Chapter Thirteen
Follow the Flowers
The dark figures all rushed forward.
“Protect our prince!” Duke roared. He, Baden, and Quincy took position around me and Maddox.
Lake pushed Briar closer to us before he and Rowan stood back-to-back, sweeping their gazes across the approaching mercenaries. Callum slashed at one, sending them stumbling back with a pained string of curses.
Reign withdrew the silver dagger from his hip and sliced the air.
No, not the air. The mercenary moved too fast for my eye to follow. But Reign missed nothing. He darted to the side before the tree trunk behind his head exploded in a shower of splinters. His dagger then collided with the mercenary’s.
“You can slink around in the dark, but can you fight?” she asked with an exhilarated smile. The sides of her head were buzzed, and the top was braided down her back.
Reign slashed at her, nicking her on the bicep before she could dodge. “You tell me.”
She laughed and pulled another blade from the sheath. “Then, let’s dance.”
The two of them sliced, spun, and kicked, moving so fast they looked like blurs.
Draven crouched down low before I lost sight of him.
More flashes illuminated the dark as spells were cast. The knights blocked some of it with their shields and took some hits upon themselves when the shields weren’t enough. Protecting us.
“Put me down,” I told Maddox.
“No.”
“You can’t fight or defend yourself with me in your arms.”
Hesitation and worry crossed his face.
“You know I’m right,” I said.
A growl built in his chest. “Don’t leave my side.” He set me down and unsheathed his sword.
Lake moved quickly around us, his hair a silver blur in the dark as he lunged at the enemy with nothing but his teeth and claws—both of which had sharpened in his current state.
Rowan teleported with his shadows, appearing in front of one mercenary and slicing at them before vanishing and reappearing elsewhere.
Akito then appeared right where Rowan materialized. “Caught you.”
Rowan flew backward.
“Ro!” I rushed forward, only to be yanked back to Maddox’s side.
“What’s stronger, I wonder.” Akito cocked his head. “Shadow manipulation or that of air. I lack the ability to teleport, yet I can move swiftly nonetheless. We’re both limited on when we can use our gifts as well. Your weakness is light. Any guesses for mine?”
“Enough blabbering,” Rowan grumbled, getting back to his feet. “You talk too much.”
Akito looked confused. “Is that not how one makes friends?”
“Friends?” Rowan gritted his teeth, clutching his stomach. “If that’s what you want, we can hop on over to the Drunken Toad and order a pint. Food’s decent too, I reckon. It can be the captain’s treat.” He nodded to Maddox.
“Hmm.” Akito looked at Maddox, then back at Rowan. “I detest spirits. Taverns are quite unpleasant as well. Too noisy. How unfortunate. Seems we can’t be friends after all.”
He sent another blast.
Rowan was expecting it this time. He blinked out of sight before it hit. Shadows quickly gathered around Akito’s feet and crawled up his legs. I knew the move right away.
The Bone Crusher.
Akito seemed intrigued by them. Little did he know he was about to be crushed to dust. Or maybe he did know. He smiled before a bright flash bled through the darkness, casting his entire body in a beam of light.
One of the other mercenaries had cast the spell at the last second, dispelling the shadows.
I flung up an arm to block the blinding glare. After being in the dark for so long, it disoriented me. Even once it faded, I saw bright spots everywhere I looked. And I wasn’t the only one. Duke and the others squinted as their visions returned to normal.
That’s when Stryder made his move.
He hurled a fireball toward our group. Callum raised his shield, only to cry out in pain. The blast had burned through sections of the shield and scorched his forearm.
“Cal!”
“A little fire can’t hurt me, Ev,” he said, tossing me a pained smile. “I’m the sun, remember?”
Tears welled in my eyes.
“You’re lucky, knight,” Stryder said. “That was one of my weaker attacks. If I’d actually been trying, you wouldn’t have your arm anymore.”
Callum lunged at him. The two met in a clash of steel. The close combat prevented Stryder from using one of his fire attacks, forcing him to fight with his sword instead. It gave Callum the advantage. He landed several blows to Stryder’s arms and side.
Things then took a turn for the worse.
The force of mercenaries began to overwhelm us. Draven, Reign, and the knights started taking hits. Dealing some out too, but not nearly as much. Briar used defensive spells to deflect their attacks and send them off course, while Lake fought beside Rowan.
“Stay behind me, Evan,” Maddox said between swings of his sword. One of the mercenaries moved like smoke, appearing and vanishing faster than my eyes could follow.
