“What happened?” Anders asked, hoping Ivan would have an explanation.
“Lageena,” Ivan said in a dry voice. “Where’s Lageena?”
Anders turned, looking toward the area where he’d seen the light originate before the explosion. At the center of the crater lay Lageena’s black and crimson plated armor, her body sprawled out and motionless in the smoldering dirt. Anders and Ivan ran over the bodies of the decimated orcs.
Anders, he heard Zahara’s voice at last. You’re alive! she said with relief.
Anders glanced up as Zahara flew over the crater. Lageena’s body lay at the center. As they neared her, Ivan slowed his pace, Anders staying in stride with the old rider. Zahara, how did this happen? Did you do this?
Zahara dropped, circling in to land near them, No. I hit her with my tail when I missed grabbing her with my claws. She was summoning something, and it must have gone off when she crashed. When I turned back, I saw this crater of destruction where she’d fallen, and I thought I’d lost you. She touched down near Anders, slowly approaching the unconscious elf.
The horse Lageena was riding pinned one of her legs, as she lay motionless on the ground.
“Is she dead?” Anders asked Ivan.
Ivan cautiously stepped closer to the queen, his sword pointed down at her body. He glanced to Anders, his eyes flickering beyond him, then returning. Anders turned to see what he’d noticed. The orcs were descending on them, rushing into the crater and trampling over the dead bodies of their kin. Anders bent his knees and Zahara whirled around to see the orcs closing in. They backed up closer to Lageena as they prepared for this last stand.
“No, she’s still alive,” Ivan said shortly, stepping over Lageena’s body. “This ends now!” Pulling his blade back, he aimed the tip to strike Lageena’s throat. Plunging it swiftly down toward her, Ivan’s sword was met with resistance. Lageena sat up once Ivan’s blade was locked in place mid-way through its strike. She grabbed him by the leg and clutched the crystal around her neck. An orb of light enveloped them, separating Anders, Zahara and Ivan from the rest of the world. The orb retracted and Anders heard a loud snap; they were thrust into darkness.
Anders spun, whirling his head back and forth, trying to make sense of his surroundings. No longer on the field of battle where they’d been half a second before, wherever he was now darkness enveloped them, and the air smelled dank. He found Zahara at his side where she’d been when they were in the crater. Ivan also remained to his left as he’d been moments before. Their positions hadn’t changed, just their surroundings.
He heard a shrill laugh as Lageena spun away from them, her armor boots clacking against stone as she created a space between them.
Anders startled, Hadn’t she been trapped under her horse? As his eyes adjusted to the darkened area, he couldn’t see any signs that her horse had been near them.
“What have you done to us?” Ivan demanded, slashing his blade at her.
She chuckled, easily dodging the sweeps, skipping back across the stone floor. Her steps echoed along with Ivan's words in the hollow room.
Anders was hit with a horrible realization. Lageena had used the same spell that she’d used to escape Cedarbridge, only this time she took them with her.
As her laughter died away, they could hear the footsteps of someone or something marching toward them. Out of the darkness emerged a figure dressed in black. They saw the long silver sword before they could see the man. He stopped alongside Lageena, standing just a few feet in front of them.
Ivan growled through clenched teeth, “Merglan.”
Nadir shoved at the body of a dead orc. Rolling the charred creature onto its back allowed him to sit up. He took off his helmet and gasped for air. His head throbbed with a terrific pounding and his chest felt crushed though he was still alive. Confused about how he wound up under the orc, Nadir blinked, trying to clear his vision. Though his head ached and his ears rang with a high-pitched whining, he suddenly snapped back to reality.
The battle, he thought searching his surroundings frantically. He sat waist-deep in a crater of smoldering orcs, most lying flat on their faces. He remembered the blinding flash of light as he leapt over a falling orc he'd cut down; then the collision. Orcs launched forward, crashing into him and piling one atop the other as they took the brunt of the exploding force.
