Zuscha archers descended from the treetops to join him, training their bows on the ambushed trio. They crept in from nearly every direction, properly surrounding their prey. Had the three of them attempted to run or resist, they would have taken a flurry of arrows in the space of mere seconds.
Minx squeezed her bow in a death grip. She would have liked their odds better had they only faced a frontward assault. Knowing that the arrows would fly from every direction if she so much as blinked left her mired in dread. We just had to walk straight into their ambush...
“Drop the bow!” ordered the hunter. There was a savage twinkle in his eye; the butcher was longing to discharge his weapon and kill the three of them. It was only through great restraint that he held back—possibly on account of Torrent's orders.
“You want us alive, then?” challenged Minx, lowering her bow with a grimace.
“Me?” shot back the hunter. “No. But someone wants you alive, so don't make this any harder than it needs to be.”
The three of them knew the identity of this “someone” without even having to ask.
It's Torrent, then? He's the one who sent them? asked Minx.
Minx nodded. Looks that way.
Chapter 19
The Zuscha continued to close in, arrows trained on the three of them. Mau remained crouched, her fur bristling and growls welling in her throat. It was clear that the Faelyr was looking for an excuse to lash out, to make a final stand.
Stand down, Mau. It's not worth it. We don't stand a chance. Minx was angrier at herself than at anyone else; no matter how pleasant the morning had been, she should never have let her guard down. At the first whiff of trouble on the wind, the three of them should have halted and better scoped out their surroundings. Instead, they'd walked headlong into a trap and had sprung it good and proper.
Unlike the others, Kaleb appeared unbothered by the ambush. Rather than tense up in anticipation of slaughter, he attempted something like diplomacy. “This isn't really necessary, you know? You've got us surrounded and we aren't fighting back. Why not point those arrows elsewhere—we don't want any accidents happening. If we're truly worth more to you alive than we are dead, that is...”
“Oh, there's no debate about that,” was the hunter's rejoinder. He stood outside the circle of Zuscha, watching their movements carefully. “The master would certainly prefer you alive. That's why we've set an entrapment spell here. When it has been completed, the three of you will drop to the ground, unable to move. You won't die—though you'll wish you had!”
“An entrapment spell?” Minx looked across the forest floor, scanning the soil for signs of the spell. She wasn't especially well-versed in the ways of dark Fae magic, but knew that the Zuscha often relied on entangling sorceries of this kind. The casting of such spells ordinarily entailed marking the target area with special written characters known only to Zuscha spell-crafters. These would be activated by chants in the tongue of the dark Fae by those trained in the noxious arts, and once fully cast, could only be undone by those who had initiated them. Minx thought to find certain of these characters in her surroundings, hopeful that she might delay the spell or even fully interrupt it by interfering with the magical scrawl. The numerous arrows pointed at her proved far too distracting, however.
I know what you're thinking and I like where your head's at... but you were right before. We can't fight back. If you start trying to interrupt the spell, they might just kill us, offered Mau, having ventured down the same line of thought. I hate to say it, but unless Kaleb can sweeten things up, our best bet is to get captured. They'll have to cut us loose eventually, right?
Minx frowned. They're trapping us so that they can take us to Torrent. Even if the spell breaks upon delivery, the three of us will be completely overpowered by him. I think we should find an opening... if we can distract them in some way, then perhaps we can fight back. We just have to be careful about it. Even if it doesn't work, I'd rather die right here and now than give Torrent what he wants. Wouldn't you?
“You're going to hand us over to Torrent, huh?” continued Kaleb. “What could he possibly want with us? We ran into him not so long ago—if he'd wanted to capture us, he would have done it then. Sure you've got the right targets?”
