Falling Ashes (44 page)

Meanwhile, Fae was shooting guards left, right, and centre from Shadow’s position in the air, but to no avail. The black girl was quick, and shields were popping up wherever Fae aimed. I could see Fae becoming increasingly agitated with each failed attempt. The shield Mage seemed to have a far greater Power than Fae, as she was able to overcome Fae’s own Power-dampening abilities enough to protect her allies.

At that moment, I heard yells and war cries behind me. Spinning Hawthorne around, I saw hundreds of people outside the gate beginning to force their way into the grounds. They climbed over the fence, bent the bars, or knocked sections down completely. Once a large enough gap had been created, they spilled inside, charging towards us like an angry stampede of bulls.

I didn’t know whose side they were on. Were they human empathisers, or Realm supporters? I watched them approach us, noticing their clothing. No one who worked for the Realm would dress so commonly.

I was right in my assumption. The hoard of unfamiliar Mages clashed violently with the Realm and its guard. Some carried weapons such as swords, clubs, bats, and flaming torches. The guards and employees of the Realm formed a wall of red and grey, preventing the trespassers entry into the Headquarters.

One thing each and every human-supporter had in common, however, was a patch sewn to the front of their clothes; an orange flame in the shape of a tear drop. The symbol was everywhere; painted on people’s faces, and drawn on their arms.

Was it for me?

I was overcome with emotion then, due to the overwhelming number of Mages that had shown up to support me. But how had they known?

I didn’t have time to dwell upon that thought; enemies stood mere meters below, aiming their Power at Hawthorne, trying to shoot him out of the sky.

Jolts of electricity shot past, narrowly missing Hawthorne’s underbelly. Hawthorne dived at the Mage responsible, without my instruction, and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. I clung on for dear life as he rocketed back into the sky, the guard dangling from his mouth.

‘Put me down!’ he bellowed, flailing in all directions.

Hawthorne did as he asked, dropping the Mage from fifty feet in the air. He fell to the ground with a shriek, but was silent as soon as his body hit the grass.

The Realm wasn’t the only party sustaining injuries. Many townspeople had already crumbled at the hands of the guard. After all, they weren’t trained in matters of war.

‘Avalon!’ Fae yelled, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I turned to see her flying towards me, her bow outstretched.

‘Ignite the arrows!’ she said, holding the pointed end towards me

I obeyed at once, setting the arrowhead alight. Fae positioned it into her bow once more before shooting it directly through a window of the Realm. It smashed through the glass and out of sight. I wondered what it had hit and whether it had caught fire.

Cries and shouts sounded from the ground below, and I saw a young boy, who looked to be only fourteen, being held down by two guards, getting pummelled into the dirt. 

Hawthorne dived for the boy, and I dismounted as soon as we hit the ground, sending a fireball to each of the guards in turn.

Now free, the teenager got to his feet.

‘Thank you!’ he wheezed, before running off to join the fray once again.

‘Hey!’ I called after him. ‘You’re going to get yourself killed!’

‘Equality is worth dying for!’ he shouted over his shoulder.

His simple sentence had frozen me to the spot. The boy was right, and I was rendered momentarily speechless.

The supporters had taken it upon themselves to charge forward and engage in violent battle. They punched, kicked, and bludgeoned the guards. Many had useful Powers, such as super strength, speed, or skin of steel, but the Realm was an equal match for the onslaught of commoners.

Even though they were outnumbered two to one, the guards were far superior in skill and power, almost all of them using their Power to attack and defend.

Looking up, I saw that Fae was still circling overhead, dodging various attacks. Jets of water, flying boulders, sonic booms, and gusts of wind threatened to bring her down, but Shadow zipped around all of them. That was, until he was paralysed in mid air.

Shadow seized up, and he fell towards the ground, spiralling out of control, taking Fae with him. I screamed as they fell, but my cry went unnoticed over the sound of battle. Shadow and Fae disappeared out of sight, amongst the throng of fighters, so I ran towards the place they had fallen, pushing friend and foe out of my way to reach them. How could I forgive myself if Fae or Shadow were harmed?

