Page 25 of Realm of Wind and Vines
Without hesitation, he stalks out of the shadows and starts out into the open square. The rest of us scramble to catch up with him.
Rain whips down from the sky, stinging my face, as we stride out into the open space. A figure in elegantly decorated armor shoves open both doors to the tall building and walks out onto the short steps outside. Her long black hair whips in the wind as she stares us down from across the wet stones.
“Rin!” Draven calls over the howling winds. “We?—”
I shove him forward.
Pain crackles through me as the arrow slams into my side instead. I gasp. Staggering a step forward, I have to blink hard to keep my vision in focus.
Draven whirls around, staring at me in shock. His stunned gaze flits from my face and then down to the arrow that had been meant for him. But before he can say anything, Rin Tanaka’s voice cuts through the storm.
“Capture him!” she yells over the howling winds and rumbling thunder.
Another hail of arrows shoots through the air.
Some are ripped away by the winds, and the others clatter against the walls of ice that Isera yanks up around us. Pain pulses through me from the arrow that is still stuck in my side. I glance down at it, dreading this next part.
However, before I can reach towards it with my already trembling hands, Orion abruptly snaps off the arrowhead and yanks the shaft out of my side so fast that I barely have time to gasp. Pain rips through me, but not nearly as bad as it would’ve been if I’d had to do it myself.
I stare at the Unseelie King in surprise, but he has already spun back to face our attackers.
“Rin!” Draven calls again. “I’m not here to fight! We’re here to?—”
“Attack!” she screams.
The soldiers around her lurch forward. Their boots slap against the wet cobblestones as they all rush forward. Atop the sloping rooftops all around us, archers loose another volley of arrows.
“Fuck!” Draven snaps.
Summoning his storm magic, he throws it around us in a circle, changing the direction of the already screaming winds and shoving the hail of arrows off course.
“Orion, handle the archers,” he commands. Then his sharpeyes shift to me and Isera. “You two, get me to Rin. And try not to kill anyone.”
No one hesitates or questions the orders. Not even Orion. He just summons his nightmare magic and throws it across the square. Bows clatter to the rooftops and archers scream in panic as the Unseelie King blocks out their vision by forcing them to relive their worst memories.
Draven sprints forward. Isera and I flank him as we hurtle across the wind-swept square. Soldiers in orange armor rush towards us from all sides.
Steel rings through the air as Draven draws his massive sword. I yank out my own dagger right before the first wave of soldiers reaches us.
Using the already raging storm to his advantage, Draven directs it with his magic and sends a furious blast of wind crashing into the ranks of soldiers. They call out in shock as a large portion of them are swept to the side as if by a giant hand. I throw out my own magic and latch on to those brass-colored sparks of shock.
While ducking under a blade swung from my left, I blow that shock into massive fires, which in turn triggers a flare of fear. I quickly release my grip on their shock and instead sink my magic into those bone white sparks of fear.
Screams of pure terror echo through the square as I transform those sparks into wildfires. Half of the soldiers in that section flee in blind fear while the rest drop to the ground and vomit as their knees buckle.
But the other ranks who weren’t swept away by Draven’s wind crash right into us.
Ice shoots through the air as Isera throws massive sheets at them to block their advance. But there are too many of them. And without being able to kill them, we’re at a severe disadvantage.
Steel clangs as Draven blocks a sword aimed at his head. Witha flick of his wrist, he forces the soldier’s sword away from his own and then shoves him back with sheer brute force.
“Tell them to stand down,” he snaps at Rin, who is still standing on the steps ahead. “I don’t want to kill them. I want to form an alliance.”
“Capture him!” Rin yells. Rain pelts her armor and face, and her long black hair is completely soaked as it whips in the wind. “My orders are to capture you!”
“Orders? What ord?—”
His words are cut off as two people swing at him from the side. Isera blocks one blade with a sheet of ice while Draven manages to duck the other. Twisting down and around, he spins and drives his fist into the soldier’s stomach. Air explodes from the soldier’s lungs in a gasp. But three more are already rushing towards us.
