The Way We Fall

Chapter 192 (Roche)

This wasn't what she'd planned at all. She'd wanted to enter the battlefield from solid ground. She'd wanted to then find Tigris, defend her, kill Finn, and hightail the queen out of Moiris.

How was she supposed to do that twenty feet above the ground?

Roche sucked in a calming breath, scanning the many faces on the ground below her. None of them noticed her, too engrossed in their battles. The knights had coated their blades in flammable oil and had lit them, swinging their blades at the snarling uska. They kept up an impressive defense.

Roche narrowed her eyes. The knights were fighting normally. Had Finn not laid down the mind altering enchantment yet?

Roche glimpsed the sight of dark cloaks interspersed among the knights, and a smile spread across her face, hope rising within her.

The covens. They'd come. Based on the inkblood floating through the air, they were keeping Finn's enchantment at bay. There wasn't much they could do against the uska or the spirits that were currently weaving through the masses of knights dressed in regal grey with taunts and whispers from the land of the dead that made the knights go still. The distraction cost them their lives as the uska dove at them, shredding them.

Roche ripped her gaze away, mind whirring analytically as she shoved away her horror. The plan could still work. She could still protect Tigris.

She just had to find her first.

Roche scanned the battlefield, grinning when she saw an empty square of grass and mulch filled with a swarm of uska that disappeared under a flash of steel that wasn't flaming. Tigris was a whirlwind, years of battle prowess coming to light. The queen dodged and slashed, a tornado of steel and fire as bright as her hair. She sliced into the uska with ease, her features set in concentration. Roche could have sworn Tigris' green eyes glowed as they narrowed, glancing at her warriors with the calculation of a war general. Her eyes flicked up towards the portal and then back to the battlefield. She only had moments to look around before she was engaged with another uskoi.

Roche already knew who the queen was looking for. She closed her eyes, sending her inkblood out in waves that settled amongst every square inch of the battlefield. She ignored the heart rending cries of the dying and sorted through the net of the librarians' enchantments, searching for the telltale malicious signature of Finn.

It didn't take long. His inkblood was loud, demanding to be seen and felt. It radiated with a putrid, rotten aura that made Roche's skin prickle like she'd been slapped. She sucked in a breath, fighting back a wave of revulsion as she honed in on the sensation and opened her eyes.

Finn was standing directly beneath the portal. He had a single sword in his hand, made of pure inkblood. He didn't use it. He didn't even move. He simply peered out at the battle, his brow wrinkling with concentration. He glanced at the uska and the spirits, spitting out a command every so often.

Roche bit her lip, mind racing as her analysis drew to an end. Based on the amount of carnage and Finn's confusion, the battle hadn't been in progress for very long. She'd arrived at the beginning. Soon, Finn would realise that the librarians were thwarting his enchantment. There was no telling what he would do next.

Which meant that Roche needed to strike first.

She rolled her shoulders back and quickly adjusted her stance so that the howling winds wouldn't blow her right over the edge of the tower. She sucked in a breath, letting her inkblood roil and rise to the surface. When she opened her eyes, she knew they were dark with inkblood with not a hint of white to be seen. She lifted a finger, pointing it at the traitor prince with all the surety of death himself.