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Which means the big fight for the night is mostly finished, which is a huge relief. Some nights the fighting is worse than others. Sometimes there are clever plans, and sometimes, like tonight it was just a rush of brute force. Probably just to see if they’ve weakened us enough that we won’t be able to handle it.
A few of the rot monkeys come back, which, I guess, is better than having to track them down. Although, annoying. I slash one across his chest and black syrupy soot oozes from the wound. Across the field of battle, Onyx rips the head off another and holds it in his hand as the body falls. Dusk has two on him and he’s fighting hand to hand, hitting one then the other. It’s a valiant fight for someone Ann once calledFluffy.A nickname I’ve been enjoying knowing ever since Ann told me about it. He looks like he’s toying with them, but in the second it takes to have the thought, he ends one, then the other. And now, we’re the last men standing.
Onyx moves to start a fire so we can burn the bodies of the grave trolls… or what’s left of them.
Ann is still hidden, which kind of sucks. Some small part of me always wants to hug her after a battle, no matter how hard or easy. But I know better than to call her out of the trees. Onyx and Dusk have made it clear to her that they don’t want her anywhere near the Void when she’s weak and vulnerable after using her magic. And I don’t think she’s fought them much on it, because the smell of burning troll isn’t exactly pleasant.
But still, I want to hurry and burn these trolls and get back to her. She’s the only one who can shake this somber, exhausted mood after battle. Even if todays was fairly easy in comparison to the ones we’ve faced lately. She’ll at least be happy, or somewhat so, that we’ve defeated more of the creatures fighting for the king.
Every enemy we kill is a step closer to our ultimate goal. That’s how we look at it anyway.
“That wasn’t too bad,” I say, as I drop a big log onto the other logs.
“I wonder if Phantom and father are getting tired of all of this,” Dusk mutters, shaking his head as he kicks one of the grave troll’s hands.
It’s weird, they said the creatures could build themselves into grave trolls again if we don’t burn them, but I’m not sure the body parts here would be enough for that. Not that I want to find out.
Onyx signs something I can’t see very well in the dark. Luckily, Dusk’s words put them into context as he gives a snort-laugh. “Yeah, you’re probably right. It’s unlikely.”
We start up the fire, and within a short time, it’s burning brightly. Together, we drag over the bottom half of one of the trolls and then toss it onto the fire, followed by the legs and crotch of the next one, and finally the lone hand. The smell of wood and rotted bodies burning fills the air, and I gag.
Onyx laughs, and I hate to say it, but I love his laugh. It’s not quite a chuckle, but somewhere in between a belly laugh and a chortle. It makes it all the more special, somehow, that he can’t hear the sound himself. And also, a bit sad. One day I’ll have to tell him what a nice laugh he has. You know, when I’m not working so hard not to hurl.
“Just go find Ann,” Dusk finally says, and I realize he’s laughing at me too.
“Sorry, we didn’t,” I gag again, “burn trolls at the mansion.”
Dusk, the ass, actually laughs harder. “No, I’m sure there wasn’t troll burning time in between tea and dances.”
I toss some dirt at him.
He grins standing far closer to the flames than I could ever manage. “Just go.”
“Fine, but you just remember that you’re a prince too!” It takes everything in me not to loudly gag again as I retreat from the flames.
“A prince of the shadow beasts, not the delicate fae,” he calls after me.
“I’m not delicate,” I grumble, which would have been perfect if I didn’t loudly gag again.
I glance back at them and Dusk signs something to Onyx, then they’re both laughing their asses off. I give them the finger before turning around to look for Ann, but I’m smiling. This must be what it’s like to have brothers, and although I loved Esmeray, I’m kind of glad to have “brothers” now.
That thought fills my mind as I make it to the place that we’d left Ann. Only, she’s not there. I understand, sometimes she has to adjust her angle or move deeper if the rot monkeys get too close, so I walk further into the woods, wondering how far Ann has gone, how deep into the cover of the trees she’s ventured.
Maybe she felt the danger more acutely today. Maybe she wanted to get away from the sound of battle. Her light makes her sensitive to sound while she uses it. Sensitive to many things, and vulnerable, which I knew she hates. Still, my Ann is a trooper. She always has been.
But after a few minutes, I start to worry. Probably unnecessarily. Not because I’m stupid and think she’s safe out here, but because with her light she could vaporize anything that gets close to her. The concern for me is that I always thought she has to be close enough to see where she’s directing her light, but I’m two-hundred yards into the forest, and I still don’t see her.
Still. Don’t. See. Her.
The last thing I want to do is call out and alert any lingering enemies that she’s alone and vulnerable, but my stomach clenches. This isn’t like Ann. I hope she’s just sitting and tired. Maybe somewhere I missed. But something feels off.
Wrong.
I’m ten yards farther when I see them–the moon shards we’d collected earlier. She’d had them in the pouch she carries on her belt. She always keeps them there because she’s the only one who can carry them without being affected. There’s no way she would have left these on the ground. Not by choice, at least.
My heart races.
A flash of light catches my eye. Past the moon shards, a few feet farther away, her dagger sticks out of the ground near the stump of a fallen tree. I know it’s her dagger because it’s one I gave her from my personal stash. It’s got an ivory handle and a blade that’s sharp on both sides with a point on the end that could pierce a hole in a man without much force behind it. It’s shiny and silver and she sharpens it every morning because she doesn’t want to be caught off-guard. And somehow, someone caught her anyway.
