BLOODMOON PACT

ASH AND IRON

Chapter 8:

The wind on the ridge had teeth.

It cut through Raina’s coat like the valley wind never could. Below, the Iron Fang surged forward the moment Varek raised his sword. No war cry. Just the sound of iron scraping iron and boots hitting stone.

Raina felt the poison pulse once, then settle. Cold, steady, matching her heartbeat. The world sharpened. She saw Kael shift his weight before he moved. She saw Eli’s hands tremble around the loose stone. She saw the broken merlon and knew it wouldn’t hold if they hit it wrong.

“Hold,” Kael said.

His voice was low. Careful. Like he was talking to something that could kill you if you breathed wrong. Raina held. She didn’t have the draught anymore. Holding was all she had.

The first Fang came fast. Too fast for the armor he wore. His axe came down in a clean arc. Kael met it. Steel rang. Sparks fell. For one second they were locked, face to face, two men who knew what it meant to miss.

Raina didn’t wait. She dropped low under the merlon and came up on the Fang’s left. The plate didn’t meet right there. Her dagger slid in. The man dropped with a wet exhale, surprised he was done.

“Left!” Kael barked.

She was already moving. The ridge was narrow. Narrow meant no second chances.

Eli was breathing hard behind her. His hands shook. He looked like he wanted to vanish into the stone. Raina wanted to tell him to throw it, to fight, to do anything. There wasn’t time. Teaching kept people alive. They didn’t have time for that now.

Varek didn’t give orders. He didn’t need to. The Iron Fang moved like they’d done this before. Like they hunted in the dark and left nothing breathing behind them.

Raina twisted to avoid a spear. Her shoulder tore. Pain cut clean and sharp. It woke her up. She drove her dagger up under a jawline. The Fang went slack against her. She used him for cover, then shoved him off the edge.

“Kael!”

He was already there. His sword came down in two hands. Helmet caved. Skull caved. The man dropped and didn’t move again.

“East wall’s weak,” Kael said between breaths. His eyes flicked once. Raina saw it too. The stones were loose. One hard push and the whole thing would come down.

“Then we don’t let them push,” she said.

Her voice sounded wrong. Hollow. Like it belonged to someone who hadn’t slept in days.

Eli made a sound that wasn’t a word. He stepped forward and threw the stone. It hit a Fang in the knee. The man stumbled. Eli followed with his shoulder. They went down together in a mess of limbs and curses.

Raina didn’t stop to watch. The ridge was getting crowded. Crowded meant mistakes. Mistakes meant blood. She was tired of blood that wasn’t hers.

A blade came for her side. She caught it on her dagger and pivoted. Her elbow hit a throat. The man choked and dropped. She didn’t look back. Looking back got you killed.

Kael was a wall beside her. Sword never stopped. Feet never stilled. The Iron Fang learned fast. One on one with him was death. So they tried to flank. That was when Raina knew they were losing ground.

“Back to the center!” she shouted.

Eli heard her. He scrambled back, blood in his eye, hands shaking. They fell back to the heart of the tower where the stones were piled high. The wind couldn’t get under their feet there.

Varek hadn’t moved. He stood at the edge of the slope and watched. That was worse than if he’d charged. It meant he was counting. When he finished, something bad would happen.

“Why isn’t he coming?” Eli panted. His voice cracked.

“Because he doesn’t have to,” Kael said.

His sword dripped. His breathing was steady. Like he could do this all night. Maybe he could. Maybe that was the problem.

Raina wiped her blade on a dead man’s cloak. The poison whispered at the edge of her vision. She blinked it away. Seeing double when Varek moved wasn’t an option.

“Signal,” she said.

Kael understood immediately. He always did. That was why leaving him hurt.

“The fire,” he said.

Eli looked between them. His face went pale. He knew.

“I’m sorry,” Eli whispered.

It was the first time he’d said it without an excuse. Raina didn’t answer. Sorry didn’t stop blades. It didn’t close gaps. It didn’t bring back the dead.

“Later,” she said.

Later was all they had.

The Iron Fang shifted. Varek lifted his sword. The torches dipped low. For a second the ridge went dark. Only the stars, the cold, and the sound of their breathing remained. It felt like the world was holding its breath.

“Now,” Varek said.

The Fang came as a wall. Iron and hate. Raina felt the cold settle in her chest. Walls didn’t break unless you hit them harder.

Kael stepped forward. His sword rose. Raina stepped beside him. Eli stood behind them with a loose stone and a face pale with fear and determination. It wasn’t enough. It was all they had.

