Rhysand
The army reached the base of the hill we awaited them on, but there was no sign of the King and his court. Or the Cauldron. Varian had managed to secure fifty ships from the Summer Court, and they sailed towards us from the west, traveling along the coast to reach us, each boat carrying a hundred soldiers, who were to kill as many of Hybern's allies as possible. It was a suicide mission, and I saw Varian leading them from the front of the armada.
I looked to my mate as another blast of power rippled through the world, originating from the back of the army, where I assumed the King was safely stationed. To get to him, to get to the Cauldron, we would have to kill every one of the soldiers in front of us, and we had nowhere near enough troops to kill them. Not without the monsters.
I looked to Amren, but she only nodded to me, and I winnowed away to the neutral land where the Weaver lived, to find her standing outside her cottage, a feral grin on her face as she scented me.
"Have you come to trade with me, High Lord? Have you come to take me to the feast?" She said, and I prayed to the Mother that she couldn't smell the fear rippling off me.
"I have." And I winnowed us to the front lines, where the Weaver roared at the advancing army, and threw dark power out at them. A chill down my spine alerted me to the presence of the Bone Carver, Feyre nodding at me as he walked forward. He wore dark armour that leached shadows into the world, and carried a huge sword, which felled soldiers in groups where he swung it. The Weaver bore no weapons, similar to Amren, but where she breathed, Hybern's soldiers, both cauldron made and fae, fell to the floor, their bodies no more than soulless husks, and the Weaver grew younger with each death.
A horn sounded in the distance, and a combined group of Peregryn and Illyrian soldiers took to the skies, Cassian and Thesan's partner leading them to do battle from the skies. I looked behind me, to where my mate stood with Mor, Azriel and Amren, and I kissed her one last time, her fingers brushing over the bargain I'd sworn, and she pulled away, winnowing behind the Illyrian lines as each of the High Lords readied their power, myself included, and they walked down the hill, our forces running forward, clashing with fae and beast as I prepared to fire into the opposing lines.
I love you, more than anything, Feyre darling.
I didn't give her a chance to reply as I blocked out the bond, beating my wings, and releasing the damper on my power as I threw myself into Hybern's forces, killing all that came into my line of power, darkness tearing through them, and where magic didn't kill, steel did. I was soaked with blood within minutes, and following the path that the Bone Carver was cutting through the enemy lines, making his way towards the King and his Court, to where I would slaughter the King, his Court, and Tamlin.
I fought with everything I had, and I didn't stop once to think about what I was doing. All I wanted was to kill, and I would kill anyone in my path.
Feyre
It was a bloodbath, a horrific, terrifying bloodbath. I watched Rhys fly into the battle, but the male I'd loved, the male that was kind and caring, was not the one that I saw. I saw the most powerful High Lord in all of Prythian's history kill without mercy, without a conscience, as if he had forgotten what made him him.
But he wasn't the only one to do so. Thesan, the quiet High Lord that healed my mate, was drenched in the blood of his enemies, and he slaughtered his way across the land, Helion nearby, using his light to blind his enemies as he killed them, and Tarquin sucked the water from their bodies, crippling those he could, and drowning the monsters from the Cauldron, leaving them dead at his feet.
"Let's go." Mor said, and we winnowed to the edge of the fighting, Amren and Azriel joining us. The shadowsinger looked to the battle, and he gave us one last look over before his siphons gleamed and wings beat, leaving us when he deemed our path as safe as possible, and joining Cassian in the skies, a shield of blue joining one of red, and Azriel joined the battle in the sky, pieces of attor and Illyrian, Peregryn and beast showering the battle below.
But the troops came too fast, only our side showing any sign of weakening, and I soon lost sight of the general and the shadowsinger as the blood flowed faster. The only thing that told me they we alive were the flashes of red and blue every so often, blasting the troops down when steel failed. Varian's ships were sailing towards a hundred of Hybern's, throwing magic and steel at each other until the ships were sunk beneath the wave. If those ships managed to reach land, we would lose all chances we had of winning.
