As usual, thanks for waiting. School takes a lot of energy out of me and makes it hard to scrape enough energy together to write. This was by far the trickiest chapter out of all of them. I was constantly deleting huge chunks of progress and rewriting over and over until I was satisfied. So that made it even more slow going.
Gonna try and answer a bunch of guest reviews. If you review as a guest, I can't reply through my account, so I often forget to respond when I'm posting a chapter. I promise I'm not ignoring you! Also it's hard to differentiate between anyone who uses a generic "guest" title so I can't tell if your the same person or not haha.
So regarding pairings, this story as a whole is not geared toward romance (because I'm crap at writing true romance im sry i must work harder), but this is pretty solidly MKxNod. But feel free to headcanon other relationships. I'm really not a stickler about it shdfasjf.
And regarding major character death. Well that would be a spoiler. But I will say that I'm not all evil.
Chapter 16. The Solstice
Sunlight dappled the pond beneath the sheltering branches. The garden of pods bobbed in the water as a light morning breeze sauntered through the clearing, and the duckweed in the water smiled green amidst the sparkling ripples, unaware of the blood that was about to spill on the land around it.
MK crouched in the shade among the reeds, tucked in the lee of a large tree root. She and Nod waited, stomachs churning and fists clenched tight, for Queen Tara to arrive at the scene. Every sound, every blade of grass rubbing together, every patter of fallen leaves, made MK jump and shoot a look over her shoulder. She only let out her breath when there was, yet again, no Boggan there.
Because she knew the Boggans were already there, waiting. The Leafmen had scoured the area all morning and found little, only chased a few loose groups away here and there, but those were only scouts. Somehow, the main force had managed to elude them. In the minutes before the ceremony, though, the forest was quiet.
Nod tapped her on the shoulder and pointed. Far off to her right, the whir of dragonfly wings signaled the approach of the queen's gondola. The barge drifted in steady descent toward the pond where the slug and snail caretakers Mub and Grub awaited.
The barge touched the water, sending a fan of ripples out, and the queen stepped out, gathering the duckweed beneath her feet to allow her to walk across the water. A few Jinn hovered around the boundaries of the pond—the ones who had refused to miss the rare and sacred ceremony, in spite of the imminent danger. Queen Tara gave them her brightest smile, filled with gratitude toward their devotion and waved at them.
"Good morning, your majesty!" Grub bowed with a flourish.
"Howdy!" said Mub, earning him a sharp nudge from his partner.
"Show some decorum," Grub hissed under his breath.
The queen laughed. "No need to be so formal. But it is a beautiful morning isn't it? And it seems like you have a lovely arrangement of pods for me."
"Why thank you! I thought you might appreciate it. A great deal of work went into gathering and raising them from little seedlings," Grub responded.
"That's right. No one can grow 'em like Mub and Grub," Mub chimed in.
Queen Tara grinned. "Alright, boys! Show me what you've got."
"Certainly, your majesty! Right this way." Grub and Mub led her to the cluster of buds sitting in the water. As the queen walked through them, her gaze scanned the selection.
"I picked out a couple that are real special," Mub said, gathering an armful of the pods, all of them either extra large or extra bright or both. He laid them in a heap at her feet. "I think this one might be to your liking," he said, hefting a giant pod that made the lily pads bounce when he dropped it on top of them.
"It is rather magnificent," Queen Tara agreed. "But not quite what I'm looking for."
"Goodness, Mub, stop embarrassing me." Grub hurried over to rearrange the pile of pods Mub had brought out so that they sat in neat rows. "Let the queen choose, without shoving your gaudy suggestions in her face."
"What're you talking about, she said it was magnificent," said Mub.
The queen plucked a small pod out of the pool, examining it closely. She held it up close to her face, taking in its scent. If MK hadn't known what to expect, she would have missed the tiny glimmer of light that awoke in the heart of the pod. Without a word, the queen handed it off to Grub, who tucked it aside surreptitiously, and continued searching through the pods. After several additional pass-overs, she finally landed on an all-around average pod and hefted it into the air conspicuously. "This is the one!"
"The queen has chosen a successor!" Mub declared, and everyone cheered. MK's knuckles tightened on the root that she hid behind. Nod clasped onto her arm.
"Get ready," he muttered.
Barely a second after he spoke, as the queen made her way back to her gondola, a lurch of motion far across the pond caught their attention. The line of Leafmen guards where Ronin kept watch had all drawn their bowstrings in one simultaneous movement. MK looked in the direction of their aim, waiting.
