The arrow thudded into the timber of the bridge, barely a hands breadth from my horse’s hooves. Everyone was scrambling, the slither of weapons being drawn surrounded me and sudden heat from large burning shields appearing above our heads. More arrows began to fall from the sky, disintegrating into ash as they entered the floating infernos the fire magus had summoned. I could hear both the Duke and Captain Strykar shouting for us to push forward, that we were vulnerable on the bridge.
A sickening, wet thud came from beside me, followed by a gasp of pain. I turned to look at Ethan, my eyes widening with horror when I saw the arrow sprouting out from the back of his arm where a small gap in his leather armour was. Dark blood was quickly soaking into his shirt.
Ethan shifted in his saddle and extended his fire shield further behind him, calling to the others as he did. “They’re behind us as well! We’re surrounded!”
Another wet impact behind me made me turn. One of the guards behind Clara was clutching at an arrow protruding through his neck. Blood spurted around the savage iron head while the man made weak choking sounds, hands scrabbling at the arrow shaft in a futile attempt to pull it out. As I watched, he slumped forward on his horse, sword clattering loudly to the ground before he tilted to the side and fell against the short railing of the bridge, momentum carrying him over and into the water below.
A firm grip on my elbow dragged me off my horse, and I spun around to come face to face with Ethan. He pushed my head down with his good arm. “Stay low!” he shouted.
I crouched next to my horse, heart thumping in my throat. I could hear the sizzle of the fire shields above, the arrows that made it through embedding into the wood, shouts from the guards as they called instructions, the pained scream of a horse that had been struck. Nausea bubbled in my stomach, fueled by my panic, and threatened to spill upwards. I clamped a hand over my mouth and forced it back down.
Keep it together.
“Move forward!” Captain Strykar’s voice rang out over the chaos. It incited a more unified action from the guards, and they all began marching across the bridge one step at a time. I followed, staying low next to my horse. Ethan stayed right beside me, hand still on my head as he marched. His face was pale, sweat dripping down his face and off his nose and chin, and I could see his jaw was clenched tight. His injured arm was held loosely against his stomach, blood still steadily running from the arrow in his shoulder. I was certain he was going to pass out soon.
The thud of many footsteps vibrated onto the bridge from behind us. I tried glancing back but could only see Clara’s horse blocking the gap between mine and Ethan’s horse. Shouts from the rear guards rose up, indicating the attackers were coming at them directly now. More footsteps rang from the front. A cold shiver ran up my spine.
We’re boxed in.
The clatter of swords and shouts of fighting started from both ends, the horses joining the noise with screams and stomps as the ones closest to the enemy bit and kicked as they had been trained to do. Some of the screams I heard were undeniably that of a human in pain. Ethan and I were jostled as our horses shifted, tossing their heads and pawing at the ground. I could hear Ethan grunt with pain each time he was bumped. The horses in front of us shifted, and I could see past them to where the fighting was happening.
The Duke and Captain Strykar were facing off with three assailants, Hunter and one other guard behind them ready to step in when needed. I couldn’t get a clear look at who was attacking, only that they all seemed to be wearing dusty grey armour that was similar enough to look like a uniform. At their feet, seemingly shoved to the side in a hurry, lay two men who remained unmoving. One I couldn’t see fully, and simply looked like a misshapen heap of leather and limbs, but the other…
His face was turned in my direction, eyes frozen in an open stare. His mouth was open wider than natural, a long jagged gash cutting through his cheeks and mouth and allowing his jaw to swing down brokenly. The remnants of his nose was a mashed bloody mess almost flat against his face, clearly having been struck savagely by something hard. Blood was pooling from an unseen wound and dripping through the gaps of the wooden planks that made up the floor of the bridge.
“WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE AIMING BASTARD!” the Duke’s voice roared over the sounds of the fight, tearing my focus away from the dead man.