The males' job was to fight, but ours was to save them all. I only hoped it would work.
"Ruining the ships did nothing. Vallahan has other means of transport, and most of Rask's troops have winnowed into Hybern. They are almost ready to attack, but they expect us to make the first move; they have prepared for it, actually. There are many traps and spells in place, too many for us to unravel in time, even with Helion's power. Even with the monsters allied with us, we don't have enough." Azriel said to the High Lords, and we all looked to each other, trying to figure out our next move.
"Where does their power come from? How do they have so much in so little time, and how have they created those beasts?" Helion said, looking for a way to undo Hybern from the inside.
"The Cauldron, it gives Hybern a seemingly endless supply of troops, and it gives the King more power, power which he uses to strengthen his armies. If we could take out the cauldron, the monsters that Hybern has created with them will die, but we can't do that, not now. We already tried." Azriel responded, and I saw Thesan slump down in his chair, Tarquin immediately losing whatever composure he'd regained.
"I can do it." I said. "I can nullify the cauldron's power, and that should give us a chance at survival." I looked to Rhys, but he didn't look at me, instead at the tattoo inked onto my arm, the one that meant he couldn't sacrifice himself, but I'd said nothing of making my own sacrifice.
I don't care if it kills me, if it will keep you alive. I told him, and he looked at me with raw pain in his eyes.
I care, and I won't let you do this. He sent back, his eyes lined with silver.
"But what is the cost?" Tarquin asked, finding his voice. "Everything has a price." He said, and looked to me. "That is why you haven't done it already, because it would kill you." He said, but it had sounded so silly, that we were willing to go to war and risk losing, but we wouldn't sacrifice one life in exchange for thousands.
"I am willing to die to save you all." I said.
"You couldn't have done it earlier, couldn't you?" Eris snarled, and he burnt his handprints into the table. I didn't blame him. Too many had died.
"She won't die." Amren said, walking into the room. "She won't die because we can share the cost, and that will allow both of us to live and take out the cauldron in one go." She looked to me, and I realised that Amren had just found a way to turn the tide of the war. Hope shined in all our faces, and I could see my future, a future with my family and my mate, as if it was almost in front of me. Almost. We had a war to win first.
"I can go with Feyre to the cauldron, the... monsters can carve a path for us, if you give the order, Rhysand, and Mor can come for protection whilst we do the spell."
The Weaver had cut a path down the left of the battle, and we followed her, killing all that tried to attack us. Where Amren pointed, death followed, and if that wasn't enough, Mor and I killed with both our magic an dour blades, blood splattering our faces.
I obtained a deep cut on my arm from one of the attor, and a huge beast managed to bit into Mor's leg, but we kept going, kept fighting, kept killing our way through the battle, until the Weaver stopped fighting, and sat on a large boulder, her eyes hollow, but her face one of the most beautiful I had ever seen. She smiled at us as we drew closer, and I recalled what Rhys had said, that she would have free reign on the battle field to kill whoever she wished, but she made no move to come for us, and I was grateful to her. We began to climb up a cliff, using rocky outcroppings to haul ourselves up without being seen by Hybern on the other side, but from that height I was able to look out over the whole battle field. Cassian and Azriel were still fighting, and so was Rhys, but our armies were barely moving, because where one Hybern soldier fell, ten more took their place. We had to get to the cauldron, fast, but I felt a shift in the world, as the caldron rallied its power, and my eyes were drawn to the pale warrior that felled our enemies in mighty swings of his sword, only to find him looking up at me, smiling, as I felt the cauldron ready it's power, and it slashed through the armies, both enemy and ally, until it slammed into the Carver's chest, wiping him from the battle field. I could have sworn that I saw him smile as he died.
Rhysand
We were not gaining any ground, were barely making a dent in Hybern's forces as we fought, even as the High Lords pushed everything they had into killing. We were overwhelmed, and were running out of options. I had one left, one option that I hated, but was willing to try. So I did, looking to the gleaming metal of my wings one last time.
