21. Revel

Her breathing was shallow and rapid.

She had forgotten to breathe again.

It was getting harder to concentrate—seven different battles, twelve friendlies she had to avoid. And they weren’t helping, running around the trolls and breaking any sense of order.

Something that should have been as simple as breathing… well, she was having trouble with the breathing part.

One of them was already dead. And the battle had just begun.

Clay dodged the troll’s swings. Each strike shook the ground, leaving craters larger than a her. Her heart hammered. She had to do something to help him.

Sir William, the knight beside him, drove his spear into the beast and pinned it in place.

Her chance.

She chanted, calling to the lord of the underworld.
“… Shadow Chains.”

The troll pulled back its hand to strike. She focused and sent the chains toward it. They coiled around the limb, locking it in place—just long enough.

Clay slipped behind it.

The chains shattered, and her mana drained. A cold sweat broke across her skin.

The beast was already dead. Sir William stood over it.

She allowed herself to exhale before finding another target.

An enraged troll swung mindlessly around him, but the knights evaded every blow with ease. The beast stopped and stared at them, its eyes burning red. Then it roared and turned, charging toward another group.

She froze. She had to do something, or it would hit them from the side.

Her mind raced, but nothing came. Too far for Shadow Chains. Too far for most of her spells. There were two that could reach it. They wouldn’t do anything to a troll that size.

She looked at Dareth, hoping he was aware of the peril they were in. He stood a few meters away from her, his posture relaxed. There was no tension in him. He muttered something, but she didn’t hear it.

He moved his hand and opened his fingers. She felt the mana stir around him. Her gaze shifted toward the troll as an ice wall rose from the ground. It was taller than her, and the beast stumbled over it, crashing to the ground.

Her eyes went wide as she saw the ice pierce through its head, blood pooling beneath it. It was dead. And Dareth had killed it.

She pushed the thought away. There was no time to dwell on it. The others were still fighting. She quickly found her target.

The beast was already wounded, and the knights kept their distance, searching for an opening without risking their lives. She decided to give them one.

Her mind went back to the ice wall that had tripped the troll. The beast was charging toward the knights. The path for her spell was clear, so she chanted.

The shadow chains appeared before the beast. Four of them. They wrapped around each other, tightening, strengthening. The beast tripped over them, just as it had over Dareth’s ice wall.

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Her mouth parted slightly before she realized it. She was smiling.

The knights killed it quickly and moved toward the last beast before she could even think about it. It fell to the ground, half its head missing.

They had won. And it hadn’t even been a fight. Lord Edrin’s knights were too strong. Elites.

They were weaker than the elites of her family, but that was expected. They were constantly at war with corruption. You either died or grew stronger. There was no in-between on the Northern front.

That brought her unpleasant memories. Of loss. Of her brother’s courage. There was no time for it. Letting unnecessary thoughts roam was how you died in the North. She shook her head as she heard her father’s voice.
“Focus on the mission, for the future of our family.”

Her smile vanished.
“Formation,” Edrin shouted.

Trolls, orcs, goblins… poured out of the forest. Hundreds.

“Fuck,” the word left her mouth involuntarily.