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Chapter Sixty-Nine

RAIN

I 'd been told the stories in my classes, but I'd never had this sort of view of the Hunt coming in before. Usually I was running for shelter myself, not staring at the clouds as they rolled, shifting into horses carrying riders.

The sky darkened, but there were still too many people out here.

"Pull back!" Ms. Rhodes ordered. I looked back to see her in her full eltam armor.

"No," I yelled. "We have to hold them off."

"And we will while retreating," she said. "We can't risk the royalty, Rain."

"She's right," Keir said. "Hawke, get them inside."

"I," Torian growled, "am not on his list."

"Nor me," Hawke said, "but Aspen is!"

Wilder grabbed her hand. "So we run, Asp. We run like fuck."

"I'm not leaving Rain!" Aspen yelled, jerking her arm away.

I spun, catching her face between both of my hands.

"I love you, Aspen Fox. I love you so much, but I will never speak to you again if he gets his hands on you.

Do you understand that? Right now, I need you and Wilder to get the fuck out of sight, and to make sure all these parents and family members know to lock the doors.

" She shook her head, trying to refuse, but I kept going.

"You have to protect them, Aspen. Hawthorne and Valentina are here.

You and Wilder are the only ones strong enough to handle this.

Gate these people back to the school if you fucking have to, but get everyone inside! "

Torian didn't even bother looking away from the clouds. "Go, Asp. We got this."

Which was when Wilder grabbed her hand and pulled. Aspen only resisted for a second longer, but then she ran with all she had. Keir moved to my side, settling his weapons into place so he'd be ready. Torian took the other. Beside him, Hawke flexed, pushing out his wings.

"And now we guard their retreat," he said.

We backed up, but we weren't alone. Ms. Rhodes fell in beside Keir.

Bracken moved to flank Hawke. I saw Rose from the front office, and Tag, plus others whose names I didn't know, as well as all the sentinels.

Jack had given all of us enough time to get our armor and weapons, but the colors of this motley defense?

Black was all over. I saw some silver, plenty of brass, and a few sets of iridescent eltam .

"They're going to come across the student seating," Ms. Rhodes warned. "The cluster of so many fae in one place will pull them to the ground, but all we have to do is hold them off long enough for the fae to get inside." And she looked over. "Do you hear me, court? You will go inside."

"Only after you do, General," Torian drawled lazily. "Some of us are safe from him, so you let us hold him off."

"You're still my responsibility!" she snapped.

And Torian's head whipped over. "I'm also your prince! I am the royal in charge here right now, and you will obey me, soldier!"

"Heard," Ms. Rhodes grumbled, making no effort to hide how pissed she was about it.

But Hawke chuckled. "For once, let us do what we're good at."

And that was when the rain hit. Like a typical summer storm, lighting flashed in the distance, sending the rumble of thunder across the school grounds. The whole time, we continued to press back, refusing to turn away from the danger we knew was coming.

Then Torian laughed. "They're almost in."

I looked over quickly, wondering how he knew that.

Torian simply pointed at his head. One small gesture, but I realized sending Aspen and Wilder back had been about even more than merely keeping her safe.

Yes, I was sure that had been his first concern, but saving others in the process had certainly helped convince his sister.

"Then we need to be moving back a lot faster," I said. "We're far enough out the Hunt can cut us - "

I didn't even get to finish before the first horse began to descend from the sky. Wrapped in rain, their grey color was so hard to see. The clouds were thick enough to dim the sun, and all around us, the world was moving enough to prevent these ghastly things from drawing the eye.

"Go!" Ms. Rhodes snapped. "Fifty yards at a quick step!"

Yep, I had no clue what that meant, but Keir did. He caught my arm and spun me around. Together, the entire line of our defense ran, racing back towards the school, but when we got far enough, Bracken called out, "Brace!"

We spun to find three hunters charging at us on their horses. Lightning flared overhead, making everything in my vision stark black or white for a moment. I knew this would hurt, but I didn't get the option of caring. I could stand and fight, or I could run and hate myself.

The first horse slammed into the end of the line. I heard people yelling, but a glance showed the horse racing away on the other side, riderless. Sadly, I didn't have time to check more than that because the next rider - a woman this time - was coming straight at me.

"I dressed up for this!" I screamed even as I pushed in, hacking at the rider's leg at the last second.

