“Except for your brother needing to learn personal boundaries? Yes!” Ashley barked, pushing Nate away.
“You were too close to that blast!” Nate snapped back, pushing himself up. “You should be thankful.”
“Thanksfor tackling me and feeding me mud, Nate,” she said through her teeth.
“Guys,” I cut through, stepping out and continuing past them, my eyes landing on the horror in front of us. The bombs had left nothing but devastation in their wake. Trees were burning, blown to pieces, the ground destroyed and then… blood, bodies and severed limbs.
“It was an ambush,” Malakai said flatly.
“Michlael!” I shouted out, searching.
No response, as all that was left was the crackling fires, the groans of mages dying and bleeding. They had gotten alot of them, we would have been caught in it too, if we hadn’t been walking in the back.
Mey pulled me backwards. “Shh, are you stupid!? What if they attack again, or if they are hiding, waiting for us to show ourselves?”
“But…” I began, but she snapped her teeth at me.
“Let me take a look,” Mey continued, carefully stepping forward, lowering herself closer to the ground. We held our breath for a few moments, listening, but there was nothing but the grunts of the people out there, wounded, pleading for help.
“Perhaps they were just aiming to thin our numbers?” Ashley suggested, peeking out from beside a tree, watching the scene for herself.
“Or maybe, they were planted here earlier? Like a… what’s it called?” Nate pondered.
“Landmine,” Ashley filled in, her voice lowered.
“Possibly,” Malakai nodded in agreement.
I stepped forward carefully, surveying the area, but my eyes kept searching for Michlael.
“Careful—watch your every step and don’t put too much weight on one foot,” Ashley instructed firmly. Footsteps followed and when I turned, the rest of my team was already right behind me.
“We’ve got your back,” Mey reassured. “Find their leader.” I nodded towards her.
“How many of your bombs were stolen?” I turned to Ashley.
She pressed her lips into a thin line, darkness clouding into a storm inside her eyes. “These weren’tmine… but someone sure seems to have tried copying them. That is if they don’t have a bomb-specialist of their own, of course.”
“This is a disaster,” another voice clipped in.
My head darted to the side, as I saw Nicron casually stepping around the open field, looking around. “So many mages, lost.”
“We can still save some, not all of them are dead!” I argued. He turned and looked at me, his eyes blank, as if he had given up on emotions altogether.
These were his comrades, people he had trained with, saw everyday… I couldn’t even begin to imagine what was going on inside of him right now. The mere thought of it being any of my friends instead… I hadn’t expected to grow so close to them, I thought I’d be able to keep my feelings locked tight and tucked away, but no… I was not a good soldier, because my heart was on my sleeve, right out in the open.
“Do we have any medics?” I asked.
Nicron’s mouth twitched with bitterness. “You’re looking at some of them… but it seems a few of them are still standing.” He nodded towards the line of trees behind us, where a few heads peeked out, fear in their eyes.
“Then let’s move,” Malakai snapped, taking the lead. “Prioritize the ones who are still conscious, pull them back to the medic team.”
We nodded and began searching, moving slowly as we tried to secure the area at the same time. Ashley was the petite one, so she kept watch, one hand on her gun and the other dipped into her pouch, probably clutching a bomb. Nate easily moved some debris and found a couple of mages breathing, barely, but it was enough.
I kept searching, when I heard sobbing and I rushed towards it. I found a woman, in dirty green robes, her ginger hair wet against the sides of her face, wet with tears. Her blue eyes found mine, and her whole body trembled.
“It’s going to be okay, I’ve got you!” I stammered, as I saw her leg crushed underneath a large boulder.
She coughed out a dry chuckle, as she shook her head. “You’re lying. Everyone is lying.”
