Orken hid atop a tall tree, covered in branches, only his bald head exposed by the light of the moon. Kirin stood on their boulder and shouted orders. His eyebrows creased and his hand shot out to a bush by the side of the pond.
"Vel, do you want your head to be the first they tear off? Get down!" Kirin shouted, pointing an accusing finger toward a nearby bush. Aurelie couldn't see Vel but Kirin had a higher vantage point to look from.
Looking at him, she found the same hunger within herself that she had seen in Orken. It prickled through her fingers and pushed through her chest. She was as ready as she could ever be. The heat that had set upon her from the closeness of the King turned to a tingling sensation in her right hand. She knew that it was all about to start. In a matter of seconds, she would meet her father, the murderous King, and there was not an ounce of fear within her.
Leila's tail wagged below the boulder that Kirin stood upon. Daerious walked right passed them, carrying injured Shaelyn off to the small hill above the pond. She was amazed at how so many people could disappear in such a small space. She worried that they had all fled, but she chased the thought away.
She looked to Kirin to see where he would go. He turned once to make sure everyone was properly in hiding, and jumped off the boulder, walking to the center of the field. His back straightened, and he pushed out his chest. All thoughts of not feeling fear faded and her body shook as if she was within the epicenter of a quake.
"What are you doing?" her voice shook as she said it. She sounded young even to herself.
He stiffed and answered without turning, "Go hide like the others."
"Don't be stupid." She strolled over to him with a strong impulse to knock on his head. If by now he didn't know that she would follow him to the bottom of the ocean, he was the last to speak out about her intellect. Aurelie's fingers interlaced with his and locked so tightly that she hurt her bones.
"Will you not leave?" His head flicked backward in frustration and his eyes shut for a moment. "Not even after what I did?" he asked her, turning his head sideways.
Aurelie narrowed her eyes. The memories of what he attempted to do carried a sting, exactly as intended. "I'll not leave you," she replied. Provocation would not work, not now.
"Alright," he said and straightened his fingers. Before she could properly predict his next move, a steel grip ripped her away and she was dragged away from him kicking and screaming.
"Kirin, stop!" she cried.
"You're not dying tonight, princess," he said. It was the first time that the word did not intend to be demeaning, and at the same time, it was the only time that it actually was.
Aurelie yanked her arms forward and kicked out harder with her legs, against her better knowledge. Her heels dug dents in the damp ground and pushed the grass out in lumps.
"Kirin Donahue, I will never forgive you for this!" her voice roared. Heads popped out from hiding and searched for the racket.
"At least, you'll be alive to ponder about it." He flicked his hand her way.
Her eyes flared, and her knuckles were so tight that her bones ached. Idiot! Bloody idiot. The heads had all found their way down once more, not one of them attempted to help. Even Orken, of all people, let him drag her from battle. What was all the training for, then?
"Will someone please use some sense?" she yelled, but none of them shuffled.
Finally, the shadow stopped, right behind the pond, where she had last seen Daerious and Shaelyn. The shadow creature sat down and took her down along with it. Her stomach dropped with the fall. A branch moved, catching her attention. Daerious cursed under his breath and Aurelie made out his white curls through the disturbed leaves.
"I know you're there," she called out to him. The rage rose within her chest, applying so much pressure that if her eyes were closed, she'd believe a man had stood atop her.
"I'm not setting you free," he called back and walked into sight. Blood idiot number two. No wonder they're best friend.
Aurelie had to close her eyes. The anger within her churned, and if she set the ground below him on fire, she wouldn't be able to or want to stop it.
"Then you're a fool, just like Kirin," she said. "You've seen what I can do. Release me! I want to help. It's my fight too," she said, her eyes poking through him, her lashes pushing into her brows.
"Yes, with a handful of men. You don't know the first thing about how to fight in a battle like this. It is not safe for you. If we all fall, you can run," he replied.
Was this what Kirin had intended too?
She winced at the thought. As if she'd want to live if they were defeated. Her aunt and uncle had already been taken. Sasha was dead. If Daerious and Kirin . . .