Ronin let the first arrow fly. It struck the bark of a nearby tree, hanging there for several full counts. The slab of bark peeled away, and a Boggan dropped down, dead as it fell. MK inhaled sharply, trying not to think of who that might have been.
Then the world erupted.
Boggans burst out from deep within the trees, leaving wooden skeletons in their wake. Pockets of earth gave way and streams of the creatures poured out from underground, until swarms of grey swept over the landscape. Sawdust rained on MK and Nod's head, and they looked up to see the army charging down the trunk.
"Time to go!" Nod yanked her by the hand, and they leaped onto Maia, shooting off toward the frenzy above the pond as the Boggans rushed to make their way to the queen and the pod she carried. Boggans dropped down from the high branches, forcing Maia to weave and dart through the hail of assailants. "Where did Mub and Grub go?" he shouted.
MK clutched onto his waist as they zipped through the air, gasping every time the hummingbird changed directions with a lurch. "Down there! In the corner!"
Nod responded by wheeling Maia around and shooting toward where the slug had compacted himself amidst the flowers and reeds by the wall of the pond. "Where's Grub?" Nod called to him, slight panic touching his voice.
"Don't look at me!" an indignant voice said from the surface of the water. Nod landed the bird close by, drawing his sword to fend off any Boggans who mistook them for Leafmen. Only Grub's eyes could be seen from where he floated in the water.
Mub helped his friend out. "He's just embarrassed because he didn't get the chance to show off what a great Leafman he would be," Mub said with a cackle.
"Excuse me, I was just…I was hiding underwater to protect the pod!" Grub sputtered.
"Talk later, we gotta get out of here," MK said, shoving them toward Maia. The hummingbird did not look too pleased to have the pair of mollusks shoved onto her back.
"Hey, aren't you coming with us? Plenty of room for you," Mub said winking at MK. He looked at Nod. "Guess you have to stay behind, whoops!"
Nod rolled his eyes. "We're coming." He whistled, and his ratty bird from the races hurtled into the scene out of nowhere, barreling into its landing and sending flecks of pond water spraying. MK and Nod climbed on top of its back. "Let's get to Moonhaven, and quick!"
"Grub, you have the pod, don't you?" MK called. Mub looked miffed that she'd completely ignored him.
"Right here, madame!" Grub patted his shell, and the birds took off, taking advantage of the confusion of the battle to make their escape.
MK turned over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of Queen Tara fleeing into the trees, still trying to protect the onlooker Jinn who were caught in the fray as she ran. As the birds left the scene of the battle, branches and leaves obscured her vision of the sight, and she lost sight of whether the queen and Ronin managed to escape.
Kevrel trembled with nervous excitement, feeding off the tension of his rider as Dagda watched the fighting from a distant branch. Beside them, his father sat, perched on Rukgar, the two casting an immovable shadow in Dagda's peripheral vision. They seemed to pull energy out of the world, rather than bleed it out the way Dagda was. His joints were poised to spring at any moment, and it took every ounce of focus not to leap into action before his father gave the word.
His dad was fixated on the movements of the queen and the pod she carried, but with one eye, Dagda kept watch on the tiny flash of red hair that flickered through chaos. MK lacked her telltale pink coat that day, but her hair was unmistakable. She and Nod danced through the fray, stopping to pick up the slug and snail who watched over the pod garden. Dagda hoped that his father was too busy watching his own quarry to notice the anomaly. Only when MK successfully left the scene did Dagda release a small amount of the tension in his limbs.
"There," muttered his dad, and in a single silent motion, Rukgar dove from the branch, leaving Dagda barely a moment to spot the hummingbird with the Leafman general and the queen breaking away from the fight and into the open air. He spurred Kevrel forward, hanging close behind his father's grackle.
Four guards flanked the queen's bird, and one of them gave a shout at the sight of the pair of grackles looming overhead and approaching quickly. The four wheeled around and charged directly at them, forcing Dagda to pull upward, shooting toward the sky and circling back to evade them.
"Dagda, the pod!" his father shouted, stringing his bow and shooting one of the hummingbirds clear out of the sky as he spoke.
Dagda struggled to hide his wince as the rider screamed, tumbling down through the forest canopy scrabbling to hold onto their limp, struggling bird. "Quickly, Kev," he said through his teeth, gripping the grackle's feathers tight. He launched himself after the queen and the Leafman general, glancing over his shoulder to see what the other three Leafmen riders would do. They pulled away from his dad, pursuing the immediate threat to the queen and the pod. His dad strung another arrow. "Now!" Dagda commanded, and Kevrel shot forward.
