128

128

Ashley's POV:

As I turned tail and fled without putting up any facade of bravery anymore, seeing the odds against me, I couldn't help but wonder how they had suddenly come. Then I remembered, I envisioned how I had completely thrashed him, and knew all of a sudden what he had been doing in the background to make this possible for him right now. He knew just how weak he would be, and he knew his chances against me weren't much, so he didn't even try in the first place. He tried for a while before he completely gave up and instead decided to reach out to his people so that they would come and support him.

And was that what was happening now? I had let emotions get the best of me. Why didn't I just push him away once and then escape with the children back to their mother? Victory had literally been in my grasp a moment ago. If only I had been simple about my course of action, it wouldn't be such a difficult fight for me any longer because one way or another, it definitely took some time for them to come over, and that time would have been enough for me to escape and bring the battle back to square one.

I couldn't help but feel more and more foolish inside. But I tried my best to hold myself and told myself that mistakes happened. Even now it could be salvaged. The people behind me, the army was giving chase. A couple of arrows were sent flying over my head at this moment, but as long as I used my energy properly, I would be able to get back to the children.

Most likely, they teleported. This is not Malachi's full army. Those ones have to march over the sand, I thought to myself, my brain getting into motion since my mind was pretty much my biggest tool right now. This army would be only to give him help now and to transport him back, I thought to myself. I started making sense of it. It can't possibly be all of them, so I do have a chance. But when I turned around for even a second to glance at them, I couldn't help but shake my head. I would never be able to defeat such a large number of people, not even on my terms, if the fight took place in a place where I had complete dominion over.

I decided then that my best shot was to run. I got up to the point where I had seen the children last, somehow able to retrace my steps even when I hadn't been paying attention then. It was wonderful how many talents I suddenly seemed to derive out of the blue due to the times that required them. But I didn't focus on my achievements because they wouldn't count in the end if I wasn't able to get them back to their mother the way I was supposed to.

Was this the place? I wondered as I looked and saw that they weren't anywhere near there any longer. The children, all of them were gone, and my heart sank with it as I stared at that spot in shock. I felt my whole world crashing down. Someone had taken them, or maybe they had crawled away in this vast expanse of land. I couldn't simply start looking for them because I would never find them, never ever. They were gone right now, and there was no way I would be able to find them if they actually were going on their own.

That fight just now, the beating that I had given him, was taking up to at least 10 minutes, and they could be anywhere. If I started off in the wrong direction to search for them, I would never ever be able to find them again. And soon now or later, the army behind me would catch up with me. I heard them marching. I heard the screaming and the shouts of war. And I knew without a doubt that even now, they were catching up. Even now, they were making their way towards me. And I was still unable to figure out what to do.

I wanted to break down. My bones felt weak, so weak that I could hardly stand as I looked at the situation surrounding me and knew that my death was imminent. I could try running, of course, but what was the point of running if I didn't have my primary goal, the children, with me? When I thought about him and all the things I had done to him just now, I knew that he would want his revenge, and if I let myself stay here, I would be giving him exactly what he wanted.

If I gave up, I was not only going to suffer - he was going to do more than double the damage I had done to him, and he was going to torture me for the rest of my days. He had sacrificed something with a bigger goal in mind. I had to give it to him - compared to him, I wasn't experienced at all in planning and strategy. He was a master planner, and he had bested me more than once now, allowing me to beat him up by taking advantage of my anger. The only thing I had bested him at was just now, turning the situation around by deceiving him with a kiss and then using that as an opportunity to throw him off. But apart from that, he had won, and won more than once.

I shook my head as I made up my mind - I would run. Since running was my best shot now, I wouldn't keep trying to search for the children because maybe, just maybe, it was high time I started thinking a little more about myself than about them and other people. Sure, I had let a lot of people down, and as a result of that, I should probably be thinking a little more about how to make up for it, but what was the point of making up if I lost my life as a result? I wouldn't even be able to make up for my crimes if it ended in my death, so I made up my mind that it was absolutely useless for me to die and I shouldn't let that happen to me.

With that thought in mind, I started running away as quickly as possible. However, I had barely taken two steps when I suddenly heard the sound of an army coming from in front of me. My eyes widened in shock. An ambush! Had they already formed an ambush for me? I questioned, wondering what my odds were against an army that was in front of me and also behind me.

Just then, I heard the loud noise of hooves and horses - another army was coming from the side, and I knew that it was his once again. Maybe he had opened another portal there to let another one of Malachi's armies in just to get me and the children. Imagine being the reason for the deployment of two entire armies, I thought to myself bitterly as I shook my head. It was absolutely insane for someone to have such attention, but in my case, yeah, it was impossible for me to escape.

Well, did I think he would sort of let me off after everything I had done? That he wouldn't do everything in his power to punish me? I thought to myself, shaking my head. I might as well give up - a win was more or less impossible at this moment. However, I found myself still having the will to fight. It was most likely futile, most likely stupid of me to think I could still escape, to even attempt it any longer, but I just couldn't help myself. Nobody wanted to die, and I just couldn't bring myself to accept that my fate was already sealed, even though it most likely was.

I needed to pick a direction in that case, I decided within myself. My best option now was to pick somewhere to run, to be very thoughtful about what I decided, and then I would run in that direction and not stop, because I knew without a doubt if I picked wrongly and I started moving, I wouldn't be able to turn back. It was now or never.