20
Cass
I flew toward the spot outside of town where I was told a traveler would be waiting for me. I took an immediate route along the coast, enjoying the scenic view. Coming home with wings had given me the ability to see the place I grew up in from an entirely new perspective. The beach was beautiful when my toes were in the sand, but from up here, it was just stunning.
I cut in from the coastline, toward the forest area outside of town. I wasn’t exactly slow when I flew. Flying was faster than almost all other forms of transportation. But there could be no doubt that flying could take hours, where traveling took seconds. I was thankful for the few extra minutes my own flight bought me today. I had to get Mandy off my mind and focus on the conflict waiting for me.
The traveler stood right outside a thicket of woods on the outskirts of town. He was tall, broad shouldered, and wore all black battle leathers.
“Commander,” he greeted.
“Prince Heroux,” I replied, not showing the surprise that I felt that the Prince was the traveler who would take me into battle.
“Out here, Commander, there are no princes. I am a Commander in the King’s, forces just like you,” he said.
That wasn’t exactly accurate. I was Commander of the Northern Forces. The Prince was Commander over all Valencian forces and heir to the throne.
“Commander, sir,” I replied obediently.
“We have Alancians. A lot of them,” the Prince said.
“Their target, Commander?” I asked.
“They are about thirty miles outside of the High Court’s perimeter,” the Prince answered.
“Fucking hell,” I barked.
If they had made it that far into the Kingdom, that meant they had magically traveled there. There was no way they would have gotten through our defenses otherwise.
I thought of Mandy for just a moment and was glad that she was back home at my father’s house and far away from the High Court.
“So it’s a magical battle they seek?” I asked.
“I don’t think this is the final battle. But, yes, I do think he is ready to test us. We must make a strong showing today, or we will find Vandros at our doorstep,” the Prince said.
This was it. We would finally get to see if the magic of the Alancians was as impacted as our own magic after all these years. I couldn’t know the full extent to which my own magic was impacted; I was born in a time where the magic was already diminishing. It was clear that I was blessed with the strength and powers of a warrior from a young age, strength and power that has only increased as I got older. And then, of course, there was the blessing of my wings, something I’d never dreamed I’d have. I had Mandy and the powers she denied she had to thank for my wings.
There could be no doubt that Mandy had some kind of magic. I didn’t know how she’d managed to gift my birthright to me, but she had. She was amazing that way and humble, too, with the way she wanted to deny her role in it. I wasn’t sure what the Prince’s intentions with Mand were. Presumably, he intended to harness Mandy’s power to restore the gifts and powers of others. If she, in fact, did have that kind of power, it would be unprecedented. But depending on how things went today, it could also mean the difference between us winning this war or losing it.
To say that I was displeased with the possibility of Mandy’s direct involvement in the war effort would be a severe understatement. Then again, she was already involved before I came into the picture due to her role at Court and the people she surrounded herself with. The only real way either Mandy or I could have avoided being involved was if we had never left Harborview to begin with. But that isn’t what either of us wanted. I would do everything in my power to protect Mand, but I was proud of her and would not hamstring the results of her hard work.
I tried to clear my head of Mandy once more. If the Alancians wanted a battle of magic, we could still give them one. And magic wasn’t everything. We had soldiers with training and a home field advantage as well.
“And pardon me, Commander, for the questions but—”
“You are doing what any good soldier should do. Do not apologize,” the Prince stated simply.
“The King, is he safe?” I asked.
“Far from it, Commander. Our King fights with us. He does not hide behind the protection of others,” the Prince said.
“Yes, sir,” I said with a grin.
“All set, Commander?” the Prince asked.
With a nod of my head, we disappeared from the clearing. We landed in a thicket of woods surrounded by our own soldiers. Alancians soldiers, at least two to our one, stood around like they had been waiting for the Prince and me to arrive. We brought the fight to them, engaging the Alancian forces.
In seconds, arrows and magical weapons filled the air. The Prince traveled to the nearest Alancian soldier, stabbing him in the gut and viciously yanking his short sword up, nearly severing the soldier.
“Cass, to me,” Luke called.
Wings out, I half flew, half jumped to where Luke stood in the middle of what appeared to be a ball of light. When I got closer, I felt one of the Lord of Light’s shields slide into place over me. With Luke as my protector, I was invincible. We may have been outnumbered, but we were not outmatched.
I felled an Alancian soldier who had tried to incapacitate me with some kind of concealed magical ability. But with Luke’s shield around me, I was unfazed. The soldier looked surprised that I was still standing, and he was even more surprised when I was able to easily make my way to him and slice through his torso with my long sword. I slid on my knees, taking a second soldier from behind, slicing his legs from under him. The Prince darted around so quickly from Alancian to Alancian, like a deathly dark blur. It was hard for me to keep track, but he, too, was cutting through our numerous enemies with lethal speed.
The Contra, High Lord Vitruvian, was a little way off in front of me. I saw an ax thrown at the High Lord, and I shouted, too far away to intervene. The High Lord followed through with the stroke of his sword, cutting down an Alancian in front of him, wholly unconcerned about the ax barreling toward his face with a confidence that could only mean that he, too, was protected by Luke’s shield. Luke engaged in a sword fight with two Alancian soldiers. It was beyond impressive that Luke had the mental fortitude to keep shields around so many of us and still engage the enemy.
The most impressive figure on the battlefield, by far, was none other than the King himself. His powers of weaving—which before today, I had only read about in my textbooks—had not been exaggerated. He made the world around him his weapon. His enemies tripped on roots only to be swallowed whole by the ground under them. Or else found themselves in an invisible prison enclosed with whatever lethal magic they had tried to unleash on the King. I wasn’t sure how long the King would be able to keep up such magical feats, but while he could, he appeared to be in little need of my or anyone else’s help.
Then, just as we were hitting our stride, the battle was over. The Alancians executed a swift retreat, making it clear that it had been their intention all along. Throughout the battle, Alancian soldiers had positioned themselves in clusters so that travelers hidden among the masses could travel away groups of them at a time. Large groups of Alancian soldiers disappeared from the battle in several locations all at once. The few, unlucky stragglers, who had been unable to get to their exit point in time, were dealt with expeditiously.
There were several things that were apparent to me in the immediate aftermath of the short but intense battle.
One—the border wall still held. Otherwise, we would have been inundated by Alancian soldiers. They’d managed to get small numbers of Alancians through the wall in a manner we’d yet to determine, but they were still limited by those they could magically transport.
Two—King Vandros had outnumbered us just as quickly and in the same manner as his soldiers had retreated. He had meant for us to show him our most powerful, magical cards, and we had been forced to do just that.
And three—King Vandros and most of his known magical powerhouses had not bothered to make an appearance at the battle. That meant that when we all finally did meet on the battlefield, it was going to be a much different battle than the one fought and won today.