"Ronin!" the queen shouted, seeing Dagda diving down on them. Kevrel's broad wings carried him upon the tiny hummingbird in an instant, and the grackle crashed down on them, grabbing the bird in his talons. Out of the corner of his eye, Dagda saw a flash of pink as the pod tumbled from the queen's arms. Kevrel let go of the hummingbird in an instant, folding his wings and plummeting after the pod.
"General! Take the queen!" the guards called before two of them separated and followed Dagda down after the tumbling pod. "We'll get the pod!"
Dagda pressed himself close to Kevrel's neck as the wind beat against him in their free fall. The pod wobbled through the air, drifting gently down, and just when they were about to pass it, Dagda pushed himself upright again, gasping as the air resistance slammed full force into his chest, and reached out to snatch the pod from the air. Kevrel crashed down through the net of leaves and scratched to gain purchase on one of the branches before, crouching and shooting back upward again, rocketing past the pair of pursuing Leafmen.
The weight of the pod surprised Dagda. He peeked down at it, tucked against his chest. If he hadn't known it was a decoy, he would never have been able to tell the difference. His mind flew to MK, and he hoped they had successfully escaped with the real pod.
An arrow whizzed over his shoulder, so close he could hear the buzz of the fletching spiraling through the air. The sound made him flinch and glance over his shoulder. MK told him the Leafman general and the queen would be in on the pod substitution trick, but these Leafmen sure didn't look like they were aiming to miss. "Time to put on a show," Dagda muttered, leaning into the wind to speed Kevrel.
As long as he could get back to the vicinity of Wrathwood, two Leafmen couldn't stop him. He took one last look over his shoulder and his eyes widened. Beyond the two Leafmen chasing him and Kevrel, another four had broken away from the battle and were quickly approaching his father from behind as he chased down the queen's hummingbird, and his father had not seen them yet.
Lose the pod, MK had said. But be convincing. Ronin hadn't known how easy that would turn out to be, though his head was still rattling from the impact of the grackle. He, Nod, and MK had stayed up late brainstorming ways to put on a good enough show to convince Mandrake that they had in fact been forced into losing the pod. As much as he was loath to admit, Ronin had to give some credit to the Boggan kid for being a good actor. If MK hadn't described him carefully, Ronin never would have been able to tell the Boggan was actually on their side. That collision really did leave his ears ringing, and even Tara looked shaken by it.
Two of the guards in his force now pursued the Boggan with the decoy pod, and one stayed by his side for added protection. A screech pierced the air, and the large grackle upon which Mandrake sat descended close behind them, a great black shadow casting itself over the sun.
"Now comes the fun part," he muttered, earning a wry, mirthless smile from Tara.
"If I had known what your idea of fun was, I would have tried a different strategy to get you to stop being so serious," she said. "Watch out!"
Ronin deflected the arrow that came hissing their way, readying himself for the next shot to come. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another four of his riders climbing into the sky, chasing after Mandrake. The four each strung their bows. Mandrake took aim again, and Ronin tensed, waiting for his chance.
"Dad, look out!"
Ronin blinked, looking up to see the return of the Boggan with the pod, still being chased by the two Leafmen as he came barreling back in to warn Mandrake of the sneak attack. Ronin cursed under his breath. He just had to come back.
The four Leafmen loosed their arrows all at once, and Ronin strung his own bow, taking aim.
If they had maintained the element of surprise, the attack would have been lethal, and Ronin could have breathed easy for the rest of his life. But Mandrake had caught on an instant before it was too late.
Two of the arrows deflected off the grackle's great wings, and Mandrake tipped himself backwards entirely off his mount to dodge the other two, snatching onto the bottom of the bird's neck, hanging on just by the feathers. Ronin hesitated, remembering his own actions that instigated Mandrake's rage in the first place. He lowered his bow, ready to turn and simply use the distraction to flee. Another arrow spiraled past him from behind, and Ronin realized his other guard had loosed a fifth arrow.
Ronin's hesitation gave Mandrake just enough time to sight the last attack, and the Boggan heaved himself up with alarming strength, yanking some of the grackle's neck feathers out in the process, and instead of striking him clean in the chest, the arrow caught him in the leg instead. He snarled in pain, pulling himself back onto his mount. In the same instant, Mandrake's son performed another midair collision, knocking all four of the guarding hummingbirds clean out of the sky and wheeling around to get between Ronin and his father.
