hand and moving up his arm.
He tried to scream as he felt his skin tear and bone shatter. His eyes were on fire. All he could see was magenta light. He felt all of his spells failing as Sasha franticly attempted to disconnect his mind from the others. The pain was unimaginable. He wanted to die. He tried to cry out, but time was going too slow and he couldn’t open his mouth. He opened his scorched eyes to see the smoke that must be his own body burning from the magic. He begged for mercy in his mind and felt something tugging at his consciousness. A deep voice told him that he was worthless, but that he would be made better. He remembered his dreams then, and felt for hope, felt for Sasha and her love. The smoke in front of his eyes cleared to reveal a massive wall of glittering diamonds. They where white and radiated light. A horizontal seam in the wall opened to reveal a violet blue eye the size of a shield.
Chapter Sixteen
“When people look at my sister, they often don’t see the pain of those early days, the days without comfort or solace; but I do, and I love her for them. Had she not had the strength to endure then, where would we be now?”
Sasha frantically worked to disconnect Legon from the others. The moment the spell reverberated back on him she felt raw magic course down the connection and with it, pain. All of Legon’s spells failed simultaneously. She needed to disconnect him so that Arkin could adjust for being one Venefica less than before. She severed Sara’s connection, seeing her friend fall to the ground. Lastly she cut her own. She looked at where Legon was supposed to be, but all she saw was blinding lavender light. She covered her face with her arm and fell back. She hit the ground, causing the back of her head to buzz.
The light faded, and in front of her stood a figure that resembled her brother, but it couldn’t be. He was the same size as Legon with the same clothes and hair, but his skin seemed to have a slight glow to it. Or maybe it was the light. She looked to his ears, which were rounded before but now were tapered at the tops, and from the side his eyes looked slightly larger and more almond shaped. More… Elven.
She marveled at the Elf Legon standing in front of her. Perhaps it was the sound of men screaming ‘Elf!’ that made her look. She didn’t know. She turned to look at Kovos and the Iumenta, who both stood stalk still, mouths gaping. Then, at the same time, they seemed to realize that there was no longer magic protecting Kovos. He slashed out at the Iumenta, who caught the blade with a flick. She saw Kovos’ muscles twitch with magic as Legon reestablished the connection with him, but too late. She could only watch in horror as the Iumenta’s other fenrra came across Kovos at his neck. Time ceased as Kovos’ head separated from his body as he fell to the ground.
Keither watched in horror as his brother’s body fell to the earth. Pain erupted from his knees as he hit the ground himself. Legon cut a man in half and was now on the Iumenta, but the outcome of their fight did not matter.
The Elf and Iumenta were flitting around the clearing at amazing speeds, the fenrra just a shiny blur. A steady spattering of blood was coming from the fenrra, not from fresh wounds, but from the blood of the slain now being flung off by the tremendous speed at which they were being swung.
His brother was dead. He saw the head roll away from his body which still held that ridiculous sword in a limp hand. He felt hot tears rolling down his cheeks and he was aware that his throat hurt. He was screaming himself hoarse, but he didn’t hear the sound. Sara and Sasha were clinging to him, trying to drag him back to the horses. Arkin was attempting to clear a path as the two non-humans fought, pushing themselves to kill the other. Keither hoped they did it. He hoped that Legon would kill the bastard.
A knife flew by him, nicking Sara’s arm and causing her to yelp. He heard that sound. He looked at Sara’s arm now with blood running down it. He looked at his brother, the one who had protected him his whole life, who had tried to make him a man. The one that would never let bad things happen to good people. He had proved that with Sasha. Rage filled Keither. Rage at what he had been through, what Sara had been made into, and what the Iumenta had taken from all of them. His hand was still on the cleaver and he gripped it with white knuckles. Now the scream was not that of loss but of a terrible drive to stop those that had hurt the people he loved. To kill all of those that murdered in the name of the Queen.
Sara let go of his arm, and Keither ran forward, raising the cleaver. One of the morons looked at him coming and smiled, thinking he was going to get an easy kill off of this fat kid. Fat he may have been, but under that fat was the muscle that carried it all. The man attempted to block with a flimsy metal shield. The cleaver dented it and the man’s arm gave way. Again and again the cleaver came down. The shield was a wreck of what it once was. Again the cleaver came down, removing the pathetic hunk of metal from its owner. Now the look of amusement was replaced with one of terror. The cleaver came down again, hitting at the base of the man’s neck, crunching and slurping as it came out.
Another man was at his side raising his own weapon. Keither jerked the blade out of one and hit the other in the ribs, dropping the screaming man to the ground. This time the blade was stuck, but no matter. He was next to his brother’s body. He reached down and grabbed the sword with the ridiculous flames on it, but they weren’t ridiculous to him anymore. Now he understood, now he saw them for that they were. Arms grabbed around him and he saw Arkin pulling him to the horses.
“The bastard is using magic!” he thought. Arkin pushed and pulled him to the horses, but he resisted. Finally, the look on Sara’s face made him reluctantly get on.
Legon was now very aware that he was no longer human. He saw his surroundings in sharp clarity. Colors were more vibrant, minute details in the world were now clear. He would have continued his appraisal of the world if it weren’t for his current situation. He was also aware that his spells had stopped when he had changed. His magical power should have been drained, but it was far from tapped out. He could feel it in every fiber of himself. He saw Kovos and an Iumenta, and with that sight clarity was restored. He tried to fortify Kovos…too late. He saw the tip of the blade passing along the back of Kovos’ neck as the rest of it removed his head. As Kovos fell, Legon’s eyes met with yellow ones and an ancient bloodlust filled him. He went to move to the Iumenta, and a soldier stepped in front of him.
Legon slashed hard with the fenrra, cutting the man in half at the waist, the blade passing through like butter. He sidestepped the organs splattering on the ground and moved to the Iumenta, who in turn was coming at him. The Iumenta seemed to move slower to him now. He realized instantly that Elves were faster. Both lashed out at each other. The Iumenta parried with his left fenrra, as did Legon. The sound of the metal clanging was incredible, but his ears were stronger now; the clanging didn’t bother him. They began to stab and spin, leaping from side to side, sometimes jumping to low branches and then over their opponent. He never knew that he could move like this, but even so his new physical abilities did not give him an edge.
The Iumenta was a match to him in everything but strength. Legon was stronger, but he was larger too, so no surprise there. Legon poured magic into himself, trying to give him an edge. Still, no matter how fast or strong he was, the thing in front of him had hundreds of years of experience on him. He was losing ground and fast. He was aware of Arkin in his head telling him it was time to go, but the Iumenta was not going to let him go without a fight. An idea came to him then, one that he should have had a while ago. He shot a bolt of magic at the Iumenta’s feet, making a stone explode. His opponent flinched and backed away, and Legon slashed across his chest. The tip on the fenrra grazed him but nothing more. The Iumenta backed away further, ordering his men to rush forward. Legon crossed the clearing in a few steps. He couldn’t help but think how handy being an Elf could be. He jumped on to Phantom and turned away from the clearing.
“Where is Kovos’ body?” he asked, not having time to feel emotion.
