The Blaze Ignites (27 page)

I spun around and jammed my fist into the
creature’s arm, my knuckle claws pinning it to the tree. My other
fist came down at its elbow, completely severing the limb. The
Gorkor screamed in pain and backed off.

I ducked under the swinging arm of another
monster. I spun, my leg coming in at it from the side, and the
knife at my toe stabbed it in the side of its waist. I dislodged
the knife, then leapt in the air and spun completely around with
one leg out, the blades on my heel ripping open a chest. I had just
enough time to duck under another claw. I spun and punched that one
up into its ribs, my clawed gloves slicing its chest open as well.
My foot then shot out behind me and I kicked another hard in the
stomach. As it doubled over, I faced it, then thrust my foot
straight up into its chin; I could actually see the blade attached
to my toe through its gaped mouth.

I pulled my foot out of that one’s face, then
turned around and had to use my claw knives to cut off yet another
hand reaching for me. I quickly spun again with my leg up and used
my heel blades to cut off the arm of
a second
Gorkor’s who’d
thought it could sneak up behind me. I kicked backwards, smashing
the first Gorkor in the face and sending it sprawling into its
back. With another leap and a midair spin, my heel blades ripped
open the throat of the Gorker that had tried to sneak up behind me.
Turning again, I drove my clawed fist down into the chest of the
first Gorkor while it was still down.

I battled like that for I didn’t know how
long, screaming and grunting with every effort. My hair was
flipping in my face, sweat was dripping down the back of my neck
and into my shirt, and I was covered in black blood. I felt random
cuts all over my arms and legs from the slip of claws, but the pain
was minimal. I was out of breath, but I knew if I stopped for a
second I was dead.

I was unexpectedly thrown facedown into the
ground all of the sudden. When I rolled onto my back, I saw was a
massive foot coming down. It slammed into my chest. The Gorkor’s
clawed toes cut four shallow gashes in my throat. Then, it
pushed!

A few seconds of panic raced through my mind
but my focus quickly returned as I realized what to do. I brought
both my arms out to my sides, then brought them up fast, slicing
the Gorkor’s legs from the outside of its thighs to the inside.
Blood sprayed everywhere as its upper body fell backwards and it’s
severed legs fell forward. I did a backwards summersault out of the
way before I could have black blood for lunch. Getting to my feet,
I took a fight stance.

My area was quiet now. I looked at the battle
on the road and I wanted to throw up! The entirety of the dirt road
was covered in red and black blood. Pieces of Gleo’gwyn bodies were
littered everywhere among full Gorkor corpses. One Gleo’gwyn, in an
odd shade of blue armor, was impaled in a tree, the sharp end of a
broken branch protruding out of his stomach.

I felt the seams of my sanity stretching
again, but I was not going to have another breakdown! I’d given the
White Warrior my word that I wouldn’t. I trembled with the effort
of trying not to scream. In the meantime three more Gorkors were
coming towards me. I tried to take my eyes off the horror of the
road, but found it hard to do.

I heard something strange then. I tilted my
head in the direction of the sound. It was running feet, coming
towards us. Who in Casdanarus was running
towards
a battle
like this? They
must
be able to see it from the clearing, at
least the butt-end of it. Was this person crazy?

Another Gorkor was on the attack. I spun
around to have my heel claws slice his gut, but apparently Gorkors
were more intelligent than I’d thought. The monster grabbed my
ankle in mid-swing and started to lift my leg. My upper body became
unbalanced, but as I fell backwards, I brought my free foot
straight up under its chin, my toe blade impaling it. I landed on
the ground on my back as the now dead creature dropped me.

I got to my feet quickly. I still had two
more to deal with and four more were on the way. I was about to
fight the first one, my lungs laboring for air, my face covering in
sweat, dirt and blood, when I suddenly heard the unmistakable snap
of a bow. After that came the thunk sound of an arrow impaling a
body. I flinched when it seemed that out of nowhere an arrow
appeared, going through the Gorkor’s throat, both the head and tail
sticking out each side.

