The Promise of the Trees - Sword, Ring, and Crown Book 3 (Complete - Editing)

Chapter Twenty-Three - Madeline

Zovria turned into her monstrous form and dozens of other goblins appeared, carried by hags. I took in the new set of challenges with weary eyes, then reached for Ciaran's hand. He squeezed it and gave our enemies a vicious grin. 

The goblins swarmed us and began to attack. Zovria threw a fireball that exploded against the chest of Willow. She shook it off and charged at her, brandishing a slender switch of willow to whip Zovria with. The goblin leader dodged Willow's attack and had to avoid a follow up strike by Leah who was livid that the goblin had hurt her Willow. She threw potion bottles at Zovria that produced a noxious smoke. 

Zovria ran behind the other goblins. 

I put my sword together, then slashed through the closest goblin. The goblin screamed and died as blood sprayed across its face. A moment later, another goblin joined her comrade on the ground. Before she died, her mandibles almost bit into my face. I sliced through two more of the female cratures, and they fell away from me and disappeared into thin air.

Another monster, this time an imp, leaped at me with its arms outstretched and I parried it with my sword.  Its hands were claws, each nail razor sharp enough to sever a person's head from their body. It was difficult enough dodging the imps, but giant spiders were also running around trying to catch us in their webbing.

One of the spiders landed near us, and Dom quickly raised a shield to deflect a volley of spikes it released from its abdomen. Another imp jumped onto Erick's back, and he shook him off.  My heart beat furiously and sweat beaded up on my forehead. I swung my blade in a circular motion and shredded the spider.

This was insane. Zovria had no right to the crown.  No right. And yet she refused to fight me. She kept putting the dark fae in my path. She seemed frightened after Leah's attack. Well, she should have thought more before making the Trees her enemy.

 I wouldn't let Zovria win.

The goblins grew even angrier and started throwing spells like crazy. They were desperate as their numbers had been reduced by half. A spell hit Erick and he stumbled which made me start forward. Dom held me back. 

Erick's eyes widened in alarm. The Ivy, however, laid his hands on Erick and screamed an incantation. Erick recovered and transformed into a giant white tiger.  The tiger roared and lunged toward the goblins.

Their screams drowned out the sound of Zovria's battle cry.

It all happened so fast, I didn't have time to think about anything or feel anything at all. All I saw was the huge white tiger charging toward the goblins, jaws wide open.  The first goblin dropped as soon as the tiger came into contact with it. It fell onto the field like a sack of dirt. Blood splattered all over the grass. The other dark fae scattered, leaving only the goblins and hags behind to defend themselves.

The last Goblin tried to run, leaving Zovria with just the hags.

The hags spotted Luis limp in Agony's arms for the first time and hissed. I got the impression that they cared about him. They turned on Zovria in a rage. "You hurt our boy!"

Zovria snarled. "That is not your boy! He betrayed Joseph!"

The hags didn't seem to care, which definitely worked in our favor. They surrounded Zovria and she lunged and snapped at them.  Two of the hags lifted her off her feet and flung her down to the ground. She was still for a moment, looking mangled, but then I could hear cracking noises coming from her as bones shifted and reformed until she stood again.

The hags tried to bring her down again, but she roared and lashed out with a powerful kick at the closest hag, missing her mark. The hag laughed and grabbed a spear that appeared from thin air. It seemed that not only Ciaran knew that trick.