Chapter 24 – The Dark Wars
Maeve barely slept at all.
For the remaining hours of the night, she continuously tossed and turned in her bedroll, watching the canopy of dead leaves above her head as their black shadows leered down at her like trickster demons.
Her mind kept replaying the events of the night over and over again in her head, like a children's song playing on repeat and slowly driving her insane.
The prophecy Leo had recited…the numerous evidences that pointed towards her…her hair, her name, her fiery magic…the looming war on the horizon…the Belrok that might be unleashed…the soldiers and volunteers falling to their knees in front of her like she was their queen…
Her heart spasmed in her chest every time she thought back to that unbelievable moment, hundreds of brave souls at her feet…
She had felt complete lost, an undeserving impostor, but Robin had come to rescue her like a faithful knight, quietly weaving his way to her side as she stood there frozen like ice, shocked and speechless, and he had put an end to the reverent display with a few gentle words to the crowd, telling everyone to get some sleep before their taxing excursion resumed at dawn.
He had purposefully omitted to address the issue of the Fire Maiden, neither confirming or refuting her identity, and she suspected it was both for the sake of the entire convoy and her own. Puzzled glances had been exchanged, but no one had dared challenge the General and everyone had respectfully followed his command, leaving her alone for the rest of the night.
And now dawn was almost upon them, promising another gruesome day of trekking, and she had barely slept at all, slipping in and out of tormented dreams with no satisfying respite to be gained.
The Fire Maiden…
She couldn't wrap her mind around it, around the prophecy, couldn't bring herself to believe that it might be true. How could it possibly be true? She was nothing more than a common northern woman with red hair, raised on a farm and shaped into a sorceress and a sailor out of necessity after a tragic raid conducted on her village…
How could an entire nation of people in their right mind place their faith in her?
It was preposterous.
Terrifying.
And infuriating, because of all the arguments and pieces of evidences that kept pointing in her direction, and which she found herself unable to logically refute other then blaming it all on pure coincidences. Her hair, her name, her magic…
It couldn't be true, she repeated to herself like a mantra, and she could not allow herself to believe it either, because the moment she did she would be breathing truth to the prophecy like wind stoking a bed of coals into flames, and then she'd be trapped for good. And right now, she had absolutely no desire to accept this role or the crown that came with it.
She tossed and turned again in her bedroll, shutting her eyes closed to force sleep upon herself, but once again her mind swayed in every direction like a lost bird, this time landing on Dim-Dim.
That old, cunning fox of a wizard…
Had he truly known about this all along? About this prophecy claiming she was the long-lost descendant of the Fire Maiden returning to her homeland after three thousand years? Was this why he had sent her here? Disguising the truth with a quest to protect his friend and prevent the awakening of a beast from the Wikken Hells? Omitting the other crucial part of the prophecy?
She even went as far as wonder if he had known about her identity when they had first met in Bagdad many years ago, when she had come to seek his help to free Dermott from Rumina's curse, when she had told him her name…
But that was impossible, she admonished herself, since the prophecy had only come forth two months ago…Surely he couldn't have known back then…
But what about her own mother? Had she known about the legacy their namesake was carrying all this time? Had she ever planned on telling her daughter about it? And if she had known she had a claim to the Island of Kalladrell as the direct descendant of the last Fire Maiden, then why had she never come here to assume her role as leader and queen? Why was that burden falling on Maeve's shoulders now?
As the hours wasted away, she didn't know who to be angry at anymore. Dim-Dim, Robin, her mother, Sinbad...
With a dull headache still annoyingly pulsing at the back of her neck, she finally gave up on sleep just when the thick shadows of the Blind Mountains traded their suffocating darkness for a lighter dull grey, marking the beginning of another excruciating journey through the deadly woods.
As the convoy slowly rose to life around her, soldiers and civilians rolling up their bedrolls, putting out fires, nibbling at nuts and fruits for breakfast and strapping their gear to their bodies once more, she purposefully kept to herself and ate in silence. Even Robin, Leisa and the others left her alone, allowing her to eat breakfast and gear herself up in peace, for as long as she needed while they went about the campsite to check on the many wounded.
But soon enough her nerves began to coil in her limbs like vines as she took in her surroundings, painfully aware of all the furtive glances that were being exchanged between the soldiers and volunteers, whispering amongst themselves and stealing glimpses in her direction every once in a while, eyes shining with boundless respect, wonder and hope, as if she was wearing an invisible crown.
It made her shiver with a sense of unworthiness, and her only comfort was the space everyone was granting her, steering clear of her little bubble, and she suspected the reason behind such a behaviour was Robin. Knowing him and his enduring protectiveness towards her, he had probably warned everyone not to burden her with the matter of the Fire Maiden for the time being, at least not until she was ready to address it herself again.
She was grateful for that, but still, she could clearly see how nervous this status quo was making everyone, riddling them with uncertainty, doubt, and fear that she might perhaps dishonour her legacy and choose to abandon them all.
But then again, this legacy might not even be hers to begin with. Perhaps the prophecy was wrong. It had to be wrong.
But it didn't matter. Either way, right now, she was not going to play Fire Maiden.
Pressing the heel of her palms against her eyes for a few seconds, scrubbing away the perpetual fatigue resulting from her substantial lack of quality sleep, she exhaled deeply and tried to steel herself for the upcoming day, before shoving herself into motion at last.
Keeping to herself in the bleak greyness of the foul woods, she geared herself up alone, starting with the matted braid that was resting on her left shoulder, still caked with mud and blood from the previous night. She pulled Sinbad's bandana from the tip and for a moment rubbed the red fabric between her thumb and forefinger, allowing her tired mind to wander to the Nomad and her friends, and praying they were faring better than she was, perhaps sunbathing on a white-sanded beach somewhere or sailing smoothly under a clear blue sky, anything but trudging through mud and rot in a deadly forest. So long as they were safe.
What she wouldn't give to be with them right now…Anywhere but here…
The empty wish made her heart clench with painful longing inside her chest, but she chased the memories away at once and quickly wrapped the bandanna around her wrist and hid it under her blue sleeve, out of sight and out of mind, then proceeded to rake her fingers through the tangled knots in her hair.
When she was satisfied with it, she checked the bandages around her right wrist, thankful the wound hadn't bled through the fabric since Lobelia and Leisa had treated it. There was still a dull soreness in the tendons as she rotated her wrist tentatively, but her ability to fight would not be impaired, thank the spirits.
Standing up at last, she fixed her bedroll to her pack, strapped her sword to her back, and hoisted her single satchel of food across her shoulder to let it rest at her hip, lending the finishing touch to her look by securing her bell to her belt, the one Robin had finally agreed to give her two nights ago out of coercion more than willingness.
It was only when she was ready at last that he and the others dared approach her, hesitant and careful as if they were walking on egg shells and no longer knew how to act around her.
"You ready?" Robin asked, his eyes soft and warm, but she could easily detect the edge of tension in his movements while Leisa stood beside him, looking grim as ever with her cascade of red braids falling over her shoulder like a river of blood, the only spark of colour in this damned forest.
Mark and Leo were already heading for the middle of the trek line to their appointed posts, while Simon and Coop were aiming for the rear, and their retreating forms swiftly sparked an idea in her mind.
She gave Robin a single nod, but as he turned to get the convoy back on the move again, instead of falling into his steps like she always did, she turned on her heels and followed after Simon and Coop. "I'm going to the rear," she declared, making sure her voice offered no opening for negotiation.
At her unexpected words, the blond-haired captain and his companion immediately halted, stiffening and turning around to glance at her, their brows rising in surprise and their eyes flicking to Robin questioningly, but Maeve didn't wait for their approval and simply walked past them.
"You're at the front with me and Leisa," Robin reminded her from afar, as if his words might succeed to hold her back, but in vain.
"Not today," she replied sternly, walking ever further away until she heard footsteps following her.
"Wherever you go, I go," Leisa stated inflexibly.
"No." Maeve snapped, wheeling around to block the woman's way. "You're staying with Robin. I don't need your protection."
"That's not for you to decide."
"Oh it is," Maeve insisted sharply, her temper already flaring. "I get to decide who risks their lives for me in these bloody mountains, and from now on, no one will."
