Adrenaline pounded through her as Braith was maneuvered toward where Max and Xavier stood before Daniel and William. They were going to die. She was about to watch the people she loved most be slaughtered right in front of her. Caleb passed beneath her beam as a grunt of pain escaped from Braith. Heart hammering, panic drove her as she scurried across the beams toward a flag hanging above the king’s throne.
She knelt on the beam and stretched out as her fingers fumbled to catch the tip of the flagpole. She nearly tumbled from the beam as she lurched forward, but managed to catch herself by locking her ankles around the solid wood at the last second. Her hand snagged hold of the pole and she jerked it free of the wall. She barely glimpsed the king’s coat of arms, with a red dragon on it, as she fell forward, spinning around the beam to dangle by her ankles for a heart stopping moment.
Taking a deep breath, she used the pole to help shimmy herself back around. The wooden flag handle was solid and reassuring in her grasp. She longed to sit for a moment in order to steady the shaking in her muscles, but there was no time for that. Her legs trembled as she pushed herself back to her feet and began to hop her way back toward the fray that had gathered around Braith and the others.
Soldiers parted from around Caleb, stepping back to allow him access to the people they had herded into the back corner of the room.
They were going to die; Caleb was going to kill them all. Desperation drove her as she lifted the pole up and smashed it as forcefully as she could against the massive beam. The force jolted her arms and hands but the pole splintered within her grasp. It wasn’t much, but it was far better than nothing. She placed it onto the beam, and drawing out her last two arrows, she fired them with deadly accuracy into the soldier closest to Daniel, and the one nearest Xavier, as they were the two being most threatened right now.
She tossed the useless bow aside as Braith seized hold of one of the guards by the throat. He drew him abruptly in and for horrifying moment Aria thought he was going to lose himself to the darkness again, but he lifted the guard instead and threw him into the soldiers encircling them. Xavier lurched forward, stabbing the spear deep into another soldier and forcefully thrusting him back. Daniel managed to get William onto his feet and had him propped against the wall behind Daniel and Max’s back.
Their shoulders heaved, all of their faces were bruised and battered, their blood and the blood of others coated them, but they still looked prepared to continue the fight as they raised their meager weapons. Aria hefted the broken spear; she rotated it in her hands as she moved to the place where she had climbed onto the beam. Bending low, she was about to leap onto the table when the doors on the other side of the room burst open.
Aria gawked as Natasha burst through the doors with Jack, Aria’s father, and the others hot on her heels. The aching tension in her muscles eased as she rose back up to take in the new melee that had erupted in the room. King’s soldiers and militia converged with a loud clash of metal and shouts of wrath and pain. Aria recoiled from the violence that reverberated through the room, the blood that was so ruthlessly and methodically shed, but she welcomed the hope the new arrival brought with them.
The attention of Caleb’s men was diverted as they were torn between pursuing Braith, and trying to fend off the new threat that had poured into the room. Calista surged to the forefront as Natasha tried to flee the invading army. Calista grabbed hold of the vampire woman and brought her down beneath her. Aria had never liked Natasha but that didn’t mean she wanted to witness her death either.
Aria turned away before Calista delivered the final blow. Daniel, Max, and Xavier leapt forward as the guards encircling them were distracted by the troops flooding the room. She was bracing herself for the leap down when Braith appeared beneath her. His face was bloody, his plain forest clothes were torn and ragged, there was still a hole in his chest and stomach but he appeared to be healing rapidly. Though she sensed violence in his set shoulders, and locked jaw, his eyes were not red as they met hers.
“Stay up there!” he barked.
Aria bristled over his command. He didn’t give her time to protest though as he began to push and fight his way toward Caleb. She was about to ignore him, about to jump down anyway when she froze. If her capture had taught her anything it was that she had to think before acting, and she sensed that this was one of those times when it was best for her to stay out of the way and not plunge into the fray. She would only be a distraction to her family and friends, and especially to Braith. Her rebellious nature struggled against her decision, but she managed to restrain herself.
Through the mob, Aria spotted her father by the doors of the massive throne room. There was a bloody bandage wrapped around his shoulder, but he appeared unhindered by the wound as he fired an arrow and killed a guard that leapt at him. Relief filled her; tears burned her throat as he lifted his head and spotted her across the crowd. They exchanged a brief smile and wave before he was once again swallowed by the crush of people.
Her attention was brought back to Caleb as he attempted to lose himself in the press of bodies while the two sides hacked and stabbed at each other with ruthless intent. Aria wasn’t about to let him get away that easy though. She followed him across the beams as Braith tracked him on the ground. The tide of the fight seemed to be turning in their direction, but it was still far from over as Caleb barked orders while retreating toward the table, and then onto it. Aria realized only too late what he was doing, what he intended. He’d never been retreating, but heading towards something.
“Braith watch out!” she screamed above the incessant din of the room as Caleb seized hold of a bow and arrow and took aim at Braith.
Braith twisted to the side, barely dodging the arrow Caleb shot at him. A loud roar escaped him as he finally broke free of the crush and bolted toward his brother in a blur of motion. Caleb fired another arrow that Braith snatched out of the air and tossed aside. Caleb threw the bow uselessly at Braith and braced himself for the impact.
Aria winced as they collided with a thunderous shout and the loud crack of at least one broken bone, though she didn’t know who had suffered it. She didn’t want to look, but she couldn’t take her eyes away as they fell on top of the table, pummeling and tearing at each other with a ferociousness that rivaled two alpha wolves fighting for dominance.
All of their hatred toward each other erupted in a violent battle that shattered the plates, crushed and bent the golden goblets, knocked the candle holders over, and toppled a few of the poor souls trapped within the chairs. They rolled across the table as they punched and kicked and scrambled to stay on top, to remain in control, to destroy the other. The guttural, animalistic noises that came from them were unlike anything she’d ever heard and she hoped to never hear again.