Page 18 of A Deception of Courts

I didn’t stop running. There was only the single thought of keeping one foot in front of the other and the desperate need to ensure no more ships fell to this siege.

My feet slipped as I chased the spreading of my ice out into the ocean. Stiff wind lapped at my cheeks, causing tears to roll down my face, only to catch in frozen droplets before they reached my jaw.

The closer I was, the clearer I saw the creatures. Two arms, two legs. A body no different from mine – despite the magnificent feathered wings bursting from their backs.

Humans. They had to be human or at least something similar. Not like the gryvern, with their monstrous forms and leathered wings. And, like the sails marked with the symbol of the Creator, they also displayed the same mark upon the drapes of ivory material across their chests instead of plates of armour.

Althea continued throwing flames into the skies, lifting them higher and higher until they billowed far past Lockinge castle’s tallest tower, scorching the clouds in thick plumes of smoke. My feet stumbled beneath me as I glanced back at her. From a distance, she looked more like a bird from stories old, thrusting wings of fire across the world until she burned it entirely.

Althea’s display of power encouraged my own. I felt in competition, expelling the winter I housed within me and freeing it across the world.

My forced confidence didn’t last long.

Slicing downward from the sky before me was a woman of ethereal power. Black skin glowed in contrast to her dove-grey wings. She moved with such speed that her outline became unclear. Until she stopped, throwing out her impressive span of feathered limbs to catch her downfall. Braids billowed around her frame like coiled strands of shadow. In her hands, she held a hammer of sorts crafted from gold. This close, I could see its surface swirled with decorative symbols. It took both hands for her to hold it, her muscles bulging with restraint.

“Halt this madness,” she bellowed, hovering before me, feet barely above my floor of ice. I drank in the vision of her. She wore a garment that would have been well suited for a place within a church. Similar to Abbott Nathanial’s shawl, except hers was cut to fit her body for not only the purpose of prayer but battle too.

“A madness it would seem you have caused,” I spat.

She regarded me, golden eyes drinking in my body. “Never did we expect to find the fey allied with the Defiler. Is this what has become of the world since we left it in your capable hands?”

Her words didn’t make sense, not as I was enthralled with the way her hands twisted around the leather-bound handle of her weapon. I felt her intent to use it upon me just as I felt the breeze her wings created.

“I don’t know what you are talking about, but if you wish to save your… warriors, I suggest you stop this attack.”

It was as if she didn’t hear me, or at least didn’t care for my threat.

“Where is he?” she asked instead.

“Call off your attack!” I repeated, feeling the edge of anger that provided me comfort and confidence in the face of this winged human. “I shall not give you the grace by asking you again.”

I reeled back as she laughed, the sound so melodic and sweet.

“Is this the resistance the Defiler sends to greet us?” she asked. “Pathetic. We expected more from you.”

“Who is this Defiler you speak about?” I asked, clawing at what she had previously said but not quite catching it. Still, Duncan’s lightning raged on through the skies. It thickened in the air. The other creatures struggled to keep pace as his lightning exploded the world in light and heat.

“We have travelled too far to entertain such foolish questions.” Her lip curled upward as she swung the hammer with ease. It must have been made from feathers or something softer than metal for it to move with such effortless grace.

I threw myself backwards, falling on my ass and skidding away as the hammer fell into the body of ice that my feet had not long touched. It exploded into shards, a vicious crack snaking toward me.

It took not but one brush of my hand and the water froze over, stopping the webbing of cracks from spreading any further.

“We do not wish to fight,” I pleaded.

“That’s a shame,” she said, swinging her hammer again.

Refusing to back away, I lifted the chill of winter from the water and into the moisture-laced air. Like Duncan’s power, it sparked, but from a destructive cold instead of boiling light. It met the head of her weapon and clashed with it. The force sent her off-kilter for a moment.

“Who is the Defiler you speak of?” I screamed my question before she could right herself and attack.

“Do not play coy with me,” she spat, annoyance slashed across her beautiful face.

I took my chance of peace to speak before she swung the hammer downward. “Do you serve the Creator?”

Her arms tensed, wringing her hands upon her weapon once again as though it were a habit of comfort. “The Creator. Our Light. He has tasked us with stopping the Defiler from freeing the demonic entity Duwar with the precise instructions to take any life which dares stand in the way. Which, as it seems, is you.”

I looked beyond her, to the shattered Cedarfall ships that scattered across the ocean, then to the winged beings that dodged Duncan’s lightning as they continued their attack.

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