A Court of Tears and Petals

Chapter 31

"Stay next to me at all times, no matter what. And if something happens to me, you run the other way. Got it?" Bryce spoke with a seriousness she had never heard from him before, and even though they were marching with dozens of other males, he seemed to be concentrating only on Azalea.

Azalea wanted to tease Bryce and tell him to loosen up, but she chose not to. "Yeah, I got it."

Their troops were making the same advancements as the one before them, waiting for this human army to make the first move. No one knew what this battle was about, everyone just pointed to revenge of the previous war, but there had to be more to it. They had to find out and fix the problem at hand, but that was hard to do when instead of being civilized you were fighting like barbarians. Azalea just tried to remind herself that they were playing defense, she was fighting for the safety of her people.

And then she heard the battle cries from up ahead, this was happening. Bryce broke into a run as well as the other warriors around them, so Azalea followed. They were the last fleet, so they would be behind the stronger troops, but that didn't mean they wouldn't face any challenges.

Azalea listened to Bryce and stayed behind him with her sword ready for anything. Warriors from the human lands came closer and closer, until they had to stop running and start fighting. The opposing army came up to them, and Azalea tried to focus ahead of her but it was hard when so much was going on. The smell of blood stinging her nose, and when she looked to her side, she was astonished to see the men were taking down some of their strongest warriors. Men, humans, were taking down fae trained to fight and kill. Suddenly Bryce was against these men, sneaking through the front lines to reach them.

Azalea couldn't help but notice the sloppy moves Bryce was making, and how he was setting himself up for death. By impulse Azalea moved forward to strike the man, and he quickly fell once she removed her sword from his gut. Bryce didn't acknowledge Azalea or her killing blow, he just kept moving, kept fighting. So Azalea followed suit. 

Time flew by, or it slowed down, Azalea couldn't keep track and she chose not too. She didn't think about the blood on her sword or the males falling next to her. She just focused on Bryce, and jumped in whenever he needed help. It was easier than she thought, when she detached from her emotions and thoughts. But then her feelings weighed down on her, she suddenly felt heavier than ever before, anxiety rolled through her. Fear coated her tongue and she could barely move, barely move forward. It was like someone had tied a rope around her waist and was pulling her toward them. Had her father found out she left? Was he using magic to get her to return? A million questions ran through her head and she could no longer focus on what was in front of her. Not when she felt so guilty she couldn't breathe, she just didn't know what for.

Azalea took a step back, there wasn't enough air for her to breathe. She took another slow step behind her and tripped on something that led to her falling into the mud. When she sat back up she noticed that she had tripped on an arm, there was no way to tell if it was human or fae. Azalea shot to her feet, when she walked onto this battlefield she was nothing but determined, confident, ready for anything. At the moment she couldn't be further from that feeling. She wanted to go home, she wanted her mother to hold her and whisper sweet nothings into her ear like she had done not so long ago.

But Azalea didn't remember her mother, and she hated her home. It was like the thoughts in her head weren't her own. Azalea didn't understand what was happening, but she knew someone was calling to her for help.

Without another thought she stepped away from Bryce and jogged around the males running to fight, bumping into them and tripping in the mud, she chose to ignore what was happening. Azalea didn't know how, but she understood where she needed to be, where she needed to go, and who she needed to find. She would stop to look at the faces around her, she noticed the mix of Illyrians and Summer Court soldiers. She was getting close, she would find what she was looking for.

It was easy until she got a shooting pain down her side, she fell to her knees and held her abdomen. The next few moments slowed down, she checked herself for any wounds and then stood up. She channeled her fae speed and ran towards whatever was pulling her. And then she saw it. Saw him. And he was in trouble, he needed her.

Without another thought she raised her sword and sliced the man's head clean of his shoulder. The man that was about to kill. . .the male on the ground. She looked down to see an ashen face and deep red blood gushing out of his wound. She bent down to put her hand over the wound, and she held the male close to her body, holding him on her lap. He opened his eyes and Azalea thought she would cry from the sight. Beautiful crystal skies were trapped in his eyes, Azalea had to say something, to let the male know she found him, that she would never let anyone hurt him.

"Hold on." Azalea croaked. She didn't realize how out of breath she had been from sprinting across the field. Or maybe the wind had been knocked out of her from the sight of him so close to death.

"You're going to be okay." Azalea held him tighter, she would get them out of this, they would be okay because they had each other.

"I'm here now." And those beautiful crystal skies were cut off from her as he closed his eyes. Azalea listened to his heart beat, the weak heartbeat that held some sort of melody to it. 

A plan formed in her head, his wound would heal enough on its own, but she could help close it up. She had to lift him up by his other arm in order to carry him back to camp. But before she could do anything a loud high pitched sharp noise hit her ears. It was horrible, Azalea shot her hands to her ears but it barely did anything, she could barely think. She looked at the male under her, and while he was still passed out and seemed unaffected, a small amount of blood was trickling from both of his ears. Azalea cried out as she moved her hands from her ears to cover the males, the pain was piercing and rang through her whole head.

Azalea used all her strength to turn around while she held the males ears. She saw every single fae warrior on their knees holding their heads in their hands while the humans retreated. But while all of the males were kneeling in the mud something was coming for them. It seemed like a force field of some sorts, and it was coming fast. It shimmered in a fashion that seemed to eat everything it touched, it moved quickly and Azalea couldn't run, not with the male in such a bad condition. So while the force came hurtling toward them, Azalea rolled on top of the male and covered his body with hers. She set up a shield of wind against the force and closed her eyes. Praying to the Mother above for survival.

*************
....opinions???? Critiques????? Suggestions??? Idk I hope you guys are enjoying
Who's POV should the next chapter be from?