Ronin urged his hummingbird forward, not bothering to wait and see what the Boggans would do next.
"Dad, we have to go!" the son shouted. Ronin glanced over his shoulder. There were still three Leafmen up in the air, and the other four were recovering from their tumble, albeit flying erratically. Meanwhile, Mandrake had lost his bow in his precarious dodge. Mandrake shot one last venomous look after Ronin, before sizing up the competition and following his son away from the battlefield and back to Wrathwood.
Dagda slid from Kevrel's back before the bird even touched down at the landing of the Hollow, and he rushed over to where Rukgar approached. Sure enough, his father dismounted instantly, and when his injured leg buckled under the impact of hitting the ground, Dagda was there to catch him.
"Wait, wait! Stop trying to walk on it, you'll make it worse," Dagda said, holding his father in place. He turned to Amianth who stood in the doorway, ready to bolt off to fetch whatever assistance he was about to request. At her expectant expression, "I need wraps! I have to hold the arrow in place before Dad can put weight on his leg," he shouted. She nodded sharply and vanished down the corridor.
His dad hissed, his hand clamping on the muscles above the arrow piercing on his thigh. Relief coursed through Dagda when he realized that his dad had remembered what MK had told them about trying to forcibly remove arrows and left it in there, despite the obvious pain. Amianth returned with the wraps, and Dagda set to work, strapping the injury so that the arrow would move as little as possible when his dad tried to walk again.
"Did MK teach you this?" his father asked, jaw clenching as he watched his son work.
"Yeah," Dagda said, tying the cloth tightly before standing. "She made me practice a million times too."
His dad leaned on his shoulder as they limped to a more sheltered room where Dagda could work on removing the arrow more carefully. "You also seemed to have picked up her habit of dramatic exaggeration," he said wryly. "Wait, the pod."
Dagda tensed slightly, and he cast a glance over his shoulder at the lifeless decoy bud that sat abandoned at Kevrel's feet. "Can't it wait? I want to get that arrow out."
"Amianth, bring it with us, will you?" his dad said, continuing to hobble forward. Amianth paused to look helplessly at Dagda before dutifully picking up the pod and following them.
When Dagda said MK forced him to practice a million times, it really wasn't all that dramatic of an exaggeration. She'd skewered a soft piece of wood with an arrow in every possible way she could think of and made him wrap it, critiquing his technique the entire way. And he'd cut and stitched together enough scraps of animal hide to command a small army of patchwork mice. His hands didn't shake even when they were covered with his father's own blood, and they seemed to know the work straight from muscle memory. He closed the wound and tied the final knot.
"It should be all right if you don't move it too much," Dagda said, breathing hard from the intense concentration. The trembling that he'd held back during the entire operation struck him full force, making his voice rattle, until he felt a hand grip his shoulder.
"You did well, Dagda. I'm proud of you," his father said with a weary smile. He flexed his lower leg, testing its strength. Dagda felt his own pride swell, until his dad turned back toward the pod Amianth was still holding and immediately narrowed his eyes. "Let me see that." Amianth hesitated briefly before handing it over. His father examined it, still frowning. He held out his hand. "My staff."
Amianth retrieved that too, and his father touched the Blight to the pod, watched it crumble and decay until it was nothing but a shriveled cluster of dead leaf matter.
"What's wrong?" Dagda asked. He knew.
The silence lasted for a full minute. "This isn't the one," his father said at last.
"What do you mean? It was the one the queen had! How can you tell?"
"This pod is meant to contain the link between the Draíochta and the Brightwood queen. If we truly succeeded in destroying it, we would know," said his father, a grim expression crawling onto his face.
"But why would the queen have been carrying a false pod?" Amianth supplied. She still shot Dagda a fleeting look.
"They knew we would attack. It was inevitable. This was a ploy—to stall for time." His father's lip curled into a smirk. "I have to say I'm impressed by the cleverness." His expression turned thoughtful. "It reeks of MK. I know it does." Dagda had to resist the urge to share another meaningful look with Amianth. "That girl honestly has a lot of damn gall."
The small amusement in his eyes darkened quickly, and he got to his feet, testing again the strength of his leg. He winced as he eased into a neutral standing position, and Dagda watched him visibly swallow the wave of pain before he straightened himself fully, as though he'd never been hurt at all. A shiver of awe ran through Dagda's blood at the sight.
