At the same moment my arrow pierced the accepted’s heart, Kaval’s feet touched the dark magic. Inch by inch, his legs deflated beneath his pants. His pelvis and hips collapsed in on themselves. He tilted his head back, locking eyes with his brother as his warm brown skin leached color, and small strings of black raced to consume him. “Give ‘em hell,” were the last words from his pain contorted mouth. His body shriveled andwithered until the unrecognizable husk became devastatingly still and shadowed.
“KAV!” Jai raced for his brother, as if reaching him would reverse the loss.
Though the dark wielder had fallen, the magic around him remained. Tears streaked my cheeks, and my heart fractured, but Dae couldn’t lose another brother. Jai clearly wasn’t thinking, propelled by grief toward the same fate.
I had seconds. He’d already gotten a head start, I wouldn’t be able to catch him in time. “RAVINDER.” From several hundred yards away, he heard my cry. “STOP HIM!” I pointed to Jai, the young man running straight for the stain of black death.
Rav waved his hands in the air, and I watched the wall of wind blast across the distance, grasses and leaves bowing in its wake. A few fighters in the way felt its effects, thrown off their feet, but no one was seriously injured. The wind slammed into Jai, causing him to tumble and roll.
I took off running, by the time he’d recovered and started resuming his path, I reached him, grabbing his hand with both of mine. “Jai, stop. It’s too dangerous. Kaval wouldn’t want you to risk your life like this. And Dae needs you.” Tears fell and emotion clogged my throat.
His indecision was palpable, like he frantically searched for a solution to somehow still get to his fallen brother. “H-he only came because I insisted.” When we finally locked gazes, pure guilt lined his watery brown eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Jai.” I bit my bottom lip, placing my hand on his arm and squeezing tight.
Our attention was pulled from nearby screams. The battle around us would grant no time to mourn, only opportunity to lose more of our loved ones.
“Don’t tell Dae, okay?” Jai pleaded with more than his words, resting his hand atop mine. His tears watered the ground before he tried to wipe them away with his sleeve.
As much as it broke my heart, Dae realizing his loss would only serve as a distraction. So I nodded fervently. Jai saw my confirmation, then took off running to the nearest conflict. My feet remained planted while I reined in my emotions when a hand rested on my shoulder.
Amethyst eyes greeted me. “The light wielder needs you. Go,” Evenita said, entirely too calmly in the midst of a raging battle.
The seer had long earned my trust, so I focused on getting to Melody. Finally, I made it back to the front. Jasper and Tio were still contending with one of The Eleven. The gargoyle zoomed through the air, dropping rocks and sticks on top of the member’s head, while Tio pelted the enemy with rocks and twigs from the ground.
The member harnessed wind, staving off any deadly hits Tio sent her way, but the dark magic beneath her didn’t move. It waited, like an attack dog on a leash. As long as they kept her distracted, the others had time to take down more from the forest.
75
Nicholas
Our armies were too congested, especially being attacked from all directions as we’re pinned in the middle. Marco and I didn’t possess offensive magic, so instead, we raced through the fighting, helping the injured fallen.
During our travel through Windguard, Marco shared the realities of war I hadn’t yet heard from him. He’d seen battle with his army several years back, fending off his neighboring kingdom that sought to claim resource filled areas of Duski.
Whenever he’d shared his war stories in the past, it was usually over dinner, the wine an unnecessary flourish to his storytelling abilities. They’d mostly entailed experiences from within his own band of soldiers, jokes and pranks they’d pull while lying in wait for the day’s fight.
This time, however, he’d confessed what actually goes on. None of his charismatic nature shone when he’d recanted how the death rattle from dying lungs still haunted his memories. How soldiers scooped their insides into their hands, tryingto physically hold themselves together after being sliced so thoroughly by a sword.
How he’d left shreds of his humanity on those bloody fields because practicality was everything during war, and the tenderhearted died the quickest, leaving gaping holes in defenses that could cost you everything. Decisions needed to be brutally concise.
I came across another fallen body, one that blinked at the sky while his body jerked uncontrollably. Shock had spread through his system. His ribs pierced through his leathers, his body having been yanked to the ground with such force that his skeleton protruded.
A case like this would take days of healing magic. “You did it. You saved us all,” I said as I crouched beside him. With erratic jolting movements, he brought his weary stare to meet mine. For a moment, the light returned to his eyes. His lips shakily pulled into a smile, accepting praise from his king. I would never forget the way his smile faded while his body fell still.
Marco decided more expeditiously whether a life was worth stopping to save. I didn’t judge him for it, though I couldn’t bring myself to match his speed. The only wars Highcrest had seen over recent decades were across the waters as allies, all under my father’s reign. I’d never seen war, and now I could neverunseeit. Unhear it. Unsmell it.
“Alaina?” Marco asked, eyebrows pinched so close together he could have held a coin in there. He rushed to a wagon bed and flipped back the tarp. “What are you doing here?!” He offered her a hand.
“Evenita told me to stay here until you were sent for me.” She took his hand, but he released it. For the first time today, indecision crossed his features.
“Fuck,” he muttered, reaching for the tarp.
“What are you doing?!” she questioned as he pulled the tarp over her head.
“I wasn’t sent for you, I just stumbled upon you. Stay here until I come back,” he said, hands clenched and flexing at his sides.
Fire erupted in the trees not far from us, and pain induced screams echoed through the woods. He and I took off, and on the way I asked why he’d left her behind. He hadn’t left her side since returning until the battle began.
