Regrets of The Fallen (Victis Honor Book 1) (39 page)

After a few minutes, the light of torches became visible through the forest. A short time later the approaching army was visible, clad in white capes and silver armor and led by the easily-discernible mercenary “traitor” that was leading them to the top of the cliff. As they grew nearer Suria felt a hand on her knee and glanced down, recognizing it as Able’s. She then realized her leg had been bouncing nervously, a habit she had picked up from days of stress-filled tests spent at a desk. She looked at Able and received a supportive look in return, and that gave her more courage for the battle that was now only minutes away. Able gestured to the east and at first she wondered what that meant before she understood it was the direction of the real mercenary camp.

He’s reminding me that we’re doing this for Isabella and Haruka
… Suria pushed aside her fear with conviction, looking forward and remembering that these people were here to take Isabella back to a man that would, at the very
least
, kill her. They had to be stopped and if she could help stop them, she would. The Areyan army regiment was very close now, moving up along the cliff, led by the mercenary. They arranged themselves along the cliff, keeping low at the edge to prevent being seen by what they thought was the main force. Ophelia made a silent gesture and Suria knew it was time, standing along with the other mages and returning Able’s suit jacket to him. She heard the others begin casting and she calmed her own mind, drawing the energies forward from her body and focusing them through her hands, whispering a mantra as she did.

Ophelia raised her hands and watched the mercenary at the edge drop off of it to a waiting net below. There was an exclamation from the Areyan leader that was cut short as Ophelia said four words that detonated every rune she’d placed along the cliff edge, blasting a sizable number of the soldiers off the high ledge with pure force. Cries of surprise went up from the soldiers and the mages then unleashed the spells they’d readied. Suria stepped up and threw both hands forward, speaking aloud the final words of her spell. Two massive fireballs erupted into existence before her and spiraled around each other on a collision course for the enemy army. The impact sent flames and bodies everywhere, raising a chorus of pained screams.

All hell seemed to break loose then as the army rushed forward to meet the enemy and a hail of arrows flew over their heads. Suria barely avoided being swept up in the tide as some of the mages charged forward at the same time, some drawing weapons and others readying spells. The Areyan forces, to their credit, rallied quickly and charged back, fighting fiercely to avoid being pushed back off the cliff. The dark forest lit up as the battling armies were backlit by flames that spread between the trees and over the dry ground. Suria just found herself watching for a moment as the combat intensified and the screams of the dying and wounded increased.

She only barely noticed a soldier rushing her with a sword raised, hoping to take out a mage. Suria reacted on instinct and brought her hand upwards, catching the man with a blast of fire that took him off his feet. He shrieked in agony as he was flash-fried and his body hit the ground as a lump of fused armor and bone; the flesh was
seared off and steam and smoke rose from the corpse. Suria stared at it, paralyzed. Another soldier charged her with a spear but she was frozen and unable to move, only watching with wide eyes as he approached, her mind refusing to comprehend the situation. The spear nearly impaled her, but at the last second Able appeared and the man split in half, his body sheared by one of Able’s energy blades. Able straightened and looked at Suria with concern. “Are you alright?”

“Y-yes.” Suria blinked herself out of her trance. “I’m fine.” She shook her head, clenching her fists tightly.
You’re not a child!
She chided herself.
You can’t just freeze and hope other people keep rescuing you. It’s time to fight for yourself. You left because you wanted to control your own life; well, control it!
She narrowed her eyes and walked past Able towards the battle.
Your friends need your help; give it to them
. An arrow flew at her face and she incinerated it in midair before flinging a spear of flame at the archer, leaving only charred remains. A knight approached her from the side and she unleashed a torrent of flame that he deflected with his shield, continuing to approach with sword ready. Suria created a small orb of flame and hurled it past him before creating another in her other hand. “You can’t stop both,” she said as she hurled the second one at his front and controlled the other one into his back at the same time, leaving him only able to block one and take the other, which brought him to his knees. Suria blasted him away with flame before turning and stalking further into the battle.