"Dad, you shouldn't walk on it. You'll tear the stitches!" Dagda said, scrambling upright to try and obstruct his father's purposeful stride back toward the landing where the grackles still waited.
"They still have the pod, Dagda. The queen yet lives. We are not finished," his dad replied, side-stepping Dagda with only the slightest indication of a limp.
Dagda raced to blockade his path again. "No, no, no! Dad, you're hurt. I know you're in pain still. I can tell. You're going to get in a fight and tear out all the stitches and make it worse. Or it's going to bother you when you're fighting and you're going to get yourself hurt even worse!" His concern made his father pause. "What if I do it? I can lead the invasion. You want me to be a leader, so let me do it. I can! I won't let you down!" Dagda shouted in desperation. It was about more than just protecting the pod now.
A deep sadness clouded his father's eyes, and for a moment, Dagda thought he succeeded. His father laid a hand on his shoulder again, giving Dagda a tired smile. "I know you can do it." He sighed, an ancient, resigned sound, and Dagda's hope broke. "Hortensia was right all along. I'm in this too deep. I have to see it to the end." His grip on Dagda's shoulder tightened, and Dagda found tears springing to his eyes because this was so close to being a goodbye, as though his father intended not to come back from this mission. "I'm sorry, son. I must do this." His father once again side-stepped him, hurrying away.
Dagda caught up to him. "If you're going to do this, you're not leaving me behind, so stop acting like you are. I'm coming with you!"
His father smiled again. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
Amianth nudged Dagda as they headed back out to the landing, his dad taking off ahead of them to rally the troops for one last ditch attack. "What are we going to do? Do MK and Nod expect another attack?"
Dagda shook his head. "I don't know, Ami. But what am I going to do? I can't stop him, aside from outright betraying him and holding him hostage here. Undermining the war is one thing, but that I couldn't ever do—not for anything."
"So what do we do?"
"I'm going to protect him, make sure he doesn't get himself killed. MK will be there, for sure. Maybe with her help, we can stop things from getting too bad," he said.
Apprehension swam in Amianth's face. "I really hope things don't turn out as badly as I think they will."
"You're such a ray of sunshine," Dagda growled, climbing onto Kevrel, and leaping out into the early evening.
"The worst is over, love. Try to relax," Queen Tara chided as Ronin paced across the large stone floor around the pool that cradled the true pod, the circle of filtered moonlight shining down upon it. Mub and Grub fussed over it, like parents over an infant, including cooing sweet-nothings to it. They'd been doing that all evening, and between that and Ronin's constant fretting, MK was about to go nuts.
"It's not over. I can just feel it. It was too easy. Nothing is this easy, not with Mandrake," Ronin said.
"They have the decoy. They'll be waiting for us to come back and rescue it," Nod said. "Except there'll be no rescue, and they'll wait all night."
MK stared out from the balcony that overlooked the rest of Moonhaven's sanctuary below. The evening was quiet, especially with most of the Jinn gone into hiding as a safety precaution. Her insides churned, protesting the stillness. Ronin really needed to ease up or she was going to have an episode. His anxiety infected the room.
"Come on, Ronin. Seriously, we can relax," Nod assured the general.
"What if your Boggan friend betrayed us?" Ronin asked. "You never told me he was Mandrake's son."
MK twitched, pivoting around. "How did you learn that?"
"He said so. Four of our own came up behind Mandrake, but your friend returned to warn him. He must have seen them coming," said Ronin.
"He came back?" MK reeled in the surge of relief that Mandrake had survived.
"Yes, still holding the decoy pod too. I needed to get Tara out of there so I'm sorry, but I didn't stay to spectate. Mandrake still took an arrow to the leg, though. That I know for sure. He's wounded. Even if he attacks tonight, we may have that bit of advantage," said Ronin.
"Dagda was supposed to take the pod and destroy it himself, before Mandrake could get a good look at it and figure it out," MK muttered. "I think I agree with you, Ronin. It's not over yet."
Nod's pleasure evaporated. "What do you think is going to happen?"
"Everything is hanging on the pod blooming," Ronin said. "They'll pull all the stops." He ceased his pacing and strode toward the staircase that spiraled down to the lower levels. "We have to be ready for the fight of our lives." He disappeared down the steps.
Nod glanced at MK. "What should we do?"
