Chapter 2 #2
“Yes.” The prince nodded, staggering a little when I urged him to move ahead of me as the space narrowed.
“I was hunting at the western end of the forest when it happened. From what I learned, only one witness reached the palace before the dark elves stormed it, and he only outpaced them by a minute to shout the warning. From another source I encountered, they said the primary portal channeler did something to the ring just beforehand.”
“She must have collaborated with them,” I growled. It was the only way.
He shot me a wary look, undoubtedly noting my glowing gray eyes.
Armin knew what that meant. When we were in our early twenties, and before I became more secretive, I’d told him about using the God of Wrath’s powers and how it affected me.
Mostly, I had wanted him to be able to recognize when a high-level dark elf had boosted magic. He also knew how much I hated using it.
“What happened on the way here?” he asked.
“I ran into my uncle, Prince Radan.”
He focused his attention on Loden’s back, rather than looking at me, as we continued to make slow progress through the dark, narrow tunnel. As we left the stone-reinforced section, the scent of soil filled the air.
Armin braced a hand on each support beam as he passed them, grunting in pain now and then. “I wondered what took you so long.”
I scanned our surroundings, reassuring myself we remained alone.
“We arrived in the city several hours after the attack began from Therress. If I hadn’t already been bringing Aella here, I wouldn’t have known. No word reached us at Ivory Castle,” I said.
The prince’s shoulders stiffened. “They must have stopped the sebeskas we sent out.”
Sebeskas were our messenger birds—intelligent creatures with cerulean, black, and white feathers. I had a special relationship with them and could merge my mind with theirs. It would be terrible if Karganoth’s army killed them all.
I mulled over Armin’s news. “At least one must have made it to Raumandia since I had to save what remained of the soldiers they sent to assist Porrine. My brother and I had full control of Ivory Castle and didn’t see any come there.”
“You attacked Therress?” the prince asked, so shocked he stopped and spun to face me, almost falling over. He had to brace the dirt wall for support.
I lifted a brow. “You don’t think we announced my marriage far and wide without a good reason, do you? Aella was broken and near death when I found her in the dungeon.”
That memory made me wish I could kill her uncle all over again, along with Ulmar. I’d only allowed her cousin to live because he’d surrendered immediately and agreed to a truce. By law, I couldn’t kill him at that point. I would have done it anyway if I’d known the king would die the next morning.
“We had contemplated your reasoning for doing it,” he said, turning back around and hobbling to catch up to Loden.
I sensed movement on the ground above us. “We can discuss the rest later.”
We walked in silence for the rest of the way until reaching the end of the tunnel.
I squeezed past the others to climb up and open the hatch.
Breathing in fresh air, I stretched my senses.
Unlike when we arrived, there were fae in the woods this time, but they were on the edges.
If my power hadn’t been boosted, I wouldn’t have detected them at all.
Using telekinesis, I opened the red-leafed bushes and climbed out. The others quickly followed behind as we quietly gathered above ground. I closed everything back up since we didn’t want to give away this entrance in case we needed it later.
I took the lead, with Loden helping the prince by keeping an arm around him. We’d follow the same route as before, since it was still the fastest, and hopefully avoid trouble.
My uncle would know better than to come anywhere near the south end of Porrine while I was under the influence of the God of Wrath. I doubted he’d send any of his people to that area either, since they wouldn’t stand a chance.
If not for the need to get the prince to safety, I would have considered going to the palace, but even I had limits to how much I could handle.
This magic wasn’t infinite. A dark elf army large enough to take the capital would undoubtedly be too much for me and the others to take on alone.
Some of them would likely have boosted their powers as well.
The only reason more wouldn’t do it was the consequences that followed.
I didn’t look forward to the price I’d pay soon, either.
The southern route through the capital turned out to be blessedly clear.
To my relief, we didn’t run into any trouble until after we crossed over the event field.
It had been as empty as before, but the raging sounds of battle grew louder up ahead, somewhere past the bridge.
My body vibrated with rage as I realized the location.
We weren’t far from the townhouses, and my wife.
Prince Armin was already out of breath, and he’d soaked his clothes in blood from making the journey while injured, with no time to rest or tend his wounds. The sooner we could get him to a healer, the better.
“Keep him safe and out of sight,” I ordered Jax. He’d get him off the road and invisible while I went to battle the dark elves ahead.
“What about them?” Loden gestured at the two injured guards, one of them quite pale from a gut wound that he gripped with blood-soaked hands.
“They aren’t my priority,” I said, coldly. “Follow me.”
As Jax and the prince disappeared, the others trailed behind me as I strode forward.
The sight that eventually came into view magnified the power already thrumming through my veins.
It had grown considerably while we moved across the city like a river pouring into me with nowhere to go until I released it.
I could have tempered the influx, but I knew we wouldn’t make it out of the city without a fight.
More than twenty dark elves stood before my townhouse, attacking it with strong offensive spells.
I could sense the wards protecting the place had grown weak, and Aella’s magic could barely slow the pace of their demise.
A trace of Rynn’s power was there, too. She wouldn’t have allowed her cousin to assist her unless it was a last resort.
I reached out and began crushing the nearest dark elves. They’d die—all of them.