Incandescence - 28. War

Knowing that we were on the brink of war, teetering over the edge, was a strange feeling. The air around us felt too still. It was charged. Very much like the calm before the storm. Talon stood on one side of me and Eon on the other as we stared down a surprisingly small group of men approaching. Potlyne had done a masterful job as usual. My tunic was a gorgeous white with gold threading throughout that made it shimmer even in the dimmest light. I had armor made from metal covering my chest and even my boots had some on the fronts. Talon was in his Verseckt leathers with additional armor as well. All black of course. Meeting on a real battlefield like this was strange. Every time I’d fought on a large scale, it was unorganized. We were either ambushing or being ambushed. What had I gotten myself into? I’d never fought like this and even with his training, Talon hadn’t either. Even so, he had skills I didn’t possess so I didn’t doubt he’d take to war like a duck to water.

“Jump.” Eon said. His voice was calm, but his entire body was drawn taut. Talon and I linked fingers. Magik swirled and when we touched down, we were on a cliff far above the two armies. From here you could see the different types of warriors. Our fighters were broken up by range. Which had seemed obvious to me after Eon explained it. I was all nerves as I watched our men. Eon was on the front lines and he would quite literally be leading the charge. There were soldiers on horses and to be honest, other than the colors flying, the armies didn’t look too different.

No one was moving. I wasn’t clear on what the signal or spark was. My anxiety rose and rose as the forces below us stayed quiet. Then all at once, they were rapidly charging towards each other. I must’ve missed whatever had started it. I didn’t care. I felt like I was going to be sick as different bolts of color shot from side to side. Those who would fight hand to hand or had Magik with less of a reach, hadn’t even met yet and people were dying. Covering my mouth, my stomach sank even more as I realized I had lost Eon in the droves of people. He wasn’t the only one using fire. My insides lurched. Had we prepared enough? Was there any way we could’ve? Every single person that’d made the trip here had been dosed with the antidote, but what if they’d come up with a different poison? What if it was strong enough to render Talon and I useless. Well, not useless, but far less useful.

“Ready love? We’re not here just to look pretty. Though, you certainly are.” Talon held his hands out and I took them.

He pulled me close and I turned, my back to his chest. I held my hands out, fingers and palms up. Talon’s fingers slid along the undersides of my arms and then his hands bracketed mine. Our breath sounded impossibly loud in my ears as we took one together. Our breath fell into sync and coupled with the bond, it almost felt like we were one person. Then we started to pull power to us. It came so fast that I was lightheaded for a moment. I shook my head and watched as our Magik began winding together. It was gentle. As if they were getting to know each other. Then they seemed to narrow into a point where they combined and a gold beam shot out. It dragged along the ground, leaving black flames in its wake. I tried to ignore the screaming and braced myself against Talon.

I didn’t know how long we’d been fighting. I still didn’t know where Eon was. A voice in the back of my mind kept choosing to remind me that if Talon and I faltered, we could lose. The Serranese army had less men and had faced devastating loses, but by the looks of it, we weren’t far behind.

“It’s alright. Think of Wyn.” Talon murmured in my ear as my resolve dipped.

Green eyes, surrounded by the most beautiful rainbows of color. Blonde hair with deep blue eyes, searching for Talon. My Magik rallied and the beam began scorching the earth a few feet at a time. Talon had helped me refocus and I was starting to feel better.

Until I wasn’t.

We watched as purple smoke began to lift from the ground. It grew and grew until we had to break off. I couldn’t see the battlefield anymore. Talon swore, “There’s no way to know who we’re hitting.”

“Eon wanted us to stay up here.” I said, beginning to realize that the plan was changing. More specifically, Talon was adapting it in real time. What if Eon was hurt already, or worse?

“Your brother is fuck knows where. I’m not going to stand here, twiddling my thumbs.” Talon growled.

“We can’t see where to jump down very well either.”

“Then we jump where we can see.” Talon said, throwing me a grin that made me want to be sick. I followed where he was pointing. Behind Serran’s army. From the direction they came. It was open and clear.

“We’re only two people. We can’t attack an army from behind by ourselves.”

“Why not? We took out part of it from here.”

“Talon…”

“I’m not asking you to come, but I’m going.”

