Macha's Journey

After fastening the hidden link to the woman he loved, Krystof lept up onto the falling snow and shot an arrow at Iminathi. Gusts of wind enveloped his body. They allowed him to dance upon the descending snowflakes as if they were solid ground.

Iminathi realized she would never dodge out of the way, so she used one of her defensive rings to shield her from the arrow. A silver bunker of light surrounded her and Krystof"s arrow shattered when it hit the shelter.

He ran along the falling snow, waiting for an opportunity to shoot. While he ran in the air, his eyes met Iminathi"s. Krystof shook his head and breathed under his breath, "Why?"

They both understood this tactic only drew out the inevitable. Those types of rings typically had one charge per day, and the bunker would not stay around very long.

In the corner of his vision, Krystof saw Fenrir make her way to Luna. While he waited for Iminathi"s defensive magic to disappear, he pulled his bowstring back and a glowing red arrow appeared. It weaved through the battlefield and aimed for Fenrir"s left arm. She blocked it, but it exploded causing some damage to her hand.

Iminathi saw this as an opening and shot three arrows towards Krystof. He did not have enough time to draw back his bowstring, so she hoped to land an attack.

The arrows were aimed at his chest, but Krystof leaned back to dodge them. They flew above him and he grabbed two from the air, knocking them onto his bowstring. They were shorter than the ones he used, but Krystof fired them back at Iminathi after spinning in the air to reposition himself.

The arrows shot her in her legs and the snow splattered crimson from her blood. Krystof dropped to the ground in a crouching position. Seeing that his attack was a success satisfied him, but it also caused his heart to ache.

He remembered holding her the day she came into this world. She had been so small, and he regarded it as a blessing. Iminathi cried the first time he held her and his family had laughed. They teased him about how women always cried for him. Back then, life seemed so simple. Now, the tears that cascaded down her cheeks tore at his conviction. He wondered if there was some way to save her.

The snow crunched under his boots as he made his way to Iminathi. She crawled away from the battlefield, leaving long pink streaks along the ground. Krystof could hear her crying and he did not know how to console her.

Iminathi spun around to lie on her back. She stared at her cousin who had also been a mentor to her. He was the one who taught her how to string a bow. He had been there for her first bulls-eye. Krystof"s eyes which formerly held so much pride when he looked at her, now looked pained and full of sorrow.

"I"m sorry I let you down," she sobbed. Even now, when she neared the end of her life, she did not regret her actions. "I love him. I can"t live without him," she wept.

Sniffling, Krystof"s voice was hoa.r.s.e. Tears trailed down his flawless cheeks. "I can beg the others to report you weren"t here. Iminathi, please. I don"t want to kill you." It was not beyond him to beg his friends to hide his cousin"s hand in this.

He wanted a different way for this to end, not the one he foresaw. If he killed her, he understood it would be covered up, but he would still have to live with that pain.

Iminathi apologized over and over. She did not want to live without Jarnvid by her side. Over the years, she accepted that he had his flaws, but he made her feel special. The way he looked at her made her fall in love over and over again.

The rumble of the avalanche grew louder, and she realized it was almost upon them. Giving Krystof one last look, she unsheathed a dagger and pushed it into her chest without hesitation. She lived life without regrets and did not want him to live the rest of his life with the burden of killing her.

The explosive shot hurt, but Fenrir did not have time to pay Krystof back. She wanted to witness Luna"s dismembered body strewn across the snow. While Fenrir dated Tyr, Luna always tried to convince him to stand up for himself. She did not understand why Luna even cared about him. He had been too much of a boy to cut his parents out of his life, and too much of a man to accept their a.s.sistance. In the end, Tyr amounted to nothing. All he was useful for was to be a step up to find better opportunities.

Luna saw Fenrir running at her. She quickly chanted a spell to harden her skin. A brown aura surrounded her, and she bent her knees, readying herself for the first attack. The gauntlets that Fenrir wore had claws on the fingers and their tips scratched against her stomach. She flexed, and the attack did nothing.

