Plans

Katherine's face fell. Yes, she did remember. Although she knew neither the mother nor the child, or anyone close to them by name, she remembered. Yet, because the memory was a bit hazy and unusual, she started hoping that maybe - just maybe - it was a strange dream. Her gut told her otherwise, but she preferred to believe in a dream instead of knowing for sure that an innocent baby died in her arms.

"A... drug. That explains it," she murmured more to herself than anyone else. Her eyes were fixated on the army before her, but her thoughts seemed far away. Ethan, however, took that as a key to explain further.

"Exactly! From that incident, Ve acknowledged your exceptional ability. Now, will you accompany me to meet him? As you might already suspect, he is just around the corner from here."

Instead of answering, Katherine asked a different question that bugged and angered her from the moment on that she heard of the organization's deeds. "Why babies? Why does it have to be babies and children? Could you lot not find people willing to make these experiments? Or is it because you love to see the weak suffer under your cruel hands? And why does it not seem to faze any of you?!"

Suddenly, she turned to the soldiers behind her cousin, acknowledging the eerily quiet army for the first time in their conversation. Unmoving in their heavy armor, they looked almost like tin soldiers, yet she knew there must be real humans behind the shut visors. She raised her voice.

"Are you all made of stone? Will you let these monsters - scientists or what they call themselves - take away your wives and children? Will you really help them build their influence so that they can better break your families and homes? Or follow their orders and do that to others? I assure you all, this man before you has no shred of humanity left! I saw him torture innocent children with my own two eyes! How about you? Are you still human?"

She glared at them, her gaze trying to penetrate the heavy armor and gauge their reaction. Nothing. None of them showed any sign of restlessness.

Then she heard a chuckle. Instantly, her eyes moved to her cousin, who covered his grinning mouth with the back of his hand. "Haah, sorry, sorry! That was too exhilarating! Because, you know, they can not hear you."

To emphasize his words, he pointed at his ear and his grin turned even broader when he noticed her rage flaring up. He was like a mischievous devil feeding on her misfortune.

Katherine gritted her teeth, forcing herself to remain calm, and threw a swift glance back. The group with which she came was still on the other side of the invisible wall, but they had stopped trying to force their way through. Her heart palpitated with nervousness, even though she knew that they were not completely unprepared.

This group that held Nathaniel and her was mainly a distraction. Her trouble with the pregnancy may be real, but it also gave them a valid reason to slow down and let others overtake them. Still, it was unsure whether their troops and plans would be enough against a whole army peppered with mages. She should distract Ethan as long as possible, lest he would suddenly charge at her people - or worse, signal the archers to release their arrows.

'Calm down,' she emphasized again in her mind, and unknowingly rubbed her tummy that ached a little bit. 'Too much stress is not good for you. It will all turn out well. But can't they be a bit faster? How long - aah!'

An explosion rang in the air, making the ground shake and her horse step back in distress. To her delight, Ethan's horse reared up, and he landed in the dirt. Screams and thick smoke rose from the mountainside. A mountainside that now, like an avalanche of dark grey stone, started to shift and move.

The explosion laid by Dellinger's team had loosened the rocks just below the archer's platforms, resulting in a hasty retreat. Yet for most of them, it was too late. More and more archers fell prey to the breaking and rolling mountainside. It was a picture like a natural catastrophe.

At exactly the same time, a shattering noise rang out like glass breaking. When Katherine gazed back, a big hole gaped in the formerly invisible wall, the edges now barely discernable as a shimmer in the sun. On the other side of the hole sat a black-haired teenager on top of a brown horse, his hand still outstretched. The soldiers behind him now spurred on their mounts and poured through the hole.

Seeing Nathaniel's white hair coming in her direction, Katherine's heart felt lighter. She tugged on her reigns, about to rush in his direction when a heavy weight suddenly pulled on her saddle. Ethan!

Before she knew it, she could feel his disgusting body behind her as he mounted her horse. Her elbow shot out and she heard him grunt in pain, then his hand was on her throat, pressed it together. It felt like a hot iron on her skin.

"Move, and I will burn you," he gritted out as she coughed and pulled on his hand that, as if to stress his words, turned even hotter. "Try me, Kitty! I will burn you to smithereens."

She had not completely comprehended his words as they already started moving, Ethan's heels driving the horse forward, towards the army that hastily made way as they prepared to engage Nathaniel's men. Screams and the clinking of metal rang out behind them.

Stubbornly, Katherine pulled on the hand around her throat, pressing her thumb in the gap between Ethan's pointer and thumb, like in the countless training sessions. With a hiss, Ethan's grip loosened, but then she felt his other hand press against her tummy. She froze.

His grim laugh vibrated against her back as he snatched the reigns from her hands. "Did you only just remember? Yes, you are vulnerable now. You have to hold back your temper, or you will not be the only one that is hurt. Do you want your baby to end up like the other one, huh? Dead before it can suck its mother's tits even once."

"You disgusting bastard!" Since her throat was free again, Katherine hurled curses at her capturer, yet she dared not defend herself any more. Ethan might not know, but her baby was even more of a weakness than he expected. She was still unsure if she could heal it. Her own skin was no trouble. Her throat, slightly burned by his magic, was already glowing in recovery. Yet her baby... healing it might only make it worse. So, she could not allow it to get hurt even in the slightest.

"Uh!" Suddenly, her tummy spasmed. Sweat broke out on her forehead as a searing pain ran through it, only amplified by the horse's movement. She bent forward, and it was almost hilarious that his hand around her waist was what kept her from toppling over.

"Kitty?" If she was not occupied by the pain, she might have caught the sudden shift in his voice, almost like worry.

And then, a shadow fell on the land as if the sun was swallowed by a black hole. Screams.