Just as Alaris had predicted, the White King sent his army to fight them. There were no dragon shifters among them, it was a way to show that the King didn't consider them a great threat. Why must he stress Royal blood for pesky flies?
Despite that, the White King’s warriors were more in number than the ones who fought for Alaris, even with their shadow warriors, they weren't enough to fight each of their adversaries one on one.
However, Alaris had been ready for them and at the first sign of intrusion, the Rebellion kicked into their plan.
They hide, leaving only a couple of them behind.
Alaris took the sky, taking Belladonna with him, hiding away in the clouds; this way it was better to see their shadows as the White King’s warriors raced their way in, trying to execute a loud ambush.
They burst into laughter when they saw what they were up against.
This would be too easy, they had thought.
Fools!
The presence of the sun in the sky was against them, and quickly, the creation of the shadow warriors began, giving the White King’s army no time to attack or even understand what was killing them. Those who turned just in time to see their shadow emerge from the ground and strike them were horrified. It was nothing like they had ever seen before.
One by one, the White King’s warriors dropped dead, their shadows falling beside them and dissolving back into the ground.
From the sky Belladonna, feeling in her veins the death of every life she had just created. It drained her; creating and losing at the same time.
It was something she feared she would never get used to.
Every fiber of her being was consumed with weakness; Alaris’s arm around her was a great support.
“Together,” Alaris said behind her, his voice consumed with a thirst for vengeance, a hope for victory, and a trace of a desperate plea, “we will be unconquerable. Stay only to win me this and you may go. I beg you, without you, I will be nothing. Stay.”
Belladonna had planned that she would help Alaris create his army then she would leave. She had been working on accessing portals too, and trying to create one. Although, she wasn't making any progress with that but that hadn't deterred her plan to leave. The Rebellion also planned to keep moving from one branch to another, taking survivors and making shadow warriors out of them but even that didn't guarantee quantity and quality against the White King’s army.
They would have to create shadow warriors right on the battlefield. Also, what was a better chance of success than having the enemy fight themselves? The fatality rate for the Rebellion would be greatly reduced and they wouldn't need to keep and feed any of the White King’s army just because they made shadow warriors of them.
It was logical.
She felt driven by a purpose, like her life was starting to hold meaning that it had lost.
Something about this realm called to her, something that she felt she must find out.
“I will stay,” she finally said, “for now.”
___
___
[Three months later]
A war wasn't an easy thing to win, but three months made a great difference in the path of victory for those who knew how and when to strike best.
The Rebellion had that quality.
They had grown bigger, conquered more smaller villages and victory was in sight.
The White King was now terrified of them and the shadow warriors that had been created out of the Alaris’ shadows now had enemies to fight against.
The dragon shifters were harder to fight. They barely landed on the ground and it was hard to create shadow warriors out of them because of how fast they moved.
But victory was still theirs and they had lost only a couple of shadow warriors so far, one of Alaris' shadow warriors being one of them.
Everything was perfect, so of course, they were celebrating.
Belladonna could hear the music from here; the loud bangs of the drums, the ululating, the singing. She wished she could be that happy but she wasn't.
She was changing, the gem was changing her and she knew it. Her hair was no longer black but silver, just like the Bearer she would always dream about.
Those dreams were getting more vivid lately; long white dress, long silver hair, and a bloody dagger. She still couldn't see her face, she had never been able to.
It was haunting her.
Alaris had said her hair was changing because of the gem's magic but somehow it felt more than that.
Every day, she felt less like her and more like the Bearer she didn't even know.
Something was terribly wrong. She just didn't know what it was yet.