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I dropped the canvas back to the ground, only to have it lift on invisible hands as I gazed into the face of the queen for the first time.
Well, damn, so much for the element of surprise. I pulled at my magic, the ground shaking ominously as that magic fought its way out before my eyes shifted to that deep blue, fire rumbling from my skin as I brought my flame to my fingertips, the red tongue licking in the air above my hand. The sparks were volatile, as dangerous as the magic of vio that lived inside of me. I realized too late it was not the flame that was causing her to look with a mixture of fear and greed.
“A Sypher.” Her voice dropped into a haunting desire I had never heard before as she stepped closer, her focus darting from the flame to where the ground had rattled. Two brands of magic, impossible for any other. The air grew impossibly cold as sharp barbs of ice grew from her fingers, long knives protruding dangerously that only when she lifted did I realize she was about to throw.
Double shit.
I shifted, brightening my flame as I lifted my blade to face her, only to realize the reason everything had gone so cold. I was surrounded by ice.
Well, at least this I could counter. I let all that flame explode, melting all of the ice in an inferno that most definitely did not go unnoticed. I didn’t need the screams and thunderous sound of boots heading our way to know that I was about to be seriously outnumbered.
“Nice to meet you, Dalyah. But I really must be going.” I sent a bright stretch of flame right to her, if only to see how she would react, to know if I had any chance of taking her right then. My power fell away before it could even reach her, swallowed by what I could only explain as a wall of light, and orb of sun that consumed the last slivers of fire whole.
That wasn’t normal.
I looked from the covetous Queen to the arrogant Prince and took a step back. If I was to face either of them, I would need to have time to play with, and I had none in my stores. I had planned to take some life from the Prince, but seeing him and his power now I knew that wasn’t possible.
So much for ending this today.
I turned and ran before either of them could react.
“Take him. I need him alive.” Dalyah’s voice was a firm roar as I pulled the muddy strings of the vio magic back up, sending the ground rumbling and splitting behind me with each step I took. I doubted it would do more than shift some tents and send a few bed rolls through shallow fissures, but it would slow them down, and that was all that I needed.
I didn’t leave more than a few tents between me and the queen before a sensation I had never felt before emerged from nowhere, a wave of magic that washed through the camp in a ripple as though it was searching for something. No, I realized as something pulled through me, tugging me back as though some hidden leash inside of me had awoken, it was calling for it.
The waves of power deposited throughout the camp; dots of power erupting around me in a dangerous garden. Each of them were Fae, I knew that without question, I had tracked enough of them. There was something else there, however, something as ghastly as what I had felt from that scarred woman. The smothering pitch raked over the buzzing energy of the Fae that were damn near everywhere, each and every one of them an inky splotch against my soul that was heading right to me.
Dalyah hadn’t spoken in more than her usual voice, but it didn’t matter, she seemed to have called an entire army right to me.
Alright, so I had made the right choice to run.
I had never run from a battle, but after dozens of years of planning, I would not die unless I was taking Dalyah with me. Turning, however, I came face to face with two carriers of that twisted power. I recognized them instantly as the guards I had seen before, the white snakes emblazoned on their tunics flashing in the night. They looked exactly the same, except for their eyes, eyes like spilled ink. Eyes the same as the Fae I had grown with, as Vaelar, when he had come to Qit on that first day. Pools of ink. Rage boiled through me as I gaped at those inky eyes, at the single word that glowed on their necks as though it had been written there in blood.
Ohrya.
Hide.
It was the same word Ryndle had shown me before when he had revealed his ears, and there it was again, another word directly below it, the red and black making it look as though it had been carved there. ‘Kinz’.
I didn’t know what that one meant, but it didn’t matter. It was the same magic. The same words emblazoned on a Fae in the Queen’s army, although these ones didn’t glow with the gold light of a sunrise, they were red and black like the coals in a dying fire.
“Our Queen would like a word,” one of them snarled as they lifted their hand, magic like lightning sparking between their fingers.
I had never seen that power on a Fae, or anywhere, before. I had no interest in seeing what it would do. Swinging my blade up and around, I spun the weapon in a move that I had used time and time again and quickly severed their hands from their bodies. Blood went everywhere as the appendages dropped to the ground with a soft thud. They screamed, the queen roaring in fury from somewhere behind me as something popped in a light so bright it nearly blinded me.
I didn’t bother turning around to see what had happened as more Fae were already heading my way, their magic burning through me as they grew closer. The boiling feel of ice and light that drifted from the queen and the prince rushed toward me as I ran into the consuming shadows, disappearing before any of them could reach me.
Where before the camp was devoid of all but a few bumbling guards, now every inch was swarming with the powerful magic of the Fae. Dozens of men and women, all clad in black, their chests emblazoned with that wicked white snake.
I kept to the shadows as well as I could, but I had only moments before there would be too many of these monsters to evade, and far too many to take down on my own. Darting between tents and around wagons, I faced only a few lingering pack wagons, and one dirty carriage which looked to have blood splattered over the door. Beyond that was nothing but the tall grasses and the few specks of light from the Lightens in the distance.
Home.
Well, not home, I shouldn't call it that. But refuge. That was what I needed now.
Moving as quickly as I could, I darted between each of the old pack wagons, boots and cloak silent as I raced toward the blood stained carriage only to freeze behind it as boots ran toward the wagons, voices overlapping as the Fae charged right toward where I was now hidden.
“Try there.”
