Chapter 36 #2
My attention snapped back to him and, fuck.
Daka were almost on him, and I dove. Fire spewed from my mouth again, taking out the few beasts that had been closing in on him.
I circled back and blinked as the symbols in the air multiplied, stretching high and wide across the field.
It was just as vast as the ward but I couldn't make out what the symbols meant.
I'd never seen anything like them before.
The massive, glowing blue wall solidified, and the approaching beasts slammed into it, unable to pass. The daka wailed against it, thrashing and roaring as they continued to try to advance. Witches fell from their seats, trampled by their own beasts.
Panic and rage filled the air, but I could only watch as they piled up, tumbling and rolling, the massive wall of symbols pushing them back to their side of the ward.
I landed on the ground next to Gunnar as the magic met with the ward.
It pulsed and sparked and seemed to fuse with it, becoming one.
Gunnar threw his hands down, then pushed them forward as if striking a wall.
Blinding light erupted, my vision turning white as a deafening boom shook the earth, causing even me to stagger from its force.
I gritted my teeth as a surge of power washed over me. It felt like a second skin, both light and dark, life and death. It was suffocating, my lungs filling with it, and then it was gone. I blinked, a shiver tracing its way down my spine.
The ward was gone.
The magic, once solid, shimmered in the wind as if burned and floating away like ash. But that wasn't what had my mouth hanging open in shock.
The daka. All of them… were gone. Vanished, as if they never existed. Their green poisonous sludge not even a taint on the muddy earth.
Morgana’s armies scrambled to their feet having been blown back by the force of the ward breaking. Their collective gasps and shouts of confusion filling the once stunned silence that had been present a moment ago.
My gaze snapped to Gunnar. He was on one knee, panting.
All eyes seemed to be on him. What he had just done… my head snapped toward Morgana whose face was twisted with rage. Lex’s army was still attacking at the back of their flanks, and I jumped as Gunnar’s voice boomed in the air, amplified by some sort of spell.
“I didn’t do that for nothing! Go!”
As if snapped from a trance, my people charged forward, their cries filled with hope as they raced across the land to meet our enemies. Pride and hope swelled in my chest but was quickly extinguished as I found Gunnar face-first in the mud.
“Gunnar!” I appeared at his side, my fingers twisting in his clothes as I flipped him on his back.
“No—don't you dare!” I snarled. He was barely breathing, his breaths shallow and ragged as he tried to smile up at me.
Mud smeared his face, and I quickly wiped it away, tears burning my eyes as I held onto him. “Don't you dare die.”
His wrinkled palm rose to my cheek, his gaze flickering as his lips trembled and parted, his mouth opening and closing as he struggled to speak. “I—I kn-knew the price,” he rasped, his words barely audible.
“You didn't have to be the one to pay it,” I growled, my voice breaking as a heavy weight settled in my chest. Gunnar's ocean-blue eyes sharpened, a faint smile gracing his lips.
“It was an honor—” he croaked, pulling in a shaky breath. “Such an honor.”
The words left him in a breath, his eyes lifting to the sky above me. The light drained from them as tears spilled down my face and I shook him, forcing him to wake. But he didn't move. Didn’t blink.
The clash of swords and the roar of shouts drew my gaze upward. Our armies had finally met, steel ringing against steel, and I knew I had to move. I couldn't stay here, but my gaze fell on Gunnar again. It didn't feel real. He was gone.
Gunnar had done this for them, for me, and I wouldn’t let his final sacrifice be in vain.
Wings erupted from my back, and I lifted Gunnar into my arms. I wouldn't leave him here. I shot toward the camp and spotted Julian already at its entrance. Tears fell down his cheeks, his gaze fixed on Gunnar. He must have seen, must have witnessed what had happened.
I landed softly in front of him and laid Gunnar down before him.
A sob left Julian's lips, and he shook his head violently as he rose shaky palms over his friend, his mentor. When nothing happened, Julian fell onto Gunnar’s chest.
“Fool!” Julian spat, and I pulled him up by his arm and crushed him to my chest. Julian sobbed harder, and I wanted so badly to stay, to be here for him, for Gunnar, but I couldn’t.
I pushed Julian away, turning sharply before I could see his broken expression. If I did I wouldn’t have been able to walk away.
