apotropaeussss

En is a weapon. Battle spells are carved into her skin, she’s trained to work through pain, and she’s magically compelled with loyalty to the archmagi. When she's sent on a mission to retrieve a group of infamous traitors from exile in a land of unpredictable and deadly magic, she's forced to team up with a common soldier to have any chance of success, or survival.

Tamol is a disaster. En isn’t fooled by the soldier’s silver tongue and good looks. Tamol is flighty, cowardly and the worst soldier En has ever met. But she’s also brilliant at magic and kinder than En has any right to expect. When she saves En’s life, it takes everything En has not to start falling for her. That is, until En discovers Tamol is one of the very traitors she seeks.

The empire never forgets. Years ago, the exiled traitors were just normal students with a vision for a better kingdom. They put their lives on the line fighting for it and lost. So they were exiled to the Far Peninsula to die. But now, the empire discovers the traitors may yet live, and they’ve unearthed something in the wilderness that the archmagi will pay any price to get.

But the might of an unforgiving empire isn’t the greatest force in all the land. Something monstrous is living in the Far Peninsula that does not discriminate between soldiers, traitors, and kings.

HE SENT ME TO A KING FROM HIS OLD GLORY DAYS CAMPAIGN

A MINOR NAME, BUT ALL HIS PEOPLE TOLD HIM 

HIS SON WOULD BRING HIM HONOR BY AND BY

IN DUE TIME

WELL, YOU STARED LIKE ALL THE OTHERS BUT YOU LOOKED ME IN THE EYE

AND I WATCHED YOU RUN LIKE SUNLIGHT ON THE RIVER WHEN IT’S HIGH

NOW I RUN WITH YOU AND THE PEOPLE WATCH ME, TOO

BUT I CAN’T SAY WHAT IT IS THEY HOPE TO FIND

WE TALK OF THE LIVES WE COULD LEAD SIDE BY SIDE

AND THERE’S SO MANY THINGS WE COULD BE, YOU AND I

BUT IF YOU AND I WERE RIVERS

WOULD YOU LET ME RUN ON PAST YOU?

IF WE WERE TWO HORSES

WOULD THEY THINK I WAS YOUR SHADOW?

THEY DON’T KNOW, THEY DON’T KNOW MY STRENGTH 

THEY’LL WATCH ME RUN, THEY’LL WATCH ME RUN, THEY’LL WATCH ME RUN SOMEDAY

OH, DO YOU SEE MY STRENGTH?

OR WILL YOU ONLY SEE IT ON THE DAY I RUN AWAY?

I RUN AWAY

I RUN AWAY

"BUT I NEVER WILL TURN AROUND

SO THE BOYS BECAME MEN, AND THE YEARS TURNED TO SMOKE

AND HE DRINKS HIS DEFIANCE FROM THE WELL WHICH WAS HOPE

AND IF HE WERE TO TELL ME THAT HE’S SCARED TO DIE

AND I LAUGH, WHO IS THE COWARD—HIM OR I?

I CALL YOU MY BROTHER, I POUR YOU MY WINE

OUT THERE IN THE FIELD, YOUR BLOOD MIXES WITH MINE

IF I WERE TO TELL YOU TO LAY DOWN AND DIE

AND YOU REFUSE ME, ARE YOU THE TRAITOR, OR AM I?

HERE IN THE DARKNESS WE FIGHT TRAVELING ON TOWARDS THE LIGHT AND WE HAVE TO CARRY ON

‘CAUSE IF I LINGER TOO LONG ON ALL OF THE THINGS THAT SEEM WRONG

I’LL LOOK BACK AND I’LL FIND HER GONE

THOUGH I WONDER IS IT WORSE TO DIE IN A DISTANT LAND

WORSE THAN TO RETURN AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT MAN?

THE VOICES SPEAK SO LOUD