Just when she felt she couldn’t take any more of the
punishing assault on her senses, the madness abruptly ended and she was
suddenly freed of the nightmare. It was
like a door had slammed shut in her mind to keep the darkness out. She gasped for air almost as if she’d been
saved from drowning by being pulled from a dark and muddy quagmire. She breathed heavily and tried her best not
to even think about what had just happened to her.
“My Lady?” Haxton finally queried and he grasped her arm
gently. “Are you well?” His voice was concerned, but strained as well
for he was still battling the effects of the Valkea’s attack on his own sanity.
She pushed up and was glad for his supportive hold for she
felt dizzy and disoriented. When she
turned to look at him, her attention was instead drawn to a blazing light far
up on the slope.
“Look up there,” she called in astonished wonder. “That has to be the Valkea. I think the King and Queen must be
attacking. That’s why the horrible
madness stopped.”
Haxton turned to look, as did the men around them. High above the road was a rock ledge and
perched on the ledge was an intensely bright circle of light. It shimmered with such intensity that no one
could look at it for long. The
lieutenant’s eyes drifted down and he suddenly saw what the Valkea had been
shielding from them before with her dark deceptions.
The rocky slope below the ledge was filled with
fighters. Many were dead - having been
killed by the storm of arrows the Rangers had sent their way. The survivors stared up in stunned shock at
the ledge above them for the Valkea had disappeared from sight behind the
curtain of blazing light. After a
moment’s pause, they charged upward forgetting their attack on the Guardsmen
below. They had to go to the aid of their
matriarch for she was the meaning behind their existence and must be saved at
all cost. As soon as they moved into the
open, the Rangers shot them down with deadly accuracy for they now had a clear
view of their foes. Heedless of the fact
that they were being massacred, the horde struggled upward with singular
focus. They had to save the Valkea.
The captain could see that the Valkea’s fighters were no
longer concerned with his people and knew that this was their chance to get
away. They had done their job of drawing
out the Valkea. Now he needed to get
Carra to safety. “Let’s get out of here,
fast,” he bellowed. “Load up the wounded. Push the dead horses out of the way so the
wagons can pass.”
Rodal looked down the ranks to assess the damage done to his
people. Far down the line, he spotted
Lieutenant Haxton for he was nearly a head taller than the men around him. In the crush of riders, he glimpsed Carra and
was pleased she was still astride the chestnut gelding. She was safe for the moment, but that could
change in an instant. They needed to get
away. To remain in the vicinity of the
Valkea and her horde was insanity.
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