“Anya!” A booming voice echoed around us. “What a sight you are! Damn girl, what happened to you? Living in exile can be hard on your beauty rest. I don’t think you’ll be able to get the years back that you lost, sorry.”
Alric strolled into the square like we weren’t facing off with an enemy and an attack wasn’t happening in our home. He swung a sword around like he was ready for a dance. His eyes twinkled with merriment.
He closed his eyes as he smiled and hugged himself. “I always wanted to behead you, I guess this is my time to shine.”
Whatever amount of civility we’d had disappeared with my friend’s words. I was thankful for his candor as I hadn’t wanted to drag this out. We needed to get this over with so we could get people to safely. The only way we could do that was to get them to the Last Fortress and the only way we could safely do that was to be with Juniper. Her magic could produce enough food and, hopefully, shelter to help provide for all the displaced people.
Alric looked over his shoulder at me as he charged our enemy. “Get to the arena, save as many as you can, Leo was headed there.”
“Where’s Ash?” The question could wait but I knew if I saw Juniper before he did, she would want to know.
He swung his sword around and it sparkled in the low light. “A flying creature picked her up, she was slicing into its wing when I heard Anya’s voice.”
Anya let him come after her and didn’t raise a weapon until the last minute. The clashing of steel on steel followed me as I ran toward my people. As much as I wanted to take Anya out myself, I knew it wasn’t my priority. If Alric wanted to have her head, he could take it. I had more important things to do.
Save my people.
Get to my queen.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
JUNIPER
Smoke billowed around us as we fled down the mountain. The sounds of the screaming would haunt me for the rest of my life. There was nothing I could do to help them either.
“Don’t even think about it,” Reva barked at me.
I blinked slowly. “They need us.”
Grove wrapped her fingers around my wrist. “They need you to get to safety so you can save their children or the rest of the world. If you are dead, all of this is for nothing. You have to prioritize yourself.”
“You also don’t know if it's a trap, they might have planned for you to stay until the attack happened.” Reva cut eyes at Grove. “We certainly hadn’t expected you to slip away with a handsome commander while we weren’t paying attention.”
My cheeks heated as I tried to distract myself from those memories. They served me no purpose here. I readjusted the leather pack on my shoulders and hoped Ryven was okay with me borrowing it. Sita hadn’t fashioned me one yet and it was all we could find in his overly tidy home. A few items of clothing were shoved into it by Grove while Reva collected food for her pack. There wasn’t another for Grove to take so we agreedto take turns carrying it. She’d insisted I shouldn’t carry this burden but I wanted to. Like before, I needed to be of use.
“Now what?” I whispered as we ducked between houses and snuck across another alleyway. Everything was quiet besides the screams of terror in the distance. I squeezed my eyes closed briefly before we crossed another dark pass. I was supposed to save these people and I was leaving them for dead. How could I abandon them like this?
“We get you to the outside,” Grove rolled her eyes like this was the obvious answer.
I hooked a thumb over my shoulder. “Isn’t the entrance to the keep, that way?”
Reva waggled her eyebrows at me. “There are secret passageways.”
I lifted a brow and shook my head at her. Of course, I should have known that. It only made sense especially if an invasion happened to this caliber.
“Plus, where do you think all of the monsters got in from? They didn’t come through the passages, that is only known by the elite of the elite.” Grove shot me a grin.
But wouldn’t Anya know where those were? I didn’t voice my questions out loud. I didn’t have time to as the scariest shriek I’d ever heard was let out just ahead of us. Reva tilted her head back and forth to let out a few cracks and Grove unsheathed her curved blades from the sides of her belt.
“Show time ladies,” Reva snarled and ran straight at whatever was lurking in the shadows before us.
Grove remained in her fighting stance in front of me while I surveyed the darkened alleys around us. I would keep my wits about me and be of some help. Nothing would be able to sneak up on us if this was a trap. I rolled my shoulders back and crouched with the newest blade in my possession. My legs shook but I was ready. When nothing appeared and the screechinghalted, Reva came back sporting a soiled tunic and smelling horrible. What I assumed was the monster’s blood was a bright splatter of snot green across the front of her and her flaming hair was stuck to either side of her face. She wiped her blade clean on the sides of her pants and re-sheathed the massive thing. I still didn’t know how she carried the huge weapon without hunching or complaint. Grove kept her blades out and clutched tightly between her fists as we hurried through the homes. There was no point in wasting any time now. Other monsters would be on the hunt for the one that killed their kind.
Thankfully,all of my training paid off. Before I trained daily and put myself through rigorous exercises and torture, I would have never been able to trek up the inside of the cavern like this. My thighs were burning but not as bad as they could have been. A few other monsters sniffed us out but they were little things. Grove and Reva exterminated them quickly. It didn’t look like they’d even broken a sweat. But as we climbed and shimmied through little crevices, I noticed glistening on their faces. This wasn’t an easy feat for anyone. Not a single complaint was muttered and when we finally reached the top of the small alcove we’d shoved ourselves into, I felt like I could finally breathe again.
I could no longer hear the screams of my people, whether they were all dead, safe, or we were just too far away— I wasn’t sure but I was thankful. With every sound of terror, I fought myself to not turn back, to not run to their aid.
Reva hauled herself out of the hole ahead of me and then reached back to help me out. I turned to help Grove but she swatted my hands away and hefted herself out with little struggle. My body was caked in dust and mud created from the sweat pouring from our bodies. You could no longer tell if theblood from monsters was actually blood or just more mud at this point.
