The Cursed Door

End?

"My Queen!" Adalyn whipped around, her hair moving with her having long fallen from its braid and matted with things she'd rather not think about, to see Esther calling out to her across the carnage, barreling towards her. Adalyn looked at her second like she was a light at the end of a tunnel and to Adalyn, she was.

Esther's dark choppy hair and ill-fitting armor was a welcomed sight to Adalyn.

"My Queen, the Shadow King has been spotted!" Esther's heavy Emerford accent was a nice change from the endless headache-inducing clang of metal on metal.

"Where?" Adalyn inquired, her gaze turning icy sharp at the mention of the Shadow King.

Adalyn hated the Shadow King with a burning passion, after all he'd started this gods-forsaken war and ruined her life.

"West of the South Side Bridge." Esther reported, taking in the sight of her friend and Queen, she was covered in blood and soot, her hair was loose from her battle braid and was sticking to her face matted with blood and sweat, her dented armor hanging off her short stocky frame and her icy eyes surveying the carnage of the battlefield with pale ruthless fury, it was as if she thought she could summon the Shadow King with just her fury.

"Spells and curses!" Adalyn turned on her heel and started to march towards the rough direction of the South Side Bridge. "And the South Reavers?" She asked tone softer, her true question left unsaid, to Esther who was having trouble keeping up with her Queen's ruthless pace.

"Fallen." Esther answered her in the same quiet tone.

Adalyn staggered at Esther's answer, she knew the Reavers would never let the Shadow King and his little band of Nightmare Guards through willingly. But still she had hope that Tyran...

'No,' she thought, knowing that time was of the essence and this wasn't a time to grieve. She would still make the Shadow King pay for it dearly, and she took pleasure in the knowledge that she would make that traitor pay for all the pain he's caused.

She started her ruthless pace towards South Side Bridge, though her pace had slowed slightly so Esther could match her.

It took them the better part of an hour to make it to the west side of the Bridge and Adalyn wished that a few of the cavalry's horses had survived the initial battle. And it didn't help that the closer they got to the west side of the Bridge, the smell of sulfur and iron got thicker and thicker the closer they got. Adalyn knew what that smell meant.

The Shadow King was using magic.

Adalyn still remembered what happened last time the Shadow King used magic. The carnage that followed still haunted her worst nightmares.

When they reached their forces, they were dug in about eighteen or so feet from a tiny fort-like structure made from the rubble of the Reaver's guard tower.

Adalyn surveyed the tiny structure before turning to what was left of her army. Almost all of them were dead on their feet, though they wouldn't admit it. She spied one of her generals, Onyx Gloom she remembered, among them.

"General Gloom! Report!" She called out as they all snapped to attention, some slower than others because of fatigue.

"My Queen, we have the Shadow King pinned behind his fortifications." General Gloom replied.

Adalyn nodded she'd already figured that out when she first saw said fortifications upon arrival, though she thought her army was dead or worse when she smelled the sulfur and iron.

"And his Nightmare Guard?" Adalyn asked, eying the Shadow King's fortifications, trying to see any signs of magic or weak points.

"Dead or fled." He replied