“Oh, I'm sure,” spat the hunter. “I'm completely certain. Now shut that mouth of yours.” He motioned to one of the dark archers closing in on them. “The spell's nearly complete, but if they make a move, don't hesitate to fire.” He still had an arrow nocked, and his dark eyes were boring into the three of them from the shadows. With the half-mask of bone obscuring his face and his pearly teeth bared, he looked less like a man and more like some terrifying, anthropoid animal. The fur on his capes bristled as though it was his own, and the handles of numerous weapons housed beneath their folds—blades and bludgeons—clanged as he shifted.
Kaleb hardened at this threat. “That's enough. Call off your archers so we can talk. I'll do whatever you ask, but leave Minx out of this, will you?”
The hunter smirked. “That's right—you will do anything I ask. But I'm afraid the girl and her cat are coming along, too. The master's nearly arrived at his goal, and will want both you and the Fae. The cat, I suppose, is insurance. Keep crowing and I may have to put her down...” His gaze moved to Mau and a low chuckle left his lips.
Minx felt her arms and legs weakening; the spell was nearly complete, but the utter helplessness of their situation left her doubly enfeebled. What can we do? We're surrounded, and if we fight back they'll kill Mau—or all three of us. There don't appear to be any openings, and if I distract them they'll just open fire! There has to be a way out of this, but I'm not seeing it... Chest heaving and limbs tingling, Minx scanned the treeline, hopeful that some of the Fae warriors would come to their rescue; that her father or some other hero would interrupt the spell and cut down these wicked archers.
Instead, she spied none other than Alla hiding amidst the trees. At sight of the half-Fae, Minx felt herself overcome by a wave of annoyance that momentarily blotted out her terror. Alla? What's she doing here?
The half-Fae was kneeling in the brush, watching the proceedings very closely. Whether the hunter or his Zuscha henchmen were aware of her presence was unclear; she made no effort to announce herself. Minx wondered whether Alla was the one behind the entrapment spell. Could it be that Alla is trained in these dark arts? No way... shes not a Zuscha. They're very secretive about their techniques. She must be out here for another purpose—but what is it? Is she helping the hunter, or is she here to—
Before she could even finish the thought, a blinding light stole her attention and that of everyone else in the vicinity.
And then came the explosion.
Chapter 20
The explosion rocked the earth beneath them. All with legs to stand were knocked to the ground and the air grew thick with dust and the splinters of broken trees. Minx felt the impact wash over her like a forceful gale of wind; it ripped the breath from her lungs and lifted her off her feet.
There was, for a brief time, darkness.
But the blow to Minx had been a minor one, overall—a rude shock, more than anything. Having stood at the center of the circle, the encroaching Zuscha had seemingly borne the bulk of the impact with their bodies and had acted as a sort of shield not only for Minx, but for her companions as well. As she came to on the ground, groaning, she noticed that Kaleb and Mau were still moving. What was that? she asked the Faelyr.
Mau took her time in answering. It's like a bomb went off. I... I think we're still alive, though. We're still alive, right?
Kaleb moaned, slowly getting onto all fours and shaking the debris from his hair. “What in the world...?”
Minx sucked in a deep breath and fought to stand, nervously scanning her surroundings. Did the Zuscha make it? And the hunter? Where's Alla? The Zuscha, as well as their leader, were all sprawled across the ground, scarcely moving. They didn't appear dead, but having received the worst of it, had been k
nocked unconscious. The hunter, especially, looked out of sorts, tossed to the ground like a rag doll and hardly able to draw in breath. He remained splayed out, glassy-eyed and slack-jawed, his furs and weapons in a disarray.
The half-Fae had disappeared, however. Minx looked out into the woods, even tried calling out to her. “Alla? Alla, are you... are you still here?” There was no reply, however.
“Alla?” echoed Kaleb, rising to his feet. “You saw Alla?”
Minx nodded. “Right before the explosion. She was crouching in the brush, seemed to be hiding. I don't know what she was doing there, but then suddenly...” She motioned to the mess around her. “Lights out.”
Maybe the girl worked some magic of her own to help us out, said Mau.
