Arriana's Return

Arriana's Return - Chapter 54

Chapter 54

"What did you do?" he shouted at Deacon.

"I, I didn't mean to. How did you know to..." Henry didn't let him finish his sentence.

"I knew there was something wrong."

Deacon fell backward over a log and just stared wide-eyed at the girl whose power was picking up. The wind around her began to spin the dirt, stick and leaves around her legs and swaying the low lying branches around them.

"Arriana?" Henry took a few tentative steps toward her.

The electrical currents continued picking up energy the closer Henry got.

"Don't go near her. She's lost it."

"Because of you, Deacon," Henry hissed at the boy.

Henry continued forward until he was standing in front of her. He could hear her shallow, rapid breathing. Taking a deep breath he reached out, wrapped his sculpted arms around her slender body and pulled her in close. As suddenly as it had started it stopped. Arriana's breathing returned to normal as did her eyes. She blinked a few times, looking at Henry.

"What happened?" she asked.

Henry smiled, not letting her go. "You need to work on your control."

"Huh?"

"Your powers took you over. You're going to have to start meditating."

He finally let her go, watching her blue eyes readjust. "Let's go save Barwick."

"Okay."

Deacon slowly slinked his way back to the group, not saying a word to anyone. Arriana turned and continued her trek around the castle.

As she reached the back a familiar feeling washed over her. The same one she had when Marc was in trouble in his office.

"Henry! Hey, come here," she whispered to him, hoping he'd heard.

"What?"

"Barwick is here," she said.

"How do you know?"

"I don't know. It's that feeling. Somewhere at the back of the castle. We need to hurry up."

They turned and snuck back to where the group finally arrived.

"Alright, well, he doubled the guards on top so I want you guys to take Zoe as well. Take them out. If you have to use lethal force, that's fine. Shoot them, throw them over the side...do what you have to. Arion and I will go first, remember, wait until the last guards follow us in. Rotet I want you to give them a signal once the guards up top are taken care of. Once they are, I want the rest of you to follow us in. Carefully. After they get into the castle Rotet, Cartra, Edgar, I want you on the ground with us. Zoe and Marc I want you to remain at the top and take out whoever we can't. Are you all ok with this?" Arriana asked solemnly.

"You want us to kill them?" a baffled Zoe asked.

"Zoe, they have Barwick. They stabbed Victoria and James. Who knows if they're even alive. They are willing to kill Barwick just to get at me and deter us from battle. A wise man told me, war is not a pretty thing; however, sometimes it is necessary. And one of the downsides of war is casualties. We must save Barwick. They stabbed a nine year old girl and a thirteen year old boy. Children. These men have no remorse. They have no respect for life. Whether it is human, witch, wizard, mythic or animal. If we do not stop them, they will kill us. They will kill our families and our friends. Can you handle that? If you want to save what we're working for, then follow me in. If not please stay here," Arriana told everyone.

"We can handle it. We want to save Barwick. We want to put an end to this." Zoe hugged Arriana.

Arriana smiled at the group and tightened her scabbard around her waist. She breathed heavily and mounted Arion. Was she about to start the battle early? Without her army? She nudged him on and he began the walk towards the drawbridge. Arriana breathed slowly and deep trying to slow her heart rate back to normal. She was beginning to panic thinking the worse, hoping they had not killed Barwick yet, hoping they wouldn't die. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind as Arion stomped his front hooves on the wooden drawbridge, snorting and neighing to get the guards attention.

"Hey! You lousy pieces of shit! Open the drawbridge before I knock it down!" Arriana shouted angrily, forgetting the worry that had just plagued her.

The gate slowly began to creak open. Arion walked through as soon as it was down. He walked to the center of the court yard as he had done before. Surrounding the opening were Lucas' guards. Arriana slid off of Arion's back and walked forward. A tall, muscular man stepped forward and stared at her.

"Where do you think you're going, you freak?" growled the man.

"I'm the freak? Am I the one going around murdering and kidnapping people? Aren't you the pot calling the kettle black? Back off; if I'm willing to blow open a door what makes you think I won't send your ass flying over that wall behind you? Or into it," she shouted right back at him.

"You have no right being here!" he shouted into her face.

"I have every right to be here seeing as how this is my castle. You murdering goons killed my family for it. Now, I'll take it back after the battle but for right now I'm giving you all one chance to let Barwick free; otherwise, I'll take him back by force."

"That old codger is probably dead by now. Lucas has him," the big man scoffed.

"Now, you see that right there? That just pisses me off. You see if one hair is harmed on his head, I'm going to spare any of you. Do you understand me?" Arriana told him calmly.

"Really? You and what army little girl? Look around you. You're surrounded," he asked sarcastically.

"Do you honestly think I would come here alone? You aren't very observant of your surroundings are you? No, no you big baboon. Look higher. Ah, yes there you go. Notice anything, I don't know, missing? You look shocked. Oh you're archers? I don't think you're going to be seeing them anytime soon." She smiled as Rotet, Cartra and Edgar dove over the edge and landed beside her and Arion. "You didn't really think I came alone do you? See, that's your problem. You guys just really underestimate me. I'm a woman, not an idiot. Which it's apparent you are."

"But, but how?" he gasped, looking around as Deacon, Zoe, Marc, Henry Aroman, Xander, Adia, Ronan, Maverick and Meria stepped out of the shadows.

As the guards looked around in disbelief Arriana unsheathed her sword and tapped the man on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, but I'll be seeing Barwick now. If you don't mind of course," Arriana said sarcastically.

The guard pulled out his sword as did the rest of his men.

"You see, I was hoping to avoid this. I'm sick of fighting. I want to save it for the battle but if you insist that's fine," she said sheathing her sword.

Arriana raised her hands in front of her face, staring at the man who stood in front of her. She began to breathe heavily concentrating on the core of her body. She began to glow the brilliant blue color, the man looked past her as Deacon, Henry and Zoe stepped up to either side, facing opposite directions. They followed suit, raising their hands in front of their faces concentrating. Deacon's body glowed yellow while Zoe glowed red. Their power zones began to mix and mingle which created an immense flash of light swirling and flowing around them. The four of them threw their hands out and the mixture of power sent a tremendous blast through the courtyard. A dust cloud picked up and they took the opportunity to run in and find Barwick. They didn't give the cloud time to settle and see what damage they had done, they wanted to save their friend. Once inside Arriana closed her eyes, trying to focus on Barwick.