So, it has no loyalty to any master.
She screeches, grabbing at her leg, then breaking into a run toward the lake. The monster darts after her, but Caspian jumps, spearing a thorn through its flank. I’m not sure who this woman is to him, but it’s obvious he doesn’t want her dead.
Though unfortunately, his little rescue attempt has set the creature’s sights on what he had been protecting. Rosalina.
It lunges, petal mouth hissing. Keldarion grabs Rosalina around the waist and Caspian by the shirt and tugs them out of the way. The creature dives into the dirt.
Farron and I rush forward, magic on our fingertips. But Ezryn strikes first, driving his blade deep into the creature’s mouth.
There’s a terrible gushing sound. Ezryn pulls to retrieve his sword, but it doesn’t budge. He cries out, dropping his hand, as Windscythe is eaten away by acid.
“He loves that sword. My father gave it to him,” Farron pants, shooting a fireball.
The creature whips its tail and snares Ezryn around the waist, lifting the Spring Prince with great ease, and dangling him above its waiting acidic maw.
“Ezryn!” I yell.
A shadow swoops in from above, black cloak billowing. A sword smashes down upon the creature’s back. It squeals in pain and drops Ezryn.
Kairyn lands in a crash and holds out his hand to his brother.
The brother whose life he just saved.
57
Rosalina
The monster lifts its head, shaking off the blow Kairyn dealt. But if Farron’s magic can’t stop this thing, what can?
Kel releases his hold on Caspian and me. His sword moves at a rapid pace as he blocks a slash from the rat’s tail. Blood seeps through my bind around Caspian’s shoulder, but otherwise he seems unharmed.
“Can you do it to this creature?” I ask.
He blinks at me.
“That magic with the green flames?”
A strange expression flashes across his face as he says lowly, “Aren’t you terrified?”
My hand closes over my thorn bow. “Right now, I’m more terrified of that thing.”
Caspian gives a reluctant cough as black coats his lips. His eyes look hollow. Whatever source of magic he called on, it’s now depleted.
Kel dodges another lunge from the rat and casts a look at Caspian. “You need to go back to the Below. And take her with you.” Kel inclines his head toward the Nightingale, who huddles at the edge of the lake, clutching her leg.
Caspian shakes his head. “You don’t understand. You won’t be able to kill this thing, not as your magic is now. With Castletree so weak.”
“And whose fault is that, thorn boy?” Dayton sneers, shifting a tunnel of water from the lake to strike the monster.
“You need to retreat,” Caspian says slowly, and the intensity of the words fills me with an unsettling fear.
Ezryn holds one of Dayton’s swords and slices the end of the tail. He whirls to us. “It’s too close to Florendel. I can’t risk it making its way there.”
“I won’t leave you,” I yell back at him, standing. “And I won’t leave the Spring Realm in danger.”
“We stand with you, High Prince Ezryn,” Farron says lowly, his eyes flashing as a column of fire singes one of the monster’s front legs. But he can’t burn it fast enough before the creature regenerates.
“I am always with you, Ez,” Kel barks, then gestures at the bow in my hands. “Ready to show me what you learned with that thing, Rose?”
“Right.” I draw my bow and pluck a crafted arrow from my wrist, nocking it. Slowly, I inhale, letting the breath flow through me. Then I shoot. The arrow sails true and embeds into the creature’s left eye. It rears, shaking its paws and hissing.
“Stand together, fall together,” Caspian says, coughing as more black goo trails out of his nose.
But he hasn’t left either.
We surround the rat, keeping it at bay with our magic and weapons. Though this thing seems tireless, with all of us together, I know we can defeat it.
There’s a shriek, and I turn. Kairyn has made his way to the edge of the lake, and he has the Nightingale held up by her throat, her legs kicking wildly.
“You almost killed the High Prince of Spring,” he snarls.
She kicks violently, clawing at him like a wildcat.
“Don’t touch my sister,” Caspian growls, and weak as his magic is, a torrent of thorns sprouts from the ground. They strike Kairyn in the chest, spraying blood and hurtling him back against the bark of the willow tree. The rest of the thorns wrap around the Nightingale and drag her down in a familiar cast of shadows and briars. “Fly away while you can, Birdy.”
“Kairyn!” Ezryn roars and rushes toward them. For a single moment, he pauses by the sword of his mother embedded in the tree. Will he take it? But he tightens his grip on Dayton’s blade and charges.
Charges toward Caspian.
Of all the …! My frustration grows. I throw my bow over my chest and let vines grow from my bracelets and burrow into the ground, feeling each one as an extension of myself.
“Enough!” I yell. The thorns sprout up, creating a barrier between Caspian and Ezryn. “We have enough problems with the giant rat!”
Something sharp grabs me around the waist, and I’m flung into the air. The rat’s tail. I yowl in pain as the serrated edges rip my dress and pierce my skin. Blood blossoms from the wounds. The ground swirls until I’m hovering right above the creature’s gaping maw.
“Rosalina!” five voices yell.
An explosion of magic hurtles toward me. Salt-crested wind knocks the creature back, followed by a whirl of fire, a slash to its gut—and then it’s like we’ve been transported to the Winter Realm. A torrent of hail and ice spreads over the creature’s tail. It shrieks and I fall.
Then a thorn wraps around me, holding me up. Gritting his teeth, Caspian leads the vine down toward him, and instinctively I wrap my arms around his waist, grateful to be on solid ground again.
I feel something beneath the folds of his tunic, the shape of a familiar notebook. “You keep this with you?”
He glances across the battlefield, gaze landing on Farron. “I never know when I need to add something to the ‘Things That Make Me Happy’ page. I was going to add man-eating rat weed, but—”
“Planty Ratty!” Dayton yells, slicing deeply into the creature’s back.
“Well, now I’m reconsidering my stance on Planty Rattys.” He smiles, and even crusted in black goo, it’s a beautiful sight.
His gaze drops to my mouth, then to my wrist, and I realize I still haven’t let him go.
“Now is definitely not the time or place,” I mean to sneer, but it comes out a breathy sigh.
He raises a dark brow. “But battlefield kisses are your speciality. Must be the rot on my lips. Fear it may ruin your complexion?”
The ground shakes, and we fall apart. I half land in the lake. The creature has Caspian now, wrapped in its tail. The second tail that grew after Farron’s flaming attack now has the Autumn Prince tight in its grasp.