✧The Earthe of the Elves✧

56

"NO!" I cry, panic hitting me at the fact that this is happening only seconds into the battle. My beautiful horse falls, and it's all I can do to not get crushed as I scramble off of him. My chest is heaving already as I crouch down, a pang of sorrow hitting me at the sight of the poor creature on the ground. The horse's breaths come out shallow and weak. I can't leave him like this. As quick as I can I rest a hand on his still warm belly, taking power from the Heartstone to put my horse asleep- one he won't wake from.

"Mia!" I hear a shout over the sounds of battle. When I turn I come face to face with a Cin, a snarl on his face. I whip my sword out, but before I can attack a blade is shoved through his back, coming clean through the armor of his stomach. Warm blood sprays my face as he collapses face first into the snow. I didn't notice until now that the snow here is no longer white, but stained pink and red with blood. 

Halion stands over me, blade dripping crimson, his other hand outstretched to me. I take it, scanning him for injuries. He appears to be fine, thank god.

"You okay?" He asks, eyes darting behind me as he asks. I stare at him, then the trees. He must've come down from his post.

"Yeah, you?" I reply quickly. Three Cin come racing at us before Hal has a chance to respond, and he immediately pulls me to him until we're facing back to back. My whole arm shakes as I block a crushing strike from the Cin attacking me- a young elf, black hair tied behind him, sword similar to mine. He's so young. His face is full of anger as he yells, swinging his sword again. I grunt in effort as I parry the blow, pulling more power from the Heartstone as I kick him in the gut, the power sending him far, far away. By the time I'm finished Halion has already taken down the other two, but I can't miss the rip in his sleeve, the blood shining under the moonlight.

"Hal-"

"I'm fine," he yells over the noise, shaking his head. "Go, find Elmer!" I nod, swallowing the terror clawing at my throat as we split up, and I'm suddenly alone again. The darkness doesn't help either- my adrenaline picks up more out of habit as I turn in a full circle, trying to see how we're doing. The white and black armor is easy to differentiate, but I can't tell how much of either force is left when we're all mixed together.

The Heartstone continues to heat up the more I use it, consequentially draining my energy just a bit more. But training did me well, and adrenaline keeps me going as I keep fighting, as the moon keeps rising. As minutes pass, or hours. I can't be sure. The moon is full, meaning even now there is a grey-blue glow covering everything.

I only saw Knox once, and he didn't even see me. But with the way he was swinging around two blades at once, eyes sharp with focus, lithe and deadly- I doubt he's even broken a sweat.

Cin don't follow rules. There are no rules of war for conquerors. They will play dirty no matter what, they don't care about honor. I learn this as two Cin come at me at once- one in the front, one at my back. Blades whir past my head as I duck, simultaneously grabbing a dagger from my boot and lashing out, slicing the leg of the Cin in front of me, who stumbles just long enough for me to swipe the sword out of his hand and turn, bringing my sword up to meet the one behind me. The elf growls, pushing his blade down as hard as he can. My arm starts to shake, and I know I won't be able to hold him. So I dart out of the way and let my blade drop, his weapon shooting down with the momentum and slamming into the snow. I don't hesitate to finish him, because a split second later I feel a blade hit the armor at my back, but before it can push past the armor I spin away, using the Heartstone again, this time to melt the Cin's blade. He kicks my blade out of my hand and lunges at me. I barely see him, a blur of motion, as he tackles me to the ground. My head slams into the snow, my helmet falling off. I punch up blindly, but miss, and receive a punch to the face in return. The metallic tang of blood fills my mouth as the Cin on top of me, older with a snow-caked beard, attempts to pin my arms to the ground. I thrash, finally grabbing the small blade in my thigh holster and finding the slit in the side of his chest plate. He roars, grabbing my blade-holding hand and pushing it down with full force towards my leg. I just barely move my leg away enough, but I still feel tendrils of pain explode in my thigh as the blade slices it. I cry out, my leg jolting, but I grit my teeth and send the energy pulsing in the Hearstone into my blade. The dagger glows, white hot, and its energy sends it slamming up into the neck above me. The Cin slumps on top of me and I push him off, gagging at the blood now smeared on my own neck and armor, a violent painting on the stark white of my chest plate. By now my hair is barely hanging onto the braid pulling it away from my face.