Through Verdant Mirrors by Ela Bambust

Author:Ela Bambust
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ela Bambust
Published: 2023-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

Rule of Three

A second arrow whistled through the air, but Vera saw it coming this time. Time seemed to almost slow down as she saw the projectile’s trajectory, and she only had to shift in her seat to let it fly past her.

“Off the horses!” Clarus said. He didn’t need to explain more. While three horse-mounted fighters could easily run down an opponent on foot, not all of them would be able to dodge an arrow like Vera had. Especially if fired with that much precision. All four of them jumped off their mounts, Vera drawing her short sword.

Rubicus had been carrying his own weapons, strapping them to his saddlebags. It couldn’t be comfortable, for him or Flaveo, but he was still clearly hesitant to trust her with keeping them. For a moment he was just an old man, hesitant to draw his sword, but once he’d brandished the blade and raised the buckler, all that reluctance melted away, and he was a warrior again.

Flaveo just drew a small dagger, but she knew that was far from the only blade he had on him. He’d be hanging back, since he didn’t have most of his magic to rely on. “Careful,” Rubicus said as he raised the small shield, moving forward.

The figure under the tree was hard to make out, barely silhouetted against the surrounding landscape, but Vera recognised it clearly as Caerella nonetheless. She saw the figure nock an arrow and let it fly. Clarus struck it out of the air with practised precision. Vera knew most people wouldn’t be able to pull such a feat off, but even without Aesling’s help, the Prince was more capable than his demeanour would let on.

Caerella was clearly testing them, and the next arrow would likely strike at Rubicus or Flaveo. Vera looked at the Prince, and they nodded at each other, putting themselves between Caerella and the two older men, before advancing. Their opponent would find her attacks fruitless if she continued attacking like this, and she seemed to realise it.

Tossing the bow aside with careless disregard, Caerella retrieved a pair of axes — one large battle-axe and one hand-axe — from the foot of the tree and began to approach them. Vera looked around at the others, and they spread out. There were four of them and one of her. The problem, of course, wasn’t subduing her. It was doing so without her killing any of them, and the closer the figure came, the clearer it became that the thing that had been Caerella was no longer human, and had not an ounce of pity or mercy to spare. It was her eyes and the inky nothing contained within them that chilled Vera to the bone.

“You can do this,” Ash said. Vera just swallowed and nodded. She hoped it would be enough. Caerella was only a few dozen feet away now, and Rubicus began to speak. Clarus interrupted him.

“Remember, we may only be able to surprise her into stumbling once,” he

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