Chapter 22: Ambush

Note: Thanks to B0b and WRC 264 for beta reading this!

Aingeal – The Forest of Lhes, The Strifelands of Zeutch

My elation turned to dust as Kora collapsed. Something black thrust out from beneath her breasts beside her amulet. An owl hooted above. Her blood soaked into the pink of her robes. Violent convulsions wracked her body. Foam bubbled on her lips.

I struggled to understand what was going on? What had struck her? Where we? What was—

“Aingeal!” Sven growled, his arms grabbing me and hauling me backwards. The world spun around me. My pink hair flew past my face and then...

We hit the ground. I gasped, the muscles in my back twitching. Something hissed out of the dark trees above us and...

Why were we in the Forest of Lhes?

The question struck me even as my heart pounded beneath my breasts. A cold chill pumped through my veins as Zanyia yowled and hissed. Metal rang, a dark dart bouncing off Ealaín’s vambrace she held up before her. Then she drew her ax and war hammer, staring up at the trees.

Sven thrust me to the side. “Kora!” he shouted as he gained his feet. “Las-spawned bastard!”

Sven drew a throwing dagger then jumped back. The dark dart slammed into the ground at his feet. It buried in the ground. Nearby, a small, glittering form moved in the ground, squeaking out in fright. I gazed up at the trees. Something was up there. Something was trying to kill us.

Queen Sidhe knew ... She knew if she sent us to the very mushroom ring that we used to enter Faerie, an enemy would be waiting for us. We were beyond her power now, but she ensured that we’d be punished for crossing her.

Why was I just lying here? I should move, but ... My entire body didn’t want to obey me. My mind felt dizzy, reeling, my thoughts spinning around. I couldn’t understand why someone would attack us. Would hurt Kora.

She gurgled.

Sven darted back again, his blond hair swaying about his face as he scanned the trees above. It was so dark. It should be daylight and yet the gloom of twilight gripped the woods. The tall pine trees’ boughs faded into a black haze. They creaked and groaned as something moved around in them.

“Kora!” Sven shouted. “Aingeal, my sister!”

Sven’s words galvanized my body. It electrified me. Whatever had gripped me, the shock of the attack, released me. My brain worked right. Kora was dying. The dart ... The dart must be poisoned. Kora thrashed nearby, her legs drumming on the ground. I had to do something for her.

I scrambled to my feet. The air hissed as another dart fired down at Sven. He slashed his dagger, deflecting it. The dart spun through the air and impaled into the earth near Princess Ava’s rose quartz proxy. She was scrambling through the dead pine needles littering the clearing around the mushroom ring. My breasts swayed as I reached Kora.

Their weren’t as many spirits in this world as there were in Faerie. But they came to me. They knew me. I had lived in exile in the Forest of Lhes for decades. Balls of green light shot down out of the sky to me. They danced around my hand as I grasped the dart thrust out of Kora’s chest.

I yanked it out.

She screamed out in pain. Rivulets of frothy bubbles poured down her cheeks. Her eyes were open, but all whites. They’d rolled back into her head. Her fingers twitched. Her entire body spasmed as I placed my hands over the wounds, purple light flaring from my grip as my will channeled the spirits into her body.

“Kora,” I whispered, my heart so tight as I repaired her body.

Zanyia

My tail swished back and forth as I grabbed Nathalie and dragged her to safety. My fellow slave-girl trembled in shock. She didn’t fight me as she clapped a hand over her mouth, staring at Mistress Kora. The blood screamed through my body as I shoved Nathalie down by a tree.

“Stay here,” I told her as another dart hissed through the air and thunked into something wooden. “Okay?”

“What’s going on, Zanyia?” Nathalie asked, her entire body trembling. Her blue eyes became liquid. Fat tears swelled at the corners of her eyes. “Mistress Kora...”

“I don’t know,” I said. I breathed in deeply, smelling the riotous scents of the Forest of Lhes. Dead pine needles, loamy soil, the sweet scent of pine resin, and something else. Something up in the trees. I stared up at them, my ears twitching. An owl hooted.

The haze ... That wasn’t a natural haze. That wasn’t what a forest at night would look like. Farther through the trees, I could see sunlight. This darkness was localized to just us. My eyes widened as realization struck me.

“Master!” I shouted. “It’s—”

Something crashed into me, hissing in fury.

Princess Ava

I gripped the blade of grass as my rose quartz proxy shuddered. Sven slashed his dagger. He struck something streaking out of the air. I squeaked as it tumbled through the air and slammed into the ground not far away. I stared at the thick shaft of wood. I could see the grain of the wood, little cracks in the surface. It stood taller than my little body.

“Sven!” I shouted, my voice sounding so small, so squeaking.

Zanyia yowled and hissed. She collapsed. Something wrestled with her, another pale form. I caught the sight of a tawny tail and a black tail swaying as the two forms rolled on the ground. Another lamia fought with Zanyia. The newcomer had black hair. The two hissed and snarled at each other as they tumbled across the ground.

My small body breathed. I felt the air sucking in through my mouth even though I didn’t need it in this form. My real body was miles and miles away, outside of Echur. It was safe, breathing with ease while I rode slumped over my horse’s saddle. But fear still pounded through me. My little fingers held the leathery stalk of grass, my fingers digging into it.

Sven shouted his sister’s name. Poor Kora thrashed as Aingeal reached her.

“It’s up in the trees,” Sven shouted, staring up. “Do you see it, Ealaín.”

“The shadows are cloaking it,” the aoi si said, her white hair swaying about her midnight-black face. Her armor glinted as she twisted her body, a dart striking her vambrace. “We must hone our senses, Sven.”

I peered up at the trees, staring at the gloom. The trembling, pounding fear dwindled as I focused on something, looking for anything moving up there. Another dart streaked out of the boughs of a pine tree to my right.

A shadow moved up there. It detached from the gloom. A pine tree nearby rustled, its bough swaying back and forth.

“Sven!” I shouted, pointing my little arm. “There, there, that tree! It jumped!”

Sven Falk

Little squeaks caught my attention.

Ava’s body glittered as she pointed her tiny arm up into the air. The little statue bounced on her feet. My eyes flashed up into the trees and...

A dart hissed out at me. It moved so slowly. Battle’s exhilaration pumped through me. Time stretched, slowed. I swung my dagger, gripped in my left hand, hard, knocking it from the air. My right hand throbbed. I kept flexing my broken finger. I ignored where it went, focused on the gloom in the trees and ... it shifted in there. It moved around the tree towards its right side.