Blood Rider [Alonia's Queenslayer #1]

16

Eli could see it.

The rocky coast of the castle of the council was right there. Only a few more minutes, and she could drag herself to safety and pass out.

But her muscles refused to cooperate. She couldn't even feel them – her whole body was numb, and her swimming resembled a fight not to drown rather than actual swimming.

There was someone on the cliff... if Eli could get them to see her, she would be saved. Summoning the last bit of strength she had left, Eli grunted and made her body obey her, forcing her arms to complete a stroke, and another, and another, until she could see that the person was Tanya, and that she was completely oblivious to Eli's trouble. Eli instantly noticed that Tanya looked sad – her gaze was empty, her mouth set in a frown and she was barefoot.

"Tanya!" Eli yelled out, but her voice came out barely audible. She coughed and shut her eyes as a small wave crashed against her face.
"Tanya!" she tried again, and this time, her voice came out with the force of the wind, strong and powerful, unlike her current state.

Tanya's expression changed to shock instantly, and her eyes darted straight to Eli. She screamed.

"Eli!" Tanya kneeled on the rocks as Eli tried remaining afloat, letting the sea keep her on the surface. She couldn't move anymore. She was trying her hardest not to black out. "I'll get Ejder, hang on!"

Eli wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it felt like eternity. She kept going under the surface every once in a while, her whole body seemed to start weighing a million times more, too, and staying alive had never been so difficult. She had been forced to let her sword go halfway to her goal, because swimming had become impossible.

Ejder splashed into the water inaudibly, and within a few seconds, he reached Eli. He didn't say anything; his presence alone was enough to calm her. She could barely feel him pull her arm, and as soon as she felt herself leave the water and land on solid ground, she was out.

When she awoke, she was met by whispering voices. Her eyes peeled open slowly, and all she could feel was pain. Pain in her heart, pain in her rib, pain in her arm and pain in all her muscles.

She was back in her room, and Ejder, Tanya, and Valda were standing around, whispering to each other while Tanya was mixing some herbs, probably to help Eli with the pain.

They took Ril.

"I need to go back," she said, sitting up. Everyone turned to her, but Ejder was the quickest to speak.

"You're not going anywhere. Tell me what happened, Eli. I knew that sending you off was a bad idea..."

Eli looked down at the floor, feeling shame flow through her. She had not only failed everyone else, she had also failed Ril. It was her duty to get him to the island safety, but she got him captured instead.

"Eli, I'm so glad you're okay!" Tanya spoke up before Eli could open her mouth, and she wrapped her arms around Eli lightly, making sure not to hurt her.

"I failed. I got Ril on our side, but we got attacked, and I failed." Eli told the everything, from how she dressed up as a guard to galloping nearly all the way to the boat before getting ambushed.

"And they were all fighting together? Are you sure?" Ejder asked, crouching down beside Eli's bed.

Eli nodded. "I'm not stupid, Ejder. The dwarf was telling the truth. There is someone bringing monsters back from the dead, and they also obviously have an army of humans, elves, and dwarves."

"What are we supposed to do now? We lost our greatest chance of taking care of this," Valda said. Eli snickered, shooting her a death glare.

"Lost? I'm going to get him back."