Page 58 of Cut of the Dark Elf's Blade

LUOCRE

Ifollow the sound of Echo’s barking toward the gardens where the fire is burning. The iypinnit starts to growl and bark even more loudly and wildly, and I know that whatever is happening, it can not be good.

And then as I make my way closer, the barking stops. It is an even worse sign, and it feels like ice forms in my chest.

It is clear that an attack is happening at the main mansion, and I am not sure how anyone was evacuated – how many people have actually been hurt, or is this all for show?

But I can’t worry about that right now.

All I care about is Neveah.

I find a gap in the flames and hurry through it to see that the entire garden behind the manor has gone up in flames.

The flames are high and have reached the parapets of the manor.

I can tell right away that the flames are made of magic. The color of the flames is an eerie blue and red, and the color is too perfect to be natural.

Another sign that the fire is magic is that it has seeped in through the paint and bricks of the manor house.

The manor house is literally crumbling down around me as I stand and watch.

And Neveah is nowhere to be seen.

That is when I finally notice Echo, lying still on the grass, inches away from being burned up by hungry flames.

I cannot tell if the tiny iypinnit is breathing. She looks still. Too still for my liking.

I reach down and feel for a pulse as I still scan the garden, but I am quite sure that Neveah is not there at all.

Echo does have a pulse, but it is worryingly faint. I gather her up in my arms just as my brother comes sprinting around the corner.

“Luocre!” he yells breathlessly, a wild look in his eyes. He’s covered in soot, a strange mingling of anger and shame coloring his face.

“They took her! I tried to get you, but you were nowhere to be found! Where the fuck were you?”

“Who took her?” I ask him sharply.

“A dark elf who calls himself Aricen. I did everything I could, you don’t und–”

“Did you?” My voice is low and dangerous. I cannot feel Echo’s heartbeat at all. “If you had, would this place be collapsing? If you had done everything you could, would Aricen not be dead? I don’t see you being attacked! Why have you not tried to put the fire out?”

Rhiucra gulps several times before opening his mouth, only to shut it again.

Rage glitters through me, coloring my vision red.

“I’m sorry!” he grinds out. “If I hadn’t let him take her–”

“What!” My voice is thunderous, even louder than the crack and whip of the flames. “You let him take her?” I can’t help but kick my brother in the ribs, and he falls back with a wracking gasp.

“He wanted her alive!” Rhiucra shouts back.

“You absolute fucking coward!” I yell at him as I place Echo carefully on the ground and use my magic to put out the fire.

The fire goes out in stages, but I don’t care to watch, because all I want to do is kick the shit out of my brother.

I lift him to his feet and punch him in the face. I make sure to bust his upper and lower lips with a punch before I hit him in both eyes.

I let him sag to the ground before I kick him in the ribs and then in the groin. He doesn’t even try to fight back against me, something that only irritates me further. He deserves this and seems to know it, but beating the pulp out of a willing man is little better than punching a mannequin.