Chapter 24
Darrow
Ihated waiting. Patience was not one of my strong suits, and I especially disliked not knowing how long I must wait.
Pacing was all I could do during the still hour before dawn.
The night was quiet and calm as my sister, Jax, and I occupied a watch tower at the northern edge of Radoumar.
With jagged mountains full of the nastiest creatures in the realm on the south end, our enemy never came from that direction, though we’d laid plenty of nasty traps at the base of them as a precaution.
No, they either came from the north or northwest, so we focused our defense along those lines.
It was my eighth day helping protect the town. On the third, they’d come by sea, but we’d quickly brought Aella, and she’d dispatched them so swiftly that they hadn’t tried attacking from that direction again.
Since then, we’d speculated on how many ships they still had left after the blows she’d dealt to their navy.
My wife was terrifyingly ruthless when she chose.
I should probably be especially nice to her once we shared the same bed regularly to avoid her eviscerating me in my sleep.
A feral woman lay dormant beneath that sweet, compassionate demeanor she showed the world.
Perhaps I was a lunatic because all I wanted to do was bring that side out of her more.
Who could blame me for ravishing her after the battle in the nearest semi-private barn? She hadn’t even protested when I pulled her pants down and bent her over a stack of hay. Aella had been as slick as I was hard.
Only a blue-spotted dairy cow, chewing on hay in a nearby stall, seemed mildly perturbed by our activities.
She watched the entire time, unflinchingly, as I thrust forcefully into my wife.
No animal could have stopped me from my pleasure, so I’d ignored her.
The look we got after we shouted our completion was a little unnerving, though. What had that bovine been thinking?
We hadn’t needed Aella back here since then.
For five days now, I hadn’t seen her, and an ache had begun building inside me at the separation.
It appeared that, with the bond in place, we would have greater trouble being apart for more than a couple of days.
There was little we could do about it under the circumstances, though.
The dark elf attacks were erratic. Sometimes they struck us twice with only a handful of hours between battles, and sometimes skipped a day.
Their method of attack was also unpredictable, forcing us to be on our guard for anything and everything.
I wasn’t bored, but I was ready to finish here and get back to my wife.
Jax and I went out scouting yesterday and made a valuable discovery.
I’d thankfully brought the clarity stone Aella gave me for my birthday, and it helped us find a pocket of dark elves hiding in the forest. They would have been invisible if I hadn’t had that gift to counter the spell.
I’d hoped to save one of the soldiers for questioning, but they fought so ruthlessly that I had no choice except to kill them quickly.
Afterward, we discovered that each of them had a red sphere gem in their pocket.
Several mines in Karganoth produced them, but they were mostly useless to the dark elves.
Only a druid enchanter could tap into their unique energy.
The perfectly round gems were excellent vessels for strong spells that could last three to five days after activation, depending on their purpose.
Alavaar had a trade deal with Karganoth that for every hundred gemstones they sent to the druids, the dark elves would receive forty enchanted ones back for healing, pain relief, and other harmless magic. They’d never give them one for invisibility, so how did this group have them?
Buzzing in my left pocket drew my attention.
The clarity stone was in my right, but the other side held five small twigs.
They were broken off living branches within the forest. I’d cast an alert spell that was so simple no one could sense it in case they came near the trees I’d chosen.
It was a trick that the Andalagar taught me years ago after I gave them valuable information.
One by one, all the twigs trembled their silent alert.
We had a lot of visitors headed our way.
I gestured toward the next tower, a hundred feet away, signaling an alert so they could pass the warning to the guards on the other side.
The relay would continue from there until everyone in the town knew through silent communication.
Next, I shook Jax and Faina awake since I’d taken the last watch of the night while they took their turns resting.
“What’s going on?” my sister whispered, immediately alert.
I helped her to her feet. “Karganoth soldiers are approaching—many of them.”
She swore under her breath. “How do you know?”
“I have my ways,” I replied, still keeping my tone low. The Andalagar had sworn me to secrecy about the twig magic, so I couldn’t tell her even if I wanted, but I also enjoyed that hiding my source incensed her.
Faina shoved at my chest. “You’re so annoying.”
“Agreed,” Jax said, wiping drool from his mouth as he stood. He didn’t do well when he slept sitting up.
I ignored their cranky comments and pointed ahead. “The dark elves are only a few hundred feet inside the forest.”
Faina ran her gaze over the guard towers, seeing for herself that I’d already alerted them.
Down below, townspeople designated to assist in defense moved into position.
We’d erected barriers all across the north end over the past week.
The enemy knew about those, but it still slowed them down and left them vulnerable as they climbed over the wall, constructed with a mixture of dirt, stone, logs, and anything else we could move there quickly.
I noted the lead dark elves were invisible. No one aside from me could see them as they crept out of the woods, stepping lightly so sound wouldn’t give them away. I signaled to the next tower and the fae crouching behind wagons below.
After finding the group yesterday during our scouting mission, I’d made sure everyone knew about the red sphere stones and the spell placed on them.
They understood that when I put a hand over my eyes, it was my signal that they wouldn’t be able to see the enemy.
At least, not until other magic interrupted the spell.
“They’re fifty feet from the barrier now,” I murmured.
