Chapter 74

A wintry wind stroked across the mountainside with a rawness that gave rise to one's soul into the gentle cloud-filtered rays. The icy breeze comes sometimes quiet, sometimes loud, yet even with a chill that brings a crispness to the day.

Ten of hundreds of people and creatures running around in a panic, packs of soldiers fighting a desperate battle to stay alive, invaders running rampant, killing, and tearing each other apart. Any attempts at bringing order were ended with threats of death.

This was also the territory where the last of the resistance held out. Loyal Lord Colton's soldiers wouldn't want to see the heart of their land murdered, so they fought to the death to protect their Lord. Then chaos builds until no one knows what's going on and the only thing left to do is run away trying to keep themselves and a few others alive, or stand their ground and die as the land burns around them with anger and cries of the dead.

The White mountain cliffs were very close behind them now. Knight Henry, Jerome and his pack, Leon the troll and some witches, the two fairy warrior sisters, and their armies continued to retreat; the dark creatures continued advancing. Channey stepped back, balancing her weight on her left foot. She was tired now, her eyes blurring with her blood, and then threw her right fist and swung her sword. There are too many of the dark creatures, and they were outnumbered, there are too many ferals that almost it was a vague attempt to win.

Channey and Prenah got to their feet. Both breathed as sweat ran down their faces. The creatures glared with sheer hatred. Chaney kept one hand on his sword's hilt and placed the other partway down the blade.

She growled. "I hate this creature." she shut her eyes and blinked twice and glanced towards her people. The Sandjinn of Lord Andrie attack first, the sisters receiving the blow with their claws. In that instant, Chaney turned her gaze toward Prenah. "Where the hell is Anna?" Her eyes flickered with worry.

Prenah was tired, and she was already hurt from several glancing blows, and her armor gave her extra weight and power in her struggles. She kept moving, not wanting to be stuck too long within the creature's reach. She grips on her blade and swings with all her might with more precise thrusts and kills a dozen of them. "Bloody bastards." The wind knocked out of her, she landed squarely on her back on the icy floor. In the split second it takes to gather herself she saw a soldier charged towards her, a warrior screams escaping his mouth. The hideous gash on his face makes him like something lunging from a nightmare. Both hands on the sword fully extended above his head. He attempts to finish it right there and then. As the soldier brings his sword down she raises hers in defense, the sound of clanging screeching the wind knocked out of her as she lands squarely on her back in the cold sleet. Yet, he brings his sword down and she raises hers in defense of the sound of clanging screeching metal echoes through the White Mountain.

Anger tore at Prenah's mind, hatred for the Dark Lord, for killing Lannah, hatred for having her sisters involved in all of this, and resentment thinking of her not surviving. She wanted to unleash all her rage and hatred on the dark creatures. However, The tip of the sword pointed towards her chest both hands-on grip as the soldier plunges the sword into her chest as she held her breath and look at her mate one last time, Knight Henry shouted as he too kneeled in front of her, a dagger went to her chest both lovers looked at each other's eyes, saying their goodbyes.

Meanwhile, Jerome and his pack of wolves fought with Lord Colton and his ferals, and fairy soldiers. Once again they fought against each other, it was only then they realized they had fought this battle for ages with the first war. Yet, Lord Colton and his soldier blocked them with the same fierce blow. "God favors me, stupid fools." Lord Colton's words repeated in Jerome's mind as he closed in on him, clinging his weapon over his shoulder, eyes gleaming with fury.

Lord Colton circled away from him, keeping his sword in motion and changing his guard and stance. He sneered and screwed up his face. Jerome roared and slashed down at the lord's head. The latter countered by raising his blade high and striking. Colton's face contorted and his pupils flared with hatred. His blow offset Jerome's, and the tip of his blade sliced across Jerome's face. His eyes bored into him and smirked. 

"I will kill you piece by piece and feed you to my pets," Colton uttered, his mouth set in a hard line. Jerome screamed out in pain and clutched at his face, Colton moved in close. He impeded Jerome's sword arm, gripped his sword halfway down the blade, and plunged it into Jerome's chest. His screaming stopped as he gasped and choked, he stared at his opponent with a mix of surprise yet, unexpectedly, he swung his weapon as hard as he could and cut Lord Colton's head and let his body fall to the ground. "That's for David."

Ashley and some of her fellow fairies tried to free herself from falling. The edge of the parade route's rocky snow shot out from under her. A Sandjinn beast pushed her again. She fell to the right, onto the very verge of the cliff. Yet, a foot came up from up close and kicked her in the face. She pulled the Sandjinn to its feet, almost tearing the collar, she heard the slight rasp of material ripping, then with all her might she swung her sword and severed its neck.

