"Where is Azriel?" Zavian asked, scanning the standing people, then the bodies pillaged on the ground. "Azriel!" He called, and no one responded.
"I saw him, fighting, just before...," Freya trailed off. "Zavian, you are hurt."
"It doesn't matter, it isn't bad."
"If it isn't, I really hope that blood is of the enemy's."
"Enough. Where is Azriel?"
Freya pointed behind Zavian. When he turned to look, under a body of the large creature, Azriel rolled it over and rose to his feet, his hand holding the side of his flank, his hair and face thick with blood and soot.
"Damn it, Zavian, I could hear you from down there," he said as he limped over to their side. He surveyed the dome, and the bright eyed witch. He opened his mouth to say something, closed it shut, then said, "Thank you."
"Are you okay?" Freya asked.
"I should be asking you how you are still alive, but…," he looked up at the sizzling dome. "I got my answer." His face turned grim when he looked at Zavian.
"You are bleeding," he said to him.
"Why are you limping?" Zavian asked instead.
"I think I broke something," Azriel winced as he twisted himself. "One hell of a war, might have to get the healing spell after." He gave Anna a wry smile.
Something thudded against the barrier. The five of them inspected it, and only to see the hands of the half demon half witch that Aloysius brought along with her palms pressed flat on the shield barrier, and several more soldiers behind her hungry for a fight.
"We can't hold it much longer, your Majesty," Anna said, eyes strained as the next pounding hit the barrier again. "Where is the sword I gave you, your Majesty?"
"That monster threw it somewhere," Zavian said. "Azriel, Freya, find it for me."
"I will kill Aloysius myself," Freya declared. "You can't do it, you are badly hurt."
Another pounding on the barrier, and a cracking sound followed.
"He wants to end me, Freya," Zavian said, careful not to wince when he moved. "And I want him to die by my hands."
When the last pounding came again, the coven of witches gasped, their bodies straining to hold the fort.
"Thank you, Anna," Zavian said, pulling out a random sword from the soil. "But my men and I would take it from here."
Anna bowed. "Very well then, your Majesty."
She pressed her lids closed, as did the other witches. And when they all opened them, their eyes were back to their natural state, and the shield barrier was gone.
Zavian braced himself as the soldiers rushed toward them.
….
She was spotted.
Neera unsheathed the dagger by her side as she hide behind the bush, the burnt leaves rustling beneath her feet. She could hear the soldier step forward, the stillness and carefulness of his steps as he approached, and she braced herself.
The soldier paused, and Neera shut her eyes as she raised her dagger, and opened it, waiting.
That was when a snake slitered past. The soldier jumped and cursed, Neera went as still as a rock.
"Bloody creature," the solider muttered and walked away.
Luck, pure luck had gotten her this far, and she could only hope to tap more into it what she was in the heart of the field. The snake moved past, and she held the dagger in her hand as she walked on, keeping her eyes on the lookout for enemies.
She was closer to the battlefield now and ducked to hide as some of Zavian's soldiers made their way down the road to the castle, clearly to check on the safety of the people there. Even she hoped that Uriel didn't harm any of her people while in the palace.
She crouched as she watched in horror as the soldiers battled, and it was as if the Blood war had happened just yesterday. This was a battlefield in which Aloysius had killed her, and it dawned on her that she was back there again, like she was centuries ago.
The premonition clung to her like the smoke to her clothes. Neera didn't know the first thing about fighting skilled warriors, she would be dead in a second. So she kept her position, searching with her eyes for Zavian until she found him locked in a fight with two of Selesee's men.
Zavian was a force striking to watch, and Neera had her heart in her mouth as the soldiers kept going at him. If she ran and attacked them from behind, she could help.
But Zavian didn't need saving when his sword stabbed into the neck of one of the soldiers, and Neera covered the gasp as the soldier fell, joining the other dead ones on the ground. Her mind went to Jasmine, and the sickening feeling she had felt when she came to the realization weeks later of the murder she had committed. But this was a war, and she had to stomach her repulsion as two other soldiers fell upon Zavian.
Neera's attention was no longer on them, but on the demon approaching Zavian from behind on a strange horse. And as Zavian killed one more of the soldiers, Neera watched as Aloysius pulled out a small dagger.
She couldn't see what happened next, because a hand grab a fistful of her hair from behind, and her face was suddenly pinned into the rough brambles of the soil.
….
One of the soldiers lunged for him, the blade searing itself into his wounded thigh, making Zavian's knees buckle under the pain. He made a counterattack before the soldier could step back, his knife buried into the space between his armour and his great helm. Zavian acted fast; he pulled out his sword and lashed at the other soldier's arm, and the appendage fell to the ground.
It took the soldier a few seconds to realize his arm was missing, and then, there were shouts that Zavian silenced with a slit to his neck. One more soldier was circling him now, and Aloysius was before him in the flash of an eye.