All the soldiers have been organised into long rows and blocks. Each section lead by the royals and generals. Toryn and Tanya lead the Zola section. I lead them all with General Xavier. The clonking of the armour and sound of everyone stepping at the same time is loud. My heart beats wildly in my chest as we walk through the forests and over the fields to where the NightShades are hiding. I look at the general. It is odd, seeing him in my silver armour instead of the golden armour of the Howlsky's. The leopard helmet over his face is beautiful and intricate, just like mine. Decorated with swirling silver metal shapes and lines of dark blue. He lifts his helmet and smiles reassuringly at me. He also carries a large shield now too. It is the same silver as his armour and is curcular. The flower of Zola has been engraved into it in lines of dark blue. Everyone was given a shield like this as we left the palace grounds. Mine hangs on my back.
"We are all scared, Isla," he says. "My own daughter is behind me, leading a part of this army. She is not by my side and I can't protect her." His voice cracks slightly and I see tears in his eyes. "But I have to trust her and accept her decision because she is her own free will. Just like everyone here. Because we trust each other and we believe in you." He touches my shoulder and I take another deep breath.
"We are almost here," I tell him. He nods again, sliding his helmet over his face.
We continue walking for another thirty minutes before the ice dome comes into view. I hear gasps behind me when the shifters see the sheer size of the ice shield that I had made. I gasp for a different reason. Since yesterday, the ice has suffered severe damage. There are huge cracks lining up the sides and it is also thin in some places too. I had known when I put up the shield that their magic would eventually be able to break through the ice, even with it enchanted to my necklace. I just hadn't thought it would be this soon. I walk up to the ice, looking inside. The field stretches before us, before dropping off the cliff to the camp below. Well, that is what I remember the layout being. I now can't see the camp field under the cliff, I just see the edge of the cliff its self. It drops into the unknown.
I tuck my hand under my armour and pull out the necklace that the ice dome in enchanted too. Slowly, I pull it out and gaze at it.
"I won't take this in with me. As soon as we pass the ice, all our magic will stop working," I tell the General. "and I want this dome to stay up as long as possible even with us inside. To ensure that his beasts and soldiers don't try and escape to go to the cities." He nods his head as I place the necklace down on the ground. If the enchanted necklace stays outside the dome, then it will keep on enforcing the ice magic a little longer.
"Is everyone ready?" I ask.
"We don't really have a choice," General Xavier says.
"No, we really don't," I sigh as I press my palm against the ice. A large section of ice opens up before us. Big enough for many shifters rows of shifters to walk through at the same time.
"Let's go," I whisper, stepping through the ice doorway. As soon as I step beyond it, I feel all my magic getting zapped out of me. Strength and speed leave my body. My senses weaken and I no longer feel my connection to my water magic or my dragon form. I gasp. I think Blue was very wrong about me being able to shift. I feel nothing. I hear the even footsteps of my army follow me as I walk to the top of the cliff. I try not to gasp as I see what is stretched out before me. Thousands of NightShade soldiers stand waiting in a sea of black armour. THey stand in equal squares in the distance and in the middle of all these squares is a smaller one. One with a wooden stage where the NightShade King sits on a throne. I snarl. The coward will not be fighting. He will be surrounded by his soldiers and letting them do all the work for him. The great monsters we saw yesterday are also among the blocks of soldiers. They are chained and held by NightShades who struggle to keep them secure as they thrash around. The great beasts are eager for blood. Their great writhing forms show their mutilated, powerful frames and it only scares me more. My breathing speeds up as I instinctually reach for my weapons. I want to much to look back and just glance at my siblings and friends, but I cannot look away. My eyes fall on the black figure who stands in front of the NightShade army. It is him. I snarl again.
"Tell everyone to avoid him," I say to the General as I gesture to the assassin. He nods his head and sends out the word.
There are a few tense minutes as my army continues to enter the dome. My heart is beating so wildly I think it is going to burst from my chest. My veins are on fire from the adrenaline and my stomach flutters with fear. This is it. This is what all these past months of fear and pain have come down to. It all ends today. One way or another. My army is now lined up along the top of the cliff and in long lines behind. They all can see what lies before us. I and the other royals are all stood equally apart. We can all see each other in the distances on either side. I catch my siblings eyes and they nod. I gulp and feel stinging in my eyes. I want to cry with fear as I see my brother and sister ready to fight in this war. I can't stand the thought of losing them or any of my friends. But looking at our odds now, I know that these final looks, these final glances at each other could be our goodbyes. I take one more deep breath, before pulling out the sword that Toryn and I made together. As soon as I feel the hilt, I can feel the magic. That puts a smile on my face. Somehow, this beautiful weapon that my brother and I made together is managing to feed from the heart magic. Perhaps there is hope after all. I lift the sword into the air, letting all the shifters see the magic that rushes through the icy blue veins that run along the metal blade. They don't make a noise, but I feel the shift of emotion. I feel it as they begin to feel hope. Hope that our magic isn't completely blocked. That we aren't all defenceless. Toryn lifts his sword too and the lava-like veins through the blade glow like mine. His magical weapon still holds its magic too. I smile beneath my helmet. I point the sword at the King. There is no doubt he can both see and feel the small amount of magic from our weapons. I can almost imagine the look of rage on his face and it fills me with satisfaction. The sound of swords being pulled from their metal sheathes sound around me and I see all shifters raising their swords into the air. It is a sign of defiance. A sign that we will not roll over and hand our lands or people over freely. A sign, that we will fight with everything we have.
I hear a shout in the distance and watch as a cloud of black arches into the air.
"Shields!" I shout. In a clonking sound, all shifters have lifted up the silver shields over their bodies. The black cloud begins to fall toward us, but it doesn't look like a cloud anymore. As it gets closer, I can see the thousands of black arrows falling straight for us. I snarl, not lifting my shield to cover myself like to others. Instead, I swing my sword as the arrows head toward me, snapping it in two straight out of the air. The arrows all land against the shields. The sounds of them clanging on the metal is loud and I am happy to not hear and grunts of pain. The metal that our shields are made from is very strong even without magic. The arrows do not even scratch them. There is silence again and I stretch my neck. I pull the large circular shield from my back and hold it out in front of me. I let out a shout as I throw myself off the cliff. It isn't too high, luckily but the ground rushes up toward me quickly. I hold my shield out to the ground, to soften my landing. As soon as the metal hits the floor, I loosen my body, allowing it to effortlessly role forward. I jump back up to my feet in a flash and begin to run toward the army. All around me, I can see the rest of the shifters jumping from the cliffs and landing like I did, using their shields to block their fool and push their bodies forward. They run alongside me as we charge toward the NightShade soldiers. The NightShades are also running, heading for us. But overtaking them are the beasts. Their roars fill the air and the terrifying child-like screams of the Bone Crawlers rattles my bones. But we do not stop as they get closer and closer. We just run faster.
أنت تقرأ
Waterfalls
الخيال (فانتازيا)"The enemy will always cheat, Isla, you need to be prepared for anything." Isla and her siblings have lived in a cave for as long as they can remember with no memory of how they got there or who they were before. They only remembered two things...
