Living Like Legends [Alec Lightwood]

{Chapter Twenty Six}

Ashe

Ashe gazed out at the rows of Shadow Hunters, all clad in their black leather armor, covered in runes and armed to the teeth.

"Are you ready?"  Evalgne asked from her side.  The woman had proved to be useful once put in her place. 

Ashe shrugged.  "As ready as I'll ever be."

"You can do this."  Alec breathed in her ear and she took a deep breath before sending a string of words hurling down at the symbol marked on the ground.  The earth rumbled and the grasses swayed before the symbol disintegrated, seemingly burning away the ground with it.  A yawning black hole opened before them and everything stilled.  The air seemed thick and no sound was made.  It was dead silent.

"We have to go through that?"  Ashe heard a murmur behind her and more whispers chimed in.

To her surprise it was Evalgne who turned to rebuke them.  "You are warriors!  We are here to protect and fight like we are fighting for our own!"  She thrust her sword in the air.  "To the death!"

Dozens of swords were thrust up in a reflection.  "To the death!"

"To the death."  Alec echoed and Ashe found his hand before taking a step forward.  She set her jaw and stepped into the portal.

~

Elementia was desolate.  A wasteland.  

Ashe fell onto the ground and dropped to her knees.  Her fingers grasped fine dust, almost sand-like.  The air was thick and dry.  She coughed, her throat feeling like sandpaper as she swallowed. 

There was a thud behind her, and then another and another. 

"By the Cup-"  Evalgne climbed to her feet, shielding her face with one hand as she looked around.  "What the hell happened here?"

"Valentine."  Ashe spat, a sour taste in her mouth.  She stood up and felt Alec brush her side.  He was staring at the barren space around him.  Their visibility was limited by the fine dust that seemed to swarm over everything.

"Be on your guard,"  Maryse warned from behind them as she and the others entered Elementia.  "We don't know when or where Valentine will strike."

"Doesn't it seem odd that there's no one here?"  Jace voiced what they were all questioning internally.

"It does."  Evalgne agreed, drawing her weapon.  "I don't like this."

Ashe closed her eyes.  Despite its war-stricken state, this was still Elementia.  Her blood was stirring in her veins and her heart sped up as her bond with the realm clicked.  This was her home.  And she'd be damned if she let anyone take it from her.

"Ashe."  Alec said placing a hand on her arm.

She squeezed her eyes shut harder and threw herself mentally across the open plains.  She stretched across the expanse, searching, hunting, scouring-

There. 

Racing across, coming to them was an expanse of black.  Valentine's forces.

With a jerk, she pulled herself back and her eyes flew open.  "They're coming!"  The wind tugged strands of hair free from her braid and they whipped across her face.  "Separate and move quickly.  Don't forget to protect your flank."

"Be safe, big brother."  Isabelle's lilting voice grazed past Ashe as the girl hugged her brother.  Robert grasped Alec's neck while Maryse swiped hair from Isabelle's face and spoke in low tones to her daughter.

"Keep him safe." 

Ashe turned to find Jace standing beside her, arm resting on his sword.  He jerked his head at Alec.

"With my life."  Ashe said, the wind nearly taking her words.  Jace held out his hand and Ashe clasped it before the two groups separated.

"This way!"  Ashe yelled above the raging sand as she turned to the east.  They moved at a decent pace, low to the ground as the wind finally began to die down.  Soon shapes emerged from the hazy gloom in front of them.

"What the hell are those?"  Ashe heard a mutter from the back as their finally became clear.  Rising from the ground, directly in front of them were masses of black, gazing down on them like silent giants. 

Alec slowed to a stop, craning his neck upwards.  "Don't tell me-"

"Yeah."  Ashe cut him off.  "Those are the prisons.  The Dryctis."

"Your people must do some really messed up stuff to be thrown in there."  A Shadow Hunter said from behind.

Maryse shook her head.  "It is not the Elementians that are imprisoned in Dryctis."

"Then who- or what, is in there?"  Alec turned to Ashe who finally averted her gaze from the black spheres. 

"Because Elementia is so vast and seprate from the rest of the realms, Dryctis holds the most feared criminals.  Usually captured by Shadow Hunters and then brought to us by the Clave.  Demons, giants, dragons-"

"Dragons?"  Came the incredulous cry from the back.

"Don't tell me you've never seen dragons before."  Ashe turned to face the multitude of warriors.  They stared back at her.

"Oh."  She shrugged turning back around and begging to walk again.  "They're pretty common here.  You've just got to stay out of their way and they typically won't burn you to death."

Alec choked and Ashe rolled her eyes.  "I'm kidding, geez."

Maryse seemed at a loss for words, shooting Alec a look.  He just shrugged and she shook her head.  "You just had to pick her."  Maryse muttered under her breath.

Alec's lips turned up at the corners and Ashe, whose hearing had intensified once she'd entered Elementia, grinned.