Chapter 67 #2
The speed with which I’m moving is still shocking.
The fairy magic must be preventing me from getting sore and fatigued, because my sword arm should be burning right now. Instead, I feel great. I feel like I can take on an army.
A searing heat hits my arm, and I cry out, immediately throwing water on it.
I turn and find the perpetrator, casting a ball of water out and securing it around his head.
I watch as he flails and panics, but I’m not breaking my concentration.
I keep it encircled around his head until he drowns in it, eventually dropping to the ground.
The soldiers around me have dwindled. Many of them have worked their way toward Daegan and Raef, trying to sneak up from behind.
I glance at Rhydra. “You good?”
She grunts, pulling her knife out of a soldier’s neck and then cutting a vine that’s wrapped around her ankle. “Yep.”
“How can we help them?” I ask.
“I feel like it’s more helpful to steer clear and let them do their thing.”
I don’t like it. I can’t stand here and do nothing while Daegan and Raef are fighting for their lives. I also don’t want to get burned to death in their fire, though. Or get in their path so they can’t blast anyone around me.
“Maybe we should have climbed on their backs?”
Rhydra shakes her head. “Look at everything being thrown at them. They’re a massive target. He can’t protect you up there with everything going on around him. And he will try to protect you. Over everything.”
Fair point.
A horn sounds in the distance, and my heart sinks. More soldiers march toward Daegan and Raef from far along the walls. This time, they have their water elementals at the front, casting some sort of combined water shield to protect the whole front line. I don’t know if it will help.
The night is still dark, and some areas are still impossible to see.
All the soldiers I killed lost their torches, so I can barely see Rhydra in front of me.
A small fire orb on the ground nearby is the only light around us.
But the soldiers in the distance carry countless torches, making it easy to track them in the night, and the endless assault of dragon fire is helping to illuminate things too.
“Fuck,” Rhydra says.
“No one sees us over here,” I tell her. “Let’s flank the ones coming from the far side over there and take out as many as we can.”
She raises her eyebrows at me. I don’t know if she’s impressed or concerned. Maybe both.
“Are you okay?” she asks.
I pause. “Probably not. But I’ll deal with that later.”
A sad reluctance passes over her features before she turns and runs off through the onyx night. I follow.
The large expanse of land between us and the soldiers is still very dark, even with my small orb I picked up.
I’ve almost tripped on a couple bodies, but we keep going, moving carefully, letting the lights from their torches guide us straight to them.
Deciding it makes more sense to remain unseen, I chuck the orb.
“They just keep fucking coming,” Rhydra notes.
More elven soldiers.
How many do we have? I know they said my father has upped his military recruiting and presence in the last year and a half, but this is overwhelming.
“How the fuck are Daegan and Raef supposed to know where we go so they don’t blast us,” Rhydra mutters as she leaps over a bloody corpse.
“He told me to stick to this side of the circle. Behind them. So, I guess we don’t cross into the other half?”
“Which means the two of us have to handle the whole force that’s entering from this side.”
“Two fucking badass princesses who will bring doom and death upon them. They’ll be sorry.
” I almost laugh as I speak the words, because it seems ridiculous.
I’d never have called myself a badass in any aspect of life, but here I am, high on the adrenaline of the battle, my will to survive and protect my allies burning through me.
I refuse to accept that we won’t make it out of here tonight.
“I’m not a princess,” Rhydra mumbles beside me, her long legs barely moving at a slow jogging pace as mine work three times as fast to keep up.
“You are.”
She shakes her head and smiles over at me like it’s a big joke, her red, coiled, blood-stained hair bouncing in the wind.
Once again, the soldiers ahead don’t even notice us. They’re focused on the two massive forms on the other side of the battlefield.
That’s fine.
Let them underestimate us.
Rhydra and I give each other a quick, reassuring nod, where so many things pass between us with one glance.
My heart clenches at the thought of having a sister beside me, fighting this battle together.
How we ended up finding each other, on nearly the same path, I’ll never know. But I’ll always be thankful.
We look ahead, charging into battle side-by-side.
We take the first cluster by surprise, swinging and stabbing our way through bodies, knocking them down one after another.
With a mixture of my water and ice attacks, plus my magically guided sword, I’m tearing through bodies with unfathomable speed.
