Page 303 of The Lands Defying
“Thank you!” I tell him, and he chuffs, picking up a rogure and sending it flying through the air. I spot another troll fightingwith a beast, their heights matched and I jump back into the fight.
“We will do what we can, Halis.” I nod my head to him as I spot a female troll kicking a rogure in the side, and I instantly recognize her as the mother of the boy I saved.
She looks at me, bowing her head slightly and I smile, throwing myself back into the battle.
“Darius, the trolls are here to help!”
The battle wages on, and I help protect anyone from getting to the wounded while gathering new ones on the way and putting them in the protective circle we have made.
I’m covered in blood and guts, sweat dripping from me but still, we keep at it and we don’t give up.
But neither do they.
More and more come. Never ending as we all tire, as more die…
I’m losing hope.
Even with the trolls aid, we are still outnumbered, we are still weakening and tiring, we are still losing.
Why won’t they stop? It’s like they have been unleashed upon the lands with no rhyme or reason.
I ready myself for more as a rogure is up next, leaping toward me and I punch it in the side of its head. It skids to the side and that’s when I see another rogue coming for me from the right.
Fuck.
Hand out, I send a ball of magic toward it, but I didn’t see the third one coming for me head-on.
I step back, lifting the sword and throwing it in the air to hit it. It digs into its chest as it releases a whimpering shriek. It doesn’t stall like I thought it would though, instead it continues barreling toward me and it leaps at me, knocking me off my feet with a shocked cry.
We land hard and heavy on the snow, and its teeth are right there, black saliva dripping from its mouth and it’s about to snap its jaw shut over the front of my face when it freezes.
I push at it in alarm, scrambling over it as I stand, hand out and ready when I pause.
The rogure is still, like it’s frozen in place. White puffs of air still come from its open mouth, so it’s still alive but it’s…stuck.
This is like when Charles controlled them, but Charles is no more.
I look around in confusion like everyone else, the battle seemingly paused as we wonder what is going on.
“Josh, do you see this?”
“They are frozen over there, too?”
“Yeah?”
I spot a male on the floor beneath a beast, his arm bleeding profusely and I go to him, dragging him up and draping his arm around me.
“I got you.”
“Fuck, it hurts.” I don’t tell him I can see his bone peeking through his armor as I slowly make my way toward where the injured are, subtly using my magic to stem the bleeding.
As we wade through frozen beasts and hounds, dark patches start appearing beneath them and I shout in alarm. “Watch out!”
The others start noticing too, and they all move away from the creatures as best they can with the amount here.
“We need to hurry,” I tell the Elite I’m half-dragging. We can’t have any more arrive, we won’t survive it.
But none do.
