Miras Last (21 page)

Galena strode out of the tent and almost into
Tark. He had been heading to her, to see if she was ready. He had
the same expression as every other elf that was in the camp,
determination mingled with the fear of the unknown.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like I’m about to throw up, so I’m good,”
Galena answered grimly.

To this Tark sighed, before pulling her into
a hug.

“I think that’s the general feeling that
everyone else has.”

“I’d say we’re all set then. So what’s the
game plan, other than see an enemy and cut them down? Because
although I’m sure that would work if we had less monsters to go
against, but it lacks in the face of a storm.”

Elenio shook his head slightly and ran a hand
across his face in response to this.

“We’re going to toss as many of the ires all
around us and then between you and the underground elves, we should
be able to give the dark creatures a proper hello,” Morgo said,
coming up beside Tark.

“Then you place a fire ring around the
underground elves. They’ll do what they can from within that ring,
but at least they’ll be protected. We can send any injured elves
over to them for as long as we can, that way our forces will stay
strong for at least a little while,” Tark said looking around at
the group of elves that were gathering. “Is there any way you can
destroy the intunerics all at once?”

“Not without taking myself out,” Galena said
grimly.

To this Morgo looked down, red creeping up
his neck. “They’re made of pretty dark magic.”

Tark nodded his head thoughtfully.

“I’ll do what I can to move them as far away
as possible though. That’s got to help a little.”

“Once we’ve made sure the underground elves
are protected as well as we can, you lower the fire barrier and we
attack.”

“Does everyone else know what’s going to
happen?” Galena asked, eyeing the huge crowd that had gathered
around them.

“Everyone was talked to yesterday while you
were out,” Tark said, also taking in all the elves around him.

Taura joined them, wrapping her arm around
Tark’s waist as they spoke. She looked up at Galena’s brother,
sadness written on her face.

Galena felt her own heart ache as she looked
at her brother and sister-in-law. She looked around the camp,
seeing for perhaps the first time, several elves from her own
village. Faces of those she’d known growing up. There were faces
all-around of the ones she loved and respected. There were faces
there she’d never even made an effort to get to know, to even learn
their name, but yet, here they were, prepared to make the ultimate
sacrifice. Every one of them looked resolute and scared, preparing
in their various ways to defend Tomiro from the creature who ruled
them for so long. She saw swords drawn and bows readying. In
everyone’s hands, she saw at least one of the ires and some of them
held more. Feeling moved at this final stand, Galena cleared her
throat. Both Tark and Elenio nodded, realizing what she was about
to do.

“Today is it. Whether good or bad, we put an
end to this life, as we know it. We’re all scared, but our
determination is so much stronger. For lifetimes, we have been the
slaves of that cruel monster. No more. We will show Rau what elves
are made of! Today we will make Rau regret his very existence!”
Galena used the wind to carry her words to all the elves. She
watched, as they stood straighter, their faces looking fiercer.
“Today, we take back Tomiro!”

To this, Galena met with a torrent of shouts
from the elves around her. The sheer volume caused her to stagger,
her ears ringing. Every weapon held high as the elves continued
their battle cries. Galena turned to Tark and said just loud enough
for him to hear, “Let’s get this party rolling.”

* * * *

The elves positioned themselves in various
spots by the firewall. Underground elves were placed strategically
between them, prepared to set the ires on fire when they
encountered the dark creatures. Galena stood by Elenio, Tark,
Morgo, and Taura. She held several of the ires in her hands. Her
plan was to use wind to give them an extra boost before setting the
small orbs ablaze. Looking to Tark, she waited for him to give the
signal. He looked around the camp. All the tents had been removed
and put away in the center of their area where the underground
elves were to be stationed once the first part of their plan was
put into action. Satisfied that everyone was where they were
supposed to be, he looked at Galena and gave his head a short jerk
down.

