Page 124 of The Daughter of the Scarred Elf

Kolfinna’s whole body froze at his heavy presence. She had never felt such soul-crushing mana in her life. She wanted to fall to her knees and curl up in a ball with how withering and bloodcurdlinglypowerfulit was.

With a black sword in one hand dripping with inky shadows and a spear of light shining in his other hand, he was a sight to see.

He shot spears of light onto the ground, where they erupted upon contact. Smoke and sprays of debris littered the battlefield.

Kolfinna couldn’t breathe through the thickness of evil mana pervading the air. Her instincts told her to run—fast and far away—but she couldn’t move. Couldn’t rip her gaze away from the terrifying man.

And she was related to this man?

There wasno waythis was her father.

Absolutely no way.

Fight or flee? Her mind warred with those two options. She didn’t have to think for too long because she was suddenly met with a fae warrior who swooped down in front of her, sword aimed at her neck. Kolfinna swatted him away with a thick, brown root from the ground. It shot him backward and into a cluster of other fae soldiers.

She looked over at the crowds of human soldiers suddenly battling the fae—where was Blár? They were supposed to meet close to the physician’s tent. Was he still there?

It hardly seemed to matter right now. He would be fine—he was a black rank after all. But fear took a hold of her heart and unease spread over her like a thick, thorny blanket.

All at once, another fae was upon her. Chunks of stone covered his hands and he punched her in the chest. She reeled back, pain exploding over her sternum and ribcage at the sudden force. Just as she hit the ground, a bolt of lightning flashed before her eyes, and the familiar smell of burning flesh stung her nose.

Haakon Lykke stepped in front of her, lightning sizzling at his fingertips. His sharp, green eyes flicked over to hers—assessing if she was okay. She pushed herself to her feet, and hemust’ve thought she was fine because with a nod, he was off to fight another fae.

Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about Blár—he would be fine, she told herself—or even how horrifying the half-elf commander was. Now was the time to fight because one distracted thought was all it took for these powerful foes to cut her down.

Kolfinna launched stones at the nearby fae and elves. Blazes of fire and lightning lit up the darkening horizon. Her eyesight adjusted to the dusk quite easily, she realized, but everyone else—the humans at least—struggled to see as the sun began to set further. It would probably take ten or so minutes for the canopy of night to be upon them.

The ground rumbled and, in the distance, giant earthen creatures emerged with a fae on its makeshift rocky, moss-ridden head. It towered above the legions of soldiers and swiped down on the humans with a long stick of strung-together stones.

She didn’t know what to focus on: the fae soldiers all around her, the half-elf commander, or the earthen creatures that were causing mayhem on the battlefield.

The latter was probably something she could take care of—something onlyshecould do.

Wrenching another mound of rocks from the earth and flinging them at the nearby fae, she cleaved a path toward the earthen stone-magic creations and shot through the ranks of soldiers—fae and elves alike.

The closer she drew to the earth creature, the more brutal the battle scene became. Crushed, bloodied bodies littered the land in a sea of blood, protruding bones, and scarlet-soaked uniforms. The pungency of death, the iron taste of blood, and the permeating smell of smoke and burning flesh were almost too strong to ignore.

Kolfinna jumped over a fallen comrade, ducked beneath a wave of light magic, and dove out of the way of the earthen creature’s leg as it stepped forward. The bright side? The creature moved slowly, which was only natural considering a fae was controlling the formation of rocks and it was heavy. The not-so-bright side? One small misstep and she would be another bloodied pulp staining the field.

Weaving her way toward the creature was relatively easy—the human soldiers were trying to get away from it, and even the fae kept their distance. The creature marched onward. The stones and earth strung together grinded loudly against the shouts, roars, and magic explosions.

Adrenaline rushed through her body the same way her mana did. Three feet away, and the ground was rumbling with every step the creature took. The fae atop the creature’s head, moving the earth and stone monster, didn’t see her. And how could he, when he was twenty feet above her? She was probably just a small blip in his peripheral—his eyes were set on clobbering the bigger masses of humans.

Kolfinna lurched toward the stony leg. Her mana flared and she latched onto the rocky wall of its heel, her magic pulling at small indents of the leg so she could create handles. She clung to the leg as it moved forward, her body feeling weightless. Sweat formed on her palms as the creature slowly kicked at a group of soldiers. The dizzying motion almost threw her off, but she held on tight and began climbing.

She had never done something so reckless, and it was both fear-inducing and exhilarating.

She moved quickly, grasping chunks of stone, moss, and dirt. Her mana pulled at tiny pieces of the stones outside the creature. Not enough for the fae to notice that she was also manipulating the stones—and thus ensure a tug of war game to take total control—but enough that she could scale the creature.

Her hair whipped around her shoulders violently. The wind and the movement of the creature made her fingers slip over the textured rocks.

Don’t look down.

She molded her hands and feet over the stone exterior to keep from falling. Pull one foot out, put another foot in, mold the foot into the stones, one hand forward, mold that hand, and repeat. Over and over.

The methodical movements made it easier to forget where she was, what she was doing, what would happen if she fell.

Don’t look down.

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