I felt like I couldn't breathe, or make my eyes believe what I was seeing in front of me. I hadn't trusted my instincts enough. Standing in front of us was Brianne, Telvil's wife, and she wasn't alone. Dark Horrors were popping their disgusting heads up all over the tall grass. They stood in bleak contrast to the white of the snow that was still clinging to the ground in places. As soon as the Horrors appeared, the horses bolted back for the road, Valentia's gaze held mine but I urged her to find safety.
Quickly returning my attention to Brianne and the monsters surrounding us. My first thought would have been that she was being held hostage, if it weren't for the sneer on her face. I felt every hair on my body stand on end, anger flared inside of me but Merkell shot me a warning look and I knew to stay calm, for the time being. Nobody had moved, everyone was staring at each other but I was glad the others understood what was happening.
From the looks on their faces they knew Brianne wasn't a victim and that we had been led into a trap. I didn't know if this was the only one or if my dad was in trouble as well, all I knew for sure was how much I wanted to wipe that smug look off of Brianne's face. The standoff only lasted a few seconds and then all hell broke loose, Emy and Kayle both charged at the same time which set everything off.
"You!" Emy shouted and she was gunning straight for Brianne.
The soldiers sprang into action as the Dark Horrors tried to intercept Emy and Kayle. I ran after Emy and knew Blaike and Kaleb were following me. I drew my sword and summoned my magic, ready to use whichever would inflict the most damage. A Dark Horror came charging at me and I slashed out with my sword, my adrenaline was pumping so fast I didn't have time to feel fear.
The creature tried to evade my sword but I was ready with a blast of magic that seared into what would have been its neck. It fell to the ground, screeching in pain but I didn't stop to watch it die. I had to catch up with Emy, she was almost to Brianne and I didn't know what else that woman was capable of.
She was in league with the Horrors and obviously Riltresik, which meant she was the reason we were attacked in Eribourne. I should have known my feelings about her were something to follow up on.
My thoughts raced as I chopped down another Dark Horror, this time my sword pierced its chest so deeply that it died instantly. I yanked my sword free and kept on running, soldiers were fighting Dark Horrors but it was taking four or five of them and most weren't winning. I saw bodies fall all around me, blank eyes staring at the sky above; a sight that I knew would haunt me forever. I tried to send magic toward them to help but I couldn't get a clear shot without the possibility of hitting one of the soldiers.
Another group was being cut down when suddenly a stream of fire rained down on the Dark Horror involved. The flames were white hot and it was quickly reduced to a smouldering carcass. I grinned as I saw Merkell sweeping through the ranks of Dark Horrors. He managed to save a lot of the soldiers and they stayed with him, methodically taking down more of the creatures.
My own observations would have been my undoing if Blaike hadn't been close by. I had been too busy trying to help, and watching Merkell, to notice that a Horror had been sneaking towards me.
I turned just in time to see it fall to the floor, limbs being torn off one by one by an invisible force and black blood pooling on the ground around it.
I gazed at Blaike and he arched a brow, "Pay attention to your surroundings, everyone here knows exactly what they are doing. Help if you can but if not, keep going." He leaned down to kiss my cheek, "Be careful," he whispered and then ran off to dispatch another Horror.
Kaleb gave me a swift nod and ran off in the opposite direction. I didn't have time to feel bad about my mistake, Emy had reached Brianne and they were already fighting. I ran to them and managed to avoid the Horrors, who were all embroiled in one fight or another. Emy was attacking Brianne with punches, like she had forgotten she had a sword. Brianne was putting up a good fight, she wasn't as ladylike as she appeared.
She had years of experience on Emy however, she landed a kick to Emy's stomach and sent her flying to the ground. Brianne looked like she was about to lunge for Emy but I sent a pulse of magic at her. She was either too distracted to avoid it or she simply didn't know how. It knocked her off her feet and she was scrambling to get back up when I reached Emy, who was already up on her feet.
We both moved in sync towards Brianne and she looked a little worried now.
"You will not harm the wife of the leader of your Sector, Telvil will have you imprisoned if you do."
"Nah, I think he'll thank us for exposing a traitor in his own home." Emy said and I smirked widely.
"Trying to play the victim like you weren't just standing side by side with Dark Horrors, against us."
She was shaking her head, "I was made to do it, they forced me. They threatened my family, I had no choice. You have to believe me."
I actually almost believed her for a moment but then I remembered the look on her face when she had first faced us only minutes before. The sounds of the fights around us were a reminder of what she had done.
"If that were true you wouldn't have been enjoying it so much. There is always a choice, you wanted this."
"You were the one who let the Dark Horror into Eribourne, the one that attacked me and Cass. It was your fault we nearly died, we have no sympathy for you, lady."
