Page 59 of Cut of the Dark Elf's Blade

I sneer with disgust, turning my attention to Echo. The iypinnit stirs quietly, but her pulse is still faint. I summon as much of my magic as I can and mutter a spell of healing as the magic sparks and tumbles from my hands into Echo.

Her little body shudders, and she chirrups but does not open her eyes.

After making sure that the fire is out completely, I lay Echo down in the only part of the garden that hasn’t burned – the vegetable patch.

Then, I check my weapons, one by one, as I prepare to go after Neveah.

Whoever has taken her only has a moment’s head start, but even a moment is too long.

Can I trust Rhiucra when he said that they wanted her alive? Can I trust my brother to tell me the truth when he has just admitted to giving up Neveah?

Right now, I want to choke the life out of my brother, but I can’t focus on that now.

I’ll hurt him after I get Neveah back,I think grimly to myself.

Then I take a deep breath and send my magic out around me. I step forward, using my magic like a torch, but also using it like a ward – it searches for any traps or weapons left behind.

It also tells me what direction Aricen went.

I discover that he went south, in the direction of Pyrthos, where I just was.

And I also discover something else. There are four dark elves lying in wait, in the trees.

He probably left them behind to slow me down.I almost want to laugh at the thought.

Well, I’ll let them think they’ve gotten me,I think as I walk directly into the forest.

I pull two thin, long daggers from my belt, one in each hand as I walk through the forest.

When the first of the attackers jumps out at me, I don’t hesitate to slit his throat.

Blood spurts from his throat while he hangs in midair, suspended there by pure luck before he collapses to the ground. I know there are more waiting for me, and I want to make an example of this one.

He is already dead – I struck sure and true with the dagger – but I know they won’t take me seriously until I show them I am serious. Using my dagger, I cut both his eyeballs out. I also scalp him, and I drag the body parts behind me as I walk forward.

I stop when I hear rustling close by. I throw the first attacker’s scalp and eyeballs into the forest.

“Are you going to let me through? Or do you want to end up like your friend here?” I call to them.

Someone comes up behind me. They get close enough to put a hand on my shoulder, which is quite a feat.

I strike out behind me with my elbow, and I wince when the skin on my neck is nicked by a knife’s blade.

The dark elf behind me gasps for air as I twist around, whirling the dagger with me and stabbing it through his mouth.

I twist the dagger through the roof of the dark elf’s mouth before I pull it out.

The dark elf stumbles away from me as blood fills his mouth. I realize then that it is going to take him some time to die, and I really don’t have time for that.

So, using my other, clean, dagger, I drag the blade through his flesh, from his sternum to his belly button.

Then I crack open his rib cage and pull his heart and lungs out.

His body goes limp.

I wipe both daggers off on my trousers before I grab the set of lungs and the heart and throw it into the forest ahead of me.

“That is how I dealt with your second friend!” I call. There is a rustling ahead of me.