My men were fighting hard to keep me safe. To keep each other safe too.
Baden blocked a dagger that’d been soaring toward Duke. Quincy, who’d regained his momentum after being taken off guard in the beginning, sliced through an arrow, then drove his sword into the woman’s side.
She did a backflip and sank into the darkness.
Akito seemed to have run out of mana for the moment and had to revert to combat with weapons rather than magic.
His air manipulation had limits; he could only use so much of it at a time.
And he’d burned through a lot of it when masking their presence from Reign, on top of the power he’d unleashed once the fight began. A small blessing.
Rowan didn’t have such limitations. He could teleport and use his shadows as much as he wanted.
“Don’t!” a man shouted. “Please!”
I flipped around to see everything but his head encased in shadow. Rowan stood in front of him, hand raised and fingers curved. Maddox covered my eyes just as there was a sickening crunch.
He’d used the Bone Crusher.
A ball of purple light shot toward us. Maddox wrapped both arms around me, turning his back to it.
“Maddox!”
The spell bounced off him. He remained standing, arms around me and face in my hair.
“Your ring,” I said, shaking so much I could barely talk. I grabbed his hand and held it to my cheek. Briar had infused the emerald with protection magic.
However, my joy was short-lived.
Another attack came, this one in the form of a shower of what looked like glass. He raised his shield to block it before kicking a mercenary in the chest. They quickly recovered and sent another ball of purple energy.
Draven dove in front of us and repelled it. He nodded to Maddox before the two of them fought back-to-back.
“You fight so hard to protect him,” Akito said as he and Rowan fought. “Why?”
“Because I love him.”
“Love?” Akito dodged an attack aimed at his throat. “How interesting.”
Rowan did a side spin and landed a kick to Akito’s stomach. “Your voice grates on my damn nerves.”
The fighting continued. A blur of bodies and flashes. The sound of steel against steel and the occasional grunt or pained growl. It couldn’t go on forever. Eventually, one side was bound to either fall or retreat.
Something whizzed through the air. An arrow then lodged into the tree inches from Callum’s head. I screamed for him right as another arrow came soaring. He knocked it aside with his sword. But more followed, zipping past my men. Draven sliced through one that’d been aimed at Briar’s back.
A burning hot pressure built inside me. I searched the surrounding trees. I wanted to find the archer. To tear them apart. I wanted to hear their screams and—
What? Those dark thoughts… I’d never felt such rage before.
A woman’s scream pierced the air.
Lake had yanked her from the tree and tore into her throat with his teeth. In one fluid motion, he ripped out her esophagus. The bow slipped from her twitching hand. His purple eyes glowed in the dark as he rose back up, blood staining the front of his tunic.
His face then crumpled as he looked at me.
My gentle Lake treasured all living things, much like Briar. Neither of them wanted to kill anyone. But he’d done it to protect our family.
Rowan appeared beside him, and together, the two of them joined us. Draven, Reign, and the knights fought around us. Two of the mercenaries had been killed, leaving only Stryder, Akito, and a man with green hair.
“We need another plan,” Reign said, taking position at Callum’s side and diverting a fireball Stryder had so lovingly sent our way. “We won’t be able to hold them off for much longer.”
“Even though we outnumber them now?” I asked.
“Their magic surpasses ours,” Reign answered. “And Akito’s powers are starting to replenish. I can sense the energy building in his core.”
“What do you propose we do?” Briar asked. “Try to escape?”
Reign shook his head. “We wouldn’t get far. The one with green hair has a power similar to Rowan’s. Add that to Akito’s air manipulation, and they’d be on us in seconds.”
“In that case…” Callum quickly surveyed the area. “Our only option is to hold them off while someone takes Ev and makes a run for it.”
“What? No.” I shook my head. “I’m not leaving anyone behind. If you stay, so do I.”
“And you call me stubborn,” Maddox softly said before kissing the edge of my brow. He looked at the others. “I agree with my lieutenant. Keeping Evan safe is our priority. One of you will take him. The rest of us will stay here and fight.”
My heart sank. “No.”
“It’s the only—”
“No! I don’t… I can’t leave you.” I glanced at the rest of my men, their faces blurring as tears swarmed. “I can’t leave any of you.”
“You haven’t a choice, love.” Briar caressed my jaw. “Protecting you is all that matters. I’ll stay behind with our captain. While I have many talents, running isn’t one of them.”
“You should take Ev,” Callum told Rowan. “Use the shadows to move through the trees.”