Brianne's pity pleas didn't last long, her upper lip curled in obvious disgust and she almost spat when she spoke.
"I suppose there is no point in keeping up this pretense with the likes of you. Yes I did help the Horror into Eribourne, it is just a shame you did not die, then Riltresik could have this world without a fight. And then I could be a leader, instead of my pathetic excuse for a husband."
"Of course it's about power," I said to Emy like it was no surprise, which it almost wasn't.
Emy knew straight away what I was doing, "Ugh, so predictable, it's always that or money, or jealousy. No originality at all, so disappointing... Oh and please tell me Jaleel is in on it as well, I'd love to kick his butt from here to Hawksend."
Emy smirked and I chuckled loudly, our ploy worked and it sent Brianne into a frenzy. She came at both of us.
"You leave my sweet boy out of this, I'll kill you both before you get the chance to touch him!"
"Yeah, I didn't think he had the guts to do this," Emy said. We easily dodged the attack and I kicked out at Brianne. She fell to the floor, her emotional state was making her sloppy.
"Or the brains to help," I added and pointed my sword at Brianne as she turned for another attack. She drew a short sword at the same time Emy drew hers.
"You will leave my Jaleel out of this," she screamed and came for us again, slashing with her sword but our training served us well. We both parried her attack and sent her stumbling over again.
"Maybe you should go home to him, this is not the place for you. Maybe you can plead with Telvil not to imprison you for betraying everyone in Nentarli." Emy said and she sounded bored with Brianne.
Just then a Dark Horror turned towards us, it must have seen that Brianne was losing. Emy rushed away to deal with it, she grinned at me as she did and I laughed. It certainly looked as though we were enjoying ourselves, which only enraged Brianne further. I was ready for her to come at me but she shocked me by going after Emy, who was busy with the Dark Horror.
I reacted too slowly, I wouldn't get to her in time and if I shouted to tell Emy, the Dark Horror would take advantage of her distraction. I couldn't use magic in case I missed Brianne and hit Emy. I actually managed to surprise myself with my next move, I pulled the Slinger out of my sleeve and smiled at the fact that it was already loaded. I owed Kayle massively and made a note to tell him while I started swinging the Slinger and aimed for Brianne, she was advancing quickly on Emy.
I remembered all of my lessons from Kayle and let the Slinger go, I watched the stone fly and as Brianne was about to raise her sword, the stone hit her on the back of the head. I was running towards them the moment the stone left the Slinger but she fell to the ground before I got there. Emy managed to kill the Dark Horror with magic and turned just in time to see Brianne crumple. I reached them a minute later and Emy and I stared down at her, blood was pooling on the ground under Brianne's head. Her eyes reflected the cold, blue sky above but they saw nothing.
I had never killed someone before, I never really thought I would have to, not until Riltresik. Dark Horrors were different, they weren't people anymore and had committed horrible atrocities, but this was just a woman. One who had done bad things yes but she was still human, and I had killed her.
"It was her or me, you saved my life, Cass. You saved me again and she deserved everything she got after what she's done." Emy rubbed my shoulder, she knew exactly what I was feeling. She always knew and I nodded to her, it didn't make me feel any better but I couldn't afford to dwell.
"We don't have time for this anyway, let's get rid of these monsters then we can find our dads."
Emy nodded and we turned to help the others, except they didn't need it. There were only two Horrors left and Merkell was dealing with one while Blaike finished off the other, Kayle and Kaleb stood nearby to watch. A few of the soldiers were down but it wasn't as many as I'd first thought and the rest were helping the wounded. Once the last Horror fell, we regrouped and I tried not to think of Brianne's face as we talked about what happened.
"So she was the traitor that almost got you killed?" Kayle asked and he was reloading his Slingers.
"Yeah," Emy responded, "She wanted to be the leader instead of Telvil, she was pretty unhinged if you ask me."
"What happened to her?" Kaleb asked and I swallowed hard, feeling nausea wash over me.
I moved away from the group and vomited into the grass, Emy came to hold my hair and I figured the others might have guessed by my reaction what happened.
"It's alright, Cass, it's alright," Emy comforted me but it didn't feel alright.
I had always wanted my life to be more interesting but not like this. I had killed a person and the fight wasn't even close to being over, we still had to take on Riltresik when the time came. I didn't want to think about how I would react to that and who knew how many other people would have to die in the meantime.
I heard footsteps and someone offered me a flask of water. I took a sip to wash my mouth out and looked up to see Blaike, Kaleb and Kayle surrounding us.
"It is never pleasant to kill another person but your reaction to it is what separates you from the evil of the world. You feel horrible and that is why you are still a good person, and you did it to save someone else, a noble act." I frowned while Blaike spoke, his words were helpful but they didn't make me feel better.
