Chapter 23
Aella
The Bassaci Sea appeared calm and still, except for the waves gently lapping at the shore and filling the air with a sharp, briny scent.
High tide would come soon. With the clear night sky and a half moon glowing, we watched the water edge closer and closer with trepidation.
The dark elves would surely arrive with it.
I sat with Princess Lillian just inside the tree line on a fallen log. Nearly thirty Frostdar had spread across the beach on either side of us to cover as much of the area as possible. We’d been waiting for over an hour, wanting to be ready.
The quiet that came before a night battle always unnerved me.
An awareness that slowly crept up my spine, telling me I must be alert and do my best, or innocent people would die.
That responsibility weighed on me. So many people had lost their lives because I didn’t protect them or act quickly enough.
“I’m looking forward to seeing you work your wind magic,” Lillian said, glancing at me with a kind smile that soothed some of my worry. Like her father, the fallen king, she was known to be friendly and generous. I’d never heard of her looking down on anyone.
I glanced at the princess and then back to the sea. “I’ve only done this once, and I was furious when I unleashed the wind on their navy before. Hopefully, I can find that strength again.”
“You will.” She patted my arm. “Veronna may not be where either of us was born or raised, but it is part of Zadrya. It is our homeland, no matter where the Seelie came from thousands of years ago. We will rise to the occasion and defend it at all costs.”
She had a rare kind of wisdom in her voice, born of life experience and motherhood.
Despite her parents' recent murder and the enemy capturing her son, she still managed to hold herself together remarkably well. It made me respect her all the more. Royals didn’t have the luxury to throw a fit, behave rashly, or lock themselves away when they were mourning losses and worrying over loved ones. They had to keep fighting and leading.
I nodded. “You’re right. I just always suffer a little self-doubt before something serious like this, where many people are depending on me. Once I can see the danger, most of my fears fade away.”
“The need to stop the threat takes over,” she said, eyes crinkling. “You have so much of your mother in you. Though my path with her rarely crossed, I can see it easily.”
“You knew her?” I asked, surprised.
A chilly breeze slid over us, and she shivered.
“Yes. She came to court a few times, warning us about the blight and urging us to help retrieve the fountain. My father used to let me sit in his meetings with the fae so that I could learn from him. Of course, this was before I married and moved to Hartoll.”
As I recalled, the princess’ wedding took place a few months before my mother died in the Oarwar Desert when a sandworm attacked her group.
The royal ceremony between Lillian and Jacthor—a spectacular outdoor spring event that ended in a burst of thousands of white butterflies—was the last memorable occasion my family attended together.
My brother was the exception since Hagon had killed him in battle five years earlier.
It pained me to think of all I’d lost during my youth, and reminded me I needed to visit my sister soon.
We desperately needed to catch up after all that had happened.
Under the circumstances, though, I’d have to time it for when we needed to go to Alavaar on Naforya Fountain business.
Darrow mentioned before I sent him to Radoumar that they’d need me in Darynia, ready to open portals at any time.
With the threat of the dark elves, I could hardly argue with making that the priority.
The wind picked up from the sea, and I shivered at the chill it brought. We expected cooler weather for autumn, but it usually came later this far south. I glanced at the sky. What I saw there made my heart thump faster.
“Do you see the clouds?” I asked, unease washing over me as they swirled with dark shapes and quickly blotted out the moon.
She turned her gaze upward, eyes rounding. “They’re moving too fast and look ominous.”
“Those aren’t natural.” I opened my senses wide and took in my surroundings. Powerful magic charged the air, growing thicker with every gust of wind. “Someone is using elemental magic.”
Her gaze shot to me. “Can you counter it with yours?”
“I won’t be able to hit them with straight line winds like I planned,” I said, mulling over my options. “They must have expected me to be here.”
Lillian’s jaw hardened. “So it seems.”
A slow grin formed on my face. “There is something else I can do since the elements are perfect for it.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
“A wind vortex, though I don’t know if I should call it something else over water.” I shrugged. “The name doesn’t matter so much as its effectiveness. I’ve practiced it a few times on land, but it should work just as well over the sea.”