Before he could clearly conceive of what had happened, he saw a wave of orcs charge over the fallen corpse at the far side of the crater. They charged toward a dragon and her rider near the center. Anders and Zahara, he thought, rising to his feet. They’re in trouble, Nadir reached for his elven blade, but it wasn’t at his side. The explosion, he recalled as he scanned the pile of bodies for his weapon. He found his sword protruding hilt deep from the belly of the orc he’d rolled off of himself. Pulling it free and turning to advance toward Anders and Zahara’s aid, he hesitated. They were no longer there! He was sure they’d been there a moment ago; both of them, and someone else.
The orcs seemed to turn their attention to him, a lone figure standing among the wreckage. Frantic and aware of how alone he was, Nadir turned left toward the riverbank for salvation. I could escape in the rapids, he thought as he ran to the river. He’d rather risk drowning in plated armor than suffer a horrific death at the hands of the orcs. While rushing awkwardly over orc bodies, he heard a muffled shout. Stumbling to a stop, he looked down.
“Hmm, mmh, hu,” he heard a soldier attempting to speak from under more orc bodies. Nadir reached down and separated some corpses. A wrinkled hand reached up through the gap and he took hold of it. Pulling hard, the newly named elf king lifted Solomon the wise to the surface.
Coughing, Solomon staggered, trying to find his balance on the uneven surface. “Good grief,” the wise man said, brushing the front of his patched leather coat. Seeing the wave of enemy forces charging over the bodies startled him.
“Follow me. To the river!” Nadir exclaimed renewing his run toward the bank.
“Wait!” Solomon shouted, causing the elf to stop short.
Solomon quickly felt at his coat, searching for something in his pockets. With his hand patting three times on his breast pocket, his eyes grew wide. “Ah. Yes, yes,” he mumbled to himself as he reached into the pocket and pulled out a spiky creature. A second crawled out, revealing its spiked head to glance at the chaos. He softly muttered something to them, setting the one in his hand down as the other flung itself from his pocket. They scurried with lightning speed toward the oncoming orcs.
Nadir gaped at Solomon with a horrified expression, “Now can we make our escape?” he exclaimed, turning again to the river.
“Not without the others,” Solomon said firmly and began searching through the orcs at his feet.
“Solomon, we’re going to die if we stay here any longer,” Nadir said. As he spoke, however, something extraordinary happened. A wall of flames sprang up between where they were standing and the orcs’ frontline. The orcs were nearly halfway through the crater when they were forced to stop by an incredible arc of fire. He watched in awe as it formed a wall of impassible flames as wide as the river that would keep the charging orcs at bay.
“Whu, what? How?” Nadir managed to say.
“Lumbapi razor-backed lizards,” Solomon said, standing straight for a moment. “Not quite dragons, but close enough for our purposes. Now come on, help me uncover the others before the lizards’ energy drains. They can’t keep that wall of fire going indefinitely.”
Without hesitation, King Nadir began rummaging frantically through the bodies. Within moments, Nadir and Solomon had managed to uncover Natalia, Princess Inama and an elf soldier from their party. Once above the pile, Natalia was able to use her powers and sense out the remaining elf soldiers. They were far fewer in number than there had been when they started their push toward Lageena.
“How much longer can your lizards hold their flames?” Nadir asked, speaking over the battle cries of the elven and Lumbapi forces making their stand in the town, the roaring river, and the hiss of flames.
Solomon shook his head, “It’s a miracle they’ve lasted this long.”
“Can we push our way back into the town?” Natalia asked, eyeing their group of soldiers.
“It’s either that or the river,” Nadir said, thumbing over his shoulder to the rushing water along the bank.
“Wait, where are Anders and Ivan?” Natalia said, after taking an inventory of those who’d been recovered.
“I saw Anders and Zahara, at least I thought I did, near the center of the crater. I looked away for a moment and they vanished,” Nadir replied, sounding unsure of himself.
