Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
The walls surrounding us shook and quaked as water crashed against them from outside.
I backed up, though where I thought to run to was beyond me. Most of the Fae who were unable to fight had fled Cinder Vale the moment we’d realised the Void was coming for our newly-claimed stronghold.
Most. But not me.
I had ignored my Earl’s urgings to flee, instead taking up position in the heart of the castle he’d built here, unable to bear the thought of running while knowing he fought against such devastating odds.
Alestro had been thrown into one of the mechanical beasts which tore tunnels into the ground and returned to the safety of Avanis so that the secrets still locked within his mind were protected.
But for reasons unknown to me, my Earl had allowed me to make my own choice in the matter of staying here.
It had been clear he’d wished to see me safely away from the fight but I’d refused and he’d accepted my decision.
So now I stood with no company besides August who muttered curses into the shadows and kept himself firmly on the far side of the chamber to me. He stayed clear of the window but I did not. I couldn’t. I had to see.
My heart pounded in my chest, its frantic pace matching with the destructive force of our warriors as they fought with sword and axe, refusing to back down even as their power over the earth was stolen from them time and again.
Earl Tarlord was among them, holding fast in the front line, cutting down Raincarvers by the dozen, their blood coating him from head to toe.
I didn’t dare blink for fear I might miss the swing which ended his life, terror burning a path through me as I awaited the fate which seemed so inevitable but hadn’t come calling for him yet.
My eyes roamed all parts of the battlefield within the citadel and as I scoured the towering wall which ringed the castle I stood within, a gasp stalled in my chest. There she was. The Void.
Wind tore her long and curling hair away from her face, her features impossible to distinguish at this distance but the light glinted off of her green armour as she stood with her arms raised, that terrible power pouring from her.
Cascadian warriors were positioned all around her, defending her from every attack that shot her way.
I watched in hope as a legion of our Pegasuses and Manticores swept through the air towards her, keeping high to stay out of the line of her attack.
Their bellows and whinnies of pain cut the air in two as her protectors targeted them with spears of ice and blasts of water, knocking them from the sky one by one.
Their numbers fell from a hundred to fifty, to twenty, twelve, eight, three–
The last of them were almost upon the Void, a Manticore’s serpentine tail whipping out to strike at her and hope blossoming in my chest like a spring bloom. They were almost there, they’d made it, they were going to end this and finish her and–
The Void raised her head, her hands following the motion as her attention locked on the pair of Pegasuses and the Manticore who were moments from taking her life.
Power ripped into them and their Order forms were torn away, the warriors shifting against their will, their animalistic bellows turning to the screams of Fae as they tumbled naked and helpless from the sky.
I flinched as their bodies were dashed against the wall, their blood leaving a trio of stains beneath the feet of the beast they’d come so close to ending.
The Cascadians cheered, the Void joining the celebration before returning her focus to the battlefield where my people had been gifted a few short moments of being able to wield their magic once more.
Earl Tarlord had made the most of his power in those fleeting seconds, and my lips parted in awe as I took in the bloody trail ahead of him where at least thirty Raincarvers had been impaled upon spears of wood which had shot up from beneath their feet.
More still were scrambling to escape a giant chasm he’d opened behind them and as the Void stole his magic away again, he ran into battle, swinging his axe and cutting into the floundering forces before him, taking full advantage of their distraction.
It was a sight to behold. But it wasn’t going to be enough.
I moved closer to the window despite knowing the risk in it.
Magic tingled against my palms in case I needed to defend myself but there was little else I could do from here besides watch and I was enraptured by the horror before me.
I’d heard tales of war my entire life but never once had I been close enough to witness it like this.
“Step back, you fool,” August hissed.
“I can’t,” I told him plainly because it felt like my heart was out there on that battlefield, carving a bloody path through our enemies while risking all to do so.
An explosion tore the world apart and I screamed as I spotted the giant wave surging across the battlefield directly for us. My cries cut off abruptly as water crashed into the window and shattered it, sweeping me into its grasp before I could so much as attempt to run.
