Bridgette spotted a bulge forming near the front of the Valnarian lines. Like a depression forming between the Selucians and the Sagami, the Valnarian lines were bowing inward. If those lines broke, the Sagami and Selucians would be flanked, costing dozens or even hundreds of lives.
Beyond the bulge was a wall of pure darkness that she could not pierce. She suspected it was due to the magic nullification field from the crystal.
Envisioning herself near the heart of the bulge, Bridgette appeared near the Valnarian front lines. She spotted Dawyn surrounded a short way forward, but shifted out to help stop a pair of Krai’kesh harassing a group of soldiers.
***
Dawyn lost track of time as he fought. Krai’kesh warriors fell before him at a consistent rate, but so too did his fellow soldiers. One Krai’kesh could overpower a dozen men or more, forcing the soldiers to chip away at their defenses, and their carapace, bit by bit until they were too weak to fight on. When the ground became slick with the blood of both sides, Dawyn moved to clearer ground, usually further into the Krai’kesh ranks, lest he trip in the muddied soil.
Dawyn finished killing one of the Krai’kesh and looked around. He was nearly surrounded, with only a thin opening connecting him with the pike lines. The lines were bending inward as the Krai’kesh focused on the center of the formation. He saw Bridgette’s iconic cloak swirling in the air, but, though formidable and a welcome relief, Bridgette would not be enough. If the Valnarian lines broke…
A panther appeared from the fray of soldiers and batted aside the claw of one enemy warrior, while a pair of wolves seized its legs and bit down hard. The monster fell to the ground where soldiers stabbed it. The trio assaulted another creature, providing much-needed relief.
Dawyn fought his way toward the Valnarian lines. Anwyn came up to him and growled in greeting. He stroked her fur in thanks. “Thank you, Anwyn. Let’s go kill some more.” Dawyn joined Anwyn and the two wolves in their onslaught of the Krai’kesh.
The sight of their foes falling encouraged the wavering Valnarians and they rallied, reforming their lines somewhat. Though pikes were useless, the soldiers had drawn their swords and moved in to hack at the Krai’kesh.
The Krai’kesh, seeing the resistance growing in the location Dawyn and the others occupied, began to attack with increased fervor. Soon Dawyn was facing two at a time, and then three. He drew upon ever-increasing amounts of his power to dodge the strikes.
Dawyn had just dodged a pair of pincers when he heard a roar of pain behind him. A panther, Anwyn, was impaled through the abdomen on the mandibles of a Krai’kesh warrior. The two wolves nipped at its feet, but the creature did not relent.
Dawyn charged toward the Krai’kesh with a roar of fury. He slashed through the Krai’kesh’ neck with such ferocity that he beheaded it. As the creature’s legs gave out, Dawyn sliced through its mandibles to release Anwyn. She fell to the ground with a thump.
“Anwyn!” Dawyn cried as he fell to his knees beside her, his swords discarded in the dirt. Why hadn’t she transformed back to her human form yet? The nullification field, of course! “Someone help me lift her!” he shouted.
Two soldiers came running to help Dawyn lift Anwyn. The wolves and Bridgette served as guards, assaulting a Krai’kesh that tried to capitalize on the situation. As one, the three lifted Anwyn and carried her back behind the Valnarian lines.
After several yards they laid her down. Dawyn removed the mandibles and Anwyn transformed back from a panther to a human. The mandibles had pierced what amounted to her stomach, and blood gushed from the wound. Dawyn withdrew his cloak and placed it over the wound, commanding a soldier to hold pressure on it. He moved closer to Anwyn’s head.
“Dawyn,” Anwyn labored to say, causing Dawyn to lean in to hear. “I…need…to…tell…you…something.”
“Save your breath,” Dawyn said, grasping one of her hands in his.
“No. Must…tell…you. You…will…meet…another. You…will…love…her. I…saw…it. Do…not…despair.”
Dawyn shook his head. “No, you’re the only person I will ever love, Anwyn. I don’t care what visions you had. You’re going to make it.”
Two wolves emerged from the rear of the Valnarians, turning into a pair of humans moments later. They were older, a man and a woman, but they looked like Anwyn.
