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Chapter Seventy-One

RAIN

I pushed the man off my blade, watching as his skin continued to change. I wanted to say looking alive again, but that was not the word I wanted. The fae wasn't breathing, wasn't moving, and laid on the ground like dead weight.

"Rain!" Aspen yelled, making me turn in time to see Wilder shove magic my way.

White flew over my shoulder, slamming into another hunter. I turned back and raised my sword as Jack darted in, hitting the enemy from behind. The hunter swung, Jack cawed, dodged, and aimed for me. I got my free arm up in time to catch him.

"Court!" Jack screamed, making the wind whip up.

My hair blew. Dust and debris swirled in the air, and then Hawke landed hard beside me.

In that one moment, I forgot all about the hunters, because Hawke, the guy I'd made out with a bit, had landed using massive fucking bird wings, and Keir was hanging on to him like they'd been ready to do a little tongue tangling of their own.

"Uhh..."

Keir turned and flung his arms up. An iridescent bubble quickly surrounded all of us. The air pressure changed, sounds muffled, but the surface of it was still clear enough to see the forms moving on the other side, and there were far too many .

"Rain!" Aspen whimpered, rushing at me to grab at my arms. "Are you ok?"

"It's not her blood," Torian told his sister as he moved into the middle of Keir's protective shield. "But we are outnumbered." Then he looked at Hawke. "And I guess that's out there now."

"Yeah, but I drained a hunter," he said, a little smirk claiming his lips. "Feeling pretty good right now."

"Wait, what?" I begged, guiding Aspen forward so we could all figure out what was going on.

Wilder pushed out a heavy breath. "Bad timing, babe." But he clasped Hawke's shoulder. "You good?"

"Yeah," Hawke agreed.

So Wilder turned his eyes on Keir. "And you?"

Keir glanced from Torian to Wilder and then over to me. "Yeah, so was I the only one who didn't know Hawke had wings?"

"I didn't!" I admitted. "I don't even... what..."

"Jevadu," Torian said, turning a bit to look at the mess outside our safe space. "I can drop the fog."

"I can keep them back," Wilder offered.

"We need weapons," Hawke said.

They all looked at me. Nodding, I tried to reach for my shadow magic, but found nothing. Grunting, I tried even harder, but there was nothing.

"I think I'm out," I admitted. "The bracelet sucked it up and the guy changed."

"I got you," Hawke said, offering his hand.

But I warned, "Not too much. Torian's right. I can't burn everyone out."

"I got this," Hawke said with a little cockiness I hadn't expected.

And he definitely gave me a rush of power.

I wasn't sure what spell he'd hit me with, but I only held on long enough to have something I could use.

Since he'd never been one to throw magic around, I honestly had no clue how strong he was, and didn't want to drain him either.

Pulling my hand away, I nodded to show I was good, but Aspen huffed in annoyance.

"Rain, we need you to fucking send them back," she snapped, "and no one else can do that! You're not wasting it! You're not being greedy or selfish. You're saving us!"

"And I need to do it without leaving everyone else powerless," I explained. "Last time, we weren't surrounded, Aspen."

A slow chuckle replied, making all of us turn to see why the hunters had paused.

Stepping out of the fog, the Huntsman moved closer - right to the edge of the bubble and looked in.

His eyes moved across all of us, and then landed on Aspen.

Slowly, the man began to pace around the edge, dragging the tip of his sword in the dirt as he did so.

"I can't hold this thing forever," Keir warned.

So Torian clasped his hands together, then pulled them apart. Between his palms, a wooden shaft began to form, grew, and continued expanding. On one end, an obsidian tip appeared, proving this was a spear.

Torian grabbed the thing and pushed it at Hawke. "Since you're already up there."

"Can do," Hawke said.

Keir just gestured to the weapon. "Can I get one of those?"

"Can't make a sword," Torian said. "Wood, glass, or stone. That's all I got."

"I can work with any of it," Keir assured him. "Bracken taught me more than one weapon."

So Torian did it again, but Aspen grabbed my face, checking me over while they worked on that. "Rain?" she asked. "Are you ok?"

"I will be once we get you out of here, Asp." I lifted a hand, but paused when I saw the bloodstains. I wouldn't touch her with that. "Just stay in the middle and let us keep them off you, ok?"

She nodded. "I don't know how to fight."

"Kinda why I'm here."