Staring at him, my eyes searched his face. He meant it. With or without me, he was going down there. Rolling my shoulders and cracking my knuckles, I tried to settle my stomach, “You’re not going alone. We talked about that, remember?”

“We did. You and I will get through everything.”

“Together Talon. You’re not going off on your own.”

“Neither are you. Fine we do this together, then.”

Talon’s eyes swept over the smoke and he crouched. I tried to see what he was seeing. There were small pockets where it was thinner. You could almost see shapes moving. He looked up at the sky and then tapped his fingers on his knee as he thought. He tipped his head back and forth as if weighing options and then pushed himself up to standing.

“Wanna be dramatic?” He smirked at me and held out his hand.

“Am I going to hate this?” I asked nervously as I stepped closer.

“Oh, definitely.” He pulled me tight to him and once I was holding on, he lifted his fingers. As I watched, his Magik started piecing shapes together. More and more, until they began to resemble wings. Alarmed, my eyes widened and I wrapped my Magik around us, securing myself tightly to him. Gold feathers slid in amongst the black and I pressed my cheek against him.There was a certain manic glee in Talon’s eyes that did very little to calm me.

“Ready?” I didn’t have a chance to answer. He dove off the cliff and the wind swallowed any attempt at a scream that I might have made. My stomach lurched and it felt like I left it where we’d been standing.

Then, we began to fall.

This time I did scream and I almost drowned out the sound of Talon laughing. We were hurtling downward so fast tears were burning my eyes. I was endlessly grateful that I had faced Talon instead of facing outward. Otherwise, there might be a trail of bodily fluids following us. When we’d been falling so long, I thought we’d surely hit the ground soon, there was a loud flapping noise and we spun before dropping again. The wings spun around us in a way that bird wings didn’t move naturally. Then they solidified, rose into columns, and shot out into projectiles when our feet hit the ground. My light seemed to fizzle in the air as I tried to get my bearings. There were noises of pain, but I was lost in stimulation. It stank, there were noises all around, there were bodies near me. I wretched and tried to get the smells out of my nose.

“Pull it together fast Kalian. We need to move.” Talon was moving around me and his Magik was making the air hum. How much of it had he used to get us here? I staggered to my feet and took shallow breaths as I took everything in. The smoke was thin down here on the ground. Which meant they’d done it mostly to thwart us. Smart. Still, we were burning Magik terrifyingly fast. It wouldn’t last forever.

I heard an embattled cry and watched in horror as a man in orange and silver charged Talon. Glaring, the scared, feeble part of my brain was shut out. I flicked my fingers up from my palm. Light extended from each one and lines of gold sliced through the air, and the man.

“Kalian! C’mon!” I ducked as black shot over my head and I heard someone fall behind me. I dug my fingers into the grass. This is how I was when the carriage had been attacked all those years ago. I was better than this. Shoving myself to my feet, I rushed forward, sliding under a sword as it was swung towards my head. I clapped my hands together and pulled them apart, light covering my knuckles before I punched upward. An uppercut connected with the sword-wielder’s chin and then I followed up with a hook. He fell and I shook the blood off my hands. I was closer to Talon now. He was leaning down and I charged powers into my hands as I sprinted forward. Sending an image to Talon through our bond, he crouched lower, sending out a black wave as I rolled over his back and called my Magik. A circle of light spun away from me and took out everything and everyone around me. Panting, I looked back at Talon. I ducked under his arms as he threw out knife shaped shards of black and I let light explode from my fingertips, taking out everyone he missed.

“We have to find Eon!” I shouted as we separated and fought back-to-back.

“Eon can take care of himself. We’re needed here.”

“Where did you drop us?”

“In the middle of their army.” Talon said, bending backward in an unnatural way to snap his wrists and slam his Magik into men behind him.

“In the middle?” I squeaked. There was no time to focus on how bad that plan sounded. Talon was cutting a path through the enemy army, and I was quickly starting to lag behind him.

“What? You said you didn’t want to come at them from behind. I gave you what you wanted like the amazing husband I am!”

I dodged flailing attacks and leapt over bodies as they fell before me. We were in this together. I wouldn’t leave Talon to do all the heavy lifting like he always did. When I caught up to him, a hysterical little giggle bubbled up as I heard him humming. Talon was spinning swords around him, slashes of Magik leaving the edges of blades as he moved in an almost trance-like dance. I’d seen my husband fight plenty of times, but this was something else. Something in his eyes had shifted and he’d completely shut down the bond from his side. There was a painful lurch in my chest as it occurred to me why. Whatever he was thinking and feeling, Talon was scared of me seeing it.

