Page 64 of The Crown of the Last Fae Queen (The Heartless and the Wicked #4)
THIRTY-THREE – BLáR
Wind ripped through Blar's hair at breakneck speed.
It took everything in him not to freeze the scaly beast he was sitting upon and launch himself onto the nearest building.
His jaw was set tight and his muscles cramped from the force of him holding on so tightly to the ridges along the dreki's spine.
The elf in front of him, one of Kolfinna's many guards, had placed shadow harnesses keeping him atop the beast, but he couldn’t help but hold on for dear life.
He wanted to rip the strange magic off his body; he wasn't used to being held in place like this, by the magic and the dreki, but a quick scan of the capital below stopped him from trying anything rash—like jumping off.
Screams filtered through the air, terrified people staring up at what could only be described as a nightmare.
Just a few months ago, the capital had been overrun with drekis and three-eyed blood-lusting birds, but this was different, and people could probably tell.
Never before had the fae and elves ridden the scaly beasts into the city.
And never before had anyone seen such a powerful army of fae.
Royal Guards with their fluttering crimson capes rushed the streets, explosions erupted in the distance, and fae flew through the blasts of fire, ice, wind, and water. Blár’s teeth ground together hard enough he was surprised they didn’t crack.
“You can jump down!” The elf rider said, glancing over his shoulder at him. He had shocking pink eyes—so similar to Kolfinna’s. A halfling.
Maybe that was why Blár didn’t kick the elf and have him plummet off the dreki. He wouldn’t have died, per se, since they were only a few stories above ground, but he certainly could have broken his neck.
Blár only nodded, the shadows reins loosening around him.
“Good luck!” the elf shouted.
“What will you do?” Blár asked, the wind shoving through his hair and making him squint.
“I will find the princess and protect her! She’s probably in the palace!” He pointed ahead where the royal castle loomed. “You are human, so you should fight down below! Confuse the masses.”
So human Ragnarok members were fighting in the capital to confuse the Royal Guards? He kept that piece of information in the back of his head and readied himself to launch off into the city. He glanced over at the elf—he really should have killed the man, but he hesitated.
“Protect her at all costs,” Blár said, and then lurched off the dreki’s back.
His ice came to him easily, forming a thin layer over his body as he soared down, his face stuck in a grimace.
He couldn’t breathe with the wind whipping at his face and stealing the air from his lungs.
He rolled on the ground at the exact moment he landed, dispersing the impact throughout his body, but it still jarred his joints.
He released his hold on his ice and allowed it to melt away.
Turning to the chaos around him, he noticed many other fae and elves launching onto the streets to fight off the Royal Guards.
Although he wanted to head in Kolfinna’s direction and save her from whatever sinister plans the half-elf commander had in mind, he had a duty to these people in the capital.
Kolfinna was a powerful fae, and Vidar wouldn’t allow any harm to come her way, so Blár could leave her for the time being.
But even knowing that, every muscle in his body strained to run to the castle.
He didn’t want to leave her to whatever awaited her there.
He wanted nothing more than to rip through these chaotic streets and find her.
But he was a black rank, and he was likely the only person who could stop the fae from wreaking more havoc here.
Blár scanned the streets. He had seen Agnarr and Rakel during the flight through the rune portal, so those two were likely somewhere here.
One of them was going to face Fenris, or perhaps Vidar would do that, and Blár needed to find one of them and fight them before Fenris was drawn out and the king lost his protection.
Fenris needed to stay alive so he could protect the king—he was the strongest for that duty.
It was for the best if the king remained alive, because the humans didn’t need the added chaos of losing their monarch and potentially triggering an internal battle for the throne; Leiknir had two sons , and they each had their own factions.
To make sure Fenris remained in the royal castle, Blár had to keep these streets calm enough. And to do that, he needed to subdue whoever was causing the most damage.
A building in the distance boomed loudly. People screamed even louder, shoving their way through the streets. Royal Guards flooded the area, but they were unprepared for the fae, and especially for the elves who healed so rapidly.