“You’re Anwyn’s parents?” Dawyn demanded as he lifted his head and looked at them. “Can you heal her?”
The woman came up to Anwyn and pressed her hands to the wound. She closed her eyes and moved her lips, though no sound emerged. After a few moments, she opened her eyes and shook her head in despair. The man’s hard eyes softened as he looked at his daughter.
Dawyn looked back at Anwyn’s face. Her breathing was coming faster now, as she clung to life by a thread. Sweat beaded her brow. Dawyn wiped her forehead. “It’s OK, Anwyn, you’re going to make it.”
“I…love…you,” she whispered. “Save…them.” With those words, her hand went limp and her breathing ceased. Blood trickled from her mouth and her eyes glazed over. Anwyn, the only woman Dawyn felt he would ever love, was dead.
Chapter 34
Dawyn continued to hold Anwyn even after the life left her eyes and the soldier compressing the wound in her stomach had ceased his efforts. He thought back to the short time they had known each other. It felt like an eternity. He looked up as John and Ashley approached.
“Dawyn,” John said. “Is Anwyn…” he stopped.
Dawyn looked down at Anwyn again, studying her beautiful face contorted in pain before the end. He closed her eyes and laid her head on the ground. Then he wept. Tears flowed from his eyes and he shook from sobbing. The pain and sadness slammed into him, morphing into anger and hatred. It wasn’t fair. Why had God allowed Anwyn to die?
“I wasn’t fast enough,” he said. “If only I’d been faster. I could have slowed time more, tried to stop it, I could have intervened, I could have saved her. It’s all my fault.”
“Dawyn,” Ashley said. “It wasn’t your fault. The Krai’kesh did this, not you.”
“But I let her come. I should have insisted she remain behind. If she had told me about her visions, I would have made her stay behind.”
“That’s probably why she didn’t tell you,” Ashley said. “She knew how you would react.”
“But she didn’t have to die.” Dawyn slammed his fist into the dirt in frustration.
“I know you don’t want to hear this, Dawyn,” John began, “but, maybe Anwyn was meant to die. Maybe it’s part of some bigger plan God has.”
Dawyn glared at John. “God forsook us long ago. There is no plan. She died because I was a fool and let her fight.”
“You didn’t own her,” Anwyn’s mother replied. “She was her own woman and it was her right to fight as she saw fit. If she knew she was going to die she would not have shied away from the fight. My daughter was never one to back down from a fight. If you loved her, you would know that.”
Dawyn hung his head as tears streamed down her face. She was right. Anwyn had possessed a spirit of the strongest steel, incorruptible and nigh unbreakable. And her will…it took the strongest of wills to sacrifice oneself for a cause greater than them.
The cry of a Krai’kesh warrior out on the battlefield caught his attention. He searched the front lines until he found the source of the noise. Them. The ones who had killed Anwyn, who had killed any future he had with her. Ashley was right. He hadn’t killed Anwyn, the Krai’kesh had when they made war on humanity. Standing, Dawyn walked to where his swords lay discarded and picked them up. He studied them as if he had never seen them before. Joy used to fill him when he held these blades. Now he felt hollow. His eyes went to where the Krai’kesh crystal sat in the midst of the battlefield and back to his allies. “No more,” he whispered.
Before anyone could respond, Dawyn opened his mind and unleashed his control of time. He slowed down time. John, who had opened his mouth to speak, moved his lips in slow m
otion and the words came out in an exaggerated way. It wasn’t slow enough though, Dawyn thought. Not slow enough to do what was needed. He slowed time even further, until John became a statue with his mouth open, not moving at all. The strain on Dawyn’s mind began to build, and he felt his head pounding. Never before had he stopped time.
Turning toward the Krai’kesh lines, Dawyn charged. He slid through the ranks of men standing like rows of trees and came upon the first Krai’kesh. He slid his first blade through the throat of the monster, while swinging Nightblade toward the legs of a second. Green fluid that passed for Krai’kesh blood did not spurt from either wound, but he knew it would. He continued on to the next pair of Krai’kesh, and next and the next. On and on he stabbed, all the while keeping his eyes on the Krai’kesh crystal. The creatures had hamstrung the humans by stifling their magic. This crystal was responsible for Anwyn’s death.
