Chapter 36: The Escape

Chapter 36: The Escape A jet of water sliced through the air, severing the elf’s arm at the elbow. The creature shrieked as its weapon and limb fell to the ground, black ichor pumping from the stump. Lieutenant Mira appeared at Naia’s side, her auburn hair wild around her fierce face, water swirling around her like a living shield. "Mount up, Princess!" she commanded, her voice steady despite the chaos. With a sharp gesture, she drove a spear of concentrated water through the wounded elf’s eye socket. The creature’s head exploded in a spray of gore, its body collapsing into a twitching heap. Naia scrambled onto her horse, heart hammering against her ribs. "Thank you," she gasped, pulling Mira up behind her. Another volley of flaming arrows arced through the night sky, illuminating the chaos below. Three struck Kenna’s mount, which screamed in equine agony, rearing up and throwing the sergeant to the ground. Elves swarmed over her immediately, their crude weapons rising and falling in a frenzy. Her screams cut off abruptly as a blade severed her vocal cords, but her air power lashed out in death, causing a violent cyclone to erupt around her body. Five elves were lifted into the sudden vortex, their bodies torn apart by the raging winds before being flung against nearby trees with bone-shattering force. "Kenna!" Elira shouted, cutting down two elves with a single swing of her blade. Blood sprayed across her face as she frantically tried to reach her fallen comrade. "She’s gone!" Captain Diana called, her voice steady despite the horror unfolding around them. "To the ridge! Now!" The survivors fought their way eastward, toward higher ground where they might gain advantage. Flaming arrows continued to rain down, setting the forest ablaze behind them. The fire spread with unnatural speed, consuming the underbrush and climbing the trunks of ancient trees. Elira carved a path through three more elves, her twin blades a blur of motion. The first lost its head, the second its arm, and the third was gutted from groin to sternum, its entrails spilling out like grotesque ribbons as it fell. "There are too many!" she shouted, swinging back onto her horse. The kitchen servant moved through the chaos with eerie calm, untouched by the violence around her. Elves that approached her suddenly halted, their bodies splitting apart as if sliced by invisible blades. She rode her mount unhurriedly, her expression serene amidst the slaughter. "On your left!" Lieutenant Mira warned, sending a water blade that decapitated an elf attempting to flank them. Its head sailed through the air, teeth still gnashing, before landing in a smoldering patch of grass. The group pressed forward, leaving behind a trail of dismembered elf corpses and burning forest. Four of the party were now mounted, with Lyra sharing Captain Diana’s horse. The remaining AMAZON warrior, Elira, covered their retreat, her blades slick with black blood. An inhuman howl rose from the forest depths—a sound that froze the blood in their veins. The elves paused momentarily, then attacked with renewed frenzy, as if driven by some unseen force. "What was that?" Naia gasped, clutching her reins with white-knuckled hands. "Nothing good," Lyra replied grimly. "Keep moving!" They broke through the treeline onto a narrow ridge, the forest falling away on either side. In the distance, the sky had begun to lighten, the first hint of dawn approaching. Behind them, the forest burned, orange flames leaping against the night sky. The fires had created a partial barrier, but the elves pressed through the flames with reckless abandon, their skin blistering and charring as they emerged. Another wave of flaming arrows arced overhead, forcing them to scatter along the ridge. One arrow struck Lieutenant Mira’s horse in the flank. The animal reared in pain, nearly throwing both riders. Mira slid from the saddle, drawing her blade as the injured mount galloped away. "Keep going!" she shouted to Naia. "I’ll hold them here!" "No!" Naia pulled her horse around. "I won’t leave you!" More elves poured onto the ridge, their numbers seemingly endless. Mira stood her ground, water swirling around her in concentric rings of deadly force. Three elves rushed her at once. She dispatched the first with a blade of water that cut it in half at the waist. The second lost its head to her physical sword. The third drove a crude spear into her side, but she grabbed the shaft, channeling her power through it to freeze the elf solid before shattering it with a single blow. Lyra leapt from Diana’s horse, bringing her blade down on an elf archer taking aim at her sister. The creature’s skull split in two, brain matter and bone fragments splattering across the rocky ground. "Naia! Move!" she commanded, cutting down another elf that lunged for her flank. Three more elves dropped from an overhanging tree onto Lieutenant Mira, driving her to the ground under their combined weight. She screamed as jagged teeth tore into her shoulder, ripping away chunks of flesh. Her water power exploded outward in a desperate final attack, freezing and shattering every elf within a ten-foot radius. But it was too late. By the time the last ice crystal fell, Mira lay motionless in a spreading pool of her own blood, her throat torn open to the spine. "Mira!" Naia cried, her voice breaking. She sent a powerful jet of water that cut through five approaching elves, bisecting them at the waist. Their torsos slid from their lower bodies, internal organs spilling onto the ground as they fell. Captain Diana grabbed the reins of Naia’s horse, pulling her away from the carnage. "We can’t help her now," she said firmly. "We have to keep moving." Elira fought like a demon, her blades never ceasing their deadly dance. An elf leapt at her, and she sidestepped, driving her sword through its chest and out its back. Using the impaled creature as a shield, she shoved it into three more attackers, momentarily stunning them before decapitating all three with a single sweeping blow. The kitchen servant continued to ride calmly through the chaos, horses and elves alike seeming to give her a wide berth. Her eyes remained fixed on the horizon, as if seeing something beyond the battle raging around her. "The sun!" Lyra called, pointing eastward where the sky had lightened to pale gray. "We just need to hold until