Chapter 32

                                    

                                          
All around them muddy Golight and Aeperian soldiers fought. Swords clanged off armor as soldiers were drowned, burned, or crushed by the elements. The sky was blackened by charcoal clouds, lit only when forked lightning struck. Thunder cracked over the battlefield. A blast of fire roared and disintegrated an Aeperian soldier to ash. The screams of the dying pierced the air. A small battalion of Golight soldiers were launched into the sky by a slight witch with pale skin and dark hair, Allegra. Her eyes glowed green, and her black erudium armor glinted from the many fires burning the battlefield. Allegra brought her arms down and the small army of soldiers crashed into the earth, crunching bone, and bending steel. Blood sprayed into the air followed by a cloud of ash. Then Allegra turned and ran into the thick of battle, swallowed by a mass of bodies. Morgana's mouth dropped open, as more witches annihilated soldiers with curses and the elements. A tornado raged across the battlefield, ripping soldiers into the sky. Curses exploded in brilliant flashes of light, electric blue, purple, and red. The curses made soldiers turn against their own or ripped them apart. Mounds of bodies were piled at the base of charred skeletal trees on the edge of the battlefield. In years to come those trees would become part of the Cursed Forest. 
A young woman with olive skin, dark hair, and crystal pink eyes leapt over a corpse and drew out her bloody sword. Mud and blood were splattered over her dark armor, and Morgana remembered her as the witch from her dreams that had sobbed next to Allegra's body. 
"That's Ingrid, I remember meeting her long ago." Briar's hand went through Ingrid's shoulder, a ghost of memories past. 
  Aelys stared in horror at a twitching Golight soldier who'd lost both his legs. 
Ingrid's arms rose into the air, hauling muddy rusty water from the soil into the sky. Blood streamed from the dead soldiers and formed a floating pool of murky scarlet as large as a small lake. Then she dropped her arms and sent the pool of blood and water crashing down over the Golah Army. She drowned many. Some water users were able to divert the wave and tried to save their brethren. There were feeble attempts from earth users who'd made tiny shields, but eventually Ingrid's magic overpowered them. She leapt over the dead, splashing bloody water. Morgana, Aelys, and Briar followed her. They ran past a fae who stabbed a golden haired witch in the chest, she retaliated by snapping the fae's neck with earth magic. Ingrid blasted soldiers with her earth magic, and razed others with fire. Fae dropped to their knees as she walked past, clutching their throats because she'd stolen the air from their lungs.
 A shiver ran through Morgana as she watched Ingrid fight her way through the Golights.
 She was fearsome, powerful, and only second-in-command of the Maiden Coven.
They followed Ingrid to a space on the battlefield where a gigantic dome of earth magic circled two figures. One of the figures inside it was Allegra. Ingrid threw a fireball at the dome, but it petered out into a puff of smoke. She tried her water magic next and sent a muddy hunk of ice that shattered into chunks against the shield. Ingrid catapulted a ball of earth magic and a loud boom reverberated. Despite Ingrid's efforts, the dome stood strong and hummed with power.
She banged on the dome. "Allegra, don't do this!"
Allegra turned and gave Ingrid a faint smile. A smile that said goodbye. She mouthed the words, remember what I told you.
"No!"  Ingrid screamed, ducking as an arrow clattered against the dome. She whirled and drowned the fae responsible. Bloody water spilled out of his nose, mouth, and eyes as he collapsed onto the mud. 
The other figure in the dome was a fae wearing silvery erudium armor with wisps of golden hair escaping the nape of the visor. The fae took off his helmet and Morgana's blood ran cold at the sight of King Erik. He and Allegra circled each other, mouths moving, their conversation silenced by the dome. Ingrid tried using earth magic again but failed. She screamed in frustration, and tears ran down her face.