I turned to see the source of the arrow, and
apparently the running footsteps, and thought for a moment that
Acalith had shown up in the nick of time again. It didn’t take long
for me to realize it wasn’t her. Another disturbing thought: where
was
Acalith? Wasn’t she supposed to know when I was in
danger at all times? Why wasn’t she here protecting me?

The being I looked at now was cloaked and
hooded in tan like Acalith always was, but the mask over the nose
and mouth was black. The eyes were green, but they were a pleasant
dark green rather than the intimidating bright green of Acalith’s.
This person wasn’t as tightly bundled as Acalith either. For
instance, I could see the top of this person’s hair through the
loose hood and saw that it was a fair blonde color.

The being pulled out two more arrows. Both
were loaded and launched. I followed their flight and staggered
backwards when I saw how close two Gorkors had gotten to me. One
Gorkor fell to its side with an arrow lodged into its head, while
the other arrow had passed through its skull and plunged into the
side of the second Gorkor’s throat.

I turned to look at the tan clad bow master,
only to find him or her standing right at my side. I jumped and
staggered back, startled at seeing a body so close to me when a
moment ago there had been no one.

I sighed. “Thanks,” I said, only half
grateful, thinking about the mess on the road.

“Are you alright?” My eyes went wide. He
spoke with an accent. There was a graceful laxness in the way he
said the ‘a’ and the ‘i.’ He
clearly
wasn’t from around
here.

“Yes, I’m fine.” I felt like such a fool for
the way my words sounded now. His way of speaking seemed so…proper
and authoritative, yet graceful and fluid. I examined him a moment.
The skin around his eyes was smooth and youthful, but the eyes
themselves were deep with age and wisdom, despite how young they
looked.

I shook my head slightly in wonder, then
looked away towards the road. To my pleasant surprise the battle
was over. I flinched, however, when I realized a lot of the Gorkors
now lay in a smoking, black-charred heap. My eyes went wide. How in
the name of the Gods had they been burned to death in a second?

The remaining Gleo’gwyns were walking stiffly
among the road, plucking arrows out of bodies, or helping wounded
men. They were all exhausted and they had lost so much. This body
count was going to be high.

Yarin approached with a nasty cut across his
entire cheek. Reese followed with his head hanging low but his eyes
on me. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. How are you holding up?” He just
nodded.

I looked at Yarin’s cut as he stood breathing
heavily in front of me. I felt guilty and responsible for his loss.
Then, without thinking, I started to raise my hand to heal him with
my magic.

Before my hand even came up six inches from
my side, the masked man took a gentle and firm hold of my wrist,
stopping me. I looked over at him as he shifted his eyes to me and
gently shook his head.

I wondered why he was stopping me, then I
realized that some Gleo’gwyns were in plain sight. If I had healed
Yarin, they would have seen my white fire magic. Wow. How could I
forget, even for a
moment,
that it needed to stay hidden?
Well, the leader of the Gleo’gwyns did have the potential to make
me forget my own name. I looked at Yarin and cringed at the idea of
his perfect beauty being forever marred by the hateful claw of a
Gorkor.

“Here,” Reese said and lifted a hand to
Yarin’s cheek. A blue and purple glittering magic filled his palm
and the gash was gone. I think I sighed in relief. Then something
passed through Yarin’s eyes so instantaneously before he smiled at
Reese that I wondered if I’d truly seen it—severe
disappointment.

“Thank you,” Yarin said, clapping Reese on
the shoulder.

I looked from Yarin to his exhausted riders.
They were dragging their feet as they began to pile up the Gorkors
for burning and bury their dead. “Reese, can you go heal the
injured Gleo’gwyns and help them pick up the road?” Reese nodded
and headed for the road.

“Something you need to say, Azrel?” Yarin
said a little cheekily and smiled. I however, was
not
smiling.

“Yarin, I might be mistaken, but before the
Gorkors even came, your men looked severely exhausted. They,
needless to say, look even worse now.” My eyes narrowed. “We’ve
only ridden for a day and a night, yet you told me you and your men
were accustomed to extended days of nonstop travel.”

He looked down. “We are, my lady. I was just
discussing this oddity with Ruburst.” He shook his head. “Mark my
words, Azrel, some evil was at work to exhaust my men, knowing it
would add to our casualties when we went up against the Gorkors.
It’s not like them to be so weary.”

