Chapter 7

“This time I have decided to follow your command my sweet,” Sküülen replied with a smile after a split second of deep thought, no doubt weighing up her options Rex thought.

“So you will stay bound to me?”

“Yes.”

“Swear it,” Rex replied, watching her with fierce unblinking eyes, he remembered a lesson from Rector, ‘Ancient beings were bound by their words.’

“I swear I will remain bound to you when leaving,” Sküülen said in a monotone, clearly slightly annoyed.

“Very well, come and assist me in this battle,” Rex said, satisfied.

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As Rex’s vision began to come back to him, a strange buzzing noise began to enter his hearing, it sounded like someone was yelling at him, what was being said seemed distant and fuzzy, but with each passing second the words became clearer, “Rex!! Please wake up!”

Slowly taking in his surroundings groggily, Rex felt like someone had smacked his head repeatedly with the headache he currently sported, then felt like something was wrong, he was not sure what it was yet, but he knew almost instantly once his brain began to think a little more clearly, he hurt, in multiple places at once.

“Rex, thank god, your pulse disappeared for a while there, we feared the worst,” Lacey said, breathing a loud sigh.

“I’m sorry Rex, I’ve done my best to heal what burn wounds you have, but many are too deep and bad, even for me,” Lizz said a little upset.

“Maybe I can do something about that if that is your wish sweetness.”

Rex recognised the voice instantly, but the other women spun on their heels, Minet and Lacey reached for their swords, and Marcia did from instinct before remembering the blood from the lava beetle had melted the blade from hers to nothing, Lizz was holding a flame ready to throw.

“Why aren’t I healing like I used to?” Rex asked out loudly, inspecting his body, worry and shock seeping into his words once he checked his body. He had multiple deep burns that had melted large patches of his skin away, in some places showing bone and sinew, ‘Fafnir?’

‘I am here youngling, but I am very weak, the lava beetle nicked a major artery in my neck, I must remain here to heal, I barely even made it in time, we have used a lot of magic, I am sorry I cannot aid you.’

“Like I said sweetness, I can get you battle ready once more.”

“Who the f**k are you?” Lacey spat, the other women eyeing the woman suspiciously.

Looking up at the voice, Rex saw Sküülen, she was donned in a tight-fitting shiny black battle armour, the chest and leg armour hugging her shapely curves tightly, and the fingers on her gauntlets came to sharp claws, she looked like a force to be reckoned with, “Let her through, I require your aid Sküülen.”

‘You can’t be serious Rex, who the f**k is this?’ Lacey near on yelled through their bond, a feeling of anger joining the words, he could feel the other women agreeing with her.

‘She is the spirit in the sword that’s bound to me to assist us in getting this battle won,’ Rex replied, a jolt of pain sending a shockwave through his body once Sküülen began to chant, a hand placed on Rex’s chest, the sudden pain making all the other women wince as well.

‘If she does anything f**king strange, we are killing her,’ Marcia said, walking over to a soldier and taking his sword, ‘Markus is helping Ulna, but I need you, she is dying.’

After mere seconds Sküülen ceased chanting and took a step away from Rex, a large smile on her face, Rex could tell she was clearly happy with her work, “There sweetness, was that so bad? Now let me feast on our enemies as a reward.”

“Very well, I thank you Sküülen, remember our deal.”

Winking to Rex seductively, Sküülen turned on her heel and dashed forward toward Telagus’s front lines that were currently advancing through a large hole in Rector’s defensive line they had created with their small troll contingent.

“That is gross, she said FEED on her enemies, I don’t like this one bit,” Minet said with a slight shudder.

“One problem at a time,” Rex groaned, pushing himself off the lava beetle shell at his back, he felt good from the work Sküülen had done, there were not even any scars where the large burn holes had been, “Where is Ulna?”

Instead of just telling Rex, Marcia reached out and lead him forcibly around to the other side of the beetle where Markus was in deep concentration, kneeling beside Ulna, who was now breathing very raggedly, a large pool of blood under her. Seeing how much Ulna had deteriorated since she last saw her made Marcia break into tears, kneeling next to Ulna’s head, talking softly and stroking her beak.

“All of the life pillars are broken, I am doing what I can to ease her pain, but I cannot heal this, I do not know anyone skilled enough to heal the amount of damage she has suffered,” Markus said to Rex, Marcia doing her best to choke back tears, he could feel how upset she was through the bond, looking at the other women, he knew they could as well.

