by Candy Crum
Arryn's eyes widened. "What the hell are you doing here? You're supposed to be with Zoe and the other children!"
Corrine reached out and touched Arryn, heat immediately rushing through her as she healed her wound.
"I couldn't let anything happen to you. I know I can't fight down here with you, but I'm fast and I'm good in the trees. I'm not going back, not until I know this is over and all of you are safe."
Arryn felt the presence of someone quickly approaching from behind, and she pulled the sword from the chest of the man Corrine had killed before turning and bringing it down on her new opponent’s leg. She pulled back and swung again, decapitating him.
"Shit!" she shouted before turning back to face Corrine. "I didn't mean to do that. I didn't want you to see that."
Corrine looked down at the body at her feet, and then again at Arryn.
"Was that the first enemy you've ever taken down?" Arryn asked, her voice a bit softer.
Corrine nodded as Arryn grabbed a ram’s horn dagger from her belt, pulled it back, and threw it hard over Corrine's head to hit a man in the chest. Her eyes flashed black as she telekinetically pulled it back, not wanting to lose that one, like she had the other one, earlier in battle.
"Yes, it was," Corrine said. "I'm sorry, okay! I'm not disturbed or broken by it. You have no idea how much death I've seen. At least all this is for a purpose. This is to save our home. Our family. Jerick did it for fun, for torture. I promise I'll stay out of the way, but I'm staying close enough to heal you if you need it."
Corrine tilted her head to the side, pointing behind Arryn. The warrior’s eyes flashed black as she turned, throwing a hand out and sending the man flying back several feet before hitting the ground, his head smashing on a tree root.
"I don't have time to argue with you about this. Get your ass in the trees, and stay high enough you can’t be seen. Don't you dare come down. I don't care if a sword goes through me again. Got it?"
Corrine nodded once before the vine pulled her back up.
"I'll keep her safe!" Alehah called down.
Arryn sighed, shaking her head. "That kid is gonna be the death of me."
Taking a deep breath, she charged forward, rushing back into battle. She sensed familiar dark energy and stopped in her tracks. She turned her head, her eyes widening as they came to rest on Alaric. The world was going to hell around him, his men dying one right after another, but he still held a confident expression.
That disturbed her. As she took a step forward, a dark smile crossed his face. Her heart skipped a beat, knowing something terrible was about to happen.
Is he capable of using his death touch on this many people? Can he use it on me from that far away?
He lifted his hand, and she recognized the metal he held, though she didn't recognize the shape. It was the same kind of casing that Waylon and Elon had used on the magitech mines. He held it out to the side, his thumb directly in the air as he pressed down, his smile growing. He pulled back his hand, and she knew he was about to throw it.
"Everybody down!" Arryn shouted, flexing her entire body as she let a blast of telekinetic energy explode around her, throwing as many people as she could out of the way. She barely had enough time to raise a shield around herself before the explosion went off.
She flew backward, hitting a tree, her head slamming against it with great force. She fell to the ground, unable to breathe. Another explosion went off, and she saw large fireballs engulfing trees and people. A scream wrenched the air, and she realized it was hers as she struggled to pull herself forward.
Inhaling was difficult, and she used what little power she had to inspect her body. She could feel debris inside her. Within a few moments, she could tell they were tiny metal pieces, more than likely from whatever it was he had thrown.
Though Elon's mines relied mostly on charges and the energy from amphorald crystals, she knew from at least one conversation with him that he had thought about using little spherical or jagged metal pieces; something he learned had been in similar weapons long ago.
As her power waned, she couldn’t muster enough to heal herself, and her eyes began to flutter closed. The last thing she saw was Corrine trying to drop down from the tree, and Alehah yanking her back up before she could be seen by anyone who would do her harm.
Pain radiated through Arryn as she opened her eyes, the very act of breathing bringing agony like she had never experienced—though she wouldn’t know that.
As she looked around, she had no idea where she was or what she was looking at. There were bodies all around, but it didn’t make sense. It was as though a fog had settled in.
It’s all a dream.
As she made her way through the forest, her ears ringing and her eyes wandering over the death and destruction, she found herself intrigued, though not scared.
Weak hands reached out for her, but she walked past, not understanding why. The sounds of crying echoed through her ears, but she couldn’t be sure if it had been that or the ringing twisting to make her believe it had been screams.
It didn’t matter. It would all be over soon.
There wasn’t a tree that looked familiar, nor a face. Nothing there was real, and she had no way of knowing just how long she had traveled. She came upon a river and wandered around its bank.
Several times she had to wipe blood away from her face and eyes. She was covered in it, but couldn’t understand why or where it had come from. Then, as the ringing slowly began to dissipate, she heard someone yelling.
It was so peaceful here, why would anyone want to scream?
"Arryn!" The sound came again, only this time she made out the word.
Turning, she looked around, but saw nothing. The action made her feel a little dizzy, and she laughed as she stumbled over to a large rock by the river bank.
"Arryn!" The voice had completely broken through the ringing now, and she saw a man stepping out of the forest and walking toward her.
Who is he, and why was he shouting at me?
