This…this was an army.
For a moment, I froze in place. Shock gripped my bones like a vise. Dozens, no, hundreds of soldiers funneled over the coursing river on a wooden ramp they’d constructed. The river bank on the other side remained bloated with soldiers who eagerly awaited their turn to cross. There were too many, and all of them armed.
Tio yelled, drawing my attention. “MELODY, RUN. HELP THE OTHERS GET TO HIGHCREST.” The way he moved with his sword, advancing on one opponent while fending off another, was methodical and fluid. Honed from years of training, his body held a warrior’s grace. Another blast of fire erupted, close enough that the heat kissed my skin. Catapults from the other side of the river reloaded their blazing ammunition.
I ran. Fear propelled my every step back through the forest, plunging deeper into its untamed depths until I cleared the other side. “Run! There’s an attack!” I shouted and waved my arms in urgency. “Hurry! There’s too many!” Some had already rounded up the children, gathering them from their tents and holding their hands as they pushed west, away from the river.
Radhak and a band of men and women emerged, armed to the teeth. Armor and steel gilded their trained bodies like a second skin. “How many?” Radhak beckoned, marching toward the fray.
“Hundreds,” I choked out. “Tio told me to help the others, I—” My heart seized in my chest.
I had left him.
The whole point of me leaving the castle was to make something of myself. To become a better version. But when faced with a moment for me to act, I had frozen and ran. Like a coward.
Before another thought had time to form, I took off running. I would get to Tio, and I would stand our ground by his side. Fear balled in my stomach, and bile scorched my throat at the thought that I might be too late.
By the time I approached the trees again, I began calling it forward. My magic had always lived under my skin, buried deep. It had taken training with Tio to understand how to reach for it, to grab hold of it and drag it from the depths of my very being.
With every leap and bound through the forest, I reached. When the clearing on the riverbank came into view, the scene was overwhelming, but I did not stop. My skirts tangled with my legs, yet I pushed. Bodies mounted, so I didn’t bother looking down.
Scanning the battle zone, I spotted my elegant warrior. My lungs burned with each breath, but I would be damned if I let that stop me. He fought against three, no, four Windguardian soldiers.
They’d forced him to the ground, propped on one knee. His sword held the one pressing from above, giving his other opponents their opening. Extending his magic, he sent their weapons sailing, buying him time while they scurried to retrieve them. But more saw his vulnerability and advanced.
“Not today,” I whispered as I tore at the roots of my magic and tossed out my arms, sending a hurtling wave of energy. Dozens of soldiers around Tio blew back, pummeled by the force. Too late I noticed a couple of our people were knocked down by it, too. I could only hope it bought them a moment as well.
Tio sprung up like he’d never tired when he twisted to see me standing there. The fear in his eyes was illuminated by a distantfire ball, and through all the screams of the dying and injured, he raced to me. With an arm hooked around my middle, he literally scooped me from the ground and made a mad dash back through the trees.
“What are you doing?!” I shrieked, watching the soldiers close in on our people before the thickets and branches skewed my view.
“Melody, you run, do you hear me!?” His voice was distant, drowned out by the blood pumping in my ears when enemy soldiers descended on the forest, the front lines having fallen.
We cleared the trees, and he set me down. He tossed his sword to the ground and his rough hands fixed over my jaw. The look in his eyes seared into my soul, marking it forever. It was desperation, and fear, and love, and regret, and sorrow. “I’m sorry I didn’t find you sooner.” His mouth crashed over mine in a heart bending kiss.
When he tore away, I couldn’t breathe. I’d known what it was. It was a goodbye.
“No.” I shook my head, tears welling to the surface. “I won’t leave you.”
The way his features hardened with pain drove a knife through my gut. Leaves rustled from behind, and in one effortless motion, he picked his sword up and faced the onslaught. “Melody, baby, please, go.” A heartbreaking plea before his sword clashed with another.
Widening my stance, I drew from that well inside me that seemed primed in response to the last attack, like it had been waiting to be called up again. When seven soldiers emerged into the clearing, I struck. They hurtled backwards, and among the sound of snapping twigs, bones were broken, and some had been impaled on branches.
My mind filled with a furious buzzing, enough to drown out the sounds of battle. My targets became clearer, even as theyblended with the shadows. My power surged forward in a boom, forcing more back.
Still, soldiers broke through other areas, descending upon our camp with vicious fury as they shredded and lit our tents on fire. Radhak and his group joined us, unleashing their magic and ceasing the enemy’s advance.
Roots erupted from the earth, wrapping around ankles and hands with weapons. Rocks raised from the ground, then propelled forward with such force it knocked men unconscious. Fire from our own razed paths engrossed the offending soldiers. In the midst, skilled fighters met in the middle, some hand-to-hand, others with steel. Arrows launched indiscriminately.
I let out another pounding blast of energy, but the soldiers continued pouring in. Within minutes we’d be overrun. One by one, those on our side fell to swords and arrows when their sheer numbers slipped past the magical attacks.
A man raced toward me, pure hatred gleaming in his eyes with a sword raised in the air, ready to strike me down.
I felt for my magic, only to find the pool of it significantly dwindled. The man was mere feet away when Radhak blasted a cutting stream of water, essentially spearing the body until he leaked guts and gore over the field. Our gazes locked, and gratitude poured from my eyes.
I’d been welcomed into this camp with warm hearts and inviting smiles. These people had committed no harm. They lived peaceably and sustainably. Radhak stood for something that Highcrest and Windguard had let slip from their hearts. His belief enabled those without hope to dream. Allowed people like Tio and Ro to find each other when the world had taken so much.
This eruption of violence was senseless, and I let that anger boil until my magic rose to the surface, ready again to use at will. Because I would gladly take up arms for this cause.