Galena returned the gesture and then sent a
column of light into the air. On cue, every elf hurled their ires
high into the air and over the fire barrier. Galena closed her eyes
and listened for the resounding thuds as the glass orbs made
contact with the different creatures surrounding them. Within
seconds, she heard the sound she had been looking for. With a hand
flung out, she caused the ires to erupt into flames even as she
sent several more flying through the air. She set those ablaze too.
The sound around the camp changed from a relative quiet to
outbursts of pain as the dark creatures caught fire.

The underground elves were already racing
back to the center of the camp, preparing themselves for the second
part of their plan. Galena could see many more ires within their
grasp and smiled. They would be throwing them out as the battle
progressed into the swarm of black. That and they would be using
the wind, as Morgo taught them, to fly injured elves to their side
and to rid themselves of dark creatures from time to time. Morgo
also suggested they use the wind to send heavier objects into the
enemy, but Lars suggested this would probably not be a good idea,
as it would wear them out much more quickly than they could afford.
Galena agreed with him on this point.

Morak’s archers took their positions toward
the back of the lines and began to shoot arrows loaded with fire
into the enemy army causing more shouts of confusion and pain to
ring through the camp. They continued doing this while Galena set
up a fire barrier around the underground elves. She knew it would
be their best chance, but it still made her nervous to leave them
that way. She would have to trust that their magical abilities
would give them the upper edge.

Seeing they were all safely within the
confines to the firewall, she looked around. There were still some
elves lined up around the edges prepared to take on the creatures
that surrounded the camp while the barrier was up. Morak’s group
sent several more arrows into this area and using bolts of
lightning, Galena sent the rest of the creatures running back to
the main group.

“Here we go,” she yelled as loudly as she
could. As quickly as the flames rose up, they went out, showing
Galena and the elves the confusion their ires had spread. The enemy
was running around in in complete disorder, some of them ablaze and
colliding with others to spread the fire further. Not a single
creature looked prepared for the elves to attack. As one, the elves
surged toward the scrambling monsters. Galena grabbed the
intunerics with a funnel of wind, sending the stones shooting out
toward the dark creatures and far away from the camp. The stones
caused further chaos among the dark army, which suited Galena just
fine.

She met a narook head on as he scrambled to
get his sword out. With one swing of her blade, she quickly
dispatched of the creature. Elenio took on several more torlics and
Tark joined him. Taura was busily defending herself against several
other dark creatures Galena saw once before. Galena looked up and
saw several crags flying high above and preparing to dive down on
the elves. “Not this time,” she muttered to herself. Sending
another funnel of air up to them, she managed to suck up several of
the creatures within the confines of the wind. Bolts of lightning
pierced the funnel and when Galena released the wind, dead bodies
fell to the ground landing on the enemy below and crushing
them.

Galena looked around and saw they were
pushing the enemy back. She felt a small twinge of hope blossom in
her chest. Swinging her blade up and around, she cut deep into the
torso of a torlic. She removed her blade and swung around again,
flipping in the air to land in the middle of another group of dark
creatures all in various stages of confusion. She dropped to the
ground in a squat and spinning around, she cut off the legs of the
creatures, causing them to crash to the ground before bursting into
light.

Focusing again on the sky, she saw several
more ires flying through the air and landing deeper within the dark
swarming mass. Helping the underground elves out, she caused the
ires to burst into flames when they landed. More confusion raced
through the enemy lines and the elves took advantage of it. Like a
giant wave, they crashed upon the monsters dispatching them quickly
before pulling back only to crash down on them again.

Elenio came up beside Galena and together
they fought on, closing the distance between the elf camp and
Blackwell. Galena saw the dark castle growing bigger and bigger
with every creature she killed. The smell of death and blood hung
heavy in the air and the sound of screams and clanging swords
filled her ears. She watched some elves soar through the sky and
back to the camp, in various injured positions. The confusion that
had consumed the enemy before was building as the elves continued
their onslaught against them. Galena saw a couple more crags high
in the air, circling around and looking for a good target. Galena
quickly destroyed them by causing their heads to erupt into flames.
Their bodies fell heavily to the earth almost crushing a group of
elves engaged with an earagos.

