I was ecstatic.
The armies collided in the middle of the chasm, slipping, and sliding. I had to dodge arrows as elves shot them into the air. I dove down into the crowd of soldiers and grabbed one of the Mythlanders by the scruff of their neck, pulling him into the air. I sunk my dagger into their stomach and dropped them down into the ravine. I smirked at their screams. I love war.
I picked off soldiers from the air, Scott was in the midst of the battle. He impaled a few soldiers with ice before attacking with his sword. I dove into the chaos and magic exploded out of me, killing everyone that was caught off guard within 5 yards. Were some of them elves? Yeah. Did I care? No.
I plowed through the army, searching for the rulers. I would love to take credit for their deaths. I narrowly missed being skewered by ice. Scott was violently freezing anyone in his path or impaling them with the spikes of ice.
"WATCH IT!" I shouted.
"THAT WAS YOUR FAULT"! He called back as he froze an Overgrown soldier solid before smashing their body into a million pieces. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
He had distracted me. I felt a piercing pain In my shoulder. A Grimlands soldier had stabbed a spear into it.
"Seriously?" I asked and blasted her in the face. She staggered back up. "Persistent. I like that." I sprinted toward her, and she held up her blood covered spear. I almost ran into it, but I slid underneath it and through her legs. I jumped onto her back, wrapped my legs around her waist and slid my dagger through her throat. "Walk that off."
I landed on my feet and wiped my hands on my pants before running back into the crowd of warriors.
My veins were glowing with red energy. I could see it flowing through my blood underneath my skin. My face split into a grin as I punched my way through the soldiers. They fell down dead, one by one.
I don't know how long I was out there, but I barely got a scratch besides that spear to the shoulder. That still annoyed me. Maybe if I murdered her family it would make up for it...No what am I thinking? They're probably not even in the army. If they were I had probably killed them already.
The voice I had been hearing for almost a week now had blended in with my own thoughts. Now I couldn't tell the difference. But I couldn't think about that now. I was in the middle of a war. Literally. I hadn't noticed but I was standing on the layer of ice...what if...
"I know what you're thinking." Came the unmistakable Helianthian accent of Pearl. "Don't do it. You'd be killing your own men as well."
Now, don't let the flower crown and dress fool you. This women is an absolute warlord in battle. What with her intricately detailed armor and golden axe. It's not real gold, that would be absolutely crap, but it looks just like it. It's beautiful, and that's saying something, coming from me.
I turned around to face her. "Do what?" I asked with a smile. I smashed the heel of my foot into the ice, and it cracked.
Pearl took a step back and set her jaw, raising her shield. "You really are crazy." She lunged at me with her axe. I bent backwards and I could practically taste the metal as the blade flew right over my nose. I sprung up and slashed with my daggers, but they sparked uselessly against her shield.
I sheathed them and smashed my shoulder into the metal. Pearl staggered backwards but found her footing and shoved me away. She swung her axe in an arc at my head, but I grabbed its handle, the blade inches away from splitting my skull.
I pulled my knees up to my chest and hit the ice with the lower part of my back, still holding the axe handle. The ice crunched beneath me. I kicked my feet up and kicked Pearl in the stomach before pulling back on the handle and sending Pearl flying over me.
She sprawled out on the ice before attempting to get to her feet then rolled to the left to avoid getting hit with a rouge arrow.
I ran at her and slashed down with my arms, sending waves of red energy at her. She dodged and it imploded onto two men fighting it out behind us.
Pearl scrambled for her axe, but I kicked it across the ice, feet away from her. Pearl jumped to her feet, brandishing her shield. I ran head in, crossing my forearms and slammed into her shield. The metal began to steam, and Pearl seemed to be resisting the urge to look impressed.
I grunted as I pushed, one centimeter, two centimeters...my arms slowly sank into the shield. Strands of hair started to fall into my face, but I really couldn't push them out of the way.
My veins turned a shade of black as I strained against the metal. I looked down and got an idea. I pulled my arms down, the scraping sound against the shield was horrible, and smashed them into the ice.
