Chapter 34 A Dance of Axes and Arrows #2
Their backgrounds, although so different from one another, had shaped them into women who shared many personality traits: their bravery and determination, their stubbornness and recklessness.
But most importantly, their strong sense of loyalty and the urge to protect anyone who proved themselves worthy of their love.
As they were moved by rage and loss, there was no Iron Claw who would not cower before the sight of them.
Moving with the slyness of a wolf, blending into the shadows as they looked for their prey, they stopped in one of the parallel streets to where Thayan’s marble statue was displayed to where Eldric would be hanging, hostage.
It was a perfectly strategic location: not close enough to be spotted by the guards right away, but close enough to use magic against them.
Alissa squinted her eyes, struggling to see what lay beyond the darkness. It was her heart that reacted first, thundering at the sight of Eldric secured by thick metal chains, all covered in blood and scars, more beaten up now than any week before. Twelve Iron Claws stood guard, waiting for her.
She couldn’t use her magic to end their lives because if she did, she would be breaking the Magic Edictum, and that was a mistake she would not dare commit.
What she could do instead was harm them with her power.
Using magic against someone for harm was only a rule made in their constitution and not one of the Magic Edictum.
Alissa couldn’t care less about the constitution.
She was doomed if they found her, regardless of whether she played by the rules.
Her magic seemed ready to act even before she summoned it. Alissa could already feel the weird tingles of magic moving inside her as it traveled from her mind through her forearms and out of her body, into sparkling flickers of light visible only to her eyes.
When her power reached the first guard, he fell to his knees, dropping his weapon to the ground.
The man, who appeared to be younger than Alissa, yelled in excruciating agony as his legs and arm muscles were twisted mercilessly by her magic.
His companions shared the same expression of perplexity, clueless as to what could be afflicting the man.
The impact of Alissa’s arrow through the man’s forehead, right under the protection of his helmet, triggered all Iron Claws into combat position. But these men had been trained to fight an opponent within their reach. How would they defeat her when they couldn’t even spot the source of the threat?
Olga shifted on her heels beside Alissa, waiting for the time they had agreed she would join the action.
Another Iron Claw fell to the floor, his feet twisted in the opposite direction as blood dripped from his ears.
His finger bones cracked one after the other until he had no strength to wield his sword.
His wail echoed that of the man who had fallen beside him.
That was Olga’s cue. She ran, her arms up as she lifted her axe. She roared when the weapon descended at full force, chopping off the head of the man whom Alissa had left writhing on the floor.
Behind Olga, another Iron Claw waited. This man didn’t wear a helmet; he seemed too confident in his abilities to worry about such details.
His gray hair and beard made him easier to spot among the group of soldiers.
He kicked Olga’s knee from behind, and she crashed to the ground.
His arms enveloped her neck as a second man’s foot landed on Olga’s arm, stopping her from lifting her axe once more.
Alissa still watched from her hiding spot, waiting.
The experienced soldier wielded his sword, aiming to pierce Olga through the sides.
That was when magic hit him. He froze, as if a huge blizzard had been falling upon his naked body for hours, his whole body trembling as he tried to fight the power restraining him.
Alissa smirked. This man truly believed he could fight the power taking control over his body, yet behind his eyes, she saw fear.
The truth was, he had been doomed from the moment he was commanded to stand guard in the city center that night.
The fingers in his right hand opened against his will one after the other.
The man groaned between clenched teeth, and the sword fell from his grasp, landing beside Olga.
His left arm, which had been holding the woman by the neck, moved on its own, and he watched flabbergasted.
His own hand was the one squeezing his throat. He couldn’t do anything to stop it.
When Olga picked up the sword from the ground, Alissa’s magic released the grip of the older soldier to hold the one who had been trapping Olga’s arm to the ground.
Before the man could realize no mysterious power held him in place any longer, his sword—wielded by his enemy—reached his intestines, and he fell to his knees.