I needed to find Gregory – quick.

I turned away and ran to the last place I’d seen Mr. Greenwood, on the outskirts of the fight, knowing Gregory would be close by.

I spotted him in the distance, crouching over an injured woman who was bleeding profusely from the face. I ran up to him, panting for breath.

‘Mr. Greenwood,’ I said. ‘Where is Gregory? Fae and Shadow need help!’

Before Mr. Greenwood could answer me, Gregory appeared at my side.

‘Hey, are you okay?’ he asked at once.

I shook my head. ‘It’s Fae and Shadow!’ I said. ‘You’ve got to get them out of there!’

‘On it!’ he nodded, and a moment later he had vanished. I looked down and saw Fae in the grass where Gregory had once been. He’d swapped positions with her in the blink of an eye.

‘Fae!’ I said, crouching by her side. ‘Are you okay?’

Now that she was away from the Mage who had paralysed Shadow, Fae regained the use of her body.

‘I’m fine,’ she gasped, sitting up and feeling her limbs. ‘Shadow. Where’s Shadow?’

‘Gregory is getting him now,’ I reassured her.

‘Where is Hawthorne?’ she asked next. ‘I thought you were meant to stay airborne!’

‘He is helping Dagon,’ I said. I could see my animal companion above the hundreds of heads. I knew that if he came to harm I would feel it in my chest; we were connected.

We waited, but Shadow did not appear. A minute later, Gregory ran back to our side, his face battered and bloody from his short time amongst the battle.

‘I can’t get him,’ he wheezed, dabbing at a cut above his eye. ‘I can’t switch with the animal.’

‘We’ve got to get him!’ said Fae, jumping to her feet.

‘We need to get that paralysis Mage,’ I concurred, grabbing her by the hand and dragging her towards Shadow.

As we ran, Fae fit another arrow into her bow, and I ignited its tip. Reaching the circle around Shadow, anger flared inside me as I saw what they were doing. Ropes bound Shadow’s legs, and held his muzzle shut. Fae raised her bow, taking a second to aim, before releasing it. Her aim was perfect; the arrow flew through the air and embedded itself into the skull of the paralysis Mage. He fell to his knees slowly, his reaction delayed.

This alerted the others at once. They turned their attention towards us, momentarily distracted. The Mage that had been tying a rope around Shadow’s muzzle paused mid-way, giving the beast enough time to clamp his enormous teeth into his arm. His cry of pain was heard across the grounds.

‘It’s the Fire-Mage!’ another guard bellowed, pointing at me with a shaking finger. ‘Get her!’

Without hesitation, I blasted fire towards them. It roared loudly and whipped the hair back from my face with the force of the explosion. After the fire died, it gave Fae time to run between the guards, along the blackened stretch of grass. The smell of burning hair, flesh, and grass stung my nostrils.

Covering her mouth with her sleeve to prevent smoke inhalation, Fae dropped to Shadow’s side and cut the bindings that held him down.

Immediately, he jumped up, and Fae pulled herself on his back. They galloped forward, through the smoke, until they reached my side. Fae outstretched a hand towards me as they passed, and I gripped it tightly, and was hauled onto Shadow’s back. It felt strangely different to Hawthorne. Shadow was far more vast, and his fur a little coarser.

As quick as she could, Fae raced me towards Hawthorne, whose white fur was stained red from the blood of the guards he had harmed.

I jumped from Shadow’s back, landing on Hawthorne easily.

The Realm’s grounds were a mess. The green lawns were now black, and bits of grass were on fire. Dirt flew as the city-folk trampled the earth beneath them.

With an almighty crash, the doors to the Realm were busted open, and human-supporters began to pour inside.

Suddenly, out of the mist, a man was screaming my name. I looked around and almost fell off Hawthorne’s back when I spotted him

It was my father.

‘Dad!’ I cried, aghast.

‘Avalon!’ he gasped, stopping at Hawthorne’s side. My father’s face was covered in dirt and ash.

