Terys let out a shrill, night-owl laugh. "Alive, of course. How could I die before watching you two whores weep every last tear? These past days, I've been nice and comfortable down in the ship's hold. All thanks to those wooden-headed puppets who only know how to patch timbers instead of searching every dark corner."
He yanked Janice hard, shaking her like a trophy. The girl whimpered in pain and fear.
At the vile insult—and at the thought that this snake had been lurking aboard all along—Jaelena shook with fury, her sword tip aimed straight at him. "Terys, you cowardly deserter! Let go of my sister, or—"
"Or what?" Terys jeered. The sword in his hand pressed deeper, a bead of blood rolling down Janice's neck. "Or you'll do what, exactly? Wait for your Eastern sorcerer to come play hero? Tsk, tsk…" His eyes gleamed with cruel delight. "I'd wager he's getting a warm welcome from those beasts spilling out of the Fourteen Flames right now. He can barely save himself, let alone you. Hahaha!"
Jaelena's heart dropped. So he knew Lo Quen was fighting the monsters.
She forced herself steady. "Release her, Terys. By my honor as a warrior, I swear I'll let you go."
"Pah!" Terys spat, laughing wildly. "Jaelena, drop the act. I know you too well. The thing you treasure most in this life—what is it, if not this soft little sister of yours with hair so bright it blinds?"
He jerked Janice's hair tighter, and she screamed.
"Her life hangs on my blade! Want her to live?" His eyes gleamed with greed. "Then drop your sword! Hand over the dragon egg! Show me mercy for once, and I'll spare you both!"
The dragon egg. Jaelena instantly grasped his true goal.
"Sister, no—ahhh!" Janice's cry broke off in agony as Terys pressed harder. Blood trickled down her white throat in a scarlet line.
The sight pierced Jaelena's heart like a dagger, pain almost choking her. She would never allow anyone to harm Janice.
"Do it, Jaelena!" Terys roared, his voice ragged with madness. "Give me the egg! That damned Eastern thief stole Tyria's last treasure, and you two? Wagging your tails like bitches for him! You're traitors to Tyria, a disgrace to Valyria!"
Jaelena didn't move, her voice cold and sharp as steel. "Traitors? You, Terys? You who abandoned our home and fled alone? You dare speak of traitors? Where were you when the Scaled Claws tore Tyria apart? Hiding like a rat in some hole, shivering? Now that Tyria is ash and ruin, you crawl out barking like a cur. That Eastern thief you curse—he's the one who dragged us from the Scaled Claws' claws. He saved hundreds of our kin. He is ten thousand times more noble than filth like you, who think only of your own skin and lie with every breath."
At her words, Terys showed no shame. His expression twisted with scorn. "Saved? Noble? Foolish woman. Open your eyes! Do you think the Scaled Claw Legion struck Tyria for no reason?"
"Those beasts have haunted the Deadwood for centuries, rarely nearing cities. But soon after that damned Eastern sorcerer stepped into Tyria, they came in swarms. It was him. He brought them. He's the true cause of Tyria's fall. He killed them all!"
Jaelena's heart jolted as if struck by a hammer.
She had wondered it before, burying the thought deep inside. Now, laid bare, the doubt flickered again.
But in an instant, loyalty surged up from the depths of her soul and crushed it.
She was a Flame Knight. Her spirit already bore Lo Quen's mark.
Even if Terys spoke the truth—even if Lo Quen truly was a star of doom—she could not betray him.
That loyalty had become instinct.
Jaelena steadied her heart. A cold light sparked in her eyes as she seized on the flaw in his claim. "The Bloodmage demanded outsiders be brought to Tyria. Even if he hadn't come willingly, I would have taken him there. The Bloodmage tormented him endlessly, yet he never blamed us. Instead, he saved us—and carried the survivors to Oros for shelter."
Her voice hardened. "But what about you? Where did the outsiders you took vanish to? You hid behind lies of 'Firewyrm infestation,' until I found the Bloodmage's bloody notes in the tower. Those poor souls were sacrificed alive. And the Tyrians who went missing? You spread the lie they were taken by the Scaled Claws. Terys, you monster in human skin, feeding your foul desires with the blood and flesh of your own people—what right do you have to speak of Tyria to me?"
Exposed at last, Terys's grin twisted more grotesque. "You're wrong. Those sacrifices were a necessary cost. Valyria was built on blood magic. Now that it crumbles, only blood magic in its purest form can make it rise again."
His eyes fixed on her. "The dragon egg! Tell me how that Eastern sorcerer turned into a dragon! Dragons are the mark of the Dragonlord's blood—the highest authority! He must have stolen Valyria's lost power, stolen its forbidden magic! With his secret of dragon-shifting, with these eggs hatched, we can rebuild the Dragonlord's realm. Restore Valyria's glory!"
"You're mad, Terys!" Jaelena spat, fury tightening her grip on the blade.
And in that moment, when Terys sank deepest into his delusion, his guard at its weakest—
A wet thud rang out.
The sound of steel piercing flesh, sharp and unmistakable.
The manic joy froze on Terys's face, shattering like clay struck with a hammer.
A white-hot pain tore through the back of his exposed thigh.
He looked down in shock.
Janice clutched a dagger—he had no idea where she had gotten it—and with every ounce of her strength, she had driven it deep into the bend of his knee while he raged at Jaelena.
Blood burst like a fountain, scalding hot, splattering over her hands and staining his leg armor crimson.
"Argh!" Terys let out a beast's howl of pain, his grip on Janice loosening instinctively.
An opening!
In that split second, Jaelena struck.
Her body became a streak of silver lightning. The Valyrian steel blade tore through the air, carrying all her pent-up fury and the unyielding resolve to protect her sister, shrieking as it fell.
A single flash of steel—then silence.
Terys's head, twisted with pain and shock, flew high into the air in a spray of hot blood.
His massive, headless body stood rigid for a heartbeat before crashing onto the cramped deck, blood spilling fast across the filthy boards.
Janice collapsed to the floor, gasping for air, her hand still locked tight around the blood-soaked dagger.
Jaelena stepped forward and pulled her trembling sister into her arms, the steel sword slipping from her hand and clattering into the spreading pool of blood.