A Court of Fire and Shadows -ON BREAK!!!-

Elain

Jurian was right. The army was exactly where he said they'd be. He gave us good information, even if he didn't know who, or, what Hybern really was.

"SHIELDS," Cassian yelled to the front line.

One by one, shields of various colors flickered into place around the Illyrians and their weapons, overlapping like the metal shields that they each bore on their left hands. 

Mor winnowed us to the tree-covered hill that overlooked the field Cassian had deemed would be the best place to hit them based on Azriel's scouting. There was a slope to the grass, in our advantage. We held the high ground, a narrow, shallow river lay not too far back from Hybern's army. Success in battle, Nix once told me, was often decided not by numbers, but by picking where to fight.

The Hybern army seemed to realize their disadvantage within moments, but the Illyrians had landed beside Keir's soldiers. Cassian, Azriel, and Rhys spread out amongst the front line, all clad in that black Illyrian armor, all armed as the other winged soldiers were: shield gripped in the left hand, Illyrian blade in the right, an assortment of daggers on them, and helmets.

While the other Illyrians had smooth domes as helmets, Rhys, Azriel, and Cassian wore black helmets whose cheek-guards had been fashioned and swept upward like ravens' wings, albeit razor sharp ravens' wings that jutted up on either side of the helmet, right above the ear, but the effect was terrifying. Especially with the two other swords strapped across their backs, the gauntlets that covered every inch of their hands, and the Siphons gleaming amongst Cassian's and Azriel's ebony armor.

Manon and Elide were both wearing witch leathers, Manon with Abraxos in the sky, wielding Wind-Cleaver. Elide was on the front line a hatchet in on hand and Light-Saver in Elide's hand. Fitting considering what they were about to face. Lysandra was a wyvern next to Manon, ready to rain hell upon the army from the sky. Lorcan was wearing armor of pure black, a steel sword in one hand, a midnight shield in the other. Aedion's armor was the twin of Lorcan's, only Aedion's was silver. In his hand he held a sword with a bone pommel, The Sword of Orynth. Fenrys had dark steel armor, with Illyrian weapons covering every inch of him, with two swords strapped across his back. Dorian was standing to Aelin's left, wearing simple armor that did not seems to be fit for a king. It was plain and nondescript. He would've looked like a regular foot soldier if it were not for the power radiating off of him. He was almost as powerful as Aelin, more powerful even than Rowan, who was now standing at Aelin's right. He was wearing pale grey armor, so pale that it almost looked white. The cheek-guards of his helmet, (like the bat boys, as Ae and Lys had recently started calling them) were swept into wings, hawk wings. 

Aelin who was wearing pale golden armor that fit her like a glove. Her hair was braided back and she had a white helmet, that I knew would soon be stained with blood. There was a white and gold shield in her left hand, and in her right was a sword with a ruby the size of a chicken egg imbedded in the gold hilt. Goldryn. Aelin also had a variety of other weapons (some visible and some concealed) on her, almost all in Illyrian steel. Pure power rippled off her as she once again took the damper off of her power. The gold rings in her eyes burned with wildfire.

They fought for hours afterwards, I was thanking the Cauldron and every god out there that these soldiers were just human, not valg, not yet. 

Aelin was cutting them down with practiced ease, leaving a trail of bodies where she walked. I knew she was drilling deep into the well of her magic to use it to destroy the Valg queen and kings. All of the Erileans were whirlwinds of steel and death, any one of them could give the Illyrians a run for their money.

I was itching to jump in and help them, mostly to help Azriel, I don't know what I would do if something happened to him, if he died. I would never forgive myself, knowing that I could've saved him, but didn't because I didn't want to tell my sisters how I could save him.

_____LINE BREAK_____

After the battle was over, they winnowed us to a new camp at the edge of the Winter border, I acted numb, pretended like I didn't even notice us moving camps. I walked into our tent and pretended to sleep when Nesta came to check on me. When she saw me asleep, she left to go see how she could help.

I sat up and stretched, wincing at the ache in my back from sitting all day.

Azriel walked into the tent, Aelin on his heels. "Hey Ellie," Aelin said with a faint smirk, "I bet you wish you could've been down there fighting with us."

They walked in and sat down next to me on my bed. "You have no idea," I said, checking them over to make sure they didn't get hurt.

"Ellie, you do need to tell them. You can't pretend forever, they're going to figure it out." Azriel started, "Feyre and Rhys already suspect something, thankfully Cassian was too drunk to remember that night at the bar, if he was sober, you'd be screwed. Nesta knows something's up, she saw me dropping you off in your tent the other day, I think Amren already figured it out but isn't telling anyone, and Mor- Well actually I don't think Mor knows anything, but that's besides the point-"

"The point is," Aelin interrupted, "You need to tell them on your own terms. If they figure it out before you're ready..."

"Figure what out?" A voice drawled from the front of the tent. Rhys.

"That.. Elain's... birthday is coming up?" Aelin, not very convincingly, lied.

Rhys rolled his eyes before shifting back into-

Lysandra?

"I would've thought that two assassins and a spymaster would be able to come up with a better excuse. That was pathetic," She sauntered over to my, now very cramped, bed and sat down.

"Don't do that Lys! You scared the shit out of us!" I scolded, punching her in the shoulder lightly.

She bared her teeth at me playfully, "Well you were talking very loudly, I couldn't help it."

"Shit, I need to go, Rhys is looking for me." I nodded as Azriel disappeared into the shadows.

Ae, Lys and I talked for a while, they only left because they heard Nesta coming and didn't want to get their heads ripped off, which was a very real possibility.

I will continue