44. Chapter 44
Chapter 44
Tank
D ean was securing Damon to a nearby tree, and he glared at him with a hatred I didn’t think the brother had possessed before he came to Nymeria. Apparently, being repeatedly chained up wasn’t something Damon liked, but realistically, it was more likely the nightmare we were seeing right now. We hadn’t thought through bringing him with us. Obviously, we couldn’t take him onto the battlefield with us. We had no idea if he’d turn against us or even if he’d take the chance to run. He still could if he tried hard enough.
None of us could stay behind to watch him. We didn’t know if proximity would be an issue with Alyssa accessing the bond, and it wasn’t a risk we’d take.
This was the only choice we’d been left with.
Damon was looking around as Dean tested that the chains were secured. He looked confused. Maybe it was actually Damon we were dealing with, at least for now.
“This isn’t the Autumn Court,” he realised aloud. “What’s happening?”
It was obvious we were preparing for the fight. Our fighters had abandoned their packs and were testing their armour and weapons. The atmosphere alone was sombre enough to know something was happening.
Alyssa was the one to answer him, and for some reason, it felt right that it should be her.
“No. This is Arik’s training camp at the top of the Ice Falls. We attack in an hour.”
There was no point hiding it from him now. Even if Arik had some kind of connection with the nightmare, there was little he could do to move his forces in time now. Not when they were on a completely different coastline.
“But… but he saw it. You don’t understand. Arik has something that lets him glimpse the future. He saw you freeing the Autumn Court.”
“A court isn’t really a place. It’s the people who live there and the magic they wield. It’s the connections we have with each other and the love we share. These people deserve to be free, and they will be. Once we liberate them, the Autumn Court will be saved.”
Damon’s mouth hung open as he shook his head in disbelief, and then his expression changed as he looked around himself again. It was a look of hope, and an expression I hadn’t seen on his face before.
Maybe he wasn’t lost to us yet, after all.
Dean, Maddox, and Ryder all said a hasty goodbye to their brother, who still looked like he couldn’t believe what was actually happening. It was hard to watch. What Damon was going through was affecting their bond even if they didn’t want to admit it, but none of them wanted to walk away from this moment without at least saying something.
I moved away with Alyssa, letting them have some peace to do what they needed to do.
We weren’t far from the edge of the training camp, and we walked the distance in silence, knowing that the others would join us as soon as they could. The fighters came to a halt a short distance away, fanning out to form a line and surround what we could of the camp. Alyssa and I joined Rhidian in a small outcropping of rocks that provided us with enough cover to scope out the camp that we’d had very little information on before now.
It looked like a death camp, but I guessed that was what it was. The ground had long since turned to mud, the slightly warmer temperature of the season holding off the ice for now. What must have been the tents they slept in were little more than rags suspended between ropes. There was little to no shelter from the elements, and I could only imagine what it was like in the winter.
I couldn’t believe Arik forced people into these conditions. I knew he was evil, but this was something else.
The early hour of the morning had some movement in camp. It looked like they were only now waking, and the shouted curses of the guards drifted across us as they herded their fighters to whatever breakfast looked like in this hell.
My bear grumbled in displeasure at the sight before us, and I tried to calm him down with promises that it would end today. He didn’t care. His anger flared hot and violent with what these people were being put through. It wasn’t the first glimpse of the horrors Nymeria had to face, but it was the most unsettling as the youngest occupants of the camp came into view. They were only children, barely old enough to wield a sword, and the talons that formed on my fingers, punching into my palms, were evidence of how much my bear hated everything about it.
“We strike hard and we strike fast,” Rhidian said, his feet bracing as he prepared to rise.
The signal for the fight to begin was as simple as him starting it. We didn’t want to give the camp time to arm themselves, let alone organise, but there was something about the quiet scene in front of us that just didn’t feel right.
It was too quiet. Too organised. And we’d planned this whole thing on the assumption that these people were even allowed to sleep.
Maddox, Ryder, and Dean silently joined us at our vantage point, and I watched as they all quickly took in the details of the camp. They knew what they were doing. They’d fall back on their training and navigate this situation far better than the rest of us.
Rhidian didn’t utter a single word as he suddenly stood. I heard fighters moving behind us, and I knew this was it.
Alyssa reached out, brushing her hand across each of her mates as an unsure smile touched her lips, and then she turned and ran. Only a step behind Rhidian and with a look of fierce determination on her face, she charged, and she looked like a vengeful goddess as she did.
We had a plan. Charge the camp and cause as much chaos as possible to give Alyssa the chance to make her way to the centre and start breaking the connection. There would no doubt be some Endless in the camp and we needed to disable them fast. We all knew our parts and where we were supposed to be. But as I watched her run full speed towards the unknown, I threw it all to the wind.
Fuck it.
There was only one place I was supposed to be in this battle, and it was by her side. My bear was in full agreement as the shift came quickly and as the occupants of the training camp turned towards our charging fighters, I roared.
My bear kept pace, keeping Alyssa in our eyeline as we stormed through the outer line of the camp. Our forces had surrounded much of this side of the camp. The other side was cut off by the edge of the cliff going over the ice falls. We had them pinned for the most part and were hoping it would make up for our unfamiliarity of the territory.
Arik’s soldiers seemed to swarm from out of nowhere, and the fight started quicker than I’d expected. My bear kept up his lolloping run, swiping aside any that came near us. Most seemed to be second guessing going up against a full-grown rampaging bear, and I used that to my advantage for now. I didn’t want to lose much ground between me and Alyssa. I knew she could do what needed to be done. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that she’d be able to break Arik’s control once more. But I was worried about what happened afterwards, and it was a glaring hole in our plan. If Alyssa lost consciousness again, she’d be in the middle of Arik’s training camp and vulnerable. We didn’t know how many of these fighters were on his side and not under whatever mind control he could wield. There was a possibility that removing their oppressors wouldn’t automatically have them turning to our side.
We had the numbers, and surprise was on our side. Even the soldiers who were coming out to meet our forces seemed to be inexperienced enough that they weren’t causing us much difficulty. We were making our way through to the centre without running into many obstacles at all.
I should have realised it was too good to be true.
I should have realised it was a sign that whatever lay deeper inside the camp was merely biding its time until we’d drawn closer.
The Endless came from nowhere. The glistening gold of their armour drew every eye towards them. How could it not? They were the ghouls that stalked these lands and struck fear into everyone who crossed them.
We’d assumed there would be some here. We knew Arik had most of his forces stationed out across Nymeria, but he had to have some Endless here at the camp even if it was just to keep its unwilling occupants under control.
We’d greatly underestimated their numbers, though.
And as they poured from the tents at the centre of the camp, forming ranks in a long gleaming line, there was only one single thought in my mind.
They were standing exactly where my mate was heading.
My bear bellowed out a challenge, raising up onto his back legs as he made his presence known. Dropping back to the ground, he charged, that gleaming gold armour was nothing but an enticement for him. He did so love to crush it beneath his paws.
I felt that familiar hazy feeling slip across my mind, and I willingly slipped into the berserker I’d spent so long trying to hold back. It was time to unleash the bear, and part of me was excited to see what came next.