Chapter 319 (1/2)

Chapter 319

By the time Boo and I reached the prisoner pens, the field of tree stue was in total chaos

One of the cages had already been opened, and the released elves were scra, trying to herd the one of the h a dozen non-e, crushi+ng them under its hammerlike fists

On the other side of the battlefield, Kathyln was holding off threethe, not able to launch an effective counter attack

Slipping froarrows of pureKathyln downIn my mind, I drew a line froes, let

The ht lines in the dark as they streaked toward their targetsThe attack took the enemy by surpriseWhile I wasn’t able to kill any of therab their attention away from their real foe

An instant later, a hail of razor sharp shards of ice fell down around the h they were made of paper mache

There was a dull ache from my core after I’d cast the spell

I haven’t recovered fro spell I cast on Boo, I realized with frustration

Still, it had been worth e my core for, since the spell had likely savedHelen had shown inally meant to protect the casterSince I was usually in the backlines, I’d played around with the structure of the rather simple spell so that I could cast it on others that needed protection

Protecting all of Boo’s ginorht, but it orth it

A golden gleaes, to where Curtis and Grawder held back two Alacryan battle groupsMy fingers twitched against the string ofinto backlash, I held myself back

It’s not like Curtis needed the help

The once-prince looked like a shi+ning co two large swords glowing brightly in a golden red blaze, burning every enemy that stood in his wayWhen several layers of shi+elds appeared over the Alacryan es that Curtis was after, Grawder skidded to a stop and the two of them unleashed a joint attack of fire and pure concussive es

I closed my eyes, but was too late to avoid the sudden flash as the spell exploded, leaving bright white circles ihtAn instant later the roar and rush of wind hitbehind Boo, I blinked away tears and waited for the burning circles and ringing insuper senses, I thought, sticking a finger in one ear in a fruitless atteo away

By the tie and wastoward a third as his brother prepared to escape with the first group

I couldn’t see Skarn at the center of a big ring of frightened looking elves, but the purple energy that blossoroup told me he’d activated his ic caused goose pimples to raise on my arms and the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on endAs before, the doht focused on each of the nearly fifty people standing in a tight circle around it, then they were gone, all of the off the group of Alacryan soldiers, crumbled the moment Skarn vanishedTwo of theht

Hornfells and Curtis orking toprisoners out into the open where they could be organized into groups, while Kathyln shot spells at anything that e

An elven child was crying so that couldn’t have been older than fiveShe was running through the crowd, her dirty little face looking froirl looked so scared I nearly rushed out to help her, but I stopped when Curtis scooped her up and whispered cal her, so he kept the child with hiroups of fifty

Hornfels was quick with hisbefore a second doy had surrounded theht went to only to a select nu behind some who had crowded into Hornfels’ circle

A cry went up froet their attention

“You there! Here, to me! Come to me!” He held up histhe elven child in his other arm

Nearly a hundred elves had already been rescued, but as I looked at the nu, I realized there were too many

It’ll take at least three medallions to take the with eht, which flickered and flashed as I watched

I was supposed to go back to Tessia and Albold to signal when the prisoners had been freed so that they could use their own medallions to teleport away

But nearly fifty of the elves would be stranded if I didn’t help Curtis and Kathyln…

Then Elder Rinia’s warning rang in my mind: “When the time comes, Ellie, you must choose theabout? But my mission is to save the elves—even Commander Virion said so himself

Confident in Tessia’s ability to handle the retainer, though still so, I sprinted out from the cover of the trees tohere Curtis and Kathyln were struggling to organize the last of the panicked elves

“—can’t leave us here, please—”

“—has already gone with the others, I have to find her—”

“—seen my sister? She was just here—”

Nearly overwhelmed by the low rumble of voices, I withdrewsensation hit

Kathyln aving an to weave my way between the elvesThe first to notice Boo behind me screamed and scattered, but they quickly realized he didn’t pose a threat to them

Kathyln had already realized the problelad you’re still hereWe need you to activate one of the medallions, otherwise—”

Her mouth snapped shut as a blade of pale, toxic mana lanced from the shadows, and Kathyln only barely conjured a wall of ice to deflect it

My heart thuhnot five feet froreen blades of , his focus entirely on Kathyln

Does that ht, the field around us ca eroundSos while others for and scurrying away from him

Tessia’s clear and sharp voice, like a bolt of lightning, booo! Now!”

Behindto throw himself at the retainer, but he froze at Tessia’s commandAfter only a heartbeat’s hesitation, he raised his ulfed hione

Bilal’s blades cut and tore at the vines as he fought to break free“Just because I can’t kill the elf witch doesn’t rowled, his words bubbling up fros were full of poison

But Tessia was already there, and her vines were protecting usI had to trust her to deal with hi so that ouldn’t be able to teleport the additional barriers of ice to shi+eld the closest prisoners, just in case he turned his attacks on the away froled“Here, to me! Quickly!”

It took time, too much time, but the elves were desperate to flee, and they’d seen that we could teleport thean to flock back to me as I moved farther away from the battle

I had bent over to help up an older elf who had fallen down in the rush to escape the retainer, when, behind hostly and green flicked past meThe toxic blade only barely round

The old man moaned as I pulled hi tobehind rabbed hi gash in Boo’s flank released a slow trickle of bloodBehind hie vineThe vine flicked hih the air before sh one of the nearby houses

“Ellie!”

My head snapped around to where Tessia’s form blurred from vine to vine toward the house where Bilal had vanished

“Help Albold!”

My eyes searched the gloo badly, his hand pressed to his side

I reached out and grabbed one of the closest elvesShe was young, with honey-blonde hair and a steely expression“Help gather theroups of fifty!” When she looked at rabbed her arm“Group them up, now! Go!”

With that I darted across the field, reaching Albold just as he sturound

Albold had several long cuts across his chest and storeen colorHe tried to speak, but only h up a mouthful of blood

Wordlessly, I pulled the thin elven soldier’s arm around my neck and heavedWhile I wasn’t able to recover much of my mana, with the help of the adrenaline of battle, I was able to drag him to his feet

In the distance, twenty-foot-tall vines were battering the house where Bilal was, knocking the structure down on his greasy head

With the retainer out of the way, at least for the irl I’d set to rounding up the others had done her best

“Ellie, can you get that group?” Kathyln asked, her tone half fearful, half just tired

For aleft in charge of over forty elven lives, but Tessia was still here, she had the retainer under control, and most of the other Alacryan soldiers were dead

“Yeah, I got these, get those people out of here!”

Purple energy bloo up and over the heads of the elves then spreading out into a dome that covered all of them