I dug deep inside me, into the core of my power, summoning talons to my fingers and feet, and scales replacing skin, my teeth sharpening into fangs. I felt my muscles grow and shift as my body contorted, the metal wings at my back being destroyed as I shifted, their magic unable to keep them a part of me in that form. Pain laced every movement as the beast I hated was unleashed. I was a monster of nightmares and death, and all that came before me either fled or died.
Noticing what I had done, Helion began to shift as well, golden feathers and shredding claws and feathered wings joining the battle, along with two Illyrians that came to my side. Cassian and Azriel, the latter of which's wings were limp at his back, with Cassian's torn up enough that he was unable to fly at all.
I tore through muscle and bone, blood dripping from my maw as I battled. I didn't care if Prythian feared me as they watched me battle, if I became the monster that I was expected to be, because I would save my family, I would save my home. I would save my mate.
I kept fighting, kept slashing and killing my way across the field, trying to hold out until my mate could stop the cauldron, but I didn't think that I was going to survive that long.
Mor
The cauldron wasn't done, and I could feel its power readying for another strike as we climbed over the ledge to stand on a worn path, only fifty metres above the armies marching towards the battle below. The cauldron fired once more, right into the heart of the Illyrian and Pergryn troops, and I had to stifle a scream as I realised that Cassian and Azriel had not been with their kin, but instead had moved to Rhys's side, fighting with magic steel as their wings gave out. A huge roar shook the earth, a roar that came from my cousin, who was clawing his way through the enemy as if they were pieces of paper. It scared me to look at him, the High Lord becoming that of Nightmares, but I kept climbing, knowing that we could end the fight soon, before any of my family was hurt, and so I followed Feyre and Amren, but they stopped suddenly, and I pushed them behind a large boulder as I heard people come onto the path ahead of us.
I knew those scents, the scents of four mortal queens, and Jurian, a mortal man that had once been my ally.
"Wait." I heard one of the queens say, and the five sets of footsteps halted. I heard the queens sniff the air, trying to scent us, and I drew a long dagger, Feyre pulling out two knives and giving one to Amren as they neared us. "It's those Night Court fools. I remember them from when the High Lady ran through the camp." The queen said, and I heard heavier footsteps, mortal footsteps, walk towards us. Jurian.
I prepared my knife, ready to gut the man, and Feyre and Amren prepared to dispatch the queens silently, but those footsteps paused just before they reached us, and a low, familiar voice reached my ears.
"Those Night Court fools are my friends, and my allies." I heard the whine of a blade being unsheathed, and four gasps followed by a scream that was lost to the sound of the battle, before four loud thumps could be heard. "Come on out, Mor. I know you're there." Jurian said, and we walked around the boulder, but I didn't sheath my knife. The heads of four fae queens were rolling down the head, their blood pooling from their severed necks, and a sword dripping with their blood in Jurian's hand.
"Why?" I breathed, not daring to believe what I had just heard.
"Because that bitch tortured me for five hundred years, and her master made me kill my own people for their enjoyment." He gestured to the dead queens. "I would never ally myself with them, and I have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to kill them ever since the King brought me back to prove to them that the cauldron worked." He spat on the ground.
"If we nullify the cauldron, will the beasts Hybern created die?" Feyre asked Jurian.
"I assume so, and it will be a relief for all of us if it does. I have awaited my death for too long." He said, and began to walk down the hill, but he turned back just before he went out of sight around a corner. "The King is up there with Tamlin and Ianthe. You can't defeat him, but he will leave the cauldron if he thinks you are coming, to prevent you from getting too near, but he will leave Tamlin and Ianthe to guard it." Jurian said, and then he was gone.
I turned to Feyre and Amren. "I will get the King away, and I will lead him to the Weaver. She can kill him, and I will then double back to get you two out before anything else happens." I didn't give them a chance to refuse before I pushed them back behind the boulder, throwing a glamour over them so that they couldn't be heard, seen or scented, and I walked up the hill, the King and the Cauldron coming into view, along with Tamlin and Ianthe.
