Miras Last (6 page)

“How about you start with me first,” she
snarled right before she plunged the Sword of Lumina into the belly
of the earagos. She let go of the blade when it grew too hot to
handle and stepped back, watching with great interest at what was
to come. The giant monster looked down in shock at the sword
sticking from his belly. Tiny cracks spread like wild fire from the
sword out until they covered his entire body causing him to loosen
his grip on Taura. This allowed her to slip to the ground where she
collapsed into a small heap. The cracks widened, light spilling
from each one. With a final groan of pain, the creature burst into
thousands of pieces, light replacing the area that he had once
darkened.

Reaching her hand out, the sword flew back to
her. Grabbing it out of the air, she swung it back and up prepared
for whatever was to come. However, the enemy stayed where they were
and regarded her warily as she stood eyeing them with a fury that
would not be matched. She looked up at the giant cloud, which still
loomed above, but now held a look of horror where glee had been
just moments before. She smiled wickedly up at it.

“Miss me?” Galena called out sarcastically.
Reaching out a hand, she caused the entire valley to light up with
a light so bright, both elves and monster alike had to shield their
eyes or risk being blinded. A scream filled with pain and agony
echoed off the valley walls and sent even the dark creatures to
their knees, their own ears bleeding from the intensity of it.
Galena gasped in pain as her own hearing spiked and then went
painfully dull. With the final echoes of screams dying away and the
disappearance of Rau, Galena caused the light to fade. She glanced
briefly at the enemy and saw with some satisfaction that they were
struggling to get to their feet. Taking advantage of their
temporary recovery and confusion, she looked for Tark among the
recovering elves. They were all smiling at her and waving their
thanks for her assistance.

The elves seemed to be recovering much more
quickly than the creatures of the dark. She saw Tark run over to
Taura where he flipped her over once he arrived at her side. She
watched him until he nodded at her, letting her know that Taura was
alive. He picked her up and carried her off to safety while Galena
brought Elenio down with another gust of wind so he could stand
next to her in battle. Returning her gaze to the enemy, she heard
the elves coming up behind her and preparing for battle once more.
Morgo came and stood next to her. She nodded in appreciation before
regarding the recovering torlics directly in front of her.

The enemy regained their footing, but looked
shocked and a little disturbed at the outcome of their master’s
arrival and sudden departure. They seemed unsure of what they were
to do and looked to each other for some kind of confirmation.
Smiling menacingly, Galena readied her sword once more and charged.
The battle cry of every elf in the valley filled her with awe
beyond words. The elves had had enough and they were ready to take
back their lives.

As one, the elves attacked. Morgo swung his
blade out, striking down an oncoming narook that had managed to
wrap its whip-like fingers around another elf. He grinned at Galena
and headed off toward a group of torlics chasing down another elf.
Galena decided her talents would be best applied to the oncoming
earagos because of the sheer number of elves it took to beat one.
Using her hand, she swept another group of dark creatures high into
the air and far out of the valley before sending them crashing to
the ground. Two more brave torlics charged her, one from each side.
Elenio engaged one. He dropped to the ground and sweeping a leg
out, knocked the legs out from under the beast. He cut the head off
as the great creature went crashing to the ground, spraying him
with blood.

Galena easily blocked the first blow of the
second torlic with her sword. Sliding her sword down the length of
the torlics blade, she spun around and behind the torlic, piercing
him in the back. Instantly, the torlic burst into thousands of
fragments from the contact with the sword of light; gaining the
attention of three earagos, who were storming their way over to her
just like she hoped. She knew Rau would want these creatures to
handle the biggest threats as they could do the most damage. She
figured she should have been flattered that three of them decided
it was necessary to engage her.

Elenio came up behind her and prepared
himself for the onslaught, but Galena stopped him saying, “I need
you to make sure no one else tries to join in our fun. Can you
watch my back from the other monsters while I’m focused on these
three? I’m sure the other creatures are not above attacking me
while I’m busy and I’m going to need to focus entirely on these.”
She eyed the oncoming earagos while she waited for Elenio’s
response.

“I can help...” he started, but she stopped
him by placing a hand over his mouth.

“Please do that for me. I will be fine and
you know it.”

“The archers are already taking care of the
torlics or anything else.”

“They can’t see everything coming for me. I
need to know I don’t have to worry about any sneak attacks while
I’m otherwise engaged.”

Elenio made to say more, but the roar of one
of the giant beasts stopped him.

Galena turned to look at them, her face
alight with the inner glow the Sword of Lumina provided. Her
expression was dangerous. It would have stopped most creatures dead
in their tracks, but not the earagos. However, that could’ve been
the fact they had poor vision.

Doing as Galena had asked, Elenio stepped
back, placing a hand on Morgo’s shoulder as the elf attempted to
join in on the fray. He indicated with his sword the oncoming
narooks and torlics and the two of them took off in the direction
of those monsters.

Galena gave a practice swing, making the
earagos back up rather than touch the dreaded blade. They circled
around her, swinging their clubs at her in an alternating pattern.
Galena batted these away with ease. They were scared and she knew
it. Standing straight, she sent a bolt of lightning down from the
sky, striking one of the earagos directly on the head. He fell to
the ground, dead.

The other two charged her, thinking she would
be preoccupied, but found out otherwise. She spun around, cutting
the foot off one and causing it to erupt into a brilliant display
of light and body parts. The third stopped dead in its tracks, fear
apparent in its frozen expression. Galena swung her blade in a
circular fashion before she chased after the earagos, who had
suddenly realized engaging her in battle was a very foolish idea
indeed.