He must have been able to read it in me because he pulled me into a tight hug and held me close. I sighed and rested my head against his chest so I could see the others.
"It was either you let her kill me or you kill her, I'm kinda glad you chose to kill her." Emy said with a smile and it just managed to tug at the corner of my mouth.
"I might not have taken that option," Kayle said with a side smile and Emy narrowed her eyes at him.
Despite what we'd just been through, we were still the same and I was still me even though I had just killed someone. I was starting to wonder if I had adapted so much to this world that killing someone was just another stepping stone to overcome. Would there be repercussions from Telvil? Could I be imprisoned for killing Brianne despite what she had done?
My thoughts would have gone on if it weren't for the thunderous boom that sounded out of nowhere. Everyone turned to watch as a mushroom cloud of smoke billowed from the direction our dad's had gone. We moved towards it as a group, the soldiers took the lead while the rest of us followed, everyone was cautious, this wasn't the end of the trap.
We crossed the Trading Road, which was completely void of life, heading in the direction of the giant grey smoke cloud. There was nothing to see at first, until a cold wind picked up and revealed the bodies scattered everywhere. My heart jumped into my throat, I couldn't tell who was there and who wasn't.
As we edged closer I could smell a horrible stench, like rotten meat that had been burnt to a crisp. Who had caused this and where was my dad? We made our way around bodies, there were a great number of soldiers and other people dressed in leather and furs which were still smoking.
"Scavengers," I heard Kaleb mutter and his scowl darkened his whole expression.
They were all dead though, everyone we passed had some devastating injury or another. The closer we got to the centre of the blast, the less recognisable they were and I noticed a few Dark Horrors in the mix. I stopped looking after seeing a blackened skull protruding from a soldier's helmet, if I hadn't been so worried about my dad I might have stopped to throw up again.
We reached the middle of the blast zone, the grass had been burned away in a circular pattern. I figured magic must have done this but when I pointed that out to Merkell, he shook his head.
"Magic would not cause smoke such as that, this was an explosive of some kind and a very powerful one."
But he didn't give any explanation for what it was or how it happened. He sent soldiers to scour the area for survivors, my dad and Emy's just had to he here somewhere. I grabbed Emy's hand as we searched for movement, the smoke was clearing away and we could see further across the land of tall grass.
"I can't lose my dad like this, Emy, I just can't. I should have been with him to make sure he didn't get hurt."
"And then you might not have been with me when I could have been hurt, that's the problem, Cass, you can't save all of us. I know it hurts but we haven't found them yet, they might not have even been here."
I hoped she was right but something was stirring in the pit of my stomach, something bad and it wasn't the nausea.
"No, there's more to this, something doesn't feel right."
A soldier called out suddenly, they had found someone moving. Emy and I sprinted over and my heart soared when I saw the body on the ground, struggling to sit up but otherwise looking okay.
"Dad!" I ran to him and fell down to hug him, he huffed but hugged me back. "What happened here? Are you hurt?"
I pulled back to look at him and he shook his head, "I am fine, probably a concussion but I will survive. As for what happened, the plan happened and quite remarkably I might add."
I frowned in confusion, I hadn't realised there was a plan for the possibility of us ending up in a trap.
I was about to ask what he meant when Emy cut across. "Where's my dad? Was he with you? Is he alright?"
She was looking around nearby but there was no other movement, my dad seemed fidgety as I moved to stand up next to Emy.
"Your dad... Emily, he..." he hesitated, taking a quick glance at Merkell.
There must have been some hidden message because Merkell sent the soldiers away to keep looking for survivors. He tried to send Kayle, Kaleb and Blaike away but they refused point blank, we were a team and we stood by each other.
My dad looked back to Emy, "Emily, your dad... he, he set the bomb... he had to be in the centre of it... I am so sorry but..."
He didn't need to finish the sentence, we all knew what he was trying to say and Emy looked like she was about to collapse, I held onto her before she did. Her face was whiter than chalk, she was speaking but no words were coming out and I felt my heart breaking for her. Kayle rested a hand on Emy's shoulder, his head bowed.
"Help!" Someone called loudly, pulling us out of our moment of grief, "Help!"
It came again only louder and Emy's head snapped up, she stared in the direction of the voice.
"That's my dad! That's his voice, he survived, he's okay!"
She shrugged us off and ran towards the voice, but it didn't sound like Alacor to me.
I gave my dad a quick look but he was shaking his head, "It cannot be, it is not possible."
That's all we needed to hear, I peered at the guys and they nodded. We chased after Emy, leaving Merkell to look after my dad. He gave me a look that suggested he knew what might happen next. I took one last glance at my dad, happy that he was alive but sad at the look he gave me, our troubles weren't over yet. I turned away and chased after Emy. She wasn't thinking straight and if my hunch was right, we were about to face yet another trap designed just for us.