The twins glowered at this. Maybe the warlocks would prove to be just as misunderstood as the vampires, who were not at all threatening, though most of the elves thought that their questioning methods were just short of torture.
So, for the third time, Autumn and Luke walked side by side into the unfamiliar territory of another Underground species that might or might not assault them with their magical powers.
Autumn would like to say that the latter happened, but that would be a false statement.
Burning Tower of Shadows
CHAPTER TWENTY
One second Autumn and Luke were walking cautiously through the Onyx Forest and the next they were flat on their backs, unable to move.
“What are they, Evan?” a husky voice said.
Suddenly Autumn was looking up into the hard face of what was presumably a warlock. He looked no different than a human man, except for the fact that he was incredibly attractive. There was a peculiar aura around him, like an electric shield.
“Elves,” the warlock named Evan said, frowning down at them. Autumn found herself wondering why he didn’t call them dryadales like the merpeople and the vampires, and then she realized this was probably not all that important at the moment as the other warlock came to stand over her.
“What should we do with them?” the second warlock said.
“You know the law, Dan,” the warlock called Evan said. “Trespassers are locked in the Isolation Cabin.”
Autumn tried to protest, but was unable to speak. The second warlock, Dan, muttered something under his breath—an incantation of some sort—and Autumn felt her body become weightless. Hovering several feet above the ground, her legs and arms dangled as if she were lying on an invisible table.
“What’s that?” Dan said.
“What?”
“Those marks on her wrist. Wait, it’s on his wrist too. Is that—?”
Evan cursed and suddenly Autumn was back on the ground and able to move. She glared up at the two warlocks who were now speaking in whispers to one another.
“Figured out who we are, did you?” Luke said, now able to speak. The warlocks ceased their whispering and turned to face Luke.
“You may be royals, elf, but you’re still trespassing on our territory,” Evan warned.
Autumn climbed to her feet, brushing pine needles off her back. “My brother and I would like to speak with your leader.”
The warlocks exchanged wary glances.
“Did you make an appointment?” Dan asked.
“Uh…no.”
“I’m afraid you can’t see him, then.”
“I’m afraid that isn’t your decision, dude,” Luke said.
Autumn gave Luke an exasperated look. “Dude? Really?”
The warlocks were definitely glaring at Autumn and Luke now, which somehow made them look even more attractive. “It’s more our decision than yours,” Evan said.
“As royals, we have the right to speak with the King of the Warlocks,” Autumn said. “It is of dire importance.”
Evan and Dan exchanged another glance, their faces etched with uncertainty.
“I don’t know. Sam doesn’t usually—”
Suddenly the tumultuous sound of shrieks and tortured cries rose up through the forest behind them. Evan and Dan whipped around, looking towards what Autumn assumed to be their town. They both glanced quickly back at Autumn and Luke and then, deciding the situation in town was more important, turned and sprinted towards the commotion.
Autumn and Luke heard several quick footsteps approaching from the opposite direction. They crouched down into their fighting stance before they saw that it was just the other Warriors.
“What’s going on?” Avery asked, his pale face relaxing at the sight of them.
Autumn looked back to the space in the trees through which the warlocks had disappeared. “I think it’s the Shadows and Atrums.”
“Should we help them?” Jastin asked.
“No,” Ember and Kyndel said.
Autumn shot the two girls a glare. “Yes.”
The other Warriors seemed to agree with her because they took off towards the commotion.
“Here,” Avery said, tossing Autumn her bow and quiver full of arrows. Crystal did the same to Luke.
The Warriors sprinted through the thick pine trees, branches whipping their faces. Kyndel stumbled over a rock and Autumn quickly pulled her to her feet without slowing down.
The screams became louder and Autumn was strongly reminded of the shrieks and cries of the elves the day Arbor Falls had been attacked by the Shadows and Atrums. They broke into a large clearing full of log cabins. Warlocks, Shadows, and Atrums scattered around the area like angry ants defending their territory. Autumn didn’t have time to register much more than this because a Shadow was charging straight at her.
