by B. T. Narro
Wait a moment…he didn’t hear the windy sound of the portal anymore.
He turned over and tried several times to get on his hands and knees, falling over sideways from the vertigo. When he finally made it, he opened his eyes and looked around.
Although everything continued to turn, it was abundantly clear that there was no portal to be seen.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
One of Leida’s worst fears was to be part of a losing battle. The possibility of that dreaded event actually occurring had entered her mind last year, during her first year officially training at the Academy as a mage. Most of her time under tutelage was spent on her skills, but every so often her instructor would go over battle training in the event of war. Retreat was a tactic on its own, to be used only when absolutely necessary, but it instilled the fear in Leida’s mind that she might one day be fleeing as her allies died around her.
Allephon had issued the order to fall back well after his troops had already begun to flee. Leida’s father had opened a portal as Elves swarmed them. Leida mimicked the Wind Knights led by Cleve, dropping her weapon and showing her unarmed hands. The Elves closed in. Adriya remained beside her parents, the three of them pushed to the ground by Elves. Enemies came around them with ropes ready. The battle was over.
Half of Leida’s mind went to the other plane to keep her vulnerable father from disruption. She’d found him there and somehow built her own wall around him, not that it was anything near the strength of Fatholl’s. It felt like she was trying to protect her father from a dozen surrounding archers by wrapping her arms around him.
Fatholl attacked, grabbing Leida and tossing her out of the plane with ease. Desil lugged two bags of bottled akorell into the portal, another on his back. Kirnich took the last three in the same fashion with a bit more ease. Beatrix jumped in right after. Leida knew Adriya wouldn’t be able to make it from where she was, but Leida still hesitated to enter herself. The Wind Knights immediately surrounding them pushed back the Elves to keep them from getting to Basen.
Many of the Elves were busy driving back the last of the Marros with psyche. Even the Lmar was in ascent. Half of the Elves appeared bloody, mostly on their faces and arms, but that didn’t matter anymore. They had won.
“Go, Leida,” her father ordered.
But if he didn’t make it in after her, she would be separated from him. He wouldn’t be able to communicate with her like she could with Desil.
At least she hoped she still could speak with Desil. It wasn’t easy the last time, the connection faint.
“Go!” Basen demanded.
She leapt into the portal, closing her eyes.
She fell flat on the dirt and opened her eyes. The portal had closed. Someone picked her up and turned her around. Fatholl appeared furious as he dug his fingers into her cheeks.
“Where did they go with the akorell?”
“Release her!” Basen said. Two Elves pushed him to his knees.
“Where!” Fatholl yelled.
Pain shot through Leida’s body, forcing out a scream.
“I have no idea!” she answered as she yelped.
Fatholl grunted as he pushed her face away. She fell backward in her weakened state and sprawled at his feet.
“Question everyone,” the Elf ordered.
“There’s no point,” Basen told him. “No one knows where I sent them except for me.”
Fatholl looked down at him, giving Leida a nice view of the back of the Elf’s bloody neck. “You know you’re going to tell me eventually. You might as well avoid the torture I’ll put you through.”
Basen looked up without fear. He said nothing.
Fatholl spun around and snatched Leida up by her hair. He tilted her head back as he held a dagger to her throat.
Basen’s eyes showed the same panic Leida felt. He tried to stand but Elves held him down. “If you kill her, you will start a war with humans! Cleve?” Basen looked around for Adriya’s father.
“It’s true, Fatholl,” Cleve agreed. “You showed mercy when Allephon’s cowards retreated. You’ll show mercy now. War has not begun unless that changes. Kill one of us, and you have all of our kin to worry about. If you’re going after the akorell to keep your Elves safe, then this would be the exact opposite of what you want.”
Fatholl released Leida with a jerk of his hand, throwing her down to her knees in front of her father. He looked at her apologetically. She tried to show him courage. She would be fine.
“The headmaster comes with us,” Fatholl announced. “And his daughter. They will be traded for the akorell and nothing else. None of you are to follow. Anyone who comes for them without akorell will be killed.”
My bastial stars, he’s taking us all the way to Merejic? The Elves didn’t appear to have brought horses. The journey alone would take weeks. Then what? Was it really possible for Desil, Kirnich, and Beatrix to bring the akorell all the way there?
She knew her father was willing to sacrifice his life for the akorell, but he would never sacrifice hers. She didn’t see how this could end with them keeping the akorell.
“What else can we give you besides the akorell?” Cleve asked Fatholl.
“Only the akorell, and all of it.” He said something in Elvish. Two men took Leida by her arms and lifted her. One kept his hand on her back as they ushered her out through the Wind Knights, who were on their knees, many with their hands bound by ropes. She looked back to find her father right behind her, four Elves surrounding him. Fatholl walked in front, too confident to look back and ensure his prisoners were cooperating.
Leida passed by Adriya on her knees.
“I’m sorry,” Adriya said.
“Me, too.”
Leida tried to convey how much she loved her friend and appreciated her help with a look of gratitude.
Adriya only showed her worry in return.
“Don’t send anyone for us,” Basen told Adriya’s parents, who were nearby. “We’ll be fine.”
Leida wasn’t so sure.
The Elves led them out of the abandoned Kreppen encampment. Leida shot looks back at the Wind Knights helping each other out of the ropes. They didn’t seem to know what to do afterward, talking amongst each other as they stared at Leida and the Elves. She imagined they would rejoin the rest of Kyrro’s army outside Tenred. They would have to go back to fighting, to ending the war however possible. Maybe then they could organize a trade: Leida and her father for the akorell. That could take months, though.
She whispered to her father, “You’re going to have to tell Fatholl where you sent them with the akorell. They’ll torture you, otherwise.”
“I will in time. Everything’s going to work out, Leida.”
His smile was so convincing that it almost eased her worry.
*****
Desil had waited long enough. He felt so far from Leida, and even from Fatholl, that he wasn’t sure if she was calling for help or just silent. At least he could tell she was alive.
“I still hear nothing,” he told Beatrix and Kirnich for the third time. “I think we’d better start moving.”
There was but one landmark, a destination Basen must’ve planned for them to visit. It was a castle unlike any Desil had seen, a dark citadel with pointed towers. A bridge seemed to be the only way inside, but there was no way to the bridge without crossing a field of ice covered with bones. Human bones. Many were frozen into the ground, but some were not. They rattled as Desil, Beatrix, and Kirnich dragged the akorell bags across them.
“We’re not in Ovira,” Desil concluded. He’d seen much of his home continent with his parents during their adventures, and there was no citadel like this, no massive glaciers like the one they found themselves in, and certainly no field of human bones. The snow in Ovira was light and soft, no matter where in the continent it fell.
Here, the wind nipped at Desil’s nose while the land appeared frozen rather than snowed upon. He shivered as he gave a silent prayer for Leida, Basen, and Adriya
, and then one for himself and his two comrades.
Basen must’ve been here at least once before in order to make a portal, Desil reminded himself. We have the akorell. We will be fine. We will be fine.
END OF BOOK TWO
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Table of Contents
Contents
COPYRIGHT
SERIES ORDER
MAP
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
NEW RELEASES
AUTHOR INFORMATION