She was shivering, despite her attempts to suppress it. She was shaking and this time it had nothing to do with the cold. She was scared, and sad, and angry, and felt like she wanted to throw up. But she remembered Isabella’s words and she pushed forward, because she was doing this to protect her friends. And if these men were going to hurt them then she was going to use all the power she had to prevent that, and no amount of fear was going to stop her.

IXH

Isabella stood outside of her tent, not feeling the cold of the night air. Haruka was holding her from behind and had her chin on her shoulder, and both of them were watching the forest. Light from fires could be seen in the distance, as well as plumes of smoke slightly darker against the night sky. The sound of battle carried to them on the wind, faint but noticeable if one listened for it, especially when they’d heard it as many times in their life as Isabella had. She wished she could be up there, part of the fight that she had caused. Every death on this night was on her conscience and all the blood was on her hands, mercenary and Areyan both. So many times throughout her life were highlighted in her mind, choices she could have made differently that would have prevented any of the things that had happened so far.

Violence was a cycle, and that was never more apparent than in hindsight. The death of her parents led to the death of tens of thousands, and even now, centuries later, the impact still resonated in yet more death in a battle thousands of miles and hundreds of years from where and when it began. Her death early on could have prevented this, but what, then, would have become of Haruka? Would she have remained in a life she despised? Would that have resulted in worse things for the future?

In the end, time was irreversible, a monster that continued forward heedless of the pleading of those that wanted to stall or reset it. All you could do was accept the past and try to guide the future as best you could. Bella sighed and looked away, her eyes catching Haruka’s. Those green eyes looked at her with such concern and support, studying her so intensely and trying to discern what she felt. Isabella’s entire life was different now, and it was so hard to understand why. When she looked back the entirety of her past was black and white and only her present was in color, only when she added Haruka to the picture. If she thought about leaving on her own her future became grey as well, a grim ending.

Isabella had always been a dreamer, and that part of her had returned with the rest twenty years ago. She imagined a life where things had been perfect; her parents were alive, and she’d met Haruka as a teenager, both simply normal people with no horrors in their pasts. She imagined marrying, with her parents making planning for the wedding a total pain with their antics and pranks. She imagined Haruka’s mother, alive and well, doing her best to set things right and smiling in amusement at the other two. She imagined their parents helping them pick their first house and choosing totally different options that she and Haruka then ignored, making their own decision on something small but comfortable. She imagined adopting a child – there were always those that needed a good home, and she could see Haruka’s parents teaching him or her useful things and responsibility, and her own parents completely undoing that and teaming up with them to create the wildest adventures.

But none of that would happen. That life had been destroyed by prejudice, hate and rage, leaving a trail of violence and pain like a scar across history. Now there was no child, no parents,
no home, no family life; only five, maybe six months of time left, if everything went well. And it was so
hard
not to be bitter and angry, so
hard
to focus on what she had and not on what was lost. That’s when she finally noticed she was crying, and Haruka turned her around and held her tightly, knowing without explanation what was wrong. Even the strongest person couldn’t suppress fear and sorrow forever.

The monk looked up into the stars, searching there for an answer she knew she wouldn’t find; sometimes there simply wasn’t one.

“Well, at least life is never boring when you’re insane.”

Dalgus was in his element. Surrounded by battle and flame with the scent of blood and steel strong in the air, he hacked another soldier down with his massive scimitar, grinning at the blood spray. A soldier came at him with a spear and he growled, stepping forward and swinging to shatter both the spear and the soldier’s body before flinging both away. The blood was beginning to get to him and he let himself get surrounded, though the soldiers that encircled him were wary, especially as he was hunched over and seemingly in pain. He smiled and stabbed his scimitar into the ground, releasing the handle and leaving it standing. The soldiers stared at him in confusion, wondering if he was surrendering.

