by Candy Crum
They slowed their horses to a stop, then climbed down. It was still early enough that the sun hadn't yet risen completely over the mountains to the east, which led into the Madlands. They made sure to stick to the shadows and tall grass as they made their way forward.
Everyone get low, Amelia told them. I can see them up ahead. They’re hiding behind that small patch of trees. Sven and Ren should come through any time now.
They sat patiently, but Bast could feel adrenaline kick in as her excitement grew. That first fight with the bandits had been her first real fight ever. She had been in minor brawls with boys back home who thought girls weren’t strong enough to be warriors, but as far as real battles went, the fight alongside Sven was their first.
She was ready for another.
Bast had never truly been able to test her abilities, except in private training sessions or when she and Cleo were alone. In that regard, her journey was becoming more and more exciting all the time.
Amelia and Bast looked at one another as they heard horses’ hooves hitting the worn path. The rearick were close.
Bast turned her focus toward the patch of trees Amelia had pointed out earlier, and saw the group of men moving around quite a bit more. She couldn't tell what they were doing in the low light, but it looked as though they were gearing up for something.
How fast can you run? Amelia asked.
Bast turned to her and smiled. Even if I carried you on my back, I could still outrun anyone here. I might even be as fast as our horses by myself. I'll have to race one sometime.
Amelia's eyes widened, clearly shocked by the response. Bast had explained that her magic made her stronger and faster than most people, but she hadn’t elaborated on just how much faster or stronger.
The hoofbeats came within range of the trees ahead, and Bast shifted to a running position, her hands on the ground in front of her and her legs poised to propel her forward.
"Everyone run," Amelia hissed in a loud whisper as they saw the bandits fan out from behind the trees.
Bast's eyes flashed blue, and she felt the tingles of power flowing through her body. As soon as she felt them reach her feet she jumped ten feet ahead and broke into a sprint.
Within seconds, she had reached her destination, but she didn't stop. Once again, she leapt forward, propelling herself through the air and tumbling over once before planting both feet in the back of one of the bandits. She used the momentum from the kick to throw her into a backflip again before landing gracefully.
Men ran at her, blades raised as they screamed their war cries. She dropped to her knees, then rolled out of the way as a man swung his sword at her head. After getting back up, she swept the man's legs before chopping him hard in the throat and crushing his larynx.
More circled around her, and she once again pushed her magic through her legs and jumped high enough to clear their heads. As she landed behind one of them she punched him hard in the lower spine, shoving power through her hand into his back. The tiny bones and fragile nerves inside were crushed as he fell to the ground, screaming but unable to move.
She turned just in time to see a man swinging his sword, but before she could react a large fireball hit him in the side. Amelia ran up, her eyes coal black.
Bast was hit hard from the side by a man twice her size punching her hard across her brow bone. She fell to her knees, disoriented for a moment. He grabbed her braid, wrapping it around his hand as he yanked back.
"You stupid bitch. You're really not gonna like what happens next," he said.
She groaned as he pulled harder, but then she smiled. "If that means what I think it does, you're not gonna like it either."
She thrust an elbow back, hitting him hard in the balls. He cried out and his grip on her hair loosened immediately. She spun around on her knees and knocked his hands away from his groin, gripping his manhood in her hand and squeezing.
"Clearly, your daddy never taught you how to treat a lady. And considering I'm a sixteen-year-old girl, that makes you an even bigger piece of shit. You won't be needing this anymore," she said before crushing it in her hand and pulling as hard as she could. She could feel the flesh tear as the endowment was freed from his body.
She stood and kicked him over, leaving him screaming as she wiped the blood from her hand on her pants and surveyed the area.
***
Though Bast had told Amelia how fast she could move and how hard she could hit, there was still a big part of her that hadn’t quite believed it. She had thought Bast was exaggerating, but when Amelia had told everyone to run, she was proven wrong.
Bast had all but exploded into a sprint that was far faster than anything she had ever seen. Amelia and the others ran as hard as they could, but it took a lot longer to reach the bandits than she would have liked.
As she and her men hurried toward the fight, Sven, Ren, their men, and the guards she had sent to trail them met the bandits head-on. Bast also arrived and established herself immediately as a large threat, but there were so many bandits that Amelia worried Bast might be overcome soon, even with her impressive strength.
Amelia and her guards arrived just in time. A sword was about to come down on Bast, but Amelia was faster. Her eyes flashed black, her arms arcing over her chest before she threw a large fireball which struck Bast’s attacker directly in the ribs.
Once he was down, she threw another at a man attacking Sven.
Amelia had spent weeks in the Dark Forest training with Elysia and Nika while Arryn was missing, and with the mystics during the long wait for the battle against Scarlett for Arcadia. She was more skilled with a sword than any of the outlaws she was about to engage in battle.
A tall, chubby man ran up on her right with a sword in his hand. She dodged his first swing and ducked under the second when he opted for speed instead of precision. He slashed and slashed again. “Keep slicing until I hit something” seemed to be his style of fighting.