Rhydra falls behind me.
With only the use of her staff and a few knives, she doesn’t take out nearly as many as I do.
I lock in, stabbing, slicing, and driving forward with every strike.
Blood sprays across me, but I don’t stop.
Something primal takes over, and I won’t relent until we’ve carved a clear path out of here, every one of my friends still beside me.
More than half of the group we launched a surprise attack on ignored us, charging forward toward what they think is the bigger threat.
This group is thinning out tremendously.
I vaguely register a stab at my leg, but then it goes numb, and I carry on.
Without even glancing down, I reach and pull a knife out of my thigh, come face-to-face with an elf I’ve never seen before.
His gray eyes meet mine as I stab the knife straight through the side of his neck, his eyes widening with shock as he drops. Now they’re lifeless.
A scream sounds behind me. There have been many screams and wails around us, but this one, I know. I turn and run through the fray, searching for a head of voluminous red hair. She’s taller than most males, making her easy to spot. But I can’t find her.
Panic rises in me. I lower my gaze, scouring the ground instead.
“Rhydra!”
I hear her grunt nearby, and I know where to go. I feel a sharp burn on the side of my arm, but I keep going.
Three soldiers have their backs to me, and on the other side, Rhydra is in a low crouch, fighting for her life, swinging her staff with everything she has, keeping them at a distance.
I use all of my concentration, all of my might, and I focus on the three elves. I cover them each in water and quickly freeze it. They’ll suffocate and freeze within seconds. The ice statues topple over, each one remaining intact.
“Rhydra!” I rush over to her, noticing the hand that’s placed on her stomach.
“I’m okay.”
“You’re bleeding!” I rush to her and peel her hand back.
“So are you,” she laughs, her eyes scanning my body. “I think.”
The wound isn’t bad. She’ll be alright. My shoulders drop for a quick moment of relief. A moment too long.
The tip of a sword tears through her chest, shocking me into silence. My mouth hangs open in a silent gasp as I glance from her chest to her face.
She takes in one small gulp of air, then begins to cough, blood splattering into the air.
“No,” I cry, finally finding my voice. “No, no, no. Please.”
Her eyes are full of anguish as she looks at me, and I can’t rip mine away.
I can’t will my gaze to leave her, to find the threat still behind her.
Not until the soldier rips her sword out, causing Rhydra to fall back as the female elf charges around her, coming at me.
I parry and dodge the attack with ease, blocking her sword with my own. Even though I feel like crumbling.
She tries to pull back and attack again, but with unnatural speed I stab a dagger through the wrist that holds her sword, causing her to drop it to the ground.
I quickly grab another knife and hold it at her throat.
She reaches for something near her leg, and with my left hand I chop her hand off with one swish of my glowing sword.
She screams in agony, glaring at me with burning fury.
Maybe I’m imagining it, but my sword feels hot. Angry. It has a mind of its own, and that mind is not happy.
Kezra. I want to leave the soldier there, screaming in pain, and go to Rhydra, but Kezra leads us forward with a vengeful fury.
I have little choice as the sword comes at me one last time, glistening with the bright red hue of my sister’s blood. My sword goes through her chest, just as hers did to Rhydra.
I don’t look at her as I rip it out. I turn and run, then fall to the ground beside Rhydra, who’s wheezing with her last breaths. It must have missed her heart, or she’d already be dead.
I let myself have hope for a moment.
But as I push her hair off her face, I know. I glance down at her with tears stinging my eyes. She struggles to focus on me, but then our eyes lock, and she instantly looks more peaceful.
“I’ll kill him. For you.”
It looks like it takes everything she has to give the tiniest nod, pulling her lips back into a smile.
Then the life leaves her eyes.
I scream into the night, the sound ripped from somewhere raw inside me. Anger and despair crash together, then something darker rises beneath them, setting my blood on fire. Tears burn my eyes, and I feel them trailing down my muddy, bloody face.
I’m tired of it all.
My father and his ruthless, selfish grip on his power.
The elves who never question it.
Adrian, his loyal lapdog.
I won’t stop until they pay for this. I wish I could find him on this fucking battlefield.
I hear the roar of a dragon and I whip my head around. Somehow, from all this way, I can sense Daegan looking my way, twisting his neck as he searches for me in the darkness. He heard my scream.