Blood And Stone

Chapter 52: The Flame Extinguished

War watched in stunned silence as the Ulfheðnar found themselves surrounded by the dead. They had smashed their way through the ranks and left the battlefield littered with bones but, in an instant, the bones reformed and began a slow but haunting march back toward the living. The Ulfheðnar fought on, driving their swords and axes into the bones once again. Though there was no laughter falling from their lips.

Xenya moved forward as well, her Diviners using the various natural deep sea growths that littered the skeletons against them. Their mossy hair wrapped around their faces. Seaweed from their armor tied them into little bundles of bone. The attempts were valiant but ultimately unsuccessful. To War's dismay, the Bäckahäst were winning their advance as well. The Sithaurians and Ulfheðnar were all surrounded, being squashed and squeezed into their deaths from every direction. Their plan was failing. They were going to lose the city.

War flapped her wings, keeping herself suspended in the air to watch as the battle unfolded. Her crimson eyes darted back and forth, studying the battlefield. It was her time to act but she had little to no influence over the souls beneath her. The unbalanced nature of the world was working against her. She spotted the Tricksters moving back toward The Blue River, attempting a hasty but still violent retreat. The Celik'r hounds were circling the trunks of the trees that held the Archers, their teeth dripping with hunger. She had to do something but there wasn't much she could do for them.

Within the hedge walls of the city, the Bäckahäst were pulling Sithaurians easily into their backs, trapping them in their evil spell and turning them into the dead. The dead were simply rebuilding themselves minus the most damaged parts of their bones. She let out a frustrated sigh, trying to decide where she could help the most. That is when the realization hit her. The Blue River. The waters of the river would destroy the Bäckahäst and the army of the Waves Beyond. They were pure evil magic. But how could she get them to turn and fall into the river?

War dove, moving quickly as she pulled her sword. The bright red blade burst into flame as she swept over the battlefield. The flames caught the skeletons as she slashed away, moving to try and get to Rissa. Her feet hit the ground and her back landed against Rissa's. "Bloodless, we must move them to the river." Her flaming blade slipped through the ribs of a skeleton, sending it screaming and backpedaling hard.

"On the other side of the city?" Rissa kicked the legs off of a skeleton. It landed on its pelvic bone, bringing a frustrated groan from the dark-skinned woman's throat. She kicked its skull away and used her axe to splinter the ribcage as best she could. War nodded her answer. "How?!" A skull exploded into teeth and splinters of bone fragments.

War looked around the battlefield. It was a good question. They would have to push through the city and out through the hedge wall to get to the river. That was hard enough but meeting the dominating Bäckahäst would make it that much more difficult. Not to mention warning the Archers and Tricksters that they would soon be surrounded. It wasn't as though they could pick the waters of the river up and move them to the battlefield. Or could they? War wheeled around to search for the yellow-eyed diviner. She was skillfully using the snow beneath their feet to pack the skeletons against the ground and crushing them as best she could. War moved quickly, her wings pulling her into the air with ease.

"Xenya!" Her voice struggled to find its target above the raging battle. After a few more shouts, the pointed-eared woman found War in the sky above. "I need your Diviners. All of them. We must move to the river and control the waters, bring them here, and douse the skeletons."

Xenya pulled a wall of frozen snow in front of her and pushed her hands away from her, sending the structure crawling away from her. Skeletons became lodged in its wet surface before she threw it to the ground with yet another crunch of splintering bone. "We cannot abandon the Ulfheðnar." She snapped.