She dodged again, this time kicking out as hard as she could. The toe of her boot connected with his ribs, and he cried out, his grip on the sword loosening. She stepped forward and stomped on his foot before driving her fist hard across his face. He wavered a bit, and she grabbed his sword and ran it straight through his chest.
After pulling the blade free, she spun and lifted it, the clang of metal on metal ringing in her ears as her sword stopped another. The man grimaced and pushed harder, and Amelia's entire body locked up as she tried to keep his sword from coming down on her.
She growled and grunted as she pushed back—hard enough this time to force him back a couple steps. She looked at him and said, "Fuck this."
Her eyes flashed black again as she flexed her entire body, jerking it forward as her hands shot out. An invisible force shoved the man, and he stared at her as he stumbled backward several feet.
She smiled and dropped the sword, then slowly lifted her hands from her sides. The ground began to shake a little under their feet as she felt for rocks in the earth.
He turned and began to run, but she was faster. She jerked her hands upward, and small stones burst from the ground. When she twisted her hand, several shot directly toward him, one driving straight through the back of his skull and dropping him.
Her arsenal of various size rocks went with her as she stepped farther onto the battlefield. Bast was fighting two men, but the young woman made quick work of each. She crushed the skull of one with her fist before kicking the other several feet back, the man flying through the air before hitting the ground hard.
Amelia heard footsteps all around her, and she swiped her hands to split the rocks apart, impaling the three men running at her. They dropped dead, and she allowed her eyes to fade back to normal.
If she used much more heavy magic, she wouldn't have the energy to finish the fight.
And given how many she and Bast had taken out already, it was almost finished. But she wanted to bring at least one of them back with her for questioning. She needed to know why these attack
s were happening.
***
Sven fought hard next to his brother, each swinging his war hammer. They had been in many fights with remnant over the years, and they had been together for a lot of those, but Sven was happy to be fighting alongside his little brother this time.
They were sick of people taking advantage of them and their people. They'd had enough of those piece-of-shit stragglers stealing what they had worked hard for. Unlike battles with the remnant, this fight was personal, and having his brother along for the ride made it somehow even more satisfying.
A man came at Ren from behind, and Sven struck him hard in the leg with his hammer, crushing the bandit’s hip and femur in the process. Ren turned and finished him off with a hit directly to the man's head.
Ren had worried about the girl, but that quickly faded as he watched her drop twice as many men as he and his brother combined.
The fight was beginning to wind down, as the two rearick fought together. The Arcadian Guard hadn’t been very useful, but at least they had kept the bastards busy enough for Sven and Ren to take them down.
Sven ducked and rammed his war hammer into the soft belly of one of the bandits before pulling back and swinging hard at the man's chest, easily taking him out. Just as he was about to turn for another, Ren took the new attacker out instead.
They both heaved for breath. Neither had done much fighting in years up until recently, and each of them were getting older. It was getting harder on them, but they still had it.
"How many’re yers, Brother?" Sven asked.
Ren looked at the bodies on the ground. "I dunno, but I'm bettin’ at least twice whatever ye had. Just count up however many’re yers, ‘n double it. That's mine."
Sven laughed, the effort causing him to cough a few times before he finished. "I bet."
"Is everyone all right?" Amelia asked as she ran up.
The rearick brothers looked at one another and shrugged before turning back to Amelia and nodding. "Good enough," they said together, and chuckled.
It appeared everyone had survived, and no one was severely injured. Even Amelia seemed impressed by that.
"I thought I'd lose at least a few Guard, or they’d be injured for sure. I guess I have the two of you to thank for preventing that," Amelia said to the rearick.
"Amelia," Bast said.
Amelia turned toward the voice. "Yes? Is everything okay? Are you all right?"
Bast nodded. "I left one alive. Not purposely, mind you. I punched him in the spine and it paralyzed him. I thought he would die, but it was low enough that he survived."
Amelia sighed in relief. "Good. By the time I realized I wanted to take one alive, we'd killed almost everyone. Now I might be able to figure out what the hell is going on around here."
Amelia gave orders to her guards to clear out a cart for him, since she didn't want him injured further in case it killed him.
"Now, let's hurry up and get back to my house before your sister wakes up and kills us both," Amelia said.
Bast only laughed, knowing it was true.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Alaric and Jerick led the way north with the large group behind them, ready for whatever might happen. The plan was simple—Aeris had seen to that. He was impressed by the younger man's ambition to separate the girl from the rest of her team. If what he had heard about her was true, he definitely didn't want her on Alexander’s side.
If he could somehow manage to force her to switch sides using her father as leverage, it was possible the odds of his winning the war for the Dark Forest would tip in his favor—not that he’d had many doubts once his brother had joined him.
It was now nightfall, and they were approaching the southern part of the barrier. As long as they stayed far enough away that any wandering patrol on the other side couldn't hear or sense them, they would be able to carry out their plan without issue.