Maybe... Minx stepped past the circle of fallen Zuscha and steadied herself against the trunk of a half-fallen tree. “Perhaps we'll run into her later. It's possible I owe her sincere thanks. But we need to get a move on. While the hunter had us tied up here, the Trading Center's been under attack.”
“If these goons managed to get this deep into Fae territory, do you think Torrent might have marched in along with them?” asked Kaleb. “Maybe we should take a look at the lake, just to make sure he's not messing around again.”
Minx agreed. “Yes, that's true. Do you think you can fly?”
Kaleb stretched, massaging the crick in his neck. “I suppose so. My ears are still ringing, but I think I'll be all right.”
“Please take us by Heilo Lake. If everything is well, we'll head back to the Trading Center to assist the others. I have a feeling that our forces are all tied up in the Trading Center right now, and that there's no one left to look after the lake.”
In the newly-made clearing, Kaleb transformed. His wings spread out over the splintered trunks of trees and his long, scaly neck stretched up toward the canopy. Minx and Mau hurried onto his back, and within moments the three of them were aloft, hovering over the border of Pandling Grounds. The dragon shifter made a sudden turn to the right, his wings beating furiously as he struck out toward the lake.
Smoke was rising from the direction of the Trading Center, and from above, the sounds of battle—earlier muffled—could be clearly heard. Minx looked on in terror as they departed for the lake. Is this how it ends? We held them off for so long, but now they've finally infiltrated our lands. And once again, I wasn't there to prevent it. She watched the plumes of smoke drift upward, and noticed—with a fresh jolt of horror—that the skies were home to something else.
Ordinarily, the shielding spell over the territory could not be seen with the blind eye. The invisible barrier, long-generated by the hide of a Royal dragon, protected the lands of the Fae from exterior threats. Now, with the generative powers of the old dragon's hide on the wane, the edges of this magical defense system were visible in the sunlight. The barrier appeared ragged and patchy; starved for energy, holes had begun to appear in the magical framework. Soon, it would collapse altogether.
The jarring sounds of war rang out from every quadrant of Pandling Grounds, and without even having glimpsed the damages Minx knew that her people were being overwhelmed. For weeks they'd had their backs to the wall, and now the remnants of the dark army had coalesced and made their move. She hated that she hadn't been there to fire the first arrow, that she had enjoyed a blissful night's sleep while the enemy had been on the march. The night before, she'd been utterly exhausted, and would have had nothing left to offer her people after a day of ceaseless service. Nonetheless, guilt haunted her—and the sight of the dimming barrier over the territory only intensified her feelings.
Kaleb brought them to the lake in double-quick time, descending as the shore came into view. He soared over the clear water while Minx and Mau scrutinized the dense forests. During their last visit, Torrent had waded into the lake after striking down the Fae guards. This time, thankfully, the lake was quiet. All was still. Every Fae was currently locked in battle, and no soldiers had been spared to monitor the lakeside. Furthermore, although Torrent's forces had marched upon Pandling Grounds, none had yet made it to the lake. It was a small comfort, but on a disastrous day like this one, Minx would take whatever wins she could get.
“They're not here... yet,” announced Minx. “Take us back to Pandling Grounds. We need to help drive them out.” Knowing the mess that awaited them, she felt her ordinarily steely resolve faltering. This is too much. My people are being overrun. How many have been slaughtered already? The soldiers, the archers... how many will survive? What about my father? Her heart, still tender for the loss of her mother, ached terribly at the thought of her father falling in battle.
Kaleb made a sharp turn and barreled back toward Pandling Grounds, his scaly belly nearly touching the tops of the trees. His yellow eyes narrowed, scoping out the plumes of black smoke far ahead. “There seem to be many fights going on. Which one are we going to visit first?”
The question was maddening to her. The diffusion of dark warriors throughout the territory ensured maximum destruction. The three of them couldn't defend the entire territory at once; the best they could do would be to hop from sortie to sortie, taking out a few warriors at a time and hoping that they'd eventually exhaust the enemy forces. “Just take us to the first battle you find,” she replied, exasperated.