She cast her eyes on all the others then, cold and challenging, to ensure her words were sinking in properly. She would no longer allow anyone to endanger themselves to protect her, especially not on the account of some stupid prophecy. Not Robin, not Leisa, not anyone.
"But-" Leo stammered in protest, but he was silenced by Robin who resolutely strolled past the young soldier to aim straight for Maeve, his brow deeply furrowed in simmering anger.
When his iron hand closed tightly around her arm above her elbow, Maeve was almost tempted to yank herself free and cause a scene in front of the entire convoy, but Robin was so stiff beside her like a whip ready to crack, that she allowed him to steer her away down a small slope and through a thicket of tortuous black trees.
As soon as they were out of sight and earshot, he released her and rounded on her.
"What do you think you're doing?" he glowered at her in admonishment.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Maeve snapped back, anger rising within her core to match the one igniting in his blue eyes. "I'm forbidding the lot of you to put your lives at risk for me."
"It's our duty, Maeve," he argued, looking thoroughly annoyed with her with every second that fled by. "You may not approve or yet believe everything we told you last night, but it doesn't make it any less real."
"Your belief in the prophecy doesn't make it any more real, either," Maeve countered obstinately, glaring back at him. "Fire Maiden or not, I can take care of myself. I don't need a bunch of delusional babysitters to watch over my every move."
Robin shut his eyes at her prickly words and exhaled in frustration at her stubbornness. "This isn't a meadow of wild flowers," he reminded her through gritted teeth, his self-control and his calm slowly slipping away as his voice heated up. "This is the Blind Mountains! I know you can take care of yourself, but you cannot discard the protection of every soldier around you!"
"Oh, no? Watch me," Maeve said daringly, brushing past him to hike back up the slope.
But he grabbed her arm again, his iron hand pulling her back around swiftly while his raptor gaze plunged into hers like steel. "This isn't just about you being the Fire Maiden," he warned her darkly. "In these bloody woods, everyone protects one another. I depend on your skills as a sorceress to survive just as much as you depend on Leisa watching your back in battle. If you want to refuse our protection, then I would just as soon ask you not to use magic to save everyone during the next attack. But would you do it?"
He was desperate now, discarding his usual equanimity to talk to her sternly and harshly, the same way she was snarling at him out of anger, like a wounded animal lashing out. But this time he was angry. Genuinely angry. And his question was cornering her.
"Of course not," she answered hotly, pressing her lips tightly together in rising frustration. "If danger presents itself, I will step in to protect as many people as I can."
"My point exactly," he replied, his iron grip on her arm loosening a little as he tried to quell his own ire. "If I can't ask you to stand aside when danger arises, then please, don't ask me to lower my sword when harm is in your way. Because I will not. None of us will."
Despite the strength in his voice to effectively knock some sense into her, as they stood with their faces inches apart in confrontation, he suddenly appeared profoundly tired, his features creased with deep lines of fatigue, and with a flicker of guilt shooting through her like an arrow she realized he was probably running as low on sleep as she was, the events of the previous days surely weighing down on him on top of everything else he already had to worry about with the crossing and everyone he had to protect.
And here she was, continuously making things harder for him despite all his best efforts to ease this whole mess for her sake.
"Fine," she relented, although she still held on to her initial decision. "Simon and Coop can watch over me for today, at the rear."
"Maeve-"
"I mean it, Robin," she cut him off before he could say anything, her ire quickly deflating with a heavy sigh as she spoke honestly at last. "I just…I need some space to think."
Which was the truth. Her anger at the entire situation had nothing to do with the resentment she still held against him for keeping her in the dark all this time, and as he held her gaze defeatedly, he seemed to grasp the difference as well. She may still be angry at him, but she was a hundred times more furious at the prophetic noose of destiny that was closing in around her neck.
With his lips pressed in a tight line of growing helplessness, she could almost see the wheels turning in his head as he searched for another solution, his grip on her arm warm and steady as if he wanted nothing more than to keep her by his side at all times to protect her, but after a while, he finally released her, allowing himself to let her go. "Alright."
It was the last thing he wanted to do, she could tell, but he was respectfully granting her request, and for a moment as they stood face to face, the eerie silence of the forest echoing around them, she suddenly realized that this would be the first time they journeyed separately since the beginning of the trek. And she knew he felt it too.
It was a strange feeling, like standing at a crossroads, and it seemed to draw a wedge between them, invisible and dangerous, filling up with prophecies, duties, magic, war…Neither of them liked the feeling, but she shrugged it off quickly and shoved herself into motion to hike back up the slope to join the others who were waiting for them.
Everyone looked at her and Robin tensely when they emerged from the black trees, awaiting orders, but they quickly got their answer as Robin headed straight for the front of the convoy, serious and austere, while she headed for the rear, heart heavy and sore.
There was a moment's pause as everyone registered their opposite direction, but soon enough Simon and Coop fell into steps behind her like quiet shadows and the entire convoy began to move again at long last.
A little less than two weeks still left to go, with the Kawasseas' swamp to cross, and probably many more encounters with Skinwalkers and Borgs yet to come…It was daunting and exhausting just to think about it, her only flicker of hope residing in the belief that perhaps she had managed to effectively deter the skeletal monsters to attack them again after her display of fiery magic, unless they wanted to be grinded to dust once more.
That was her only comfort at the moment, while her mind tried to plan ahead for the Kawasseas. Fire wouldn't have much success on mermaids if their wicked dwelling was a swamp, thus water, so how on earth was she supposed to protect everyone then? The prophecy would surely blow up in her face, revealing her for the impostor she truly was…
Or perhaps they would succeed to cross the swamp unscathed? Without disturbing and waking the Kawasseas at all? Wishful thinking, but still, perhaps it was possible.
All she truly wanted at the moment was to make it out of the Blind Mountains, alive, and for the rest of the convoy to survive as well. They had already lost nighty-eight souls to the Skinwalkers, a third of their entire party…If they lost another third during their encounter with the Kawasseas or other skirmishes with Skinwalkers and Borgs, then the ominous saying about one man out of three making it out alive of the mountains would come true. It made her skin crawl with fear, as if she was trapped in a perpetual nightmare and unable to wake up, her screams remaining soundless.
And even if she managed to crawl out of these poisonous woods, who knew what other nightmares awaited her on the other side? War? Djin Lords? A Belrok? Perhaps in the end, the Blind Mountains would prove to be the least of her problems…
Her mind veered towards the Blood Raiders then, remembering the horrible raid Robert Thomet had described to her in Southampton the day before they departed. She would never forget what the enemy's commander had done to that poor young girl, brutally torturing her by breaking every bone in her body, and leaving her to die in the blood and the mud while she screamed…What kind of monster did that?
It made goosebumps of outrage erupt on her flesh just thinking about it, her imagination having trouble painting such a disturbing and haunting picture in her own mind, and she certainly hoped she wouldn't have to cross path with this commander anytime soon, nor meet his king…
If the former was capable of such barbaric cruelty, she did not want to know what the latter was capable of…
And who was the Djin Lord in all of this, she suddenly wondered? This Commander Sarkin? King Zankar himself?
Or was it another threat that had yet to manifest itself? As if things weren't bad enough already…
"I didn't know sailors were such good trekkers," Simon's low voice abruptly plucked her out of her thoughts.
The two of them were officially closing the march, with Coop a little further down in front of her and carrying a sleeping toddler in his arms while the mother happily welcomed the respite.
They'd been trekking for a few hours now, and the two soldiers had respectfully given her the space she needed, careful not to press her with questions at all, and she couldn't have been more grateful for that. It had allowed her to zone out completely, losing herself in the labyrinth of her thoughts and the rhythmical motion of simply putting one foot in front of the other, the current trail being one of the easiest they had yet to trek on, which was a small mercy.
With Simon stuck behind her all this time while she quietly brooded, they had barely spoken at all, and after so many long hours shrouded in silence, he was probably racking his brain to find a way to engage her in harmless conversation, and Maeve had to admit it might just lift her spirit after all.