"We good?" Keir asked right as the Huntsman completed his circle. "Hawke and I will take the left flank. Wilder, you focus on the right. Torian, get the fog out of the way, and Rain, use that steel. Good?"

All of us replied with some version of yes, even as we braced up. Torian moved Aspen before him - but behind the rest of us, all but putting her in the middle. Then, when Keir looked back, Torian nodded, and I felt the crackle of power being called.

The shield fell. Hawke leaped up into the sky with Jack right behind him. From above, a chorus of caws proved they wouldn't be alone. The rest of us just waited, ready to see who'd move in first.

From where I stood, I could see twelve hunters at the ready, plus the Huntsman. He lifted his weapon, but his eyes refused to leave Aspen. For a moment, no one else moved, but I could feel a trickle of nervous sweat trailing down my spine.

"I came for her," he said, finally shifting his dead eyes to me. "I do not want you, but you can ride with me."

"I'd rather kill you first!" I hissed.

He smiled.

The air was now popping with the power Torian was calling, but I didn't dare look back to check on him. Green light reflected off the glazed eyes of the hunters, turning their skin sickly. The Huntsman snarled in annoyance and took one step forward.

"Take the princess!"

Like a pack of hounds, the hunters rushed in at the command. I heard the words, but I didn't have time to register them before my sword crashed into an oncoming blade. Behind me, Aspen yelped in fear, but I pushed the hunter back, then spun to swing at another.

From above, Hawke dove, slamming the tip of his spear into the first one that had come at me.

The weapon stuck, wrenched from Hawke's hands, but the guy angled up again.

Wilder threw ice and fire at anything he could hit, but rushed forward to retrieve Hawke's weapon, tossing it into the air before shooting more magic in the other direction.

I just kept hacking, not even caring which part of my blade made contact.

Iron was the key. It had to be. Although my bracelet was drained now and my magic wasn't as full, I still had enough for one more thing.

Shifting my grip, I shook my other arm and pulled out a shadow shield, managing to get that up just in time for the entire world to flare the brightest green I could imagine.

The fog cleared in an instant, rushing away from us like some kind of hurricane force winds had blown it all away.

I swung my head, trying to see where it went and caught a glimpse of orange, yellow, green, and blue lights flashing on the other side of these trees.

Close. That had to be the teachers and staff.

They were so close, which meant we just had to hold on a little longer!

To my left, Keir bashed back a hunter with all he had.

The man used his feet, the spear Torian had made for him, and all his strength to physically keep them away from Aspen.

So I tried to do the same. The shield helped.

Being right up in the middle of this, it felt like all the blades were coming at me.

The sound of weapons crashing against shadows was so damned loud I didn't have time for anything else.

One hunter managed to connect with my leg, making me trip, but the armor blocked it easily.

I also didn't have a chance to stop and worry about it.

Everyone was trying to push in, and I would not let them touch my girlfriend.

Wilder snarled out words in Faeril as he turned my other side bright with his power, and cold air washed over me, but the Huntsman was focused on one thing.

"Usurper," he yelled. "Come to me, Princess, and they can live."

"No, no, no, no," Aspen whimpered.

But Torian's spell was done, and the Huntsman now had his complete attention. "You cannot have her!"

The Huntsman shoved me aside, pushing in like I was no more of a bother than a fly in his face. "I will have the princess. To stop me is to make yourself a criminal."

I thrust out a hand, meaning to catch my balance again but accidentally shoving shadows at the hunters. Two massive wolves grabbed them, one shadow on each man, and began slinging them around like some kind of trained guard dogs. Yet not even that made me miss what happened next.

Torian pushed around his sister and flung both hands down. His left was filled with white. The right glowed bright green. With the rest of us trying to push back this mob, the guy lifted his chin and faced the Huntsman alone.

"I, Tordynnar Dorvian Aratoris, command you to leave!"

"You do not wear the crown!" The Huntsman said. "You have no control over me!"

"On my mother's authority!" Torian tried next.

"Fool!" the Huntsman snapped before flinging Torian aside.

The Huntsman hit so hard Torian flew, looking more like a child's toy than a person as he hit the ground, his arms and legs all angled wrong, and then rolled even further away.

I heard a groan, and Torian tried to push himself up, proving he was alive, but the ones attacking me meant I could only get short glimpses before swinging and blocking again.