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.