Chapter Forty Two

Aerilyn

There were too many of them all at once. It was as if the woman had been holding the hounds off and the moment she disappeared they were allowed to go on their rampage. Aerilyn’s body felt weak from the lack of power, but she refused to let herself become completely helpless as she had after healing Azazel. She didn’t want to allow herself to be a liability.

Aerilyn drew the sword that hung at her hip before she began slowly backing up to where she knew the cave entrance was. The others were hopefully already out. Azazel and Everett stood beside her with their swords drawn in a similar fighting stance. Each man guarded a side of her, their eyes scanning over the hounds that were heading right for her. She wanted to get Everett out as soon as possible. He meant too much to the future to be putting himself in harm's way, especially for her.

“Aerilyn, snap out of whatever you’re thinking,” Azazel’s sharp tone pulled her back into reality as the hounds before them prowled closer. They watched the threenof them hungrily, awaiting a moment to pounce and have the meal they so desperately craved.

“Do you trust me?” She whispered, glancing sideways at Azazel. His brows knit together as if he were debating what his answer would be. Her eyes lifted to the rocky ceiling that hung above them. If she did what she was about to do, it would seal off the cave and possibly lead to them never finding the Sword of Aleksi again. But after the woman had seemed to control the movement of the hounds, part of her was having doubts about whether or not the sword truly would protect them. The decision that lay before her was difficult to make. Whatever she decided would change everything. She could either save her companions or risk all of their lives to protect a sword that may not even do what the stories had promised.

“I trust you, doll.”

Those words were all she needed to hear. Azazel’s trust was the one last thing she needed to seal her decision. She glanced to Everett for his confirmation and he gave her a small nod.

“Then I need you both to run for the exit and don’t look back,” she tucked the sword back into its sheath at her hip, leaving herself almost completely unarmed. She knew her power was already lower than its capacity, but she felt like there was enough to do what she planned next.

“Aerilyn…” The warning in Azazel’s tone made her gut slowly begin to sink. His worry was never a good sign, but she couldn’t look back now. She shot him a glare that stopped any other words from leaving his mouth. He looked so conflicted, but she knew he was going to listen to her request. His own solider’s lives depended upon it. His kingdom needed its king. Aerilyn was nobody compared to both Azazel and Everett. The world would move on without her easily, but she also refused to die at that moment.

Aerilyn nodded her head once as Azazel and Everett ran for the exit. It didn’t take long for the hounds to make their move, rushing towards them. She didn’t give them enough time to process what she was doing as she directed all of her power toward the rocky ceiling of the cave. The light hit it with a rumbling force, causing particles of dirt to fall into her hair and coat her skin. She let out a scream as she put all of the force she could behind her power. The entire cave around her continued to rumble, making it harder for her to stay on her feet. The hounds were too close for her comfort and she prayed that her plan would work.

Moments later, the ceiling began to collapse. The moment a chunk of rock fell, impaling the hound before her, she turned and ran after them. Rocks began to fall from the ceiling, falling in her path. Aerilyn carefully dodged each of them, not allowing herself to stop running. The hounds were close behind her, many being taken out by the falling debris. When she finally saw the light of the outside world, her heart began to race even faster. Her companions stood not too far beyond the gapping entryway. Everett was yelling something that she couldn’t quite hear over the chaos erupting around her.

Aerilyn’s legs were completely numb as she continued to beg them to keep moving her forward. She was almost safely out of the cave when a boulder hit the ground just before her feet. The unexpected rock left her stumbling for a moment, becoming slightly disoriented. There was a hound close at her ankles, giving it the time to catch up to her when she tried to regain her steady pace once more.

There was a sharp pain in her shoulder blade that pulled a scream from her throat, the pain almost blinding her entirely. She refused to die. She didn’t want this to be her end. Her legs continued to run as she threw herself beyond the cave and a set of arms grabbed her. The safe shelter of a person pulled her in close just as the cave behind her collapsed entirely. The opening that had been there previously was now gone. The cave was now blocked off by boulders and debris that enclosed every hound within. Their howls rose through the air, some of them coated with pain and others completely silenced from what she assumed had to be death.

