A Court of Secrets and Moonlight

65: Wind

Cassian

It happened so fast.

One moment, I was locked in battle. Power drained, heart pounding, running on nothing but adrenaline as I smashed my sword against my opponent's. I had just managed to slash his throat when there was a burst of wind at my back. A scent I knew like the back of my hand, lavender and spice cut with the warmth of cedar, drifted around me. I heard her scream, felt the heat from her body shield me.

And then I heard the sound of the blade ripping through her armor, into her body.

It was the scent of blood, absolutely pouring from her as I turned. As I saw the pain on her face, saw the confusion of the soldier who had stabbed her, saw the crimson red dripping onto the ground below.

I didn't have time to react before she swung her own blade, the black metal cutting through the air, ripping the soldier's head clean from his body.

Time sped up again, and then there was another soldier tackling me. He had used my distraction against me, mud splashing around us as I kicked him off of me. He stood, only for Leuruna to appear behind him, and slit his throat with the same blade that had just been impaled in her stomach.

"You need to get out of here!" I screamed at her.

Blood was pouring from her front, her skin ashen and pale, but she paid me no mind. She completely ignored me, dropping the blade she had been holding and unsheathing the one that had been at her side. I got one look at it, at the carvings that were etched into the metal, at the intricate handlework, and knew that somehow Leur had obtained Gwydion.

The lost twin to Truth Teller.

There was no time to argue, not as more soldiers were surrounding us. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Leur ripped through them. One hand on her sword, the other coated with blood as she kept pressure on the wound pouring blood from her stomach. I didn't know if any of the others had noticed what she had done, the hit she had taken for me.

But I watched as Tarquin took note of her. I watched as the Winter Court soldiers did as well.

I felt it then, something building. A shift in the air, slowly but surely, gathering with power. She fought back to back with me, some ancient magic flowing in her veins as it ripped through the battlefield. It weaved in and around, slowly but surely, taking note of each of us, gripping onto us. It stretched and weaved as thunder cracked in the distance, growing thicker and thicker. Stronger in the air, more detectable, like smoke pouring from a raging fire before an explosion.

Time seemed to stretch and slow, the scent of my sister's blood was the only thing I could make out. The scent of my failure.

And then everything stopped.

I had no idea how she did it, what exactly she had done. All I knew was that one moment, I was in the middle of the battlefield, locked in combat with two soldiers fighting back to back with Leur. The next moment, I was standing on the hill where our camp sat, Nesta at my side, what remained of our armies behind me. Hybern soldiers were all that remained on the battlefield.

Just Hybern soldiers and Leuruna.

She shot into the air, black wings spread wide as power gathered around her. The Hybern fleet had no clue what to do, no clue what had just happened, where their opponents had just gone- but then Leur was plunging down to the earth. Gwydion was glowing in her hand, Illyrian black armor stained with blood, golden light bursting from her as if she was the sun. She lit up the cloudy sky, lit up every bit of the woods. Thunder cracked across the plain, strike after strike after strike. I could have sworn that the sky grew darker, that the power of night combined with that light. She screamed in a battle cry, both hands braced on her sword, an iridescent shield strengthening in front of us.