Shattered Souls (Guardians of the Maiden Book 3)

With all good things, nothing lasts forever. Dyna saw the end come one humid summer day, when Aisling sat beneath the apple tree reading in the shade, her pink dress spread on the grass. Tarn’s sword sliced through the air as he sparred with Dale. They halted at the sound of a horn blasting into the sky.

The world seemed to still as they stood there, listening with dread. A second blast blew and Dale visibly paled. Then came a third. Aisling covered her mouth, her eyes going wide.

Tarn rushed to her. “You need to get inside.”

“They couldn’t have gotten through our wall!” Dale exclaimed.

“Wood is not stone,” Tarn said. “Go back to the manor and bar the doors. You know what to do.”

His younger brother hid his fear behind a stiff nod and sprinted back home.

A knight in blue armor came galloping into the courtyard next and yanked on the reins. “Captain, the trolls have breached the gates.”

“I know. Have the men meet me out front.”

Tarn had his dark blue armor on within minutes. His heavy steps pounded in the hall as he headed for the front door. Aisling stood there with her servants, tears glistening on her lashes. He briefly paused before her, his hand coming to rest on her stomach. Dyna’s eyes widened to find it was very round and heavy with child.

A heavy sense of foreboding fell over her.

“Come back to me,” Aisling whispered, brushing his cheek.

Something crossed his pale eyes. Words he couldn’t say, but they were there on his face. “On your life,” was all Tarn said to his servants, and the cold command made clear what would happen if his wife was harmed.

Everyone dutifully bowed.

“We will barricade the doors,” the manservant said, hand resting on the hilt of his sheathed sword. “She will be safe, my lord.”

Sparing her one more glance, Tarn swept out of the house and marched outside to his waiting men on horseback. Their faces were grim and full of dread.

Tarn put on his helmet and mounted his horse “Where is Von?”

He wasn’t among the men.

“He must already be down there, Captain.”

“Then he honors the call. Today you are Knights of Azure and they will know our names. Go with your god.”

“And may he receive me!” The men hollered in a cheer.

The earth rumbled as they charged down. Screams echoed in the distance and smoke spiraled into the sky. Dyna ran out of the house with Aisling and they looked down at the turmoil below the rise. Trolls swarmed the town, snatching up those attempting to flee. Lord Morken’s dual swords severed through each one that came his way, moving with a swift agility. But his men were scattered as they tried to fight for their lives. The massive Horde poured through the broken gates like a gray sea of death.

And Tarn led his small unit of men right to it.

The dream smoke came for Dyna and dropped her in the middle of the chaos. Trolls roared as they ran past her, brutally slamming through knights. Their screams rang in the air as they were torn apart. Some fought desperately, but the weight of their armor slowed them down. They couldn’t move as fast as the beasts. Couldn’t outrun them if they fell off their horses.

They were being slaughtered.

Dyna ducked out of the way of a falling troll, and screamed at the swipe of Tarn’s sword going over her head. He shoved the blade through a troll’s neck and spun away to fight another. A knight fell at her feet, the man’s terrified eyes now empty of life. She scrambled away, her shoes and hands slipping through the bloodied mud.

“Forward, men!” Lord Morken shouted to anyone who listened. “Kill the wretched beasts!”

A piercing sound reached her ears, and Dyna turned to see a bald man huddled under the gates, blowing on a thin whistle.

It was Garent, the King’s viceroy.

The trolls bellowed at the sound and more charged through the town. He was calling them!

Tarn realized this the same time Lord Morken did. Both cut their way through the Horde for him. When the viceroy saw them coming, he dropped the whistle and ran. Tarn flung a knife, and it stabbed the man’s leg, knocking him down.

Lord Morken threw himself at Garent and rammed fists into his face. “Why!”

“I was ordered to.” Garent cowed, looking past him to Tarn. “He wasn’t supposed to survive this place. None of you were. Then he begot an heir. It had to be done to protect the throne.”

Lord Morken dropped him, turning to gape at Tarn.

He stared back at them, too startled as Dyna was, slowly coming to a horrible understanding.

“King Lenneus…” Lord Morken said as he stood, leaving the viceroy to escape. “You’re his bastard.”

