Chapter Thirty-Five

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

VENOM SMOKE

I t could have been minutes or fleeting seconds I lay there. But at some point, the torturous demons scurried away—fleeing in all directions. Like it was their turn to be afraid.

I stayed on the ground, not moving. I wasn’t sure I could. Everything burned, stung, hurt—but slowly, I started to breathe. In and out, Terra. In and out. Spiders no longer plugged my nose, and I peeked one eye open to take stock of the scene. The lid puffed so thick from bites I struggled to open it.

Did I win? If so, why isn’t anyone cheering? Why didn’t the Sk?lmaester announce my victory?

Or… am I dead?

Stillness settled all around me. I lifted my hand and sunk it into the ground—sending a jolt of hot pain up my arm. Not dead, then .

I fought to push myself up, every nerve ending roaring against me. My skin burned with the heat of a thousand suns. I could sit up enough to look around the meadow, now shrouded in moonlight—the blue perimeter and illusion of jeering fans had vanished. Where is everyone? The eerie quiet unnerved me. And only Xinlan remained. If she was breathing, I couldn’t tell.

After a moment, my arm buckled, collapsing beneath me. I hit the grass hard. My eyes closed, the exertion overwhelming.

“Terra?” A familiar voice—not from the prone competitor who lay some paces from me, but further away.

I blinked, trying to clear the sting from my eyeballs, but the movement was slow, pained. That voice… bad… or sad? So familiar.

I tried to call out, but my voice died in my throat, a product of the bites I’d received, I guessed. They must have gone pretty far down my esophagus… I almost don’t remem ? —

“Terra!” the voice called again, closer this time. That voice, from dreams, nightmares… but who, who, who…

My mind wandered, muddy and rambling. The only shred of logic left in me ignited the briefest of thoughts. Could the bites have been poisonous?

“TERRA!” Louder, closer. “TERRAAAA!”

I fought to open one of my blistering eyes. Someone rushed towards me, then right in front of me…

Him. Murderer. Cas’s Lover. Rexi’s lapdog.

“Fayzien,” I croaked. The word came out so strangled that my ears did not recognize it.

He labored to breathe as he hunched over, placing his hands on his thighs and cursing, regaining his breath. I fought to keep my eye open, attempting to scan the thicket for other disturbances. I saw one cropped red hair contrasting against pale skin. In a moment, Leiya stood next to him, equally winded, but somehow still composed.

I beheld Leiya in disbelief, confusion, and uncertainty. She had just been portaled away—minutes or hours ago. And why was she here, with him ?

“Lassie, tell us yer injuries,” she commanded.

The world swirled in my mind. Think, think, think— but nothing came. My head pounded, a steady drumbeat, the thrumming of blood rushing upwards through my temples.

Cool, soft hands cupped my neck. A jolt went through me—they had no hard callouses of a warrior’s palms. Fayzien. Get away , I hissed in my mind. I could not move. I tried to lift my arm again, but my limb didn’t respond.

“Terra, ye must try, try te tell us, what happened?”

I screamed again in my mind, but not at Leiya’s question or Fayzien’s touch. I screamed because I couldn’t move. A word started repeating in my head to the rhythm of the pounding blood that rushed through my veins—my body trying to fight whatever venom the spiders had gifted me.

Paralysis, paralysis, paralysis.

“ Terra,” Fayzien urged. He almost sounded concerned for me. “You have to try and tell us. Were you burned, with fire? Was it blue or orange?”

I did not move. He waited.

“She’s breathen,” Leiya said clinically. “An not bleedin’. Her skin looks like et was devoured by somethen’ rotten, poor lass, but not flame. What could cause thes?”

“She could have been knocked in the spine, rendering her paralyzed,” Fayzien said, his voice distant. “But her Fae blood would have healed an injury like that by now, and it doesn’t explain the blisters.”

I grew more desperate as they debated, pounding my inner walls, searching frantically for some movement. Nothing budged. Not a finger, nor a twitch of an eyelid. It had to be venom.

Would the poison eventually stop my lungs from inhaling air? Could it do that?

Breathe, think, breathe, think, I repeated, trying to slow my heartbeat. Panicking would do nothing to help.

A strangled groan floated from across the meadow. Footsteps sounded in the opposite direction from me. Someone running. More running. And then a thud.

“Xinlan, can ye say that again?” Leiya commanded.

“Deeghsie,” her voice rasped. I knew it would dry up in a matter of moments, like mine had.

“Deeghsie? I dinna understand!” Leiya yelled in frustration.

Fayzien swore under his bread. “Dinghisenie beetles,” he said. “They look like spiders. Deadly if not followed by the antidote within a matter of minutes.”

“What’s en the antidote?” Leiya asked.

“A whole combination of things… spindle flower, up-root, ground truffle bone… and Faerie blood. Either Golbin or some close relation. It would take hours to make.”

My heart sank. So this is how I would die. Where did Ezren lie, unmoving?

The venom seemed to seep into my heart—slowing everything. No need for panic now. Everything felt slow, slow, slow.

“Move over, you fools!” A third voice rang out of nowhere.

In an instant, my mouth was opened, my chin tilted up, and cool liquid trickled in. I could feel it dribble down the sides of my face, but I could not swallow.

“Plug her nose, warrior,” the voice commanded.

“I dinna take orders from a Faerie,” Leiya growled. “What are ye given’ her?”

“It’s an up-root elixir, you imbecile. All that is required to treat Dinghisenie bites,” the voice grumbled . “No Faerie blood needed.”

If they argued more, I did not hear, because my nose was plugged and I began choking and gurgling, a bodily reaction finally ignited.

