Chapter 50
Chapter
Fifty
Ithought for sure that the bloodbath would begin the moment the first soldier stepped into the courtyard, but instead, he held a hand of innocence into the air.
“I’m sure you know why we're here,” the male's voice bellowed through the iron of his helmet as he scanned the corpses before him. “I see a good amount of your people lost to our Hykahs. If you would like to retain the rest of your lives, then I suggest you listen very closely.”
Sebastian stepped forward, out of the crowd and putting himself on full display. “Do you know what your so-called king has planned? Do you truly know, or are you choosing to believe the lies he has told you?”
The Draemornian launched himself towards Sebastian, halting maybe a yard away from where he stood. “He has told us everything we need to know. Most of us are in favor of his plans, and the ones who aren’t—” He chuckled, gesturing to the Hykahs behind him.
Sebastian started to speak, but the soldier drew his sword in a swift motion, angling it at his neck.
“I need you to listen very carefully. Don’t waste your breath on trying to reason with me. I will not falter,” the Draemornian growled, inching his blade closer.
I tried to jump forward through the crowd, but someone ripped me back by the underarm.
“Let me go, Sawyer,” I spat under my breath, but he tightened his grip, pulling me taut against his chest.
“I’m here for Maeve. And before you try and argue, let me explain your options.”
Sebastian bared his teeth, bending his neck back to avoid the tip of the man's sword.
“This must seem like deja vu for you all. Your options are about to be quite similar to your ones back in Caelestis, however, should you decline, this time we are confident we will win,” the soldier spat, though lowering his blade.
“It may seem like deja vu for you all when we kick your asses, but certainly not for us,” Sebastian sneered.
“Maeve can come back to Draemor with us, and we will leave the rest of you unharmed. Or we can fight this out the old fashioned way.” The Draemornian shrugged, jutting the tip of his sword into the grass and then leaning upon its hilt.
“The choice is yours. I’ll give you a moment to decide amongst yourselves. ” He gestured to our group.
Sebastian's back arched as he sucked in a deep breath and pivoted on his boot, sword still tightly in his grasp.
His expression was nothing other than a glower as he started towards us.
His eyes locked with mine, and he paused in his tracks, granting me a quick wink before whirling back around and charging for the Draemornian.
Metal skewered the man, then Sebastian ripped his blade upwards, severing the man's throat and dragging it all the way up through his opened mouth.
I gasped, my hand meeting my mouth as my stomach lurched.
Sebastian didn’t stop there. The man was as good as dead, but he sliced through his carotid anyway.
The soldier dropped to his knees, vibrant blood spraying anything within range.
Sebastian looked up at the Draemornian and Hykah army, then stated in an overly simple tone, “He was right. It does give me deja vu to kill one of you.”
At the blatant confirmation of his decision, fifty plus Draemornians stormed our soldiers, their Hykah companions stilled outside of the courtyard.
Sawyer released me at last, though only to run ahead, putting himself between me and the enemy hurtling towards us.
My vision scoped out my surroundings and I forced myself to make a quick decision. The Mealiorian soldiers could handle the Draemornians. I would take on the Hykahs.
Breaking into a sprint, I met Sebastian in the center of the courtyard, where another body had just fallen by his feet.
“I'm going for the Hykahs. You coming?”
“Absolutely.” He charged after me, both of us running until we reached the other end of the courtyard, where the creatures stood beyond the barrier of the covered terrace, in front of the forest.
“Why haven't they come in?” I asked Sebastian as if he would know the answer.
“Maybe they have means of controlling them,” he suggested. “I’m not going to wait to find out, though. The quicker we kill them, the better.”
While the others focused on the immediate threats, we ran, not offering anyone a second glance despite the numerous battle cries.
We slowed when we approached the open archway that separated us from the creatures.
The Hykahs had spread themselves out, putting maybe ten feet of space between each other. None of them looked at us. They all stared into the forest, like they were waiting for something.
“If we can group them together, I can blast them with starlight.”
Sebastian nodded as he peered through the archway. He took my hand and pulled me alongside him through the opening, then pushed me back against the brick, securing at least one side of my body from harm's way.
“Stay here and prepare yourself. I’m going to try and herd them. Once you think they’re close enough and I’m out of the way, go for it. Okay?”
Biting my lip, I agreed, disregarding my apprehension.
He planted a kiss on my lips, granted me a quick I love you, then ran towards the towering hybrids.
Sebastian was strategic when time allowed, so he began with the left most Hykah. I could almost see the cold front surrounding him as he summoned his magic, releasing an arsenal of ice picks into the creature's thigh.
The Hykah howled, spit flying from its ragged teeth as it jerked its body around. Pebbly black eyes fixated on Sebastian, and just as he picked up a sprint to go for the next Hykah, the injured one lunged after him.
Sebastian ran faster than I’d ever seen him, eating up the ten foot gap between the two Hykahs, then taunting this one in the same manner. It roared, its decaying, disfigured leg bending at an abnormal angle in response to the shards of ice embedded in it.
Sebastian went for the next monster in line—
Metal slashed through my cheek, tearing my flesh and ripping a gurgling scream from my throat.
Instinctively, I drew my dagger, not even aiming before throwing it in the direction of whatever struck me.
Someone croaked out in agony, so I pulled on the threads of my magic, putting every ounce of energy into cracking their mental barriers, then commanding my target to, “Freeze.”