Alaric raised a hand, signaling everyone in the group to stop. He then waved the small group who were carrying the poisonous leaves forward. They spent the entire day before they left growing the deadly plant, giving them bags and bags full of it.
Along the way others had gathered sticks and kindling that would allow the plants to burn slower and create big smoke clouds. The plant itself burned slowly because of the poisonous oil it naturally contained, and according to Jerick, would create large plumes of smoke on its own. The rest would just help it along.
Within twenty minutes, his group was ready, and he hoped Aeris and Jenna were in place along the eastern wall as well. Though Alaric couldn't call wind as easily as he once had without exhausting himself, his brother could.
At another silent gesture, several dark druids began lighting the leaves, sticks, and small branches that had been divided among the twenty people in charge of starting the assault.
Jerick signaled for everyone to get back, and they quickly retreated several yards. Even Alaric took several steps back, not wanting to be in his brother's way.
After the first few fires were successfully lit, the dark druids who had started them began to cough and stumbled backward out of the way. Jerick's eyes flashed a dim green, his arms lifting from his sides as a light breeze began to blow toward the barrier.
It wasn't enough to inhibit the others from starting their fires, but it was enough to keep the smoke blowing toward and through the barrier.
The dark druids lit their fires all the way to the end, and jumped out of the way as quickly as possible once they caught. When Jerick strengthened his magical wind, large plumes of smoke billowed through the barrier.
Alaric heard a loud thump to his left and quickly turned.
The dark druid who had been felled by the smoke was seizing on the ground, foaming at the mouth and choking.
"I thought you said we would be able to process this through our bodies since we’re used to toxins," Alaric said to his brother.
Jerick laughed. "I said I believed that would be so, and I still do. Look—that idiot didn't wear the gloves Aeris instructed everyone to wear. He also took a direct hit from the smoke, undiluted by the oxygen around it. Relax. That's what he gets for disobeying."
His brother was certainly right about that. Alaric couldn't stand it when they ignored him. His concern wasn't the loss of life, but that there was loss of life when there shouldn't have been. If that idiot could die, then so could he… but his brother’s explanation satisfied him.
He smiled as he watched the smoke wafting through the Dark Forest barrier like a thick, heavy fog. It wouldn't be long, and he would have exactly what he needed. He would have the warrior that would win him the war.
If it hadn’t been for Aeris, he would've attempted for a hell of a lot more. He would have made his way through that barrier and taken the lives of everyone who stood in his way. He would cut down any in his path until he found his true target. His destiny.
Alexander.
Unfortunately for him, Aeris had made several good points, the best of those being that Alexander was not the same man he had dealt with years ago. He was much stronger, and he might even be able to withstand the effects of the smoke.
This truly was the safest way to go, and a little patience would go a long way to securing his success. Taking Arryn would damage them emotionally and potentially leave them powerless against him.
***
Arryn sighed heavily and quietly stepped outside. It was late, and everyone was already in bed asleep or out patrolling. She had made sure to stay close to Elysia that day, so she knew exactly where the warriors would be at various times during the night.
She had calculated a route to get out of the Dark Forest and move south. She planned to take Snow with her, but once she got close enough to the dark druid camp, Snow would have to stay behind. She would need to be subtle, and a large white tiger was certainly not the way to do it.
Without saying a word, Arryn reached through the bond and called Snow. As the Chieftain had requested, she had taken more than a day to think th
ings over. He had told her that if she could come up with a plan that wouldn't leave the Dark Forest weak, he would help her.
Though she had tried, she hadn’t been able to think of anything that didn't risk the people she loved. In the end, this had been the only plan that made sense to her, but she couldn't tell the Chieftain. If she had, he would've done all he could to stop her.
She had found that falcon and had seen the images he carried. Aeris and the others traveling back to the southernmost part of the Forest. Her father and the weakened state he appeared to be in. Most importantly, she had heard the things that dark druid had said to him.
Though the falcon might not have understood entirely what those words meant, when she heard them through his memory, she had picked out enough to understand.
Her father was in real danger. He was paranoid that Adrien was coming for him, as well as for her. He had no idea that Adrien was dead, and he didn't realize she had grown up. Whatever they had done to him, they had been doing it since she was a child. He had no idea how much time had passed.
And that posed problems of its own.
If she got there and tried to save him, but he had no idea who she was, it would put her in danger as well as him. She needed him to believe without hesitation or emotion.
She hoped she could heal him enough to recognize her. According to the Chieftain, his demented state had probably been caused by poisons and hallucinogenic plants like mushrooms. It would take time because of the many years they had been dosing him, but he could be healed of the damage.
And she wouldn't stop until he was himself again.
She and Snow pelted through the Dark Forest, the wind picking up as they ran. Arryn felt a tickle in her throat and reached for the canteen she carried on her hip. At first, the water helped, but then the irritation became worse.
She saw fog rolling in, but she realized the amount of moisture in the air wasn't right for it. She began to cough, and even Snow seemed to sense something was off and slowed down.
