A/N: This is the last chapter of this short novel, or novella if you will. There will be one more thing I add, an epilogue, expect it soon (hopefully).
Chapter 23:
Starlyn couldn’t resist the tears that streamed down her face clouding her vision. She did not know the human boy, nor the two wood elves that her sister murdered, but it did not matter. Everything she saw was cruel beyond anything she could ever imagine, and she couldn’t believe that her sister was the culprit.
She couldn’t reach the others in time and their bodies lay lifeless upon the stone slab. Dragons, or rather draeyks as Shronan had called them, surrounded her in every direction, and she had to use all of her ability to survive. Her hammer shot forth in bursts to defend against two or three axes of the wretched creatures – making the weapons appear in a flurry of silver and gold. Every so often her balance would slip and she feared the next axe would have her head, but every time without fail a black glass arrow would flutter next to her helm and pierce the creature through the weak of its neck.
Anaela’s archery skill on the battlefield was majestic. Every arrow matched a target without even one going astray. Many of them saved Starlyn’s life. The elves were outnumbered significantly, but their skill outmatched that of the draeyks. Behind Starlyn, Shronan Onderon tossed magic around like a toy with gleeful joy. He even went as far as to enchant a few of the elves weapons. Vil’ek’s scimitars glowed with a bright green flame that burned the creatures he hit, Anaela’s obsidian arrows were coated with green ice that slowed down and froze of few of their enemies, and Starlyn’s hammer flashed with lighting that shocked every enemy she came in contact with.
Draeyks surrounded the elven army and even though they had more skill, the sheer quantity of the dragons was astonishing. Starlyn didn’t know if they would be able to stop her sister. She looked up after bashing the skull of another creature with her large hammer to see Arria dropping the hearts of the three she’d slain into a large black cauldron. A scream echoed through the wilderness that came from a woman strapped to a chair near Arria.
“Mother,” Starlyn whispered.
Nothing else mattered to Starlyn as she slashed at the creatures in front of her but reaching her mother before Arria turned her. As much as she hated to admit it, she’d rather see her mother die than turn into the horrid creature Arria had become. One life, even her mother’s, was not worth what the cost would be in the end. Starlyn pressed on, using her hammer in such a way that multiple enemies fell before her. She watched as elves around her fell, spilling their life’s blood, while she continued forward. Not every draeyk she struck fell dead at her feet, their hides were thick, but she caused enough damage to knock every one down onto the ground into the dirt.
The once beautiful day turned gloom with the swirling of purple and silver magic that protruded from the cauldron by Arria. An essence of magic seemed to flow from it and into her mother. Starlyn pressed on - stubbornly setting aside the fact her mother may not survive the day. Clouds covered the brilliant rays of sun as the magic swirled - overcasting the battle. In a matter of moments the clouds turned from luscious white into shadowy black. No longer did it look like midday but night. Thunder crashed from cloud to cloud before hammering down upon the ground.
Despite all that surrounded her, all Starlyn could see was her mother, sitting alone – scared, and screaming in the chair by Arria’s side. She used something she never felt before – rage – to push on and bash as many of the creatures as she could. Elves were supposed to be calm – serene – not enraged by anything, but what her sister was doing was… wrong. Starlyn no longer cared if she survived the day; all that mattered was stopping her sister from giving the madness she now held to their mother.
Arrows flickered at incredible speeds all around her, draeyks dropped like gnats with each arrow Anaela sent. Starlyn kept on, carving a path straight to Arria on the platform. They were still outnumbered, but they carved a straight path to Arria so Starlyn could reach her. She bashed in two last draeyk skulls that splattered black ooze as they collapsed. Her armor was no longer clean but covered in slime and blood.
Arria leapt forward to intercept Starlyn’s hammer with a purple glowing flamberge. Sparks formed all around them in an aura of violet and gold. Starlyn’s attacks were powerful and that showed, with each strike Arria fell a step backwards, though the speed was pressed on Arria’s side. She spun her weapon in such ways that it slid past Starlyn’s defenses and struck against her armor. Neither injured each other bad, but both were able to surpass the other’s defense and strike hard upon each’s plate mail armor.
