8. Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
T he heat radiated from the glowing flames as we grew closer to our people waiting on the ground below.
My father and Hallan were on the front line together, and a cascade of faces glared at Ace and me as he landed and gently placed my feet on the soil.
My father was next to me within three long, quick strides, pulling me into his embrace. I buried my head in his chest.
“Where have you been?” He let out a shaky breath.
“I was so worried about you.” I had never heard fear in my father’s tone before, but it encompassed every word.
He feared what was coming, and it made my heart plummet to my gut.
My father had never been afraid of anything in his life.
He was always strong, and fierce, and my rock anytime I needed him to be.
He was the reason I grew up to be everything that I was, and he’d be there to watch everything that I would become after we made it through this. I was sure of it.
Hallan stood still as stone when he laid eyes on his son.
They glared at each other solemnly as the silence of loss stretched between them.
The pain on both of their faces grew as they approached each other.
Hallan released a shuddering breath as he pulled his son into a firm embrace with tear-lined eyes.
He held him close, as if letting him go would mean losing him too.
It seemed to be the first time they were seeing each other since Kali’s death.
They had lost so much within a night. We all had.
But there was no time to mourn. We would mourn once the battle was done.
“Where’s Ima?” I asked as I peered over at the faces closest to us.
“She fell back with the rest of the healers, where she’s needed most.” He released me. “If you hurry, you can get there and back before we march.”
I nodded and gave him one last quick hug before darting around the crowd of warriors.
I glanced back at Ace and signed to him I’d be right back before I disappeared through the array of bodies.
Pushing my way through sweaty warriors and slick leather armor, eventually I made it to the back, through the trees, where the healers were preparing themselves.
Something seemed off. All of them were standing still. Tears lined their eyes, as if we had already lost this battle. Our people always had a strong will, so I didn’t understand why the healers all seemed to be in a somber trance.
Seeing my mother, I ran and barreled into her, wrapping my arms around her, breathing her in.
I had seen how much could change within a night, and I didn’t know what was going to happen from this moment forward.
I savored her warmth before she stepped from my hold and cupped my face in her hands.
Tears were already streaming down her face.
I smelled the metallic tang of blood and glanced down at her, looking for wounds.
“I’m okay, Eme,” she said with a shaky, reassuring smile.
“Why are you bleeding? What happened, Ima?” I asked, seeing a small, leaking wound on her side staining her clothes. I tried to tend to her, but she brought my attention back up to her face.
“Listen to me, Eme.” Her voice was a tremoring whisper. “I love you with every fiber of my being…”
“Ima, you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?”
Her eyes shook as she studied me closely, and then she suddenly realized something. She removed a hand from my face and moved it to her side. The movement was so faint as she told me something.
“Poison,” she signed with her hand. It was so minuscule anyone else would have missed it. Especially if they didn’t know the language. It was a warning.
I kept my features calm, but I was falling apart internally as the dread of what had happened dawned on me. Ember poisoned our healers.
Being a healer meant you had the ability to restore others, finding their injury from the inside out, using your power to mend them.
Most water benders had the means to heal themselves, but to use your abilities on others was a unique gift entirely that took time to master.
Even if our people had the potential to heal, if they were bleeding out or weak, doing so would be impossible if they had already expended their energy in battle.
And it wouldn’t matter if they tried if a moment later there was a sword waiting at their necks or fire aimed at their hearts.
I tried to steady my breathing, but the looming shadow of what was happening was waiting within the trees.
Ember was here, somewhere, and I had interrupted their plans.
The wave of fire was a taunt, like a flag waving us in the direction they wanted us to go, herding us like animals, thinking that was where the attack was forming.
All the while they planted poison in our healers and were ambushing us from behind.
My mother brought her hand back up to my face, bringing me out of my thoughts as her lip trembled.
“Eme, go back to the front with your pada. We have everything taken care of back here,” she tried to reassure me again, but in reality, her eyes were telling me to run, to get help.
I shook my head, but her eyes grew stern at my resistance.
Ember was here, but my mother was only thinking of my safety.
“Now, Eme,” she commanded.
“Ima—” My voice cracked.
“No, my love, do not say goodbye to me.” She sniffled, pulling me into a tight hug, placing a gentle kiss atop my head. “I want you to know that whatever happens, do not let this world take away your light.”
