Chapter Twenty Four

Even in the sudden silence, Cyan did not hear the sounds of the approaching armies from both directions. Because all her attention was focused on what had only seconds ago been a living, breathing, energetic old wizard, speaking to her. Now he was just a lifeless pile on the ground. Cyan slowly lowered her arm of water, it had been outstretched and pointed at him, the initiator of the magic bolt of lightning that had taken Lloyd's life.

It took a few moments for her to really understand what had just happened, what she had just done.

Exactly what she had day-dreamed of doing for so long. Killed Evan. Her Lloyd.

Then the weight of it hit her all at once.

Arin had to stop climbing the pine tree to cover her ears with her hands so as to at least slightly muffle the scream that followed. Long and deafening, Arin was certain it would scare all the creatures for miles around.

It was Cyan, in the middle of Veiled Lake, a water tornado to match the cyclone of emotions in her head spinning around her, her liquid hands clenched into fists and screaming with all her might.

And when even that wasn't enough to free her storm emotions, she exploded.

Water from the exploding lake rained down on Ennell and Akeefa as the two armies surged onto the field.

Neither had expected the other but still, both were prepared to fight.

And so the battle began.

Arin watched, hidden and safe high up in a pine tree, as war raged below her.

She wasn't supposed to be there.

Istelle had gathered up the Ennell and decided to follow Evan to Veiled Lake from a distance. Arin didn't entirely understand what was going on, everyone had been so rushed, it all happened so fast, next thing she had known, the army was like a living sheet of many colors, blanketing the hill on which the cabin stood, then leaving the circle of hills and traveling beyond. Nobody had checked on Arin, not even Gwanwyn. Everyone had gone except for Nayana, who was inside the cabin with some sort of injury in her leg, the wizard, Barrett, who was holding up the rain, and the wizard Alekzavier and a tall beetle ashy named Tobias, who was helping Barrett.

And everyone had forgotten about the little girl and the wolf.

So the two had decided to follow the army and had kept up well. Now, Arin was high up in a pine tree in the forest surrounding the field around Veiled Lake, and Alistair was at the base of the tree, also hidden, behind the bushes that surrounded the pine tree, but with less of a view of what was going on than she had. Still, the sounds were enough.

In the trees almost opposite and to the left of Arin's pine, was the Ennell's medical station where the elves, fairies, and sprites were preparing to tend the wounded.

Gnomes were walking back and forth in two long lines with pales full of water for drinking, soaking, and washing. Even after Veiled Lake's explosion, everything was dry except for the puddle at the bottom of the lake, and the amount of dust rising from the ground on the battlefield caused Arin to wonder how they could possibly breathe. They were surrounded by more earth than air.

It wasn't long before Arin couldn't watch any longer. The sea of bodies fighting in the cramped field, over and around each other, cries filling the air and dust billowing all around. She curled up as best she could, holding tight to the tree while burying her head in between her knees, trying to block out the sounds.

So small, nestled in the branches, Arin was well hidden, even from the view of the Ennell's winged Ashies who were now in the air, dropping things from above. She shuddered until she realized they were pouring water in the buckets brought by the gnomes down on the Ennell. That was good. They wouldn't stay wet anyway, it was very hot, it was good for them to cool off a little.

Hours passed. Even with her eyes closed and the sounds muffled, Arin was miserable. Her mouth was dry and she felt like she was breathing in the dirt the war was stirring up from the ground. She hugged the tree tighter. Not that it did anything to help.

More hours passed.

The sun began to set.

Arin thought she might just go insane and fall out of the tree. She needed to get down to Alistair.

She began to stretch out her leg to a branch below her. She realized she was shaking and her feet were tingling. Arin withdrew her leg and lifted herself into a crouch on the branch she had been sitting on. She squared her shoulders, then let go of the tree trunk with one hand and stretched her arm. She grabbed the tree with the hand again and stretched the other arm. Slowly, she began assuming different positions and moving different body parts, preparing herself to climb back down after sitting on the branch for so long.

Done.

Arin was about to begin the climb down to Alistair, when she froze. Over the din of the raging battle, she made out the sounds of someone walking through dry leaves. Coming towards her. She wrapped her arms around the trunk and craned her neck to see who was coming.

The figure was caked in dirt and mud and limping, but he looked vaguely familiar. Arin hugged the tree tighter, was he coming for her? No, he didn't look up, only limped past the tree. but the healing station was in the other direction. Was he running away? Arin never found out. A second later, the man was on the ground with an axe through his skull.

If she hadn't grabbed the branch above her, Arin would have actually fallen out of the tree. She stayed in that position, holding onto the branch, frozen until the axe-thrower had gone. Then she made her way down the tree, really shaking, and tears of horror sliding slowly down her face.

Near the bottom, she had a closer look at the person. He was the leader of one of the Ennell's groups, the wizard, Ace.

Arin dropped the couple remaining feet to the ground where Alistair was waiting for her, safe and unharmed, but with a wild look in his eyes.

She buried herself in his warmth, the coziest, most welcome feeling in the world, the place where she found herself so often. . .Arin fell into a much-needed sleep.

Through the night, the war continued and intensified, the warriors taking advantage of the cool air and the darkness, the winged ashies stopped pouring water on the ground soldiers and joined the fight, the healing stations of both sides grew, their patients multiplying, the water fetchers and medical workers working feverishly in the darkness, cleaning and wrapping the wounds of those who made it out of the field.

It was a nightmare.

But nightmares never last, and they continued their work, knowing that eventually, the sun would have to rise. On through the night, they worked, their ears ringing with the horrifying sounds of the fighting in the pitch darkness. All they wanted now was for their vision to return to them.

But when the light finally arrived and began to dance its way across the sky, illuminating the forest, bringing with it the heat, restoring color to the world, no one could appreciate it.

Because a new horror had suddenly flared up, and the people suddenly had something potentially much more dangerous on their hands.

Arin awoke to the smell of smoke.