That was an issue for a different day. We had somehow gotten separated again. I could hear him and feel his Magik, but when I turned, all I saw were unfriendly strangers. I thought I spotted Talon a fair distance away, taller than those surrounding him, but I couldn’t be positive.

Okay?

Yes, I’m working on getting back to you. I got knocked back. Just stay where you are or as close as possible.

Alright.

I tried to ignore the nerves that surged through me. I wasn’t helpless. I’d learned to fight and that didn’t change just because I didn’t have eyes on Talon. While that was true, that didn’t mean I wanted to lose him in the midst of all this chaos. Everyone had warned me that it would be like this. It was on a scale far grander than our fight with Mallex or when we’d gone to save Amaris. There was constant loud noise. As soon as I’d pinpoint a certain smell, more would pop up to disorient me. Flashes of color, flashes of faces were all around. I was overwhelmed. It made me think that no matter how my friends and family had prepared me, there was no way to be fully ready.

Catching a blade as it swooped down through the air toward my head, I melted it with my Magik. My attacker reared back and as I dodged; something grabbed my feet. Glancing down, shock took me for a moment. The earth had spread up around my ankles and was holding tight. The man was advancing on me again and I gripped the grass and dirt holding me still. It blasted away with my Magik and I winced. I’d put too much into it and now had angry burns on both ankles.

The man had shaggy red hair and a scar down the middle of his face. Barely having enough time to defend my face, he started to pummel me. For every hit I managed to block, he landed two. He hit me in the ribs, stomach, and jaw a few times. It was enough to daze me. Part of my brain supplied that too much was going on and Talon wouldn’t know where I was or be able to save me last minute. Of course, he could feel me over the bond and I could hear him yelling in my head, but the words were too fast and had gotten jumbled. Luckily, one made it through.

Duck!

I hit the ground and felt the air displace as something slashed toward me. Glaring, one hand snapped behind me and the otherwent to the front. Blood splattered my face and a body fell forward onto me. Heaving it off, I tried to control my panting as I gripped my raw ankles. I bit down a cry and spit out the spell as fast as I could. My fingers slipped a little on blood and other fluids, but I ignored it and wiped them on my pants when the pain went away. I spread light out in a circle and spun it. It was a bright, deadly wheel ripping through people and keeping them away as I gathered myself.

It bought me enough time to heave myself to my feet. Immediately, I began the search for Talon amongst the others again. There was still no sign of him. It was getting more difficult to stay in one area. The last fight I’d been in had pushed me from the original spot already. There was no way for me to even tell how much. I’d lost all sense of direction. I had no idea which direction I’d even come from. There was no way I’d be able to find Talon when I was this disoriented. I needed to get above the fray. That was my only shot. For now, I was on my own.

“Well, I will admit. You live up to expectations.” The voice drew my attention to the right.

It was a woman. Perhaps in her fifties, with long, braided, greyhair that reached her lower back. She wore a pale, plain, yellow tunic with khaki leggings and brown boots. There were leather pieces of armor over her chest and arms. Nothing about her was special or identifying, but something still sent me on the defensive. I raised my hands, Magik circling my knuckles as I slid into my stance.

“I aim to please. You are?”

She smiled and flicked a long sword as she met my eyes, “My name is Helva.”

“You’re the queen.” My eyes dipped from the blood she’d scattered over the grass back to her calm face.

“I am in fact. I’m honored you know of me, Sun Bringer.”

“You seem nice. Why are you doing this?”

Her smile stayed on her face as she moved to me. This was not the woman’s first time on a battlefield. That was obvious from the way she moved. Helva seemed to glide across the grass and dirt, sword held at the ready by her side, “There are many reasons. Reasons you do not need to know. The most pressing issue I see right now, is you and your husband.”

The fighting seemed to fade into the background. The men around us were giving us a wide berth. We circled the space slowly, both of us sizing up the other. She moved with a grace that I hadn’t seen in many and her face never changed. The close-lipped, calm smile unnerved me. Her face looked kind and there were laugh lines by her eyes. Her face didn’t match what she was doing and how she held herself.