She screamed, but there was no sound with it besides the crashing of the storm. Still, the steel blade I was using left its mark. Grey blood pooled from her leg as she crashed to the ground, shoved by a burst of bright green magic. To make sure she stayed there, I ran my sword through her chest.

The last one hit the far edge on the other side. I saw Hawke jump, flapping once, and then sling something to the ground. Immediately, Tag smashed her massive broadsword into it.

"Iron," she explained when the hunter didn't move again.

"We need to get back to the school," Ms. Rhodes snapped.

But Torian paused. "Go!" he said, turning to catch my eye. "They're in. We just have to hold this mess off long enough to get our side inside. You're with me, Morrigan."

"Always, Prince," I replied with a smirk.

So Torian turned, making a sweeping gesture at a pair of trees and sending magic toward them. "Jack, we're going to need some help inside!"

The cawing that came back was clearly some version of avian orders, but Ms. Rhodes saw the gate for what it was.

"Where does it go?" she demanded.

And he grinned. "The door to your office, heading out. That'll keep you from getting stuck. Aspen says the school's panicking. They need you, General."

"Go!" Ms. Rhodes ordered. "Everyone through the gate." But she paused beside Torian. "And you had better not be wrong about his list."

"I'm not," Torian said. "But move quickly - I think we have more coming."

"Run!" Ms. Rhodes yelled, and most even obeyed.

The sentinels tried to stay with us, but Bracken ordered them to go. My zez paused, giving me one last look while he waved for the other students to move, and then he followed. In the end, that left only four of us.

"You too, Keir," Torian said.

"Nope," Keir replied. "I stand with my Morrigan."

"Move closer to the gate then," Torian suggested, angling us all back and to the side while the rest were quickly vanishing through the green glow - including quite a few crows.

"Can the Hunt use that?" I asked.

"Dunno," Torian said. "Really don't want to find out."

"Gotcha."

A flash of lightning splashed across the sky like an exclamation point to my words, but it lit up the things moving across the grounds. Not all of them were human-shaped either. Animals, horses, and an entire wave of shambling things was out there.

"What the fuck?" I breathed.

"That," Hawke said, pulling his wings in close, "is the Wild Hunt, Rain."

"It's bigger than it used to be," Keir breathed. "We broke it apart, but that's more than I've seen together at one time."

"Let's just hope we don't have to face them," Torian said.

"Hoping," I agreed. "And maybe we can back up a little faster?"

But with only a few more people still waiting their turn to make it through Torian's gate, the next group of riders rushed up. These, however, dismounted before they got close. One pulled a sword, another had a bow, and the third was wielding some weapon I didn't know the name for.

"A fucking morning star," Keir grumbled. "Of course it would have one."

"Do not," Hawke warned, "let that thing hit you. The ball at the end will break every bone you have."

And then I heard it. "Ride with me."

I spun to see the Huntsman walking toward us from the other side. "Guys!"

"Back to the gate!" Keir demanded, thrusting out an arm to all but force me back.

"Hunt!" Jack cried, darting out of the sky towards the Huntsman to claw at his face.

The grey, desiccated man swiped the bird away like he was a mere fly. "Ride with me, le Fae." And the other hunters paused, letting their leader take control.

"Go," I told Torian, pausing my retreat.

The Huntsman smiled.

"I didn't think you were supposed to talk," I yelled at him.

He pulled his sword, letting the tip drop to drag across the dampened earth. "The Hunt needs more riders. I see you. I can use you."

"Yeah?" I asked, lifting my sword. "Do you see my steel too? I won't let you take my friends!"

"They," he said, looking over at each, one after the other, "are not on my list."

"Keir?" I asked, raising my voice.

"Not complaining," Keir said.

"He is not a subject of the Queen," the Huntsman said. "Nor the jevadu." His cold, dead eyes moved again. "The Summer Prince is safe from me."

"I order you to leave here," Torian yelled.

"I do not take orders from you, but I vowed not to cause you harm."

"He's closing in!" Keir warned us, sounding just a little freaked out. "Don't let them cut us off!"

But Hawke had some good news. "Gate's clear!" he yelled.

"Go!" Torian ordered.

That was all Keir needed to hear. Grabbing me, he slung me back, using enough strength that my only options were to go with it or slip on the wet ground.

I turned, hoping to keep my balance and realized just how close we'd gotten to the gate with our backwards retreat.

It took me two steps and I passed through the gate, staggering out into the very dry and rather empty main office.