Page 62 of Of Blood and Banes (The Arterian #2)

BLOOD MAGIC

T he horses whinny, throwing their heads back and scraping at the ground with their hooves, refusing to move further than the entrance of the bridge. Sethan scans the skies, the water, and the mountains around us.

“What is it?” I ask. “Why won’t they move?”

He shakes his head. “I’m not sure.”

The handlers attempt to get them to move, kicking into their sides, bribing them with apples, and hopping off to tug their reins forward. But nothing works.

“Commander?” one rider asks Sethan.

“They must sense something…” Sethan glances up to A’nala.

A’nala speaks, her voice echoing inside of my mind like a slippery snake. “ A great tragedy has happened here. The horses can sense it, and they will not move forward. If you force them, you’ll spook them.”

Sethan directs two finger points at all of those aside from the dragon riders. “You all stay here with the horses and wagons. The rest of us will continue. If we aren’t back by tomorrow evening…”

All of them dip their heads, while our Arterian squad’s faces twist in disagreement. I turn to Sethan, tossing him a look until he rolls his eyes.

He groans. “Fine. Arterians may come with us, but we only have enough provisions to take ten into Vitalis.”

Easy enough for me to weigh in. “Marge, Cole, Archie, Melaina, Gavin, Nolan, and Darian.”

It’s Sethan’s turn to whip a pointed look at me. “That gives me only one other person to take with us.”

I shrug. “That’s who I choose.”

With a grumble, he motions to one of the dragon riders and we all gather at the edge of the bridge. Nolan seizes Darian’s shackles, and I help Marge to Daeja.

“I am perfectly capable of walking on my own,” Marge sneers.

“Yeah, but we won’t get there for another three days at your pace, Margie,” Darian taunts as Nolan tugs him by the chains past us.

I have to hide a laugh, because he’s right. Marge is the slowest one in the group, and at her pace we won’t have enough provisions to last us that long.

Marge swings out her staff, smacking Darian in the calf with mild effort. “Wretched boy.”

I pull her away from Darian before he decides to retaliate, and Daeja’s slight annoyance ticks in my side as if it were my own.

Cole joins in to help Marge up into the saddle.

After Marge is settled, he lifts me next, and I slide in behind Marge and clip her into the belt.

Her narrowed side eye peers over her shoulder at me.

But before she can try and decline the extra support from the belt, she faces forward, her old, withered hands gripping the saddle horns.

“If she falls off…I’m not stopping,” Daeja quips and begins to walk forward.

I snort, smacking Daeja’s shoulder playfully. “Stop it. Why do you hate her so much?”

“It’s not that I hate her. I just don’t necessarily…enjoy her company.”

“It’s because she’s a Spoiled. You’re not supposed to like her because of it, but it’s nothing she can change now. It was forced upon her. Just as you don’t like Darian ? —”

She snorts. “ No, I don’t like him because he’s threatened you so many times that if you asked me to put him on my back, I’d roll over and crush him.”

“Well, I suppose it’s a good thing I’m not asking you to.” I glance over to Darian and Nolan who leads him by the nine-foot-long chain.

Something about riding a dragon and not flying has an awkwardness to it.

We sway and slide in the saddle with each step Daeja takes, and I hook my fingers into the back of the waist belt on Marge to steady myself.

We cross over the bridge, my eyes glued to the lake below with every step and holding my breath in the event the water dragons, or any other dragons lingering about, decide to attack us.

And as Daeja accidentally bumps her tail into the bridge wall, crumbling some stones off the top ledge, my stomach twists at how long it takes for them to crash into the lake below.

Luckily for us, we make it across to the other side. Though, we get about twenty feet across the northern side of the bridge and into the main street surrounding Vitalis before Sethan, Melaina, and Archie all abruptly stop ahead of us.

Sethan calls back to me, “This is where you come in. Only those with a direct bloodline can enter.”

I unhook Marge and dismount Daeja as Cole comes up to my side to help me get Marge down.

Archie presses a hand to the invisible wall, then a second one, and scales it like he might find a secret gap. “How are all of us supposed to go in with her?”

I flex my hand with the Blood Ring, ready to siphon magic to pull the wall down if I need to. Though, I haven’t quite yet mastered pulling.

I glance over at Marge who brushes away Cole as she steadies herself on her feet. “What do I need to do?”

Marge glances up to the castle spires stretching into the sky. “I don’t think you’ll be able to pull enough to take down the barrier without severe consequences. They likely have it warded from top to bottom.”

“But only those with a direct bloodline can enter…” As I sweep my attention back to Sethan, my gaze gets caught on Cole.

Who is already staring at me with that stern tension to his jaw.

That shake of his auburn hair already warning me not to propose the idea of using my own blood. He knows me too well.

“We can try to hold hands?” Archie pitches. “If we’re touching Kat, maybe we can breach the wall?”

Darian tosses him a glare like he’d rather jump off the bridge and call it a life.

“While that seems like a warm proposition…” Sethan grumbles, “I don’t think it’ll work.”

“We should try it nonetheless.” I pull my attention off Cole and don’t miss the slight sag to his shoulders at a tamer solution than what I was originally considering. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

Marge’s gray-blue eyes are still on the distant angled rooftops of Vitalis. “Depending on how strong the magic is—who set the barrier and how long ago—it could rip you apart from the inside out if we try to force it…”

Archie gulps and turns his attention back to prodding the invisible wall with less enthusiasm. “Think I’d like to keep my insides just the way they are…”

Daeja joins in, nudging the barrier alongside him.

If Daeja can’t get in either…

“I have a better idea.” I remove my glove and unsheathe one of my daggers. I slice a three-inch cut along my palm. “You said only those with the direct bloodline can pass the barrier, right? What if I cut through the wall with my blood so we can pass through?”

