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For one second, I think Onyx is just going to spring forward and fight it, but 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, 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. Suddenly, 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. I need 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 it 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.
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 it’s 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 today’s 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.