“Ooops,” Galena said quietly.

Elenio looked at her, shaking his head
slightly and taking the arm off a nearby creature that reminded
Galena of a torlic and narook combined. She shrugged her shoulder,
watching several more ires fly through the air into a charging
earagos before bursting into flames. She watched the giant creature
stumble around blindly, crushing smaller monsters under his feet
and causing many more to catch fire. An unfortunate torlic had
gotten too close to one of its legs and was sent flying when the
earagos staggered around and kicked it while he howled with pain.
The smell of burning flesh filled Galena’s nostrils and she
suppressed the urge to gag. She felt hot and sweaty and still they
fought on. They couldn’t stop now, not while they had the enemy
practically running toward Blackwell.
Time to move things along
before we wear ourselves completely out.

“Galena, pace yourself,” Elenio shouted,
reading her thoughts correctly.

She sighed before jumping up and flipping
over the oncoming attacking creature. She plunged her sword into
his back. Using her foot, she kicked the creature off, squinting
her eyes as yet another creature became the victim of blinding
light.

“I know, I know,” she said feeling slightly
exasperated. She caused a large funnel to form, much bigger than
she had ever created and sent it roaring toward the enemy. She felt
her hair whip around her, stinging her face and eyes with its
lashes. Enemy and elf watched as the giant creation raced toward
the monsters, sucking up everything in its way.

The elves gave a mighty cheer, yelling their
approval from every direction. The enemy, on the other hand, ran
screaming in the direction of Blackwell. The funnel rose higher
into the air, growing thicker and thicker as the winds gained
speed. The sound of its roaring drowned out everything else. Using
her hands, she pushed the great roaring beast further into the
enemy lines where nothing was safe. It left a clear path, showing
the world exactly where it had been. Galena watched, her eyes
alight with fury and power, the sword in her hand causing her to
glow even more. Tark, Elenio, Morgo, and Taura stood next to her,
watching the chaos unfold before them. Not a single dark creature
was attacking, but instead was running in every direction, trying
to avoid the ever-growing beast before them.

They crashed into the waves of the ocean
separating the mainland of Tomiro from the domain of Blackwell and
some raced across the bridge made of intunerics, trying desperately
to escape. Bolts of lightning came racing to the ground to strike
the fleeing creatures. Galena felt the ground tremble with the
retreating monsters and the force of which her tunnel blew. She saw
the wind column shoot creatures in every direction and causing
others to collide with the ground below or into other fleeing
creatures. It grabbed the dark stones that littered the ground and
sent them flying as well, the results the same for everything that
fell victim to this monster Galena unleashed. She began to feel the
strain of trying to control such a large body of wind so she caused
it to die instantly, dropping all the bodies within it to the
ground with revolting thuds and cracks. She swayed precariously and
Elenio caught her before she collapsed.

“What did I tell you?” he said angrily.

“I’m fine. I just need something to eat. I
actually feel better now that I’m no longer trying to control that
thing,” she retorted.

“Fine or not, that was certainly something to
see,” Tark said, still looking at the place the funnel disappeared.
There was not a creature within a stone’s throw distance of them.
They all fled to Blackwell where the remaining half of Rau’s army
awaited. Morgo handed Galena a loaf of bread and an apple, to which
she nodded her head in thanks. She wasn’t sure how he had gotten it
there so quickly, but she found she didn’t really care at that
moment.

She stared across the ocean at the castle
made from the dark intunerics. It loomed menacingly up to the sky
ending in several jagged peaks. It reminded Galena of a set of
sharp teeth pointing to the sky. The clouds above it were also dark
and menacing, swirling around and around the top most peak. The
water churned against it, continually slapping against the rocky
base in an attempt to wash away this dark place. It hadn’t escaped
Galena’s attention that this was the first time she had been to the
ocean. The salty smell filled her senses with a clean refreshing
feeling, only to be erased when she opened her eyes and saw the
tarnish that it held.