Gisela smiled at the sight of Xaydin protecting her as he moved past her shoulder to take on the two she’d been fighting.
That left her able to deal with the fourth one. With two sword strokes, she was finally able to move forward again.
“What are you planning?” Xaydin asked.
“Get to my mother and end this. I need Candara to open a portal to where she’s standing.”
Xaydin wasn’t sure he approved of her plan, but if they could reach the queen, it would stop the fight and end the war.
It was a bold move.
If anyone could carry it off, it would be Gisela.
Still, he wasn’t keen on putting her in that kind of danger. Especially since they were winning. In time, they’d take this field and have the queen on the run.
But he understood Gisela’s desire to save as many lives as they could. He wasn’t thrilled with the losses they were taking on either side.
While he didn’t mind a good brawl every now and again, battles had never been the thing he craved as he was well aware of the cost. What monarchs asked their citizens to bear when they marched to war.
It was brutal. It was bloody.
And in the end, no one ever really won.
If only there were another way to settle things. But unreasonable creatures forced them to do what they must to protect their people and to keep the real monsters at bay.
He protected Gisela from the centaurs who were bent on killing her until they reached his sister.
Candara had a cut along her brow but otherwise seemed unhurt. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Gisela gestured in the direction she’d last seen her mother. “Can you teleport me to where Meara is?”
“Us,” Xaydin added. He had no intention of letting her go after her mother without backup.
“Are you sure about this?”
“I am.”
Candara looked at him and nodded. “All right. Stand back for a second.”
Masakage and Ryper covered her while she conjured her portal and made it large enough for them to pass through.
Gisela considered changing forms, then thought better of it. The Thassalians needed to see her in this form. It would make it easier for them to tolerate what she had to do to protect them.
She and Xaydin left the portal and appeared behind her mother whose attention was on the battle below.
Gisela angled her sword toward the guards who stood on each side of her mother while Xaydin did the same. “Enough, Mother. End this.”
The queen turned around, wide-eyed. “You’re attempting to overthrow me?”
“I’m taking you prisoner.”
Her mother laughed, then ran for the battle. Her two guards rushed them.
Normally, Gisela would have engaged them, but she left them to Xaydin so that she could pursue her mother into battle.
Because she was still in centaur form, the rear troops didn’t realize she was after Meara.
Not until her mother spun around.