She shot it square in the chest with an arrow and it crumpled to the ground.
It was a good thing that the Warriors wore their uniforms at all times, otherwise the warlocks might not have been able to tell them apart from the Atrums. Warriors had been trained to look for their gray-tinged skin and dark hollow eyes, but to the warlocks they probably all looked exactly the same.
At first Autumn thought that the warlocks were going to attack them too, but when they realized that the Warriors were defending them, they backed off and allowed them to help. Warlocks were not as good of fighters as elves, but their plethora of magic made up for that. Spells flew through the air like heat waves, blurring faces and trees as they passed at lightning speed.
Autumn ducked when one almost hit her in the face just as an Atrum tackled her to the ground. The Atrum turned into an enormous snake, wrapping its scaly body around hers, squeezing her until she could no longer take a breath. The more she struggled, the tighter he squeezed. She tried to reach for her knife, but the snake had pinned her arms to her sides.
Suddenly he released his hold, turning back into his elf form. Autumn looked around to see Jastin glaring at the Atrum, pumping him full of Pain. She looked back to the Atrum and saw him shaking and sobbing, curled into a ball on the ground, looking up at Jastin with protruding, bloodshot eyes. Then the Atrum collapsed to the ground as an arrow shot by Avery pierced him through the temple.
“Thanks!” Autumn said to Jastin. He simply smiled and swung around to slice the head off of a nearby Shadow with his fighting knife.
Autumn looked around at the relentless battle surrounding her. Crystal and Luke were fighting three particularly large Atrums along with Edric, who was blocking every attack that came Crystal’s way. Autumn was surprised Luke hadn’t already gone off on him, but then she realized that Luke was probably just glad that Crystal was being protected, even if it wasn’t by him.
But Edric was Kyndel’s partner. Where was she? Autumn searched for her blonde hair in the sea of creatures, her heart dropping when she spotted her, sprawled motionless on the ground near one of the log cabins, its shadow laying over her like a dark gray blanket.
Autumn sprinted over to her, ducking spells and maneuvering around dead Shadows, Atrums, and other creatures that she pretended she couldn’t see.
“Kyndel!” Autumn cried. “Can you hear me?”
An almost inaudible moan escaped from her lips. Frantically, Autumn scanned her body to see where she’d been hurt. She wasn’t bleeding so she figured it must be internal, which she knew was a very bad thing. Autumn ran her hands over Kyndel’s arms, her legs, her neck, and then her torso. Kyndel flinched as Autumn’s fingers moved over her ribs. She felt them again. Magistra Ginger had taught them how to check for broken bones in one of her Healing classes, but learning about it and actually doing it were two extremely different things. Kyndel’s ribs certainly felt off, but Autumn couldn’t be sure.
As a spell flew by Autumn’s face she cursed and slid her arms under Kyndel as gently as possible. She tried to pick her up, but Kyndel was dead weight. Autumn looked around desperately for Avery, spotting him battling three Atrums on h
is own. Dammit.
All of the other Warriors were fighting. Glancing to her right, she saw Ember pulling a bloodied arrow out of a Shadow she had just killed, wiping the dark, tar-like blood on her pants.
“Ember!” Autumn cried.
The fiery redhead looked around for the source of her name until she spotted Autumn, her eyes shifting from her down to Kyndel’s twisted body.
She rushed over to them. “What the hell happened?”
“Help me get her out of here!”
Ember nodded and grabbed a hold of Kyndel’s legs as Autumn lifted her gently by the shoulders. They carried her clumsily into a thick patch of pine trees, away from the battle.
“What—?” Ember began.
“I think she has some broken ribs, but I don’t know how it happened. I just saw her lying there.”
Ember nodded and ran her hands over Kyndel’s ribs as Autumn had, only she actually looked like she knew what she was doing. “Yeah. At least five, but probably more.”
