Page 84 of Renegade Kings
And it wasn’t me doing it.
My mind flashed back to another occasion I’d seen the light dim in the eyes of The Endless, and as it did, he pulled back his sword arm, and instead of slamming the blade into mine, twisted and rammed it through the neck of the soldier behind him.
Falling to his knees, the blue light completely dimmed in the eyes of the soldier. He dropped his sword, his hands coming up to grip the helm as a groan of despair flowed from hidden lips.
Dean moved at the same time as I did as we both dived to take down the next Endless that had followed this one through. We needed to buy him enough time to see if he could fight the control Arik was holding over him. If this was the same soldier we’d seen before, he was potentially the only one who could do it, and the information he could hold would be priceless in the war to come.
I drove my sword through the soft vulnerable spot in the armour's underarm and pulled on the last reserves of Spring magic that were still clinging to me to wrap vines around the soldier as Dean forced him to the ground.
As I glanced back at the soldier on the ground, I could see the struggle he was going through, trying to fight for control, and Rhidian’s fighters were moving to form a distant circle around him. It said a lot about how well Rhidian had trained them, that even in a fight like this, they still had enough wits about them to see that this soldier wasn’t entirely their enemy.
It was only then that I realised how quiet it was, and when I glanced around I saw all our fighters looking confused as no more Endless came through the gap in the barricade. There wasn’t even a sound of them trying to break through in any other spot. The only thing in the forest now was silence, apart from the panting breaths of the weary fighters around me.
I quickly took stock of our side, and apart from a few minor looking injuries, everyone seemed fine and still on their feet.
“We might not have much time,” I told Dean, even though I knew he couldn’t respond to me in his current form.
He gave me a wolfy huff and then took up position between me and the gap in the vines The Endless had been advancing through.
I didn’t waste any time and quickly rushed to the soldier, hunched on his knees as he clawed at the helm that didn’t seem to want to come off.
Grabbing his shoulders, I pulled him straight to look at him. I knew I could help him. I’d found a way with another before him. The problem was, I wasn’t entirely sure how I did it, and I wasn’t sitting on the verge of magical burn out then. I’d used too much too quickly here, but I wouldn’t let it cost me the opportunity to save the person in front of me.
“Kill me,” he begged. “Please, I beg you. I can’t take any more of this.”
My mind flashed back to this exact same situation. This wasn’t a coincidence. Those didn’t exist in Nymeria. There was something we weren’t seeing about The Endless. Something Nymeria was screaming at us to notice and we’d passed it by before.
“This is what I deserve,” he whispered. “The things I’ve done, the things he made me do. Please, save me from this torment. I can’t… I can’t…”
He screamed as the light flared brighter in his eyes, and I knew he was close to losing his grip on what little control he had.
Perhaps I should have done what he asked. It would probably have been the kinder thing in the circumstances. I’d never know what these people had been through. But… I couldn’t.
I couldn’t give up on them.
I couldn’t let Arik win.
Not even over just one more person.
“Can you see me, you fucking bastard?” I seethed, gripping the helm as I glared into the blue light that came from the one man I hated the most in the world.
“Kill him, Alyssa.” Arik’s slimy voice practically oozed from the man in front of me as he exerted his control over him once again. “You know you want to. Kill them all.”
Arik’s laughter echoed around the forest and the men around me stumbled back in shock. Perhaps now realising just how much the pretender king could really do.
This was nothing but parlour tricks, though.
And when the smile spread across my lips, his laughter stumbled to a halt.
“What makes you think I’ve killed any of them?” The satisfaction of knowing how much this would piss him off was more than enough to make me latch onto that magic that was growing deep into the forest, even when I was frightened of what it might actually do to me. “I’m taking them, Arik. I’m taking these people back, and then I’m taking back the Courts. One. By. One. Don’t worry, I’ll save yours for last. I want you to sit on your icy throne and watch while I strip away every single thing you’ve fought for. This world deserves better than you. Even if I have to die doing it, your time on that throne ends.”
And I pulled on the magic blooming in the forest, drawing every single bit of it inside of me. It felt like pure fire flooding my veins, and a little piece of me burned away in the process. A piece I didn’t know if I needed, but right now, it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter how much I lost, because he was about to lose more. This was madness, but what part of war wasn’t? Battles were won at the cost of your soul. I was just setting mine ablaze before the darkness of what I’d done could seep inside.
Then I set it free.
The magic surged into the Endless in front of me, burning through the darkness that was trying to rip him away and flooding the connection he shared with those around him. Strangely, it didn’t fight me this time. It didn’t try to punish me for bending it to my will. Instead, it fled me almost happily as it burned through the darkness of Arik’s magic like the afford to Nymeria that it was.
I heard a distant scream as Arik scrambled to close the connection, and satisfaction burned through me. It was about time that he felt a fraction of the pain he’d inflicted on the fae.