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I try not to think what would happen if I lost Rayne too. If I lost another man I loved and still had to fight this war and find a way to save Phantom… but every time I think about it, I want to scream and cry and curse the world. So, I keep forcing my thoughts away from that painful topic.
Night falls fully, and we don’t light torches. They’re too dangerous now. And there’s enough light from the moon to at least illuminate most of the spaces in front of us. Unfortunately, it’s not just tripping over something that we have to worry about. When it’s fully dark, our enemies can come for us, and after being silent for a few days, I have no doubt tonight they’ll reappear.
Onyx leads our group, communicating with hand signals. We move slower, collecting another random moon shard and making our way closer to the Void. The massive black cloud has so many different directions that they can come out of on earth, but the back of it borders a massive canyon, so that, at least, helps limit them… a little.
Suddenly, Onyx motions for us to stop.
We do, but I peer slowly through the trees to the Void. The terrible cloud looms, even in the night, rolling and moving like storm clouds. Nothing seems to have emptied out of it, but I trust these men. They were fighting these creatures long before I came along.
Slowly, a grave troll emerges from the Void. The bastard is huge. Dusk had told me they were born in places of terrible pain and suffering, areas where people had died. Their bodies were made up of hundreds of pieces of dead people that come together to create a Frankenstein of a creature. This one is no exception, and as he stands, his nostrils flaring, his black sword thrown on his back like a club, my heart races.
The creatures always did that to me. No matter how many times I saw them.
For one second, I think Onyx is just going to spring forward and fight it, but then he remains in place, his hand raises, telling us all to wait. A dozen rot monkeys come springing out behind it. The bastards are almost completely pitch black and oily, with big red eyes, long teeth, and claws. They do this eerie chittering thing as they jump around, and I can see that each one holds a moon shard.
Now, now is the time for us to spring forward, before the monkeys race away into the woods, and we have to spend all night chasing them. But still, Onyx keeps that hand of his raised.
Two more grave trolls emerge from the Void, and my breath catches.Threeof them? Three of them is a hell of a lot. We can handle them, but tonight will not be an easy night. Not that any is exactly. Still, I try to take deep breaths, to call to the weird magic inside of me that I don’t understand… but the magic I have to ask to use, for some reason.
I feel it spring to life inside of me, waiting for release, but I look at Onyx. If I use my light before they start attacking, before they distract the creatures, they’ll attack me. And, unfortunately, I’m not as good at handling a hand-to-hand fight as the guys. They’ve made it clear to me my magic has more value than my kicks and punches, but still, it’s hard to always have to linger back.
At last, Onyx drops his hand. He moves back to us slowly and pulls Rayne into a tight hug, patting him grimly on the back. Dusk hugs Rayne too, although his hug is more friendly, and I wonder what the hell is going on.Did the three grave trolls shake their confidence?I know my emotions are far too raw after so many days fighting and so much loss.
They each hug me next. But Rayne hugs me the hardest, kissing my cheek and whispering that he loves me. Before I can say it back, he pulls away and then all the men withdraw their swords.
My chest aches.Another battle? More wounds to my brave warriors? How much longer can we do this?
But I don’t say any of that, I just make sure my magic is ready and inch behind them as they move forward. They spread out, as they usually do, with Onyx remaining in front of me, and the other two staying close enough, just in case, but to each of his sides. I keep my gaze on Onyx’s back as the monkeys continue to chitter and the grave trolls snort and growl. Any second now, they’ll follow the Shadow King’s commands and begin planting the shards and searching for us, but we’ll be on them before they can.
Then, Onyx is out, in front of them, attacking. It happens within a moment before Dusk is there too. A grave troll roars, the sound shaking the woods around me, and his sword meets Onyx’s. Dusk is squaring off with one of the others, while the third tries to circle around to reach Onyx from behind. The rot monkeys keep leaping forward, but Onyx and Dusk are quick to kick them away.
Now, it’s time for me.
I call my magic to me, asking it for help, and within moments golden light illuminates my hands before it shoots forward, blanketing the battle in gold. The rot monkeys hiss and screech and begin to turn to ash in front of my eyes. The grave trolls roar, and fight harder, even as they begin to fade away to ash too.
Dusk and Onyx are still fighting, their swords meeting the massive swords of the grave trolls, but they’re more confident now that the trolls are suffering and distracted. I’m trying to focus, to end this battle before they’re hurt, but my focus falters for a second as I glance around, wanting to find Rayne. Needing to know he’s okay.
And then I remember the way he hugged all of us. The conversation. The strange tension.Did he go into the Void? Tonight? Already?
My golden light begins to falter as panic awakens inside of me, but when I realize what I’m doing, I try to calm myself down.I’ll look for Rayne when the grave trolls are gone. Until then, I need to help my men.I can’t let one of them get hurt, when Rayne might be fighting just out of my sight. When I might be overreacting.
Even if my gut is saying I’m not.
One of the trolls falls into a pile of ash, and I refocus my light onto the two that are left. They’re almost gone. Almost defeated. It’s taking everything in me not to leave my men to them and go to search for Rayne, but I manage to stay in place, teeth gritted together.
Suddenly, I feel a sharp pain on the back of my head, and everything goes dark.
SIX
Rayne
I’m breathing hard as I finish cutting the little rot monkey in front of me in half. It makes a strange sound like a shriek rolled into a gasp, then collapses into ash. The damn Shadow King had sent another group of them sneaking in from the side, but I’d been lucky enough to spot them before they got lose on earth.
Ann’s light disappears as I race toward the others, happy to have dealt with the little assholes, but worried about the consequences of leaving Onyx and Dusk without my help. I might be the worst fighter among us, but Onyx had said every sword on our side was a good sword in battle. It wasn’t praise exactly, and yet it made me want to be a sword he valued.
To my relief, in the clearing, all our enemies are gone. Ann’s light worked its magic, leaving behind piles of ash that were once our enemies. I also spot the evidence of Dusk and Onyx’s efforts, which are pieces of a few grave trolls scattered on the ground. Ann could turn them to ash too, but she’s done what she needed to do. Her magic has limits, which we’d learned a long time ago, so using them for cleanup is stupid. Besides, we’re more than good enough at burning grave trolls by now.
I see a few rot monkeys scattering and running into the forest, which sucks, but they’ll return later to fight. For now, we have the upper hand and they won’t stick around to join their friends in whatever afterlife is awaiting them.