‘Dad, what are you doing here?’ I said, my eyes wide.

‘You need to get out of here! Leave the fighting to the adults!’

‘I am an adult, Dad!’

‘Look, we don’t have much time, okay?’

‘I’m not leaving,’ I growled.

‘All of these people,’ he wheezed, ‘are here because of you. They have gathered under your name to fight the Realm for what they have done to their families. Let
them
fight.’

He grabbed my wrist and tried to pull me from Hawthorne’s back, but I yanked my arm back.

‘No!’ I said angrily. ‘They need to pay for what they did to Helena. If the Realm is destroyed, then so is slavery.’

My father’s eyes were panicked. ‘We need to get inside, Avalon. You can’t destroy the building yet.’

I narrowed my gaze. ‘What? Why do you want to go in there?’

‘There’s a cure,’ said my father, his filthy hands gripping Hawthorne’s bloodstained fur. ‘A cure to bring back the humans' memories!’

Chapter Thirty-Four

Shatter

JACK GREENWOOD

Jack ducked for cover as the Realm’s great oak doors were blasted from their hinges. Instantly, swarms of Mages began to pour inside, bludgeoning everything in their path. He even thought he saw a black bird swooping in through the ceiling.

He was a little frightened, as the uniform he wore marked him as a guard, but, hopefully, the H.W.L members would recognise him.

What had once been a gleaming room of polished stone was now covered in blood, glass, and dirt.

Jack was yet to see Avalon. He thought he had spotted her flying above the shattered dome ceiling, but she had vanished in the blink of an eye.

He longed to see her; to run into the fray and shout her name, but there was no time. This was the closest he’d been to her in weeks, and his heart ached.

He wanted to talk to her, to convince her to call off the attack, but he knew it would be useless. The Realm needed to fall in order to get the cure.

Suddenly, Xara appeared at Jack’s side.

‘The infiltration squad is inside the headquarters,’ she told Jack. ‘But many people are injured. They need your help.’

‘Right!’ said Jack, racing forward. 

Jack ran outside to see the devastation. Men and women lay on the ground, burned, bruised, and bloody. There were too many to count, let alone heal in time, but he tried his best. The green lawn was set black, and smouldering. Arrows stuck out of the ground, in between the bodies, and Jack wondered who the archer was. Most of the fight had been taken within the Realm walls at this stage. Those that lingered outside were already engaged in a fight

Looking to the skies, Jack spotted Hawthorne. He stared, seeing a red haired girl flying on top of him, a bow in her hand.

Wait … no. That couldn’t be right. Hawthorne couldn’t fly unless Avalon was riding him. He squinted, trying to get a better look. Where was Avalon?

The strange girl on the back of the Vulmessian suddenly broke into a spectacular dive, heading straight for Jack. He ducked as she swooped ahead, and he caught a closer glimpse of the beast she rode; it wasn’t Hawthorne. It was far too large, over twice the size.

She turned and aimed for Jack again, intent on killing him. She had no idea that he was on their side.

Luckily for Jack, Ethel came to the rescue, diving in front of him and producing a shield around the both of them. The arrow released from the redhead’s bow bounced off the shield. It was unlikely that Jack would have been killed by the arrow, but it still would have hurt him.

‘This bitch won’t give up,’ Ethel growled under her breath.

‘Have you seen the Fire-Mage?’ Jack asked at once.

‘Have I?’ said Ethel. ‘She’s the only one who can destroy my shields. Ugh! Speak of the devil, herself.’

Jack looked up and saw Avalon astride Hawthorne, flying next to the redheaded girl. The resemblance between Hawthorne and the enormous, unknown beast was uncanny. They could almost be related …

But Jack didn’t focus on them. He stared at Avalon, beautiful and dangerous, her long hair billowing, a fireball in her hand. She stared down at them, no glimmer of recognition in her eyes. She hadn’t seen him. Perhaps the uniform, or the shortly cropped haircut made him unrecognisable from a distance. Either way, she was going to attack; he could see it in her eyes.