Chapter 62

Recovering from his bite, Kazhimyr can finally stand. Dravien, restless and eager to quit the tavern before General Loyce detects him, outlines a plan: Kazhimyr and Ravezio will distract the guards while Dravien steals horses, then rendezvous in woods toward Costelwick. Ravezio notes a brothel killing by flammellians and wonders if it links to the hunted woman.

Outside, Kazhimyr and Ravezio stage a bawdy argument to occupy the horse guards while Dravien circles behind. The taunts nearly turn violent when the guards insult Ravezio, stirring Kazhimyr’s anger. Ravezio refocuses him on their larger mission—stopping whatever Dolion unleashed—before they head to the rendezvous point.

At the woods, they find horses but no Dravien, and fresh blood nearby. Distant cries draw them to a clearing where Dravien is bound by barbs before General Loyce and a Bellatryx. Dravien stalls with lies—claiming Dolion is dead and that Zevander hunts Captain Zivant by royal order—while the guards stand watch.

Choosing to pay their debt to Dravien, Kazhimyr and Ravezio launch an ambush. Kazhimyr freezes two guards to the ground, and Ravezio decapitates one. In the melee, the Bellatryx hurls Kazhimyr back, but he blasts her away with Aeryz, then immobilizes her in frost and activates a lysing glyph, rupturing her from within.

As Loyce holds a blade to Dravien’s throat, Kazhimyr threatens to liquefy her organs. Before she can cut deeper, Ravezio’s thrown dagger severs her vitaelis vein. Loyce collapses, bleeding out. Kazhimyr and Ravezio free Dravien from the barbed bindings; wounded but alive, he quips about not repeating his venom-sucking rescue. The trio retreats to the horses and flees into the forest, their escape secured but certain to draw the Solassion army’s ire.