He lunged at one of the assailants who was swinging an axe towards Captain Strykar’s side that had been briefly left unprotected to block an overhead attack from another man. The Duke’s sword plunged into the attacker’s side, and he set his weight behind it, driving the sword in until the hilt connected with the man’s ribs. The man tried to gasp, axe dropping from limp hands, before he slumped over. Seemingly taking advantage of the Duke’s distraction, two more attackers that had been out of sight behind the fighting shoved past him and ran into Hunter and the other guard.
The horses shifted in front of me once more, blocking my view. My breath was coming in short quick gasps, the nausea still roiling in my stomach. The cold sensation of dread was beginning to dig its long claws into my head.
What if I die here?
One of the horses in front of me reared up with a shrill scream, front hooves kicking out savagely. When it went back down, its legs seemed to give out from under it. It toppled to the side, kicking and struggling, and smashed into the railing which promptly shattered under its weight. The horse tumbled over the edge of the bridge, still screaming, and disappeared into the churning water below with a splash. An attacker was charging forward in the space the horse had left, a sword slick with bright red blood being lifted in his hand.It was my first time being able to see one of the attacker’s faces clearly, and it quickly confirmed what I had feared. The thick black mark over the man’s bottom lip and down his chin branded him as a Tarnished.
Ethan shoved me back so I was behind him and drew his sword with using his good hand. He stepped forward and deftly blocked the attacker’s wild swing, fire flaring around his sword and making him flinch backwards. I could see a slight tremor running through his shoulders, and his breathing was laboured. I knew he wasn’t going to last long on his own.
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I need to do something. Stop being so useless and MOVE!
I fumbled at my seed pouch, my fingers numb and not wanting to cooperate. Ethan was once again blocking an attack when I managed to open it enough to shove a couple of my fingers in and had a couple of euphorbia seeds stick to me. I crouched to the ground, setting the seeds onto the timber and filling them with magic so they would sprout quickly. I grew the sprouts long and thin, snaking them along the ground and being careful to dodge Ethan’s feet. Once I came close to the attacker, I stood while quickly lifting my hands up to have the euphorbia shoot upwards.
I grew it thick and strong as I did, anchoring it to the timber bridge. I snagged one of the attacker’s arms with it before he could take another step forward, wrapping up his arm in seconds while pushing out the plant’s spikes so they would dig deep into the man’s arm. A small tweak with magic increased the potency of the plant’s naturally poisonous sap and had the thorns inject the sap into the attacker. The man’s surprised shout quickly turned into pained screams he felt the poison’s affects. He clawed at the vine, desperately trying to tear it off his arm. I clenched my fist, having the vine tighten more around him. An ugly, bubbling rash began to appear on the attacker’s neck, indicating the poison was spreading through his blood.
Ethan glanced back at me, his sword drooping down from his guarded pose. His eyes met mine briefly, before sliding to something behind me that made his face contort into an expression of panic. He made to reach out to me, and I tried to turn to see what he had seen, only to feel a hard impact on my shoulder that drove me sideways and over the railing of the bridge. Large arms were wrapped around my waist. Wind whipped around me and the unsettling sensation of falling filled my chest. I twisted, catching a quick glimpse of a man’s face with the Tarnished mark on his chin baring his teeth at me before another cold impact knocked the air from my lungs.
Icy cold water engulfed me, bubbles foaming over my face as I sunk under the surface with the Tarnished still gripping me. I shoved at his arms and kicked my legs, but he didn’t budge. I clawed at those arms, trying to find purchase against them and leverage them away from me, but failed against the leather armour he was wearing. My feet bumped against the rocky bottom of the river. The sun glimmered dimly through the choppy surface of the water high above my head, the murky water bleeding the light away quickly.
My lungs were burning with the need for air. I increased my struggles, attempting to kick and claw at the man holding me down. He refused to budge. Was he planning to die along with me? The desperation to take a breath painful, the sensation all too similar to being strangled less than a week before. The sensation of hands wrapping around my neck felt all too real, and I clutched at my throat a few times only to feel nothing as I twisted wildly in the man’s grip.