Kaleb acquiesced, sailing downward into a furious clash between a legion of vicious Wuffs and a handful of Fae lancers scrambling to maintain a defensive formation. The Wuffs lobbed arrows at the lot of them and closed in, pressing them to the edge of a Trading Center building that had been set aflame by an earlier attack. Smoke billowed from its windows and its roof had collapsed, leaving a swaying pyre peeking from its summit.
The dragon shifter descended with such wicked speed that the mere momentum of his wings was sufficient to call up a punishing wind that lifted various of the Wuffs feet from the ground. The furry marauders ceased their attack, terrified now at this threat from above, and clumsily set about firing arrows into the sky. None had any effect, however, and as they gazed upward in abject terror, the Fae huntress atop the dragon's back began to loose a flurry of her own, striking down several dark warriors.
Encouraged by this aid, the lancers took the initiative and made a coordinated run at their foes, their weapons either rending leather armor or successfully driving away those that wore it. Minx picked off a few of the survivors as Kaleb regained altitude. “Nice! Let's see where else we can be of help!”
It took only a few moments of hovering over the Trading Center for the airborne trio to realize the futility in their course, however. There did not exist an inch of Pandling Grounds that was not under threat of being utterly razed, and a good deal of the area was home to chaos and flaming rubble the likes of which the three of them had never seen. The dark army had broken down into smaller teams with the goal of chasing down and butchering innocents. The Fae warriors, where they did appear, were consistently outnumbered and overpowered. It was apparent that efforts had been made toward stymying the advance of the enemy force; the heaps of fallen Fae littering the square evidenced their complete lack of success, however.
Kaleb was overwhelmed at the scope of the destruction; every time he thought to land, to intervene in a new battle, another would present itself nearby. One could not hope to take part in the odd skirmish here and turn the tide. It was pandemonium, and only a large, organized force could hope to drive off the vandals presently sacking the territory. “There's just too much going on,” he said, circling the Trading Center in disbelief. “We can go down there and fight them off one at a time, but they're everywhere—they've swarmed the whole place like insects.”
The handful of common dragons that Kaleb had left to guard the outside of the Trading Center had sadly been struck down; they had doubtlessly taken care of numerous dark warriors apiece, but the young fire dragons had been unable to match the overwhelming power of the army's initial rush. Mau was the first one to catch sight of them, scattered before the gate amidst many fall
en Wuffs. So much for our guard dragons. The poor things never had a chance. They fought bravely, but were unprepared for this kind of force.
Minx was ready to touch down, to begin unloading her bow no matter the odds, but stopped short of asking Kaleb to do so when she spied a familiar face among the throngs of dark warriors. It was her father. “Kaleb, look!” she gasped. “There... Go there!” she urged, pointing down at him.
Valdar of the Fae stood in the midst of several armed Krah. The leather cap on his head was skewed and his disheveled hair fanned out all about him as he shouted and took confused swings with his longsword. Though always a capable fighter, he looked positively helpless under the circumstances, barking nonsense and failing to strike any of the reptilian fighters that were then closing the gap. The dark warriors howled in laughter as they approached, and one of them approaching from the rear gave the old Fae a hard shove, knocking him to the ground. Once toppled, Valdar yelled confusedly at his attackers, the sword having fallen from his grasp and his tangled locks clinging to his sweat-soaked face. His wide eyes were vacant, darting this way and that as if in pursuit of phantoms.
Kaleb sailed downward, making a harsh landing near a half-collapsed building, and before he'd even finished shifting back into his human form, both Minx and Mau had jumped from his back, starting at once into a furious attack against the Krah. Minx fed half a dozen arrows to her bow, sending them out in quick succession with the barest tease of the bowstring, and each one found a home in the bullying Krah, who finally turned from the blathering Valdar. Mau roared, her silver bulk ramming into one of the lizard-men and collapsing the semi-circle formation they'd been keeping to.
How to Save a Fae (Heir of Dragons Book 2) Page 16