It'd been a long time since a bow trembled in his fingers, but the bowstring wobbled like it were in novice hands when he drew it tight. Adrenaline throttled his bloodstream, causing his heart to slam and a ringing to pierce his eardrums. Thalion was keenly aware of his own breathing, but little else. The rest of the noise of the chaos decreased to fuzzy background noise beneath the bellowing roar of the ringing. A sharp pain lanced through his head thereafter, blurring his vision like a bad curse. Blinking, he tried to force it away, to see clearly, but the balcony became a stone-coloured splash.
Muscles up his arm and across his chest ached with effort. It was only Minette's voice that managed to smash the ringing. He heard her call; his body went rigid and the shake in the strung bow relaxed. He held his weapon steady.
Above, things fell still. The dragons, called off their chase, landed on buildings and clung to them. Their massive bodies sprawled over them, hissing and growling with bellies glowing between the chunks of their scales. Evernight continues to pour through the lanced hole in the cloudy, swirling sky, and creatures circled and fled, but remained eerily quiet. Only the growl of the fires remained, for even the screams had subsided. Everyone had either fled in to the forests, or were dead.
On the balcony, the doors creaked open and the shadow of Thalia proceeded through them. She brushed a speck of dust from her shoulder and stepped into the burning light. The dragons hissed at the sight.
"Are you ready to bow down, child?" asked Thalia, her hands collecting at the center of her waist, laced together elegantly. "If you agree to abdicate now, to surrender, I shall make your death quick. I give my word."
Below, Thalion muttered. He crouched deeper against the fallen rubble he positioned himself behind, winking as his arrow aimed at the woman who was standing behind one of the pillars. "Move," he muttered below his breath, tightening his grip. He didn't have a clear shot. "Come on," he urged, still in a whisper. "One more step. Come on, damnit."
Someone must have heard his prayer, for his mother took one more step forward to rest her hands on the bannister, leaning forward to survey the damage. A deep exhale depressed his lungs and released the arrow. Whistling through the air, the arrow embedded into Thalia's chest with an audible thump. The force sent her staggering back, nearly plunging off her feet as she gazed down at the wooden shaft protruding from her chest. The arrow tip dug deep.
"A trap?" she wheezed. Both hands curled around the arrow and yanked until it pulled free with a bubble of blood, which dripped down her dress and stained black. "That is very clever, yet you choose such a rudimentary weapon?" she scoffed, letting the arrow roll off her palm and clatter on to the floor. "Don't make me laugh."
A second arrow followed the first, slicing through her arm but reflecting off and smashing into the back wall.
"You missed, Thalion," she called to him. "How useless you've become when with a mortal, human girl."
"I didn't miss," Thalion said as he stood, emerging from the pile of rubble. "You were the one who taught me blood is most powerful, right? That a Wichon's blood is the most powerful there is?"
"What did you do?" she shrieked, her voice rising.
"Pick up that arrow on the ground."
Thalia resisted, veins protruding from her neck with the effort, but she appeared possessed. Her fingers jostled as she gripped the bannister, trying to fight a great, compelling force within her.
"Pick up the arrow!" Thalion bellowed.
The intensity of his voice caused the witch to cry out, something against gravity shoving her as she picked up the arrow, stumbling to her knees. "Stop, stop!" she begged. "What are you doing? Stop!" Yet she held the arrow as though it glued to her palm, her fingers refusing to open despite her begging them to.
"Put it through your left eye and don't stop until you've reached the back of your skull."
"No, no, stop!" Thalia begged. The strength in her voice sapped, replaced instead with desperate shrieks. "Don't!" Her hand came up, facing the point of the arrow right to her left eye. "Stop!" she begged, though as she did, her hand jerked and she plunged the arrow into her eye with enough force that it sunk in deep.
As the woman crumbled to the floor in a pool of blood, Thalion winced like he felt the arrow himself.