Wylde Magic | Book 3

Sixty Three: Pinnacle of Magic (part 1)

The crunching of bones sank into my ears as the first deaths of battle were claimed.

It was a nightmare that Bara Khalja got so close before we were alerted to him, and I could only suspect his dark magic was the cause. He slipped past all the fae and elves watching the forest, and even Spaulder didn't sense him until just before he arrived. It was terrible chaos.

Teyber and many of his scouts sank into the trees and disappeared from sight. The elven children formed a thick line of spears at the front of the trees, daring any to come close enough to fight. Thain and a few of the Autumn fae jumped in around the spears as well, any remaining arguments about the presence of elves forgotten as the thick of battle settled at the edge of our encampment.

I watched a blade sink deep into the ribs of a risen dead fae. An arrow pierced the long-empty eye socket of another. I began the battle trying to rush forward as I was so used to doing when conflict arrived, but my father and Mila reached a hand out nearly simultaneously to hold me in place.

"Not yet, child," Mila cautioned. 

"But the battle has begun!" I cried, my fingers itching to join the other fighters in the tree line.

Mila grunted. "You have fire in you that would not be good for the Mother's forest."

My heart sank as I stopped straining against their hold on me.

"Conserve your energy, daughter," Kalor said gently. "A battle such as this will require us to shift our forces in and out as we can."

'They are right, little witch,' Spaulder added. 'Even I cannot fit between the trees for battle. We wait, and we watch before we strike.'

My mouth strained in a grim line, but I nodded gently as my hand found Schula's.

"That doesn't mean we sit and do nothing," Schula said. "Is there more we can do to help the infirmary?"

My eyes darted to the makeshift roof with the simple beds and the lone patient. "Yes, there is always more medicine to stock up on. Bindings to make, fronds to pull into strips and braid for cord."

Mila lifted a hand to the sky, a rustling of wind beginning from her fingers and carrying a purple smoke across the lost city behind us. The small bones adorning her shoulders and arm like jewelry bumped against each other and sent their sounds dancing through the wind. "The sisters will help you, I must council with the others."

"Caw!" Puko rustled from her shoulder, lifting himself into the winds as he climbed high and soared to the roof and beds.

Spaulder lifted himself up to a taller height, spreading his wings wide as he stretched his neck forward. 'Go, little ones. I will watch here.'

Schula took my hand and we ran to our task. It was the beginning of the strangest battle I had ever been in. To have my abilities not in demand the moment strife breaks out was a foreign sensation, and I didn't handle it well. Of course I was able to keep my hands busy at work, preparing supplies for the inevitable injured that would come our way.

The infirmary, despite its lack of walls and the cool winter air outside, was insufferably stuffy. Some magic ran hot, some potions smoked, and with quick working hands, we were all straining ourselves to work. Puko sat in the rafters and watched us, the bodies crowded in tight below him working and trying to ignore the fact that just a short distance away our friends and allies were fighting tooth and nail to keep Bara Khalja's horrors out.

And then the first injured was brought in.

Shouting accompanied a pair of elven children who carried in one of their own with a bloody shoulder and an arm at a sickening angle. My heart tightened until I saw that it was nobody I knew personally, then guilt settled in my stomach that such a thought had even crossed my mind.