Into The Shadows

CHAPTER 17

What followed was difficult to describe. One moment Mist was sitting on the mountain, and the next her vision went black. When she opened her eyes, she was flying through the air. A shadow dagger in her hand, she pressed her wings in a cocoon around herself and spiraled down. Right before she hit the ground, she unfurled them, arresting her descent and sliced Savini across the face with the dagger.

She then soared back up, hiding in the darkness of the night, all in the span of three seconds. Savini let out a grunt of pain and touched his cheek. He glared at the Thieving Empire's archers and raised his hand, a sign to his Empire that Mist recognized.

Attack.

"Not on my watch you masochist." she hissed to herself. Then she spiraled down again and sliced him across the other cheek, allowing herself to slow down so he got a glimpse of her eyes. She flew back up and perched in a tree. Savini looked around wildly,

"Who is firing!?" he yelled. Mist took out a dagger hidden in the sheath on her thigh and held it by the tip of the blade. Mist aimed at his shoulder, to inflict as much pain as she could. She threw it as hard as she could, and it whizzed past Savini's army and hit the tip of his shoulder. Unfortunately, it only scraped off a little metal from his shoulder plate and dropped to the ground without reaching its mark. Savini glared at the dagger as it rested on the ground.

Mist lifted out of the trees and hovered above his army. She then flew forward and aimed for Savini, barreling into him and dropping him to the ground. She placed her right knee on his neck, and her hands pinned his wrists down. He looked up at her and frowned. She let go of his right hand and put her left knee on the palm to keep it pinned, then took off her mask.

The gasp of shock that came from both Empires was almost worth it.

Almost.

She scowled down at Savini and placed a dagger on his neck.

"Say goodbye you-" She was flung off and then kicked in the gut by Savini and spun backward, right into the trunk of a tree. She slammed into it and coughed, falling to the ground. She sprang back up and sprinted forward to shove Savini as hard as she could. He stumbled backward and as she turned to the other Leaders, she saw Maelstrom's horrified face and stormed up to him. Mist grabbed him by the hair and yanked him down.

"You liar!" she screamed. He grew a little taller and tiny horns sprouted at his head. She threw him forward and into Savini, they both stumbled a little.

"That's for killing Stanton and Laurie," she snarled. Then she glanced over her shoulder at the other Leaders.

"Hi guys," she said. Pom looked furious, Razor looked relieved, and Farniir looked a little confused. Tear was nowhere to be seen. As Savini and Maelstrom tried to untangle themselves, Mist sped to her Empire and grabbed a startled Nathan by the shoulders. His eyes widened in shock when he saw her, and a smile spread across his face as he stood frozen in place.

"Nathan, snap out of it we can celebrate later! Please, we need to focus!" she said to him as he gazed at her in happiness. She shook him a little and fluffed her wings.

"Where is Teardrop?" she asked.

"She is resting in a tent; she was shot and-"

"If she is healed, go get her now! We need everybody ready to fight!" she yelled at him.

He nodded and quickly turned to run in the other direction, obeying her command. She looked to her army of perfectly aligned thieves. The front row consisted of archers holding armed bows, and a few from the other Leader's troops were holding strange guns. Behind them were the swords, then the daggers, and then more bows. A few of the younger thieves who weren't strong enough to pull a bow had guns loaded and ready to fire. Mist turned around and stepped forward in line with the other Leaders.

"So, does this mean we are in an alliance?" Razor asked as Savini stood up. Pom shrugged. "Who even knows what's going on at this point."

Mist chuckled as she turned to Savini, who was scowling deeply. Mist created a blade out of the shadows and held it close to her face. Savini raised a fist in the air, his army surged forwards, ready to continue needless bloodshed. Mist turned to her armies, devastated that she had to risk their lives for Savini's own entertainment, but she wouldn't risk defending, she had to attack this time.

"For the fallen," she said. Then with a battle cry, the armies came forth and all hell broke loose.