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DaiSzek takes a deep breath in, and I feel the exhale before I see it. He roars like both a king of lions and a massacring dragon. The legend hunches his shoulders to his ears with a force of air that blasts from his jaws detonating blue flashing sparks, and within a blink of an eye, dark red flames ignite, the color of his glowing eyes.
The fire is massive in size, dwarfing the army, and emanating a callous fury as it engulfs charred pathways through several lines of defense. DaiSzek’s body goes taut and hard to the touch with the scorching wrath of a dragon, the dominating energy radiating off of us in a musical dance of annihilation.
The faces of those who barely survive the blast are more shocked than if they saw the devil himself rising from the dirt to take them to hell.
Catching up behind us, Knightingale and a storm of white wolves make a head-on collision with Vexamen beasts like swamp dawpers and grinalie bears, wasting no time in their slaughter. The army of Demechnef rides in the wake of the smoke and flames being extinguished by the mob of dying soldiers, putting out the flames with their bodies. And even though we didn’t take out the entire army, we sure as hell made a dent in their forces.
Stormsages fall in line first, then the Nightamous Horde. And as they create an impenetrable wall on the left and right sides of DaiSzek and me, we slice through the limbs of these soldiers like slabs of butter. In the thick of the fighting, I jump off of DaiSzek’s back, beheading anyone that charges me. My nerves come alive, remembering every moment I trained with Kane as a child. Feeling the grief and depression from when I lost Dessin. The guilt from Ruth’s moment with the axe. The pain of watching Niles throw himself into the flames.
I’m a lethal assassin in the calm of night, slithering through the falling bodies and sharp weapons. Blood splashes across my face as I take down a man three times my size, feeling the presence of another towering figure coming right up behind me. His shadow blankets the sunrays that glimmer off my ancient sword. I swing the blade like a whip lashing through the wind, throwing my weight into the attack. But as I see the brown eyes looking down at me, my arm halts to a stop, pausing just before it touches the skin on his tan neck.
“Dessin,” I exhale in a rush. Every bit of passion under my skin is rushing to the surface.
He slips his sword into his belt, and hesitantly slides those giant hands around the sides of my face. I melt despite the pumps of adrenaline coursing through my veins. His touch softens the universe into submission.
“You came back,” he says, furrowing his brow.
I nod with watering eyes. “And I brought heaven and hell with me.”
Dessin blinks as he glares down at me with confusion and intense emotions flashing across his vision. “You love me.”
“Always.”
A soldier comes up behind me, but not before Dessin uses the tip of my sword to impale him. We break away from each other, staying close as we fight back-to-back. An unstoppable force that conquers the weapons that rise against us.
With Dessin by my side, I can do all things.
Bear all things.
Endure all things.
~
Niles
“DaiSzek just breathed fucking fire!” I scream in Ruth’s ear, hugging her chilled body to my chest within the curly roots of the swamp tree.
“Good, you saw it, too,” she says in a shiver. “I thought I was hallucinating.”
I bury my nose against her wet hair. We’ve both lost some blood, probably have concussions, and I can’t imagine how great her pain is right now. However, the cavalry has come! Soldiers in orderly lineups march on as Skylenna makes a blazing trail through a sea of fried corpses. It’s astounding and surreal to see before my very eyes!
“Help has come, Ruthie.”
“Thank God. I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d last.”
I dab at the tears dripping down her cheeks, kiss her temple, and hug on her some more. We’re going to get through this. We have been through too much for that to be our tragic ending.
“We deserve a happy ending,” I tell her.
“I don’t think that’s in the cards for me,” she chokes out.
“Oh, Ruthie!” I pull her ice-cold hand to my lips, breathing hot air against her fingers. “Don’t you see him? You think I haven’t noticed the vibrant light that shines between you and Warrose? Sure, he’s rough around the edges and eats like a brain-dead barbarian, but you’ve found your soulmate. And he’s currently slaying any living being that tries to harm us.”
She watches Asena toss him a razor-bladed whip and sees how he comes to life as he manipulates his favorite tool of destruction. The bronze muscles across his back flex and contract, hurling his body into a lashing that removes three heads at once. And those movements are positively bestial, a predator much faster than his prey. He’s a leaf in the wind as he rotates his movements around each attack, avoiding even the slightest cut or jab.
Marilynn isn’t far ahead of him. She stands out with her cherry-red hair and lips like a drop of blood on a piece of parchment. Her deadly presence twists around like a viper with her small hand blades. She’s fluid and packs a fucking punch. I wish I could be the man to help her, fight with her, but if I’m being true to myself…sitting here with Ruth, holding her, protecting her, is where I want to be.
Off into the distance, another army of mountain men and women with heavy axes and hulking bodies swarm around us. They remind me of Helga Bee and Gerta, helping us from all angles, supporting each colony for our seven forests. And to my surprise, Hangman’s Valley has its own colony. One that lacks a human population. Beasts of all sizes and colors enter the fight, gravitating toward Warrose to be commanded into the combat.
