Chapter 49 SOMETHING TRULY ANCIENT #2
But my attention had finally fixed on the Fuath mage.
Despite never seeing him with my own eyes, I could still recognize his tattered cloak and the green bowl from what Ciaran had imparted to me.
The mage had also turned in my direction and was grinning with serrated black teeth.
He had been about to point that green bowl in his hands at the tower again but decided to turn it toward me instead.
Several shouts of warning rang out from my own soldiers ahead of him, and several arrows hit his shield as soon as he turned his back on them.
But I did not slow my gait as he sprinkled a powder into the bowl and then raised it over his head with his eyes squeezed closed. Whatever chemical magic he was using began foaming over the rim of the stone bowl just before it erupted in a blaze of green fire toward me.
My shadows converged before me, allowing his strike to pass through them, but the green flames did not reach me before they were consumed. They grew ever dimmer until they winked out like an ember deprived of oxygen.
My lip curled in disgust at the acidic taste of such an unnatural magic, and I ignored the stares of fey and Fuath alike as I resumed my way toward the mage. He was so shocked that he dropped his stone bowl, spilling the green liquid harmlessly on the ground before I seized him.
“You,” I snarled, lifting the ugly little creature into the air by his throat. He seemed to regain his senses again and screeched at me as he tried to kick free. But without his ingredients, he was no different than any other Fuath.
I turned to his comrades who squealed in outrage and attempted to rush me all at once.
But I swept my arm out in front of me in their direction, which launched a heavy spray of shadows at them.
The barrage was so explosive that hundreds of the Fuath were eviscerated in seconds, their bodies riddled with holes and some limbs severed.
There was silence behind me, a mixture of horror and awe so potent that I could not bring myself to turn to face my stunned warriors. It was rare for anyone to see me use so much power, let alone so close, and I had no desire to see them cower or simper.
So I formed my portal without a word and returned to Nuala with what she had asked for. I had only been apart from her for several moments, and yet my heart was still pounding with an anxious need to lay eyes on her again.
The Fuath mage screeched so loudly at the sight of her that I was tempted to snap his neck. But I tempered the impulse in favour of tearing off one of his dirty sleeves to gag him with it instead.
Nuala stood watching and grimacing at the ugly thing while I secured his arms and legs with a coil of rope I had on my belt for just such an occasion.
Once I was sure the beast could not harm my mate, I grudgingly allowed her to kneel before him.
She touched his warty temples and tightened her grip on him when he tried to thrash away.
I hovered over them, magic at the ready if the Fuath so much as tore a thread in his bindings, but my eyes drifted east to where the shield had disappeared.
Another spike of pure loathing for Queen Aoibheal and her betrayal tore through me.
And perhaps it was the wrong time to be making such dire decisions, but I turned my attention to Darragh who seemed to be waiting with bated breath.
You know what to do.
Ornella
I heard a series of dull thuds around me. My head spun so badly that it was a moment before I regained my senses enough to realize the thuds were debris hitting the ground from the explosion.
I could also hear a chorus of male voices all shouting frantically in my head.
I’m okay, I reassured them dazedly as I reached out for Pyrope to make sure she was alive. She was already on her feet and nuzzled me with anxious whines.
I gritted my teeth through the pain as I raised my head to try and look around, but it made me too dizzy.
Don’t move. Wait until I get to you, Sage pleaded.
I grunted my agreement, but I was starting to pick up on something else. The sickening sound of the cries and screams and groans all around me.
It was so strange to still be brimming with magic after Rian refuelled me while my body suffered from physical exhaustion after wielding too much. But I still managed to push out another wave of healing magic to try and prevent as many casualties as I possibly could.
After I had made the destruction so much worse!
Stop. It was not your fault, Sage assured me, but there were tears already streaming down my face. I could not even bring myself to wonder about Asha or Carrick…
Pyrope growled and tensed next to me just before the sound of shriller cries rang out.
I turned my head in dread to see Fuath rushing across the ashen field.
They raced their companions to be the first to rifle through the heaps of ash for any trinkets left behind by the incinerated fey.
