Black Sea [English Edition]

CHAPTER 3

The explosion boomed eerily on the vast plain, and the shock wave seemed to come as far as here, waving my hair. The armies stopped fighting each other, and every single gaze turned to the high grounds to the east.

For a moment it was as if we were all holding our breath.

The ground started to shake.

The Glawar stream increased, and in a moment the river swelled, beginning to overflow.

Then, with a rising roar, an avalanche of water tons appeared from the northeast ridges.

In a split second, Araton galloped toward the witch and pointed his blade at the male's throat, growling in the common language, "Hold those damned bridges up, if you want to live."

At the same time, I cried in Elvish, "Fall back!"

"On the hills!" the human general screamed and gave a strong heel kick to his mount's sides, flying away without worrying about his soldiers.

"Run!" I then shouted in the common language.

The thundering of the water wall advancing at an impressive speed toward us was such that I could not even distinguish the thud of the desperate steps of men, elves, and horses on the now swampy soil.

In a few moments, thanks to elves' innate speed, our army was once again on the other side of the river, heading for the port. I saw my brother tell the witch to let go of one of the two bridges, which disintegrated into the river, and then to follow him on the other side, the point of his sword pressed against the witch's neck as they crossed the bridge left standing.

"Nauriel, hurry up!" Araton urged me, trying to restrain both his stallion and the witch, who wanted to run away.

I looked around, feeling pity for the guys lying on the ground, wounded and abandoned by their comrades. Before long, their young lives would end in one of the most terrible ways. The terror on their pleading faces made my eyes swell with tears that I let flow without shame.

I prayed for the Spirits to give them a quick death and was about to direct Ringil to the bridge...

But I caught a groan. A female groan.

I turned suddenly in the direction it came from and saw an elf crushed to the ground by a horse carcass. Its knight had also been trapped under the animal, and instead of working with her to try to lift the beast, he was trying to stab her in the throat.

In a blink of an eye, my mare galloped toward them, spraying the water, ever higher, on the soldiers who tried to drag themselves away from the path of the water slide. I flew down from Ringil and fell to my knees beside my kin, gripping the man's wrist a moment before the point of his weapon cut her fair skin. I was about to turn the dagger toward the soldier, pale and with ripples of blood flowing from his nose and mouth.

But a second man—whom I didn't notice he'd remained behind—slipped toward me with such impetuosity that, besides getting me soaked, he almost ran me over as he pressed a blade to my throat.

My eyes collided with his, a hypnotic pine green with lighter shades.

He was a young man in his thirties, with sun-kissed skin, thick light brown hair that brushed his nape, a short beard, and massive armor with dark bronze scales.

For a thousandth of a second something passed between us.

Something I couldn't interpret.

Something that lighted up his gaze.

Then a gust of microscopic water drops brought me back to my senses, and my attention suddenly turned to the abnormal wave— too abnormal, I thought—that was coming.

He glanced at it, too, then looked back at me with a determined frown. He lowered the dagger, putting it back into the sheath that hung from his right side along with a wound-up rope. And without even a nod of understanding, we both knew what to do.

I took the cantle of the saddle, he took the pommel, and together we pushed with all our strength to lift the dead animal.

My comrade crawled away wailing, while the knight did not move a muscle, his wide open and glazed eyes staring at nothing.

The newcomer and I gazed at each other briefly, then I let go of the horse carcass to look after my subject. She had a broken leg. So, between her muffled cries, I hoisted her on my mare.

Meanwhile, the water level had reached my shin. Ringil would never been able to gallop in this swamp, with twice the weight.

So, I put my hand on her neck and met her big, expressive black eye. "Fly, my friend. Fly," I whispered.

The next moment, with a sharp movement, I pulled her bridle off and gave her a loud pat on her shoulder to get her away from me. With a small, shrill neigh of suffering, she obeyed and rushed to the bridge.

"Princess!" the elf yelled, yanking at Ringil's mane to try and get her back to me. "No!"

"Nauriel!" Araton roared in anger.

But deep down, we both knew he would have done the same if he were in my position.

I held his look of fear for a moment, then turned to peer at the soldier who stayed with me.

He raised an eyebrow at the avalanche of water that was seconds away from hitting us as if to say, Any ideas?

In response, leaving the dagger alone, I unlaced the sheath of the sword hanging from my side. The man immediately understood that I was doing this to get rid of the impediment of the long weapon and run better, so he imitated me, dropping his sword in the water with mine.

Then I sprinted to the nearest tree.

As I ran, I placed my foot against the tree trunk and leaped up to seize one of the branches. I hoisted on it and made to climb higher when a grunt of frustration made me pause.

On the ground, the human was trying to copy my jump, but the bark kept crumbling under his boot every time he pressed his foot on it, making it slippery.

I should have left him down there, since he had marched here with his comrades to break into our home, occupy it, and slaughter my people until I submitted the crystal to them. Nevertheless, I felt something inside pushing me to help him.

Pushing me toward him.

With a dirty look, I stretched my hand out to him. He glared at me the same way—but with an imperceptible light of amusement in his eyes—and squeezed my fingers. Thanks to my strength, I pulled him up a moment before the lower waves broke with force at the tree base.

We barely had time to climb a little higher, and the tons of water from Lake Caran fell powerfully on us, shaking the tree.

The branches became slippery under my fingers. The leaves of the lush foliage began to come off, sticking to my face. The other trees started to sink into the rushing waters.

It was then that I realized that the flooding had not affected the part of the plain in the Elven Kingdom, but had remained isolated to the Kingdom of Men, almost as if an invisible barrier was preventing the water from wetting my land.

Was it the work of the witch still beside my brother? The water splashes that stung my eyes like a myriad of pins did not allow me to see clearly if he was casting a spell.

And then, in the roar of the waters that flowed with ever more unstoppable fury, instead of slowing down, I began to feel vibrations inside the tree trunk.

The roots were being uprooted from the ground.

I glanced at the man with me, who gave me a questioning and alarmed look. Then I turned toward Araton.

"Nauriel", he whispered in terror.

His stallion reared.

And the tree fell down.