“I’m sorry we’re such an inconvenience.” I spat. My nerves were rising. Something about her built an irrational fear inside me.

“You are both simply far too powerful. Dimian has been on top for far too long and I will see an end to its reign. Once we’re done, there will be nothings left. We’ll easily absorb the land into our own country. Dleth will be next.”

“I doubt Rah will agree. You’re not getting past us. We destroyed the Illiathian navy already.” I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t sure why that was what popped into my head.

“I am aware. Illiath’s resources were useful, but it was an attack that had to travel over the ocean. I am not troubled by their failure.” Her smile grew, now she was showing her teeth. It wasn’t threatening. She was still far too calm and cordial.

“Then what was the point?”

“You are not a general. You’re not a strategist. There’s no reason for me to be the one to teach you. Especially since I plan to leave you here on this battlefield. I will ensure you and your husband are buried properly however.”

A smile stretched across my face, “You think I won’t just blast you away? You’ve just threatened my husband. You seem to know a lot. You should know I don’t take kindly to threats against my family.”

Magik burst from my hands and sped across the distance between us. It incinerated everything in front of me. Reaching roughly 200 yards away. Despite her words and certainty, no one could have survived that. Watching the dirt that’d been kicked up settle, I let off some more beams of light, clearing a larger area around me.

“Impressive.”

I froze. My gaze strayed from the men around me and I found Helva there. There was something that looked like a green wall in front of and around her. As I looked, I noticed there was a clear scorch mark on the ground where my Magik had hit her shield and been diverted away. I’d seen shields before, but never had they been able to stop my Magik. I could even break through the shields Talon made. I’d let out a strong burst too. My anger had funneled through me and guided my power.

Wrapping my hands in Magik again, I dodged away from her as she swung at me with her sword. She was fast and the sound of her blade pinging off the Magik around my hands was sharp and unpleasant. I defended myself, but blood smeared across my hands and wrists as I failed to block the blade completely a few times. Helva was a skilled fighter and as we moved around each other, I began to grasp that she was faster than me. I blocked another swing toward my side and barely managed to spin away when she drew something from her hip. A blast of fire accompanied by a loud blast and a horrific pain in my rightshoulder sent me backpedaling. It was a pain unlike any other I’d experienced. I gripped my upper arm right below my wounded shoulder. The Magik circling that fist had disintegrated as soon as I’d been hit. My shoulder was black. It was bleeding too. The skin was a mess and I glimpsed white which I hoped wasn’t bone. That was all I managed to notice before she was on me again. My arm hung uselessly at my side and the gravity of the situation was getting heavier by the second. There wasn’t enough time for me to heal it. All I could do was avoid her and hope she didn’t get another shot in with whatever that other weapon was.

Talon?

Where are you? You were supposed to stay put!

I don’t know. I didn’t think I’d strayed too far.

Talon was saying something else in my head, but I didn’t respond. She wasn’t letting up and I was getting tired. I’d been using a lot of Magik. In addition, pain sapped your strength too. There was no way for me to know how long I could keep this up. I had to get a second to myself to heal. I had to get to Talon or make it easier for him to get to me.

“You’re doing far better than I expected!” She laughed jovially and her blade caught my left forearm.

It wasn’t deep and it didn’t hinder me. It did scare me though as her plan became apparent. She was going for my arms. She was going to take them out and if she did, I would be nearly defenseless.

I lunged at her and once she was on the defensive, I backpedaled again and sent a flare of light straight up into the air. Throwing up a wall at the last minute, her blade glanced off it and I gripped my shoulder. There was a decent chunk of it missing and as my fingers sunk in, a pained shout escaped me. Holding my shield, I started rattling off the words I’d memorized long ago. I kept my eyes on the queen and my stomach sank as I found her grinning at me. A moment later something sharp sliced through my left leg. I went down to one knee and took a sliver of the Magik I used to keep Helva away. It snapped out behind me like a whip and I heard someone cry out. A quick glance and I nodded. I left my back open. I should’ve been watching. I mumbled the spell faster, focusing on my shoulder. I could fix my leg later. It was deep. Enough that I wouldn’t be able to walk on it. I was going to be a lot slower. I could heal but it wasn’t possible to make bone and muscle appear from nowhere. Things could be repositioned and mended, but that was it. I was in a very bad situation. There was only so much I could do.