“I don’t think so,” she muttered under her
breath. Flinging her hand up, she caused several boulders to rise
up and pursue the giant. They crashed into its legs, pitching the
giant forward and onto his face. He rolled over quickly, his legs
not quite following him as they should have and held up his club
threateningly. Galena was unmoved by the gesture. Taking the tip of
her sword, she pierced the creature’s toe. The effect was
immediate. Within moments, the earagos shared the same fate as so
many other dark creatures that met the Sword of Lumina. Darkness
never survives the light.

Chapter
Five

Elenio ran up beside Galena, hacking down a
retreating creature, with no name for it on his way over. He was
grinning broadly at her, pride emanating from his every gesture.
Galena watched several other creatures flying through the air,
evidence the underground elves were at work. Together, Elenio and
Galena battled on; their backs always to one another as they slew
the rippling, black mass that was Rau’s army. No more dark
creatures pursued her, but as a whole, seemed to retreat with every
step she took toward them.

In every direction Galena looked, she saw
elves fighting against the dark. Streams of blood flowed over the
rocky soil and the ground became littered with the dead and injured
bodies of their enemy. She saw several elves littered throughout
the dark creatures as well, most with severe injuries, some not
moving at all. These elves concerned Galena greatly, and with a
gust of wind she picked several groups of them up and sent them
flying toward the safety of the camp. She did this several more
times until she was sure she had gotten most of them.

Returning to the fray, she continued her
onslaught against Rau’s army, determined to make a dent in the
giant, black mass. When she cut down one creature, she found
another one had appeared in its place.

She saw elves fighting in pairs and the
underground elves using magic. The rate at which they used magic
was becoming less and less as the battle raged on though. At one
point, Galena found herself flying an elf to safety when he dropped
to the ground, out cold from the use of too much power.

Hearing a grunt of pain, Galena turned to
find Elenio on his knees doing his best to ward off an attacking
torlic and failing miserably. He had a deep gash on his upper arm
and a nasty cut on his cheek. He looked completely drained. Galena
swung her blade out and cutting the torlic in half from the
shoulder to hip, she watched as the monster began falling to the
ground, but disintegrated into ash instead as light burst from him.
Elenio looked up at her wearily, his face and clothing covered in
blood.

“Your magic has worn off,” he managed to say
in-between pants.

Galena looked alarmed and realized she had
been using the sword’s strength instead of her own. Now that Elenio
pointed it out, she realized she was a great deal more tired than
she had been at the start. Tark came up to them at that moment,
looking around them as he did.

“Galena we need a break. Nigora is at her
wits end with all the elves you sent her way and there are many
more elves injured. We need time to regroup,” he said, bending over
to pick up another injured elf just feet away.

Galena nodded wearily, not sure how to, but
knowing he meant she needed to scare the enemy enough to get them
to retreat.
Fine
, she thought.
Time to end this
battle
.

Elenio grabbed her hand before she strode
off, intent on ending this battle for the time being. “You can
still overdo it, Galena, remember that.”

Her eyes softened and she gave his hand a
gentle squeeze. She took a moment to heal his injuries quickly
before she sent him flying toward the safety of the camp along with
Tark and the injured elf with a wave of her hand. She took a deep
breath before heading off to where the enemy numbers were the
thickest.

Running at as much of a sprint as she could
manage at that moment, she hurdled over bodies and twirled around
others, cutting down anything that crossed her path. Often times,
she found herself intervening in what would have been unfortunate
outcomes for the elves fighting several dark creatures at once. She
received many cuts and stabs, some more serious than others, but
nothing stopped her. Finally reaching a point where every type of
dark creature Rau sent out surrounded her, she stopped. This was
exactly where she wanted to be. Seeing this glowing elf in the
midst of their allies, the dark creatures advanced on her, unsure
how she had gotten there, but not caring just the same. Galena
smiled. Her plan so far was working.

“If you’re a friend of the elves, flee now,”
Galena shouted as loudly as she could. She watched the enemy
advance toward her slowly and the few elves that had been within
earshot run for their camp.
Mira be with me,
she thought
dully. Quickly sheathing her blade, Galena stood, bringing up with
her hands a great spiraling wind that sucked up several of the
surrounding creatures. She sent many of them colliding into one
another breaking bones and smashing bodies in the process. Several
more within her view, caught fire and could be heard screaming over
the wailing winds and shouts of the flying creatures. Huge bolts of
lightning came sizzling from the sky and into the massive crowd of
darkness causing explosions throughout, sending bodies in many
directions and lighting up the darkening sky. Picking up boulders
from the valley walls with the wind, she sent them flying around
and into the bodies of many more creatures. The screams of pain and
agony could be heard as they vibrated through the air and the
ground trembled with the retreating army. She heard a horn
somewhere in the background, indicating Rau’s army was indeed
pulling back. Sending more bolts of lightning chasing after them in
case any of them had second thoughts, she crashed to the ground on
her knees. With the Sword of Lumina put away, the bone-crushing
weariness crashed over her and she blacked out.

Galena registered two things when she opened
her eyes. The first was the fact she felt like a tribe of earagos
had trampled over her. Every inch of her body ached and she was
sure her head was on the verge of exploding. The second was that
although she heard voices in the background, they sounded strangely
muffled. With sudden clarity, she recalled the events leading up to
the present with the exception of how she had gotten to where she
was. Thinking of the small pieces of the ear that allowed a person
to hear, she healed the holes in them. As the warm tingly feel
passed, she could hear the voices more clearly.

“If she doesn’t wake soon, I’m getting Nigora
again,” Elenio said quietly.

“Nigora said she’s fine as far as she could
tell, just worn out. It won’t do any good to bring her back so she
can tell us exactly the same thing,” Tark whispered back.

“But what...” Elenio started.

Galena cut him short by sitting up. “Peace
Elenio. I’m fine, although I wouldn’t be surprised if I found one
of you took advantage of the fact I was out cold and rolled a large
boulder over me.”