The ice exploded from where I stood, and like a giant sound wave, started to shatter. It blasted me and everyone on the ice bridge off our feet. I flew through the air, spiraling out of control. Sound buzzed in my ears, meaningless and confused as I plummeted down into the chasm.
I came to a sudden halt, and I felt a strong, cold hand gripping my wrist. I looked up and through my blurred vision I saw Scott, hanging on with one arm and elbow to a ledge halfway down the chasm, and grabbing my arm with the other. "ARE YOU CRAZY YOU COULD HAVE KILLED US ALL!" He shouted.
"HELP ME UP AND THEN REPRIMEND ME!" I snapped back.
He began to swing me back and forth. I started to gain momentum. I was almost 180 degrees when I let go and shot through the air. I dug my fingernails into the rock, 3 feet underneath the ledge of the ravine.
I shouted in frustration as I propelled myself up with my wings and landed hard on my feet on solid ground. I looked back down at Scott, he was struggling.
I cupped my hands over my mouth and shouted, "JUST FLY UP YOU IDIOT!" Scott's hands slipped from sweat on the rock, and he shouted in panic just for a second before he let go. He shot upwards, but I heard a strange crunching noise as he lost control and barreled into me.
As soon as we had untangled ourselves, I looked around. The battle had paused. A few hundred soldiers from the rulers' army were struggling with elven soldiers on our side of the chasm...the elves on the other side were dead at the bottom of the chasm. Bodies were littered everywhere down there...
Pearl had been rescued by Gem on her dragon. I counted all the rulers. Dang. My eyes narrowed as I watched the dragon land. They started to retreat to their camp with about a dozen elven prisoner. We had slaughtered the opposing armies soldiers that had been trapped on our side. An elven rule. No prisoners.
I knew the battle was over for the day.
"Come on. Someone needs to look at that arm." Scott said.
"I'm fine." I said.
"No, come on." He grabbed my upper arm, the one that the girl hadn't stabbed, and steered me towards the city.
A few healers had stayed in Rivendale, and the hospital was open. It was filled with wounded elves. Scott sat me down on one of the many hospital mats laid around, the beds were all filled, while we waited for a healer.
"Why'd you do it?" Scott asked finally.
"Do what?" I asked.
"Break the walkway. You killed hundreds. Not just their men." He said.
"Pearl. I thought, if I did it, I might have been able to get her. But Gem caught her on that dang dragon." I growled.
"You have to think about others, Erin. Not just what you want. Strategy is what wins a war. Not brute force." He said.
"I think we've already established I act before I think. How about I kill everyone and if their elves I apologize afterward?"
Scott was trying very hard not to smile. "That's a joke, right?"
It was not a joke. But I played it off as one. "Of co-o-o-ourse."
Scott gave me a stern look. "These are real elven lives Erin. You can't gamble them for the life of one."
I slumped. That's when a healer came in. They straightened my arm a little harshly. I bared my teeth, and she jumped back a little.
"She won't bite." Scott smirked.
I gave him a look. "You serious right now?"
Scott gave me a look that clearly said, Any funny business and I throw you back into the chasm.
"Fine." I grumbled. The healer, the nametag said her name was Zadie, pulled on a pair of latex gloves and began to apply pressure to the wound. "If that's all you're going to do, we didn't have to come here. I can do it myself." I said, ripping my arm from her hands.
"Just trying to help." Zadie said. "But feel free. There are hundreds of others that need help. Helping yourself makes my job easier."
"Snappy for a nurse." I muttered.
"A what?" she asked. "Is that an insult?"
"No. It's a Grimlands term." I said and began to apply my own pressure to the stab wound. Zadie turned to Scott.
"How did you come out of that battle unscathed?" she asked. She glanced at his bleeding fingernails. "Mostly unscathed."
Scott nervously played with the chain on his cloak. "I guess I just protected when I needed to, attacked when I needed to." He mumbled.