But the monsters were especially delighted whenever they found fey that were left alive.
The few fey I had managed to protect or partially heal who still lay so helpless.
I tried to summon just a little more strength to protect the weakened warriors around me, but I had nothing left. At least, nothing I could give without risking my own life, which Sage would not forgive.
But I refused to lay silently with tears streaming down my cheeks and listen to the Fuath torment and kill their hapless victims.
“Go,” I whispered to Pyrope, but she growled at the order and stood over me. “Go! Please, protect them!”
I sent her all my desperation to defend our warriors until she finally relented under my urge and leapt over me to rush into battle. I was reassured as her snarls and the screams of the Fuath rose loudly some distance away.
I turned my attention to carefully stretching out each of my muscles in the hopes of regaining mobility. It was painful, like every muscle in my body had been strained, but I was determined.
After a few moments, I heard a disappointed chuff and turned my head to a Fuath that had been sifting through a heap of ash near me.
My movement drew its attention from a partially incinerated breastplate that it had been examining.
Its sick grin made my stomach drop before it began to kick up clouds of ash as it scrambled toward me like it feared someone else might get to me first.
I calmly gripped the knife on my thigh, but before the creature reached me, it was jerked upright by a tall figure who stepped up behind it. My whole body sagged in relief when Sage slashed his blade through the Fuath’s neck so violently he almost decapitated it.
My mate banished his sword and dropped to his knees beside me to put one hand on my forehead and the other on my stomach.
He was covered in ash, and his face was tear streaked and completely splintered with devastation.
But he used my magic to heal the bones I hadn’t realized were broken, flesh that was charred and cracked, and he soothed the pain from my overuse of magic.
“Sage! I am so sorry!” I sobbed, but he shook his head and hushed me. Once he was sure I was healed enough to move me without hurting me, Sage quickly pulled me into his arms and cradled me against his chest.
“You are alright. We are alright,” he whispered.
I could not bring myself to speak their names aloud, but he could sense my curiosity through the bond.
“I don’t know,” he whispered brokenly, his deep voice trembling as he shook his head. “I don’t know.”
I was shaken to my core in a way I had not been in a very long time, but I breathed in my mate’s scent and let it soothe me for just a moment.
Then I steeled my resolve, pushing determinedly through the fear, the guilt, and the self-loathing so I could get back on my feet.
There would be time later to deal with the horror of what I had done.
“That fucking shield syphoned the last of my strength, but I can still protect the wounded. You can heal as many people as possible,” I insisted, my voice rough.
Sage nodded in agreement as he stood, but I could feel his reluctance to let me go in the way his hands lingered.
“Stay close to me,” I suggested, and he nodded again, although I could tell he was struggling to focus. I did not want to waste any more time, but I also knew I needed to help him if he was going to be useful to his people.
I cupped his cheeks to draw his attention down to me. We were both covered in ash, but I ignored the taste of it and kissed him. He released a soft breath of relief as our lips parted, and I knew I’d done the right thing in helping to ground him amidst this overwhelming tragedy.
“We are okay,” I reminded him, and he melted around me even more with our foreheads pressing together.
“We’re okay,” he repeated with a firmer, more certain nod before taking my hand to guide me through the ashen battlefield in search of survivors.
It was clear from the devastation around where Sage had found me that the only reason I was still alive was because Pyrope covered me whilst wearing my armour.
The beetle armour I’d grown was charred and cracked and had even fused with my skin in places before Sage healed me.
Which also meant there was a good chance that the only reason Pyrope was still alive was because she had been wearing my rider armour…
I was reluctant to face the others and what they must be feeling toward me in the aftermath of my catastrophic attempt to shield.
But I needed to know they were alright. Rian and Darragh were walled off, but I could feel their rage like infernos barely contained behind a red-hot door in their minds. Ciaran was unguarded and… devastated.
I had not meant to draw his attention, but my sense of him sharpened enough that I could tell he was already out healing as many people as he could. He was also looking for Asha and Carrick but had not found them yet.