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As he made his way quietly down the stairs, he paused to hear the three Primes discuss his back. They were obsessing over the colouring, and he really didn’t want to be part of that conversation. Quietly, he pulled his coat closed and drew his hood over his head. He checked his weapons one final time before he opened the door and, with no sound, slipped out of the house.
For the next hour, he walked the snow-covered almost barren terrain of frozen Russia. Had he been followed, his observers would have been forgiven for thinking he was either delirious or drunk, as his staggered footsteps disturbed the snow while he tramped haphazardly through it. Cord came across no other living being. Not a bird or animal stirred. Everything was silent.
“They’re either cleverer than I am and know better than to be out walking in this or they’ve been scared off,” Cord thought out loud as he stopped and considered his surroundings. The Drakhyn were gathered at the foot of the mountain, and Cord had realised fairly quickly that he had been walkingupthe mountain, but he wasn’t entirely sure how he was making progress without the proper hiking tools. He was a Castor and a Sentinel, but even he knew that he wasn’tthatskilled he could be making this climb without magic. “You’re aiding me?”
The Mark tingled.
“It’s appreciated,” Cord mumbled as he carried on, the tingles and the pulses continuing to steer him on the right path.
He carried on as the land became harder to navigate, the dark of night giving him no aid. The sudden ache in his Mark had him almost cry out in pain, and if the Ancient had been in front of him, Cord wasn’t entirely sure he wouldn’t have punched him for the sudden throbbing of pain. Gorse bushes rustled slightly, and Cord ducked low, his dark clothing helping him to blend into the night. He waited, and still nothing emerged. The Mark flared along his back, and Cord knowing it for the warning it was, he crouched even lower to the ground.
Two Drakhyn emerged from the shrubbery, and Cord’s hand slipped to grip his knives.
“I’m so sick of this cold,” one of them grumbled to the other.
“He says he has them where he needs them,” the other said doubtfully. “I don’t see it. Nothing is coming out of that mountain. They’reVampyres, they don’t need to eat, andwecan’t even breed them.”
The other one laughed. “True, but we canenjoythem, and when we’re done, at least they will be food for our bellies if we kill them right.”
Cackling, the two walked on, and as Cord reached for his Flare, he felt the Ancient block him from it. The Ancient would get more than a punch if he were in front of him, Cord seethed. When the Drakhyn were gone and the land lay once more quiet and lifeless, Cord slowly rose.
I don’t care that you’re an Ancient, I will tear this Mark off my back if you ever interfere with my Flare again.
His Flare flickered within him soothingly.
“I wasn’t going to kill them,” he whispered in the quiet. “Much.” The Mark pulsated gently, and Cord took it for the acknowledgement that it was.
For hours more, he walked where the Mark directed him, a few stumbles, one hell of a close call over the side of the mountain, but for the most part he was unscathed. When he reached a small plateau, he took a moment to look around.
As he took a step forward, his whole body felt as if it recoiled from the action. Nausea overwhelmed him while the ringing in his ears deafened him. Cord’s shoulders hunched as he felt an unbearable weightpresshim down andin. Dimly, he was aware of the Mark burning on his skin, and with every ounce of strength he had, he lifted his foot and took one more step.
Then another.
His body bent as he retched, his coughing loud in the silence.
Still he tried to straighten.
One more step, he screamed internally. The pain was everywhere, and he struggled to focus.
Another.
Cord heard Velvore, but his ability to answer or acknowledge was gone.
His Flare pulsed with power, as strong and hot inside him as the scorching heat on his back.
Another.
Cord’s foot lifted slightly at the urging, and he forced himself to move, to take that step.
His scream shattered the silence of the night as the pain pressed in all around him.
Another.
As he grappled for control of his Flare, he felt the unyielding pain in every part of his body, and he knew it was too much. It was in his very bones, grinding him down. Desperately Cord reached for his Flare, but it was like trying to catch a dream, the edges dancing away from his grasp every time Cord thought he could gain hold of it. Cord gritted his teeth to try again even as the pain continued to sear through his body.
He had to try.
Another step.