I was swept off of my feet, broken glass from the window slicing my arms and legs, tearing my gown and herding me towards the wide staircase at my back.
I kicked and fought, vines bursting from my hands as magic tore from me but I was tossed like a leaf in a whirlpool, unable to see beyond a rush of bubbles which burst from my throat in place of a terrified scream.
The vines I fought to catch myself with failed to grab anything and I was hurled down the staircase in a vortex of motion, all directions blurring together, all sense of my place in the world lost.
The last of the air in my lungs choked its way free of me, my chest burning as I fought the urge to suck down water.
I crashed into something solid and coughed, water searing into my lungs, my death rushing for me too fast. But then the water washed over me and away, dropping me to the stone floor and leaving me in a sodden, hacking lump at the base of the giant staircase which led to the room I’d just been standing in eight floors above.
I choked and gasped as I forced the water from my throat, my fingers clawing for something to grasp so that I might pull myself upright once more and somehow closing on a warm, dry hand.
I blinked up through matted, saturated strands of blonde hair and found a man I thought I recognised, his skin kissed by the sun, his smile warm, though turning cunning.
“Who–” I began but my question was cut off by a bark of wild laughter that escaped him.
“Well, well,” he murmured, his face melting, shifting, features rearranging, body expanding. “Thank you very much for this gift.”
I screamed as I stared up into the face of Earl Tarlord, the impossibility of the transformation striking terror into my soul even as my mind battled to understand what was happening.
Incubus. He was an Incubus and he’d taken the form of my most desperate, passionate, secret desire. He had stolen the face of my Earl right from the hidden, aching chambers of my heart.
The blade came for my throat so fast I had no hope of escaping it, my scream the only thing faster than its approach and my horror the last thing I was likely to ever know.
But before the stranger could carve my throat apart with that wicked blade, a figure fell down the stairs with a startling cry and collided with him, the knife knocked aside and gifting me an unexpected chance at escape.
I scrambled upright, pain lancing down my leg as I moved too fast, the wall cold at my back.
“My apologies, Earl,” August gasped as he fought to get off of the Incubus who had stolen the form of our leader and horror lanced through me at how easily he’d been fooled by this charlatan.
“That isn’t our Earl,” I barked, magic blossoming in my fingertips.
August frowned at me, his lips parting on words which were cut from the air with a wicked slash of the blade the Incubus still held.
I screamed as blood poured from August’s throat, my eyes locking with the familiar green of my Earl’s, my death sparking in them. But I couldn’t die. I was the only one who knew this Raincarver had forged this wicked plot, the only one who could warn my Earl of the danger posed by our enemy.
A wooden blade formed in my fist and the Incubus barked a laugh as he glanced at it. That was all the distraction I needed. Because I was no warrior, but I had long understood that my strength lay in cunning where others favoured brawn.
The wall at my back melted as my hand pressed to it, the stone parting under my touch, allowing me to fall backwards through it.
The Incubus bellowed a curse in my Earl’s powerful voice, his dagger speeding through the air for me. But I’d already stumbled into the room beyond, and the stone wall reformed between us at once. Dully, I heard the thump of the blade striking the now solid wall but I was already sprinting away.
Pain daggered up my leg and into my hip, the punishing pace I set far too much for my brittle bones to endure but I didn’t slow for so much as a beat.
My magic wasn’t powerful but it was more than enough to turn every door I passed through to stone, blocking the way at my back, feeding me more time to escape.
Nothing but battle and bloodshed lay beyond the walls of the city but I had no choice other than to run for it.
The wooden dagger I’d forged to distract my enemy was still held tightly in my fist and as I stumbled around another corner, I paused to cut the sodden layers of my skirt off at the knee, the weight of my dress too much to bear.
Scraps of green fabric fell to the ground and I raced on, ignoring the agony in my limbs, the thunderous sounds of war beyond the walls, everything fading to insignificance because I had to warn Earl Tarlord of my folly.
I had to tell him about the Incubus the Raincarvers had sent to infiltrate our people.