Zadie turned from his cloak to his antlers and her eyes widened. "Oh my gods, King Scott I-" She gave him a quick bow and Scott turned bright red. "I am so sorry I did not know it was you I-"
"It's fine. You don't have to." He said. I snickered. He slapped me. "Stop it."
Then she turned to me again. "So your Phoenix?"
"The one and only." I smirked.
"You're really his sister?" she asked.
"Duh, can't you see the family resemblance?" I joked. Truth is, you had to look really hard to see the similarities between us. We had the same lips, eye shape and eye color but that was about it. "I honestly don't understand how I can be related to such an idiot."
Scott glared at me.
"You just let her talk to you like that?" Zadie asked.
Scott pressed his lips together and nodded. "Yup."
"Mainly because I'll kill him if he punishes me." I shrugged.
"Also true." He sighed.
Zadie looked back and forth between us. "Your joking right?"
"No, she really will kill me. She has tried to. Multiple times." Scott said.
"I am just going to walk away." Zadie said and turned on her heel.
Scott slapped me again. "Cut it out your making me look stupid." He said.
"You do that just fine on your own." I smirked. I wrapped a bandage around the stab wound and cut it with my teeth before tying it.
"That's not how you-" Scott started but I gave him the death stare. "Alright, alright chill...."
"Haha, chill." I snickered. "Easy for you to say."
"Hey now, wait just a second-" Scott started but I was already laughing.
"How did you manage to not get hurt in the middle of all that chaos?" I asked.
Scott bit the inside of his cheek and unsheathed his sword. The metal was stained with blood. "Like I said. No one got close enough."
You'll have to.
The voice caught me off guard and I flinched.
"What?" Scott asked.
"Nothing. Just thought of something." I mumbled. I couldn't tell where it was coming from, and I couldn't get rid of it. It was starting to drive me mad.
That's the goal.
My fists clenched around the edges of the mat. Scott, if he saw, didn't question it. "Let's go, other people need this spot."
He helped me to my feet, and we left the hospital. Blood covered parts of the street where soldiers had broken through the barricade.
I jogged ahead of Scott toward the chasm, where people were bringing elven bodies probably to a morgue somewhere in the city. I sprinted over to someone trying to drag a body by themselves and grabbed the corpses legs.
"Thanks." They grunted and we worked together to bring the body down the elven cobbled streets. We came across a building where everyone was gathered, and everyone parted as we brought the body inside. We placed them inside and I straightened up, wiping my hands on my pants.
Scott was right behind us, and he had a woman's body slung over his shoulder. He put her down with a lot more care than I had.
The general, I'm pretty sure his name was General Con, approached Scott. "We finished head counting the ones in here and on the field. We lost 5,000." He sighed.
Scott nodded and bit his lip.
"Collateral damage. It's a good way to die. They'll be praised once we've won." I said and crossed my arms.
General Con gave me a strange look. "How old is your sister?" he asked Scott.
"15," I answered for him. "I'm right here. I don't need anyone to talk for me."
"A teenager. With that much experience?" he pointed out the door. "I have seen you fight, girl. Where did you learn?"
"Self-taught." I said with a smirk, although that wasn't entirely true.
"What is with your accent?"
"Y'all are the one with accents. I'm from the Grimlands." I said.
"Ah," he said. "That makes more sense. What weapon helps you do the red energy?"
"My hands." Red magic wrapped around my forearms.
He stared at me, then back at Scott. "Your right. She might just help us win this war."
"She came dang close to winning the last one." Scott said. "And that was a year ago, before she learned how to use it."
"Eh I still don't really know how to use it. Or even know what it is." I shrugged.
He gaped at me a little. "Alright then." He finally said.
"So what's your plan for tonight? Raid the rulers camp? Catch them off guard?" I asked.
General Con frowned. "No, the battle continues tomorrow. They retreated."
"Aw, your no fun." I said with a grin. "I'm going to their camp tonight. I'll let you know if I manage to kill anyone important."
"You what?" Scott asked.
"But the ancient rules of-" The General started.
"General, there are no rules in war." I said and stepped out of the morgue.