Elric turned away from her and walked back down the path as the first drops of rain fell on his face. “Come on, Wynn. It’s up to us now.” He held his hand out to his sister.
She hesitated a moment, looking back at the lost princess, then she tucked Mildred under her arm and ran to his side. He took her hand.
As they walked away, the roar of the tigereon shook the air as fiercely as the thunder.
Elric chased after Hob as fast as he could. He held tight to Wynn’s hand and helped her over the rough forest path. “Lexi, you have to return to your village right away,” Elric said as he dropped back next to the elf. “You have to evacuate everyone who is left—the sick, the elderly, children. The village will not be safe. The Grendel is right on top of us.”
Lexi slowed for a second. “Evacuate?” She looked at him, stunned. “To where? Where can we possibly go?”
“To the palace,” Elric said through gritted teeth. “Take as many as you can straight to the palace.”
Lexi let out a gasping laugh. “Perfect, I’m sure we’ll be welcome after our catapults attacked their shield!”
“The only way any of us is going to survive this is if we stand together,” Elric said.
“I don’t think that’s going to work,” Lexi said. “You can’t shed years of resentment and suspicion like taking off a hood.”
“You’re innocent.” Elric pulled himself over a fallen tree, and helped both Wynn and Lexi up.
“Sometimes that doesn’t matter,” Lexi said with a stern voice. Elric stopped in his tracks as she glared at him.
“I don’t know if this is going to work,” Elric admitted. “But it’s the only chance we’ve got. It will be easier to defend everyone if we are all in the same place, and having the vulnerable nearby may stop your father’s attack long enough to make him listen. If people stay in the village, they will be caught behind an army of the Grendel’s monsters. This is our only chance. I can’t do this without you. The only way we’re going to stop this mess is if we do it together.”
“You are going to stand on the line for me?” Lexi challenged. “When the moment comes, you will side with the elves, not the fairies?”
“There is only one side now,” Elric answered. “We have to make everyone see that. You can count on Osmund, he will help you. If he says anything to the contrary, tell him I said he’s a fool. Go, and good luck.” He placed his hand on Lexi’s shoulder. She nodded.
“This way, quick, quick, hurry!” Hob said as he dashed forward. “We must reach the queen!” They ran hard through the woods, only pausing when Hob led them around a trap, or onto a path for the hog-carts.
Hob bounced only a pace or two ahead of them. Elric was afraid he was going to step on the creature’s long and whipping tail as they ran. Mildred sprinted alongside them, her head bobbing furiously as she hopped over any obstacles in their path.
Drops of rain hit him relentlessly in the face, but it didn’t matter. Time was their enemy now. They had to hurry before there was no hope left for this world.
They had to fight against the storm, and the mud, rocks, rivulets, roots, and branches. It was as if the forest itself was reaching out to grab them and trying to hold them back. Elric pulled Wynn up an embankment slick with dark mud. She didn’t complain as she struggled, she just fought against the branches crossing the path, and the rain slicked leaves under their feet. Elric urged her along, not knowing how far left they had to go.
After what felt like hours of struggling down the narrow and twisted paths, they finally found the shield.
“Release the catapults!” The call rang out louder than the storm winds. It was followed by a creaking moan, then a loud crack like a whip. Elric watched in horror as a huge carved block of stone flew toward the shield.
It smashed against the gray wall with a sound that punched the air from his lungs. He clapped his hands over his ears as the stone tumbled down the shield and crashed into the trees to their right. Deep cracks appeared where it had hit. The fractures weren’t healing themselves. The cracks only grew, and they were already as large as the trees.
He peered through the shield and spotted the curling oak where Zephyr said he would wait for them. “We’re not far!” he called to Wynn, who had her whole body hunched over Mildred.
They scrambled along the edge of the shield until they reached the oak.
“Zephyr!” Elric called. “Zeph! Where are you?”
Elric waited, his heart in his throat. He called again, but there was no response. What if Zephyr had abandoned them? What if Osmund was right about him? It had been two days since he’d left.
Elric watched as a swirl of dried leaves spun upward in a twisting curl of wind. The wind formed together, then solidified into the familiar form of his friend. Zephyr flew toward them. His eyes were wide and yellow with panic. He swooped through the shield and knocked Elric over as he crashed into Elric and Wynn. He hugged both of them at once. “You are alive! I don’t believe it.”
He cradled Wynn’s cheeks in his hands and stared at her with tearful eyes flashing in a rainbow of colors.