“Oh my, are you getting tired?” A sarcastic reply was bitten off as I watched her coat her blade in something. It made the sword glow and horror descended as she began swiping at my shield. It cut large swaths in my Magik and I scrambled back.

Talon?

I’m coming Kalian. I’m coming.

My shield was reduced to ribbons as she walked toward me. Throwing out Magik again, my hope started to wane as she blocked it easily again. My thoughts were racing a mile a minute. I could get out of this. I just had to be smart and keep my wits about me. My shoulder was healing faster now and as I crawled back, I was able to throw discs of light at her. She was keeping her shield up permanently now and I faltered in my chanting, losing my place.

Kalian. Hold on. I’m almost there. Take my Magik if you need it.

What if you need it?

Together? Remember together, love? We get through everything as a unit. Take whatever you need.

Helva cut off my thinking again as her sword hit the ground a little too close to me. I needed to start up the spell again. I needed both arms and I needed to get off the ground. Light exploded out and as I blinked through my blurry vision, I thought I saw her shield waver a bit.

“You are strong. No one can dispute that. I will honor you after your death. I can’t say I’ve had an adversary ever last this long.Your husband is trying to get to you, I’m sure. Unfortunately for him, my brother’s doing a very thorough job of keeping him busy. He has a unique gift. It nullifies Magik if it hits you.” She smiled again but all I could focus on was trying to get that information to Talon. If he hadn’t figured it out yet, it might help him fight the queen’s brother.

“You’re awfully confident when I know for a fact that neither of you have ever fought anyone like us.” I sent out bands of light in quick succession and was a bit proud when I finally got her on the defensive. Randomizing how many I shot out and how often, I drove her back. Scrambling to my feet, I gripped my arm, forcing myself through the spell again and again. The cut on my leg was healed up, but that was the least of my worries. My shoulder wasn’t healing as fast as normal. Any other time, it’d be done by now. Finally able to check the wound over, I saw the ragged edges were a purple black and looked like they’d been infected for months. I bit my lip. There was no raising my hand above waist level, but I was able to up the amount of Magik I was sending her way.

“You’re exhausted.” She said as she straightened from her defensive posture. She was breathing hard but it couldn’t compare to the desperate breaths sawing in and out of my lungs.

“I’ve had a long day.” I said. I grit my teeth before sending up another flare of light. As soon as it was up, I was back to defending myself.

My movements were slowing. A quick glance saw the blackish infection spiderwebbing across the skin I could see. My Magik had obliterated my strength, but it was still answering my call somehow. Sending a whip of light out, I let it wrap around her ankle. She cried out and I tightened the Magik. Her skin was an angry shade of red and once it was squeezed, blood made everything look that much worse. Focusing on my ridiculous breathing, I regrouped. Talon had to be somewhere close. He wouldn’t have allowed himself to get dragged too far from me. If there was something I knew with utmost confidence, it was that if my husband didn’t want to do something, there were very few forces on earth that could make him. Concentrating, I paid more attention to the power around me. Where we were all connected, not matter which side we fought for. Magik was being pulled all around me. There were harder, larger pulls. One of those had to be Talon. I had to keep my wits about me and use my damn brain. If not, Helva would kill me before I even realized I was losing.

Speaking of my would-be-murderer, she’d freed herself and was advancing again. There was a noticeable limp, but it didn’t seem to be slowing her down much. I prepared to counter, but then my feet were being pulled out from under me. At the same time, something lashed at my arms before wrapping around them. Falling back, I didn’t even know what was holding my feet. Whatever it was came up to my shins though. Which made falling backward very uncomfortable. There were steps coming closer and I pulled at my arms, flinging Magik every which way. I at least needed to keep Helva and whoever else was attacking me at bay. Then my restraints tightened around my wrists and spread up to cover the fingers on both hands. Being held like this made my shoulder scream in pain.

That became the least of my worries as everything twisted and whatever Magik held me broke my hands. A part of me knew that the horrible screaming was me, but I’d disconnected from myself. I was going to pass out. It crept up on me fast and all I thought was how devastated Talon was going to be.

“Get away from him!”

 
Also, next week’s chapter might be delayed as I’m rewriting it. 😬