and began to move around the mountain, climbing to a more advantageous position. Night fell on them quickly as they found the perfect spot.
“Rocky up here. Good,” Kian said softly, looking around. Mave moved around him and looked down the mountain to see the Elvasi camp below.
“Is it enough?” Mave asked, crouching to get comfortable. Her tail helped her, taking some of the weight off her legs.
“We have enough of this stuff to take off a third of the mountain and send it down on them. It’ll be fine,” Kian answered.
A whoosh. A brown blur. Air grazed her cheek. Her wing stung from whatever went through the thin membrane that made up most the wing.
Mave stood, and as she did, an arrow sank deep into her thigh. She pulled it out with her left hand as she drew a sword with her right.
“AMBUSH!” Kian yelled.
How?
Mave turned, seeing Elvasi soldiers running for them as arrows continued to fly toward them. Mave watched two of the warriors in their unit drop.
She had no time to think. She ran for Emerian and Kian, grateful they were near each other. She ignored the pain in her leg, only focused on getting to them. Before she could, an Elvasi cut her off, swinging a mace. She tried to sidestep, but the soldier hit her left wing.
She felt the snap and screamed as she turned on the soldier, cutting his arm off in one powerful move. An arrow hit her side, sending her staggering. She couldn’t pull that one out or risk bleeding to death, so she left it.
“Retreat!” Kian roared.
Emerian was at her side, grabbing her arm. Other warriors entered the air, but Mave watched as arrows found them. A net hit another. She couldn’t watch for long because the ground soldiers were now surrounding them.
She ran for a gap, Emerian following her. Together, they killed two soldiers and kept moving. She looked over her shoulder to see Kian following her, an arrow in his shoulder and noticeable holes in his wings, a long cut down one of them as well.
They used the trees to dodge the arrows, but they were pursued.
“We need to fly!” Emerian yelled.
“I can’t!” Mave yelled back at him. She slowed and let him pass. “Head for the cliff! Go!”
He slowed as well, though, and they held position. She didn’t care to argue with him. If he wanted to fight at her side, that was his right. Kian was next, along with five other warriors. Once the last warrior passed her, she grabbed Emerian’s wrist with her free hand and pulled, making him come with her. Kian stayed at her pace as well.
“Can you fly?” she asked, looking at him as an arrow whizzed between their heads and landed in the back of another Andinna. “Fuck!”
“I might, but it’ll be hard. They aimed for the wings. They knew what they were doing,” Kian explained. “We need to fight them off in a better position.”
She figured that would be his answer. They ran into the valley as Elvasi on horseback followed them, but they didn’t find the valley quiet anymore. The Elvasi had snuck around them.
Mave slid to a stop as she was met face to face with another unit, their weapons drawn and ready. Another warrior laid dead. Behind her, the ones who initiated the ambush caught up and dove in, continuing their attack.
Emerian roared and swung his scythe, cutting off an Elvasi’s head.
“Punch through!” Kian ordered. “We’re pinched! More on the way!”
Mave went to the new line and roared as she made a leaping attack into their forces. She landed on two, killing them before her feet were on the ground. Her wing sent shockwaves of pain through her, but pain was easy to deal with when dying was the other option. She went down to a crouch and spun low, cutting the legs out from underneath the Elvasi around her. When she came back up, she eviscerated two more, opening their bellies and spilling guts onto the ground.
Kian and Emerian moved to her side as she backed away from the carnage. They were the only three left now, and from what she could see, there had to be fifty Elvasi coming for them, if not more.
“We need to keep moving,” Kian snapped. “Go!”
They ran, turning on their heels. Mave tried to work her wing as they moved, knowing she needed to fly if she needed to get out alive.
Another arrow sank into her lower back and sent her to