Breaker of Rings

Chapter 21

Silence often fell in battle, but not like this. Bex was used to the silences after a fierce fight or when someone had died in combat, but the quiet that followed Dean's declaration felt like a blister, raw and ready to burst. Drew surged forward and hauled the former Shield soldier back by his collar. "He is not our official combatant," Drew said sharply, glaring at the Skull King. "You go make your decision and we'll make ours, and we'll meet back here."

Hunter's laugh was both mirthless and merciless. "I already know who will be fighting," he replied with a smirk, "but by all means, delay the inevitable." Motioning to Roman and Seth, the Skull King fell back a few paces.

"You are not fighting." Sasha gave Dean a hard shove to the chest. "What about Renee? Your wife is back at the village, thinking this is just a scouting trip and that you'll be back before dark. Those men might have been your brothers back then, but Renee is your wife now."

"Your cuff," Bex said suddenly, looking down at Dean's scarred wrist. "Was it enchanted specifically to bind you as an air-archer—and Roman's for earth, Seth's for fire—or is it a general binding?"

Dean shrugged helplessly, gaze continually drawn back to his brothers. "General, I think. Hunter has a bunch of sorcerers. Please, let me do it. I owe it to them—"

"You are not fighting." This time it was Bayley making the declaration, and Bex had never seen her look more serious. "I will bury you if I have to, but you're not going out there."

Pacing, Drew huffed out a long breath. "You said something about altering the terms. What did you have in mind? We all have to agree, obviously," he added before any of the Horsewomen could protest, "but I don't think a simple retreat from Hunter is enough. There's no guarantee how long he would honour that for, and we have enough knights and warriors that we could push him back on our own."

"With how many losses, though?" Charlotte wound a gentle cocoon of air around them, both masking their voices from Hunter and his men as well as giving them more air to breathe so they would calm down quicker. "Single combat is probably for the best. Dean just said he has a lot of sorcerers. Who knows what else—what other people—he's acquired since Dean and Renee left?"

"How does he use the cuffs to control people?" Bex asked Dean. The sudden shift in topic seemed to confuse him for a moment, but then he looked grateful for the diversion. "He doesn't have any magic himself, does he?"

Dean shook his head. "No. He has his own cuff, and it's linked to everyone else's; each thrall has their own bead." He idly rubbed a spot on the inside of his wrist and Bex guessed that's where his control bead used to rest. "Why?"

"An addition to our terms. If we win, he releases Roman and Seth and his other thralls," Bex said simply. "I don't know how many of them are magic users, but they deserve to be free regardless."

"He'll never agree to that. It's too much of a loss," Drew retorted, leaning closer into their huddle.

Meeting Bex's gaze, Dean mouthed his silent thanks. "What about just Seth and Roman, then? They're a broken faction. He would probably want to start over anyway: get new magic users, younger ones that are easier to shape and control."

"He might go for that," Charlotte said slowly, "but it wouldn't be enough for him to just . . . tell them to go, would it? How did Renee free you?"

Dean rubbed his wrist again. "She was his bard. You know that. It means she was usually in the royal chambers, often when they were all drunk. She figured out which bead was mine and would saw away at it a bit each night as she sat by the Skull King's side. Hunter thought she was just fawning over him, so he didn't pay much attention; as long as Renee's hands didn't go any further than his arm, Stephanie didn't care too much either. After a few days, she was finally able to snap the bead off and we ran." With a grimace, he added, "Pulling the rings out was a different story."