Rikka felt Justin’s weight shove into her back. Despite the man trying not to harm her in his hold, he was incredibly heavy. She strained to rip a hand free, stilling as he shifted to whisper close to her ear.

  “We’re going to kill him.”

  She numbed out the words, forcing down any hope from rising. If she felt something like that right now, Inprobus would feel it too. And she would be in deep trouble.

  “Stop struggling if you want him dead.” Justin continued, the emotion clawing its way up. “Close your eyes and don’t move. You don’t have to fight.”

  Rikka stilled.

  She could do that.

  She laxed her body, feeling Justin’s weight lift. She watched the fight through her mask, imagining anything but the outcome. Twittering birds, a splashing coast. She could not hope that they would win. Or Inprobus would feel it too. Inprobus felt everything, except an emotionless void.

  She watched Justin charge to strike Inprobus’ left side, his strike barely missing the Archon, who skillfully twisted around to parry the stab. He ducked a head strike from Corian, sticking his leg out to throw his balance. Justin dodged Corian as he stumbled to the ground, trying for another swing at Inprobus’ left side. But the Archon did not close in to block, stepping around Justin’s swinging sword to follow Corian.

  Justin cried out in warning as Inprobus stabbed at his fallen friend, the broadsword spearing through Corian’s thigh. He gauged the time he had, pulling the blade free and stabbing again at some exposed chainmail at the small of Corian’s back.

  He cried out, her brother’s voice more cross than anything in response to Justin’s worry. “I’ll be fine!” He let out another cry as Inprobus ripped the blade out to block Justin, his voice shaking and pinched with some pain, but remaining stubborn. “I’m fine!”

  Justin went for another attack, and Corian twisted around, latching onto his father’s boot to keep him from stepping around the blow. Inprobus threw up a sloppy guard, Justin’s blade pushing closer to the Archon’s neck.

  It was a losing battle.

  Inprobus was locked, and once Corian got up, he would be completely exposed for a strike.

  But the Archon had different plans than submitting defeat to the commander. He clenched his fist, his free arm flying out in a mean left hook.

  ━━━━━━ ? ? ? ━━━━━━

  Corian saw Inprobus swing, his fist colliding with Justin’s jaw and throwing him to the ground. Even with the magic lacing his skin, the impact rattled the commander into a daze as he lay on his back.

  Corian froze.

  The arm he had swung was the one wrapped taut with bandages. The one he hadn’t moved, that Corian and Justin had assumed to be crippled. That needed to be crippled. Inprobus caught the horror on Corian’s face, lifting the same arm to pay him a wave, his father's eyes glimmering with excitement.

  It was a setup.

  Corian strained to reach his sword, trying to force himself to his feet. He could see the deep cut in his leg closing. If he could push through the pain he could make it the few feet to stop Inprobus.

  “Ra’zerun, I stand before corruption.”

  Corian’s blood went cold at his father’s words. Inprobus’ hands were cupped to the sky, his head bowed in prayer.

  He was calling the flame.

  “Blackened souls in need of cleansing."

  Corian reached the hilt of his sword, a weight pressing on the other end as Inprobus stepped on it.

  "Bless me with the Eternal Flame.”

  A light grew in his hands, a golden flame, flickering like a candle. It was always small, the flame itself casting little light upon its surroundings, making it seem even more unnatural than it was. It burned as hot as Inprobus wished it to. And latched onto that which was deemed corrupt before the god of starlight.

  And Ra’zerun was a very strict judge.

  So much as a harmless lie could make one flammable, and the only one who could extinguish the blaze was Inprobus, or Ra’zerun himself.

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  Inprobus grabbed his sword, the flame spreading along the metal to bathe it in golden fire.

  Corian pushed through the pain, ripping his sword free and forcing himself to stand and raise his blade. It had to be now, before everyone was cleansed.

  ━━━━━━ ? ? ? ━━━━━━

  Rikka had seen Corian rip through the wagon that night. He had quite literally torn through the first guard that tried to restrain him, and reached Inprobus within the blink of an eye. Before Inprobus had his head off his shoulders, he had taken at least two deep and bloody bites from his arm.

  She had seen down to the bone when Inprobus ordered her to wrap his bloodied arm. This was the first time she, and his squadron, had ever seen the Archon bleed. It was because of his history of being unscathed that there were no healers.

  The wound was crippling. He should not have been able to move it as he was.

  And so, watching him move it to deck Justin was a shock. The surprise came so quickly. She could not suppress it.

  And it slipped.

  Inprobus looked at her, feeling the emotion leak through.