He was not. Dalgus reached down and gripped the ground as his body began twisting and the sound of cracking bones and snapping tendons filled the air. All of them stared in horror as he grew and his limbs lengthened, taking on a slim but muscular form. His face elongated into a snout and black fur sprouted over his entire body, complete with a long canine tail. The transformation continued until before them stood a ten-foot cross between a man and a wolf. The werewolf stood high on its bent legs and raised its long arms, letting out a howl that tore across the battlefield and chilled nearly everyone on it. The eerie sound reached to every soldier and even to the ears of Isabella and Haruka. Those on his own side who had not seen it before – namely Able and Suria – stared in subdued horror at the beast.

The Areyan soldiers stood frozen in shock… until large amber eyes focused on them hungrily. The werewolf’s low growl finally shook them from their silent state and some began to run in terror, but such an action was useless. The wolf moved in a flash and tore into their ranks, its long claws rending all within reach and its strong jaws crushing those even closer. After the initial shock they began to fight back, but the beast shrugged off their blades and maces, shattering weaker weapons as it flung them away. It grabbed a soldier and snapped his spine with its hands, tossed the body aside and pounced on another, biting once to rip off the unfortunate soldier’s armor. The steel crumpled like paper and the second bite tore into the man’s throat, ripping skin and muscle with little effort.

Another soldier stabbed the beast in the back, and stared in horror as the werewolf looked over its shoulder, seemingly unbothered. He yanked his blade free and stumbled back, his eyes widening as he watched the werewolf eat another bite of his ally and saw the wound on the creature’s back close quickly. The werewolf turned and stalked towards him on two legs, arms kept by its side threateningly. The man took off running and the wolf howled, hopeful for a chase – it went down on all fours and took off, catching up to the man in less than a second and taking him down, rending him apart with its claws and heedless of his screams. A group of soldiers came at it then, stabbing and slashing at its back and sides. Half the weapons simply broke and the others inflicted only superficial wounds that quickly closed as the monster turned on them. It dived into the group with slashing claws and snapping jaws, breaking bones and tearing skin.

Suria watched in terror, nauseated by the disturbing violence as she recognized parts of people she’d only seen in anatomy books, strewn across the forest floor. She forced her stomach to calm and looked over to Able, only to realize that even he seemed a bit disturbed by the scene. Still, Able resumed fighting after only a moment’s hesitation and Suria decided she could do the same – though she also decided to go in the opposite direction,
away
from the werewolf.

Ophelia had seen it countless times and was not affected as she watched Dalgus tear through the Areyan ranks from her spot overseeing the battle. She still had some power available and concentrated on looking for silver or enchanted weapons among the enemy, both of which were rare so it seemed safe enough. Without those in their possession, her boss was virtually invincible to them. She threw out a bolt of arcane energy to take out an archer that had drawn a silver arrow, gaining the attention of several other archers. Ophelia let out a sigh as they loosed four arrows in her direction, forcing her to raise a hand; the arrows stopped a few feet away from her and she spun her hand, causing them to turn around. She then flicked her hand and the arrows shot back to those who had fired them, bringing the four archers down. Ophelia then brushed dark hair from her eyes and pushed her glasses back up, returning to watching the battle.

Dalgus was, as always, doing well; the enemy stood no chance against him. So she turned her eyes to their two possible future recruits, assessing their ability. Suria had a great deal of promise by her judgment; the girl was devastating enemy forces even though she still looked unsure, her flames scorching individuals and exploding among groups. She would be a powerful offensive asset, but what surprised Ophelia was her defensive ability; arrows that got too close to her were incinerated and blades were deflected with seemingly no action on her part, meaning she had some sort of defensive spell up. The shimmer of the air around her told her it was probably a thin “wall” of superheated air, nearly imperceptible. The girl may not have had any experience, but she was certainly clever; Ophelia considered that the better attribute, as experience could always be gained while intellect could not.