“Five? Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
She lowered her ear to Kyndel’s chest, listening intently. Ember’s face set into a mask of determination as she ripped the bag off of her back, tore it open, and pulled out what looked like a thick, white cloth. “Take her vest and undershirt off,” she ordered.
“But—”
“Just do it!”
Autumn did as she said and watched while Ember ripped the cloth into long, even strips and began wrapping these securely around Kyndel’s exposed ribcage.
“What’re you doing?”
“The ribs have to be immobilized so they don’t puncture her lungs,” she said, working diligently.
“How do you know her lungs aren’t already punctured?”
“I listened to them.”
“But how do you—?”
“Will you just shut up for a second,” Ember said. She finished wrapping Kyndel’s ribs and searched again through her little bag, pulling out a small vile of milky liquid. She uncorked this and poured it into Kyndel’s slightly ajar mouth.
“What does that do?”
“It will deaden the pain and hopefully help her regain consciousness.”
After a minute Kyndel’s eyes slowly fluttered open and she looked from Autumn to Ember. “How did I end up alone with the two of you?”
Relief washed over Autumn.
Kyndel moved to sit up and Ember placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t move. You have several broken ribs.”
Kyndel’s face twisted in confusion. “I have what?”
“I gave you a potion for pain, but you can’t move. It will just injure you more,” Ember said. Kyndel frowned, but laid her head back down and then giggled a little.
“If you two ladies wanted to undress me so badly, all you had to do was ask, ya know,” she said, her words slurring slightly.
Autumn looked at Ember in alarm. “Is she okay? Did she hurt her head too?”
“It’s just a side effect of the potion.”
“How did you know how to do all of that?”
“Before I began training for the Warriors I was studying to get into Healing School.”
“Really? Wow. That’s…impressive.”
“Yeah, well, it comes in handy I suppose,” Ember said, brushing off the compliment.
“That’s kind of an understatement.”
“Where are we?” Kyndel said, her garbled words making her sound inebriated. “Are we in the North Pole?”
Autumn raised an eyebrow at her. “The North Pole?”
“No, we aren’t,” Ember answered.
“Why are there Christmas trees everywhere then?” Kyndel asked. Ember shook her head in exasperation and Kyndel continued rambling. “Just because we’re elves, doesn’t mean we should just go to the North Pole. Now people really will think that we work for Sandy Claws. Hey, why does he have sandy claws anyway? Is Santa a cat? Is there sand in the North Pole? I thought it was all…snowy and stuff. Maybe it’s just from his litter box.”
“Promise me something,” Autumn muttered to Ember, watching Kyndel with a small frown.
“What?”
“Don’t ever give me that pain potion.”
Ember actually snorted at this. Just then a piercing scream rang out from the ongoing battle. Ember and Autumn’s heads whipped around to look towards the onslaught.
“I’m going back,” Autumn said, standing.
This seemed to bring Kyndel back to her senses. “Wait, you’re leaving me here?”
“Well, seeing as how you can’t move—”
“You can’t leave me with her!” Kyndel protested. Ember glared down at her.
“She knows way more about Healing than I do,” Autumn assured her. “You’ll be fine. Besides, you two have a lot in common. You both like making other people’s lives miserable.”
Now they were both glaring at Autumn. She gave them a thumbs up and an exaggerated smile before dashing back out into the chaos of battle.
In the time that Autumn and Ember had been tending to Kyndel, the number of bodies on the ground had doubled. Few Shadows and Atrums were left fighting.
Autumn searched for Avery and found him fighting two Atrums on his own. She wound her way around the bodies scattered across the ground. When she reached him, she shot a stream of Song at the two Atrums and Avery finished them both off with two arrows to the heart.
“Where the hell have you been!” he shouted, looking relieved.
“I’ll explain later,” she said, shooting an arrow at a Shadow that was about to attack Charlotte from behind.
