Chapter 46 Azahara #2
“Why the crown?” she asked Illyan.
“It represents leadership, strength to do what is hard, and that you love the people around you. You would rather see yourself fall than them. While you are no royal, you would make an amazing ruler.”
She hadn’t been too sure about that last part. The last thing she wanted was the responsibility of millions. She wasn’t anyone’s keeper.
Karver met her eyes then. “I’m with you. We can use the terrain on the south to make our way through.”
Kaed was north of them, but he was furthest in line to fight. That would be her timer, where the hourglasses sand stopped falling when they reached him.
She and Karver had ventured to the southernmost point of the battle, where the tree line converged with the daunting meadows upon which the conflict unfolded.
No one ever talked about the sounds of war.
The cutting of flesh was constant, ripping and tearing beneath the plated armor that seemed useless against the jagged weapons of the Gorruk.
On both sides, the screams of agonizing pain rang out just before Death came to claim their souls.
The howls of victory accompanied a sword thrust downward, silencing the whimpers for mercy and pleas for help.
Those sounds would haunt her if she survived this.
“Come on, we can use a buster over here for cover,” Karver called to her, a welcome distraction.
“Buster?” she asked as their steady pace had turned into an almost run as they hurried. Seeing that the front line was being pushed back so hard, they didn’t feel they had much time.
“It’s like a canal, but merchants use it to travel safely from the sea to the kingdom with their goods. Nowadays, some guards assist them through the lands before the city of Ocasio Solis, or what is now known as Sunfall Landing.”
“Ahh—” She had never noticed it before, but as they approached, she saw why. It was just a dug-out open passageway in the ground. It was probably ten feet deep and nearly invisible to the eye if you weren’t looking for it or about to fall into it.
Karver jumped in, landing steadily and raising his hand to assist her. She leaped down, not taking his hand. Her legs were strong, firmly planting her on the ground.
“My apologies.” He withdrew his hand.
They both resumed their run, Karver in front of her, but she noticed how slow they were going. “Can you run faster?” she asked; his head glanced back at her, then looked forward again.
“Yes.” She swore she saw a smile creep onto his face.
“Don’t hold back. I’ll keep up.”
That was all the direction he needed, and he pushed ahead. Their bodies both propelled forward with relentless speed.
They synchronized with nearly perfectly timed steps as they raced side by side. Both moved fluidly, almost gracefully. While Azahara began to pull ahead of Karver, she knew that if he didn’t have a full suit of armor, he would have no problem keeping up with her.
This buster could have taken them all the way to the sea, but they didn’t want that. After no time at all, Karver put his hand out to stop them.
Both of them took steady breaths, and it seemed as if their athletic sprint fazed neither of them. “The battle sounds are nearly behind us.” The plan had been to move backward toward their group from Thall’s army’s furthest point.
She was convinced that he would be in the thick of the fight, but the risk of being seen and in the heaviest part of the fighting, Karver didn’t know if he could protect her.
Karver put his hands together for her to put her foot into them, and he threw her up with no effort. She landed gracefully and turned back, ready to assist him. Instead, he stepped back, leaped up, and power posed in front of her. What the—
He looked down at her hand as he stood.
“Sorry,” she muttered.
Winking at her, he led them back towards the battlefield. The smell was so overwhelming that she didn’t have to question if they were going in the right direction. She nearly gasped when she laid her eyes on the once vibrant and alive landscape.
The aftermath of just the initial fight there was painted with blood. The echoes of the battle still lingered. Distant cries of wounded soldiers and soft moans formed a haunting chorus. While most of Thall’s army pushed forward, several creatures remained, silencing the calls for help.
Karver stood before her then, blocking her view and placing his hands over her ears. “We got this. Take deep breaths.”
Taking in a deep intake of air, she held it momentarily, thinking of ending and releasing this senselessness. Jayce, I can see why you sent him to me. Thank you. She thought, and wanted nothing more than to apologize to him for being so hostile.
Giving him a nod, he released her and led her back west, where the thick of the battle was. The rising sounds of metal on metal indicated as much.
There would be no way for them to safely maneuver between the chaos to see if Thall was in the thick of the fight. Karver let out a slew of curse words as realization hit him.
She even went as far as to climb the trees, but none of them truly gave a good advantage point, and while she could see over the current battle that spanned hundreds of miles, the carnage was too great.
After climbing about a dozen trees, she landed and let out a contained scream. Her fingers ran through her hair, and her body trembled. “Where the hell is he?!” She was frustrated, and visibly, so was Karver.
“Let’s go back. We can run straight from here; no point in getting in the—” Karver stopped talking, and she quickly turned. Just as she did, his blade was slipping from his sheath and clashing with the jagged edge of a Gorruk’s weapon.
Without hesitation, she pulled out one of her daggers, flicking the blade between her fingertips, and threw it through the air. The guttural sound of it meeting flesh rang, followed by the howling cries of pain as the dagger sunk deep through its eye and into its brain.
It stumbled, and Karver used it to his favor, sliding the Gorruk’s blade away and removing its head with one fatal swing.
Azahara ran to him, her hands moving from his chest to his arms. “Are you okay?!” She was panicked, her entire body vibrating with both adrenaline and terror.
Karver was taken aback, his free hand coming up and gripping her arm. She looked up at him, and the shock on his face softened. “Answer me!” She nearly screamed.
“I’m… fine.” His throat shifted noticeably as he swallowed. “Thank you.”
She knew it wasn’t time for embracing, but she did it anyway. The cry of the Gorruk would call more, but she would have a panic attack if she didn’t feel for herself. His heart was racing under his armor, and she felt his arm come around her briefly. Thank you… thank you… thank you…
“Good… good… good…” Her hyperventilating broke up her words.