"Arryn!" he said, his voice taking on a relieved tone now instead of the frantic one he’d had before. As she looked at him with total confusion, his relief fell from his expression, a look of worry replacing it. "Arryn?"
She laughed again, pointing at the man who seemed terribly worried about someone named Arryn. "I…" She coughed, realizing the smoke had done more to her throat than she had thought. But she would wake soon, so it didn't matter. "I don't know who that is. You have the wrong person."
The man stared at her, his long blonde hair blowing slightly in the breeze. He began to shake his head a bit as he stepped closer. "You are Arryn."
Her smile fell as he began to approach her. She had no idea who he was, and he was much larger than she was. There were knives on his belt, and blood on his clothes and even his hands. There were even a few drops on his face.
At that moment, she thought back to the dead bodies she had seen littering the area she had awoken in.
"It was you! You hurt them." The thought had occurred to her to run away, but why? She wanted to see where the dream went.
The man's eyes flashed green, earning a gasp out of the young woman before he said, "I'm sorry to do this, but it's for your own safety."
Dream or not, she didn't want to stick around to see what he meant by that.
She tried to move quickly, but he was much faster. Vines shot out from the ground, wrapping her from her elbows down to her ankles. They held her tight, keeping her from moving at all.
The man made his move then, running up and placing his hands on either side of her face. His hands were large, and very warm. Something about that warmth felt familiar as it raced through her entire body.
And then everything began to change. She didn't like this, not at all. Suddenly, she was painfully aware that her ribs had been crushed, and was now aware of the splitting headache she had. She began to see memories flashing through her mind, explosions in the forest, and then she became aware of even more.
It’s not a dream… It’s not a dream at all.
Within moments, though it seemed like an eternity, her ribs cracked back into place, her headache dissipated, and she took her first painless breath.
"Is it you?" he asked cautiously. "Do you know where you are? What happened?"
She slowly nodded, her expression reflecting the rage that was coming back with all of her other emotions now that her broken mind had been healed. "Get me a fucking healer. I need to be at full capacity. I made a promise to Alaric, and I'm about to make good on it."
23
Cathillian was quick to grab whatever healers he could find who weren't occupied with others injured in the blasts. Corrine showed up just as five healers finished shoving as much power into Arryn as they could without depleting themselves for others.
Combining power among several druids seemed to lessen the overall amount of magic used for any single person. Those healers would now be able to go help others with little negative effect.
"Corrine, I need you to go back to the village. Those blasts could've easily gone into the trees. Do you have any idea how many pieces of metal came out of me?" Arryn asked as she saw Corrine walking onto the beach.
"But the blast didn't go into the trees. I'm fine, and I kept my promise. I told you, I'm not leaving until I know you're safe."
Arryn stood, her face turning red as she became angry. "Do you not realize that I'm the adult? Do you not realize I'm responsible for you? If anything happens to you, I will never forgive myself as long as I live. And in case ya hadn't noticed, nature magic users live for a very long time."
Corrine recoiled a bit at Arryn's harshness, but then she pushed her chin up, balled her fists, and took a few steps forward. "You need me!"
"Of course, I do!" Arryn shouted. "I love you, dammit! Don't you realize that? You’re like my own child. I will always need you. But you’re eight… years… old. You need to be a kid for as long as we can let that happen. I can't have you out on the battlefield and going on adventures, risking your life."
"Arryn," Elysia warned. Her voice was soft, but Arryn heard the edge in it. She looked over, anger still on her face, though the older woman’s was surprisingly gentle. "Be easy."
"‘Going out on adventures’…" Corrine said. "Does that mean you don't want me to go with you when you leave the Dark Forest?"
Tears filled Arryn's eyes. "This is a conversation that we can have later. Right now, we need to find the dark Chieftains."
"No!" Corrine shouted. "I'm having this conversation now! I saved your life! Twice. How the hell do you think you survived that blast?"
Arryn was taken aback by Corinne's fierceness and cursing.
"I moved through the trees without anyone seeing me. I couldn't drop down because I was terrified. I admit it. I was too scared to get down on the ground. I knew that if they saw me, there was no way you’d survive. They would’ve killed me, and you would have died, too. I couldn't touch you, so I healed you as best I could from the tree branches. It wasn't much, but it was enough to stop the heaviest bleeding."
Arryn's brows furrowed as she looked at Corrine with shock and admiration. "You did that?"
"It seems she has a talent for healing," the Chieftain said. "When she first healed you from a distance in the dark druid camp, I thought she would make an incredible healer—but then she showed such promise in the pit. It seems she is a young woman of many talents. Alaric can do the death touch from a distance, and it seems she can heal from a distance."
"You need me," Corrine repeated her words from earlier.
Arryn nodded. "I do, but right now—"
The girl shook her head. "No. You plan to go after them, don't you?"
She nodded. "I do, which is why—"
"Which is exactly why you need me," Corrine interrupted again. "When you went down, I saw them take off. They're heading east. Jerick is pulling them through the trees; Snow won't be fast enough to catch up to them."
Arryn opened her mouth, but Elysia interrupted.