A loud rumble shook the ground so fiercely that it laughed at the so called despair of the thunder. The rumble turned to a roar until the sky become completely black as a night sky without stars. Starlyn looked up to see a large creature, larger than anything she ever imagined, as it took the sky with wings over twenty spans long. It was dark in appearance and lit up the sky with an orange flame that blazed from its gigantic mouth towards the unsuspecting elves that crumbled into ash where they stood along with the draeyks that were ignited.
While Starlyn stared up in awe, Arria shifted her foot forward so it caught Starlyn just under the jaw and knocked her back several feet to collapse at the feet of Shronan Onderon. He stared in disbelief up at the sky before helping Starlyn to her feet. She shook uncontrollably and held onto the mage with desperation.
“What is that?” she whispered.
“That is a dragon,” he replied.
Arrows consistently bounced off the creature, shattering the obsidian glass that poured over the battlefield in a powder. Anaela’s shots were true, but the hardened scales of the dragon were no match for such primitive weapons. Elves fell everywhere, making it the bloodiest battlefield Starlyn had ever seen – even bloodier than the aftermath of the wood elves Starlyn witnessed.
“How do we fight that?” she asked.
Shronan closed his eyes and his entire body shook as a green hue overtook him and transferred over to Starlyn. When his eyes opened they were blazing a stronger green that ever before and his voice came cold.
“I have layered us in protection against fire, it will not last, and it will drain our life the longer we must use it,” he whispered.
Starlyn looked up and noticed a small layer of ice on the dragon’s underbelly that increased with each arrow that struck it. Anaela hadn’t given up and seemed her enchanted arrows were finally starting to make an effect. The dragon seemed slower as it landed upon the ground to swipe at the elves that came towards it. Still, the elves were no match and Starlyn watched in horror as the creature grabbed several with its long slender hands and devoured them.
She felt the layer of protection around her, but she still shivered in fear as she sprinted forward towards the dragon. The only comfort that she had was Shronan following her in tow, blazing green magic in every element at the beast. Arrows sizzled past her to strike the now grounded beast, and even though each arrow shattered as it came in contact with the hardened scales, the cold ice around each arrow was efficient in slowing the dragon.
Fire sprouted forth in a blaze that surrounded Starlyn. She did not burn to a crisp and fall to ash like many of her companions, but she continued to dash forward, feeling the heat of the flame but not falling victim to it. The dragon looked at her surprised when she reached it and swatted at her like a bothered gnat. Starlyn ducked and rolled and spheres of green light shrieked by both of her sides followed by more arrows. When she got back to her feet she blocked an incoming strike of one of the magnificent beast’s claws that came straight for her face, and with her next swing she connected with its large jaw, knocking it backwards in a spiral.
Starlyn turned around and shouted, “Anaela, go for its eyes!”
Before she could turn back to face the creature a draeyk thrashed into her from the side, tossing her away from the large dragon and into a frenzy of attacking vermin with axes. She ducked and blocked each strike with almost perfect success, chopping three of them down before falling to a slash across her shoulder blade that went deep enough to draw blood and slicing between her armor causing half of it to drop to the ground. Her skin became exposed on her left side and after a few more attacks the entirety of her upper body plate collapsed onto the ground. All that remained was her undergarment covering her chest that was a thin layer of hardened steel to both cover her most desired flesh to be exposed as well as extra protection for her heart.
Her soft skin was bloodied all over and now that it was exposed across her arms, back, and stomach, the creatures around her fought more fiercely to get a clean swipe. Many failed, and ultimately paid the ultimate price of their life when they tried, but she was unsuccessful to stop every attack. Besides the large slash into her left shoulder, soon there were various scars all across her back and one on the right side of her bellybutton.
She felt useless and defeated as she was continuously surrounded by the creatures and too far to escape back towards the dragon that Shronan now fought alone and seemed to be failing. Before she could give up hope, a flurry of arrows blazed through the darkened sky and dropped ten of the creatures at once. She turned, stunned reaction on her face to see Anaela well over a hundred paces out stringing her bow with another ten arrows and releasing all of them at the same time. Ten more arrows shot past her and into more creatures that attempted to block her path towards the dragon. She smiled back at her newly made friend and dashed forward to help Shronan.