She rose to her feet. “Let us hope you’re right, but let me know if there’s anything I can do.”
The last time I’d attacked the dark elves, I’d had to focus on my magic and ended up getting wounded. I needed to take more care tonight. “Can you keep us shielded at the front, but leave the space above our heads open so that I can work?”
A closed bubble barrier blocked magic from getting in or out.
The princess nodded. “Yes. That’s no problem.”
“Of course, adjust it if we’re in danger. I should be able to restart the vortex and make it powerful again as long as the idiots keep the weather like this.”
I’d found spinning the wind tightly was easier to manage under certain conditions. Storms that brought in colder air were the most ideal. I wouldn’t even need to drain myself too quickly since the other caster’s weather magic did the bulk of the work for me, and would only enhance my creation.
She stilled and pointed ahead. “I see them. They’re so close!”
“The darkness made them harder to spot,” I shouted as the wind intensified and drops of rain splattered on our faces.
We’d put our hair in braids to hang down our backs, but the gusts were so strong some of our locks came free. It made it difficult to see. More proof that Karganoth must have anticipated our presence. That was fine. I had a surprise for them that they wouldn’t see coming.
My nervousness fled as I squared my shoulders and shook out my hands. If they wanted a fight, I’d give them one. They would not take our land or hurt our people on my watch. I’d send them to the bottom of the sea first.
“Get ready,” I said, drawing power into my core and building it as strongly as possible.
There were at least a dozen ships I could make out over the dark, choppy waters.
Their sails and masts stood out now as thunder and lightning began cracking the air.
Due to our limited visibility, we’d missed them until they came much closer than I would have liked.
We needed to work quickly to repel them.
Lillian thrust out her hands and raised a shimmering shield in front of us.
I lifted my arms straight up, pushing magic all the way to my fingertips and outward into the sky.
Concentrating, I began shifting the elements I needed until the thick clouds above the ships started to swirl into a tight vortex and funnel downward.
Would they even think to look up and wonder what was happening? I hoped I surprised them.
As I brought my creation down, I also kept widening it.
The sky was so dark that I could barely make out the swirling mass, but I could feel what I was doing.
As soon as it lowered over the middle three ships—the largest ones of the group—I yanked down hard.
The wind spun the vessels so fast that the wooden planks splintered and flew apart, and the masts broke free to act as rams against the other boats.
I also caught sight of elves flailing and flying through the sky.
The wind vortex drowned out their screams and spat them out one by one in random directions, so they sailed into the distance beyond my line of sight into deep, choppy waters.
I’d demolished all three vessels in just over a minute.
A few more took damage from flying debris, which was a lovely bonus.
My body hummed with excitement and the thrill of taking down the enemy.
They’d caught us off guard when they invaded Zadrya, but we still had fight left in us.
How’d you like that, Karganoth? Ready for more?
After seeing what they’d done to Darrow in his youth, I felt even less mercy for them than I had before my encounter with Wrath.
I moved my spinning creation toward the nearest ships as others attempted to sail quickly away.
They’d come here spaced far apart, perhaps to make it harder for me to hit them with wind, but it also made it more challenging to target all of them at once with a vortex.
That was fine. I’d adapt and work through them as quickly as possible.
Hopefully, before any reached the shore.
I kept one hand out flat to navigate the whirlwind, and with the other, I made quick circles to keep it spinning.
I ran the funnel over one ship, holding it there for thirty seconds as it ripped the vessel apart before chasing another that bucked over the rough sea.
That one was small enough that the vortex sucked it into the swirling mass, where it was shredded and blown apart.
Satisfaction ran through me. I feared that I was getting a little too much enjoyment out of this level of destruction.
“Aella, two of them are getting close to the shore,” the princess shouted through the wind and rain.
I glanced up the beach to my right, where she indicated, spotting the two small boats. They were no more than a few hundred feet from the coast. Considering their size, there wouldn’t be more than twenty dark elves on each.