Heir Apparent - a Summoner FanFic

The Lost and the Broken

"What are we going to do?"

"We'll keep retreating-"

"Retreating where? They're ahead of us too!"

"We're surrounded!"

"They'll kill us..."

"Stop panicking." Dorien mumbled, coming back to himself. He didn't know how long he had stumbled along, half carried by Barrik, with Poppy trying to rouse him. "Report."

"And the great prince joins-" Traeliorn sneered.

"Not now!" Dorien snapped, cutting across him "Report!"

"Who do you think you are?" Barrik bellowed "Givin' orders like a general after I jus' carried you outta there like a baby."

"Why did you bother?" Traeliorn growled "He's no use to us weakened anyway."

"We don't have time for this!" Poppy hissed. "It won't take them long to find us again and I don't know about any of you but I'm pretty much out of mana." That shut everyone up.

"What's happening?" Dorien asked after a few moments of tense silence.

"They knew we were coming." Lytar mumbled bitterly "And they were ready for us."

"We pulled out as you ordered but they'd cut us off from behind. We had to change direction." Poppy continued "You were out of it, Traeliorn, Almithara, Micca and Azdok had enough mana between them to keep the projectiles and spells off our backs but not to make a difference to our retreat, Nadia had already been taken, Til-"

"Wait! What?" Dorien whipped his head to and fro but could find no sign of Nadia. "Where is she?"

"One of the orc summoners. They knocked her out and grabbed her."

"And no one tried to get her back?" Dorien couldn't believe what he was hearing "What is wrong with you people?"

"We did try!" Celia cried, tears streaming down her face. "Lytar and I tried to force our way through to her but after Toralu..." She faltered in her rant. "Barrik was practically carrying you. You'd been holding a whole flank yourself and then you were just..."

"Absent?" Traeliorn offered. "Useless? Take your pick."

Dorien ignored that and tried to force his scattered thoughts into some semblance of order. He felt hollowed out, more exhausted than he'd ever been before. I have to find her!

"What about the soldiers?" He asked finally.

"There were only a handful left." Poppy informed him "Micca was the last to have any mana left so he stayed with the last of the soldiers to buy us some time when the orcs caught up with us."

"Stupid, brainless, thick headed idiot!" Tilly spat.

"He'll be ok." Moira tried to sooth her.

"I'll be holding him responsible if not!" She pointed at Traeliorn with true venom.

"It was his own idea." Traeliorn responded, unfazed by Tilly's anger. "If the oaf wants to make a martyr of himself, who am I to stop him?" Tilly drew herself up, her face purple with rage.

"Please!" Poppy forced her way between the pair. "Micca has provided us with a distraction we are wasting!"

"So, Your Highness," Almithara turned her blind eyes to Dorien "what is the plan?"

Dorien's plan was less than half formed but it was all he had and would have to do. "You're going for help." He told her. The she-elf wasn't the only one to look perplexed. "Moira, Celia, Almithara, you all have demons that can fly and carry you, you'll go to the front lines, or to Corcillum itself if you have to, bring summoners or troops, whoever you can get." He looked at Barrik "You're going too, you're in charge." Dorien could only deal with one challenge to his authority at a time. Sending Barrik away left only Traeliorn to deal with. The young man scowled him but nodded his agreement.