[AN: Quick gore warning. No, it is not the wendigo, just a very bloody nightmare. That's all.]
~Chapter Eleven: An Intervention of Sorts~
"In your dreams, witch."
I feint left when they prepare to fire more spells before dodging right as the spells are thrown. All but one end up harmlessly flying further into the forest. The last one curves towards me like it has a homing beacon. I barely have the time to shout in surprise before it hits me in the side, sending me spinning through the air before hitting the ground again.
My fear keeps my head clear despite the hard impact, but it does not make my body hurt any less. Why are they using non-lethal spells? Black witches are not known for using anything but lethal ones.
The sound of hurried footfall drags my attention upward. My hope for backup rockets up and only continues to grow despite the feeling of wrongness when Tiezoch runs out of the forest with the other five members of my platoon close behind. "Ata!" Tiezoch shouts when he sees me on the ground.
Within seconds, a battle breaks out between my team and the witches. I roll to my feet, my fear replaced with excitement. Ignoring the sense that something is wrong, I start running towards the fight. However, the more I run, the farther they get, almost like the small clearing has grown in size.
The earth shakes as Tiezoch uses his magic on the witches, pulling a boulder from the ground and crushing a witch with it. Sidr is not even trying to use his magic but instead uses his anti-magic swords to cut through any spell thrown at my teammates, all of whom are engaged in a magic fight with the four remaining witches. It looks like they are winning.
However, what they do not see is the female witch sneaking up from behind them, her wand glowing silver. I open my mouth to shout out a warning, hoping that they will hear me, but a hand closes over my mouth, muffling my shout. I try to elbow the person, but chains shoot out of the ground and metal cuffs close around my wrists and ankles, forcing me down to the ground.
"We aren't going to kill you," the witch leader says, a cruel smile on his face as he crouches down beside me. He jerks a thumb towards my friends. "But we don't need them."
As if on cue, the witch with the silver wand throws a spell at Sidr, who gets hit by it in the back. Immediately, he drops his swords and falls to his knees, clutching his heart. Tiezoch turns to face her, but another witch hits him with a spell because his back is turned and he goes down as well, dead before he even hits the ground. Private Gaemnar and Corporal Doisuhm are taken out not even a moment later with Tiezoch no longer watching their backs. I do not even see how the other three die, as the leader moves to block my line of sight.
"A few months in the prison should change your mind," he says, the metal collar appearing in his hands. It closes around my neck with a click before he is standing up again. Suddenly, he is gone and I am kneeling on a field covered in demon blood.
The chains clink around my wrists, no longer holding me down but hanging loosely. I can still feel the collar around my neck, but only my magic is gone this time. The curse lingers, a cold so strong it makes it hard to breathe.
Something moves to my left, making me turn to look. A blood-covered figure stares up at the sky with unseeing eyes. "Heather," I whisper, horrified by what I see. It is not just Heather and the bodies of my platoon, but the bodies of every demon I know, Hellion army or not. Many of them appear to have been thrown into piles, as if to clean up the battlefield.
Suddenly, Heather's head turns to look directly at me, her expression full of disappointment. "You failed us," she says.
I leap out of bed and hit the floor hard when the blankets catch around one of my legs. I barely manage to untangle myself before my entire body bursts into flames, my clothes burning to ash in seconds. Falling to my knees, I press my forehead roughly into the cold stone, willing the fire to stop. While it does go out, it takes a full minute longer than it should have.
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