Teres let out a strange, owl-like laugh. "Of course I'm alive. How could I die before watching you two bitches shed your last tears? I've spent the past few days tucked away nice and comfortable in the cargo hold at the bottom of the ship. All thanks to those wooden-headed puppets, too busy repairing the ship to search the nooks and crannies properly."
He smugly shook Janice in his grasp, and the girl let out a muffled whimper of pain and terror.
Hearing that vicious insult, and realizing this snake had been lurking aboard the ship all along, Jelena trembled with rage. She pointed her sword straight at Teres. "Teres, you deserter! Let my sister go, or else..."
"Or else?" Teres sneered, pressing the blade a little deeper. Beads of blood rolled down Janice's neck. "Or else what? Counting on that eastern Warlock of yours to come rescue the damsels in distress? Tsk, tsk, tsk..." He shook his head, his eyes gleaming with malicious delight. "My guess is he's enjoying a warm welcome from those monsters that flew out of the Fourteen Flames. He can barely save himself. Hahahaha..."
Jelena's heart sank. He really did know Liu Qian was holding off the monsters.
She forced herself to stay calm. "Let her go, Teres. I swear on my honor as a warrior that I'll let you leave."
"Pah!" Teres laughed wildly, spittle flying. "Spare me your sanctimonious act, Jelena! I know you too well. Isn't your greatest treasure in this world that soft-skinned little sister of yours, with hair so bright it dazzles the eyes?"
He abruptly tightened his grip on her hair, and Janice screamed in pain.
"Her life is hanging on the edge of my sword! Want her to live?" Greed flashed in Teres's eyes. "Drop your sword! Hand over the Dragon Eggs like a good girl! Then I might show a little mercy and spare you pretty sisters!"
The Dragon Eggs! Jelena instantly understood his ultimate goal.
"Sister! Don't... Aah-!" Janice had barely cried out when Teres pressed the blade harder again. Blood wound its way down her pale neck in a horrifying stream.
Jelena felt as though a blade had pierced her heart, the pain so fierce she could barely breathe. She would never allow anyone to hurt Janice!
"Hurry, Jelena!" Teres roared, looking utterly deranged. "Give me the Dragon Eggs! That damned eastern thief made off with Tyria's last wealth, and you sisters serve him like a pair of bitches wagging their tails and begging for scraps! You're traitors to Tyria, a disgrace to Valyria!"
Jelena did not move an inch, but her voice turned cold as poisoned steel. "Traitors? Teres, you coward who abandoned your home to save your own skin, how dare you even say that word? Where were you when Scaleclaws tore Tyria apart? Cowering in a hole like a rat? Now that Tyria has been burned to ashes, you come crawling out to bark and snarl! That eastern thief you keep talking about saved us from Scaleclaws's clutches. He saved hundreds of our people! He's ten thousand times nobler than a lying piece of filth who cares only about saving himself!"
Rather than showing shame, Teres's face twisted with contempt. "Saved you? Noble? Pah! You stupid woman, open your eyes! Why do you think the Scaleclaws Army came to Tyria?"
"Those monsters normally wander the Withered Woods. They barely come near a city once in centuries. Yet just after that damned eastern Warlock set foot in Tyria, they came swarming in from every direction. It was him! He brought the disaster upon us! He's the one responsible for Tyria's destruction! He's the one who got everyone killed!"
Jelena's heart shuddered violently, as though struck by a heavy hammer.
She had considered this question long ago, but had kept it buried in her heart, unwilling to speak of it. Now that Teres had laid it bare, a flicker of doubt passed through her.
But an irresistible torrent of loyalty surged from the depths of her soul, instantly sweeping away that fleeting struggle.
She was a Flame Knight. Liu Qian's mark had long since been branded upon her mind and will.
Even if Teres spoke the truth, even if Liu Qian really was the harbinger of their destruction, she could not turn her back on him.
That loyalty transcended judgment and had become instinct.
Jelena suppressed her churning emotions. A cold glint flashed in her eyes as she seized on the flaw in his words. "Bringing outsiders into Tyria was always the Blood Warlock's demand. Even if he hadn't come willingly, I would have brought him there. The Blood Warlock tried every means to harm him, yet he never took his anger out on us sisters. Instead, he saved us, then sent the survivors to Oros to seek refuge."
"And what about you? Where did all those outsiders you took away go? You always fobbed me off with lies about them dying from Fire Dragon Worm infestations, until I found the Blood Warlock's bloodstained notes in the secret chamber of the Wizard Tower. Those poor people were all sacrificed alive by the Blood Warlock. And whenever people from Tyria mysteriously disappeared, you lied and said Scaleclaws had taken them. Teres, you demon in human skin, you fed your filthy desires with the flesh and blood of your own people. What right do you have to speak to me about the people of Tyria?"
With his disguise stripped away completely, the mad smile on Teres's face only grew more twisted. "You're wrong. Those sacrifices were a necessary price," he said without any attempt to conceal it. "Valyria was built on the foundations of Blood Magic. Now that it has fallen, only the purest Blood Magic can bring about its rebirth in blood."
His gaze locked onto Jelena. "Give me the Dragon Eggs! Tell me why that eastern Warlock can turn into a dragon! The Great Dragon is the symbol of the Valyria Dragonlords' bloodline! It represents supreme power! He must have stolen our lost strength! Stolen the forbidden magic that belongs to Valyria! Once we learn the secret of his transformation and hatch these Dragon Eggs... we can rebuild the Dragonlords' realm and restore Valyria's glory!"
"You're mad, Teres!" Jelena snapped, veins bulging on the hand gripping her sword.
At that very instant, as Teres lost himself in his wild fantasies and let his guard slip.
Shhk!
The muffled sound of a blade piercing flesh rang out with startling clarity.
The grotesque ecstasy on Teres's face froze instantly, like a shattered clay figurine.
A piercing, bone-deep agony suddenly erupted from the unarmored back of his left thigh.
He looked down in disbelief.
Janice was clutching a dagger she had drawn from somewhere. While his heated confrontation with Jelena had distracted and agitated him, she had used every ounce of her strength to drive it deep into the back of his leg.
Scalding blood spurted out like a fountain, instantly staining Janice's hand and Teres's leg armor red.
"Aaaargh-!" Teres let out a beastlike howl of pain, and his grip on Janice instinctively loosened.
Now!
In that split second, Jelena moved.
Using Shadow Transformation, she
became a streak of silver lightning. Her Valyrian steel sword sliced through the air with a shrill scream, carrying her long-suppressed fury and her fierce resolve to protect her dearest kin.
The sword flashed, then was gone.
Teres's head, still contorted with pain and shock, flew high into the air amid a spray of hot blood.
His burly, headless body stood rigid for a moment before crashing onto the narrow cabin floor. Blood quickly spread, soaking the filthy boards.
Janice slid limply to the floor, gasping for breath, her hand still locked around the bloodstained dagger.
Jelena stepped forward and tightly embraced her sister's trembling body. Her steel sword fell into the pool of blood with a clang.
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