At last, Dawyn arrived at the monstrous crystal that glowed with an eerie reddish-pink light. He dropped his mundane sword and raised Nightblade with two hands. He pointed it toward the crystal and thrust it with all his might. The black mage-forged steel met crystal and slid through into the heart of it. Cracks began to spider web out from the point of impact and a glow began to emanate from the cracks. Dawyn released Nightblade, leaving it lodged in the crystal, and stepped back, struggling to remain standing as exhaustion threatened to overcome him.
The glow of the crystal continued to grow. Dawyn shielded his eyes. Then the crystal exploded with a crack, followed by a massive surge of pressure. Dawyn felt himself flying through the air, powerless to stop his rapid acceleration. The last thing Dawyn thought before blackness took him was that he had given the others a fighting chance.
Chapter 35
One moment Dawyn was standing over the corpse of Anwyn, the next, a tremendous explosion rocked the ground, sending a wall of dust outward toward the gathered soldiers. Bridgette half-shifted into the shadow realm to avoid the sting of the dust.
As the dust settled, Bridgette searched for Dawyn. He no longer stood over the corpse of Anwyn. Soldiers across the battlefield were recovering from the dust onslaught of dust. What could have caused such an explosion? There! The crystal near the center of the Krai’kesh reserves was little more than a smoking crater. Did that mean that the field of magic preventing her from shifting within its reach was down? She shifted into the shadow realm and instead of seeing a wall of darkness like before, she instead saw the entirety of the Krai’kesh ranks in greyscale.
Shifting out of the shadow realm, her eyes caught on something near the wall of Tar Ebon. A figure lay on the ground wearing a black cloak with the sigil of Tar Ebon on the back. The figure did not move. Could it be? “Dawyn,” she whispered. Shifting into the shadow realm in full, Bridgette envisioned herself being at location of who she hoped was her brother.
***
Alivia summoned a hasty shield of air as the crystal exploded in light and dust surged outward. The initial wave of pressure and dust passed and she surveyed the scene.
Across the battlefield, humans and Krai’kesh both recovered from the explosion. Human soldiers on the front lines hurried to stand and re-form their defenses in case the Krai’kesh tried to capitalize on the situation, while the Krai’kesh attempted to do the same by lashing out to keep the humans from rushing them.
A thought struck Alivia then. If the crystal, which had been believed to cause the magic nullification field, was destroyed, did that mean the field itself was gone as well? Casting her mind out of her body, she surveyed the previously inaccessible part of the battlefield. As her mind approached the area where it could not pass before, she found no resistance. She could feel the enemy there on the field, sense the air they breathed and the remaining dust falling to the ground.
Withdrawing her mind back into her body, Alivia shouted to the mages arrayed around her on the walls of Tar Ebon. “All mages, the nullification field is down! Prepare to strike!” Alivia prepared to enter the battle.
Chapter 36
A wave of energy expanded from the crystal as it detonated, propelling dust outward with tremendous force. The expanding ring of dust reminded Ashley of the old videos of nuclear bomb detonations, just without the iconic mushroom cloud. Ashley summoned a shield of air as the wall of dust neared, watching as the dust swirled around her. She looked over to see John projecting a similar shield.
“The crystal is gone,” Ashley shouted to John above the din. She saw John nod in agreement. “Try to use your magic out there!” she pointed toward the mass of Krai’kesh beyond their front lines. Suiting action to words, Ashley cast her mind out and forward. Instead of a dead zone devoid of magic, she felt the ground beneath the feet of the Krai’kesh. She could use her magic again.
***
John followed Ashley’s instructions and stretched his mind out. He expanded his mind ahead of him and could feel the way the sunlight struck the ground around the Krai’kesh waiting their turn to fight the humans. Now that their energy manipulation ability was restored in that area, John pondered what he could do to aid in the fight.
***
Where are you? Bridgette’s voice echoed in Jason’s head.
We’re almost there. Jason replied. Give us five minutes.
