Keepers of Ice

Chapter 17 - Seared

An arrow whizzed past David. He glared in the direction of the enemy archer and with a swipe of his hand, a few ice shards shot out and forced his target to retreat. His blue eyes swept across the battlefield and he noticed that the Keepers of Ice were losing.

"David, look out!" David turned just in time to see a swordsman charging towards him from the side. Allowing a layer of ice to cover him, he quickly sidestepped the attack and shoved his pursuer, sending him sprawling towards the ground.

"Thanks for the heads up," he said to Estella, who breathed a sigh of relief.

"We can't beat them. There's just too many." Estella was gripping her spear tightly. "We'll need to fall back."

As much as he hated retreating, David knew she was right. All around him, keepers fighting on the front lines were growing weary. "We'll have to find Stone and tell him we need to retreat and regroup." Together, they headed towards the back of the large room where Stone was defending the injured from stray arrows.

"David? Estella? How are the Keepers of Ice in the front lines doing?" Stone asked. There were about four injured keepers behind him and Aunt Yvonne was tending to their wounds.

"It's not looking good. Our warriors are growing tired and Order's attacks are relentless," Estella responded, "we'll need to pull back and regroup."

Stone nodded grimly. "Very well." He started walking towards the front lines and yelling for everyone to retreat.

"I hope everyone's okay. We'll have to plan our next attack better," David told Estella with a sigh.

The sound of someone running towards them could be heard from behind. He turned and noticed a very worried Cody heading towards them. "Wait, we can't retreat!"

"What's wrong Cody?" Estella asked.

"It's Stacey. She sneaked past enemy lines and went after Ky by herself. I couldn't stop her in time..."

David was horrified. His heart rate increased and his breathing took more effort to maintain. "Take good care of your sister for me." That was his father's last instruction, which he had taken seriously after his parents had died. He had forgotten to check on her during the battle. If anything happened to her, it was his fault. His hands curled up into tightened fists and his body protected itself with a suit of ice.

Without thinking, he charged past his friends and ran onto the battlefield. He had left his shield and axe behind, but something told him he would not need them for this situation. He sprinted past the Keepers of Ice who were fighting in the front. They were now yelling at him to retreat but he ignored them. Enemy archers and swordsmen were surrounding him now. They were probably wondering why he had left the safety of his comrades and isolated himself to his doom.

At once, they all charged towards him without hesitation. A few arrows bounced off him harmlessly, but he knew their melee weapons were the real threat to his armour. Instinctively, he slammed both fists into the ground with great force. The impact intensified as human-sized glaciers struck out from the ground beneath, surrounding him in a barrier of ice that halted the enemy's attack. Immediately, he forced his ice-encased fists in front of him and the glaciers struck the ground in quick succession, knocking out multiple enemy troops at once.

A few swordsmen recovered quickly and charged at him once again. One of them landed a hard blow on his back and another swung at his legs. David's ice armour protected him from cuts, but the hits he had taken had sent hammering pain through his back and legs. I can't lose now... Stacey needs me. He punched one of them in the stomach and continued to fight off the rest, shooting ice shards at those out of arm's reach and using his fists and legs at those nearby. After what felt like the most intense and most painful ten seconds of his life, most of the enemy troops were on the ground defeated and the rest had decided to retreat.