Jax and Faina nodded. Everyone in the towers behaved normally as the enemy encroached, so they thought we were still unaware. It wasn’t easy to wait, but we had to stick with our plan. Finally, the lead dark elves reached the point where they were five feet from the barriers.
Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions broke the stillness, with sparks and flames breaking the darkness as the Karganoth soldiers stepped on our traps.
The scent of their burning flesh filled the air.
We’d laid them quickly yesterday afternoon, hoping none of their spies caught what we did if we completed it fast enough.
Relief filled me that they hadn’t anticipated it.
All down the line, at least thirty of them died, blown into pieces.
The line of soldiers behind them paused, still invisible. They threw rocks and other objects ahead to test the ground. That set off a few that hadn’t detonated before, and then they moved forward.
I held my arm out past the tower as they approached the wall.
We’d added one more surprise when we constructed the barrier, but we didn’t finish it until yesterday morning.
A few elves began climbing up while others waited to see if anything happened.
When nothing did, the rest grasped the wall.
I waited until most of the soldiers were touching it before closing my fist.
Several sizzling lines of blue light zoomed across the barrier, electrocuting anyone who came into contact with them.
We’d run multiple thin metal wires across the top and sides of the wall.
A lightning wielder had waited for my signal to send their power running through them, where the lines converged at the end of the barrier by the sea.
It was why I had to be in the first tower nearest to them, since I was the only one who could see the invisible enemy to give the order.
By the time the fae ran out of magic to fuel the lines, almost all the dark elves who came into contact with the wall had fried to a crisp, filling the air with smoke and a sickening odor.
Just a few who either had more strength to resist or enchanted armor managed to survive.
They scrambled backward away from the wall and toward the forest. The next wave was also retreating.
Each time they attacked, they’d only take so many losses before deciding they’d tested our defenses enough.
“Dammit,” I swore under my breath.
The cowards were done already, but I hadn’t finished with them. Using my powers, I plucked several from the forest and flew them over the wall to land near the fae soldiers below. Looking down, I shouted, “Restrain them, but I need them alive.”
“Yes, sir!” one replied.
I didn’t release my hold on the three dark elves until they were suitably chained with hoods placed over their heads. During our evening briefing, I’d told everyone I wanted to capture a few prisoners. We’d prepared everything we needed for the next attack, whenever it came.
I moved toward the ladder opening, pausing before heading down. “Jax, you’re with me. Faina, the post is yours again.”
“Got it,” she said, giving me a mocking salute. “You'd better get some good information out of those dark elves and return here soon. I’m tired of this place.”
I smiled at her. “But you’ve excelled at protecting it.”
“Of course, I’d never hear the end of it if Radoumar fell. You’d likely tell elaborate, false tales about my failure no matter what actually happened.”
The stress of protecting so many had worn her down, and I understood that.
Our winters in Karganoth covered offensive training far more than defensive.
While our father also gave us lessons, it wasn’t nearly as much as he taught our older brother, Hagon.
It didn’t help that our patience for Lord Gannon’s less extreme methods made us terrible students.
We’d grown used to pain and threats to enforce our lessons.
I softened my voice for her. “I’ll ask the prince to give you a break soon and task someone else with the town for a while. Just try to be patient because we’re stretched thin.”
“If you get me out of here, I’ll owe you, brother.”
I shook my head. “No, you’ve earned it.”
Also, she was my twin, and though I couldn’t feel more than affection for her, not even the curse took away from the strength of our sibling bond.
We were happiest when we were in the same place, even if we constantly bickered.
I wanted her back at my side, especially with all we needed to accomplish soon.
As I climbed down the ladder, Jax followed.
I chose several elves to escort the shackled and blindfolded prisoners as we headed to the portal.
Someone would have already alerted the channeler who resided here, so she’d know to be there.
She was a middle-aged mother whose husband died years ago in a skirmish with Therress.
Since she had several offspring ranging in age from eight to seventeen, we didn’t ask anything more of her than using her powers for the portal, and we compensated her well for it.
She raced up a side street with her skirts swishing as we arrived, out of breath and holding her generous chest. “Give me just a moment.”
“Of course,” I said, though I was impatient to reach Darynia. Sunlight had begun to peek over the horizon, casting a golden haze over the city.
After a few minutes, she gathered herself and verified our destination.
It took her far longer than Aella to power the ring and open the portal.
More and more, I realized how spoiled I was with my wife and could understand why Lord Morgunn hadn’t wanted to give her up.
The difference was that I enjoyed her independent nature and spirit.
Finally, a blue glow filled the ring, and we hurried into it. On the other side, I found four guards waiting, which was standard whenever there was an active threat. Once they saw me, they lowered their weapons. I made certain the dark elves still had their hoods in place before speaking.
“One of you take a boat and alert our leader that I have prisoners for him to question,” I commanded, not wanting to name Prince Armin just in case we didn’t execute the three right away. I gestured at an elf with dark blond hair. “You can arrange a boat to transport us.”
There was only one small vessel on the island, and it wouldn’t hold the eight of us who’d come from Radoumar. That was standard procedure for security reasons, but it wouldn’t take long to acquire another. They kept extras nearby.
“Yes, sir. Right away,” he said, and in moments, only two guards remained as the others left to do my bidding. I looked forward to discovering what information we’d glean from the three prisoners.