When my vision focused, a Draemornian stood before me, legs spread wide and one arm raised with a blade in hand—longer than a dagger, but shorter than any sword I’d ever seen.
His eyes bulged as I wiped the blood that had spilled into the crack of my lips.
My blade had secured itself in the back of his hand, nearly hitting his topaz jewel. The dagger prevented the wound from bleeding, but when I stomped forward and yanked it out of his flesh without a morsel of mercy, crimson fluid began to drip.
I allowed myself three seconds to glance towards Sebastian. He had four Hykahs left to gather, then it was my turn.
Turning back to the Draemornian, I raised my blade to the space between his helmet and chest blade, preparing to mutilate his throat.
Sawyer beat me to the punch. He seemingly appeared out of thin air, kicking the soldier mid back with the heel of his boot.
The Draemornian face planted, and still a victim to my order, he didn’t so much as flinch when Sawyer decapitated him with his sword.
“That probably hurt,” he said matter of factly, then darted his vision towards Sebastian. “What the hell is he doing?”
Looking over, I recognized it was my time to shine.
“Move,” I demanded Sawyer, disregarding his question.
I shifted around him, running closer to the collections of Hykahs Sebastian had gathered. They howled as he kept them under wraps by the force of his power, though they were much too close to him for my liking.
My hands cupped around my mouth. “Seb!”
Only his head turned towards me, and I was able to make out the blue in his eyes from here.
With my hand, I ushered him to the side, and as soon as he jumped out of the way, the cosmos captivated my vessel. I drank them in hungrily, absorbing every drop of power that my body could hold.
My skin buzzed. My muscles quaked. My head felt like it was a balloon about to pop.
Though control had never been my strong suit, I seized whatever volume of it I could, and just before breaching my breaking point, I set it free.
The sky around me brightened to a pale silver as the stars within my soul scorched me from the inside out, setting the surface of my skin ablaze.
Growls and screams filled the caverns of my ears, but I couldn’t see anything aside from the luster of stars.
The magnitude of the power knocked me back into the dirt. Thankfully, my head hit the ground last, my ass taking the brunt of the fall.
For a moment I just laid in the dirt, praying to the gods that I had been successful while I sucked in air, catching my breath.
My eyes opened to find a hand outstretched in front of me, asking to be taken.
Sebastian pulled me to my feet, sweat dripping from his hair and onto his forehead. He sucked my lips into a brief, needy kiss, then turned my body to the steaming mound of Hykah flesh turned stardust.
“Oh thank the gods,” I breathed, hunching at my waist to catch my breath.
“How’s it looking in there?” Sebastian asked Sawyer while pointing through the archway and into the courtyard.
“They got it under control. That's why I came out here, to see if you two—”
Sawyer's face fell flat, his skin paling and every muscle in his body tensing so much that he nearly looked dead.
My forehead creased. “What? What is it?”
Sawyer—who I didn't even know was capable of feeling fear—was shaking so hard that his finger couldn't even point directly at his target.
Following his direction the best we could, Seb and I looked out into a clearing in the forest, where a Hykah nearly double the size of the others had its marred toes planted in the ground as it rose from a deep crouch.
Its seven jewels glimmered from even this distance, a perfect array of gems—all but mine.
“Holy shit,” Sebastian drawled, putting emphasis on each syllable.
He swept me back with his forearm as the Hykah threw a flame in our direction, though its aim was thankfully far off, crashing into the brick over our heads.
“Okay. So I take back what I said about the Hykah from earlier being the alpha. That thing is without a doubt the leader.”
“I’d say so,” Sawyer scoffed.
Without any warning, the Hykah scrambled towards us, its knees bending in a new angle and cracking with each step it took.
Although it certainly didn't look like it, the Hykah was sprightly.
It crossed the threshold that separated us from it in no time at all, suddenly close enough to reach its clawed fingers out and impale Sawyer's chest.
He screamed and threw his body back, ripping the barbed nail from his flesh. “Run back into the courtyard. Now!”
No one argued. We breached the archway, narrowly avoiding flames and shards of ice by launching our bodies onto the bloodied lawn.
The Hykah was much too tall to get through the entryway, but it wasn’t as stupid as it looked. It dropped to its hands and knees, crawling unevenly through the space, its tongue flicking around the inside of its distended, torn jaw.
I didn’t know how many Draemornian soldiers were left, if any, but I called out, “Everyone who's able, shoot your magic at this thing. Now!”
Vision became useless as arrays of colors shot through the air.
Flames from Kade. A raging mini tornado crafted by Kohen.
Sebastian wielding daggers of ice while Sawyer fired off a malignant surge of water.
Even my father—magic-less—joined in the fight, ensuring that any leftover soldiers were taken care of while the rest of us took down the magnificent monster before us.
Saliva aviated. Roars echoed off brick. Claws scraped through the air. Magic from the gods lit up the sky from our soldiers' hands and the Hykah’s.
Using the technique I had practiced with Sebastian in the forest, I blocked off any unnecessary senses and swiftly drew in as much godly power as I could.
Any noise that didn't benefit me, I ignored. Any sights that frightened me were controlled by closing my eyes.
The tangy smell of blood and death was easily overlooked when the Hykah bounded off its hands and knees and dived at me.