"We always encourage everyone to do what they feel is right," Elysia reminded her. "We would never consider putting a child in the middle of a battle, but she's here, and she’s been very useful. If she stays in the trees, she will stay out of harm’s way. If she believes she can do it, let her try. Because I'll be honest… We don't have the strength to propel you through the trees fast enough, and neither do the Schatten. We will have to take familiars, and if you use that much power yourself, you'll be useless in battle. If you take Snow, you might risk losing her. You're the only one of us with the energy to end this fight."
Corrine smiled triumphantly. "In other words, I'm all you got."
Arryn laughed, unable to believe just how strong-willed this child was. Finally, she said, "Again, keep your ass in the trees. Don't come down for any reason. Don't let them see you." She turned to the rest of them. "All of you get there as fast as you possibly can. I don't know what I'll be capable of, but in case this goes badly, you need to be there."
The Chieftain nodded. "Trust me, I wouldn't miss this for the world."
She nodded and then looked down to Corrine. "By the way, your ass is grass when we get back."
"Yeah, I kinda figured," Corrine said with a smile.
24
Corrine’s eyes glowed bright, neon green. Her legs were wrapped around Arryn’s waist as she rode piggyback through the trees. Her arms moved freely as she controlled the vines. One was wrapped around them both that kept her firmly tethered to Arryn as she continued to work her magic on others that propelled them from one tree to the next.
But Arryn could feel Corrine’s energy waning; she didn’t have much left.
It didn't take long for them to make it from the river all the way across to the eastern side of the woods. Arryn knew they would soon run into Alaric and Jerick, and she began to get nervous, hoping she would have enough energy left to do what she needed to do.
If they were as strong as the Chieftain, she stood no chance.
Arryn's eyes flashed green as she opened up her senses to all life in the immediate area. She didn't want to search a very wide radius, wasting her energy in the process, so she kept close.
As they neared the eastern edge of the forest, Arryn sensed the dark Chieftains. They had just exited the forest and were now forced to run on foot.
Corrine swung them one last time, high into the last tree at the very edge before dropping her magic. All the vines fell, and she climbed down, darkness settling in around her eyes with magically-induced exhaustion. "This is it. Are you ready?" she asked as she stepped down onto a thick branch.
Arryn nodded, her eyes never leaving her targets. "Oh, I'm very ready. I'm going to kill Jerick for everything he did to you, and I'm going to kill Alaric for everything he did to my father."
Corrine wrapped her arms around Arryn, pulling her tight into a hug. "I love you, too," the girl said, responding to what Arryn had said before they left.
Arryn leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Remember. Stay high in the trees. Much higher than this."
Corrine only nodded before Arryn jumped down to the ground.
Her eyes flashing black and green, she charged forward as fast as she could. She made a mental note to ask Bast and Cleo how they channeled their magic the way they did. She was much better with nature magic than she was with physical magic.
Arryn watched as Jerick came to a hard stop, turning and whipping his hands out, vines bursting from the ground. Both of her hands shot out, telekinetic energy gripping the vines and ripping them out of the ground as she continued to run.
Vines began bursting from the ground all over, and she had to work hard to dodge them, unable to use that much physical magic this soon. One grabbed her, and she whipped her blade out before it lifted from the ground, cutting it and continuing to move.
Alaric turned, his eyes flashing as his hands lifted in front of him. Arryn immediately felt the hard thump in her chest as her heart
struggled to beat. She felt her energy draining, and knew it was the death touch.
Thirty feet. That's all I have to go.
"You should have joined us when you had the chance," Alaric said with a smile on his face. "You know, I thought I killed you with the grenades, but it turns out I get to kill you twice. Though, this time it'll be a bit more permanent."
Arryn closed her eyes, focusing on everything around her as she meditated, doing her best to relax and cast magic at the same time. She could feel her healing abilities warring against his death touch, but she could also feel him struggling to hold it.
She was too far away, and he had already expended too much energy.
At that moment, she knew she only had to last a few moments longer. She cleared her mind, drowning out his pointless threats as she focused on continuously healing herself.
Thunder cracked overhead, and the sky began to blacken. Shadows fell over everything, and Arryn knew this storm was the Chieftain’s creation. He and the others were getting close, and she quickly realized she wasn't the only one who had taken notice…
Alaric dropped his magic, and Arryn opened her eyes. She saw him frantically looking around, realizing Alexander was coming. He was terrified. As she struggled to stand, the look of fear on his face evoked a volcano of emotion inside of her.
For years, my father feared for his life, while this asshole stood over him and laughed and took joy in his pain. Her eyes narrowed as she focused a death stare at him. He doesn’t get to be afraid of someone else. It’s me he needs to be afraid of.
Arryn stood, her eyes flashing black, as the ground began to gently rumble under her feet.
"Brother, we have bigger problems than Alexander right now. Focus," Jerick said pointing to Arryn.
Vines again burst out of the ground behind her, wrapping around her throat, and Jerick threw his other hand out, a blast of wind hitting her in the chest and knocking her back as he continued to choke her. She lifted her knife and cut the vine away, taking a deep breath and coughing as she rolled over to her hands and knees to climb to her feet.