"Well," she smiled at him over her shoulder, catching his sincere gaze in the bleak colors of the foul woods, his pale blue eyes contrasting with his pale skin and light blond hair. "The ship I sailed on was no ordinary ship," she began, allowing her mind to wander to the Nomad while keeping her tone low not to attract any unwanted attention from the shadows lurking in the tortuous trees. "We traveled to many different cities, villages and countless small ports, trading cargos and goods, but we always got caught up in all sorts of unimaginable, crazy adventures."
"Really?" Simon wondered interestedly. "By all means, entertain me, please."
She smiled again, her thoughts already spreading in every direction to try and land on any past adventures. She had already revealed to him and his companions that she used to be a sailor, a few nights ago around a campfire at night, but just as she had with Robin, she had carefully omitted to specify that the legendary Sinbad the Sailor had been her captain. She had initially done so to keep unwanted attention away from her, but now it felt more like a secret to be cherished. Like the red bandanna wrapped around her wrist under her sleeve.
"Let's see…" she mused, cautious to pick an adventure that would not reveal the Nomad crew's identity. "I was once turned into stone."
"What?" Simon questioned behind her, the skeptical disbelief in his voice almost comical. "You're making fun of me."
"I'm not," Maeve defended herself right away, the smile widening on her face in amusement. "We stumbled into the land of some megalomaniac who strived to capture the beauty of every woman unfortunate enough to wander into his kingdom, by turning them to stone."
Simon continued to shake his head behind her, his skepticism palpable. "You're making this up."
"I'm not!" she laughed, denying his accusation once more before granting him another unbelievable piece of adventure, intentionally making it sound ludicrous this time, just to tease him. "There was also this one time where I was sucked into an invisible wall…"
When she craned her neck to catch his reaction, he was scowling at her. "Now you're making fun of me on purpose."
"Just a little," she admitted, a small laugh falling from her lips. "Seriously though, I've battled witches, ghouls, harpies, cyclopes, rock colossus, skeleton warriors…"
"Quite the collection you got there," Simon observed, still sounding like he wasn't quite believing her while they both carefully watched their steps, the trail progressively becoming steeper and littered with an assortment of slippery rocks.
"Like I said, my ship was no ordinary ship," Maeve smirked at him briefly, reminding him of her initial statement.
"Well," he sighed cheerfully. "By the end of the crossing of the Blind Mountains, you'll be able to add Skinwalkers and Kawasseas to your list."
"If I make it out alive," Maeve replied with a hint of cynicism.
But Simon remained resolute and confident behind her. "You will," he assured her. "We won't let anything happen to you."
She refrained from looking back at him, knowing he spoke the truth and that it would be useless to try and discard the protectiveness they all showed towards her, so instead she changed the subject, prompted by the slimy vine she brushed away from her face.
"Were the Blind Mountains always like this?" she asked conversationally. "Kalladrell seems like such a peaceful, prosperous and flourishing kingdom…It seems strange to have these ugly mountains cutting through the entire island, sequestrating part of the South from the North…"
"Aye, you're right," Simon agreed, sounding more than glad to address the matter as they hiked down the rocky trail. "The Blind Mountains weren't always dangerous to cross, nor in such a decaying state," he began, gesturing around at the uninviting, tortuous black trees. "According to our history, three thousand years ago they simply used to be called the Long Mountains, because of the time it took to cross from one side to the other. Back then the woods were as common as they could be, with green trees, wild berries, birds, ponds and brooks running with clear water, various animals big and small, and with a network of safe trails and roads. From the accounts we have of that ancient time, it really seemed like an enchanting place, good for leisure trekking, to hunt, to collect herbs and plants, for the children to play hide and seek." He paused then, as if approaching a delicate subject. "But then the Dark Wars happened, and when the last Fire Maiden was captured and taken from Kalladrell, whatever magic was sustaining nature's balance in the mountains gradually faded, opening the way for all sorts of nasty creatures from the Wikken Hells to emerge from the caves and the swamps…Death began to roam the woods and life was slowly exiled, leaving us today with the delights of the Blind Mountains."
"Charming," Maeve glanced around at the delights she was beginning to be well-acquainted with. "But why not build ships to sail around it? That's how Robert Thomet travelled to Southampton after the raid. It would save so many lives…"
Simon chuckled behind her. "It's been three thousand years. You think no one ever thought about that?" He pointed out, and she suddenly felt silly for asking even if he respectfully made no fun of her as he proceeded to explain. "Our ancestors tried, many times, but the ocean's currents around Kalladrell are quite treacherous. They constantly shift and turn in drastic, unpredictable ways, and with the submerged reefs hiding beneath the water all around, it's pretty much as deadly an endeavour as crossing the Blind Mountains, unless you decide to sail all the way around Tyross and then south under the Han's Pass…But still, that's one hell of a ride. Besides, our people are landlubbers, not men of the sea. Tyross has a couple of ships, which they use to trade with distant kingdoms every once in a while, with a few diplomatic relations on rare occasions."
"At least you're not entirely cut off from the rest of the world," Maeve observed, a glimmer of hope settling in her chest. At least contacting the crew might not prove too difficult when the time came…
"Aye, we call Tyross our Door to the East," Simon continued, but then his tone melted to bitterness and regret. "But we should have kept a better eye on the South…"
Right, the Blood Raiders' invasion, King Zankar conquering Tyross and attacking Kalladrell's peaceful shores, his commander butchering everyone in Denwood...
Her mind flashed with the memory of the entire convoy falling to their knees before her with pure, unadulterated hope…and her thoughts shot straight back to the prophecy, like quicksand pulling her under, deeper and deeper the more she struggled to break free.
"Tell me more about the Fire Maiden," she spoke out of the blue, biting her own tongue before adding, "About the Dark Wars."
She didn't have to turn around to know Simon's pale features lit up with surprise. The pause he gave was enough to indicate that the unexpected question was catching him squarely off guard, but she quickly spoke again to diffuse any misconception he might have, and to warn him as well. "I don't want to hear about the prophecy and what you believe in, I just want the facts."
He cleared his throat, quickly regaining his composure and nodding to her in understanding. "Of course." Then he licked his lips and adjusted the strap of the food satchel he was carrying. "There's not much more to tell you other than what we already said last night. The Fire Maiden used to be this incredibly powerful woman who presided over the Central Council in Erindale back in the Golden Age of Kalladrell. She was our queen. But she didn't rule people; she led them. She listened and guided, she righted wrongs and judged quarrels, she absolved and condemned, and most of all she protected. She was the shield of our homeland."
Maeve grimaced inwardly at the list of endless duties, but still questioned him once more. "What about the Dark Wars? What happened then?"
"The Wizards of the Central Council would be better suited to tell that tale," Simon admitted, but continued anyway. "It's all very vague and nebulous. No one can separate the truth from the legends anymore and even then, the stories are obscure and incomplete. It's something about a mighty war, unlike anything the world had ever seen, between Good and Evil."
"How original," she sneered with sarcasm, earning a chuckle from the blond captain before he moved on with his tale.
"The good Wizards of that time, the Medjaïs, were at war with the Djin Lords, powerful dark sorcerers who sought to open the gates of the Wikken Hells to unleash death and destruction upon the world."
"Last night you said the Djin Lords came to Kalladrell to capture the Fire Maiden," Maeve pointed out, remembering bits of what he had said by the campfire. "Why?"
"That's the mystery," Simon said with disappointment. "No one knows. That part of the story was lost through the ages. But the most curious riddle still remains."
"What?" she asked, growing intrigued by the story of her so-called ancestor.
"Well, before the Djin Lords came, foreign Medjaïs came to Kalladrell, too, but their intention wasn't to capture the Fire Maiden like their opponents. They came with the intention to kill her."
"The Medjaïs?" Maeve asked in surprise. "Why would they want to do that?"
"Again, no one knows," Simon repeated. "The Medjaïs of our Central Council fought them off to protect their Fire Maiden, succeeding in their endeavour, but then days later they lost her to the Djin Lords."
Maeve frowned in rising puzzlement. "That doesn't make any sense. Why would the good guys want to kill her when the bad guys wanted her alive?"
"We don't know," Simon sighed again and shook his head sadly. "I guess we'll never know."