dawn!" Understanding dawned on the survivors—forbidden elves couldn’t tolerate direct sunlight. If they could just hold out a little longer, they might survive this nightmare. Captain Diana summoned her air power, creating a powerful whirlwind that tore through the advancing elves. Bodies were lifted and dashed against rocks, limbs ripped from torsos, heads torn from shoulders. The display of elemental mastery momentarily halted the onslaught, but more elves emerged from the burning forest, climbing over their fallen kin with single-minded determination. A massive elf, nearly twice the size of the others, burst through the flames. Its body was a patchwork of scars and crude metal implants, its eyes glowing with malevolent intelligence. It carried a massive cleaver fashioned from what appeared to be a cavalry sword. "Their leader," the servant observed quietly, the first words she’d spoken since the attack began. The alpha elf pointed its cleaver at the group, letting out a bone-chilling howl. In response, the remaining elves charged forward with suicidal abandon, heedless of the lethal elemental powers arrayed against them. Elira met the first wave, her blades slicing through green flesh with practiced precision. One elf lost both arms at the shoulders, another was gutted from navel to throat, a third was decapitated so cleanly its head remained balanced on the neck stump for a moment before toppling. But there were too many. An elf slipped past her guard, burying a jagged knife in her thigh. She grunted in pain, cutting down her attacker, but the momentary distraction allowed the alpha to close the distance. "Elira! Behind you!" Diana shouted, sending a blade of air that severed the arm of an elf flanking the young warrior. Elira turned, bringing her sword up just in time to block the alpha’s cleaver. The impact drove her to one knee, the crude blade inching closer to her face as the massive elf pressed its advantage. Captain Diana spurred her horse forward, air element gathering around her blade. She swung at the alpha’s exposed back, but two lesser elves intercepted her, pulling her from the saddle. She hit the ground rolling, dispatching both attackers with quick, efficient strikes, but more swarmed toward her position. The first ray of sunlight crested the eastern horizon, striking the battlefield like a physical force. The nearest elves shrieked in agony as their skin began to smoke and blister. The alpha elf turned toward the light, its face contorting in what might have been fear. "Now!" Lyra shouted, channeling her power into a massive wave that swept across the ridge, knocking the remaining elves off their feet. "Push them back!" The survivors rallied, pressing their advantage as more rays of sunlight spread across the battlefield. Elves scrambled in retreat, some too slow, caught in the growing light. Their bodies contorted and charred as the sun’s rays touched them, filling the air with the stench of burning flesh. The alpha elf roared in defiance, still advancing despite smoking skin. It swung its cleaver at Elira, who rolled aside, hampered by her injured leg. The massive blade struck stone, sending sparks flying, but the creature recovered quickly, raising its weapon for another strike. A jet of water struck it from behind, driving it to its knees. Naia stood with arms extended, face contorted with effort and rage. "Get away from her!" she commanded, increasing the pressure until the elf’s back began to bow inward. Elira seized the opportunity, driving both her blades into the alpha’s chest. It howled, dropping its cleaver as it tried to grab her, but she twisted the blades viciously, green ichor gurgling from its mouth. With a final effort, it reached for her throat, but another shaft of sunlight struck its face, and it screamed as its features began to blacken and crack. Within seconds, it collapsed into smoldering ash. The remaining elves fled in disarray, retreating into the shadows of the forest where daylight had not yet penetrated. Some were too slow, caught in the expanding light, their bodies contorting and charring as the sun claimed them. Silence descended on the ridge, broken only by the ragged breathing of the survivors. Of the nine who had made camp the previous evening, only five remained: Lyra and Naia, Captain Diana, Elira, and the kitchen servant, who sat upon her horse apart from the others, her clothes somehow unstained despite the carnage. Lyra stared at the retreating forms of the forbidden elves, her mind racing. ’They shouldn’t be here,’ she thought, ’and they shouldn’t be organized like this. Something or someone is controlling them.’ "Four dead," Diana reported grimly, surveying what remained of her squad. "Lieutenant Mira, Sergeant Kenna, Lieutenant Vale, and Flavia." Her voice remained steady, but her eyes betrayed the weight of her loss. Naia sank to her knees, the horror of what they’d just survived washing over her. "I’ve never seen anything like that," she whispered. "The way they moved... it wasn’t natural." "It wasn’t," Lyra agreed, wiping her blade clean. "Forbidden elves are solitary predators. They don’t form battalions or coordinate attacks." She turned to face the others, her expression grim. "Someone sent them after us." "But who would know we’re here?" Elira asked, binding her wounded leg with a strip of cloth. Captain Diana’s eyes narrowed as she scanned the forest below. "Someone who knows we’re looking for Princess Eren." "Or someone who doesn’t want us to find her," Naia added quietly. The servant said nothing, but a small smile played at the corners of her mouth as she gazed into the forest depths. In her mind, Eren waited just beyond the next hill, the next village, the next kingdom. And nothing—not forbidden elves, not royal guards, not even death itself—would keep her from her obsession. As the sun rose fully above the trees, bathing the ridge in golden light, Lyra assessed what remained of their party. "Mother will never forgive this," she thought grimly. "Four dead, and nothing to show for it but more questions." But turning back was no longer an option. Somewhere ahead, Eren continued her journey into unknown dangers—and now Lyra was certain those dangers were far greater than she had initially feared. "We cross into Vylonia today," she announced, her decision made. "Whatever’s happening, we need to find Eren before it’s too late."