Page 45 of A Rising Hope

I couldn’t summon the fire. But I could surely still call on it in others. And the Queen was in possession of a few drops of Destroyer blood.

An unfortunate mistake.

If I had to suffer, it was only fair she’d suffer too.

The Queen erupted in screams as fire burned her from within at my call.

“Enjoy,” I sneered, the sound of her agony like a song lulling me back to deadly sleep.

33

OREST

Imarched through the camp, calculating. My battalion commanders were barking orders to their soldiers. War tents erected, campfires lit, provisions recounted, and line by line, soldier by soldier, our scattered army gradually reassembled. Each man and woman worked tirelessly to rebuild the ruins left from the darkness.

My hand went to the hilt of the sword at my hip before the sounds erupted behind me.

I spun. My eyes immediately found Zora a few feet away. Only then did I look at the dark sky, tracking an almost invisible dragonfly approaching us.

“She is back!” Tori and Cori squealed. Though I couldn’t see them, I could hear their voices, and I was sure if they weren’t attending to the wounded soldiers, they would’ve already been running towards the quickly approaching dragonfly with Finn and Aurelia atop it.

The entire army paused at their loud shouts and excited words.

The dragonfly soon reached the hastily assembled camp. With nowhere to land, it hovered in place, pausing in the air lowenough its wings tattered the tops of the tents. A few of the tents fell down, earning the hushed complaints from within. Zora took a step closer to me. Neither her, nor I uttered a word as we watched Finn jump off the creature.

Holding on to both of Gideon’s swords, the blood rubies glistening even in the dark of the night, she landed on the ground, knee down. Her hair was tousled from the flight, her shirt and pants, both a few sizes too big, were tied at the sides in small knots. She looked different, but not because of her clothes.

The sudden onset of dead silence in the previously rowdy camp was a clear sign.

Everyone felt it then.

Finn stood up, brushing a bit of dirt off her knee before straightening up. She paused, looking around the camp at the now silent soldiers, their empty stares on her. She saw it too, the mark of the Black Shadows behind their quieted faces, forever scarring their souls.

But she was different, too. Something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, and neither could my powers. Her light shone brightly around her, but now there was just as equal darkness. All of it intertwined perfectly in balance.

Her eyes raked over the camp, assessing everyone with surgical precision, her thoughts firing at lightning speed. The wrinkle between her brows eased when she found Zora, then Gia, next to her. Her green eyes found me next, a part of her relieved by my presence. She gave me an uneasy smile, and I returned the gesture, giving her a welcoming nod.

“Welcome back, Empress,” I said, loud enough for my voice to echo through the camp. Because it was no longer the freckled wild slave girl that I met so many moons ago standing before us. Nor was it a simple mage. The foreign power that she bathed in was so much more complex than ever before.

She was the Empress, the Ruler. Justice incarnate among us.

“Okay then.” Finn clicked her tongue, awkwardly sending a nod to the armies gathered around her. With a light breath, she marched across the camp towards Zora and I. As she walked, every soldier bowed his or her head, aware of the wake of power that trailed in her path.

“Zora, Orest.” Finn greeted us, sending a gleeful smirk to Gia standing a step behind. Her face lit up with the brightest joy. “We’ve got some catching up to do.” Finn cleared her throat, no doubt feeling every single look lingering on her.

Zora squared her shoulders, clasping her hands behind her back, like a true commander in front of her ruler.

“That we sure do.” Her lips tainted with a hint of a smile.

I motioned towards the old council tent on the outskirts of the camp.

“Quite the dramatic entrance,” Zora mumbled to Finn as we paced away from the soldiers down the wilted grass.

“Aurelia insisted I drop out of the sky for theatrics.” Finn snickered, and I stifled my own smile. “And you know that girl gets whatever she wants.” She gently nudged Zora with her elbow, easing her tensed figure, letting a flicker of relief float above the worry that gnawed at Zora’s core.

The camp swirled with chatter and noise behind us as if woken up by Finn’s much needed appearance. I glanced back, not failing to notice the glowing light of feelings that at times were so foreign to me. And yet I couldn’t deny their existence.

We reached the old tent. A few poles were missing and there were a couple of large rips in the aged canvas that would need to be fixed. I made a mental note of that, adding it to the long list of things to repair.The old fabric will be much easier to fix than the haunted minds of so many.

---