"Don't be stupid, Daerious. I can help. I can't believe you're agreeing with this," she said, anger overflowing.
A cough sounded to the left of her, and she saw Shaelyn, sitting with her back pressed to a tree, covering her wound with her hand. It had stopped bleeding, but the burns had created more pain.
"Shaelyn, you need to help me. Your parents are on that field. I need to be there," she tried to convince her.
Shaelyn's head turned away as if Aurelie had been invisible to her. Aurelie snarled and twisted her arms. Her skin was raw, and burned beneath the grip of Kirin's shadow creature.
The tingling in her arm turned into a pulse. It pulsed three times and stopped, quieting the everything right down with it. Suddenly, heat ran through her, followed by rough vibration, and her body twisted in a spasm. She gasped, as the pressure dropped. The King is here.
Odd puffs and treading of the horses broke the silence. She had her back to it all, but the movement of his eyesâas they searched for herâwas as clear as if his apparition had appeared to stand by her side and showed her his every move.
Daerious pulled on the string of his bow. Her heart felt as if it seized to beat as if along with Daerious it waited for him to find the courage to release. And so, he did.
It happened gradually she was sure. Steel beat against steel. Men fell, and some rose. Spells were chanted, sending lighting and fire crashing through the field. But in her mind, it all happened at once. As Daerious' arrow flew, in the split second that it took her heart to beat, she closed her eyes and forced away thoughts of Kirin, in the front line.
A sickly feeling overwhelmed her, and as if gaining new life, Aurelie opened her eyes and shook off the feeling of helplessness that was forced upon her. Voice sounded as if they came from a distant land, the gasps, the chants, and the screechesâall together in a symphony of chaos.
Colourful lights reflected on the hill, revealing Shaelyn's horror stricken face in flashes. Aurelie locked onto her face like a predator and waited till she could see a crack in the girl's spirit.
A woman's shout sounded from the battle. She shrieked again, and something splashed into the pond.
"Shaelyn, that could be your mother in the lake." Aurelie pushed her. "Do you not see how important it is that you release me?" she tried to convince her again, but the girl just buried her face in her hands, refusing to give in.
Aurelie sunk back against the shadow as hard as she could, but the grip around her remained solid. A spark of lightning soared into the sky and reflected in her eyes through Daerious' arrow. Aurelie jolted up. The spark had ignited something inside her. She did not have to be free to fight. She could do it all through the efforts of her friend. Daerious drew another arrow, and before his fingers released, the arrow ignited with fire.
He flinched, and his eyes set on her, finally acknowledging her presence. "You are terrible at taking orders," he told her, a glint of maliciousness in his expression. At least, she thought, he was not dumb enough to waive a good idea. He released the arrow and took another. "Go ahead then, what harm can it do?"
A bolt of amber lightning flew past Aurelie and crashed into a tree that stood between her and Shaelyn. It flickered, and the shock pulsed through every leaf, cracking the tree in half. The tree rocked and titled. Aurelie rolled to her side as the tree came down almost exactly where she had sat.
Daerious climbed off his spot, and stepped over the tree, passing her with his head held high so that he would not have to look at her.
"Wait, why are you going in there?" Aurelie struggled up, the shadow creature hung onto her like glue. The madness of it would soon have her chewing on the wrists to escape it.
"All my arrows are finished," he said and tapped the dagger that stuck out of his belt.
"Wait, please," she called after him, but he was gone from sight before she could finish her sentence.
Shaelyn looked at the tree with horror, her eyes glinting as another bolt of light rose in the sky. The connection hit Aurelie like a bucket of cold water. "Shaelyn, let me go and I can help her. I can help them all," Aurelie pleaded with a new found ferocity. "Daerious is gone. No one is paying any attention to us. If something were to happen, you could just tell them that the tree fell and freed me."
Shaelyn shuffled, her eyes tracing the scene suspiciously. She rose, and groaned, holding her side. "I will let you go if"âshe hissedâ"you take me with you. I am hurt but I can still cast spells. I want to be able to help my parents," her voice quivered with pain as she spoke.