MK fixed a blank, wide-eyed stare at a spot on the floor. "Not much we can do, except get ready to defend ourselves." She turned to the queen. "Do you think we could move the pod somewhere safer?"
Queen Tara shook her head. "Not without potentially getting caught out in the open and surrounded by Boggans. Moonhaven is the most defensible place I know."
"Especially since we don't know the Boggans' whereabouts at all," Nod added, scuffing his foot on the smooth floor. "For all we know, they could already be outside waiting for the right moment."
MK looked out at the view again, and the stillness yawned like the maw of a void before her now.
"Hey, you okay?" Nod asked, coming up beside her.
"Yeah, just stressed," she said. Oh, you know, there's only a very real possibility of dying here and having my dad waiting for ages wondering what happened.
As though reading her thoughts, Nod wrapped his arms around her and nestled his chin on her shoulder. "Hey, if you see a chance to run, you take it. I don't care what anyone says, you don't have to give up everything for a world that isn't even yours. You have to stay safe."
"Nod…"
"I'm serious. Don't do anything crazy for once, will you? No doing stuff like running in between Mandrake and me again. Let us take care of you, just this once," he said. "Promise?"
"Y-yeah." Easy words to say. MK swallowed the lump in her throat.
Nod sighed. "Why do I feel like you're just saying that to make me feel better?"
MK clasped onto his hand. "I'll do my best. I really mean it."
The hours ticked by, and MK had taken to pacing in Ronin's place, until Nod, now dressed in full Leafman gear, pulled her aside and sat her down next to him.
"You're going to fight?" she asked, seeing him in the armor.
"If it comes to that," he replied, holding the helmet in his lap. "I've actually got a reason to fight now."
MK looked up at him sharply, and he gave her his crooked smile. The sight of it almost made her cry. "This war has got to stop," she said. No one should ever have to look at someone and wonder if this is the last time they'll ever see them.
"It's almost midnight," Queen Tara said in a quiet voice. "Perhaps the plan worked better than we thought."
They turned around to see the pod bathed in silver light from the moon at its zenith high above them. The petals were already starting to expand, preparing to unfold, and the golden magic within glimmered like candlelight.
"Wouldn't it be hilarious if all this stress was for noth—" Nod began, when Ronin rushed up the stairs.
"They're here," he panted, and MK and Nod rushed to the balcony again. The thunder of hundreds of hummingbirds taking flight drummed on their ears as the Leafman riders spiraled around the citadel and into the sky. MK's eyes widened as the birds dissipated into the night to meet a dark cloud that rushed ever closer.
"Bat riders," Nod muttered. "And lots of them."
A line of Leafman archers clambered up the face of Moonhaven's keep, preparing to shoot the Boggan riders from the sky. The flurry of bats veered up, away from the hummingbird fleet, casting a shadow over the land below them with their thick numbers.
"Where are they…oh no," Nod said, eyes widening. MK inhaled in a hiss as the carpet of shadow swam closer until the moonlight above all of Moonhaven was obscured. She ran to the center of the room where the pod, formerly opening, shut itself again, shivering as the curtain of darkness drew over the hole in the ceiling that allowed the moon to shine upon it.
"They're blocking out the moonlight," she said. "That's how they plan to kill the pod!"
Nod shoved his helmet on and strapped his weapons onto his belt. He ran to one of the balconies, whistling for Maia. "Ronin, I'm going up," he shouted. "If we don't clear the sky, we're done for."
Ronin grasped his arm, clapping him on the shoulder. "I know things have been tough between us, but…I'm proud of you. And your father would be too."
Nod breathed in deep. "I'm sorry for the mean things I said to you." He cracked a grin. "Well, most of them."
He saddled Maia, but MK ran over and caught him, pulling his face toward her and kissing him on the lips. Nod gasped but quickly leaned into it. When she pulled away, still holding his face close to hers, she whispered, "You better come back."
Nod smiled softly at her, nose brushing against hers. "And you'd better be here." He leaped onto Maia, and cast one look back at Ronin. "Keep them safe!" he shouted before taking off in a rush of wind.
Ronin set his jaw and nodded, putting his helmet on. "MK, stay close to Tara." A cluster of Leafmen who still remained gathered around the room, bows and spears at the ready.
The night was chaos. The sensation of riding up with the rest of the Leafmen into the swirling cloud of bats turned the world on its head. Nod was falling upward into a roiling dark whirlpool, the wind rushing through his air and chilling his face, and then—madness.
