A Touch of Magic

Chapter Fourty

Chapter Forty

Evergreen

The morning comes. We are silent as we prepare the army and begin to march towards SteelHeart's castle. Each of us is brutally aware that this day could very well be our last.
We were ambushed upon our arrival as if he had been expecting us. Just as Night Cast predicted, there was another army fighting with SteelHeart.
Orcs attacked from all sides. Slicing their skin was easy enough. It was avoiding their oversized cleavers. That was the difficulty. SteelHeart and the army he had called into battle were fierce and powerful warriors. While some of us had the advantage of fighting on horseback, so did they.
Brikwood was slicing his way through a hoard of orcs, chopping two heads off at a time. Night Cast was sword fighting with SteelHeart.
The thoughts of her taking him down after all the man had done to her brought a half smile to my lips. I still wasn't the biggest fan of her. But she really had seemed to have changed.
Glade was near me, scratching a man's eyeballs out. Hazel and Mildred were distracting few men on horseback. Even with Demetry, who was a very skilled warrior, and the rest of the queen's army, it appeared that we were falling back.
By this point in the battle, most of the orcs were dead. However, most men remained. I glared over my shoulder. SteelHeart was lying on his back. Night Cast must have moved on. I suspect in a breath. Was he dead? Was it finally over? Had we won?
I raised my bow, ready to release an arrow as I slowly crept towards his motionless body. His eyes were closed, although I could find any blood or fatal injuries...
Water! SteelHeart jumps up and commands the sky. A massive downpour erupts out of nowhere and drenches me. Dark magic! I feel the tingling begin in my legs as I struggle to retain my balance.
"No! No! No!"
There's nothing to do, but await death as my legs shrink into a tail, and I collapse on the ground. SteelHeart stands above me, ready to strike. It's over. It's all over...
With a single slash, my tail separates from my torso. A painful memory of my severed leg boils to the surface. But this time, throwing me off a cliff won't save me. That had been my one shot, and I'd alright used it.
I frantically scan the battlefield for Brikwood. If I'm going to die, I want my eyes on his gorgeous face. He's running towards me from across the battlefield.
A small smile creeps up my lips as I allow my heavy and burdened eyes to close. I feel Brikwood take my hand. I fade away into blackness.