They both fell silent at that, and Maeve could almost hear the gear in her head creaking loudly as she tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together, fragmented elements of legends and myths lost in time that barely fit together and failed to make any sense to her. As a result, her thoughts instinctively shifted to Dim-Dim once more, and again she wondered just how much he could possibly know about all this, about all these mysterious events during the Dark Wars; why the Medjaïs, the supposedly good guys of that era, had wanted the Fire Maiden dead, why the Djin Lords had wanted to capture her, what they had done with her…
The list of mysteries just kept growing, and the more she thought about it all the more anguished she became, her blood stirring with cold dread, until a new question popped in her head and fell from her lips. "Why did Kalladrell decide to have their Central Council presided with the Fire Maidens? Where do these women even come from?"
From behind her on the trail as he followed her closely through the slimy vines and muddy rocks, Simon smiled with a hint of mischief. "The legend says the first Fire Maiden was the daughter of Erin, one of the Four Immortals."
She turned to look at him in surprise, almost missing a step. "The Spirit of Fire?"
"Aye," he nodded. "It's believed that one day, thousands of years ago, he fell in love with a woman and coalesced into the shape of a man to mate with her. When their daughter was born, she had flaming red hair and a powerful gift for fiery magic." He paused then, hesitating. "Just like you."
Maeve averted her gaze to the dark trees at his words, biting her lips as this new revelation rattled her fragile composure and effectively roused the morass of conflicted thoughts inside her head once more. After what she had done last night, there was no way she could convince anyone that her magic was not fiery. Not even herself. It ran in her blood, ever since she could remember. Just like her mother. Another piece of the puzzle aligning with all the others to point in her direction.
But she shook her head in frustration, decisively banishing the subject from her mind like an annoying fly.
"Want to hear about the time I met Poseidon?" she asked in jest, suddenly desperate for a change of topic where she could be in control.
Simon beamed at her, clearly eager to hear about her story no matter how unbelievable it might sound, but just when she opened her mouth to begin her tale, alarmed shouts echoed through the trek line in front of them, rippling through the soldiers and the civilians like a wave.
In a flash, Simon's hand immediately went to the hilt of his sword strapped to his back, pulling the blade out just as Leo rushed towards them.
"Borgs!" the young soldier shouted out of breath, his brown eyes wide and frantic. "Three of them attacked at the front! They need help!"
Maeve felt the color drain from her face as fear gripped her core like an iron fist, her mind immediately veering to Robin.
"That doesn't sound good," Coop grumbled a few steps in front of them, passing the toddler who'd been sleeping in his arms back to his mother while Simon swiftly rid himself of his food supplies and his pack.
Maeve did the same, hurriedly tossing her satchel of food to the ground, but before they could all rush after Leo who was already running back to the front of the trek line, her eyes caught sight of a cascade of blood-red braids.
Amidst a group of civilians merely a few feet away from the rear of the convoy, Leisa had just pulled off a hood from over her head, her Sleyans crackling at the ready and the look in her eyes as grim as ever.
Maeve felt her blood boil on the spot. "What the hell are you doing here!" she exclaimed, glowering at the Radakeel in complete disbelief. "You were supposed to stay with Robin!"
"My duty is to protect you, not him," Leisa replied coldly, her feline features hard as stone, but before Maeve could even spat back a reply, Simon and Coop rushed past them in a hurry.
"Let's go!" Simon urged them, and Maeve could do nothing but curse under her breath with simmering rage before swiftly falling into steps with the Radakeel as they all sprinted down the convoy, past all the gasps and exclamations that rippled through the soldiers and civilians who stood tensed and nervous, bracing for an unexpected attack from the foul woods.
The urgency of the situation slowly spread into her limbs like venom as she ran with the others down the sinuous trail, side-stepping slimy rocks and jumping over rotten roots while the sound of their boots thumped on the foul ground.
When they reached the front of the trek line, she barely even had time to catch a glimpse of the ongoing fight because Simon's arm swiftly blocked her way and pushed her back. "Watch out!"
A massive tail swung at them out of nowhere, the end of it shaped like a heavy club the size of a barrel and covered in white scales. They all jumped back, the dangerous tail missing them by a few lucky inches as Mark taunted the pale creature away from them with his axe.
The Borg immediately lunged for the bulky soldier with a blood-curdling screech, its scaly body slithering on the ground like a giant snake along with two other monsters of the same formidable size, with deadly spikes crowning their ugly heads all the way down their reptilian spines.
Catching her balance, Maeve took a few seconds to survey the hazardous fight unfolding before them in a small battleground, with yelps and shouts echoing in the somber forest as a dozen soldiers surrounded the three hideous beasts as best as they could, brandishing swords to herd them away from the convoy like cattle while women and children cowered away in fear.
It was like trying to corner three hideous cats with a small army of mice, and the odds were not looking good. Numerous soldiers were already on their knees, clutching fractured ribs and broken arms from the smashing impact of the Borgs' tails, while other soldiers were being flung into the air by the powerful blows of the scaly monsters.
As Maeve watched the precarious battle unfold, with Coop and Leo teaming up with Robert against one Borg while Simon and Leisa sided with Mark, joining the overall fragile line of defense against the unpredictable wild creatures, her blood rapidly ran cold.
"Where's Robin!?" she shouted over the hideous screeches and growls from the angry beasts.
"He led the other three Borgs away!" Mark replied over the raucous.
"There's six of them!?" Simon exclaimed as he kicked at a clawed paw and looked to Leo in frantic shock. "I thought you said there were only three!"
"Well apparently now there's six!" the young soldier said out of breath, ducking down to avoid the club of a swinging tail.
"Which way did he go!" Maeve shouted anxiously as she pulled her sword free to parry the attacks of the dangerous monsters, fear filling her veins like a raging river.
Mark opened his mouth to answer but he was painfully silenced as the Borg he was facing brutally charged him and pinned him against a tree, claws scratching and pointy teeth snapping.
The bulky warrior blocked the creature's gaping jaw with the handle of his battle-axe, pressing and pushing it away from his face as hard as he could, but the sharp fangs dripping with froth still kept edging closer to his exposed throat, threatening to rip into the flesh like butter.
Maeve wasted no time and flung a fireball at the Borg's back, expecting the beast to combust on the spot, but the impact merely collided against the monster's thick hide, causing no real damage at all.
Instead, triggered by the attack, the Borg twisted its horrid head around to lock its blind gaze on her, and she froze like a deer.
Before she could even blink, the beast lunged for her like lightning, abandoning its previous victim and screeching loud enough to make her ribcage thrum, but as Leisa dove in front of her to take the blow Mark threw himself at the white scaly body with a grunt, catching the creature by the tail and wrestling it to the ground as the Borg thrashed and roared.
Simon rushed to his companion's side in a flash to drive the tip of his sword down on the creature's back, but the blade simply shattered into a dozen of pieces against the white scaly hide, and the blond captain could do nothing but gasp and jump back as the Borg tried to bite off his leg in retaliation, while Mark desperately struggled to hold on to its spiky tail.
"How do we kill these things!?" Maeve asked desperately as the furious beast threatened to rip the man to pieces before their very eyes.
"Like this," Leisa answered darkly, stepping towards the thrashing monster as Mark arduously managed to roll it over to expose its white belly, just in time for the Radakeel to ram the tip of both Sleyans into the leathery flesh.
The Borg screeched with all the fury of a harpy at the combined touch of the deadly weapons, convulsing in agony until its weight finally flopped dead over Mark, limbs heavy and boneless.
The mountain of a soldier unceremoniously shoved the dead weight off him like a sand bag and rose to his feet, his bleeding hands resting on his knees as he caught his breath. "Thanks."
Leisa merely nodded to him in return before their attention quickly veered to their companions a few feet away.
"A little help over here!" Leo called after them as he, Coop and Robert faced off against the other two creatures, hungry jaws snapping at their swords like they were twigs and massive tails flinging poor soldiers in the air like ragged dolls if they weren't fast enough to dodge their swings.