The first wave of riders came down at once, swiping their clubs and spears at him, most blows missing by a long margin in the hectic flight. Several bats gave up with the precision of trying to strike him with their weapons and took to charging head on toward the small hummingbird. Maia's agility carried them upward, and Nod yelled until his lungs wanted to give out as he slashed every dark wing he could reach. The hummingbirds pierced clear through the swarm, and the sudden wash of bright, unadulterated moonlight made Nod squint in pain, before pitching down again to keep battering the line.
Through the pocket they'd just cut open, he could see the descent of several grackles making their way toward the sanctuary.
"Mandrake! He's going after the pod!" Nod shouted to anyone who could hear him, already shooting downward back into the frenzy to pursue the birds.
A large bat rammed them, throwing him from Maia's back, and he screamed, tumbling through the air and grasping at nothing. Maia's frantic trills were lost in the cacophony. He slammed down on top of another Boggan rider, and Nod lashed his legs and fists out without seeing what he was hitting. Finally, his feet found purchase in the fur of the bat, and with a grunt, he tossed the Boggan rider over his shoulders and off its mount.
The bat screeched in confusion, but Nod saddled himself on its bare back, clamping its neck with his legs and pulling on its ears. The flight was unsteady, and the bat nearly threw him several times with the unexpected momentum of every flap of its wings.
"Go! Down!" he growled through clenched teeth, pushing down on the bat's head. It obeyed, diving after the grackles. Mandrake's figure was unmistakable, and Nod rushed past the other riders and slammed his bat into the Boggan leader's grackle.
The bird screeched in fury, turning to see its attacker and snapped at him with its talons. The claws clamped together right above Nod's head, so loud it made his helmet reverberate.
"Hey, it's me again!" Nod shouted, ramming the bat into the grackle again. "How's the leg?"
Mandrake pulled his bird away from Nod's next attack, so that Nod had to lurch away from the grackle's beak. "Oh, MK's pet Jinn boy. No protector tonight?" Mandrake retorted.
"She's got better things to do," Nod shouted, "than always having to stand up to you!" He pulled his legs up, preparing to leap onto the grackle the next time it got close. Mandrake narrowed his eyes at the last comment and swooped toward Nod, bringing his staff down with thunderous force, and Nod barely twisted out of the way. "That the best you got?" he taunted, but out of the corner of his eye he could see the flesh of the bat burning away, scouring it down to the bone. Nod's eyes widened.
"You wouldn't want my best," Mandrake said as he descended, the entourage of other grackles following. As Nod plummeted, he could see Dagda, close behind his father, turn and look back as Nod fell. There might have been an apology in his eyes, but it was too far to tell.
"Maia!" Nod screamed, hoping his hummingbird would come for him somehow as he flailed in the air.
Large claws snatched him, jamming the breath from his lungs. He leaned out and peered up to see Amianth on her grackle looking down at him.
"You owe me double now," she said with a smirk. "Since you tried to knife me that one time and all."
Nod rubbed the back of his neck. "You still remember that, huh?" He grew serious, looking down at Moonhaven. "How are we going to stop this?"
Amianth's smirk vanished and morphed into a glare. "It's a work in progress. But I believe in Dagda."
"I hope your faith is good. MK's still down there," Nod said. Amianth's grackle descended faster.
"They wouldn't hurt her," Amianth said.
Neither bothered to finish the thought aloud: I hope…
The pair of grackles swooped into the sanctuary. Mandrake let his right leg take most of the impact of his dismount, and MK grimaced at the faint limp that hitched his long strides. Dagda scurried close behind, stress radiating all around him.
The circle of Leafmen guards rushed forward, but Mandrake dispatched them easily, the power of the Blight taking out several at one time, until there was only Ronin standing between them and the queen.
"It was a good trick, MK, but not good enough," Mandrake said, making her blood freeze.
"Tara, MK, take the pod and go!" Ronin shouted, leaping forward toward Mandrake and Dagda.
"Dagda, the pod!" Mandrake called, and Dagda rushed toward the center of the room where the pod sat.
In close combat, Ronin and Mandrake were more evenly matched than the other Leafmen. Still, even with a wounded leg, Mandrake made it clear why he was the commander of an army of Boggans. Every blow Ronin managed to block shook the air with the force of impact. MK and Tara both flinched when Mandrake slammed his shoulder into Ronin as the latter deflected another swipe of the lethal staff, sending Ronin teetering backward.