I nodded and looked away, thinking of the odd
black night last night when the Gibirs attacked. “You’re probably
right.” These men had saved Ortheldo twice and never asked for
anything in return. The least I could give them was my trust. I
looked back at Yarin. “I have faith in your men that this is
probably evil at work, or something else out of your control.”

Yarin nodded and bowed. “Thank you for your
belief in us, my lady.”

I nodded towards the road, “Let’s go clean up
this mess.” Yarin and I headed out of the woods to clean up the
road.

“Be very careful.”

I jumped at the sound of a voice and spun to
my right, letting Yarin go ahead of me. The masked man was still
there. He’d been so quiet and so still that I’d forgotten about him
for a moment. “Gods, I’m sorry. I forgot about you there.”

The corners of his youthful eyes wrinkled and
I guessed it was because he was smiling behind that black mask. “So
Azrel is your name?”

“It is. Might I have the pleasure of knowing
yours?”

He took the side of his cloak and brought it
to his chest as he bowed at the waist to me. “I am Lisswilla, at
your service White Warrior.” My eyes went wide and I stopped
breathing for a minute. “Ah yes,” he said and straightened, “I know
who you are.”

“H – how?”

“Azrel?” Another voice said. I turned and saw
Reese approaching, looking curious and a bit worried. “Who are you
talking to?”

I flinched and looked at him as if he were
thick, or perhaps just blind. “What do you mean who am I talking
too? Could it be the tall being standing right next to me?”

I looked at Lisswilla and saw his eyes were
wrinkled in a smile again. I looked back at Reese and his brows
knitted together. “Where?”

My eyes went wide and I looked at Lisswilla.
“Why can’t he see you?”

“Because I’m not letting him see me. Just
like I didn’t allow your blonde friend to see me a moment ago.”

“Well for Heaven’s sake! Let him see you
before he thinks I’ve gone mad!”

Lisswilla laughed so merrily I couldn’t help
chuckling along with him. “It’s just me, friend Reese.”

Reese’s grey eyes brightened with
recognition. “Lisswilla,” he said softly, then came up to him and
the two clasped wrists. “It’s wonderful to see you. Your timing is
impeccable!”

My eyes shifted between them and one of my
brows went up. “I take it you two know each other?”

“Yes,” Reese replied. “You see…”

I held my hand up to silence him. “Let me
guess, Lisswilla is a part of the Deralilya’s team of protectors
and you two met in that ‘other world’ of green light during the
White Warriors meetings.”

Reese’s brows drew together. “Yes, but how
did you know?”

I smiled. “A hunch.”

Reese looked back at Lisswilla. “I know
you’ve been on your way for a long time, so I wasn’t sure when you
would arrive.”

“When I crossed the Casdanarus boarder I
traveled for months, following one false lead after another. Only
recently did I have any kind of a good idea where she was.”

“Did your father give you this good idea of
where she was?” Reese asked.

Lisswilla nodded and his eyes took on a
faraway look. “It had been so long since I’d seen him.”

“It was a pleasant meeting then?”

“It was. Especially after I told him what
position I held now for the new White Warrior.”

I looked at Lisswilla. “So you’re not from
Casdanarus but your father is, and you hold a high position in the
Deralilya’s ranks?” I nodded once. “I completely understand
everything now.”

They both laughed. “My history will be
explained another time, Azrel. For now, I will tell you that I rank
just below the Deralilya. As she is your right hand lady, I am your
left hand gentleman. I help command your protectors and if
something happens to Lady Acalith, I will take her place.”

I nodded, really having little interest in
this Deralilya business. I think I was still bitter my father had
kept that information from me. “What about the wounded, Reese?”

Reese swallowed and looked down. “None were
wounded.” My eyes went wide and he looked up. “All the Gleo’gwyns
that fell were dead.”

I swallowed and started to shake, “How
many?”

“Sixty-seven of the hundred.”

I pressed my lips together and closed my
eyes, letting that overwhelming number sink in. My head suddenly
became too heavy to hold up and my chin dropped to my chest. It was
my fault. All this was my fault. I’d brought them in on this and
now more than half were lost.