“You won’t have enough blood to cut a big enough entrance to let the dragons through,” Sethan responds.

But leaving Daeja isn’t an option. I fold my fingers over my palm to keep the blood welling in my hand contained as I take a few steps toward where Daeja and Archie are. “I have to at least try.”

Melaina slaps an arm out across my chest to stop me. “Wait. Do you understand how much of your blood it would take?”

Daeja is the smallest out of the three dragons, and I’d need a solid fifteen feet wide gap to get her through. Maybe ten feet high if she ducks her head and crawls in. And the other two fire dragons? They’ll need close to double.

“Melaina’s right. By the time you cut through half of what you would need for the dragons, you’ll pass out,” Cole warns like he’s been fighting himself from chiming in. He withdraws his sword and slices open his palm. “Here. Let me mix my blood with yours?—”

“Wouldn’t that null her blood’s effect on the magic, though?” Melaina interjects before we can decide.

“No,” Marge says.

“Yes,” Sethan responds at the same time.

We all bounce our attention back and forth between the two of them, but my gaze settles on Marge at last. “How sure are you?”

She hobbles over to Daeja and prods her side with her staff. Daeja growls at Marge over her shoulder before lowering her side to her. Marge retrieves a flask from one of the bags attached to the rear of Daeja’s saddle.

Flicking the lid off, Marge tips the flask over and looks up at me as the water gushes out of the container onto the gray stone street. “There’s only one way to find out. And we don’t have the luxury of time.”

When I glance over at Cole, he nods, then the two of us walk to Marge.

I go first, squeezing the blood from my hand into the flask.

As soon as the flow slows, I step back and allow Cole to also drain his blood.

A hiss catches my attention, and I find Archie wiping his bloody dagger off on his thigh before sheathing it.

Once Cole steps back, Archie joins in, followed by Melaina.

As Sethan drips his blood into the flask, he glances over at the other dragon rider. “Bristol? Care to contribute?”

Bristol joins in. Then Gavin. Marge hands me the morbidly full canister of mixed blood, and I cork it before swirling it to mix the contents.

“So, what? You’re going to just pour it over a wall that nobody can see?” Nolan calls from behind me.

I stop a foot away from the invisible wall and everyone takes a step back to give me space. I fixate on the crimson liquid after I pop off the cork. It has to work. Otherwise, we’ve come all this way for nothing.

“No…” I murmur. Slowly, I pour a small strip of blood along the length of the dagger, before tipping my blade down so it’ll coat the tip.

A drop slides off the front of the dagger and drips on the floor.

Before more can slip off, I press the blade forward and sink it into the air in front of me with slow caution.

The invisible barrier in front of us wavers. The castle on the other side of the wall ripples like a reflection in a pond being disturbed. A buzzing energy bolts up the dagger and rings in my arm like struck metal, but I grit my teeth and push harder into it.

The barrier fights against me but relents inch by inch until I’ve sunk my dagger hilt-deep through it.

With a quick inhale, I slide the dagger down until the red streak runs out.

Pulling the blade out, I pour more blood on it and cut until I’ve hit the ground.

More blood, then back up until I can’t reach any higher.

“Allow me,” Daeja purrs.

She edges her nose into my heels and when she pushes too hard, it knocks my feet out from under me.

I catch myself back on her snout as she lifts me up higher into the air.

Straightening myself, I’m perched on the tip of her snout and continue cutting through the barrier.

Pour, slice. Pour, slice. Once we finish the top part of the frame, I hop off Daeja’s muzzle and cut down the right side until the blade hits the last half inch.

The pressure between the dagger and magical barrier vanishes.

Like slicing through a curtain, the glimmering space in between the frame I created falls to the ground.

Panting, I rise and take a step back. The air surrounding the rectangle I sliced still moves with a liquid-like sheen. The shapes and colors behind it swirl like oil in water.

I reach out, stretching my fingertips through the sliced frame, and find…nothing.

Smiling, I take one step. And then another. Until I’m well past the barrier and turn to face everyone else. Daeja bumps Archie’s back with her nose, and he fumbles forward, catching himself on his hands. Half of his body is past the barrier.

Cole steps forward and helps Archie off the ground, prompting more to come through.

Then, our entire group steps inside. Daeja is at A’nala’s side like a shadow, slightly leaning into her shoulder as they breach the barrier to this side.

A’nala’s lips twitch up in a silent growl as she glances down at Daeja, and Daeja snorts playfully at her before she breaks off and walks toward me.

“What’s that dragon’s name?” I ask Daeja as Bristol’s fire dragon is the last to enter.

“Nadja. She’s quite…ornery. Apparently, it’s rude to ask how old she is.”

I chuckle, and before I can even respond, she continues, “And before you ask—no. I didn’t ask the other dragons the same question. Though I’m starting to think the attitude may be hereditary with fire dragons.”

“Just fire dragons, huh?”

Daeja narrows her eyes at me, and as she passes me, she swipes her tail into the side of my thigh, and I take a few steps just to keep myself upright.

Sethan stares up at the castle towering above us with a parted mouth. Overgrown ivy and ferns drape over the elegant stonework in green curtains. Yet, golden accents still glimmer in the sunlight like it’s never been abandoned.

“It worked…” he murmurs, as if he hadn’t quite believed it would.

The rest of the group mirror his wonder, eyes wide and mouths open.

Marge hobbles over to one of the massive stone arches leading into the inner courtyard of the castle.

When no one follows, she turns, looking over her shoulder.

“Well? What are we waiting for? As Sethan mentioned, we only have enough provisions for ten of us. I imagine those won’t last us too long if we dally. ”

For being the slowest walking one here, she sure is fast.