Dagda and MK grabbed the pod at the same moment, and MK yanked back.
"Dagda, please!"
Dagda leaned forward as they tussled. "I can distract him," he hissed under his breath. MK nearly dropped the pod. "What?"
"Buy you time, to get away."
"How?"
"Please, just trust me." Dagda looked her in the eyes. Ronin took another heavy blow, sending his helmet flying from his head. Dagda tugged on the pod again. "For just a little while more."
MK stared at him, and though it was only for an instant, time seemed to stretch out between them. Everything is riding on this. MK loosened her grip, ever so slightly, and Dagda pulled the pod from her arms. She stumbled forward dramatically, and Dagda hurried off toward the farthest end of the room.
"Dad, I got it!" Dagda shouted. Mandrake's attention flicked briefly away from the fight, and Ronin took the chance to slam his foot into the bandages wrapped around Mandrake's arrow wound.
Mandrake screeched in pain, his leg buckling, and Ronin sprinted across the room to where Dagda was, and MK understood the plan. "Call a hummingbird," she told the queen before inching closer to where Ronin and Dagda now duked it out.
"Let go of that pod, Boggan," Ronin growled, swinging his sword at Dagda who dodged the swipes with the pod still clutched to his chest. Finally, he tossed it aside, letting it slide along the floor a ways away from him, and brandished his own weapon to challenge Ronin. Mandrake staggered back to his feet, using his staff to support his weight.
Dagda swung his club, and Ronin dodged, knocking the weapon out of Dagda's hands as he did so. He lashed out and kicked Dagda in the stomach, sending him slamming into the wall, and in that instant, Mandrake somehow went from crouching on one end of the room to hurtling his full body weight into Ronin to protect his son. The best distraction, MK realized, running to where the pod waited in the middle of the floor and picked it up.
"Tara!" she shouted, hurling it across to the queen with all her strength. The queen rushed forward to catch it and hurried back to where the hummingbird waited on the opposite landing.
"Do. Not. Touch. My. Son," Mandrake snarled, snagging Ronin by the collar and tossing him like a rag doll away from where Dagda leaned up against the wall, shaking off the pain of the blow he'd just taken. Any hindrance of Mandrake's injury vanished from the surge of adrenaline and parental instinct. He barely noticed the queen and MK preparing to escape, his focus honed on inflicting his rage on Ronin.
Exhaustion was starting to set in as Ronin's parries became weaker, while Mandrake's attacks increased in ferocity. As Ronin brought his sword down, Mandrake reached up, catching it by the blade and body slamming Ronin while he was held in place. The impact tore the sword from Ronin's grip, and Mandrake tossed it aside, shaking the blood from his hand before stomping his foot down on Ronin's chest.
"Ronin! No!" Tara was already in the saddle of the hummingbird, but she turned around in horror.
Then Mandrake looked up, and the time Dagda had bought them vanished like smoke. "He's precious to you, hmm?" the Boggan chief asked breathlessly. "Then you can watch him die." He raised the staff, ready to bring it down in a fatal strike.
"I'm sorry," Ronin gasped, clutching at Mandrake's foot that pressed down on him.
Mandrake froze, eyes widening.
"I know it's not good enough, but I never meant to hurt her. It was an accident. I'm so sorry," Ronin said.
"Ronin! Let him go!"
MK looked up to see Nod barreling into Mandrake, sending him tumbling off of Ronin. Amianth, who arrived close behind ran to help Dagda. MK turned to the queen. "Run!" she screamed.
Queen Tara jolted from her shock, and prepared to take off, but Mandrake looked up from the floor, Nod still struggling to hold him down.
"No!" Mandrake raised the staff, and MK realized what was about to happen.
Mandrake brought the staff down, sending a spear of rot shooting like a bolt of lightning across the floor toward the queen, and MK moved.
MK shoved the queen aside, and felt the breath slammed from her lungs, knocking her off her feet. Her ears were ringing. Or maybe that was someone shouting. A lot of someones shouting. She looked down, a dripping black shard of the Blight lodged in her abdomen.
Damn.
Her lungs still refused to take in air. MK looked up to see Nod running toward her, the queen crouching down beside her, Mandrake staring in complete horror.
Someone was cradling her in their lap. MK leaned back into their arms and closed her eyes, stiffening from the chill that wracked her as the shock took over. "Sorry, Dad."
I'm only mostly evil. *flees*
*whispers* update by Monday
much love and thanks to you all