A shiver ran down my spine.
“So be it,” the King of the Blight said. “I will have you soon enough. Willing or unwilling, your pain will feed me.” He held up a fist. “Briar warriors! Bring me the King and Queen of Seelie!” And then he sank into the soil like the poison he was.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The Bramble Legion smacked their black swords onto their new shields and moved forward.
I spun toward my soldiers. “Take out your swords and hold them out before you!”
It was an odd command, but the soldiers obeyed, removing their swords from the sheaths on their belts to hold them out in front of themselves. I summoned Light and coated their weapons in it. Tiernan pulled his sword and held it out. I met his grim stare and then coated the steel in Light.
“Strike after my blasts!” I shouted. Then I sent the Light forward. This time, I sent my awareness with it. I wanted to know how they were surviving.
Once more, the soldiers planted their shields, taking cover behind them. I felt the Light hit, and then a rush of coming up to brace it. So, the act of planting the shields was integral. With that connection, they could pour blight into the shields to be consumed until the blast subsided, sacrificing a portion to save the rest. As soon as the Light dimmed, the streams that had been bolstering the shields started to form new shields. But we were ready this time. Even as the Light vanished, our soldiers ran forward, engaging before the new shields could form. Theyknew better than to use their magic against the blight, but now they had weapons that should work. As the blight learned, so did I.
Shouting “Seelie” as their battle cry, the soldiers struck the glossy black warriors with Light-coated swords. All the briar warriors on the front line were hit, Light severing the brambles that formed their limbs. Wherever they were hit, their bodies burned away. But seconds later, blight flowed out of their remaining parts to reshape them.
A few of our soldiers fell back in a panic, drawing my attention. Their opponents grew wider and taller as I watched, bramble limbs bulging with woven muscles. The Seelie shouted and scrambled back. The giants thundered forward. Other Seelie soldiers ran to help their friends, banding together to slash at one of the giants until it burst into black dust.
“Pull back!” I shouted. “Get away from the fallout!”
The dust drifted down, landing upon the brave soldiers who had killed one of the giants. Within the fog, they fell to their knees, weeping.
“Fall back!” I screamed.
Tiernan dashed forward with a few of his knights to pull the crying soldiers away from the briar warriors. Gaze sweeping the battlefield, I saw several groups of soldiers helping others to retreat. These men and women had trained for centuries. They'd fought wars without flinching. But one strike against the blight was turning them into children.
Jaw clenched, I blasted the Bramble Legion. They didn't have time to manifest their shields. So, the first line held out their arms, becoming shields for the second line. I took a deepbreath when the Light withdrew, revealing only half of the original warriors, none of them giants—they had been in the front line.
Seeing this rallied our troops, and they ran forward again, glowing swords lifted high. Tiernan led the way, his face contorted in anger. I watched as he slashed and spun, slicing at his opponent so quickly that it didn't have time to rebuild itself. But even as it lost limbs, it gathered itself, pulsing.
“Tiernan, watch out!” I shouted.
The briar warrior grew larger. Not giant, but still massive, pulling inward until it was just a pile of brambles. Tiernan struck the heart of the brambles, and Light sliced through. Even as the mass separated, an arm formed and gripped Tiernan's wrist. Tiernan went still, staring up into a face that took shape directly before his. The warrior continued to form as it held Tiernan in thrall, its body growing until it loomed over my husband. Its helmet bore a crest. This one was different from the others. Why?
“It's feeding on your dark emotions!” I shouted at everyone as I ran for Tiernan. “Calm yourselves! You have to remain calm!” I punched a glowing fist into the briar warrior that held my husband.
It shrieked as I released Light to pour through it from inside out. Tiernan fell back, an arm over his face. I went forward to take his place, Light forming armor over me. Moving by instinct, I kept walking, stepping into the warrior. It disintegrated around me, its death cries echoing in my ears.
The battle became chaos, as battles often do. Briar warriors rushed between Tiernan and me, surrounding me in aring of black shields. I couldn't see past them. Could only hear. Soldiers screamed, and the crashing sounds of swords meeting briar limbs echoed. The ring of blight closed in around me.
Smart move—cutting off the biggest threat. But I wasn't about to let them corral me. Light burst from my armor in all directions, destroying their shields, but they kept coming. I dropped and rolled into one of them, burning through his legs to send him toppling into the center of the circle as I escaped. The warriors reached for me, limbs extending into thorn-covered vines. One wrapped around my knee, finding a chink in my armor. A thorn pierced my skin.
Suddenly, the warriors were Pukas—massive canines with shaggy black fur. These Pukas didn't just have black fur. They were entirely black, even their teeth glistened like polished jet, and their eyes had no whites. But my mind didn't process what these differences meant. All it saw were the beasts that killed my mother. And there she was, no more than two feet away from me.
Strikingly beautiful, my mother's auburn hair hung in shining waves to her hips. It whipped out as she spun, hands clenched in fists. She was wearing a gown, not her extinguisher gear. You don't wear combat boots and an iron sword to visit your fairy lover. The beasts surrounded us, but they snapped their teeth at her alone.
“Mother!” I shouted and reached for her.
A Puka barred my way. I punched it. Light exploded inside the canine body, shooting out toward the other beasts. But they were already in the air, leaping toward my mother. She never screamed. Even when they tore her apart, she only fought harder. No, it was I who screamed.
But the blight had chosen the wrong pain to magnify. Instead of weakening me, it urged me into action. I bashed through beast after beast until the illusion burst apart, and the true battlefield was revealed. Panting, I let the pain of my mother's death strengthen me. This was what the Garden didn't understand—that there was power in the darker emotions. Or maybe it did know, and that was the true reason it craved more.
A glance told me there would be no retreat. I couldn't call for my soldiers to fall back. They were too entangled with the enemy. Too many had fallen into whimpering heaps. There were no battle lines anymore, just clusters. So, I ran for the closest briar warrior and slammed into it, wrapping my glowing body around it. My momentum took me through it as if it were a cloud, and I stumbled to keep my footing.
Through the jagged line, I dashed, bursting apart the blight. Like a lunatic, I spun, jumped, and darted, focusing on one warrior at a time. It almost came as a shock when I reached the last one. Maybe because he was different. All the soldiers I destroyed had remained expressionless, just golems of darkness. Even the King had looked at me without emotion. But this last warrior—the final pawn left upon the field—dropped his weapon, opened his arms, and smiled.
As I ran into his embrace, he closed his arms around me and said, “He's waiting for you.”