Forcing myself to concentrate, I shadowed to the top of the hill overlooking the battle.
Lightning was crashing to my left, and I spotted Dedra on the back of Dimitri.
Tria followed closely behind. She dived in and out of the battle, scouting from above, dealing her strikes to areas it was most needed.
A glint of red caught my eye, and I spotted Aria astride Agatha, tearing her way through a line of witches on the ground, bodies falling in their wake.
I kept scanning, searching. Still no Jaxon…
The ogres roared and charged the archers, their fists smashing and slamming into their fleeing ranks, but the archers' arrows still found their targets.
The pixies. I watched their small bodies fall to the ground and gritted my teeth.
The pixies, however, continued their advance.
Swarms of them hurled fiery orbs, their manic laughter carried faintly on the wind as they rained them down upon their approaching foes.
Elsewhere, other groups of pixies were plucking witches from the air by their hair, their struggling victims left to flail before being dropped back into the fray, landing on their own allies.
Theo and Cynthia came into view and I leaped, shadowing to their sides. The approaching army was overwhelming them. My sword was immediately met with another, and Theo’s eyes widened in surprise as he removed his blade and spun, blocking an actual attack.
“Sorry!” he yelled, and my blade met another attacker.
The man’s eyes widened as he realized who I was, but my sword was already cleaving through the flesh of his neck, his body crumpling into the mud at my feet.
Someone lunged, fangs flashing, as a witch pounced on me.
Her fangs brushed my shoulder as my dagger pierced her neck.
Fangs and swords rained down, and I met each onslaught again and again.
I didn't even consider using magic, not yet.
I needed, wanted, to experience their deaths.
Feel my blade as it pierced them and ended their lives.
I wanted to hear their final gasps as they pleaded for mercy, and I didn't care if that made me evil.
These people were targeting my home, my family.
They had already taken so much from me, and I absolutely refused to let them take anything more.
Theo appeared at my side, grimacing as vines snaked up his arms, a burly man laughing as he tried to snag Theo with his earth magic. My blades sliced through the vines, and Theo lunged at the male, but my shadows were already around his neck, and with a snap, he was falling to the earth.
“Ah, come on, I had him!” Theo shouted, grinning as he spun, throwing a dagger at an incoming woman with long midnight hair. It landed in her neck, and his sword ran through her middle.
A flash of red to my right made me spin around. A sword was inches from my neck, but it was frozen in the air, his attack stopped by someone. The man's face contorted in pain, and he gasped for air, as he fell. Cynthia appeared behind him, withdrawing her blade from his back.
She winked at me, and I nodded my thanks as she pivoted and continued to fight.
The hair on the back of my neck rose, and I turned, lifting my gaze.
Morgana was staring directly at me, a cruel, twisted smile on her lips.
Zara stood before her, and my blood boiled.
Morgana was gripping Zara by the nape of her neck, and Zara seemed to be in distress.
Her blue eyes welled with pain, as if trying to convey a message, but I didn't dare confirm or reach out through our bond.
That was exactly what Morgana wanted. However, I was done playing by their rules, and I snarled at Theo.
“Cover me.”
I charged through the oncoming soldiers, my shadows snapping bones, slicing flesh and killing anyone in my path.
Theo was sprinting alongside me, his lightning crashing down around us, more bodies falling as we continued to carve our way through their ranks.
Only when it was safe to shift did I leap into the air, my bones cracking and wings spreading as I transformed back into my beast form.
Fury swirled in my gaze and blood as I soared over the battle, spearing towards my mate.
Magic crashed against my shield, and I gritted my teeth against the onslaught.
It came from every angle, but I didn’t care. All that mattered was reaching her.
Soren said I had to send her back. But he never said I couldn’t go get her once I did.
Zara's mouth gaped open, a silent scream contorting her face in agony.
I snarled as her magic erupted from her skin, a massive wave of shadows surging into the sky, swirling like stormy clouds as they hurtled towards me.
She couldn't kill me, and my magic burst forth, meeting hers head-on as I continued to charge at them.
Our shadows collided, and an explosion of dark, thrashing tendrils arched out in multiple directions. I kept moving forward, letting the shadows engulf me. I expected pain, expected something, but the shadows didn’t harm me, and I gritted my teeth as I blindly flew through the dark.