The warlocks and Warriors worked relentlessly to finish off the rest of the Shadows and Atrums. When Lucian killed the last Shadow by Hypnotizing it and slashing its throat with his knife, everyone went silent. Autumn did a quick head count of the Warriors and let out a sigh of relief when she saw that everyone had made it through the battle.
The same could not be said for the warlocks, however. Many of them lay dead on the ground surrounded by the countless Shadows and Atrums. Autumn wondered how many of them had families. How many had children that no longer had a mother or father? Would they blame the Warriors for their losses? Atrums were still elves, after all.
A ripple of movement broke out around the area. Autumn looked up to see the warlocks moving the bodies of the Shadows and Atrums into a heaping pile in the center of their town. After a while the Warriors began to help in silence, working side by side with the warlocks. Once the bodies had all been moved, a downcast warlock muttered an incantation and the mountain of evil creatures burst into flames, devouring them in a matter of seconds, their ashes floating through the air like diseased snow.
The Warriors surveyed this with wide eyes. Families of warlocks stood by and watched. Some looked on with empty eyes, some clutched onto one another, sobbing, and some looked downright vengeful. Avery reached over and squeezed Autumn’s hand.
“Are you the royal elf twins?” a warlock asked Autumn and Luke. They nodded solemnly. “I am the Chief Warlock. May I have a word with you?” He didn’t seem particularly angry or upset, more like temporarily absent of emotion—a coping mechanism, likely, to keep from falling apart.
Autumn let go of Avery’s hand and walked beside Luke, following the warlock into one of the nearby cabins. It was larger than it appeared on the outside. She was expecting a little more grandeur for the living quarters of the Chief Warlock, but it was just like any other log cabin she’d ever set foot in. Oversized, claw-footed furniture, rugs made out of various animal skins, heads and antlers of deer and bears mounted on the walls, the smell of pine and wood permeating the air.
The warlock took a seat in the largest armchair and motioned for Autumn and Luke to join him. They sat on a leather couch situated across from him. He was an attractive man, just as Evan and Dan were. He seemed older, though, with his thick beard and crinkled eyes. He wore a simple ensemble of trousers and a soft flannel shirt, reminding her strongly of Paul Bunyan.
&n
bsp; “I am Samuel Trace Remington. You can call me Sam.”
“Nice to meet you, Sam,” Autumn said, reaching in her vest and realizing that her white rose was gone, probably trampled during the battle. Oh well, she thought, the other creatures don’t really seem to see the significance of the delicate flowers anyway.
“Likewise. Though I wish it hadn’t been under such unhappy circumstances,” he said. “I understand that you came with the intention of speaking with me. Before the attack, that is.”
“Yes, sir,” Luke said. “We were coming to ask for your help.”
Sam raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“As you have just witnessed,” Autumn said, “Vyra is becoming more and more violent, attacking not only elves, but the entirety of the Underground. No magical species is safe while she is still alive. Her army is rapidly growing larger and stronger. They must be stopped, and soon. But the elves do not have the ability to defeat her and her army on our own. That’s why we’re humbly asking for your help.”
Sam frowned at them, a contemplative hand resting on his chin. “I would generally say that it’s not typically our choice to become involved in other creatures’ battles, but it would also appear that your Warriors have been of great help to Onyx Forest today. Had you not been here, our death toll would likely be much higher. How soon do you need an answer?”
“As soon as you are able to give us one,” Luke said. “Take all the time you need. We know it’s a difficult decision.”
Sam nodded gratefully. “Very well. I will have a cabin arranged for you and the other elves in which you can stay while I give the matter some thought. Rion—” he called over his shoulder. A blond warlock with startling green eyes emerged from the back of the cabin. He seemed to be about the same age as Sam, maybe early forties. Autumn frowned as she took him in. There was something familiar about him that she just couldn’t put her finger on, other than the fact that he was equally as attractive as every other warlock. Rion glanced at Autumn and raised an eyebrow at her puzzled stare. She looked at the ground to avoid his gaze.
Ash (The Underground Series Book 2) Page 15