The first Fang hit the line. Kael took him high. Raina took him low. They fell together. The ones behind stepped on their bodies without slowing. That was the Iron Fang way. No pauses. No mercy.

Raina’s shoulder screamed. Her vision blurred. The poison took another step forward. She let it. Clear thinking wasn’t helping anymore. Maybe blood thinking would.

She moved on instinct. Low. Fast. Under a swing, inside a guard. Her dagger found a throat. The man dropped. She used his weight to throw off the next one.

Kael was steel and motion. The tower shook under the weight of bodies hitting stone. The air smelled like iron and sweat and something metallic that wasn’t just blood.

Eli was screaming now. Not words. Just sound. He fought with the stone and his hands and his teeth. It was messy. Desperate. It worked. Desperate was unpredictable. Unpredictable was all they had.

Varek moved.

The ridge went quiet. He stepped over his own men like they were nothing. Maybe they were. His sword was black. It didn’t reflect the torchlight. It looked like it ate light.

“Raina,” Kael said.

She saw it too. Varek was coming for her. Not for him. He knew her name. Knowing a name meant he’d been watching. Watching meant this wasn’t random.

She stepped forward to meet him. Running had gotten them this far. It wouldn’t get them further. She let the poison take the edge off the pain. Let it sharpen the world.

Varek’s sword came down. Fast. Heavy. It would have taken her head if she hadn’t moved. She moved anyway. The blade missed by a finger’s width. The wind of it stung her cheek.

She answered with her dagger. He caught it on his forearm. The sound was wrong. Like metal on bone that wasn’t bone. His armor was layered with something else. Something that didn’t bend.

“Good,” Varek said. His voice was rough, like stone on stone. He sounded pleased. That made her angry. Anger was better than fear.

“Don’t flatter me,” she said.

She came in low and fast again. He caught her wrist and squeezed. Bone ground. She didn’t make a sound. Sound was giving him something.

Kael was there. His sword came down between them. Varek let go and stepped back. The moment broke. The ridge was chaos again. But now it had a center. Varek. Raina. Kael.

“Go,” Kael said to Eli.

Eli didn’t argue this time. He moved to the east wall. His hands found the gaps. He started pulling at the loose stones.

Raina and Kael moved as one against Varek. It wasn’t enough. He was too good. Too fast. Too used to fear making people slow. Raina wasn’t afraid. She was angry. Anger was faster.

Her dagger slipped past his guard once. Drew blood from his side. He didn’t flinch. He adjusted and came back harder. The poison took another step. The world narrowed to the point of his blade and the space over her heart.

“East wall’s going!” Eli shouted.

Stones fell. The tower shook. Dust filled the air. For a second no one could see.

Varek charged through the dust. Kael moved to intercept. Raina moved with him. They met him in the cloud. Steel rang. Stone fell. The ridge groaned.

A blow hit Raina’s side. The air left her lungs. She hit the ground hard. The poison roared in her ears. She couldn’t see. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Then she could.

Kael was over her. Sword locked with Varek’s. His face was set in a way she’d never seen before.

“Run,” he said.

Not to Eli. To her.

She understood. He was staying. Staying meant dying. Dying meant he was choosing. Choosing meant she had to move.

She rolled to her feet and grabbed Eli’s arm. They moved for the gap in the east wall. The wind screamed through it. Below was a drop. Beyond the drop was dark and unknown. Better than staying.

“Kael!” she shouted.

He didn’t answer. He couldn’t. Varek’s blade was too close. Too fast. Too certain.

She jumped and pulled Eli with her. The world fell away. The wind took them. The last thing she saw was Kael’s face and Varek’s sword and the fire catching as the stones gave way.

The fall was short. Hard. The riverbed below was unforgiving. Raina hit and rolled and came up coughing. Eli landed beside her and didn’t move. She checked his pulse. It was there. Fast. Alive. Enough.

Above, the tower collapsed in a roar of stone and fire. The Iron Fang shouted. Varek said nothing. The ridge went quiet again except for the burning, her breathing, and Eli’s heartbeat.

She pulled him up. They moved north toward the ridge. Stopping was dying. Dying wasn’t an option. Kael had made his choice. Now she had to make hers. Hers was to keep moving.

The wind took the sound of the tower falling and carried it away. The stars didn’t care. The poison in her veins settled into a rhythm. Live now. Argue later. Raina followed it. It was the only thing left that made sense.

Behind them the fire lit the sky. Ahead of them the dark waited. Between them was nothing but running.

Raina ran.

Running was all she had left.