The Rising Pheonix

Chapter 22

Jacobe POV

Before I knew it, the carriage jerked to a stop. If I had not been holding on to Elnora's basket, it would have fallen off the seat. Angry at the abrupt stop, I move to get out of the carriage when the door swings open. Standing there is none other than Nico, the current driver, and my final guard. When he saw my angry expression he instantly paled.

"My apologies, your Highness, for the sudden stop. I wanted to be the one to open the door for you when we stopped," He said while taking a step back for me to descend.

"Do be careful in the future. Keep in mind there is a baby and an injured person back here," I scolded. Nico nodded his head in acknowledgment.

I proceeded to walk to the front of the carriage and I noticed Nancee and Grant still on horseback watching our surroundings.

"Sir, we have reached a crossroads and the path to Arocall wasn't specified. By any chance have you been to Arocall before? This will be my first time going anywhere. I understand that this is an important mission to get you to safety, but I'm just so excited to see the world. See, I became a knight so that I could be able to travel. My family was very poor before I became a knight. I used to get advanced payments so that I could give them to my family. I don't have to do that anymore, we are able to get by until the next time I get paid. But not enough to get a carriage to travel anywhere. My family is going to be jealous when they notice I'm not in Heartreach anymore." Nico continued to ask me questions and he didn't give me a chance to reply. He just kept talking so I blocked him out while I inspected the two paths.

I went to the path that went straight and looked at the vegetation to see if anything looked familiar. Before I could take another step, I started feeling anxious. My eyes started to glow faintly and that's when I knew we were in danger. That was the only warning I get before a barrage of arrows flew at us from all angles.

I was able to dodge a few but Nico had gotten hit. Wanting to protect him I stepped in front of him and cut down the arrows. I wasn't fast enough so I got shot in my arm a few times. I howled in anger and a wall of fire surrounded our entire group. Protecting us from the arrows. I didn't have time to be amazed at my control because I felt Nico slump forward and land on my back.

I hurriedly turned around to catch him before he fell to the ground. Then I saw he had three arrows in his back. Moving quickly, I carried him to the carriage and laid him on the carriage floor.

"Too many people are getting hurt around me." I thought as I closed the carriage door and walked away. Nancee and Grant both came to my side and I saw they too were injured. However, their injuries were non-life-threatening. 

I can't keep the wall of flames up indefinitely, and I don't know how many people are here since they were hidden when they fired the arrows. By the number of arrows that littered the ground, there were at least seven archers. It was then that I noticed that the arrows had stopped.

"Quick, defend the carriage!" I shouted to the two of them. Even though the wall of fire was protecting us, I don't know what was going to happen.

Grant ran to the other side of the carriage and Nancee ran towards the front. I stayed where I was and would defend the back as well since I'm more powerful. Just as everyone was in position I felt the earth tremble slightly. It felt like a warning that something was about to happen. Then the sky turned pitch black and it started raining.

The "rain" was only targeting my firewall so I knew it wasn't natural. It also smelled of death. I wasn't worried because my fire stayed blazing strong. However, I readied my sword and looked to Nancee, she did the same. She looked frightened and as I was about to offer words of encouragement, her expression changed to one of determination and she gripped her sword tighter.

At that instant, I was proud that I let her come. I faced forward and when I did I was shocked to see the fire was going out. There was something wrong, nothing should be able to put this fire out. As I was examining it, three people stepped out and they were chanting. They were speaking a language I never heard before and they were reading from some scrolls. They chanted louder and the rain came down harder and the fire was going out faster. What shocked me was when one of the people collapsed the other two kept chanting and stepping closer, and the scroll that was being read from disintergrated into ash. Then another person fell and the last person was shouting his chant then collapsed as well and his scroll too went up in flames. When he collapsed the fire went out completely and the rain stopped simultaneously. In an instant soldiers came running at us from all sides.

Soon we were fighting for our lives. The archers were still hidden and they were shooting at us. A few hit the carriage so I erected a dirt wall around the whole carriage. That way we don't have to worry about anyone in the carriage getting hurt.

We were outnumbered by the foot soldiers, it was about fifteen to one. I was worried about Nancee because this is her first battle. I felt less worried about Grant because he used to train with me back at the castle, so he has good combat skills. I slowly made my way to her so she wouldn't become overwhelmed. It was a slow process because for every one person I cut down two more took his place. Not to mention we were still being shot at with arrows.

I took a glance at Nancee and I saw she was backed up against the wall. Summoning my fire I aimed at two of her attackers that were about to land a fatal blow and shot fireballs in rapid succession. However, while I was focusing on them, I was shot in the leg. They both were hit in the face and started screaming. That distracted the other attackers and gave me enough time to roast the ones closest to me. I made my way to Nancee and slit the neck of the attacker closest to me. He fell with a thud and that drew attention to me.

They tried to stop my advances but they were no match for me. I looked at Nancee and she looked horrible. She had arrows sticking out after her arms and legs, yet she was still fighting as if she was fine. But I could see she wasn't, she was breathing heavily and struggling to keep her balance. I just hope Grant is doing better. If only I could get him over to us.