  She quickly rose to her feet, pretending to have awoken.

  But instead of anger, Inprobus’ face shifted as he eyed her. Smiling.

  His eyes drilled into her, his voice crawling through her mind. Dark and loud. “What are you standing there for?”

  Fear now. One slip had made it even harder to stop the next emotion from reaching him. She saw Inprobus’ hand move to make an incantation, she saw Corian on the ground, pushing past the wound in his leg and spine to stumble to his feet. She saw Justin on his back, still trying to recover from Inprobus’ strike. She saw the eternal flame that flickered over Inprobus' blade.

  She made a choice.

  Roots sprang from the ground, grabbing Inprobus’ feet to ground him, and seizing the flaming sword in his hand to keep him from defending himself as Corian charged.

  But there was something missing from her father’s face. Something she had hoped desperately to see in his eyes. Surprise. He did not show it, his smile did not move.

  Her heart sank.

  She had made the wrong choice.

  ━━━━━━ ? ? ? ━━━━━━

  Corian pointed his blade, throwing his entire body into the strike as Inprobus stood bound by Rikki’s magic. The blade ripped through his armour, goring him through completely as the bloodied point of the sword peeked through the back of his white cloak. The flaming sword slipped from Inprobus’ grasp, flickering on the roots without spreading. Blood immediately pooled at his lips as he felt the hilt of Corian’s sword, letting out choked gargles.

  No one moved in the silence. The Archon’s remaining squadron was shocked into silence at the turn of events. Corian’s aim had perfectly pierced his father’s heart.

  Corian stood, his grip tight on the blade, and any words dead on his lips. Every emption had struck him at once. Fear, adrenaline, relief. Sorrow.

  He felt his father’s hand rise, weakly resting on his shoulder as he leaned closer to his ear. Corian felt a chill seize him as he saw his father's face. His lips were still curved with malice and glee, the hissing words bubbling through the blood in his throat. “I’m disappointed.”

  Corian felt something strike his chest, a pain like no other crushing into his bones. Whatever lingered from the stab Inprobus had given him disintegrated in an ocean of agony as he felt his knees drop. Blood burned its way up his throat, his eyes clouding with tears as he watched his father flick away a coat of blood that had soaked his armour up to his forearm. Corian's blood.

  Inprobus licked the blood off his lips and spat it at Corian, gripping the hilt jutting out of his chest. His father’s eyes glowed a ghoulish red as he slowly removed the bloodied blade, seeming to savour every second of his own pain. “Immortality... It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” He dropped the blade in front of Corian, before grabbing his flaming weapon and turning towards Justin. Corian watched in horror as the deep wound he had built the courage to deliver closed, any words he tried to speak simply coming out as blood while the hole Inprobus had ripped through his chest tried to heal.

  Inprobus grabbed Justin by the collar of his armour, hoisting the commander up with unnatural strength and walking him to the edge of the bridge.

  No. The words Corian wanted to yell came out as blood again.

  Justin came out of his daze, his face twisting with sorrow as he eyed Corian curled in a bloody puddle. He then directed his ire at Inprobus. “You don’t know what you’re trying to start.”

  “I have every idea. A commander going behind an Archon’s back to try and release a powerful undead? I’m not starting anything, just disposing of a commander that has broken his oaths.”

  “Rayao will hear about this.” Justin spat, his body stiffening as Inprobus held him out a little further.

  “Who is going to talk about this?” Inprobus boomed, tossing his gaze along his remaining squadron, and the three of Justin’s. In the terror of what they faced, every last one shook their head. Inprobus smiled, waving his hand to spread a burst of golden flames across the bridge.

  Corian squeezed his eyes shut, barely gargling out his response. "Yes."

  Rikki shook their head.

  It did not catch on the vines, sweeping everyone’s feet. Two of Justin’s soldiers burst into flames, and one of Inprobus’, their screams piercing the night.

  He eyed Justin, raising an eyebrow as he held up a small golden flame in his palm. “Well?”

  “Absolutely,” Justin growled.

  He blew it, the embers bouncing off Justin’s face and withering away.

  Inprobus snorted, “I appreciate the honesty.”

  Justin could do very little as Inprobus shoved him backward, his one hand sliding off the slick blood that coated Inprobus' arm, and the other grabbing for air as Corian's father pulled away.

  Corian watched it all unfold in horror. His one friend falling, with nothing but a gaping ravine to catch him. They locked gazes, Justin’s fear stilling to an apologetic smile as his lips moved with a final command. “Run.”