Shyden is in trouble. I have gone after him. He will be alright if I can reach him in time. Remember, I'm a healer.
Love, Eloyse
Fifteen year old Eloyse Kaleni is happy in her small world, a world that is torn apart when her eleven year old brother...
**so when "bar" is used, it is basically a health bar, like explained in the intro of the book. (Visible only to Malentals when they want it, is something like a light bar/meter near each person. That tells their tiredness.) It's kinda like the health bar in a video game.**
Eloyse didn't make as good of progress as she would have wished. It caused extreme pain to trot, so she kept Damian down to a brisk walk. After she left the Avengers, she gravitated toward where she felt the battlefield was. She hadn't had another vision, but she remembered the one she'd had vividly. Damian was impatient, tugging at the bit, and his rider felt the same.
"Blasted ribs!" she grumbled, then couldn't resist smiling when she realized a blast was what had caused her injuries. She tapped her saddle idly, staring at her bow and arrows. Without thinking, she reached down and unlatched her bow from its place on the saddle. She pulled an arrow from the quiver, and notched it. There was no purpose, she was just bored. Damian, reins loose in his neck, continued his steady walk.
Eloyse relaxed completely, bow down by her leg. She took a deep breath, then raised the bow and shot in one quick, fluid motion. She hit her target dead center, and smiled. Damian wasn't phased, having practice with the maneuver at home. Eloyse guided him to the tree she'd struck, and tugged her arrow out. She hadn't shot it hard because she wanted to reuse it. A glimpse of color caught her eye, and she turned.
The wind shifted, and Damian jerked to attention, suddenly trembling. Eloyse nudged him forward, and he went reluctantly. Not even Eloyse was ready for the terrible destruction that met her eyes when they stepped out of the trees. Damian was frightened and uneasy with the smell of blood and death.
They'd found the battlefield.
Eloyse blinked back tears, realizing the battle was not recent. She slowly walked Damian through the bodies toward where she'd visioned Shyden. If her brother was dead, she was waging a one-person war against all of Alkotratz. Damian was nervous and edgy. It took all of Eloyse's horsemanship skills to keep him lined out straight for where she wanted to go without him turning tail and running. It was completely against his instincts, and he walked like the ground was on fire, barely setting down each foot before picking it back up.
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**the battlefield before the battle**
The place smelled of death, and everywhere Eloyse looked were people, blood, violence. Eloyse shuddered, wanting to close her eyes against the nightmare. She had never even imagined a battle would be like this. She was approaching where she'd seen Shyden, and she hardly dared look. When she finally did, she got the shock of her life.
He wasn't there.
The girl and man who had been laying near were there, still and dead. But Shyden was nowhere to be found. Eloyse began looking around a little more carefully, seeing little things she'd missed before. Like that bloodstain on the ground, with nobody over it. She urged Damian over there, studying the ground. Somebody had come, and taken that person away. She returned to the other spot, thinking. That probably meant somebody had taken Shyden too.
