A man grunts. I turn my head in the direction the object flew and see a small hammer lying on the ground.Did he throw that?
"You have to keep moving," Sorin says.
I return my focus to what is ahead and run. The prince stays at our back, letting loose several arrows to keep the soldiers away. We weave through the village, trying to make it to the entrance. Sorin's vine whips out in front of us taking down any men in our way. More fighting breaks out, staining the dirt crimson. We navigate through a maze of fallen bodies of villagers and soldiers alike. I try to bite back the overwhelming guilt that fills me when I look into their blank stares. We lose the soldiers by ducking into one of the buildings that despite all odds is still intact. Crouching in its entrance, we watch as the men run by.
"Where did she go?!" We hear one shout.
"Why are they killing so many people?" I whisper to Sorin and the prince.
"I don't know," Sorin whispers back, grabbing my hand and squeezing. Sorin’s eyes are now a deep gold.
"They are looking for me."
"They will not get you," the prince says, his voice a low rumble.
I nod, but squeeze Sorin's hand a little tighter.
A shout echoes in the distance and we peek out of the building to see Sam fighting off some men by the village entrance. His eyes are black and shadows surround him, cloaking his body. Little black daggers explode from his form and embedthemselves into the armor of the men surrounding him. One by one they crumble.
On the other side of him a tiny creature runs over soldiers' feet, causing white bursts of light to shoot from the soil. The armored men turn to ash before reforming into pale, unnatural versions of themselves. With jerky movements they turn their weapons on each other, bludgeoning their fellow soldiers as if they were enemies, until they too are unrecognizable.
"Sam? Baldar?" I whisper. Another roar sounds above us and the room we are in heats up dramatically as fire starts to lick at the building's walls.
"We need to go!" Sorin screams.
We throw ourselves back out onto the streets, but there are soldiers everywhere we turn. We skate along the sides of abandoned food carts and burned buildings, but we are spotted almost instantly.
"The princess!" Someone wails and some of the soldiers turn towards us, surrounding us.
"Shit." Sorin wraps one of his vines around a man and throws him away from us. Rotating, he uses another vine as leverage to kick a different soldier in the chest. The man hits the ground hard. Snatching a thorn from his vine Sorin uses it as a makeshift dagger and slits the man's throat. On the other side of me, the prince transforms his bow into a broadsword. With deft precision, he slices off his opponents' arms before stabbing them in the stomach.
Something smacks against my arm and I grunt as pain fills me. Turning, I find another man wielding a bat-like object. He lifts his arms to swing at me again and I stab him with my dagger before setting him on fire, the humming within me growing stronger. Another man tries to make a grab for me, his forearm surrounding my throat. I slice his arm and kick him in the knee, making him buckle. Turning, I stab my dagger into his eye andpush him to the ground. My arm dangles uselessly at my side and I try to ignore the pain.
Another bright light shines and I squint through it before noticing that we have made our way closer to Sam and Baldar. The light around us brightens and darkens dramatically. I cannot help but feel disoriented as the men around me appear and disappear in the changing light.
Another piercing noise sweeps through the air and the prince collapses to my left.
"No!" I scream reaching for him, but another man swings a hammer towards my head, and I duck and roll out of the way to avoid the swing. I reorient myself, and glance over to see the prince back on his feet, but he is now much further away. The battle is raging around him making it impossible for him to get closer to us. Sorin is now the only one standing at my side. I catch the prince’s eyes and he yells over to Sorin. “Get her out of here!”
I glance towards Baldar and Sam and see that they are still entrenched in battle, hundreds of soldiers surrounding them. Through the fray, Baldar and I make eye contact.
"No, Alaceandra!"Baldar screams in my head."You should not be out here. They are too close."
"Who?"I internally scream back at him; I duck again as the man wielding the hammer takes another swing at me. I throw flames in his direction and he deftly avoids them before taking yet another swing. I watch as one of the soldiers makes a grab for Baldar and successfully captures him.
A squeak trills sharply through my head. "Keep fighting you cannot be taken."Baldar's voice is weak and strained.“I cannot hold this form much longer. Survive, Alaceandra. I will see you soon.”A couple of seconds later, a sense of emptiness fills me.
What? No! Where did he go?
That humming sensation within me grows even stronger as I throw fireball after fireball at the men surrounding me and Sorin. Light no longer overtakes the sky, instead it is consumed by darkness, the burgundy of the soldiers’ armor seeming to glow in the low light. I stab at any man who gets close enough and duck and weave as weapons swing in front of my face. My energy starts to wane in spite of the humming reaching a fevered pitch. I stumble slightly, tripping over a shoe left in the street when an axe gets dangerously close to slicing me. Seconds later Sorin appears behind the man's back and slits his throat.
My eyes snag on a man sneaking up on Sam from behind. A stick held firmly in his grip.
"Sam!" I scream.
Sam's pitch-black eyes swing to mine at the same time the man swings the stick. It does not make contact. Right before the swing connects, a void of darkness expands from Sam's form. Bodies drop as the inky blackness takes a hold of them. “Run!” Sam yells, his voice distorted.
"Come on!" Sorin yells and grabs me. We run past Sam and make it out of the village and into the woods surrounding what was once our refuge.
