CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
I couldn’t make out the island ground that previously overflowed in lush greenery. It wouldn’t have bothered me at all if it were anything else that covered the land. Anything other than the hundreds of opposing, blood thirsty troops marching towards us.
We all lined up after disembarking the ship. Jun, Zahara, Calvin, Raveeka, Noctis, myself—and, of course, Raven attached to my shoulder, shuffling as if anxious.
Oceanwrought troops filtered further toward the peninsula we had worked to evacuate the villagers over.
They formed lines that cast blue tints of light into the sky as the sun’s rays bounced off their hued armor.
Thousands. Just on the Ocean Mother’s side.
Most against their will as they filed in without armor and entranced expressions.
I scanned the lines, finding the humans that marched alongside the soldiers—tattered, unarmored, faces slack and glassy as if their minds were scooped from their skulls.
“I don’t get it. How can she control them? I thought it was only merfolk blood that she had a hold on,” I asked, my eyes focusing on the small, marching children, elderly, and innocent adults that faced forward, stone cold.
She should never have been able to command them.
“I’m not sure, but somehow, she found a way to get her power into their systems,” Noctis answered with the same confusion as mine.
“Their food,” Raveeka replied shortly. “Fish.”
My mouth fell agape. It was a possibility that the Ocean Mother would stoop that low in order to form stronger armies in her favor—even if a chunk of the beings would only be used as cannon fodder.
The Terraguard armies faced the Oceanwrought, battle horns blaring in the distance.
The land-dwelling soldiers outfitted in silver metal made it easier for us to differentiate, but we worried more about the unarmed, defenseless humans that marched confidently and mindlessly in the middle of the Oceanwrought army.
At least the Terraguard armies marched by their own choice.
We would fight for the innocents and stop it all before tyranny tightened its strangling grip on the realms
The troops looked balanced, the Terraguard matching Oceanwrought nearly one to one in soldier count.
They stood mere feet between each other, the infantry bearing swords and shields at the front lines.
The beating drums halted. The Oceanwrought soldiers that wielded blades unsheathed them in tandem, raising the glinting metal to the sky.
Screams and colliding metal sang through the sky as the armies met in battle, a sound I would remember forever.
Dead bodies collapsed to the ground from both sides, discarded like garbage as the opponents purged over their carcasses for their next target.
My heart sank at the devastation, the blood that soaked into the dry ground like rain, and the beings that fell under the control of someone else.
The people that died fighting for dominion over their own land.
They witnessed the destruction they fought within before they died, trapped in their own bodies.
We snuck closer to the fight, hidden behind the rugged landscape that protruded from the island's natural beauty. It would be a graveyard from that moment on. No longer a place to visit and find serenity but a place of death and destruction.
Noctis charged into the lines, his power throwing multiple soldiers from both sides into the air.
They crashed into nearby men and women left unconscious but alive, taking out a handful in one wave of energy.
My stomach twisted at the sight of my Blood Tie in the midst of the chaos, risking his life for the right thing.
Although I felt immense fear, I was also overwhelmed in pride.
Jun joined the god, cutting a clear path to the commander that ordered that section of the Oceanwrought army. They both worked in perfect tandem, guarding each other's back while the other took the hit. Opposing troops fell to their power and wit, their grace and rage, their flame and wind.
I searched the crowds but couldn’t find who I searched for. I was defenseless without Raveeka’s trident, so I would stay back to help Zahara and Calvin.
“Aim slightly more to the right than you normally would. The wind is strong today,” Calvin instructed, his normal cheeriness vanished.
He stretched his bow outward and released an arrow, catching the male Oceanwrought soldier at Jun’s back as he and the god advanced to the nearest commander. We had practiced together in the days leading up to the battle, but I wasn’t nearly as accurate as him.
Raveeka stepped into the chaos toward Noctis and Jun, swords of the armies slashing before her face and spoke unblinkingly.
“Halt.”
The group of twelve soldiers from both armies froze.
“Escape her grip and run.”
The soldiers shook as if taking back control of their own bodies. Some trembled with sobs. A few looked around in confusion at the havoc ensuing and crouched in fear.
Two of the soldiers raised their weapons at the titan, aiming to fight back. Their legs moved as if they tried to stand their ground but couldn’t shake Raveeka’s order to run. Her trident scorched them in seconds, ashes catching through the wind.
The other ten tore off toward safety.
A clear path was visible from my point of view, aimed straight for the commander that hovered above a group of troops with arms moving as if conducting an orchestra.
I knocked my first arrow in place, pulled back until my arm began to tremble, aimed slightly more to the right, and released.
My arrow sliced through the air and landed in the flesh between breastplate and helm of the soldier to Noctis’s right.
The man tumbled to the ground in a massive, metallic heap.
Another reason you make me proud, Noctis shot down our bond, his sword swinging through the air, hitting the next opponent with the hilted end.
Just trying to keep us alive.
His words calmed me slightly, even more when Noctis’s hands gripped around the face of the commander of the group.
Light filtered around his grasp, and the stern, furious commander shifted almost instantly.
His face dropped in confusion, and then, he fell to his knees, arms outstretched and flapping like a—.