“We need to go now!” he said with force.
She didn’t wait for him to pull away; her body instinctively did it for her. Rushing to the head of the Gorruk, which had rolled several feet away, she grabbed the hilt of her dagger and kicked it loose, sending the head rolling directly toward the dozen Gorruk now charging straight at them.
They raced off, heading back in the direction they had originally come from. Her heart was racing, and she felt the blood in her veins pumping straight to it. The ground below her shook with such force it imitated a quake.
It would be no problem to outrun them if it were just the Gorruk that were behind them. In front, moving to cut them off, were two Gorruk and a Ghoul.
The Ghoul crawled on all fours, slithering faster than the Gorruk.
It was that of the undead, brought back by black Magic in a failed attempt to resurrect the dead.
Its humanoid appearance, with gray skin and jagged teeth, was straight out of her nightmares.
The only thing they lived for was to kill.
They had no need for food or sleep. They were not necessarily strong creatures but were still vicious if their daggered teeth got into them.
Karver tried to push ahead of her, but she wasn’t going to be the helpless girl that once would have let him save her.
Her hand wrapped around the grip of the sword Jayce had given her and slid it from its sheath.
The blade did not shine in the sun’s light, but sucked in its heat.
The blade’s deep, dark gray color was unlike anything she had ever seen.
She wanted to inspect it more closely, but time was not on her side.
Charging ahead of Karver, she intercepted the Ghoul as it launched toward her.
Her hands firmly gripped the weapon, swinging it downward swiftly and severing its head.
Though her strength was not enough to slice it in two, the opposing forces of their momentum collided with devastating impact, instantly killing the creature.
Karver brushed past her, his sword finding one of the Gorruk’s that rounded towards her, and sliced his blade across its throat. Blood poured from it as it fell back with a thud.
They both moved towards the last in their way and brought it down with minimal effort as if they had been trained every day of their lives together.
As she was on the balls of her feet, ready to run, she felt a warping of Magic behind her. This time, it wasn’t fear that drove her, but anger. She whipped around, finding a black portal with Thall standing before it. Except, he was not what she had remembered.
Nearly sickly looking, Thall’s complexion turned blue, with his veins popping from the skin, exposing its red and purple hues.
His eyes, the heterochromia condition, nearly faded as both eyes appeared to be hazed over with fog.
The Magic was consuming him. He wasn’t a strong enough host, it would seem.
Karver stood before her, his hands on his blade.
Thall stepped towards them, the Gorruk that chased them immobile as they stared towards them.
“You said…” His voice lacked the human, jovial person he had been in their first meeting. “To trust me, that I should tell you something that if you betrayed me, I would kill you. Do you remember that?”
Azahara put her hand on Karver’s arm and moved before him. Her body immolated power as if gravity around her were being slowly lifted. A white glow lit across her skin, and she could feel the flood of its strength just as she had back in Howl.
“I do.” Her voice inclined with an ethereal tone.
“I changed my mind.” She clenched her jaw and narrowed her eyes at him. “I won’t kill you.” An unfriendly smile wrapped his lips. “Not you, but him.”
Utter fear shot through her. Kaed. It got the reaction he wanted because he was instantly back within the portal, and the Gorruk behind charged toward them.
Her head snapped in the opposite direction, a surge of need compelling her to reach him. Bumps cascaded down her arms and legs as she swiftly pivoted, readying to run. Nothing else held significance in that moment. He was the one who mattered, above all. No one dared lay a hand on him.
The resounding clash of metal and Karver’s grunts drew her attention back to him. He bared his teeth at his attackers, determination in his eyes, and valiantly defended himself, parrying the strikes of two Gorruk blades with his sword.
“Go to him!” Karver screamed.
She had mere seconds to think.
Don’t make me choose—one heartbeat.
“Be happy, Azahara!”—two heartbeats.
Don’t make me choose—three heartbeats.
Tears brimmed at her eyes as she closed them, allowing the tears to fall. “It is okay to be scared, it isn’t okay to give up.”
“Shit!” Her feet planted, and she ran, her hand gripping at her blade, straight towards Karver and the Gorruks at this front and sides.
The aura around her was now brighter than before, and as her sword shot out, it bled into it, slicing through the monster’s thick skin like butter.
With a flick of her wrist, she brought the blade straight up, cutting the massive body in half.
She spun and landed a kick into the chest of the other Gorruk, attempting to take Karver from her, sending them so far that it disappeared from view in a matter of seconds.
As another Gorruk charged mere inches from her, she put a hand towards it and released a breath. A bright light sent tendrils of razor-sharp winds forward, slicing and sending it back in pieces.
There were too many of them, and it looked like Thall’s entire army had turned and were now charging toward them.
“Why…” Karver stood with his back against hers, his hand finding hers and intertwining their fingers. Unlike some who had been hesitant to touch her in this state, he showed no fear or reservation.
She didn’t respond; she just closed her eyes. Don’t give up. You can save them all. You can… you can…
As the encroaching forces threatened to overwhelm them, a blinding burst of light splashed across the desolate battlefield.
Emerging from behind the ethereal veil of the wether stood Illyan, and in their wake trailed a contingent of fellow Fae, a formidable assembly ready to join the fray.
Some were adorned in gleaming armor, their weapons glinting with an intimidating aura.
Others, with their magnificent wings fully extended, soared gracefully above the chaos of the battlefield.
Then, as if the air had been ripped from her throat, she stepped in her direction just as the portal closed behind her.
“Zhal…” Her voice resonated with a myriad of emotions.
She had come back for her.