A seed! I need a seed!
I plunged my hand into my seed pouch and grabbed the first one I touched. I punched it into the man’s face that was directly behind my head, and felt it crunch into his teeth. I flooded the seed with magic, making it sprout in all directions at once with large, pointed limbs. A crunching-tear sounded next to my ear as the tree exploded out of the seed, and threads of something dark and thicker than water floated into view as the arms around my waist went slack.
The tree kept growing upwards, rooting itself in the bed of the river, and taking the man with it. The flowing river dragged me away from the tree before I could grab onto it. I kicked my way to the surface, sucking in a ragged, welcome breath and turning my head back the way I had come. The sight was such that I immediately regretted looking.
The tree had grown thick and strong, limbs twisting around each other in a tight spiral to form a trunk. Near the centre hung the Tarnished that had grabbed me. His mouth was forced open, a thick branch growing out from between his teeth that looked like they had shattered from the pressure. Another branch had sprouted from one of his eyes, the other eye bulged and bleeding, while the top of his head was torn apart by yet more branches of the tree, allowing clumps of glistening brain chunks to drip down his face. His chest was torn open by branches snaking in and out from between his ribs. His arms were held out either side of him, the skin exposed beneath his torn armour bulging until the tree had burst out from his wrists. Long strings of dangling purple flowers swayed gently around him, framing the morbid display.
My head connected with something hard floating in the river, and I was plunged beneath the water once again. The flow of the river had increased, and I was pushed down back down to the rocky bottom. My back scraped painfully against the jagged edges of stone, the roaring sound of rushing water filling my ears. I tucked my feet beneath me, kicking off the ground hard and kicking my way back to the surface. I coughed as my face met air, the agitated surface splashing water into my eyes and blurring my vision.
I threw a hand out, simultaneously reaching with magic until I sensed a tree nearby. I had one of the branches shoot out and wrap around my hand, then willed it to drag me over to the river bank and then up onto dry ground beneath the tree’s branches. I released my magic from the tree, and the branch unwrapped itself from my hand and retracted back to its original position.
I stayed there, hunched over on all fours while I coughed and spluttered to clear my lungs and catch my breath. My arms were shaking despite the warm air surrounding me. I clenched my hands around the thick green grass beneath me, my fingers burrowing slightly into the moist soil just below.
I just killed a person
My breath was still coming in short quick gasps despite no longer having in my throat. The shaking in my arms extended to the rest of my body, a deep vibrating tremor that I couldn’t suppress no matter how tightly I clenched my muscles. The cold I felt seemed to cut deep enough to reach my bones.
Oh gods, I killed a person.
My heart was thudding painfully as though it was trying to escape from my chest. Droplets of water dripped from my face and onto the grass. Hot tears stung at my eyes and blurred everything into a smeared green and brown mess. The loud snap of a twig nearby threw me out of my spiral. I swung around, eyes darting around to find what threat was trying to sneak up on me.
A single deer stood not far away, remaining very still as it looked at me. Its coat was a deep glossy brown that almost looked like it shimmered beneath the dappled light that filtered through the trees, the creamy white fur under its neck clean and neat. Two antlers rose over its head, curving gracefully around as though it was a spiked crown hovering over its head.
I stared into its large dark eyes feeling my heart begin to slow down and the shaking subside. A sense of calm grew in my heart and seemed to chase away the painful cold that had threatened to overwhelm me. My mind grew quiet and was soon only filled with the sight of those deep mournful eyes. After what felt like an age, the deer flicked one of its ears before turning and bounding away through the trees.
I shifted myself until I was in a sitting position and leaned my back against the trunk of the tree. A sharp sting along my back protested this position, but my legs felt too weak to adjust again. I tilted my head back to rest against the tree, staring up at the swaying leaves above me before closing my eyes with a sigh.