Page 74 of Forged in Fading

Whatever organization had existed that morning had disintegrated, leaving only carnage in its wake. Bodies strewn about like broken dolls, insides exposed by claw and vine. Another cry of pain, another thud at her feet. A pair of lifeless green eyes, slackened lips drooling crimson.

A hand gripped her shoulder, and Alvara pivoted and whipped the point of her weapon right at Ravanel’s throat. He appeared untouched by the battle, a torn sleeve and a thin weeping cut the only evidence he had fought at all.

His gray eyes flicked to the enemy’s corpse. “You do what you have to. To survive.” Ravanel’s words carried on the wind of spirits leaving this realm. “Their numbers are too great. They’re advancing on the castle. We need as many bodies as we can protecting the king. Go.”

Alvara could only nod and sprint through the blurring battle. Her legs burned and her lungs gulped for air as she twisted and dodged, sliced and jabbed. She was nothing but a weapon of her own, no mind or conscience left to mourn the lives she stole.

“Please!”

Her feet skidded to a stop. Lilja. No, she couldn’t be here. And Boden⁠—

A wall of stone slammed into Alvara. Her shoulder crashed into the ground, rattling her teeth. Blurry figures danced in her peripheral vision, and her nails scraped the earth, digging up dirt where her spear should have been.

Lilja’s distant scream shredded the morning air.

No. Boden couldn’t lose her. Not like she had lost Eloisa.

Another blur moved. Alvara channeled the energy tingling through her body into a shield and fashioned a slick spear of ice. The earth caved beneath her feet, devouring her ankles and sinking her farther underground with each passing second. Her weapon hurtled toward the sharpening form to her right and landed with a wet squelch that threatened to upturn her empty stomach.

She didn’t wait to see if the female lived. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

A wail of pain. A voice she knew all too well and never wanted to hear amidst this godsforsaken bloodshed. Alvara ripped herself out from the dirt and pressed her blazing muscles onward to scoop up her spear, paces away.

She may not have been able to spare her sister from her fate, but she could save Boden’s.

Lilja’s eyes were wild, a mouse hunted by a hawk. Her hand trembled as she flapped a sword she had gotten from gods knew where, while vines slithered along her flailing legs. Her bone-chilling screech jolted Alvara into action.

Alvara tossed a rock at the Elan elf’s back, erected a glittering shield, and lunged, ramming her spear into the charging enemy’s ribs with a sickening crunch.

She locked eyes with Lilja. “RUN!”

A thorned plant wrapped around Alvara’s neck and squeezed. Even as Boden’s sister scrambled to her feet and limped away, Alvara knew.

Lilja would never make it.

No air. Alvara gasped, her mind murky. She swung her weapon at a target that wasn’t there. Her magic. It was sluggish, receding into the shadows even as she yanked on its leash.

The darkness crept in and whispered sweet nothings in her ear, promising rest.

Flames erupted in front of her, engulfing her captor and clogging her lungs with the scent of charred flesh. The elf squealed like a pig cornered for butchering. That terrible sound…

“Are you all right?”

Alvara tore her eyes from the scorched body and forced herself to focus on Aurilena’s pinched features. Spatters of someone’s insides tainted her dark brown skin, but she was alive.

“Lilja.” Had she made it?

Alvara skimmed the battlefield and cursed. A massive wolf circled Lilja, baring fangs that could rip out her throat in mere seconds. Offering a hurried prayer to Vitharen, Alvara yelled and launched her spear, counting her heartbeats as it sailed toward the shifter. The metal sank into the wolf’s fur, and the animal yelped and whirled, brown eyes fixed on her.

She gripped Aurilena’s wrist. “Get her to safety.”

“But—”

“Please, Aurilena. Boden can’t lose her.”

Aurilena’s shoulders sagged, but she spun and charged the shifter, hurling fire like arrows. A howl pierced the air as red and orange flames consumed its body, and Aurilena gripped Lilja’s hand, shielding them both from sight with her illusions. Hopefully they would find refuge outside the city.

Alvara freed her spear from the smoking wolf’s hide and sliced its neck to end its misery. The burning wood seared her skin, but it was nothing compared to the agony that surrounded her.