His hands fisted as he sprinted in the direction of the explosions. They were all ill-prepared for a battle like this. Herja had warned them that the fae would take the war to the capital, but they had all thought they had time.
Herja, Haakon, Ivar, and Inkeri would be close to the capital, but he doubted they could get here in time for this battle.
He had asked them to spread out to the outskirts of the capital, particularly the villages, to keep an eye on the fae activities, but they probably wouldn’t have expected this.
Eluf had hung back near the fortress, so there was absolutely no way he would have been able to make it here—he was days away.
The fae should have been days away from the capital, too.
What in the world was that rune portal? He had never heard of such a thing. It changed everything . If the fae could teleport wherever they needed to, then the scope of their battles changed tremendously. With a major disadvantage for the humans.
How had the humans defeated the fae in the first place, then? They were too powerful.
Blár created an ice spear and shot it at one of the flying fae, piercing him straight through the chest. The man plummeted in seconds.
Blár’s hands trembled with fury and the temperature in the streets dropped considerably.
Ice formed along windows and cracked them, and the streets grew colder with every second.
Blár shot his magic at every fae he came across, freezing them in place and watching as the coldest of his ice shattered their bodies.
Giant, gnarled roots remained stuck on crumbling buildings—likely a fae had used them to destroy part of the city, and then decided to use something else to cause mayhem.
Blár followed the plants and the destruction they had wreaked.
More buildings blew up in the distance. He pushed himself faster, his thighs burning with exertion and the air nearly freezing with every breath.
He needed a way to curb the violence, a way to stop the fae.
He needed?—
A woman fell to the ground a few feet away, the roof of a house crashing around her.
Blár’s ice moved on its own, creating a shield above the woman’s trembling, fetal-position body as hunks of shattered shingles caved down on her.
He cleared a path with his ice magic, shoving the pieces of debris until he came to her.
His ice cracked and disintegrated the instant he touched it, and he yanked the woman to her feet.
She was in her mid-thirties, her eyes wide and shocked.
“Run to the outskirts of the capital. Take shelter—” He clamped his mouth shut, more explosions going off. There wasn’t anywhere to take shelter. Nobody had prepared for this. Damn it . “Leave the capital. Follow where the Royal Guards are evacuating citizens.”
She stared at him, but the words didn’t seem to penetrate.
He shook her gently. “Listen to me. You need to escape.”
Finally, the situation seemed to dawn on her and she nodded, and then she took off, limping.
He grimaced at the sight, and then at the rest of the innocents caught as collateral.
He helped another in a similar fashion, then a group of children who were almost crushed to death by their own house.
And then a man whose leg was fractured beyond repair.
Blár’s teeth ground together. The Royal Guards were supposed to help in these situations.
They were supposed to help people evacuate and lead them to safety.
They were supposed to have medical stations.
They were supposed to know how to mitigate something like this.
But the Royal Guards in the capital weren’t used to this kind of large-scale devastation.
They were pampered, most of them the children of high-ranking nobles.
The military knew what to do in these situations, and even Royal Guards that were stationed near the borders, or near monster-infested cities, knew how to handle something like this.
But these guards knew nothing. Fenris had been too complacent.
Or perhaps he hadn’t been able to quell his own entitled guards, who only wanted the prestige of being a Royal Guard, and none of the responsibility that came with it.
Blár continued down the streets until he came across a familiar face.
A woman fought off a Royal Guard with stone magic.
She hurled them at the tall guard, who wielded Enhancer abilities, Blár assumed from the way he was pulverizing every stone shot his way with a single punch.
The woman’s braided white hair swung with every duck, parry, and attack she sent his way.
She was Kolfinna’s guard. The one Gunnar had been attempting to get friendly with.
Her violet eyes caught his, and then she backed away from the guard, raising up more stones to chuck at him. The guard advanced on her, punching and kicking smoothly, while she barely dodged his attacks.