“There, there, Daughter,” the voice I now recognized as Cobal whispered. “Drink.”

The liquid slid down my throat, cold and soothing my burning insides. He held my head, rocking it side to side, swirling his concoction inside my body.

My mind cleared. The panic returned with a vengeance, and my eyes flew open. I kicked immediately, sitting up with a force that made my burns scream . But I moved. I could move.

Fayzien used the rest of the antidote on Xinlan next to me, and Cobal beamed. “Debt paid,” the creature winked. “Though it was not difficult. If these so-called protectors of yours knew anything of the forest, they might actually be useful.”

I made to give Cobal a rueful smile, but its words triggered questions that the poison had suppressed.

“Leiya, what are you doing here with Fayzien ?” I rasped. “Where are Leuffen and Sanah?”

She stood up, extending her hand towards me. As she lifted me to stand, my eyes caught on my forearm, which now lacked the faint shimmering line that had signaled my first victory. “Terra, we need te go, now.”

I glanced at Xinlan, still in a heap on the ground, but finally stirring. Her golden tattoo was also gone, and my brows furrowed. Something wasn’t adding up—had the Sk?l ended? I could have sobbed at the sight of Leiya alive and well, but why come back, and why with him ? I jabbed my hand through the air in Fayzien’s direction, as if to re-ask my question.

Fayzien stood, moving next to Leiya. He only gave me a smirk and said, “We are here to take you to the king, dear Terra.”

My heart constricted at the thought, however unlikely, that Leiya would betray me to the king. But before I could say a word, Leiya whipped around and landed her fist square on Fayzien’s face, his nose crumpling under a satisfying crack. He bent over and started heaving, blood spurting all around him.

“To the gods, that was an overreaction to a joke,” he wheezed.

“’At was fer the North Sea, ye worthless bastard,” she replied, venom dripping from her words.

She turned and faced us, sighing. “I dinna come here weth Fayzien. I found Fayzien, who was also looken’ fer ye. Though I’d rather eat knives than work wi’ such felth, I needed hes help.”

“Is Leuffen alright? Sanah?” I whispered.

“Aye, both are. They’re awaiten’ us en Viribrum a’ the docks. Though the others… I dinna know how they fared. We lost the shep, ye see.”

I stepped back from Leiya and moved towards Fayzien, no plan in my mind, only rage. But Leiya rested her hand on my shoulder, making me pause. Her look said he’s not worth it.

“We dinna have time fer the whole story,” she cut in. “Fayzien’s storm was sweft, but she was naye small. I knew we’d be shet out a’ luck, so I shefted and flew out en search a’ land. When I made et back te the shep, She was gone. I only saw Leuffen and Sanah, clingen’ te a piece a’ what was left a’ the Casmerre.

“An on our way here, we saw Drakkarians. A great many—maken’ their way te Valfalla. I tried, tried te find Cas, te tell hem or the keng. But when I arrived, some dickhead Sk?l maker found me and bound me throat wi’ a spell, so I couldna speak. I was portaled ento thes circus, naye able te say a word about the attack. But I’m tellin ye now, we have te leave, immediately .”

So that’s why the crowd disappeared, and the rings were gone. What happened to the spectators? Another wave of haziness swirled through my mind, my legs trembling. Damn, that venom is strong.

“Terra, snap outa’ et!” Leiya shook me. “I saw a’ least ten thousand Drakkarian Wetch warriors, comen’ here. Te Viribrum. They’ll have made et te the palace already. We canna stay.”

At this, Fayzien inhaled sharply, his normally cavalier, debauching attitude replaced with an intense focus. “Ten thousand? Leiya, could you be mistaken? The only way that many warriors would have gotten here is through the Dusked Sea, or through the southern Viribrum border, which we would have known about weeks ago. And the queendom monitors the Dusked Sea diligently, as you know, for Drakkarian ships.”

Leiya turned to face him. “Well, I was wonderin’ jest that, Nebbiolon lap dog. The why es clear enough—the idiot Darlan has been threatenin’ a Drakkarian invasion fer months. Even a novice warrior shoulda expected counteraction. An’ even a novice warrior knows te use distraction te their advantage. What better distraction than a competition that occurs every fefty te a hundred years and leaves the palace unguarded! Idiots—the lot of ‘em. The how es more interestin’. Perhaps Nebbiolo wants te return te ets Wetch roots, eh, an has allied weth Drakkar once more?”

“Never in our history have we been ‘allied with Drakkar.’ As you know, Nebbiolo was founded as a refugee state for persecuted Drakkarians,” Fayzien ground out.

“Why,” I rasped, interrupting the two of them before they ripped each other to shreds, “would all of Valfalla have abandoned the Sk?l? Cas wouldn’t have left me… or…” My eyes shifted to Xinlan. “Us.”

“As soon as I heard of the impending invasion from Leiya, I portaled to Cas and told him. He asked if I’d personally evacuate you two.” Fayzien’s upper lip curled in disgust. “Just as well; I’m sure the Rexi would have ordered the same. Cas left to defend the city honorably, alongside the king and any able fighters, while I came to play rescu—” a screech pierced the air.

Cobal hunched over, dry heaving post outburst. I hobbled over and laid my hand atop its leathered back.

“Terra,” the Talpa struggled to breathe. “I smell.”

“Smell what, friend?” I croaked, protecting the creature’s given name.

“I… can’t… breathe,” Cobal gasped and choked. “It… it is ash. ”

We looked at each other. A single flake of ash drifted in front of my face, illuminated by moonlight.

The smell of smoke filled my nostrils.