more formidable army?” Drake asked, puzzled.

“Don’t you think I tried fool?” Valdor hissed. “They were weak. None of them would shift. And after all this time, you were hiding her from me.” Valdor emphasised his words with a caress of Raven’s cheek. She squirmed under his gnarled fingers.

“You were too stupid to see it yourself!” Drake baited him. Valdor hissed and removed the dagger from Raven’s neck to hurl it at him.

Several things happened at once. Raven freed herself from Valdor’s grip. Drake dodged the flying blade. And Bane appeared behind Valdor, thrusting his sword through Valdor’s heart.

“Fools! Do you think a mere sword will kill me?” Valdor laughed, yanking the blade from his chest. Congealed black blood slid down his chest in slow moving clumps. He was hundreds of years old. He’d used black magic to preserve himself, but it hadn’t preserved him completely. His body was half rotted, and the gaping wound in his chest wouldn’t kill him for his heart was long dead. The blood in his veins was congealed and ancient. Raven looked on in horror.