When he died, Olga reached for her axe, forgotten on the dirty ground, and aimed at the torso of the man agonizing in pain in front of her, but Alissa’s arrow reached his chest before she could attack.
Olga glanced back to where Alissa stood hidden and smiled.
Unfortunately, Alissa could not hit all men at once; the four weeks of practice had not been enough to command her skills at that level, but she watched from a distance, aiming at those who came stronger after Olga.
Amid the chaos, other soldiers had split around the square, looking for Alissa.
She cursed, running and attacking at the same time.
Her wisps of magic formed a knot around the ankles of the man running towards her and squeezed it.
He fell to his stomach, and as she ran past him, her dagger pierced his back with a killing blow.
She yanked the blade free and joined Olga in the center of the battlefield.
Suddenly, the hilt of a sword hit the back of her neck.
Alissa fell to the ground, dizziness taking over her.
She slid her fingers there and found warm blood dripping down her injury.
When she looked up, the Iron Claw’s blade was heading toward her chest.
Olga screamed, pushing the soldier to the ground with all of her strength. The man fell, and she knelt on top of him. Olga did not give him time to react; she punched his face time and again until what was left of him was a deformed face and a heart that no longer beat.
Only five men left.
Even as Olga wiped blood off her face, she looked ecstatic. “I thought we had agreed you would attack from the hiding spot,” she said, offering Alissa her hand.
Alissa took her hand, standing. “They were scattering around the square. It’ll be easier to hit them if they are all in the same place.”
The plan worked as expected. Only seconds later, the remaining Iron Claws who had diverged ran toward them, swords in hand. Their contorted faces were a reflection of pure rage.
The women worked in perfect harmony. Alissa, in silence, as she hit the first of the remaining five men before he even reached them.
She broke and twisted every bone and muscle within her magic’s reach, her arrow always coming second to finish off what she had started with her power.
Olga had a completely opposite strategy.
She made the whole scene worthy of a history book, her growls coming before each swing of her axe as it met a new target, like in a dance where the first melody was the sound of her voice and the second the sound of the axe cracking skull.
The stone ground was stained crimson with the blood of those whose lives she ended, and she stood proud beside their corpses, knowing these were the men who had dared invade her home and murder her husband.
In a few minutes, they had killed twelve men on their own. Alissa looked around, taking in the slaughter they left in the middle of Heldraine’s capital. When she looked back and her gaze settled on the man secured by chains, there was no guilt consuming her heart, only relief.
Eldric watched it all happen, aghast. When they approached him with rushed steps, Olga moved her axe to cut off the chains that held him suspended in the air, and he recoiled, scared.
When he was free, it was only Alissa’s arms around him that kept him standing.
When he stared at her, there was nothing in his eyes that reminded her of him.
“I’m here now. You’re safe,” she whispered, holding his face between her hands, her eyes shimmering with tears.
Eldric had watched these figures moving through the night and slaying men with a strength he had not seen in the most talented warriors of Heldraine.
He had been so weak and disoriented, not for a moment had he suspected the woman he loved was one of them.
The second he recognized her was like being struck by lightning.
Like his whole body had come alive only because he was in her presence.
He crumbled into her arms and broke down in tears for the first time in years.
Not because he was being set free, but because she was alive.
Alissa wished to hold him and kiss his pain away, but they couldn’t afford to collapse, to seek solace in each other for all the pain that was brought upon them. Not when all these corpses wouldn’t go unnoticed for so long. They needed to move.
Two horses awaited them a couple of streets down. Olga had made the arrangements a few nights earlier, having stolen the stallions from a stable. Alissa named the horses Zig and Zag because they refused to ride in parallel with each other, always veering off course.
Alissa shared a horse with Eldric. With every stride, she had to hold his arm tight to her waist to prevent his fall.
He was so weak that he could barely hold himself still.
His head rested over her shoulder as he took in her scent, listening to the sound of her breathing and absorbing the sensation of not being held to chains anymore.