The Obsidian Arrow

The Obsidian Arrow: Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

[Arria’s POV]

            Arria dashed through the battlefield to the back ranks where she inspected her surroundings. It was an obvious loss as it always had been expected to be. The air was dry causing her throat to itch and the smell of vinegar, vomit, pine, and honey lingered in the air. She felt weak under her armor with all the battered blows bruising her obsidian silk skin. Her teeth clenched as she clutched her inner thigh in that vibrated in excruciating pain. It was strange to her that she was bested by a human but it also gave her strength. She now knew what the human held as a weakness and it could be used to his advantage. He was a brilliant captain and warrior she had noticed but when Anaela’s life had been place on the line he became frantic.

            The draeyks and daerions were strong in numbers but their skill lacked that of the humans and elves combined. It is not the time… but soon it will be. Her voice triumphed in her mind and a bitter smile came across her face. All around her draeyks and daerions fell one at a time but none gave up and each fought with such intensity as if their life depended on it. It had depended on it of course because if they couldn’t prove their worth than it was no use in Arria keeping them around, and they knew it too.

            “Retreat.” She whispered to a commanding draeyk officer standing beside her.

            The creature nodded and screeched out in a slithering tone, “Rrrretrrreattt!”

            She glanced back towards the battlefield and saw Searon staring at her with an icy glare. He held Arria up in his arms close to his chest but he didn’t look at her. His steel eyes melted into Arria’s with a warning clear on his unshaven face. Now it’s personal human… just the way I like it.

            The elves and humans didn’t stop slicing the creatures down as they retreated out the gate but even after the losses there were still hundreds of them. Thousands to come, Arria thought. There was a war to come but they hadn’t brought out the high cavalry yet. Instead they took a different approach by destroying the king. If enough of the leaders fell the rest would be lost on how to react. Arria licked her lips tasting blood that dripped from her face and sneered.

            Smoke danced around the city as it burned but it wasn’t enough to satisfy Arria’s taste. She unbuckled a pouch from her sash full of black coarse powder and chanted a few words before tossing it into the air. The black sparkles drifted in the air collecting onto trees that were houses to the elves and caught aflame. It caused enough of a distraction for her to disappear through the crowd and out the city along with the rest of the draeyks and daerions.

            The clattering of footsteps echoed into her mind even though she tried to concentrate on her next plan. It was now time to face the dark wizard and inform him of her progress. He would still be forming an army of nacropis’s to add to the raids against the elven capital. She didn’t like to serve but she knew that it wouldn’t last for too long. The dark wizard did have a few good ideas starting with the necromancers. Soon they would be hers to command when she had an opportune moment to drive a dagger through the heart of the dark wizard.

            Her body felt so alive with each kill that she made that it made it hard to stop. The most pleasure for her though was the killing of an elf. It fed her soul to strike and elf down and settled her rage and revenge for a time. Nothing would make her happier than having her sister in chains lain before her. She would turn her sister to see the dark and true path to freedom.

            She looked around her to the tulip fields and a smile erupted upon her face. With her right hand she tore her last bag of soft powder from her pouch and blew it into the wind. It settled upon the flowers burning them to a crisp replacing the honeyed aroma with stale burnt. She rushed to her black panther that awaited her and jumped on top of the animal caressing its neck. The panther rushed forward through the rest of the meadow until they disappeared together through the trees. The draeyks didn’t have creatures to ride but they were quick much like their lizard cousins. However, the daerions rode on large reptile beasts with large heads and scale manes that ended in long spiked tails. They galloped low to the ground nearly half the height of a horse on all fours, gray in color, digging their four penetrating claws into the ground.