Sentinel

Chapter 40 - To shatter a soul

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Chapter 40 - To shatter a soul

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Jesse placed his boot on the elder Silverborn’s back, his face contorting with frustration.

“He wasn’t supposed to come! He only wanted you and Tayne, Skye!” said Jesse. “It didn’t need to happen!”

He shoved forward with his foot and wrenched the blade out, watching with that same expression as Wrain slid down its length with a strangled cry.

He didn’t flinch when Wrain clutched at his chest, trying to stop the blood. Instead, he looked back at Skye and shook his head, his features clouded with anger.

“I didn’t want to do it, he made m--“

Skye was on Jesse before Wrain’s body hit the ground. With both her weapons drawn and raised, she slammed into Jesse and forced him back three steps, away from where Wrain lay gasping on the ground. He was still alive, but she needed to act fast. 

She kept moving forward, forcing Jesse to retreat. Locked in a strange embrace centimetres from Jesse’s face, she reversed her grip on the dagger and caught its hilt on Jesse’s bloodied blade. The two weapons locked. She pushed down on her dagger, dragging his sword with it and smashed the flowered pommel of her sword down on the Silverborn’s hand.

Jesse’s sword clattered to the ground at her feet, leaving him gaping. Skye kicked his blade away, flicking her own up to place its tip at the centre of his chest.

“Jess, I don’t know what’s got into you, but you need to stay back so I can heal Wrain.” The Silverborn behind her was slipping away fast. She met Jesse’s eyes. “Do you understand?”

His blank look scared her more than Wrain’s laboured breathing, but his next words froze her blood. “I... can’t, Skye. He made me.”

He.

There was no doubt who Jesse was talking about. Skye backed up, keeping her sword pointed at Jesse. How hadn’t she noticed? All the way through the wasteland and in the Citadel the signs had been there, signs that something was wrong.

Ebony must have done something to him when she brought us here.

Jesse remained stationary. His hands curled into fists and when she reached Wrain, he dropped his head into his hands and pressed them against the sides of his temples.

 Build up of magic. He’s fighting it. How was I so blind?

She dropped to her knees beside Wrain, still facing Jesse. She placed her hands over Wrain’s punctured chest and felt the tingle of magic light her fingers. The blade had gone straight through a lung, and from what she could tell had missed his heart.

Skye glanced up. Jesse was visibly shaking now, clutching his head with such force that his arms trembled. She brought her attention back to Wrain, laying her dagger beside his body but maintaining an awkward grip on the sword.

Carefully, she placed the tips of her fingers inside the wound on his chest. She didn’t dare roll him, unsure of what further damage could occur, so it was the best she could do. Get deeper inside the wound. Heal him from the inside out.

She pushed the magic out the tips of her fingers, willing it to repair the damage but unsure of how far it would go. The injury was recent, but it was far, far worse than anything she’d healed before.

It has to work.

“Skye-- he, he’s--“

Jesse’s strained warning came just as a sphere of purple energy collided with her chest and sent her sprawling across the floor.