Riders of Elysium

Chapter Nineteen

----Eyre's PoV----

I had done my job. I drew the enemy fire. My plan worked.

Amias had incinerated the barn- and half the forest along with it. Amber was putting out the edges of the fire as I watched.

But I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Azariah would die to protect Rayna, that much I already knew. What I didn't know was that she would do the same.

She'd jumped in the way and taken the offensive side immediately. Then she sliced Kugen's head clean off.

I didn't understand.

Rayna knew that if she blocked that attack for Azariah- well I understood why she did that. But killing Kugen in front of all the other assassins, rogues and his own?

She knew they would kill her for revenge.

----Third Person----

Azariah couldn't do anything. He could only watch as Rayna killed the man he had hated for so long.

He didn't regret handing her that sword- it saved her life. He didn't know she was serious about killing him, though.

----Third Person----

Rayna fell down to her knees. She dropped her sword, and heard it clatter beside her. She saw the assassins, rogues and Kugen's own, both wanted to kill her.

The rogues wanted their fair shot at him. Kugen's own assassins saw this as betrayal, punishable by death.

She took one final look at Kugen's head on the floor. It was worth it.

Tilting her head back to breath, she felt the blood run down to her mouth from her broken nose. She heard Azariah screaming her name as Ellukah dragged him to safety.

She heard a blade be lifted up behind her. She prepared herself.

Then, talons secured themselves around her arms and she was pulled into the air. She looked up and smiled, "Hey, sis!"

Eyre smiled down at her, "Hi." She lent Rayna a hand at helping her up to Ash's back.

"So what's the new plan?" Rayna asked, "A lot of people want me dead."

"You're not gonna like this," Eyre said.

Rayna frowned. A moment later, she was falling through the air and caught by Scout's dragon, Onyx, "It's the easiest way to make sure they don't catch you. Not knowing which one of us has you."

She spent the entire trip to safety being thrown between dragons.

----Third Person----

"What happened? Azariah asked.

Ellukah explained, "Rayna killed Kugen. I got you out of the firing zone. Everyone's very angry."

"They'll kill her!" Azariah shot upright. Ellukah stopped him.

"Eyre has her, along with the rest of fire faction," Ellukah said.

Then, Azariah asked, "Why are you helping us? And how do you know about the factions-"

"I'm a spy," Ellukah said, "I came here on a transfer from another training camp. That transfer was faked by Elysium."

"Don't double agents normally end up dead pretty fast?" Azariah asked, "Why risk it?"

Ellukah sighed, "It wasn't my choice. But I'm the best at espionage in my group."

"What faction are you?" Azariah asked out of curiosity more than anything else.