‘Fafnir? Ideas?’

‘I know of only one thing, but mark my words, it is dangerous with how close this skylark walks along the lines between life and death.’

‘What is it? I’ll do it,’ Rex replied hastily, besides Markus, the entire group now watched him intently, even Marcia had turned her head, looking at everyone, they must have been able to sense his uncertainty through the bond.

“You know something, don’t you?” Lacey asked, a little glimmer of hope seeping from Marcia.

‘You risk much for everyone, one might think this time a little too much,’ Fafnir replied weakly, ‘Remember, I cannot assist you, you must use your own magic reserves for the spell, which will become difficult to hold while you begin.’

‘Why is that?’

‘The spell is wound transference, commonly called wurveeden dalas, if done correctly, the spell transfers the damage done from the target to the spell wielder or a willing substitute. In many cases, it was done when minimal to moderate damage was done to the target and was used in times of war, with the damage being transferred to slaves from the soldiers so they could continue to fight. In this case, it may prove fatal to you young prince, not to mention your amonthrul will reverberate the pain from this spell to the entire group, I do not think this is the time for such an action I won’t be able to shield the others from your pain for long while I am so weak, I’m afraid this beast is lost,’ Fafnir said, his voice turning a little more serious, with sorrow creeping in toward the end.

‘Can you guide me through it?’

‘Did you not hear…’

‘Please.’

‘This is madness,’ Fafnir huffed, breathing in sharply from a sudden bout of pain.

‘Thank you.’

“I might know of something, but it’s dangerous, for myself and Ulna, I have it on good authority that one of three things may happen,” Rex announced after his conversation with Fafnir concluded, which only took seconds.

“Well…spill it,” Marcia said a little over eagerly and loudly, even Markus’s seemed to perk up, he was sure he was about to witness another piece of unbelievable magic he had only begun to see when he joined the inner circle of the emperor, magics only being possible by the Magnus family. He was so sure nothing was able to be done now, Ulna was on the precipice of fully gone now and yet, even now, Rex claimed he may be able to save the skylark, he was doubtful even Rector would have tried something this far along.

“It’s called, if I’m even saying it right, wurveedlin damas,” he did his best to pronounce it, getting a pained chuckle from Fafnir afterwards for getting it wrong, “Anyway, the spell once completed will transfer the damage done to Ulna onto me, I’m hoping with my healing ability and a few potions, should be a walk in the park. Fafnir is going to help to try and keep the pain out of the bond, but in his weakened state, we can’t guarantee it will happen for long, I’m sorry girls.” Marcia, Lacey and Minet all looked at each other fiercely while holding each other’s hands, Rex could tell they were ready if that happened.

“I have no idea what this has to do with walking in the trees, but I doubt it will be easy, Ulna has nearly fully faded, what are the three outcomes?” Markus said, feeling and listening to Ulna, feeling her last minutes quickly approaching.

“Best case, we both survive, live long lives, and laugh about this many years later, next best, I survive, Ulna perishes, worst case, we both perish,” Rex said with a loud sigh between each option, “I’ll need some room, I don’t want anyone else to get affected if something goes wrong,” he said, sweeping his hands around Ulna, getting everyone to give him some room, even with a battle raging not far away from the group, it became eerily quiet once Rex knelt down beside Ulna, stroking her head and beak, breathing deeply and slowly, trying to slow the pounding of his heart now filling his hearing.

‘Fafnir?’ Rex asked, placing both hands on Ulna, continuing to take long deep breaths.

Fafnir spoke the words Rex needed to chant slowly, Rex repeating them in his mind over and over until Fafnir was satisfied no further mistakes were made with the pronunciation or order of the words, ‘Proceed, bona fortuna (good luck) young prince.’

Speaking the required words slowly and carefully while allowing magic to fill himself up and bleed slowly into Ulna, who seemed to buck from a whole-body twitch initially as the magic entered the skylarks body, repeating the chant over and over, Rex was about to be disheartened when he felt a sharp pain in his chest, a few seconds of repeated chanting later, a loud crack resonated and Rex jolted from the suddenness of intense pain, one of his ribs had just broken, ‘So it begins,’ he breathed.