62. Escape #2
Lyric led from the front, accompanied by the guard, Galen. Both of them had swords drawn, while the rest of the students remained behind them alongside their Aer-Kin, who all followed closely .
Aeden and Nyra followed just behind the group with the remaining guards, Damien and Corra, behind them.
Explosions erupted all around them. Out of the sounds of metal against metal and cries of pain, the thing that affected Aeden the most was the smell of blood, that unmistakable iron smell. The academy was filled with death and destruction.
Smouldering flames were scattered around his periphery as Aer-Kin flew overhead, battling one another. It was near enough impossible for him to tell whose were whose, aside from the second-year students who also looked like they had taken to the skies, their Aer-Kin smaller than the rest.
In the distance, two more Aer-Kin could be seen plummeting to the ground like stones, their dull thuds sending a cold chill down Aeden’s spine.
“Keep going!” Lyric said, his roar more of a battle cry to keep them all motivated.
A nearby blast caused Vorne to flinch, pushing into Rowan’s side, who did her best to settle him. Cassian’s Aer-Kin flinched too, both of their postures emanating nerves.
The Offence Aer-Kin were unfazed by the blasts of magic and the fighting around them. In fact, all five of them were poised in attack position, heads lowered, wings tucked in tightly to their backs as if they were ready to strike at any moment.
Corwin’s Aer-Kin had its wings naturally spread out up and over his head into a shield-like canopy.
A deep, guttural roar unlike anything Aeden had ever heard jolted him and the others.
“W-What was that?” Rowan asked .
Aeden quickly looked around but couldn’t see anything through the chaos in the skies. “Just keep going,” he said as they continued to press forwards.
Chunks of the ground were churned up around fallen Aer-Kin, their riders’ bodies lying strewn across the ground, all of them lifeless.
The Great Hall was just up ahead of them. The sun setting behind it gave it an even more Gothic appearance than usual, casting dark shadows over the battlefield.
“Just ahead,” Lyric called back, “keep going, we’re nearly there!”
A flash of light and searing heat erupted by the side of the travelling group. Aeden found himself rolling through the dirt before he even realised what had happened. His head started ringing like a high-pitched bell once again, and his vision was initially blurred as he gathered himself.
“Nyra!” he called out.
“ I’m okay ,” she said as she pressed her head into Aeden. “ Are you? ”
“I think so,” he said. He couldn’t feel anything other than aches and pains, but he quickly checked over himself. Cassian was face down, Corwin too – Lyric and Galen were helping them back to their feet, alongside Rowan, who had blood on one side of her face.
Kael was also up on his feet, helping the Offence students up. Threxel and two other Aer-Kin from the Offence class were quick to set up a defensive formation.
Aeden rushed towards Cassian and Corwin and breathed a sigh of relief when both of them started moving around.
“Are you okay?” he asked them as they were helped back up to a standing position .
“I’m fine,” Cassian said.
“Just my arm,” Corwin said, a large red burn and blistered skin covering his forearm.
“Here.” Aeden quickly channelled his Weave, wrapping Corwin’s arm in tendrils of light. “I don’t have time to heal it fully, but it should help with the pain.”
“Thank you,” Corwin said.
Flames were between Aeden’s group and the Offence class.
“Are you okay?” Aeden called across.
“No!” Kael called back. “Shale and Luda are down, so are their Aer-Kin.”
Aeden instinctively stepped back before launching himself as fast as he could through the flames to reach them.
He knew in an instant there was nothing he could do to help the two of them.
One student was half sat up, his eyes wide and lifeless.
His Aer-Kin was just a short distance from him, half of its body torn open from the blast.
The other was covered in burns and motionless, a pool of blood forming around their head. The smell of burning flesh caused Aeden to fold in half and vomit, bile burning his throat. Two more of his cohort gone, just like that.
“Is anyone injured?” Aeden asked.
The two remaining Offence class students shook their heads before Aeden looked at Kael, who was holding his side, a thin trail of blood seeping through his fingers.
Aeden couldn’t believe what he was about to do.
“Here, I can help,” Aeden said.
“I don’t need your help,” Kael spat, slapping Aiden’s hand away as he reached out .
“Listen, unless you want to bleed out, you need me to help you with that wound, or you won’t make it to the Great Hall.”
Kael stared at Aeden, and he couldn’t believe that even in these circumstances, Kael could be so stubborn.
“Just let me help you. You can get back to hating me when we’re safe in the Great Hall.”
“Fine!” Kael finally said, lowering his hand.
It was a deep gash to his abdomen, and Aeden quickly reached out to the Weave to summon more magic. The wound was deeper than he had initially thought as he started channelling the magic. Unlike Corwin’s wound, Aeden needed to seal this one as fast as possible, just like with his leg.
“Hurry up,” Kael said as Aeden continued to push his magic towards the wound.
“I’m going as fast as I can,” he said as he just about managed to seal up the wound. “This will have to do for now!”
“ Aeden, look out! ” Nyra cried out.