Page 80 of He Who Ignites The Flame
I twisted around as screams filled the battlefield, other warriors tracking the sound of the voices, drawing everyone’s attention to the rear. My heart sank at the sight of smoke and embers rising to the night sky, at the massive tendrils of darkness writhing at the back of the battlefield.
“Damien!” I shouted, and he stole a glance over his shoulder, his skin paling.
The darklings’ attacks turned relentless, cutting down warriors faster than before, and we turned to focus on their assault.
“Is it her?” I asked, fear clawing its way into my chest.
“It must be. I’d expected her to attack the front lines, how the fuck did she get past us?” Damien growled, unable to take a single step to retreat without risking a darkling attacking his unguarded back. “Fuck! We have to get back there!”
Raw power surged over the killing field, knocking us forward a step, and the power of it shook me to my bones. That feeling returned to my chest, twisting and winding deep within my being, and the beast at the core of my soul winced, whimpering as if physically distressed.
What is it?
The beast whimpered. He’s hurt.
“Micah?” I whispered, my heart stilling, but I didn’t feel it through our binding, only the weight of exhaustion.
“Hold on, Lucia!” Damien shouted as he fought, unable to turn to search for his mate, unable to go to her aid, unable to do anything but fight the darklings trying to get past us.
This was going to take too long. We had to get to the rear, had to help them. The healers would be defenseless against her. Lucia... I couldn’t let her face that creature alone, not being so far along. How had we made such a grave error in splitting up as we had? The darkling queen had succeeded in catching us off guard, dividing us so she might pick us off one by one.
“Bring them down!” Damien roared, and the warriors reformed the line, cutting down darklings with waning determination. “Hold fast!”
I swung for another darkling, but it evaded, stepping back and out of my reach. The darklings slowed their advance, and I frowned as they stopped all together. Our warriors turned the tides, advancing, their hope replenishing as we gained ground for the first time in hours.
What had happened? What had changed?
Warriors raced past me, forcing the darklings back, reclaiming and reforming the wall as I turned to the rear of the battlefield. There was no way to see what was happening beyond the warriors clashing with the remaining darklings. I glanced back at Damien to find him searching the distance, his chest heaving, his ashen skin coated in sweat.
Then, the darklings began to shriek, turning and running, and something akin to hope swelled in my chest.
I met Damien’s gaze. “Did she…”
He rushed past me, shoving past warriors as they advanced to chase the fleeing darklings. I ran after him, my heart racing. Had the darkling queen somehow fallen? Lucia had been waiting, reserving her magic for when she appeared. It had happened so fast, but how?
“Lucia!” Damien shouted as his pace quickened, and I struggled to keep up.
Please be alive.
I looked across the massive field as the fighting thinned, darklings falling to blades at their backs. In the clear expanse of what remained, I searched the faces of those who passed: wounded warriors stumbling aimlessly in a daze, some helping to hold others on their feet, others searching the bodies for survivors. Lucia wasn’t among them, but as my search progressed, something tugged deep within me, pulling me forward, and my eyes fell to the bodies littering the ground. Something shifted, and I wasn’t sure when I stopped searching for Lucia, when I lost track of what was and wasn’t important. The beast paced deep within me, alert to every scent, every sound. I searched, unsure of what I was searching for, yet knowing there was nothing else Icouldsearch for.
Blond hair.
I scanned the lifeless face of one of the bodies. Two. Three. Ten. Thirty. A hundred.
Gods, there were so many bodies, so many dead...and the smell...
Air halted in my lungs as I found a mess of blond hair peeking out from a pile of bodies, and I rushed toward it, falling to my knees and turning him over. Unseeing blue eyes stared through me to the sky beyond and air rushed from my lungs as I sagged to the ground.
It wasn't him.
I rose to my feet and found Lucia and Damien in the distance. Her fearful gaze locked on me, and the hope that should be swelling in my chest seemed to die out at the sight of her, at the fearful terror in her eyes.
He wasn’t with her.
I scanned the endless sea of bodies, exhaustion weighing me down, but I pushed through it.
And I continued to search.
