Sinister Secrets Book. 3

❅Chapter 25❅

The first scream was the only indication that the war had begun. The battle I had been dreading for over a year now, had started.

"Attack! Defend yourselves!" Thal's commanded boomed over the sea of soldiers, and they began to move. Men unseathered their swords, golden metal glinting in the early morning sun. It was surreal, watching the army come alive like a swarm of bees.

Not only barghests, but brownies and bogies began their descent, skittering and snickering towards our men, their claws grasping in front of them.

They had taken us by surprise, though, how could I be shocked? Of course Mab would have heard us coming. Of course she would have sent her forces before we would have time to center ourselves and approach. I had just hoped she heard too late.

"Eve, behind you!"

I turned, just in time to see two sets of fangs snapping for my throat. I ducked, pulling myself close to my mare's main. She clawed at the ground with her front hooves as the hell hound soared over me, biting at the air my head had been moments before. It landed on the ground with a soft loud, twirling and snarling at me.

"Ah, Princess," the barghests snickered, its muzzles low to the ground, dark eyes sparkling. "What a treat." It pawed at the earth, its claws creating deep gashes in the soil.

"Wish I could say the same."

One of the wolves heads gave a short, sharp bark in warning just before the muscles coiled under its silky brown fur and launched itself towards me once more.

With a flick of my wrist I undid the belt on my waist, freeing a dagger the size of my palm. The metal was cool against my blazing skin. Again, I ducked, tucking myself close to the horse. But this time I shoved my hand upward as the barghests soared above.

A warm, wet substance poured over me, followed by a yelp of pain. And then silence.

I was moving. I had no time to react to the blood that caked my hair, burned my eyes. I didn't have time to clean my blade. Instead I dug my heels into the side of the mare below me and rode off into the battle opening up around me.

A moment passed and panic settled between my ribs like a brick when I realized I couldn't see anyone I knew - it was chaos. Bodies, both men and beast alike covered the ground, their limbs as unmoving as their eyes. So much death in the first few minutes of this war.

I watched as men fell to the teeth and claws of their enemies, their screams of pain and and pleading to their gods rising to the heavens, falling on deaf ears. Strings of gold and silver and black billowed in the slight breeze that blew through, stationed, hovering over their bodies, waiting to be plucked and guided to their eternal afterlife. Souls of the fallen. There was hundreds of them.

Would I have to collect them after clangor of blades and howls of loathing ended with the thick silence of a summer day, the screaming of cicadas the only reminder that time had passed at all?

Unsure of the future, I dove into battle.

Freeing the sword on my back, I sliced, swinging my arms in a downward arch, severing wolves head's from their spines, ripping arms from bogies sockets. I relished in the blood that flowed - such a beautiful deep blue that sparkled like the sapphires on my chest plate in the morning sun.

A stray fae, a man drenched in azul and a wild look in his eyes, rose the crossbow at his side, aiming it at my chest. I caught the glint of his finger twitching over the trigger even over the stance over the battlefield.

And he fired.

I pulled the reins back hard, the mare bellowed, rising from the ground in a grand jester of animalistic power. She clawed at the air with her onyx hooves, each coming down in deadly arches. I pulled on the reins harder, trying to yank her out of the path of the arrow, but the horse screamed as the metal head of the arrow dug deep into her ribs, burying itself within the soft tissue of her lungs and heart.