"Fine, I promise." Lying had been the last of her sins to worry about. There was no way that Aurelie would send the girl out there to die, she could hardly move. Shaelyn braced her back against a tree and groaned.
Since Aurelie had moved, a tiny spec of the field was now visible. Guards climbed up the tree toward Orken. One had been so close that his hand was reaching up for Orken's boot. Orken held on to a thick branch and swung down. The guard's hands jumped to his nose, on impulse. He tumbled, knocking down another guard below him.
Three more guards remained. Orken found a branch to stand on and wrapped his arms around the tree trunk. A mischievous grin spread across his wrinkled face.
"Quatio!" Orken shouted, and the tree swung as if the bark had turned to rubber. The guards bellowed, their feet swaying.
A branch snapped, and a guard flew to the right, disappearing from Aurelie's sight.
"Novacula," Orken chanted. The leaves glinted and pummeled down as if gaining ten times their weight. The guards' skin split open when the leaves touched their skin. Some of the leaves remained solid in their skin. One by one they toppled down, smashing into hordes of people fighting below.
When Aurelie looked back at Shaelyn, she had barely made it half way. She limped toward the fallen tree and rested against it. Aurelie clenched her teeth, and looked away, biting back an overwhelming wish to shout at the girl. She struggled along, breathing heavily and crawling slowly to Aurelie.
"What do I do?" Shaelyn asked her when she finally made her way to Aurelie and sat down beside her.
"We need to stab it with something. Look for anything sharp lying around." The fallen tree was their only hope. The only branches left were thick as the small ones had turned to ash with the amber lightning.
"Try the tree," Aurelie suggested, doubt clouding each word.
Shaelyn crawled over to the tree and gripped her frail hands around the smallest of the branches. She applied pressure, but it was as if the branch snapped Shaelyn instead. She tried again, and again, her grip weaker each time.
A scream rang in her ears. Shaelyn went on as normal. Aurelie froze, and ducked her head between her shoulders, trying to suppress the noise. She would recognize that voice in a choir of screeches, anywhere, and at any distance. It was Kirin. Her body exploded with an ache so severe that a shriek escaped her lips. She twisted in the grip, her eyes filling with tears.
"Break it off!" she screamed at the pathetic girl who had now stood frozen in place. "Break it off! Break it off!" She kicked out and slammed her back against the shadow.
Shaelyn whimpered and fell to her knees. "I can't, I'm not strong enough." The panic had spread to her too, her legs quivered, her eyes expanded, and filled with agonizing fear.
The shouts of the battle grew quieter. Her people were dying while she lay in the grip of a single shadow. How pathetic.
A purple light blew past them and exploded into the ground like a meteor. Grass and ground flew at them, specks of it landing on Aurelie's lips.
The explosion had disturbed her bag. The flap was opened, and Jermyn's seed rolled out. Aurelie's ears heated and hope pulsed through her body.
"Shaelyn, I need you to listen carefully," Aurelie told her. "That seed on the ground, I need you to dig a hole and plant It," she explained.
Shaelyn looked at her as if she had lost her mind. She raised a brow and hesitated.
"Just do it!" Aurelie said through gritted teeth. The field lit up just like it had when she set it on fire, only this time it was not her flames burning in the distance, but those of her father. Aurelie's legs tapped with impatience, and the girl took away the last drop of it with her slug like movements.
Shaelyn dropped to her knees and buried the seed.
"Come on, Jermyn. I need you. Come on," Aurelie whispered.
Shaelyn looked at her questioningly.
Aurelie shut her eyes. Please, please, please, Jermyn.
The seed sprouted and grew. Shaelyn stepped back and took cover behind a tree. They watched in silence as the sprout spiraled up, and browned around the stem, thickened and slowly transformed into a tall and thick tree. Aurelie's head fell back in relief.
"Jermyn!" she gasped, as Shaelyn stepped further into hiding.