Dedra and I had been holding this post for weeks, and it was the same battle every day. Daka and witches tried to pass the ward, and we fought them back, keeping them from gaining more land. Randy was supposed to bring reinforcementsto relieve us, but that was a week ago now, and we desperately needed the break. Our entire unit did. Thankfully, we got news that they would arrive today.
The daka swung its oozing tail, and the guards restraining it recoiled, their magic dissipating as green sludge rained down, extinguishing their magic. It struck again, and this time, dripping green spikes hurled through the air, directly toward me. I rolled and a spike whistled past my ear, nearly impaling me in the face.
Fucking daka.
I stretched my hand toward the sky, energy buzzing in my veins as I circled a finger in the air. Electricity danced on my skin, and I pushed it into the sky. A bolt of lightning appeared as I hurled it toward the beast, but it moved too fast and my strike hit the earth with an explosive impact.
I was pacing my magic, unlike my sister, who has had the sky lighting up aggressively all morning. She was going to burn out if she didn’t cut it out. We didn’t need another incident like the one in Moonhollow.
Fates, I was pissed at her when I found out. Dedra has never cared much about control, but that’s just her, I guess. She has a temper, always has. Maybe I pissed her off in the womb or something, and she made it her entire personality.
The thought made me chuckle, but the daka lunged in my direction, and I hurled another strike toward it as its jaws closed in on me. Energy surged in the air, and I spun out of its path just as my strike hit. The problem, however, was that it hit the daka’s side and not its back like I had intended. My eyes blew wide as the daka roared, stumbling sideways… exactly to where I now stood.
Shit.
The beast started to collapse, its green oozing scales getting closer every second. I tried to sprint away, but I was too close to it. The shadow of its body loomed around me, and I dove in a last-ditch effort, my hands going to the back of my head to shield my neck from the inevitable impact of its massive body.
If I get impaled by a spike, I’m going to be so pissed.
My body tensed, anticipating the impact, but it never arrived. I risked a peek from under my arm and saw a smaller guard with reddish-brown hair holding the daka midair. His hair billowed around his face as his air magic swirled around him. He was panting, sweat dripping from his brow into his eyes as he struggled to keep the beast from crushing me.
I pushed to my feet, and sprinted as fast as I could away.
Once I was cleared from its path, the boy fell to his knees, releasing the beast. The green monster fell to the earth with a loud crash, green sludge flying in the air and mixing with the dirt as its head smacked to the ground with a crunch. Its massive maw was open, displaying rows of needle sharp teeth. Its eyes were empty and vacant.
Most Fae possessed only one elemental magic—fire, wind, earth, or water. A fortunate few, if fate favored them, carried a unique magic in addition to their element, like my lightning. Xavier and Jaxon were the only ones we knew who could wield all four elements on top of their unique magic. This guard, however, seemed to have only the one, and from the way he was panting was close to burning out.
“You need to get back to the camp,” I ordered. He was more of a liability if he stayed.
“I'm fine,” the boy panted. “I just need to catch my breath.”
“You're not fine,” I sighed, rubbing my shoulder. “If you were, you'd be running to help the others, not doing whateverit is you're doing.” I waved a hand, gesturing to his kneeling, panting form.
The boy looked up at me, his face twisting into a defiance I knew all too well. Before he could argue, which I could tell he was about to do, I stopped him.
“That’s an order,” I barked, pulling him up by his arm and shoving him toward the nearest camp. “Go, now.”
“Yes, General,” he grumbled, a glint of rebellion in his eyes. But as he stepped forward, he stumbled, and I saw him accept his defeat.
I turned back to the line of trees, to the forest that led to Territan, to the now occupied territory the witches had taken from us. Stolen.
Movement caught my eye, and I spun, spotting another daka bursting from the forest about twenty yards down. This one had a black-haired witch on its back, and I growled as I started to head toward it. Before I could take a step, however, lightning speared from the sky, hitting the witch square in the chest. I watched as she slid off the beast. The daka didn’t seem to notice or care that it had lost its rider, even as her body was impaled by its massive, clawed feet. It simply continued its advance forward.
Dedra was already sprinting toward it and I smiled as she leapt into the air, her blade slashing down toward its exposed throat. I turned the other direction and sprinted toward more fighting down the line.
An ogre with what looked like a mossy beard roared as it tackled a daka to the ground nearby, its deerskin outfit torn to near ribbons.
Ogre skin was a lot tougher, almost like stone, and could take the hits from the daka a lot better than we could. Theywere our best defense against the daka, as their poison didn’t affect them. Plus, it helped that they nearly matched them in size.
With one slam of their fists, they were able to take down anything that got in their path. Unfortunately, they missed a lot of their targets by looking for approval from their group leaders. Ogres were excellent fighters, but they were too insecure for their own good and second-guessed their worth and decisions too often.
“Great job!” I shouted as I ran past, and the ogre beamed at me as his fist punched forward into the daka’s face.
It had been three weeks of this, but today was the most activity we had seen. I wasn’t sure why the witches choose today to be really annoying, but it was concerning.
A flash of blue caught my eye, followed by a high-pitched giggle. A smirk touched my lips as I shook my head, watching a swarm of pixies darting toward a nearby witch. They were clutching a large boulder together, bobbing in the air as they made their way to their target. With the help of Gunnar, they had been able to drop orbs of contained magic as well onto oncoming attacks. The orbs were mostly fire as that was the most impactful, but they were also the most risky. We were trying to keep the damage to the forest and our land as minimal as possible, but there was only so much one could do during war.
Once Randy got here with more guards, my sister and I would head back to Blackrock to check in and hopefully get some proper food. My stomach growled again at the thought. The only thing this cook here seemed to know how to make was a stew that he overcooked and some sort of mushy soup-looking thing that tasted like an ogre's fart.