Hurry. Dawyn is down, but so is the crystal. We need you, now.
Jason looked at the king. “Bridgette says the crystal is down, but so is the battle commander, Dawyn Darklance. They need us.”
The king nodded. “General, order our men to increase their speed to a fast trot.” As the general nodded and passed the order along, the king looked at Jason. “This will be a pivotal moment. Will you charge with us, Jason?”
Jason shook his head. “With the crystal down, I am more valuable being able to use my magic. If it’s alright with you, I will stay back.”
“A wise man knows his strengths and weaknesses. I am glad to see you acknowledge yours. What of you, music man?” he asked Favio.
“It would be my honor, your majesty, to fight by your side,” Favio said as he gave a seated bow. “It is time for these Krai’kesh to learn the price of attacking humanity, once and for all. Besides, it shall make a glorious tale!”
The king nodded. “Well said.” The king urged his stallion to a quick trot and the sound of several thousand horses increased to a dull roar as his soldiers followed suit. Jason hoped they would arrive in time.
Chapter 37
Bridgette reveled in the death of the Krai’kesh soldier beneath her as she withdrew her blade from the mouth of the creature. Greenish blood spurted from the wound and the soldier collapsed as Bridgette pushed off of it to leap into the air. Shifting into the shadow realm, Bridgette moved to the next creature, reappeared with a thought and stabbed it in similar fashion.
One of the creatures moved toward Dawyn, ignoring the melee going on.
“Oh no you don’t,” Bridgette growled. Diving into the shadow realm she shifted back to the real world as she raced up behind the monster. She lashed out with two of her blades and bisected a pair of the creature’s legs. The Krai’kesh warrior toppled backward as its rear legs gave out. Bridgette wasted no time beheading it before turning back to the remaining Krai’kesh that had set out to assassinate Dawyn while he lay prone against the black wall.
A handful of creatures approached, seeking to overwhelm her. Bridgette breathed deep and prepared to shift when a shaft of fire streamed past her and slammed into one of the assailants. The creature did not scream as it burned but continued forward. The fire continued unabated, until finally the creature, too burnt to continue, collapsed. A wave of arrows followed the fire and hammered the remaining Krai’kesh, though like before they had little effect. Fireballs joined the volley of arrows in striking the enemy and before the Krai’kesh could even get close to Bridgette they were little more than blackened corpses. The fireballs and hail of arrows moved away from Bridgette’s position toward the general mass of Krai’kesh focused on the soldiers pressing in on them
.
As the smoke from the charred bodies cleared, Bridgette saw an unusual sight in the distance. Shaped like a normal Krai’kesh, only much, much larger, the commander or whatever it was of the Krai’kesh army moved toward her and the prone body of Dawyn. Where had he been hiding? Bridgette thought. Perhaps he had been lying down, waiting for the right moment to strike. Or perhaps he had hidden in the tunnel. Either way, the creature charged toward her. “It’s time to dance with death,” Bridgette said, running toward the monstrous creature.
***
Alivia watched as Bridgette charged toward the Krai’kesh commander or whatever it was. The behemoth that had his eyes set on Dawyn did not slow. Alivia prepared a beam of fire to send streaking toward him but stopped as commotion on the battlefield caught her eye. The Krai'kesh were surging forward in wild abandon against the human front lines. If those lines buckled... “Mages of Tar Ebon!” she called out. “Focus on the Krai’kesh front line!”
The orders carried down the ragged rank of mages and they began redirecting their fire attacks toward the Krai’kesh on the front lines facing human soldiers. The first ball of fire hit home, engulfing a Krai’kesh about to charge toward a group of pike-men. More and more strikes followed. Alivia formed her own beam of fire and dragged it across their front line.
The assault of fire seemed to urge the Krai’kesh to fight with greater fervor, but it was too late. The Krai’kesh front lines reached a critical mass, and the human soldiers pushed as one, gaining precious ground.
A cheer went up from the gathered mages and soldiers on the wall. Alivia did not join in. “This isn’t over yet!” she shouted as the celebration died down. “Continue your attacks,” she commanded.
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