While Fenrir remained close, Luna grabbed the hand that pressed against her torso and chanted a spell. Stone formed on the fingertips, working their way up.

The pain in her left arm was immense, but Fenrir forced it up and back-handed Luna across the face to stop her from chanting. The force caused Luna to tumble into the snow. When Fenrir checked her hand, she found that the stone did not make it past her knuckles.

A low growl came from her throat. Luna really knew how to make her angry. The damage was practically permanent and her hand would be deformed. Only expensive medicine and high-level healers could fix a spell like that. Both of which were beyond her means now.

Fenrir raised her right hand and a dark orb expanded from her palm. Now, she wanted to watch as Luna"s body decayed into nothingness before her. This move took a second to charge, but Luna was far enough away that Fenrir judged that she should have enough time.

The cold snow made Luna"s face sting. The flakes stuck to her long lashes and eyebrows. When she looked up, she saw Fenrir readying a corrosive attack. Luna flung open her spell book and recited a spell that wrapped a golden light around her.

The light formed a dragon that had a pearl embedded in its forehead. Its long whiskers waved in the cold winter air. Luna plucked a few scales from its side and fanned them out in front of her face.

Fenrir threw the dark orb at Luna and ran alongside it. She wrapped herself with wind magic for speed because she knew Luna lacked physical strength compared to her. If she moved faster, then Luna would not have a chance to even land a blow.

As Fenrir drew closer, Luna threw the golden scales of light at the woman. One cut deeply into her cheek, but the others had been easily dodged. Blood ran down her face in a fine line and Fenrir stretched her arm out for Luna"s face. She wanted to rip out those green eyes that looked so similar to Hrod"s.

The tips of Luna"s eyelashes felt Fenrir"s claws brush against them, but a sudden jerk pulled her back across the battlefield. She landed into Krystof"s arms and he helped her to steady herself. He gazed at her, tears running down his eyes. Beside them lay Iminathi"s lifeless body, her blood stained the surrounding snow.

Krystof drew back his bow and Luna chanted a spell to empower his arrow. The magical arrow was wrapped with multi-colored streaks and it shot through the air. Fenrir tried to dodge, but it followed her. The tip pierced into her back and exploded with a loud blast. They could not see what happened to her because the avalanche wrapped around her before the light faded.

Krystof picked Luna up in his arms and lept across the tumbling avalanche. His voice still shook when he asked, "Is your arm all right?" He worried about the arm that Fenrir"s magic had hit. The spell had ripped the skin off and he saw some of Luna"s bone.

She did not understand what Krystof referred to until she inspected her body. The attack happened so quickly that she did not realize it landed. The last thing she saw before Fenrir"s hand covered her vision was her dragon consuming the dark orb.

Aila summoned her mount and rode to get Mathis. He did not have abilities that would save him from this and she did not want to search through the snow for him. As she sped to him, she reached out her hand and he grabbed it. She swung him up behind her and he held onto her waist.

She rode up beside Krystof who ran above her with Luna. He stepped lightly from snowflake to snowflake.

Luna"s injury looked bad and Aila wanted Mathis to attend to it as soon as possible. Shouting to be heard over the loud rumble of snow, she called, "Krystof, let"s head uphill! We can go where the snow settled already."

Krystof nodded and changed direction. It took a while to get to the settled snow. The effort left him winded, and he realized he needed to train harder. Since being with Luna, both of them had relaxed in their training. Now he regretted it. Luna"s lips were pale, and she lost a lot of blood. He quickly handed her off to Mathis.

The fight between her and Fenrir had been a bad matchup. A heavy magic wielder never did well against a physical fighter. Luna"s magic was more for summoning and she was better behind the lines. Unfortunately, Fenrir had it out for Luna from the start, there was nothing more he could have done.

Dailen burrowed his way out of the snow. He did not have time to get out of the avalanche, but luckily for him, he created an ice sphere around him to protect himself. His hand broke through the last layer of snow. He felt someone grip his wrist and pull him up. Aila"s face came into view and her companions surrounded him.

When he looked around he did not see the woman who hired him. He knew it was over and did not bother to resist.