Seagull, Noctis answered mentally, a small lilt to his words. I’ve been saving souls for weeks.
Noctis swapped the commander's soul with the soul of a seagull.
The group the commander puppeteered snapped into confusion themselves. Raveeka followed in his wake as the soldiers under the commander regained their wits.
“Run,” she demanded quietly, and the soldiers obliged. Their feet dug into the sandy ground and desperately delivered them away from the onslaught.
The left flank of the Oceanwrought line struggled to maintain their stance, soldiers falling behind. Zahara and Calvin used the advantage to slip into the hoard, blades in hand and bound two children by their arms, scooping them out back to me.
The young children were ravenous, writhing against the rope binds that held them in one place. I took the blades from their tiny hands and bent down to talk to them while Calvin and Zahara continued safely retrieving children from battle.
“I know you’re in there, because she’s controlled me before, too,” I confided, but the children only snarled back. “We will save you and give your bodies back. Trust us. No one will ever hurt you again.”
Silver lined the eyes of the frail girl, but they continued fighting against the restraints. They tried so hard to be freed… to fight even when it was against their will. They couldn’t cut the tether the Ocean Mother held tight to.
Children were brought to me, and I told them all the same thing.
“No one will ever hurt you again.”
When the mass of children was confined in safety, they turned to pull in the women, elderly, and as many of the innocent lives that were forced to fight trapped within their own bodies that they could pull alive.
Many of the villagers swarmed between the sea of battle—some on the ground not breathing, their eyes staring off into nothingness.
They worked to retrieve each villager, but the fight was brutal.
Calvin and Zahara returned each time with more injuries, gashes and blood pouring around their bodies, running with limps.
Raven swooped in many times to protect their backs, but even then, they couldn’t keep up with the slaughter that occurred in the open land.
Noctis, Jun, and Raveeka had nearly reached the next commander toward the mid-left flank when the battlefield darkened.
In an instant, storm clouds blocked all light.
A lightning strike slammed into the frontlines of the Oceanwrought Bound soldiers, sending many flying backwards and crashing into the ground dead from both sides.
I felt the moment Noctis flinched at the strike.
Are you okay? I asked, but he hesitated to respond. Are you okay, Noctis?
Yes. The weather feels… familiar.
How? Should we prepare for something else?
The Terraguard soldiers around Noctis and Raveeka stopped mid-battle as if their next steps were timed and practiced.
And we were all about to witness a show.
The ground beneath their feet ruptured, splitting into a fault where hordes of golden Oricaans crawled from the depths.
I counted up to thirty creatures, like spiders stepping from the dark cracks in the ground.
Oceanwrought soldiers pummeled in the Oricaan’s wake.
It was all going wrong. We were supposed to stop the commanders quickly enough and evacuate the Oceanwrought captives before their blood covered the ground.
Now, their blood mixed with the heavy rain that began to fall from the clouds above.
Then, we could face the Ocean Mother and see an end to all the pain.
Except it was all going to shit.
I continued working with Zahara and Calvin to pull the children around the hill before we continued with the women and elderly, ensuring the young kids couldn’t see the slaughter that happened below. The bonds dug into their skin as they fought against them like animals.
The land shook at each step the gilded beasts took. I couldn’t conceal the crunching noise of bone beneath the creature’s feet, nor could I block that sound for the children.
Noctis, Jun, and Raveeka continued to purge through the Oceanwrought forces, only inflicting harm to the ones that bore the depth’s crest in armor. They reached the second commander, muddling his mind as the god switched his soul with the next seagull he kept in his reserve.
The flank the general commanded fell into confusion, and under Raveeka’s order, fled from the battle.
“If we can get Raveeka up here,” Zahara breathed, barely able to speak, “we can have her order the children to sleep until it’s all over.”
I relayed the information to Noctis.
On our way.
Raveeka, Noctis, and Jun turned and made their way out of the clearing they’d created. They crashed behind the hill in exhaustion, pulling the helms from their heads.
“The Oricaans will destroy them all,” Jun breathed heavily.
“Are the villagers out?” Noctis asked, sheathing his sword along his back as Raveeka ordered the children to sleep. Each of their tiny heads slumped in exhaustion until they slumbered—an odd relief.
A crack of lightning lit the sky. Then another. Noctis tensed. The sky grew darker as he inspected the nearly black clouds, eyebrows drawn together in focus.
“My father is here,” he declared confidently.
“Is he as hot as you?” Calvin asked with a small, uneasy chuckle. He leaned against the grassy hill, accepting the wind and rain to cool him down. “Or as brutal?”
“You have no idea,” Noctis murmured, his eyes darting around.
“About the hotness or brutality? Pretty important for you to clarify.”
Suddenly, the battle cries and clashing metal stopped over the hill.
We peeked over the crest, only to be sent into panic.
The Terraguard soldier’s faces all fell to stone, their arms slack at their sides.
At once, their boots marched through the mud, and they formed straight lines, intertwining amongst the Oceanwrought army—along with the Oricaans.
Far in the horizon, my gaze fell upon the one I’d been searching for. Hovering above the rapid waves of the sea, the Ocean Mother orchestrated the joining armies as one. She controlled them all. Both sides, all forces.
And they marched in sync toward the evacuated villages.