Page 93 of Elven Prince

She’d seen it before…

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One black spear protruding from the earth, its pitch-black surface inscribed with the ancient runes and symbols of power that could only have come from one place. From one world. From a different lifetime.

With it, Rebecca’s entire existence shrank into one terrifying moment of realization. The end of everything.

No. This wasn’t possible. How did theyfindher?

This wasn’t supposed to happen!

“I repeat!” The same voice ruptured her shriveling focus as it reverberated from above. “Reveal yourself!”

Rebecca finally tore her gaze away from the spear shaft in front of her and searched the darkness beyond for the owner of that voice.

Of course she found nothing. That was the point.

Then she turned slightly to look over her shoulder at all her operatives standing there in mute bafflement—every able-bodied member of Shade they could spare tonight, all of them watching her for their next move despite none of them knowing what was going on or who bellowed at them from the sky.

It was better that way. If they knew what they faced now, they’d lose all hope.

This could get out of hand so quickly.

And it all depended on what Rebecca did next.

First, she signaled for all four teams to hold their positions—to wait, to let her handle this.

Everyone obeyed, but they all looked as if they’d just been woken from a shared dream.

A dream that could so easily become a nightmare if she made the wrong move. Without ever getting the chance to explain to her operatives what was really happening.

But they held their positions, so she turned steadily back to face the bridge, still searching for the one who’d thrown that spear, though she already knew he would only show himself on his own terms.

“This is all of us,” she shouted into the night. “I swear. There’s no one else but who you see in front of you.”

She didn’t expect an immediate response, but the ensuing silence settled a heavier weight upon her teams now than the sight of so many enemy corpses forming the path they should never have walked.

Rebecca knew that now.

“Hal’a fri’it!”

The elven battle command blasting down at her from the sky electrified Rebecca’s skin. Every hair raised on end. Every intuitive sense honed to a keen edge.

And with it came the doom of all her plans, of everything she’d wanted.

As soon as the command was given, a blistering echo of metallic clashing cut the silence before the hidden enemy revealed themselves.

One echoing step forward, as one, and there they were. Hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers, maybe thousands, appearing from the darkness in every direction.

Delicately crafted chest plates and helms glinted on top of the bridge in the moonlight.

Elven steel sang of lethal power as blades were drawn from their scabbards, emerging from the shadows beneath the bridge and from around its base pillars on either side of the road.

Shimmering greaves paired together as their wearers stood at attention along the tree line all around the Shade teams, spear butts pounding into the earth and overgrown weeds.

Rebecca and her teams were surrounded in an instant and probably always had been. Not by Big Boss and his orcs. Not by Suit and his hodgepodge collection of magitek tinkerers with a soft spot for explosives.

This was an entire elven battalion straight from Xahar-áhsh.

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