Veridus winked at me and motioned me to carry on.
“Why do you always make up such horrendous stories? Couldn’t you just have sent him on his way to the kitchen?” I whispered.
Veridus looked around a corner to make sure there was nobody there.
“It’s more fun this way,” he said with a shrug. “If you had been alive for 900 years, you’d also get bored of always doing the noble thing.”
I couldn’t even fathom what it would be like to be alive for such a long time and to know that life could potentially carry on for another 900 years. So who was I to judge? It still felt unnecessarily cruel to make that poor sentinel eatsuch a vile combination of spreads, but then again, no real harm was done.
We got through the rest of the Citadel without incident and arrived at the most outer wall which was facing the western parts of the castle. The plan was to leave through the side gate and go straight for the forest which lay on the western side of what would be the battlefield. The gate was guarded, so Veridus had to use his powers to distract the guards with a little story.
This one was even more ridiculous, because the guards had to stay where they were to protect the Citadel, so Veridus couldn’t send them for a random errand.
He fixed his eyes on the guard and said in a low voice: “For the next ten minutes, you will be counting the fingers on your hand. When you reach the 10th finger, you will have forgotten how many fingers you have already counted and begin again.”
The magic vibrated off him, and the guards took off their gloves in unison, starting to count over and over again.
“What will they remember when the 10 minutes are over?” I whispered.
Veridus shrugged.
“They will be a little confused, but they won’t remember what exactly they did. It’s only a small portion of magic I have sent towards them, so we should hurry.” He opened the gate and we slipped out and towards the trees without being detected. The forest was thick, but the sun had already risen so that we didn’t need any additional light to find our way. Veridus would bring me to the edge of the forest and would then join Auretheos and the other Gods on the battlefield. I would wait in the shadows of the tree line, watching andwaiting to see if I had to intervene.
We reached the edge of the forest and crouched down to stay out of sight. Our army had stopped on a slope, the banners of the Gods and Fairies swinging gently in the wind. I looked towards the Heralds army. They had stopped moving too, but something didn’t feel right about the scenario. There were not nearly enough Heralds to take on our army.
The ships that had brought them here had already drawn back from the bay and it didn’t look like there were more to come. The Heralds were mortals, and even with the support of a few Gods who I couldn’t yet identify in the crowd, they would never have enough strength to win this battle.
Veridus must have thought the same thing because his brows furrowed, and he murmured, “I am going to join the others, see what they make of this. It looks like a trap.”
I nodded and wished him good luck. He went back to the Citadel, and just a few minutes later I saw him walking towards the army and joining the Gods in the front. Nothing happened for a while, and I was growing restless. I needed to know what was going on, but I couldn’t very well walk towards them and ask.
That’s when a piece of paper appeared out of thin air.
“Their army is too small to even make a dent into our legions. It might very well be a set-up to draw our armies out of the Citadel. We are going to keep some men behind to protect the Citadel and attack with a smaller number. Wait for my signal. T”
His plan made sense and yet the uneasy feeling persisted.
I heard shouting from our army. Lythandra had takenover the reins now, looking like the true Goddess of War in her silver armor and the red tunic underneath. Her blonde hair was braided into a crown atop her head and her dark red sword glimmered in the light when she lifted it above her head and shouted something in a language I didn’t understand.
The soldiers responded, raising their swords and marching towards the enemy lines.
The battle had begun.
The first clash of swords was the worst for me. I heard the clinking of metals carried over to me by the wind and it felt like someone had stabbed me with it. The noise went through my body like lightning. Up until that point I had still believed that maybe there would be no fighting, no injuries, no death.
But with the clash of the first swords that hope was gone and all I could do was watch and listen. For the first hour, both armies stood their ground and the number of hurt soldiers who were being dragged out of the masses was relatively small. But when the sun was at the highest point in the sky, something seemed to shift.
Our army broke through their defense lines and split the Herald’s army up in two. It was easier now to surround them and fight them from all angles. It looked like victory would be upon us soon. I wasn’t foolish enough to believe that this was their best effort, that the war would be won this easily, but it still seemed as if there were no more ships coming.
I had caught glimpses of Gods fighting for the enemy. Ignara seemed to be there, because her sword made of molten fire slashed through the sky a few times. Other than that, I had not been able to identify any Gods. Though that meantlittle because Theo had also disappeared in the fighting masses.
A horn sounded and our army raised their hands in victory. There were a few hundred Heralds left, who surrendered with their arms up in the air, kneeling down.
I saw Theo then, looking around the battlefield to check on his fellow Gods and friends. But he did not look happy, worry was written across his face.
This had been too easy, too little resistance. Where was the Fraction?
While the foot soldiers were already cheering, Malek’s Dreadshade Legion was on high alert, scanning the woods around the battlefield and the coast for enemies. Nothing happened for a while, Theo and the other Gods standing together and probably discussing whether to return to the Citadel and wait for another attack or to remain where they were.