Maeve felt her mind race like a wild horse as they rushed to the group's aid to protect the convoy. Swords could not pierce the monster's thick hides, arrows simply bounced off their white scales like harmless pebbles, and Leisa couldn't find a proper opening to press her deadly Sleyans against any weak spot.
Dozens of soldiers against two Borgs and still they were forced to retreat with every step, not to mention all the raucous the battle was causing, which might attract even more trouble than they had bargained for. They had to do something.
How in the Wikken Hells had Robin managed to stab such a monster the last time when it had pulled him underwater?
The only answer Maeve could come up with was 'sheer luck'.
"Look out!" Leo warned just as a Borg bounced on Simon, the blond soldier ducking out of the way seconds too late as claws ripped into his flank, bringing him to his knees with a yelp of pain. But before the roaring beast could bite off his head, Coop managed to shoot it straight in the eye, the arrow sticking out of the socket as the monster howled in pain.
Maeve flung a fireball at its head to finish it off, and as the Borg shrieked with glistening fangs another arrow flew straight into the depth of its mouth, silencing it for good as the white scaly body collapsed motionless to the muddy ground.
The remaining blind monster furiously thrashed and growled in response, snapping its jaw and swinging its deadly tail to tear into their ranks, while swords poked and slashed to no avail and arrows uselessly bounced off its crown of spikes.
They fell back every time, losing ground as they all struggled to shield the civilians in the convoy.
Maeve threw another fireball at the hideous beast but in vain, the bolt of magic merely extinguishing into smoke against the monster's white scales.
In response to the assault, the furious Borg hopped on a tortuous tree with a deafening screech, its snake-like body coiling around the rotten trunk as its blind eyes gleamed, then proceeded to dive down on them like a hawk zeroing in on a prey.
Women and children screamed in fright as Maeve and Leisa herded them back out of the way, just when Mark decidedly flung himself before the creature and took a mighty swing of his battle-axe, beheading the Borg with a sickening crack as it flew right above him.
Blood gushed out of the severed neck as the monster's nasty shriek went dead and its lifeless body dropped to the mud like a rock, the spiked head rolling at Mark's feet like a trophy with empty white eyes.
The bulky soldier glared at the decapitated Borg, breathing hard from the exertion of the fight while the convoy behind him let out relieved sighs, battered soldiers lowering their weapons with sagging shoulders.
But their problems were far from over.
"Get Lobelia," Coop asked David hurriedly, the soldier nodding at once and immediately rushing down the trek line while Leo, Mark and Leisa gathered around Simon, the blond captain still clutching his bleeding flank.
"I'm alright," he winced with a smile, trying to reassure his comrades.
Blood was oozing through his fingers and while Maeve's concern for the brave man was vivid, her mind was nonetheless storming ahead like a tempest at sea. "We need to find Robin. Which way did he go?"
Mark leveled his green eyes on her for a moment, as if weighting his words before delivering bad news. "That way…" he pointed down the trail, slightly off to the right in the darkness of the foul trees, before adding grimly. "He left with a bell…"
Silence fell on them all like a cloud of suffocating smoke, the deadly implication behind his words not lost on anyone. Robin might be a formidable swordsman, but there was no way one could survive the combined attacks of three Borgs, not unless he had found a way to outrun them or hide somewhere out of reach, not to mention what other terrible monsters the ringing of the bell might have attracted…
Time was ticking. They had to find him. And Maeve stubbornly refused to believe the worst.
"All the more reason to hurry up," she replied earnestly, clutching her sword firmly and ready to plunge into the woods at once like a mad woman.
When she tossed a worried glance to Simon, he was already shaking his head to urge them on. "I'll be fine with Lobelia. Go."
She didn't need to be told twice.
She gave the blond captain a nod and a heartening squeeze of his hand before swiftly wheeling on her heels to rush into the foul twisted trees, with Leisa muttering under her breath behind her.
"Here we go again…" The Radakeel flipped her Sleyans in her hands and followed after her like a panther on a hunt while Coop, Mark and Leo quickly did the same.
It crossed Maeve's mind that this time no one had argued with her on the delicate subject of searching for a missing soldier, her band of companions instead opting to join the rescue party without any objection at all. She wondered whether it was because this time the missing soldier was none other than Robin, their General, or because they didn't dare contradict her now that the Fire Maiden issue was finally out of the bag and they were convinced she was their long-lost queen.
But then again, that hadn't stopped Leisa from following her to the rear of the trek line this morning when she had specifically told her not to, which still made her blood boil. But the Radakeel's overprotectiveness was a problem for later.
Right now, they all sprinted ahead like wolves, eyes darting all around them to spot any trace of Robin amidst the wicked trees, the sickening greyness of the woods and the lack of sunlight making it exceedingly frustrating to see anything more than a few yards away.
Everything just looked the same; dead, dark, crooked and-
"Stop!" Coop paused suddenly, frowning in concentration while they all skidded to a halt and looked back at him questioningly. "Listen..."
Panting hard from their desperate run, they strained their ears to listen to whatever sound the man had picked up in the foul decaying silence of the Blind Mountains, until they all heard it, loud and clear.
A bell.
A bell ringing in the distance not too far away.
Maeve felt her chest swell with painful waves of both relief and fear. "He's alive," she breathed, eyes going wide as she tried to pinpoint the exact location of the sound.
"It's coming from over there," Leo pointed in one direction, and she immediately started running again, the others right at her heels.
But she did not make it far.
"Look out!" Mark shouted in warning behind her.
A shadow bounced from the black thicket to her right, the white corpse of a Skinwalker leaping above her head with a foul croak.
She barely had time to dodge the surprise attack, twisting her body out of the way and flattening herself to the ground on her back, rolling over just in time to watch as Leisa rammed the tip of her Sleyan into the creature's chest, using its momentum to flip it over her head and smash the sickening body to the ground, the Skinwalker wailing in atrocious pain as the life was sucked out of its bones by the Radakeel's dreadful weapon.
But as soon the nightmarish croaks of the creature died down, it was replaced by others.
The blind monster had not been alone.
Maeve's head snapped back to the trees behind her to the eerie caws she knew all too well, just in time to see the crawling bodies of a dozen Skinwalkers emerging from the rotten brambles of the woods, dead eyes gleaming and skeletal limbs bending at weird angles like crooked twigs. They croaked and hissed, advancing on her like hyenas on a prey while her lungs clamped shut with terror.
She was too close.
She kicked her legs and feet to retreat, right when the Skinwalkers charged and Coop's arrows flew over her head to hit the closest monsters, earning her precious seconds to pull herself up and swipe a hand in front of her in desperation, a trench of fire surging from the ground at her feet like a shield. The monsters on the other side shrieked at the sudden wall of blistering heat that blocked their way, while Leisa and Leo firmly gripped her arms to yank her back to safety.
They hurried away from the flames, watching as the Skinwalkers angrily croaked and paced on the other side while Coop continued to shoot them down one by one through the fire, each white corpse seemingly replaced by another that crawled out of the foul woods, the vicious creatures soon threatening to circle around the magical barrier to overwhelm their little group.
But then a bell rang again.
This time much closer.
Maeve's eyes snapped to the dark trees beyond the wall of fire where the ringing was coming from, and her heart abruptly lurked in her chest when she saw him, his name falling from her lips in wild hope.
"Robin!"
There he stood, a couple of yards away from them, heavily bruised and injured but still very much alive, with a bell in his hand purposefully ringing over and over again to catch the Skinwalkers' attention.
He was too far away for her to decipher the conflicted storm of emotions in his eyes, but the terrible words he barked at them next made her blood run cold.
"Get back to the convoy! Get her out of here!" he ordered his men sharply, body tensed and rigid as the skeletal monsters beyond the flames began to crawl towards him like ants, lured by his bell of damnation like moths to a flame.
"No!" she screamed in protest, rushing forward to jump over the trench of fire to protect him, but strong hands held her back firmly like iron shackles.
And then Robin was gone.
Sacrificing himself to save them.
Just like that.
Disappearing through the dark tortuous trees with a small army of Skinwalkers at his back and the ominous screeches of distant Borgs following after him like shadows.
"Let me go!" she raged like a wild cat, yanking her arms free from Leo and Leisa's firm clutches as the trench of fire she had previously conjured burnt out.
