Britt closed her eyes, trying to decide if she should lay down and rest or stand up and return to the fight. Kirsten still hadn't moved; she didn’t want to leave without her friend. She felt weak and was on the brink of laying down when she heard Kirsten stir. Britt opened her eyes and looked to Kirsten.
Kirsten’s was bleeding over her forehead. She looked at Britt, then to the dead demon and asked, “Did you do that or did I?”
Britt started to laugh and winced at the pain in her ribs. “You started it, I finished it,” she said.
Kirsten sat up, feeling at her head and seeing blood on her hand. Britt forced herself up from her kneeling position and pulled the sword from the demon’s head. Picking up the sapphire from the ground, she tossed it to Kirsten.
“You almost look worse than they do,” Kirsten said, taking the crystal and nodding to the dead warriors near the demon.
“Yeah,” Britt said staggering.
“Let me help you,” Kirsten said, coming to Britt’s side and taking her hand.
Britt saw the crystal glow and felt a tingling energy flow from Kirsten’s hand into hers. She tried to pull away, but Kirsten held on tight. After several seconds, the sensation ended and the glowing stopped. Britt felt strong again. She felt at the recent cuts from the demon, which were still there.
“Better?” Kirsten asked.
Britt nodded, “I’m not healed, but I feel like I’m fresh again.”
“That’s how this always makes me feel,” Kirsten said, tucking the crystal in her pouch. “What, ah,” Kirsten said, now noticing the bodies in the street around them. “What happened?”
“You and the demon hit heads. I came in. We fought; I stabbed it in the face,” Britt explained quickly. “Then a massive fairnheir arrived.”
“Really?” Kirsten asked.
“Yeah, and Red lured it away, saving me…” she said, sounding confused.
“Wow, I thought he didn’t like you much,” Kirsten said.
Britt scratched her head, “Yeah.”
“Come on, we should get back. I bet Thomas is worried after seeing me hauled away by a demon,” Kirsten said.
Britt fought back the pain where the demon had cut her side. The bleeding slowed to a weep and then she could no longer see any evisceration. She looked down the street where Red and the fairnheir had disappeared but couldn’t see them.
When they caught up with the back line of their forces, Kirsten split off to search for Thomas. Britt searched for Max. It took her a moment to find him. He hadn’t moved far from where she’d left him near the dead dragon. Forcing her way to the front, Britt called out, “Max!”
He turned and rushed to her.
“You’re hurt?” he said, seeing her bloodied side.
“I’ll live,” she said, hugging him.
“I should’ve come with you,” he said. “We shouldn’t split up, it’s too dangerous.”
“You were needed here. Kirsten is okay too,” Britt said.
“Good,” Max said. “I helped a little. The fairnheir are all but finished. The last of them are fleeing back to their army.”
As he finished recounting the fight, Britt heart the sound of thousands of feet in the distance. “And now the rest are coming to finish us,” she said before noticing the enemy armies had not yet charged.
Max frowned, just as confused as she was. Shouts erupted among the warriors and elves. Britt and Max swiveled to see the entire army of Westlanders, Lumbapi and dwarfs filing through the streets. “We made it; we held out until their arrival!” Max said.
Britt stepped aside to allow the fresh soldiers to pass by eager to join the fighting at the front. With fresh soldiers spelling the elves and warriors, the new army took to the battlefield, once again taking hold of the ground in front of the city.
***
Kirsten found Thomas frantically searching for her among the soldiers. After speaking to each other quickly and explaining she was okay, they saw the first of the soldiers from Westland arriving. Her heart leapt into her throat as she began calling Bo’s name. She moved through the crowd now searching for his face.
She felt Thomas tap her on the shoulder, “There he is.”
He was forcing his way through to her. She pushed between people until she reached him. She wrapped her arms around him and he held her tight. “I told them to wait for you. I didn’t mean to leave without you,” Kirsten said, repeating herself.
“Kirsten,” Bo said.
She continued to apologize for leaving him at the camp. Bo kissed her repeatedly to keep her from going on.
“Kirsten, it’s okay. I’m here now. I tried to make it back to our camp in time, but Tony and Evans almost caused a huge fight. He didn’t know that Evans was with you guys and the crystals. When he saw the dragon taking him, he tried to kill the dragonrider. I was right there and got dragged into trying to stop him. I saw the dragon that had been waiting at our camp fly away before I got there. If I hadn’t stopped, I would’ve made it.”
“It doesn’t matter now. You’re here,” Kirsten said.
They joined Thomas and let the bulk of the army pass by. While they waited for the soldiers to file out onto the plains, Kirsten had time to convince Thomas to help Rune and Ophelia with the injured.
“They were going to set up on the south end, near the ships,” Bo said.
Thomas nodded and grabbed his bow as he prepared to leave.
Kirsten stopped him, “You’re sure about this?”
