Page 83 of Of Fate & Forbidden Desire

“Will everyone pipe down!” I found myself screaming at the top of my lungs and surprisingly my words, fueled by magic, rang out above the din and silencesuddenly descended inside the hut. “We will get nowhere shouting at each other.” I continued in a much more reasonable tone.

“Thank you,” Aradia said, flashing me a grateful look.

“Yes, thank you…Charleene,” Agnes said, looking like she was chewing on rocks just saying the words. “Sisters, Brothers, enemies are on the Culloden Battlefield, we must move quickly.”

“Move?!” I called at her.How could she even think of just picking up sticks and moving?“This is your home, where many of you have been born and raised,” I implored the crowd around me and received a few murmurs of agreement.

“We have always moved when danger grows close,” Angelinia’s soft voice answers me.

“You would run, instead of fighting for what’s yours?” I replied, flabbergasted that their first instinct was to run away.

“Why fight and lose lives unnecessarily, when we can leave and all live?” Aradia asks me, with agreement from the crowd.

“And what happens if they find you again, will you continue running forever?” I countered, raising an eyebrow at her.

“If we must.” Agnes’ voice is strong and pinned me with a narrow eyed glare.

“And what if everyone isn’t ready before they get here?” I demand of her, giving my own glare back.

“Then we leave the few to save the many.” Agnes’ reply was cold and calculated.

“You would leave your own behind?” My tone showed everyone the shock I felt at her words and the angry murmurs told me even more about what the crowd thought of them. “And you? Do you agree?” I shouted, turning to face the crowd, “Do you wish to run away, leaving everything you’ve built here?”

The crowd closest to me shuffled their feet and looked down at the ground. I was about to shake my head at their cowardice, when a clear voice rang out strong and clear.

“I wish to fight!” Sophia pushed her way to the front, and like a pebble tossed into a still pond, her words began a chain reaction, until the word fight waschanted throughout the hut. I was amazed at the ferocity that filled the meeting hut to the rafters and I got the feeling that they didn’t want to move again.

Agnes’ eyes tightened in displeasure as they were forced to put it to a vote, and when the choice to stay and fight wins, “I knew you’d destroy us all,” She snapped at me on her way past, storming from the hut.

My stomach flutters uneasily at her words as I realise that without me, the coven wouldn’t be putting themselves in danger.

Biting my lip, I stared out over the dark shadows that shift and shiver across the field opposite us. It hadn’t taken long for the coven to organise themselves with the vulnerable and young being evacuated, while those that wished to fight had assembled upon the hill beside me, Dina and Sophia.

“What are they?” Sophia gasped beside me as we lined up against the Shadow men.

“Demoran.” Dina answers her without so much as blinking. “Abominations created by the Shadow Fae.”

“How do we kill them?” a Warlock who’s name I didn’t know asked.

“I don’t know.” She replied honestly.

“Well that’s not exactly inspiring,” I muttered under my breath, knowing she’d be able to hear me and hoping that the others wouldn’t.

“It doesn’t matter, here they come.” Dina pointed out as with a roar the Shadow men charged towards us.

“Use any magic you have, do not let them get close to the village!” I shouted, launching a fireball. I lost myself, busy fighting off the Demoran, throwing my fire and air magic that has little effect against them. The witches and warlocks around me are doing the same as we kept the shadow men at bay.

Lilah appeared beside me, and the glint of silver caught my eye as she passed two swords to Dina and began passing out daggers to the Coven members around me.

“The metal is spelled, it will destroy the Demoran.” She quickly explained, raising all of our hopes.

“Heck yeah,” Dina said, before flashing into our enemy's ranks and I began to think that we may actually make it out of this alive as Demoran began falling from the blades she’d been given.

I was bunched together with a group of four witches, keeping some of the Demoran busy while others sprinted around the field, felling them with the spelled daggers. When a hopeful cheer began behind me, however, I couldn’t take my eyes off of the enemies before me. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Ally and Jace charging into the fray. They looked formidable in their black leather armour. Ally had twin swords gripped in her hands that she twirled expertly and her hair flamed like real life fire as she plunged one of her swords into the chest of a Demoran and flicked her hand at another group that have surrounded some of my fellow Witches and Warlocks. I watch in awe as bright flames, much more powerful than my own, wrapped around each Demoran squeezing until they melted away.

“Keep together!” I screamed, moving my own group towards another and another. Collecting us together in the chaos.

Jace flashed past at one point, his blade slicing through Demoran like a knife through butter and I had to marvel at how skilled he was in battle. It’s clear that, unlike us, the Fae have had significant training. Human screams and grunts filled the air around me, combining with the inhuman screeches of the Demoran. My ears rang and I knew that whoever lived through this would never forget it.

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