But the Radakeel was suddenly livid and snapped at her like a furious lioness, shoving her at the shoulder.
"He's giving his life to save ours! To save yours! You need to honor his decision and-"
Maeve's anger spiked in her veins and she rounded on the woman with all the fury in the world. "This is all your fault!" she accused her harshly, her heart trashing in her ribcage like waves smashing against reefs. "If you had stayed with him like I told you to this morning, then perhaps none of this would have happened and he wouldn't have an army of Borgs and Skinwalkers at his tail right now!"
"Oh so this is my fault?" Leisa glowered at her threateningly, dark eyes as cold as ice and contrasting with her blood-red braids.
"I told you to stay with him!" Maeve roared again, her ire boiling in her blood like liquid fire as she felt Robin's life slipping away from her fingers like sand. "Since you believe I'm your precious Fire Maiden, isn't that what you're supposed to do? Do as I tell you?"
But her frantic words of accusation simply seemed to ricochet off Leisa's shield as the warrior stood her ground before her like a mighty oak, undeterrable and unbending. "No Fire Maiden would have discarded the protection of the only Radakeel available within a thousand miles to protect her," the woman declared gravely, her voice dripping with equal accusation and rising venom. "I'll take orders from you when you accept the prophecy and the duty that was bestowed upon you. Until then, my allegiance lies with the oath I took to protect you and nothing else."
Leisa's words felt like tiny punches in the gut, echoing with uncomfortable truth in the middle of the treacherous woods, but still Maeve glared at the other woman out of pride and stubbornness, fervently unwilling to concede defeat.
It took all the self-control she had left within her not to shout at the Radakeel again as she hissed her next words out. "I am not letting him die," she stated resolutely, matching the icy glare of the woman with all the fire that was storming inside her own core. "So if you really want to protect me, then I suggest you follow, because I'm going after him."
Then she turned around decidedly to chase after Robin, her pulse racing beneath her flesh like thunder, but the Radakeel's next words stopped her dead in her tracks.
"Not if I can stop you."
The woman's voice was soaking with warning, real and dangerous, and when Maeve turned around to face her again, her Sleyans were clutched tight in her hands, a silent omen that the Radakeel would use any means necessary to prevent her precious Fire Maiden from endangering her own life, even if it meant subduing her so she wouldn't do anything stupid.
The threat was thoroughly infuriating, but before Maeve could lash out with a sharp warning of her own, Mark stepped between them like a blade slicing through the palpable tension.
"Enough," he growled, his bulky stature shielding her from the Radakeel as he faced his female companion. "We can't let him die, Leisa…"
His gruff voice held a silent plea, the same plea that was currently shining in Leo and Coop's gaze as the two men stood in the uncomfortable silence and watched the scene unfold, fidgeting on their feet with rising anguish.
For a moment they all held their breath, awaiting Leisa's final call, and Maeve could almost see the formidable debate that raged in the depth of the woman's eyes as she glowered at them all, torn between honoring her duty to protect the Fire Maiden and saving the life of a friend.
"If anything happens to her…" she cautioned somberly, glaring up at Mark as she chewed on the words with reluctance and a clear warning.
"If you keep doing what you do best, nothing will happen to me," Maeve pointed out dryly, attempting to goad the woman into an urgent truce.
The Radakeel leveled her dark glare on her once more, feline and deadly as they quietly defied and appraised each other like opposing forces that would either clash or combine, and Maeve could feel her pulse throbbing in her throat at the unbearable suspense.
Precious seconds continued to fade away like smoke as they all stood on the brink of whatever final decision would be made, the final judgment on Robin's life.
Until Leisa finally spoke at last.
"Let's get this over with," she declared, reluctant yet solemn, and her simple words propelled them back into motion like the crack of a whip.
Quick nods of gratitude were exchanged and in the blink of an eye they were all running again, racing after Robin as fast as they could into the depth of the Blind Mountains, the five of them now sharing a collective agreement to rescue him no matter what.
Maeve sprinted ahead like a madwoman, her legs and lungs soon burning with the exertion while her heart thumped against her ribcage with feral dismay, fear that they would be too late spreading into her bones like searing poison.
He couldn't die. He simply couldn't. None of this mess would make sense if he was gone. He had been by her side since the very beginning, ever since she was catapulted to Kalladrell and he had found her in the forest, taking her under his protective wing and welcoming her to his homeland with a hospitality she had barely deserved.
He had to live. She couldn't lose him.
To think their last conversation this morning had been an argument…an argument about her stubbornness to refuse their protection…It haunted her like a disease spreading in her limbs, with symptoms of anguish, regret and guilt.
She should have been by his side.
She should have protected him.
And so she ran and ran and ran, ducking under twisted branches and slapping slimy vines out of her face, jumping over coiling roots and muddy rocks, zigzagging through patches of decayed trees, until her boots splashed into a thin layer of water and everyone trotted to a halt and scrunched theirs noses in disgust.
"Wikken Hells," Coop cursed under his breath. "What is that bloody stench?"
Mark and Leo covered their nose and mouth in the crook of their arms while Leisa merely grimaced and Maeve's mind reeled in quick recognition at the heavy dust and smoke that saturated the air. She knew that smell, from one of the components that Firouz used in his exploding sticks.
"Sulfur," she answered in a murmur, her brain suddenly latching on to a possibility that might perhaps save all their lives. "We need to find Robin, now."
Almost in response to her urgent statement, a sudden terrifying combination of croaks and screeches reached their ears, like a disturbing symphony of Skinwalkers and Borgs blending together a couple of yards away from the stinking area where they stood.
Everyone's head snapped in the direction of the chilling noises, waiting for a bell to ring that would let them know Robin was still alive, but only the hellish racket continued to rage on, echoing through the tortuous trees like a nightmare coming to life.
Springing into action, they all bolted towards the source of the commotion, the clear opposite of what they should be doing in these treacherous woods, with their boots splashing in the putrid water as they ran.
When they emerged from the trees at last, reaching the source of all the croaking and growling, they skidded to an abrupt stop at the edge of a large round pit, at least a dozen feet deep and thrice as wide, as if the ground had caved in on this section of the forest to form a massive quarry filled with mud, stones, rotten roots…
…and hundreds of blind monsters.
Maeve's eyes widened in horror and shock at the sight of the terrifying carnage that unfolded before them, the likes of which could only have been plucked from the darkest reaches of the Wikken Hells.
In the pit below them swarmed hundreds of blind creatures, ripping into each other like sharks gone crazy with the scent of blood. Skinwalkers…Borgs…croaking, screeching, howling…The skeletal creatures were being torn apart like ragged dolls and smashed by swinging tails, and the reptilian beasts were being savagely mauled by small armies of bony corpses, with sharp claws and pointy teeth sinking into their white scales to reach the flesh and blood beneath.
The blind creatures were all wriggling together into one coalescing mass of violent chaos, and the sight of it all was brutal.
It was a gory spectacle that had her, Leisa, Mark, Coop and Leo all rooted on the spot, eyes wide and mouths gaping open in complete shock, stunned speechless at the bloody sight unfurling below them.
But then a lonely dot of movement in the distance caught her attention, and Maeve felt herself pale even more, as if a knife had just been plunged between her ribs.
"By the gods…" she muttered, feeling the blood drain from her face.
The others quickly followed her gaze to the other end of the quarry and their breath immediately hitched when they spotted him as well.
Robin.
Still alive.
Inside the pit.
With his back pressed against the farthest wall like a prisoner caught in a trap, occasionally kicking at a few Skinwalkers that wandered too close to him to send them back into the frenzied massacre with the Borgs, while he struggled to climb his way out, the top of the ledge too high for him to reach.
"Mighty Thorren, we need to get him out of there," Mark urged under his breath as he coughed against the overwhelming stench of sulfur that still clogged the air.
Everyone sprang into action at once, spurred onward with urgency and fear as Robin's life dangerously hung by a thread.
Their boots splattered in the mud as they circled around the pit crawling with blind monsters, careful not to trip over the slimy edge and into their doom, and as they raced ahead Maeve's eyes never left Robin's figure, watching him like a worried hawk as he slashed a Skinwalker across the face with his sword, and when he stumbled back to avoid the onslaught of a massive Borg that unexpectedly bolted for him.