When Starlyn reached the dragon she noticed its left eye was blinded by three arrows that protruded through it and she smiled at her friend’s accuracy. Shronan was knocked on the ground and the beast picked him up with one of his gigantic claws and mouth agape about to swallow the mage whole. Starlyn dove forward, holding her hammer back to build momentum until she struck at one of its long slender fingers. It shrieked and dropped the mage before swiping its hand towards her. She attempted to dive out of the way, but one of the dragon’s claws went straight through her arm and immobilized her. The dragon’s head came for her next, but before it could two arrows shattered the silence around her and blinded the creature’s other eye. Starlyn slammed her hammer upwards, shattering into the dragon’s jaw and exposing its weakened neck. Six arrows followed her strike into the neck, shot one at a time but at incredible speed, five of them wedging between scales and into flesh.
The dragon collapsed onto the ground, no cry of pain following it, the arrows seemed to grant the beast instant death without complaint, and the vibration that struck when it fell caused everybody to fall off their feet.
Starlyn looked up to see Arria crawling on the ground, holding onto the cauldron with dear life in an attempt to not let the bubbling liquid fall onto the stones. Her mother still sat in the chair, tipped on its side now, and hair transforming from its deepest black to white. Starlyn screamed as she crawled forward trying to reach her mother.
No longer did arrows protect her path, nor the magic of Shronan. There were too many of the draeyks overrunning the elves with so many dead from the wrath of the dragon. She was alone now, and the world only revolved around her, Arria, and their mother. After great effort she got to her feet and staggered forward only to be met by a slash of Arria’s flamberge. She stumbled a few steps back as she gathered herself for another strike, her hammer lifted high. Arria leaped forward, creating a fierce combination of attacks that Starlyn was too weak to block. Several more slashes bloodied her already torn body. She didn’t know what she could do to stop her sister.
Suddenly a memory spiked in her mind, a memory of her sister holding onto the cauldron with dear life. Every magic has a source, especially a powerful one. Starlyn knew what she had to do, but she also knew that it would be too late to reverse it. She grabbed a handful of shurikens from her sash and tossed them at her sister. Two were deflected and a few more missed but one latched onto Arria’s exposed face and she screamed. The distraction was enough for Starlyn to plunge forward into her, knocking her onto the ground. Starlyn turned around and crawled to the cauldron where she used the rest of her strength to knock it over, spilling the liquid all around her. The protection from Shronan’s magic seemed to work against the bubbling liquid and she was grateful.
Arria waivered to her feet and cried out with eyes ablaze; she stared dumfounded at the spilled contents of the cauldron, “Noooo! You’re killing mother!”
Starlyn brought up her hammer in time to prevent a strike from her sister as the flamberge slammed down from above her. She only had enough strength to block three of her sister’s strikes before her hammer slipped from her hands. Arria dropped to the ground using all of her strength for one last strike towards Starlyn’s skull, but she rolled over in time, causing the flamberge to slam into the stone and shatter. Starlyn rolled back and unsheathed her dagger that she struck up and into Arria’s belly. It tore through her sister’s armor, and Arria shrieked in pain.
The world swirled around Starlyn and when she finally got back to her feet she noticed the elves finally overcame the rest of the draeyks. Shronan stood, wobbly, but alive with slashes all across his robes and face bloodied. Vil’ek seemed to be in the best shape, but his body ached and blood covered all of his armor. Of the large force that left with her to stop her sister, only twenty remained.
Both Vil’ek and Shronan helped her to her feet and she gaped at the carnage that surrounded her, “Where is my sister? Where is Arria?”
“She escaped,” Shronan said.
“Escaped? How?” Starlyn asked.
“During the confusion, when you two fought we ran forward to capture her, but as we did a swarm of the creatures came out of hiding and attacked us. When they did she snuck away. Her trail heads north for a few miles, but after that there is nothing. She is gone,” Vil’ek said.
“Gone?” Starlyn whispered.
“I’m sorry,” Shronan said before embracing her in a hug.
Starlyn stumbled away and untied her mother that still lay on the cold stone. Her breathing was minimal and her life was failing. Tears crumbled down Starlyn’s face, making her vision impossible, she sat and whimpered as the last of her mother’s life faded and she breathed no more.
Had her sister been right, was dark magic the only way to save their mother? Now she would never know. Daunting words echoed through her mind, her sister’s words. You’re killing mother.
Starlyn no longer cared to show strength around the other elves; she took Shronan’s advice and sat cradling her mother in her arms, and wept.