And I was too late. Directly in front of me, a Dominion archer already had me in his sights with a white disk in the pocket. Tenger had once told me there was peace in a person’s final breath of life. In that moment, I knew he was wrong.
The instant the blade hit me, I fell backward over the thin railing, just as Trina had done. It felt like hours until my body splashed in, fueling the pain in my chest where the disk had hit. Somewhere above me came a loud thundering noise but I couldn’t imagine what it was, nor did it matter. The current was rapidly carrying me downstream, but I felt myself separating from my body as if part of me was already somewhere else, somewhere dark and bleak.
I clutched at the blade in my chest, hoping to pull it out, then gave up. It wouldn’t matter. The water blurred my vision, or maybe this was the beginning of my end, to lose focus on the real world. At least I wasn’t in pain anymore. I wasn’t anything.
From the corner of my eye, some movement caught my attention. I wished I were stronger, or that I could make myself care. But this wasn’t my world anymore. This wasn’t my life.
An arm wrapped tightly around me, but I didn’t feel it. I only knew it was there.
The arm was holding a body that might’ve been mine, once, whoever I was, whatever I was. I felt no connection to flesh anymore. I felt no connection to life.
Downstream from the bridge, I was stationed in some thick brush beside the river. I doubted anyone would see me here, though I had a good view of both the bridge and the Coracks on the hillside. My heart was racing with anticipation, but so far, everything was going according to plan.
Huge must have only been unconscious for a few minutes. Only moments ago, he’d raced past me on horseback headed farther downstream, nodding distinctly at me as he did. I hoped he’d already guessed my plans and intended to help.
My plans … such as they were. I hadn’t had time to consider any details beyond where I now sat. After leaving Huge, my first stop had been the Ironheart Coracks, and it was a good thing I did because Sir Henry wasted no time in breaking his promise regarding them.
Up on the bridge, I saw the Dominion soldiers grab Trina and then Henry shouted, “With my authority as Lord Endrick’s representative, I order your hearts to be crushed!”
A gasp rang out through the assembled armies on our side of the river as one by one, the Coracks collapsed to the ground. A flawless performance. I’d gotten to them just in time.
Before coming here, I’d restored Tenger and the other Coracks, borrowing the health of the few Dominion fighters who’d lain injured on the hillside nearby. The Coracks who’d fallen were very much alive, but for now, we wanted the Dominion to believe the rebellion had been crushed here.
Yet, as smoothly as everything had happened up till this point, it all fell apart on the bridge. Immediately after the Coracks collapsed, Trina was tossed over the bridge, making the long drop into the water. I crouched forward, ready to pull her out if I could, but when her body drifted past me seconds later, she was out of reach and looked unconscious. It twisted my heart to sacrifice her while I waited to help Simon, but I hoped Huge would see her. Why had she come to the bridge anyway?
On the bridge now, a Dominion officer pulled something from the left pocket of Simon’s longcoat. I squinted to see it, but only saw something that appeared to be a rock or some sort of dark-colored ball. Whatever it was, it clearly enraged Henry, who slammed his fist so hard into Simon’s stomach, he might’ve fallen without the officer still holding him from behind.
Simon was bent over, so he didn’t see Henry’s gesture for the archer to take aim. But I saw it, and the white disk that was loaded into his bow. As soon as Simon straightened up, he was hit somewhere in the chest and fell backward into the water. I probably had thirty seconds before he’d drift down to where I was.
A cheer went up on the Dominion side of the bridge when Simon fell, but my attention had shifted to movement on Reddengrad’s side. Harlyn Mindall stepped forward from the crowd with her own disk bow raised. She took aim at the bridge and fired.
It hit directly on the ball that Henry had pulled from Simon’s coat, and in that instant, the entire bridge exploded. I leapt to my feet, stunned at what was happening. The center collapsed and fell into the river. No one on the bridge could have survived the initial explosion. Including Sir Henry.
He couldn’t have survived that.
Simon’s body rounded the bend in the river. I was still shaking when I dove in, catching the current barely in time to see him go completely underwater. The water was icy, stealing my breath, but it was nothing compared to what must be happening to Simon now, so I forced myself to keep swimming.
By the time I grabbed hold of him, he was completely unresponsive, possibly already … whatever he would be once that disk took effect. I yanked the disk from his chest and blood spilled into the water, but I pressed my hand over the wound to slow the bleeding.
I needed to get us out of the water, but I wasn’t sure how far we had to go before it was safe, and I wondered how I’d have the strength to do it. Simon was pulling life from me faster than I could keep us together.
Once I was sure we’d be out of sight, we surfaced, but Simon wasn’t breathing and that sent waves of horror through me. Had he already passed the point where I could help him?
Then, from nowhere, hands reached into the water, plucking both me and Simon out of the water. I looked up and saw Huge standing over us. “Two fish with one hook,” he said proudly, pulling us to shore. This was where he’d been in such a hurry to go. He must’ve guessed at my intentions.
“I …” I couldn’t muster the words to explain myself and instead only managed, “I’m sorry … for before.” To which he nodded in reply.
Trina was on the shoreline shivering, but on her feet with wide eyes and the same expression of panic as I felt. She cried, “Is he—”
Huge lowered Simon to the ground first then I knelt beside him, rolling Simon’s lifeless face toward me. He was visibly shaking and his skin was draining of color. It terrified me to my core, and from that same place I yelled, “You are not leaving this way, do you hear me?”
If he heard, he didn’t respond.
I put my hand back on his chest, near where the disk blade had entered. The wound was slowly healing, but it didn’t matter because that wasn’t the true threat against him. Louder, I cried, “Simon, don’t you walk away without a fight!”
His lashes fluttered, which I supposed was the best fight he could manage. I knew he’d disapprove of what was coming next, but I hardly cared. If he objected, he could wake up and tell me so.
The white blade was stealing away his soul. The only cure would be to give him half of mine, half of everything I was to pull him back to himself. It wasn’t enough to give him from my strength. I had to give him a piece of me.