The Broken Rules

Chapter 22: The Final Attempt

           Luna was filled with rage. Each step she took gave a sense of power, her eyes were fixed, her head was held high. Lincon and I were silent but under her order. We followed her to the grand doors, hearing the cries of soldiers grow louder and louder. The air was warming up: Saphire was already mid-battle. I called our horses over to get the rest of our weapons. Once fully armed, we went for battle. The doors opened, blood was everywhere, roaring men with one intention in mind: kill to survive. Some men turned to madness and did not recognise their own due to the blood and mud covering their armours. A gruesome sight to behold.

           Luna did not flinch. She watched, Saphire roared through the sky, holding the next battalions of Claribel back, making it easier for us to handle the amounts within our walls. One blink of an eye was all it took for Luna to flame once more. This time she concentrated it more on her armour and weapons. A fatal touch for those who had no magical capabilities. She took slow steps, marching into battle, before taking a full sprint and slashing enemies who were once her comrades to survive. I joined in and cut those in my way. It was hard to recognise who I needed to help and who I needed to end.

           The war lasted for hours, it seemed like an endless nightmare. The sky which had cleared of clouds was slowly starting to turn into a crimson red meaning the dawning sun was close. The trampled fields that were covered with blood would shine redder than before as soon as the light would touch it. We were losing troops rapidly. I had lost sight of Lincon and Luna, if you did not concentrate and set your gaze aside, that single second of lack of concentration could be the one that had you dead.

           On a positive ground, we had regained our fort, pushing back the army led by Alfred. Many fields had burned down from Saphire's overpowering fire breath. Some gathered troops rebuilt our stronghold with some leftovers to protect the injured and for security. I managed to have a small breather as the troops quickly retreated and reformed as much as they could. To my horror, I noticed that two whole garrisons were rearming themselves with reinforced crossbows. The arrows were not just made of wood, they had iron in them. I remembered that my Father had asked all the blacksmiths and weapon smiths to find a perfectly weighted arrow that was mixed with iron that could fit in crossbows. He did it out of fear of beasts and unnatural creatures.

           With the number of soldiers with crossbows and all the arrows they had, it would be enough to fatally wound Saphire. I screamed out, trying to get heard by Luna to try and warn her. My voice would not be heard by Saphire however those two were connected so if she knew, I hoped that she'd be able to warn her telepathically. Anything could work. She continued to swirl around in the air and came down to the ground momentarily to take down some garrisons that bothered us with her weight and wings.

           I continued to scream out, I managed to see Lincon who had heard my voice, further away from him Luna was fighting and advancing to try and reach Alfred. Lincon understood my distress calls and relayed the shouts. He tried to approach her while battling off others. Her attention was grasped back to him. She started to retreat to get the message. I looked to the side and saw an archer slowly and unsteadily rise from the ground, preparing an arrow to terminate him. Luna had noticed the same thing and screamed back. I started running and shouting back at Lincon, avoiding as many Claribelian swords as I could to try and reach him in time. Luna also ran back. She tripped over a body and fell to the ground. She screamed out with all her might, to try and save him.

           Lincon looked to the side where she pointed and momentarily saw the injured archer nearby, aiming for him. He took one step back. One blink. Shot and pierced. An arrow was seen half in front, half behind, pierced close to the heart, in the left lung. He stumbled a little backwards due to the aftershock and from fatigue. He slightly turned his head towards Luna before collapsing to the ground. The archer tried to get back up but I reached for him and cut him down. Luna managed to get back up and ran towards him, she screamed in agonising pain. Lincon was dead.

           I looked back to the enemy camps and saw the garrisons preparing to shoot, they were timing Saphire's descent. I screamed out once more to Luna, hoping this would be the right one, I tried to run as fast as I could to her side. Her next attack would be on the garrisons with the crossbows meaning she would descend in a perfect angle to be shot down. Luna was lost in agony, she did not hear me. I looked up and saw Saphire turning to kill. I was screaming out to her to not descend, to not attack but the roaring blades and pitiful shouts of men covered my voice. Luna had snapped out and heard me, she understood my words and panicked. The garrisons took their positions and aimed. Alfred waited, and counted.

           Saphire continued her descent, eyes fixed on her prize. Her jaws unclasped a little showing off her throat filled with fire ready to be spread, to create a desolation. Luna shouted out. Saphire's eyes unfocused and realised her mistake. The next thing we all saw and heard were the arrows of all the crossbows setting loose and the destructive roar of Saphire's torment. Her wings were pierced, her right eye got grazed nearly blinding her, her chest was pierced by what looked like twenty or more arrows. She had managed to alleviate about a hundred, but a good fifty or so impaled her. She fell from her glorious flight and crushed the garrisons underneath her.

           Our troops were retreating because we were outnumbered and could no longer fight. Luna sat on her knees in pain and fear. Saphire had fallen. Alfred and a small number of his assassins that had survived our first and second encounter left to ride away from the battlefields. Claribelian soldiers cheered as they saw victory approach. Luna was flaming more than ever. I looked at her and understood. I ran back and screamed out to all Ragdos armies to retreat fast unless they wanted to perish. We all ran away as fast as we possibly could and as far as our legs could carry us.

           Luna's emotions had gone rogue, she was going to have another outburst. Soldiers that were not from our camp started sprinting towards us again thinking they would live. They were wrong. Luna's wrath turned to chaos, flames climbed in the sky creating a great firewall. She stood up with her arms a little raised to her sides. She looked straight into their eyes and screamed out in fury as she let her firewall crash down on them, setting everything in its path ablaze. Their screams couldn't be heard, they had no time to scream. They were engulfed in a tremendous fire and ended up in ashes.

           After her grand act, the fires dimmed down, showing the golden and crimson fields to be an incinerated black lifeless ground. Luna, who looked like she was standing with great power, fell to her knees. Everyone stood silently, staring at what they had witnessed. There were no remains, no bones, she had even melted the armours and weapons. The fields had been burned so far that we could see the hills ahead burned down, meaning she had incinerated everything on a large scale, making sure Alfred had also died in the process. Or so I believed and hoped. I would make sure as soon as I would rule Claribel to set out a research party for his face in case he had managed to escape the roaring flames of anger with pure luck.

           The only thing that had survived the flames was Saphire's fallen body. Luna stumbled back up and slowly approached her, I gradually got closer to her to accompany her. Although I did fear her power a little, I had to accept it no matter what. Luna had lost so many friends in this destructive war. Jania, Lincon, the King of Ragdos, her family in the past and Xenya. I prayed. Luna spoke with broken hope and with a shaky voice:

-Saphire..?