Elemental Witch: Child of the Earth (Part I)

Aftermath

(Tried something different for this chapter, including music that was in my head  as I was writing it. If it detracts from the story, let me know!)

The attack on the War Council was over before most people had been able to draw their weapons.

Shelby grabbed Cavin to pull him backwards from the circle of stones placing his body between the chaos and his king. Oliver moved with him, followed by Benchan and a couple more Guardsmen as they moved away from the threat and surrounded their King to create a wall of bodies to protect him from another attack. 

All of them knew that they had been too slow to stop what had really mattered, all of them fighting to force their hearts to start beating again and their breathing to return to normal. They were all thinking the same thing he was, he was certain of it. Their King, his closest friend, the heart and soul of the Kingdom would be dead at this very moment, if not for Verana's quick reaction. It was a tough pill to swallow, realizing how helpless they had been in the moments when their action had mattered most and how lucky the entire kingdom was for the allies it had just begun to recognize.

By the time they met the reinforcements from the Royal Guard and Shelby had taken one of the rider's horses, the chase was already on. The attackers seemingly outdistancing their pursuers with a head start and fear-fuelled flight. His horse caught up with and passed the Clairvalan men who had been running on foot. It wasn't long before he saw the first of the attackers that had been felled, laying on the ground, bleeding heavily. The man's legs appeared to be bleeding heavily and the man was screaming in pain. 

Shelby didn't stop, knowing the man would be picked up by the riders and fighters coming up behind him, knowing that there were more of his ilk heading towards the coast. He only spurred his horse faster when he passed the second man, now only a corpse, blood pooling around his head.

When the cliff came into sight, he saw three small fighters, downing the remaining bulky outsiders as if the men hadn't been trying to fight back. They outclassed their opponents so completely that the large fur covered men barely appeared to be warriors compared to the Fey who were engaging them.

 A fourth small form stood on the river bank and as he got closer, he made out Verana, one arm dripping with blood, the other reaching out towards a long boat that was barrelling towards her against the wind and current of the river. She shifted out of the way and the boat flew over her head, spraying water through the air as it landed hard on the ground and skidded towards him and his men.

Shelby reigned his mount in roughly, cursing a couple times as the boat came to a rough stop only feet in front of him, a long path gouged out of the ground from the force of whatever had been moving the wooden ship.

The two men onboard, dazed from their inconceivable trip, stumbled to their feet grabbing for weapons drunkenly as they tried to dismount the ship to fight. Shelby saw Sencha sprinting up the field towards the ship, followed by two other Feysha and leapt from his horse, tackling one of the men to the ground hard. He didn't have to turn to look to know that the three Feysha had engaged and subdued the second man, focusing on the brief struggle between him and his opponent as he tried to keep the man alive while not being injured himself.

A hard enough punch to the jaw and the man was out cold, allowing Shelby to restrain him quickly before standing and seeing a growing crowd of humans surrounding him, the Feysha and the ship. 

The crowd continued to swell as more and more fighters arrived only to find the situation well at hand thanks to the Feyshan fighters. The humans had been late and Feysha had handled the problem without breaking a sweat, if you didn't count Verana, with half an arrow in her shoulder.