Page 112 of Beneath the Veil of Tides
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
I couldn’t make out the island ground that previously overflowed in lush greenery. It wouldn’t have bothered me at all if it were anything else that covered the land. Anything other than the hundreds of opposing, blood thirsty troops marching towards us.
We all lined up after disembarking the ship. Jun, Zahara, Calvin, Raveeka, Noctis, myself—and, of course, Raven attached to my shoulder, shuffling as if anxious.
Oceanwrought troops filtered further toward the peninsula we had worked to evacuate the villagers over. They formed lines that cast blue tints of light into the sky as the sun’s rays bounced off their hued armor. Thousands. Just on the Ocean Mother’s side. Most against their will as they filed in without armor and entranced expressions. I scanned the lines, finding the humans that marched alongside the soldiers—tattered, unarmored, faces slack and glassy as if their minds were scooped from their skulls.
“I don’t get it. How can she control them? I thought it was only merfolk blood that she had a hold on,” I asked, my eyes focusing on the small, marching children, elderly, and innocent adults that faced forward, stone cold.
She should never have been able to command them.
“I’m not sure, but somehow, she found a way to get her power into their systems,” Noctis answered with the same confusion as mine.
“Their food,” Raveeka replied shortly. “Fish.”
My mouth fell agape. It was a possibility that the Ocean Mother would stoop that low in order to form stronger armies in her favor—even if a chunk of the beings would only be used as cannon fodder.
The Terraguard armies faced the Oceanwrought, battle horns blaring in the distance. The land-dwelling soldiers outfitted in silver metal made it easier for us to differentiate, but we worried more about the unarmed, defenseless humans that marched confidently and mindlessly in the middle of the Oceanwrought army. At least the Terraguard armies marched by their own choice.
We would fight for the innocents and stop it all before tyranny tightened its strangling grip on the realms
The troops looked balanced, the Terraguard matching Oceanwrought nearly one to one in soldier count. They stood mere feet between each other, the infantry bearing swords and shields at the front lines. The beating drums halted. The Oceanwrought soldiers that wielded blades unsheathed them in tandem, raising the glinting metal to the sky.
Screams and colliding metal sang through the sky as the armies met in battle, a sound I would remember forever.
Dead bodies collapsed to the ground from both sides, discarded like garbage as the opponents purged over their carcasses for their next target. My heart sank at the devastation, the blood that soaked into the dry ground like rain, and the beings that fell under the control of someone else. The people that died fighting for dominion over their own land. They witnessed the destruction they fought within before they died, trapped in their own bodies.
We snuck closer to the fight, hidden behind the rugged landscape that protruded from the island's natural beauty. It would be a graveyard from that moment on. No longer a place to visit and find serenity but a place of death and destruction.
Noctis charged into the lines, his power throwing multiple soldiers from both sides into the air. They crashed into nearby men and women left unconscious but alive, taking out a handful in one wave of energy. My stomach twisted at the sight of my Blood Tie in the midst of the chaos, risking his life for the right thing. Although I felt immense fear, I was also overwhelmed in pride.
Jun joined the god, cutting a clear path to the commander that ordered that section of the Oceanwrought army. They both worked in perfect tandem, guarding each other's back while the other took the hit. Opposing troops fell to their power and wit, their grace and rage, their flame and wind.
I searched the crowds but couldn’t find who I searched for. I was defenseless without Raveeka’s trident, so I would stay back to help Zahara and Calvin.
“Aim slightly more to the right than you normally would. The wind is strong today,” Calvin instructed, his normal cheeriness vanished.
He stretched his bow outward and released an arrow, catching the male Oceanwrought soldier at Jun’s back as he and the god advanced to the nearest commander. We had practiced together in the days leading up to the battle, but I wasn’t nearly as accurate as him.
Raveeka stepped into the chaos toward Noctis and Jun, swords of the armies slashing before her face and spoke unblinkingly.
“Halt.”
The group of twelve soldiers from both armies froze.
“Escape her grip and run.”
The soldiers shook as if taking back control of their own bodies. Some trembled with sobs. A few looked around in confusion at the havoc ensuing and crouched in fear.
Two of the soldiers raised their weapons at the titan, aiming to fight back. Their legs moved as if they tried to stand their ground but couldn’t shake Raveeka’s order to run. Her trident scorched them in seconds, ashes catching through the wind.
The other ten tore off toward safety.
A clear path was visible from my point of view, aimed straight for the commander that hovered above a group of troops with arms moving as if conducting an orchestra.
I knocked my first arrow in place, pulled back until my arm began to tremble, aimed slightly more to the right, and released. My arrow sliced through the air and landed in the flesh between breastplate and helm of the soldier to Noctis’s right. The man tumbled to the ground in a massive, metallic heap.
Another reason you make me proud,Noctis shot down our bond, his sword swinging through the air, hitting the next opponent with the hilted end.
