Chapter 55 #2
Several of that wall reared back as I appeared, as my shadows launched into action, shooting from beneath their feet to punch through the armour of those who did not react quickly enough by summoning bright orbs of magic to drive back the shadows.
Too late.
The light would not stop me.
I spotted my prey among them.
“We meet again, little prince,” I drawled, the sound of clashing swords and brutal screams in danger of drowning me out.
But he heard.
His blade stilled as it came down towards one of my men, his azure eyes flaring wide.
The male he had been about to cut down disappeared in a swirl of shadows, whisked away by them as I held my hand out in his direction, moving him out of danger.
Lorien snarled from between clenched fangs as he turned on me, the blood that caked one side of his face cracking as his expression darkened.
And then he spotted Saphira.
He grinned at her. “How kind of you to come here rather than making me go to his castle to find you after I have killed him. Once I have dealt with both of you, all that is left is to execute that traitorous bitch in my dungeon. The court will be baying for her blood as soon as I tell them she helped you.”
“Meiryn,” Saphi whispered and then rallied, her face twisting as she readied her blade and solar light lit the palm of her free hand.
“It’s a shame you won’t live long enough to tell them.
I’m sure we’ll both have a good laugh about how you died.
I fully intend to make it spectacularly ridiculous, so the court will only ever remember you as that little prick who died shitting his pants. ”
He glowered at her as she smirked at him.
My little wolf did have a wonderful way with words, and an aptitude for knowing the weak spots of her enemies. In Lorien’s case, his pride and his far to easy to stoke temper.
She brandished her blade. “Shall we get on with this then?”
Fire flickered over his fingers, forming into a long handle in his palm as his fingers closed around it.
A whip.
The same whip the bastard had no doubt used on her to give her those scars that would forever remain as a reminder of what he had done to her.
How he had bested her.
Shadows tore from the ground, a thousand sharp spears aimed right at him as he focused on Saphira.
Letting his guard down.
He disappeared before they could touch him, flickering out of existence, and Saphira unleashed a vicious curse as she launched into action, attacking the nearest Summer Court soldier as Lorien’s personal guard rallied and realised what had happened.
They had been abandoned to their fate.
Growling low, I let my shadows fly and my blade dance, keeping pace with Saphira and working with her to cut down anyone who stood in our path as we led the Shadow Court, our warriors falling into line beside us, gathering behind us as we drove forwards into the heart of the Summer Court, splitting their forces into two.
Seeking Lorien.
Killing him would end this.
The Summer Court army only had Lorien’s word about what had happened at the glade, and if we could kill him, Saphira might be able to rally them around her.
Several of the warriors she attacked with blade and solar magic looked reluctant to fight her, and some even made a swift exit when they saw her approaching.
Lorien’s hold over the hearts of his men was not as firm as he believed it.
If we could take him down quickly, we could end this war without too much bloodshed.
We moved as one through the throng, my senses split between tracking Saphira to ensure I remained close to her, and tracking everyone around me.
My shadows launched through the enemy ranks to our left and right, screams rising to fill the air as they slipped into the cracks in the armour of our foes and sank into their flesh and severed bones.
The warriors fell around me, each one I took down with my shadows fuelling me, and dark clouds gathered overhead as I unleashed them on another two males as I swung my blade, severing the neck of a third.
In the arc of my sword, the shadows rushed outwards, a spray of black darts that shot through the armour of the first male and through the head of the second, neither of them able to block as they wildly swung at the shadows, their blades passing straight through them.
Light exploded off to my right, the scent of singed flesh filling the air as a male soared backwards above the battle, disappearing into the wild sea of it as he came crashing down.
Saphira swept her hand around, hurling another globe of solar magic at a male who ran at her with his sword raised, and gritted her teeth as he flew backwards into his comrades, taking down several of them.
My shadows made fast work of them, tearing their plate armour from their bodies to rip at their flesh and their organs.
The whole of my attention on my little wolf as I closed the distance between us and she pitched forwards to brace her free hand on her thigh, breathing hard.
She was too pale.
I placed my hand on her back, shadows racing around us, forming a wall that rose twenty feet high, one that none dared to try to penetrate as I checked on her. Her heart hammered against my palm and she was trembling.
“You push yourself too hard. This is not a sprint. This war will not be won by you rushing and exhausting yourself.” I weathered the scowl she angled up at me. “You are not used to wielding magic so frequently. Focus on using your blade more or your knives.”
“It’s too crowded for my knives.” She pushed upright and exhaled hard as she swiped the back of her hand across her damp brow. “I’ll pull it back a little. Use my blade more.”
I nodded and went to drop the shield of shadows.
A great bolt of solar magic shot through it, severing the wall before I could lower it, and I pulled Saphira with me as I curled over her, shielding her as I spun my back to the blast.
It detonated as soon as it hit the centre of the circle of shadows, blinding light and heat blazing over my back before I could summon a shield using magic. The scent of scorched leather hit my nostrils, filling the air as a sphere formed around us, cutting off the worst of the attack.
Saphira growled as I unfurled my body, allowing her to regain her feet, and she saw the smouldering patch on my right shoulder.
I turned in the direction the attack had come from.
Lorien stood at the end of the broad trench of scorched earth.
The grass at the edges of the curved trench burned brightly, and the bodies of those who had been caught in the crossfire of his attack smouldered, wisps of smoke curling from their charred forms.
No warrior had been spared.
He had cut down both the Summer Court and Shadow Court alike.
I locked gazes with Lorien.
It seemed the little prince had found his fangs.