Chapter Thirty-One

Master Eujin slumped forward and fell to the ground as Sevastian pulled his sword free. Scarlet Whisper clattered to the ground out of his fingers. Ven pushed herself to her feet, tears pouring down her face from pain and anger and fear and a host of other emotions all at once. She could barely stand. He left left throbbed uncontrollably and felt like it would buckle under her at any moment. Her left arm hung limp and broken, rivulets of crimson running from the place near her elbow that a shard of bone had broken through the skin. Every breath she took sent fresh stabs of pain through half a dozen broken ribs.

But none of that mattered to her.

She straightened, willing her sword into her hand, but that Name was gone too. She felt around with her good hand, looking for anything she had left, but every sheath was empty. Then, tucked in her belt near the base of her spine, she found her mother’s hairpin. She pulled it out, letting it rest in her palm, staring at it. Despite her pain and everything else she was feeling, she found herself laughing. What would her mother think, if she could see how things had turned out for her? That her daughter was half-dead, staring down a magic-wielding demon with nothing but her silver rose hairpin left as a weapon? She couldn’t help but think she’d find it funny. She could just imagine the look on her face, the way Mother’s nose scrunched up and her brows furrowed together when she laughed. And that same hairpin would be poking out of the knot of hair on the back of her head, its petals glinting in the light.

Something happened then.

There was a faint flash in her palm. And there, floating above the end of the hairpin in faint golden text was its True Name. Ven smiled, tears falling from her eyes as she closed her hand around it.

Thanks, mom.

She looked over at Sevastian, who had picked up Scarlet Whisper and was currently examining it, and had an idea. A desperate, stupid idea.

“I’m still not dead, you swiving coward!” She called out to him, doing her best to look resolute as she did so.

Sevastian’s head snapped towards her, and his face darkened when he saw her standing. His wings spread wide, and with one great flap he closed the distance between them, Master Eujin’s sword at his side. He landed three strides from her, looming over her imperiously, his face cold and commanding.

“You are beaten.” He said. “Your master has fallen, and all of your little knives are destroyed. You can barely stand. I can see the brands creeping around your neck and ribs. And I know you can’t see the Name of this sword, or else you’d have long ago ripped it from my fingers.”

He took a step forward and snatched her up by the throat, lifting her up so that she was staring directly into his honey-golden eyes. Ven’s eyes bulged as his hand tightened harder and harder, and she was certain he was going to squeeze her head off.

“I was going to let you live, but now I know that if I do, you will continue to make my life difficult. So I am going to ensure that you are dead this time. For good.” He said.

He raised Scarlet Whisper so that its point rested directly on her sternum.

“When you get to the Final Counting, I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me.” He said.

“And when you… get… to the… Final…. Counting…. I hope they… send you… to… hell!”

With a Command, the hairpin flew from her hand and buried itself into Sevastian’s eye. He cursed violently, dropping both her and Master Eujin’s sword as his hands instinctively flew to his face. Ven snatched up Scarlet Whisper, and mustering every bit of power left in her body, buried the blade clean through his chest. It shot out the other side in a spray of jet-black ichor, and Sevastian retched and howled as she pulled it free. The Yyshani collapsed to his knees, swiping at her, his one remaining golden lambent with fury.

“You, you don’t know what you’ve done! You’ve damned us all, you foolish brat!”

Ven limped forward and lifted the sword over her head.

“And I’m fairly certain I don’t swiving care.”

Scarlet Whisper sang through the man’s neck without resistance, and the last look to cross Sevastian’s face before the light faded from his eyes and his head tumbled to the ground was shock. Ven stepped past his corpse, limping step by agonizing step to where Master Eujin lay, begging every deity whose name she knew that he was still alive.

When she got to him, she found him pale, but he was breathing, and his eyes were open. He turned his head to look at her as she knelt down beside him. He laughed softly, before coughing raggedly, sending small flecks of blood dropping onto his face.

“Well this is a unique role reversal.” He said.

“Probably best you don’t talk.” She said, setting about opening the front of his blacks. He grunted as she did so, and when she pulled it open, she found that the wound had passed through one lung, and judging by the wet sucking sound following each breath, his chest cavity was slowly filling with air. She reached into her belt pouch with her good hand and pulled out a small square of leather perhaps two inches to a side, as well as a small ampoule of flesh adhesive. She broke the glass and poured the adhesive all over one side of the leather before pressing it over the wound. It wouldn’t stop the internal bleeding or completely stop the inflow of air, but it would certainly slow the second one down dramatically. That was what mattered most. She looked around for any of the priests or other survivors to help her, but there was no one around. They were either all dead now, or had long since fled. She looked down at Master Eujin again. His lips were starting to turn blue. If he didn’t get treatment soon, he was going to die. And judging by the coldness in her extremities, she might be about to die too.

The only chance they had was to make it to the underbarracks of the temple and hope that someone could help them in time. She looked him in the eyes.

“We have to get below. You’re going to die if we don’t.” She said. “Are you able to stand?”

Master Eujin coughed again and grimaced.

“I can try, kid. But no promises.” He said.

“Just try. I will do the rest, somehow.” Ven said.

Using her good arm and good leg, she maneuvered herself underneath him enough to be able to help him push up. Master Eujin struggled to his feet before his legs immediately buckled underneath him. Ven gritted her teeth and forced more magic into her limbs, fighting him back upright and walking him step by ponderous step towards the sepulchre. She could feel brands starting to burn up the sides of her face, but she didn’t even care anymore. She owed it to this man to save his life, much like he’d saved hers so very long ago.

They made it to the underbarracks entrance, and Ven laid Master Eujin on the ground beside it. She was starting to fade. She couldn’t feel her limbs anymore, and her vision was growing dark. In her last moments before she lost consciousness, she pounded on the entrance hatch, begging for someone to help.

Then finally, with nothing left in her body to give, she slumped to the ground, and knew no more.