*****

With all the bloodshed and carnage, everyone looked at the blood coated snow as 

Anna and Harry landed in the middle of the battle. The creatures of the Dark Lord were fighting with their friends and allies.

"There you are little one" Lord Andrie announced, a muscle in his jaw twitched. "Oh, so this is the son of my brother, the stepson of that stupid human." He paused as his eyes narrowed towards Harry.

"...Did you know young man, your stepfather chooses to abandon his family for the power he hopes to get from me? Such a foolish mortal. And did you know? I will kill you like how I killed the king." 

Harry glared with sheer hatred as he picked up a sword from the deceased soldiers. He kept one hand on the sword's hilt and placed the other partway down the blade.

"And if you ask me, your stepfather I believe was there in the wasteland, trapped or maybe dead. Foolish human tsk tsk!" Lord Andrie sneered. He was looking Harry in the eye as he sized him up. Harry looked at him in the chest and he had to stay focused on himself. Mind games would be too risky given his disadvantages. "And ...he was now frozen for eternity, young man." The Dark Lord added.

"Bastard" Harry murmured, his eyes flared with anger. "Silence, Prince... I can kill you in one blink." He snickered as he took a rushing step in and tried to relinquish his head.

"Stop... fight me instead," Anna shouted from behind. She then skips forward and looks into the Dark Lord's eyes. She remembers her dreams, her dreams that gave her pain from beyond, yet now she knew it was not her dreams nor her memories. It was the Moon Goddess's last moments from years ago yet, she could feel it like it happens inside her head.

The half-moon hung flat on a frosty night in the White Mountain. Giving no hint of the bloodshed to come. But in this icy barren territory, I felt it wash over my skin, the brisk wintry blast, to be greeted by the rhythm of my heart, and again. Everything froze as he drew his sword, its sharpness would injure the air apart. Pressing down with his power and superior strength, he dragged the sword backward towards her face. When she least expects it, he knocks the blade from her grasp until it lands just unreachable. And steer his elbow into her face, almost knocking her unconscious. He gets to his feet standing over her, the tilt of the sword is pointed towards her heart in both hands-on grips, he plunges the blade into her rib cage.

She gasped for air. The sound of a sword being drawn from a scabbard signaled her end. Something about his eyes captured my attention, his eyes informed me of a story no voice had ever dared to tell. His blade found a sanctuary in my rib cage, urging its way into my precious heart. I didn't utter nor attempt to scream, for my sorrow is beyond me. The agony was unbearable, raising, and shattered me.

With that memory, Suddenly, picked up a sword, then quickly with new vigor she swung her blade and darted past a blade that sought to participate, and sheathed its point in a leather-guarded midriff of the Dark Lord. He gasped in surprise and went to his knees, but his creature lunged in ferocious silence, raining blow on blow so that Anna had no opportunity to counter. She could not long keep up that flailing whirlwind. Her arm would tire, her wind would fail; she would weaken, falter, and thus suddenly the creature's blade confidence slid smoothly into her heart.

She falls and Harry runs toward her.

"Anna," his eyes bore into her. He squeezed her eyes shut and added. "We should go back now, we can't fight them."

"No Harry, I can heal myself. I need to fight them, Harry, I love you... and please do this for me. I need you more than ever, but not here in this battle. I need you on the other side." She whispered. Clutching her chest.

"No Anna, I won't leave you here." 

"Please do this for me. I need you there." She begged. "I call this a sixth sense, ...but I think that's why the gods choose you to be my other end of the bridge. For you to walk through me. For you to guide me. But not here... Please do this for me. Go back now."

"No Anna," his eyes flooded with tears.

"Please, now! Take this with you."

"What? The medallion? Why?" He asked.

"I don't know, just take it with you. In time, you'll know what to do with it. Just remember. I love you, Harry. I do!"

"And I love you, Anna."

"I know...so please do this to me. To us.

Go back and never give up on me...

Now." Her eyes welled up.

Then he was gone.

"How lovely, such stupid mortal."

Even as they fought, swiveled in the snow, sprang, fled, and rolled at tremendous speed, with her launch she wasn't tiring, yet she felt something inside her surge. It was a vigor that scorched through resentment and anguish, something that took over the rage, the threat of logic and reason. She was powerful. She was the daughter of the fire, that reason implied.

She was injured, losing strength, she could feel the pain twinge, she knew dimly that she was losing blood and lots of it, enough that she should be close to incapacitated, her courage and strength rush again, she never felt this way before, but she was also never this close to death either.

Anna allowed herself to go wild, let the fire consume her heart, and wash over the last willful part of her spirit that still battled for intention and restraint. With the predator unleashed, she ripped into the creatures as if they were just like a piece of meat, using her fire she summoned it as a sword, cutting the creatures in half in one fluid motion. She tore at them, blasted them, and punched them with her discharge in such a powerful blow that it threw them every time, and before they could recuperate, she would be there again. Whacking them with a burst over the blast.