“I’ve got you,” Everett held her tight, cradling her against his chest. She was grateful for his grasp, knowing that she’d have collapsed right along with the cave if he wasn’t holding her up. Her legs were completely numb and the world around her was slightly spinning.

She did it.

She’d saved all of them.

Every thought in her mind was screaming as she tried to silence it all. She had to focus on stopping the bleeding that was now wetting her shoulder. “My arm,” she gasped out, her chest rising and falling quickly as she tried to selfishly suck down any air that she could. Everett’s hand clamped down on her shoulder, a hot burning sensation rushing through her from the contact with the pain.

“Is she injured?” Azazel stepped towards the two of them and Everett shot him a glare. “She’s always getting injured because of you. How could you expect anything else?” His reply was quick and there was so much anger behind his tone. Aerilyn shook her head once, trying to find the words to stop the two men from getting into it. She knew Everett hated Azazel with his entire being, but she couldn’t handle them arguing at that moment.

“Help me,” a voice rasped from behind her. The voice was foreign, one that she had never heard before. She turned, assuming it may have been one of Azazel’s guards that was trapped in the debris. It wasn’t. A stranger was laid upon the rocky ground, half of his figure disappearing beneath the boulders. He was being completely crushed. Blood was leaking from the corner of his mouth as he tried to force in breaths. He was dying.

“Who are you?” Azazel questioned, obviously not recognizing the man either. Aerilyn pulled herself away from Everett, slowly approaching the man on shaking legs. She fell to her knees, examining if there was any possibility of getting him out of the pile. It seemed highly unlikely. If she could just find a way, she knew she could save the stranger.

“You saved me,” the man whispered to Aerilyn, his eyes flashing with gratitude. She tilted her head in confusion, her lips parting as she began to question what he meant. “When I bit you, you changed me back,” he nodded his head weakly towards the bite on her shoulder. Her eyes widened as she tried to understand what exactly this man was saying.

“You’re saying you were one of them?” Azazel tried to get the man to continue his statement, moving to kneel beside Aerilyn as he also took in the sight of the man. The top half of his torso was bare, exposing the extent of half his injuries. He didn’t have much time before he would be dead. It was obvious from the way his eyes seemed to begin to gloss over.

“I’ve been one of them since the day that bitch queen stole me from my home. My family had been preparing to head to Orissia to escape the hound attacks that were being reported in nearby villages,” he tried to explain, his words stopping as he let out several deep coughs. His blood splattered the rocks before him with each cough, signaling that he had less time remaining than she had realized.

Between what the queen had said and what this man was now trying to claim… It was all too much. Aerilyn thought that there had to be some sort of mistake. The queen had called her the Chosen One. She had made it sound like Aerilyn was some sort of threat to her. Now this man was claiming that biting her turned him from hound to human. The hounds had been created after the plague, there was no way the creatures could be humans that had been turned.

Her head was pounding as she tried to let the information settle. Azazel looked just as confused as she was. It seemed that this was all news to him as well. It was much worse than discovering the kingdom of Korth. Other people being alive beyond Orissia’s walls was much easier to believe than anything that she was now hearing.

“You are special, you’re going to save us all,” the man’s hoarse voice pulled her back to the reality that she now had to face. His breaths were fading, his groans of pain making her heartache. She glanced at Azazel and he only frowned, his brows pulled together in confusion. She reached out, rubbing the man’s arm soothingly. “You must be mistaken, I’m sorry,” she whispered, not wanting to give him any false hope as he died. Part of her wanted to feed into his delusion so that he could die in peace, but she couldn’t find it in herself to lie to a dying man.

“You’re the mistaken one. The Queen even said as much, you're the Chosen One. You’re the only person who is capable of defeating them. You are the only one, Aerilyn Kiliana,” the stranger spoke her full name. Her eyes widened, knowing that nobody had said her full name in the presence of this man.

“How do you know my name?”

By the time the question left her lips, the man was gone. His chest no longer rose and fell with shallow breaths. He died, leaving her with too many unexplained questions.