The roar of the trolls dulled to a hum beneath the craze in his wild eyes. He picked up his swords and stalked for Tarn. “Now I finally understand why you were a curse on our lives. He won’t stop trying to kill us until you’re dead. For your family, you have to die!”

Lord Morken screamed bellowed and swung. Dyna cried out as the blades came for Tarn’s head. He parried with his sword, but he retreated instead of advancing, scared and confused. Lord Morken bellowed and brought down his blades, breaking Tarn’s in half. His next swing sliced through Tarn’s side.

He fell to the mud, scrambling back. “Father, please.”

Lord Morken’s mouth twisted with disgust. “You were never my son.”

Tarn looked up at the man who beat and molded who he was from his own hatred and finally accepted that truth. Lord Morken raised his sword for the final blow and Tarn threw out his hands. Streams of ice shot out and pierced through his armor like massive spears, protruding from his back.

The Lord gaped down at himself. Blood spurted from his mouth and he dropped heavily to his knees. “This…is why he wants you gone…” He let out a wet bitter laugh. “You’re…the next Ice Phoenix.”

Then he dropped dead in the mud. Tarn stared at Lord Morken, his hands trembling, too numb to notice the shadow of a troll falling over him.

Tarn! Dyna screamed.

Throwing himself out of the way, he grabbed Lord Morken’s sword and shoved the blade through its jaws. Tarn staggered to his feet, tripping as he stumbled away from the beast.

“Captain!” A knight grabbed his arm and hauled him for the gates.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting out of here. Azurite is lost, sir!”

“Stop, go back!” Tarn turned to see more trolls storming through the town. “No—”

Dyna watched helplessly as he was thrust through the gates with a stampede of knights and beasts. It regurgitated him outside into the forest. The men ran for their lives all around him, forgetting the town they swore to protect. Panic and survival were all that drove them now.

Lord Conaghan shouted in the distance for the men to hold the line.

Groaning in pain, Tarn’s gloved hand pulled away wet from his wounded side. Someone’s scream for help abruptly cut off and Dyna knew she’d already seen this part of his past. Tarn ran with the heavy sword, not knowing which direction was home. She gagged on the smell of rotting flesh in the summer heat and swamp stench of the trolls.

A knight caught up to Tarn only to be crushed by a troll’s massive fist.

Tarn fell back on his hands and feet, scrambling to get away from the enormous creature. Its three-fingered clawed hand snatched him from the ground. He cried out and struck the creature but the sword bounced off the plates on its body. He couldn’t reach the only soft spot beneath their jaws. The troll’s teeth crunched through Tarn’s armor and he screamed, blood spraying free. Two more trolls came, each fighting to get a bite of him.

Dyna stifled a whimper as they began to eat him alive.

Von came tearing out of the trees. He leaped up and drove his knives into the massive troll’s eyes. Down it went, tearing Tarn from the hold of the others. Von moved deftly in no armor, evading the trolls trying to grab him. He tossed out more knives, each one perfectly hitting their eyes. They bellowed from the pain, left blinded. He quickly slit their throats, then ran to Tarn.

“Von…” He lay there, shaking as he bled out. “You saved me…”

“I relieve you of your debt. Now get up!” Von hauled him to sit and shoved a red capsule into his mouth. Yunnan, Dyna recognized. Xián Jīng medicine to halt internal hemorrhaging and alleviate pain. He quickly dumped a powder over Tarn’s wounds, and it stopped the bleeding. “You have to get up, Tarn!”

“Aisling.” He collapsed against him, his eyes rolling. “Aisling.”

Von hauled him to his feet. “If you want to see her again, you need to move!”

Once Tarn got his bearings, they fought their way desperately through the Horde. They rounded up the remaining knights, and they worked as a team to kill the trolls one by one. But for every felled beast, they lost men until it was only them standing in the forest of bodies in the sunset. Every part of them layered in sludge, blood, and troll guts. They leaned against each other, dragging their feet.

“Keep moving,” Von panted. “Once we reach Azurite we will be safe.”

“The trolls got through. They breached the gates.”

Von jerked to a stop. “What do you mean? How?”

“You didn’t know?” Tarn looked down at Von’s torn clothing, then back to his face. “You’re not wearing armor, and you weren’t with the unit. Where were you when the horns rang?”