Anna felt nothing but animosity as she pulled open the creatures in half as they attacked. She did not hesitate. She did not waver as she grabbed them apart. Anna did not feel their vital blows, she did not even cower when one of the Sandjinn accomplished in tearing out the thick artery in her neck.

Lord Andrie cursed as his eyes landed on Anna. She wasn't dead as she should have been, yet he could sense her fire flared even more. Her eyes flickered greener than he saw before. It gleamed and his mouth whirled into a ferocious snarl.

"I will kill you slowly, little one, I will watch your life drained from your eyes. I won't allow you to die so easily." He began on towards her, and he taunted, and his eyes glowed in a sudden rage. His contempt was palpable. His pupils dilated.

"Stop everyone." Her power carried so much strength that everybody and all the sinister creatures stopped, heeded without pursuit. "I will fight the Dark Lord alone, winner takes all," Anna added. She knew this was a suicide. She could hear the gasping of her people and the creatures. They ceased, and they did not attack each other.

She couldn't bear any bloodshed anymore. All around her, all she could see was the blood in the sleet and the cries of the fallen. The fairy Warriors and Jerome's men were almost gone. Even Ashley and Prenah lay dead in the snow-covered with their blood. Chaneh and Lamia were all bitten and on the verge of dying. She needs to do what she needs to do. To fight the Dark Lord alone. 

Anna had no time to add more of her speech when the Dark Lord's sword hit her on her shoulder. Mocking her as he sneered. "So brave little one, I admire you for that." He smirked.

Unexpectedly, Anna strode with a momentum that she should not be capable of, not even if she weren't wounded, and her flared fist struck him square in the face. Anna's hand hit him again, and he fell behind. He skidded back many paces in the snow. His jaw lengthened, his manner stiffened. Rage flowed through him like lord's

The Dark Lord wrath fetched him to his feet, his nose streaming with blood. He assaulted with the skills of a man sure of his triumph. He summoned his inner power when all the White Mountain went dim. All creatures, great and small, and even the wind halted. The skies darkened and frozen in time, the dark covered all over them, shadowing them with their fears and playing tricks with their minds.

He assaulted Anna with his shadow, he was sure of his success and found himself overwhelmed. This was not the girl he lured in the Wasteland, something wasn't right, but he only revolted harder. He knew she could not keep this up long. She was not a fighter and his mere leverage would exhaust her soon enough, the Dark Lord deduced. Anna's hand blazed even further, attacking him with the same fierce blows, but the Dark Lord attacked even more. He landed a kick to her left shoulder so hard that she fell backward, but she was up and protecting herself before he could push his assault. He hooked her below her guard several times, almost suffocating her with his shadow, and he knew she had to weaken. 

He snuck the golden sword from his sleeve, the sword that killed his brother and his queen. The golden sword of the gods who was made from the Shrub of Nod, the tree of life, and dipped in with their blood. He thrashed it at her with a force that no power on land could avoid, and his smile of accomplishment froze as she snatched the sword as if it were a plaything thrown by a babe.

He growled and came at her with all the strength of his spirit. His face was animalistic as he let go of the last sliver of his power. At the very last moment, he glanced up into her eyes and the time appeared to a halt. His anger overpowered and rage overtook him.

What he saw in her demeanor brought through the barriers of his deepest mind. Compelling inside and warming him. If she wasn't the Moon Goddess daughter, he could have admired her. Whatever had prompted her rise from the ultimate end had adapted her beyond recognition. 

Too late, he recognized that for once; he was not that one overseeing the game. He had lost control of the situation, and she played him like a cat and a mouse, except she was not a significant cat. She was a tiger, and she was finished playing.

Her blazing hands change to claws that burst through his face as if his skin were paper. The pain was unlike any other pain he went through before, then he felt a quick spasm in his chest.

He looked down at his body and found his sword embedded just below his rib cage, powerful enough to hurt but not serious enough to kill him. Not immediately. 

She peered into his eyes, and she did something she thought she would never do. She let go of the last bits of herself that tethered the predator inside. Anna allowed herself to go feral, let the mist wash over the last conscious part of her spirit that still struggled for reason and restraint. With the predator unleashed, she burst into the Dark Lord. Her fire burst all over her now, her eyes flashed with contempt. She engulfs him with fire and rushes at him; she punches him with such vigorous blows that it lifts him clean every time, and before he could recover, she would be there repeatedly. She felt nothing but wrath.

The Dark Lord lunged at her and even as he took her down, she turned, and as he fell face-first into the icy sleets. Suddenly, he recognized that Anna wasn't going to kill him until she preferred to, and she was savoring this situation very much.