Wind Wielder

Chapter 19 - Autumn

The winds tore at her clothes and there was a horrid shrieking in her ears, though it was just the winds howling their defiance at her, their rage as she tore through the folds of the word. Zara had never winnowed before, not on her own. But she knew. In her heart all along, she knew she could, and she had been listening to the sounds of the Autumn court all day. There was a painful squeezing in her chest and a pop of her ears and then grass was under her feet.

Zara withheld her vomit, simply out of pure defiance to not leave a trace, and then she was up and standing in the Autumn Court.

The winds obeyed instantly around her, silencing every breath and sound, every crackling autumn leaf beneath her feet. Zara strode through the crimson forest like a prowling beast in the night, hands calmly clasped behind her. There was an epicenter of silence that followed her, a powersurge sending every hair rising within a half kilometer radius. Every creature and critter in the forest drew deathly quiet at her passing, at the female walking through the woods, sensing the behemoth of power that was threatening to whitecap.

The lightning wielder had entered Autumn, and she was not leaving without bloodshed.

When Zara saw the first guard standing four hundred meters away, she smiled as she ripped the air from his lungs, her hands still clasped neatly at her back. 

She smiled as the winds surged forwards, silencing all sound of his ribs shattering, his lungs collapsing with a wet squelch, the thick thud as his body hit the ground. That smile remained unshaken as she strode past his still warm corpse.

To the west, the heir lies. To the north, the king. The winds whispered by her collarbone, the warrior wind. It was the only one that was willing to speak to her at the moment. Zara could feel the disgust of the wise, the fear of the anxious wind nipping at her heels. But Zara merely cocked her head in thanks, and veered North.

Another soldier came, and still Zara's promenade through the autumn forest continued, the bodies of fae with collapsed lungs trailing in her wake. Not a single drop of blood was spilled. She had learnt long ago how to kill without trace. Without mercy.

It was only when the winds told her she had reached within ten miles of the palace that she came across her first sentry unit.

Zara stopped her approach, seeing the rows of fae upon horses. Their cold, shit brown eyes and pale skin and burgundy armor. It reminded her of the battle that day. It reminded her of the color of stale dried blood. Had Kazia had much dried blood on her corpse as they hauled her away?

May she rot in peace.

Zara sucked in a breath through her nose, and the first row of men collapsed from their horses, a sickening crunch of several collapsed lungs filling the air. It was the signal to charge, and the rest of the men rushed her head on.

Zara broke into a run, the opposite way back the way she came. Arrows shot through the air, hitting the tree branches around her with dull heavy thuds, the winds knocking them to the side for Zara as she ran. Too many. There were too many at once.

The bush got considerably thicker to the left, and so Zara shot that way, her shoes sticking in the soft ground as she ran. The men were forced to demount the horses, chasing after Zara on foot. Zara inhaled a sharp gasping breath, and the soldier nearest to her fell to the ground, a wet gargle coming from his throat as he collapsed.

A body collided with Zara's, and the ground rose to meet her with considerable force. Zara cried out as she smacked the side of her head against a gnarled root. Twisting to look upon the face of her captor.

This one was different. He was hardly more than a boy. Large terrified eyes met Zara's, and they were not the color of dead earth, or shit or mud.

His were chocolate.