He looked away from him.

Tarn scowled. “You were deserting.”

“Look around you!” Von waved at the dead. “That could have been me or you lying there. I never asked to be a knight. I won’t want it. I want a life that is mine!”

Dyna sighed sadly, realizing why Von had reacted the way he did when she said the same thing.

“So you turned your back on your vow to the God of Urn and left your post at the wall.” Tarn straightened. “How long had you gone through the gates before you heard the call?”

“What are you saying?”

“How long?” Tarn shouted, grabbing his tunic.

“I don’t know. Fifteen minutes perhaps?” Von stared back at him, shaking his head. “I ran back as soon as I heard. But I had locked the gates behind me, Tarn. I swear I did.”

But all the King needed was an opportunity.

The town wall came into view. Tarn dashed for it, and they followed. When they crossed the gates, Von slowed at the sight of burning houses, bodies scattered everywhere. Even from the bottom, Dyna could see Tarn’s estate engulfed in a plume of fire. Black smoke billowed out of it, spanning the sky.

Tarn kept sprinting up the hill to it. His manservant lay in the grass, ripped in two. A choked sound left his throat when he saw the broken door splintered from the frame, smoke spilling out of it.

Dread built in Dyna’s chest. Don’t go.

Tarn tripped up the stone steps to the broken doorway and stopped short. She didn’t need to see his face to know what he saw. He fell against the wall, no longer able to hold himself up. The ceiling groaned as fire roared over it. Dyna slowly came up behind him as he sank in a pool of thick blood glinting orange. It soaked through the floorboard, coating his pants.

Aisling lay there in the hall. Her beautiful, golden brown curls splayed around her head, painted red. Her stomach…was torn open. Tarn’s shaking hands reached out to her still face, hovering over her empty eyes. Dyna heard his screams though he never made a sound. It was his soul crying out as the last of it died inside.

Von ran through the doorway. “Did you find her? Is she….” He froze. “Aisling…”

“You did this,” Tarn croaked shakily, his fingers curling through the thick blood. “You did this. You.”

Von shook his head, choking on a sob. He covered his face as his body shook. “I’m sorry,” he wept. “I’m so sorry.”

“They are all dead because of you!” But the look contorting Tarn’s face. It was shock. Devastation. Loss. Guilt. He hardly noticed Von there. He wasn’t speaking to him.

Von staggered outside and dropped to the muddy hill. His body bowed with wretched sobs as he looked out at the town rendered a mass grave. Buildings were torn down. Bodies left ravaged to pieces. And his home below the rise was a torch of flame. It was all gone.

Everyone was dead.

He threw back his head and screamed at the hazy sky. His screams tore at Dyna’s heart, each one echoed through the air choked with smoke. She cried with him, wishing to take away this agony engulfing him. Tears left paths on his face stained with dried blood and mud. When Von could scream no more, he curled on the ground.

“Please…please…” His hoarse voice weakly begged the God of Urn to forgive him as the sun sank on the horizon. Rain clouds rolled overhead and thunder rumbled in the distance.

Dyna gasped at the sight of a troll bumbling through the town. There was still one left. Panic shot through her when it spotted Von and charged. She reached for him but her hands past him, because this was only a memory.

Von, get up! She shouted.

He watched it come, not bothering to move. The brokenness on his face reminded her of Zev, and she knew, after everything, Von didn’t care to live anymore. The beast snatched his limp body in the air and opened its jaws, reflecting another moment of her past like this.

Von!

Steel flashed through the troll’s arm. Blood spurted, and he hit the ground with the bloodied limb. The troll’s pained roar ripped through Dyna’s ears. Tarn leaped into the air and swept Lord Morken’s sword through its neck. Off came the head, wetly plopping on the ground. He snapped out a kick at the headless troll and sent it tumbling over the hill.

“You have no right to throw away your life,” Tarn said, his voice layered with ice. “It belongs to me now. No gods will hear you, Von. The fates have forsaken you. There is only one penance for your sins. From this day forward, you will serve with your life in payment for what you have taken from me, as the holy law demands. Until that debt is paid.”

Von stared at him, his breaths shuddering. Wobbling onto his knees, he closed his eyes in acceptance and bowed.

“Yes…Master.”