"Coop, the Borg!" she cried out in wild alarm to the archer sprinting in front of her, trusting his aim to be truer with an arrow than hers with a fireball at such a long distance.
The soldier had his bow in his hand in a flash, with an arrow notched in place and loosed in the blink of an eye, the projectile slicing the air across the quarry like a blade. But it merely bounced off the scales on the Borg's head, angering it even more as the beast proceeded to swing his deadly tail at Robin and smash it down on his ankle.
Horrified, Maeve watched as he fell in the mud with a sharp groan of pain, rolled away just in time to dodge another slam of the clubbed tail, and then painfully scurried back up to his feet, limping with difficulty while the mighty Borg continued to assault him.
At the sight of him on the brink of death, without thinking, her fingers desperately grasped the bell that was tied securely to her belt and stuffed with protective cloth, the bell he had reluctantly given to her two nights ago at her insistent request. Use it if you must, but only if you must, he had implored her.
Stopping dead in her tracks with panic flooding her blood, she yanked the cloth free and did the only thing she could think of to save his life.
She waved the bell in her hand with all the urgency in the world flaring in her bones, the sound of it ringing loud and clear in the rotten forest like a beacon of helplessness, a desperate attempt to divert the attention of the vicious Borg that was attacking him.
And it worked.
The scaly beast whipped its head around in search of the new chiming noise, intrigued and confused, and Robin hurriedly seized the opportunity to retreat back against the wall of the pit, heaving and limping. His gaze lifted up to pinpoint the sound of the bell as well, his blue eyes locking with hers across the distance for the briefest of seconds before Leo hastily grabbed her wrist in vivid alarm.
"What are you doing?!" he exclaimed in anguish as he and the others abruptly halted to stare back at her in shock while the ocean of frenzied creatures in the pit beneath them turned their attention to the upper ledge where they all stood, croaking and snarling as they were lulled by the lingering echoes of the bell.
But the wheels in Maeve's brain were already spinning out of control, juggling with the fragments of a plan to get Robin out of there before he was shred to pieces, and she quickly pushed the bell into the young soldier's hand. "Stay here and ring it whenever they get too close to him!"
"What?!" Leo exclaimed again, his brown eyes widening in shock at her crazy instruction.
But she was already running ahead, with Leisa, Coop and Mark chasing after her as they continued to circle around the rocky quarry toward the spot where Robin was struggling to climb out, covering their noses and mouths against the putrid air that was spreading into their lungs.
They had to get him out.
She had no idea how to accomplish that feat – the pit was about a dozen feet deep with rocks and mud and he now had a broken ankle – but if her plan was to work, they had to get him out of there. Only then might she be able to annihilate the ocean of terrible monsters crawling in the quarry. But they had to get Robin out first.
"How are we going to pull him out?" Leisa asked with rising alarm, voicing out the core of her current problem as if she had read her thoughts.
"Vines," Coop squarely replied as he aimed and shot a Skinwalker straight between the eyes before it could crawl too close to Robin's feet.
"I'm on it," Mark declared at once and swiftly veered towards the wicked trees that surrounded them to collect all the creepers he could find, cutting them loose with his axe.
The rest of them kept on running, mud and water splashing around their feet as the stench of sulfur continued to burn their noses, and when they finally reached the ledge above Robin at last, falling to their knees to peer down at him, he was positively furious.
"What are you doing here?!" he roared up at them, bruised and limping and parrying the attacks of three Skinwalkers at once.
"She needs a leash!" Leisa barked down to him in response, referring to her in annoyance while Coop rained arrows down on the skeletal creatures to keep them at bay.
"You are unbelievable!" Robin directly glared up at her this time, blue eyes alight with a storm of fury and fear. "You can't just-"
"You're welcome!" Maeve cut him off sharply, right when Mark rushed to their sides with the longest creepers he had found.
"Hang on, mate, we need to pull you up!"
"You're insane! You're going to get us all killed!" Robin protested again as he hacked at the bony arm of a Skinwalker that tried to snatch him.
"Just shut up and climb!" Maeve spat back in anger as Mark and Leisa hurriedly proceeded to lower the rotten vines down to him as far as they could go.
Robin cursed under his breath in outrage and frustration, but still took a fistful of the creepers begrudgingly, kicking a blind creature in the head as they began to haul him up.
Mark and Coop teamed up to accomplish the feat, their boots digging in the mud for purchase as they choked against the foul smell that was assailing their lungs, while Maeve and Leisa extended their arms down the ledge with their fingers stretching as far as they could, ready to grab at Robin as soon as he would be within reach.
Just a few more seconds and he would be safe, and then she would take care of the wriggling mass of blind monsters fighting in the gory pit, a good riddance for the Blind Mountains.
Grunting with effort, she stretched her hand even further down, as much as her body would permit it. Just a few more inches and he would be out, and then this whole mess would be over. They would all return to the convoy safe and sound and tell the tale of yet again another gruesome rescue in these treacherous woods, with creatures plucked straight out of the darkest of nightmares.
She could almost touch him now, fingertips inches from his wrist. Just a little more and-
The rotten vines snapped like dry twigs, Coop and Mark cursing loudly as the tension went dead.
Her fingers grasped empty air as Robin stumbled back down to the bottom of the pit, landing on his wounded ankle with a loud groan and mere feet away from the swarming blind monsters that continued to rip into each other like snakes.
The brief commotion unfortunately served to harness the unwanted attention of a frenzied Borg nearby, and they all watched with rising helplessness as the reptilian beast uttered a blood-curling screech and slithered its way towards Robin like a hungry shark.
Leo rang the bell in the distance to buy them some time, while Coop hurriedly unleashed a couple of arrows on the monster's thick scaly hide to deter its advance.
It worked, but it still didn't change the terrible fact that were right back where they started, with Robin stuck in the awful pit with no way to climb back out.
Maeve could feel the panic settling into her bones like paralysing venom, the gear in her head refusing to work anymore as the loud raucous from the blind monsters down below thrummed along with her thundering heart.
"The vines won't work!" Mark growled powerlessly, coughing against the nauseating sulfuric stench in the air as the rotten creepers turned to dirt and grime in his hands every time they tried to lower them down to Robin again.
Maeve didn't know what to do. There had to be another way. They had to pull him out. They had to-
"Enough!" Robin roared up to them in fuming desperation. "Get out of here, now! That's an order!"
His words had the effect of a thunderclap, with Leisa, Coop and Mark exchanging loaded glances in the terrible silence that followed their General's command, the deafening croaks and screeches from the bloody massacre below suddenly turning eerie and distant as time seemed to stop, the weight of the cruel situation crashing on them like a hammer.
Loyal soldiers receiving impossible orders.
If they obeyed, they would sentence Robin to death.
Up until now they had made the collective choice to rescue him no matter what, but now he was taking the burden of that choice away, stripping them of all responsibility by deciding his own fate. A sacrifice so they could live.
He was trapped anyway.
It was already too late.
"I'm going down," Maeve declared on a whim, swinging her legs over the edge without a second thought.
"Oh no you don't." Leisa's hand clamped over her wrist like an iron shackle.
But Maeve would not take 'no' for an answer this time. "Let me go," she ordered with commanding seriousness, holding the woman's sharp gaze of disapproval with her own fiery determination. "I can save him."
Caught off guard by her sudden resolve, Leisa studied her like a hawk, assessing and calculating, her darks eyes rapidly flicking and gleaming like beads, weighting the odds and the risks of condoning such a crazy move.
Whatever silent debate swirled between them at that moment, this time it was beyond their rivalry and their multiple disagreements. This time, somehow, it was about what the Fire Maiden was supposed to do.
Protect people.
And the Radakeel seemed to feel it too, her constant wariness momentarily shifting to temporary trust as she gave Maeve an imperceptible nod and released her, to everyone's surprise.
"No!" Robin shouted from below in livid helplessness, as if he knew exactly what she was about to do. "Don't you dare let her down here, Leisa!"
