Sword of Ice (A Throne of Glass Fanfiction)

6

6

The Valgs were here.

Lightning cracked through the stake, splintering the witch's charred body as the demons' ghoulish figures hovered in the sky. Thunder roared a split of a moment later, the crowd erupting into chaos, both horror and panic laced around them as they flee the square.

Above, the misted figures wafted, gathering their strength for descent and attacking the crowd that remained hampered down below. Stampede sent many crashing to their feet, unable to stand back up and lost within the chaos. Their cries for help stood out from the rest, more chilling to hear as they faced their fate.

Rowan tried to block the sounds. And failed. They sounded like bells pealing through his ears.

Another lightning bolted down on the platform, fragments of wood collapsing until the platform of execution has turned into rubble. Some of the sentinels have flee long before, but others fell under the weight of the debris, trapped as wood caught another fire, blazing wild with a bigger cloud of black smoke.

Now there was no telling where the Valgs were hiding. Or if it was just the smoke they were seeing now. They would be spiralling their way within the shadows, charging a blind foray for those who didn't know better.

Only one thing's for certain.

The Valgs would be avoiding that fire at all costs.

Fenrys seemed to think the same, shooting a glance at Rowan before they sprinted towards the rubble, jostling against the crowd who's heading towards the opposite direction, away from it.

They settled behind the flaming rubble, crouching down to hide from the Valgs. Ice and wind were already weaving beneath Rowan's armory, killing the fire off the wood beside him, coating it with ice. Faint blasts of wind cascaded out of him, not enough to give their position away to the demons.

Fenrys was fading here and there, testing whatever folding he could do in between distances. Should they need a quick escape, he'd be ready.

"We can't fight them if they refuse to come to us. We'd have to lure them to a fire they won't see coming."

Rowan knew this more. He had enough experience with the Valgs to know that the only way to defeat them was through sudden fire. Not the fire that already blazed around them. If anything, this was only a shield. They'd have to come up with something else.

"Did the trouble in the forest help you think of that?"

Rowan rolled his eyes. He'd been the center of attention in the cadre these days. It wasn't a mystery why. "I suppose you've met Gavriel along the way."

"The lion roams farther than any of us," Fenrys scoffed, annoyance in his tone. "And he doesn't even need permission from Maeve."

"That's because lions are too feral to be caged."

The white wolf chuckled incredulously. "Do you imply Maeve's slightly afraid of him? Because wow, that should be written down for history."

The hawk shot back a glare. Silver tongued and a dark humor. How he'd survive under Maeve with that continued to befuddle him. "Your cousin's right. You are an annoyance." It was Fenrys' turn to roll his eyes. "Why don't you go ahead and tell that to Maeve? She'd be pleased to hear your tease."

Something glum glazed Fenrys' onyx eyes which instantly turned into cold indifference. "I wouldn't dare do it beyond the bed."

And that was it. Rowan knew not to push him further, if only it was a small offering of reprieve from what the young Fae had to endure for over a century. Warming a millennia old Fae queen's bed wasn't exactly finer than any other dirty job she'd nail to the cadre's backs.