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That wasn’t the only change he’d undergone. A silver arm with a long dagger clenched in the fist replaced his missing right arm, while he held a saber in his left hand. It might not be his dominant hand, but Rei knew better than to underestimate his father. The man could wield a sword with either hand with the same lethal skill.
Tightening his hands on the hilts of his swords, Rei launched his attack. If he could kill Ash now, so many of their problems would be fixed. It would buy them more time. The fae army would have no choice but to retreat. They’d have one less threat, and his Yiyi would be free.
Metal clanged and scraped with every blow. There was no exchange of words to match. What was the point? Ash hated him. He hated Ash. Rei would be too happy to break this particular blood bond at long last.
But no matter what he did, he couldn’t gain ground on his father. Despite his withered appearance, the man was still strong and fast. He had far too many years of experience on Rei. For every attempt Rei made to attack Ash’s weaker right side, his father returned, forcing Rei to put more weight on his weakened left knee.
The injury throbbed and ached with every movement. The walk to the meeting spot hadn’t been bad, but the longer the fight stretched, the more trouble he was in. And the bastard was counting on it.
After too many blocked strikes, Rei took a step back with his left foot, and his knee gave out. Only for a second. But that was all Ash needed. Rei’s attention wavered from him as he caught himself with his right. Ash’s blade sneaked through Rei’s guard and slashed across his throat.
For a heartbeat, there wasn’t even any pain. Just a wash of wet warmth rushing to soak into his shirt. It was Yichen’s panicked scream that made him realize the cut was deeper than he’d thought.
“And that’s our cue to exit,” a strange voice whispered behind him.
Before Rei could react, a hand clamped down on his neck from behind as if the person was trying to stanch the bleeding. At the same time, he was pulled into a thick blackness broken by thin, white ghosts.
Where was he? What was this?
Was…was he dead?
“No!” he shrieked, fighting against the hands holding him, drawing him into the darkness even as the cut in the world closed in front of him. “No! I’m not dead! I’m not leaving him! Yiyi! Yichen!”
Chapter 21
Wu Yichen
“Rei!”
He disappeared!
Blood had been pouring from his throat from a strike delivered by King Ash, and then a stranger came up behind him and dragged him into a hole in the air.
“Rei!” he screamed again, unwilling to believe that a member of the fae had kidnapped his lover. No! He was not losing him.
He slashed through the elves in front of him, lopping off heads and limbs with bloodthirsty ruthlessness. He needed to get to where he’d last spotted Rei. The king was also shouting about Rei’s disappearance, bellowing out frantic orders to his men, but Yichen couldn’t pay any attention to him right now. The only thing that mattered was getting to Rei.
“Watch out for the skeletons!”
That was something he’d never expected to hear while in the middle of a battle. As he lifted his blade to take down another elf, a bleached white skeleton with bits of dirt still clinging to the bones rushed past him and tackled the screaming elf. His brain was still processing that when several more skeletons and corpses in various degrees of decay ran and stumbled into the field, attacking the elves.
What the fuck was happening?
With every passing second, more and more shambling corpses entered the clearing, heading straight for the elves. Some were nothing more than bones with bits of hair and dirt on them. Others were fleshy, decomposing bodies that filled the air with a putrid scent that turned his stomach. The soft clack of bone and the sickening squish of rotted flesh now accompanied the clang of swords. They weren’t zombies, right? They weren’t trying to eat any of the elves. Just attacking with their bare hands or holding on as if intending to bind the fae up for all eternity with their bodies.
At the very least, they didn’t seem to have any interest in him. How were the dead on his side?
Yichen twisted around to find a somewhat short, blond man with round red cheeks, wearing a shiny gold vest. With a bright smile, he waved at Yichen. “We should get going while the getting is good. The dead will keep them busy for only so long.”
He hesitated and glanced at the fight. Junjie had hopped from his spot in the tree and was leaving with Rafe Varik. But where was Rei?
“I can’t! I’m not leaving without Rei!” He took another step toward where Rei had been when the stranger grabbed his wrist.
“He’s fine. Winter Varik has him. He’s getting the elf out of here. We need to do the same if we’re going to meet up with them.”
Another Varik?
It was at least a little reassuring that it wasn’t one of the fae. He jogged through the forest with the human, leaving behind the elves and the corpses.
