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Teeth clamping, claws swiping, blood spraying, and enemies falling. I found myself in a cluster of shifters who were encircling a dryad, protecting her from anyone who tried to get too close while she sent thorny vines snapping out, ensnaring and choking enemy soldiers.
I kept up with them until they were able to close in their ranks, forcing the enemy to give them more space, then I dashed to the next cluster. It was an exercise in awareness, execution, and getting the drop whenever I could. Despite the seriousness of the situation, I reveled in the unity my wolf and I shared, the duality of shifter nature that fueled my soul.
Together we drove off any enemy that would dare even try to cause harm to me and mine.I hadn’t been at Fort Canid for several years just to have them walk all over us. No, if they wanted to break our borders, they were going to have toearnit.
I didn’t know if it was my ferocity or how my allies around me felt my own determination, but something about my presence seemed to invigorate the front lines. Each enemy I dispatchedbrought new energy simmering through the troops. That feeling got me to press onward, letting me push past exhaustion and sore muscles. I may have had my flaws, but none of those mattered when it came to protecting my people.
I'd die for them. I hoped they knew that.
Magic was still raining down in oppressive pulses from both sides. Even when it wasn't tearing through targets, it was doing a lot of environmental damage. I was most definitely relieved that we’d managed to engage them outside of the fort instead of in, as our gardens, water pumps, and most likely all of our support buildings would have been completely destroyed.
But as fierce as we were fighting, I couldn’t tell if we were actually gaining ground or not. I needed to get to a better vantage point, but I wasn’t quite willing to leave the fray of the front lines.
At least not yet.
I continued fighting, even when I vaguely felt a few attacks graze me. But I was so enthralled from my battle high that I could hardly name what hit me. All I knew was that they didn’t blow a hole in me or rip any of my limbs off, and they definitely didn't slow me down.
Each attack I met with equal or more strength served as a boost. I’d hoped I'd never need to be ready for an attack, but my wolf was howling at the rush of purpose. But where was Oren? Surely he needed back up.
I could see my closest friend in his wolf form in the distance, fending off a group of enemy attackers away from the main battle. Had he found a cluster of enemy psychics? Warlocks? A pleasant variety pack of magic users?
I knew they had to have long-range attacks, considering the pattern of bodies around them from those who'd flanked them… or at least they’d tried.
I bounded over to him without missing a beat. My lifelong friend clearly had no trouble isolating the ringleaders, but it never hurt to have a little backup, especially when dealing with magic. Even if all I'd be doing was sparing him time and injury, it was more than worth it.
Besides, he was my second in command. I didn’t like to envision failure, as I believed it was a self-fulfilling prophecy, but it was also important to be prudent. I didn’twantto die, sure, but if I had to, I took solace in knowing the fort would be left in good, capable hands. Hands I absolutely trusted with my life.
But I never quite got there.
I was mid-stride when I suddenly jolted and went rigid, feeling as if my body wasn't my own. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t doanything,as if my spirit itself had been forcibly wrenched from my corporeal form and wrung out with a vengeance. I saw stars bursting in front of my eyes in a host of alien, unwelcoming waves of ominous color. What little feeling I possessed was that of pins and needles, except all those thousands of small, sharp, pointy bits were burrowing into me simultaneously.
I couldtastethe energy, like the malicious bastard child of electricity coursing through my veins. It burrowed through me, biting into each muscle, and eachcellof my being.
The magical attack—because what else could it be—ripped a howl out of my throat. I couldn’t tell if the cry was humanoid or my wolf’s. I was only certain I was howling in the kind of pain the physical body can barely comprehend.
The stars, those of both light and darkness, crowded my vision, crowding the world out in a haze of unadulterated agony. My breathing was rapid and shallow, my thoughts flitting into frazzled little nothings of panic as I was locked into place until finally, finally, the overwhelming surge of it all knocked my legs out from under.
I was unconscious before I even hit the ground.
Chapter 5
Ayla
I wasn’t entirely certain which armies from the enemy kingdom were attacking. Was it the official army of their insane despot of a leader? Mercenaries hired from all over the world, crawling out of the various filthy, dark corners they liked to inhabit? Were they magical constructs? Conscripts from other conquered lands who'd no choice but to serve? I didn’t know, and there wasn’t really a way for me to find out yet.
I wished that it didn’t have to be like this, that I could know those we fought were guaranteed to be evil or heartless, but it didn’t actually work that way, especially since so many other nations had fallen to the conquest of our rival kingdom. It was never as simple in war as one side versus another. Legends wove tales of acts of glory and valor, but they were just that:tales.But far too many bought into the idealistic sugarcoating of what war actually was, and they all wanted to prove thattheirside was just the one.
My magic was already running low toward the end of my shift before I’d decided to wander off in the middle of the night to gather ingredients. If only I’d actually gone to bed instead of wandering out and being observed by Kai. Maybe I'd have been able to rest and recharge more. As it was, I was surprised I’deven lasted this long considering that and how much I’d poured into Darla.
“Medic!Medic!”
I tried not to think as I dodged bodies to find who was calling, but even with all my efforts, my mind replayed flashes of what my best friend looked like bleeding out and crumpled against the fort wall.
There wassomuch blood. I wasn’t a stranger to gruesome injuries—I’d been assigned to the fort all the way back when I was nineteen—but it was another thing entirely seeing my closest confidante so near death.
True, maybe I'd used more magic than I should have but, hey, she was alive and back in the fight.
“Healer Everton! Wait!”