"The Morrigan. Are you here to die?" The King asked, and he began to walk towards me. I feigned fear, ensuring that it seemed like I was alone, before turning and running back the way I'd came, back down towards the Weaver, who was walking up the path, her mouth dripping with blood, as if she'd eaten the people alive. She smiled at me once more, but there was no kindness in it, and I knew that my death was coming, but it would kill the King, and so I did not fear death as two monsters closed in on me on either side.
Feyre
I counted to thirty once the King passed us by, but I didn't hear the sound of him coming back, or of Mor screaming, and so I knew she wasn't dead. Yet. I broke the wards quickly, and Amren and I ran up the hill to find Tamlin and Ianthe, grinning ear to ear as they saw who had arrived, and the cauldron between them.
"The little monster, and my traitorous whore. How are you feeling, Feyre?" Tamlin purred, and Ianthe laughed, making me feel sick to my core. I growled at them, and Tamlin took a step towards me, as if he thought he could take us on, even after all we'd done.
"Don't get ahead of yourself." I said to Tamlin as his claws slid free and teeth elongated into fangs. I didn't let him get any closer to us though, as I pushed myself through his weak mental shields and knock him out cold for a few hours. He deserved to be skinned alive, to be turned into a coat, but I was willing to wait in order to save Mor, save my Mate, and save Prythian.
"Please." Ianthe whimpered, the sound so vulnerable that I nearly felt sorry for her. I wasn't willing to wait when it came to her death, though, and I sent flame spearing towards her, melting her flesh and boiling her blood in her veins as she screamed and screamed, until only ash remained, which I quickly kicked into the wind.
"Thank the cauldron." Amren muttered as she walked towards me, pulling the Book of Breathings out of her pocket. "Place your hand on the cauldron, I'll do the rest." She said, and I obliged. The cauldron was cold, and I felt as if I was having the life drained out of me as I touched it, but I didn't let go, wasn't able to let go, actually, because I felt like my body wasn't my own. I looked to Amren to see what she was doing, straining against the cauldron's power with difficulty, but she was looking out over the battlefield, and we were losing, our forces overwhelmed, and the Illyrian legions practically non-existent, Cassian and Azriel fighting with steel on the ground by my mate, and I was horrified to find a wall of flame battling to the east, slowly moving towards us as darkness gathered on the horizon. It looked like Eris had had to retreat from his land and join the fight elsewhere. She looked back to me, steely determination in her eyes, and she took a step forward throwing the Book of Breathings away as she went.
"I'm sorry, you couldn't know." She whispered, her cheeks wet with tears, and I realised that there was no way to nullify the cauldron, not whilst we lived. "But this is the only way. Even if the cauldron's forces break apart, there are too many that won't, too many fae, and we are already being slaughtered. Don't move or make a noise when I come out." She said. I tried to stop her, but my body was no longer my own, and she dove into the cauldron, her petite form disappearing under the surface of the water.
I didn't know how, but a voice that was not my own began to speak, the spell like sewage in my mouth, and I realised what I was going to do.
But before I could warn Rhys, a huge fore shook the world, the cauldron shaking beneath me, and I was finally able to pull my hand away, horrified by what I'd done, what I'd released, because it was not Amren that came out of the cauldron, but a monster of nightmares, one that was pure power, and no emotion other than rage in its huge form.
I didn't move, and I thought I heard the fighting stop suddenly as Amren, or whoever she was, emerged, but I wasn't certain. I didn't move as Amren threw herself, her true self, down towards the fighting, smashing into the centre of the fighting, and where she was, soldiers died, both on our side and Hybern's, but it was not the battlefield that Amren was shooting for, but to Hybern's ships, which had destroyed all of ours, and were about to land, bringing more enemies to the fight. She destroyed every last one, screams echoing through the world, before doubling back, going to Eris's fight and taking out enough for Eris to cope with.
I watched the monster disappear, the power that had made her spent in that world, and I sent a silent prayer to the Mother that Amren would be ok, wherever she was.
She had just given us a chance.