But Maeve was already nodding to the other woman, a new kind of understanding wordlessly passing between them as she issued a final warning to them all. "You guys run back to Leo and take cover as far as you can."
They all looked at her with a storm of inner-turmoil in their eyes, hesitant and worried, until trust eventually seeped into the cracks and they all nodded in agreement, standing up to do as instructed.
She watched their retreating forms for a few seconds, bracing herself for what she had to do, and then lowered herself down into the pit, landing unceremoniously beside Robin in the mud and the rocks with a painful grunt.
"You are infuriating!" he rounded on her in furious disbelief, livid and desperate, hurling her up to her feet with a hand under her arm and immediately shielding her from the swarming pack of monsters trapped in the pit with them.
"Trust me!" she snapped back angrily, jerking her arm out of his grasp in frustration. She needed to focus. She needed to-
"Get down!"
Before she could even take a step, Robin shoved her to the ground as a shrieking Borg heatedly charged them like a bull, its spiky head bowed down to impale them against the wall of the pit despite the quick ringing of Leo's bell in the distance.
Robin miraculously managed to dodge the brutal charge at the last second and swipe his sword to slash at the creature's eye, but it only served to infuriate it ten folds as it let out an eardrum-splitting wail of blind fury.
Sprawled in the muck amidst Skinwalker carcasses, Maeve hastily pulled herself up to her feet, but the tail of the beast was already swinging towards her.
"Watch out!" Robin warned with a frantic shout, diving forward to tackle her but too late.
The club at the end of the Borg's tail smashed into her left shoulder like a war hammer, the impact roughly propelling her forward to collide with Robin and send the two of them flying several feet away in the corner of the pit, landing hard in the mud like sacks of grain.
For a moment she couldn't tell up from down, the blinding pain in her shoulder leaving her completely stunned and breathless, gasping for air as she clutched at her arm in agony, the bones probably shattered into a million pieces.
But Robin was already shaking her back to her senses with rising panic, urging her to get up and run, and she knew she had to act fast.
Biting down on her lips so hard she tasted blood, she grunted against the blistering pain in her shoulder and somehow managed to prop herself up, allowing the fire to trickle down to the fingertips of her right hand as she saw the Borg slithering towards them like a massive snake.
It was now or never.
"Stay down!" she shouted to Robin, giving him no choice but to duck beside her as she desperately flung a single fireball to the ground in front of the Borg, holding her breath with a silent prayer to whatever gods still dwelled in this forsaken place.
The fireball crashed into the mud before the monstrous creature.
And the sulfur ignited. In the dust hanging in the air, in the minerals from the rocks, in the muck beneath them.
A single spark that set the world on fire.
The powerful blast roared to life like a beast abruptly awakened, with a merciful split of second where she flung herself over Robin and thrust her right hand in the air above their heads, summoning a blue shield of light to protect them from the formidable outburst.
Everything exploded in flames around them, deafening and rumbling in her ears like thunder ripping into the sky, a column of fire and smoke blasting the quarry to cinders with fire flaring upward to burn through the thick canopy of trees high above.
The mountains bled with flames once more, last night repeating itself all over again as she heard the Skinwalkers and the Borgs shrieking and wailing while they were grinded to dust in the bloody pit.
Her left shoulder pounded with stabbing pain as Robin held on to her for dear life, crushing her against him and covering her head while she maintained the magical shield alight around them like a small dome, the blistering heat of the fire gliding over the iridescent surface and almost seeping into the flesh of her outstretched palm.
But she held on, eyes shut tight as she gritted her teeth against the pain and her dwindling energy, until the storm of flames subsided at last, as if sucked back into the earth with no more sulfur left to combust, and silence fell on the pit like a choking cloak, the sulfuric stench trading its place with the reek of burnt flesh and dead carcasses.
When she pried her eyes open and let her hand fall down, the blue shield vanishing in an instant, she was met with the sight of black smoke drifting everywhere in the quarry, with debris of all kind tumbling down around them in the aftermath of the blast and ash falling over their heads like snow.
Slowly, she shifted her weight off Robin, carefully clutching her shattered shoulder with a pained wince as he too cautiously moved beneath her, dazed and shaken as he propped himself up to assess the drastic change of their surrounding, first blinking in confusion and then staring in complete bafflement at the charred canvas before them, the devastating result of her single fireball.
Skinwalkers and Borgs lay everywhere in the pit, bodies scorched and fried and puffing with smoke, their white flesh blackened and roasted. Not a single croak or screech could be heard, except for the feeble crackles of a few patches of flames still burning here and there.
The blind monsters were gone.
All of them.
Her plan had worked.
"Wikken Hells…" Robin breathed in exhaustion as they both sat there in the corner of the blasted quarry, wearily leaning against one another, bruised and wounded and covered in soot. "If you don't believe you're the Fire Maiden after this, I don't know how else we can convince you."
She felt a weary smile curve her lips at his jest. "That wasn't magic," she corrected. "That was science."
He looked at her with a puzzled frown, their eyes locking across the few inches that barely separated them, but whatever curiosity her words stirred within him, it was soon replaced with a dark shade of protectiveness that seemed to wash over him like a wave, his blue gaze dancing over her features with sudden feral concern.
If his own battered appearance was any indication, she was probably equally painted with soot and mud and covered in cuts and bruised, and she could almost feel the shift in his body as he tensed all over, his fingers twitching in his lap as if he was fighting the urge to wipe all traces of battle from her face.
She had to refrain herself from the impulse as well, her fingers suddenly yearning to inspect the nasty gash that was bleeding on his forehead, but she wouldn't even have been able to touch him anyway. Her right hand was desperately clutching her aching left shoulder, with her arm cradled against her chest protectively.
The mere act of breathing suddenly sent a stab of pain down her back and she feared moving even so much as an inch would prove to be excruciating.
"You're hurt," Robin frowned worriedly, noticing her stiff posture and reaching out to touch her and inspect whatever wound she was hiding, but cheerful shouts in the distance unexpectedly diverted his attention.
Their eyes snapped to the opposite ledge of the pit, where Coop, Leo, Mark and Leisa had just appeared with complete bewilderment stamped on their features. Mark and Leisa seemed weighted down by sheer relief as soon as they spotted them down in the quarry, shoulders sagging mightily as they realized she and Robin were still alive, while Coop and Leo let out strings of elated shouts, cheering loudly and marvelling at the sheer number of monsters the explosion had managed to wipe out.
Robin gave them a quick wave before turning to her once more with a gentle voice. "Can you stand?"
"Can you?" she replied with the quirk of an eyebrow, tossing a look to his wounded ankle.
"I think I can manage," he smiled reassuringly, struggling up to his feet with a limp and a wince before reaching down to help her.
She hissed through her teeth as pain ripped through her shoulder, shooting down her arm and making her momentarily dizzy, but with his help she managed to stand, her entire body sore like a torn rag.
He could have released her then, but instead he kept his hand firmly locked around her good arm, warm and protective, while their companions trotted around the pit to reach the ledge above their heads.
"That was unbelievable!" Leo exclaimed wildly, his brown eyes glinting with euphoria as soon as they reached them.
"I swear to the gods, Maeve," Coop called down to her with a wide grin of his own. "If you weren't so far down a pit of corpses, I would kiss you right now!"
Maeve chuckled at the soldier's distinctive flirty comment, which quickly earned him a swat of admonishment from a grumpy Leisa.
"You guys alright?" Mark inquired above them with a frown, his keen green eyes noticing Robin's limp and her wounded shoulder.
"It could be worse," Robin replied with reassurance, tossing her a grateful look as he added, "At least we're still alive."
Clutching her wounded arm, Maeve held his loaded gaze wordlessly, while Coop and Leo continued to marvel at the extent of the damage the explosion had caused all around them.
"Wait until we tell this to the others!" Leo gaped, a wide smile stretching his lips in excitement.
"Yes, I'm sure they'll be thrilled to hear everything," Leisa noted dryly, glancing around the scorched quarry with a scowl. "But we still have one big problem."
They all looked at her in puzzlement, the previous happiness of the situation quickly souring when she exposed their current predicament.
"How the hell are we going to get you two out of that pit?"