“Enough with the sap.” A vile cackle followed the man’s statement as he came out from behind the trees.
More followed behind him. They were lying in wait, listening within the trees.
Some healers were already so weak, they lay on the ground or leaned against a tree, their breaths growing more ragged by the minute.
All the men wore all black, and some wore masks while others showed their faces proudly.
Their uniforms were not the same as Ember’s, but I was sure Ember had something to do with this.
“Run, Eme.” My mother turned, pulling water up around her, preparing to buy me time to escape. Her legs trembled; her stance was weak. She wouldn’t make it.
“Aw, how sweet, but we both know you won’t be doing much damage with hemlock coursing through your veins.
” He flashed a wicked grin as flames ignited, licking up his arms. The men followed his lead, lighting the forest in a faint orange glow.
Hemlock wouldn’t kill a fae, not in small amounts, but it would make them feel like death.
They’d be feeble and sick until their bodies had time to burn off the poison.
“Emelyn, run! Now!” my mother shouted as she launched sharp daggers of water in their direction. Panic and adrenaline flooded my senses.
“What about you!?” I cried.
“I said go!” she screamed while pumping the last of her strength into her bending, keeping the Fire Fae surrounding the woods away as they blocked her blows. My vision grew blurry with tears as fear sunk into my gut.
“Now, Emelyn!”
Panic took root in my chest. I ran, or stumbled, my way through the forest. I couldn’t remember; everything became cloudy.
Screams echoed behind me, my mother’s screams. There wasn’t enough air in my lungs.
My heart hammered in my ears. Gooseflesh slivered down my spine.
Pain shot through my chest. Sweat dotted my brow even though I was trembling from the chill that had crept over my skin.
Arms wrapped around me as my vision came back into focus.
I saw black feathers and muscled arms. He shook me back to my senses.
His eyes looked me over for any wounds before they met mine.
My heart shattered, but I remained emotionless, numb from what was happening.
He held me close for a moment before he palmed my face with one of his hands.
“I got worried and came looking for you. What happened?” Ace signed with his free hand as my trembling slowed.
“Ima…,” I croaked, and his eyes widened in recognition. He yanked me back into his grip. His warmth pieced my shattered soul back together, if only for that moment. I felt relief in the comfort of his hold. Shock overtook me. I didn’t have time to mourn. I’d mourn when this was over.
“We have to go…” I sounded muffled against his hard chest. “Ember is using hemlock to weaken us. They ambushed the healers.”
He released me and we darted to the front lines.
The march had already started. My father and Hallan were at the front.
I wasn’t close enough to warn him about what had happened when a figure approached.
Part of me wondered if he already knew about Ima.
Could he feel it? Was it something he felt inside himself, or had Ima blocked him out during her final moments?
Or was it like a change in his world? I didn’t know the workings of being mated. I had only heard the stories.
A woman stood in the distance. She wore a cocky grin on her face, hip cocked to the side with black pants and leather boots laced up to her knees.
Her hair was as dark as onyx and her eyes were so golden, they almost looked red, like the flames she wielded danced behind them.
She was devastatingly beautiful. Power radiated from her presence.
An army of men lay in wait for her command.
“Hand over the chosen and no one has to get hurt,” she called out loud enough for all to hear.
“You mean like the women and children you killed!” Hallan shouted, rage lacing his tone.
“Oh right.” She tsked. “I meant to say, no one else has to get hurt.” She winked at Hallan, a proud smile stretched across her wicked face like she had won a prize for the death of innocents. This was a game to her, one that she enjoyed playing.
He launched forward, but my father grabbed him, holding him back. The men standing behind her had fire blazing from their fists the moment Hallan moved in her direction.
“You’re fucking dead, Valla! You hear me? Dead!” Hallan’s voice boomed through the silence of the battlefield, his grief palatable in the air. I now knew why this woman was the Princess of Ember, the leader of her empire’s army, known for her ruthless wrath and apathetic nature.
“Why are you here, Orion?” Valla questioned, disregarding Hallan all together. “I’m not here for you or your people. I’m here for the elves.”
“Anyone willing to kill innocents that walk on the soil of my homeland is labeled an enemy in my eyes. My people chose to stand against you with the elves.”
“Then you shall fall with them.” Her statement wasn’t a warning; it was a promise. She would watch the world burn until only she was left.