Warrior's Soul (Book 3 of The Warrior Chronicles)

Chapter 56

"GET UP!"

"COME ON, PROTECTOR. GET UP!"

Leyla heard Julius's shouts, like echoes from a distant place. Her eyes were open as she knelt on the cold ground, but she did not feel anything. Not the ground beneath her knees, nor the icy wind that whipped blood-hardened strands of hair across her body. The world revolved around her, but Leyla was frozen.

"DAMN IT! DO YOU WANT TO DIE?"

Julius was in front of her, fighting for his life and hers. But she didn't get up. Whatever it was that made her care, that made her fight...it was not there anymore.

Metal clashed around her. The scent of death rose from the ground. She came eye to eye with a Bone Eater who had escaped Julius's sight.

Red eyes opened wide with glee, she could almost see herself reflected in the dilated pupils. The end was coming and she did not move a muscle to stop it.

"ROAAR!" Athiri threw himself in front of her, taking the Bone Eater's blade into his shoulder before pouncing on the man and ripping his throat.

Something shifted in her chest as she watched the animal stagger back to her side. He whimpered, holding his wounded leg off the ground while he licked her face. She raised her hand, feeling the soft fur of his head beneath her fingertips. He whimpered once more, then crouched at her feet, his breathing unsteady. 

Her fingers found the blade at his side and pulled. The sound of Athiri's pained howl broke through the wall around her heart and it was ice cold fury that poured out.

Death was a welcome guest, but she would not die alone.

Digging her fingers into the ground, Leyla drew the Heat. It flooded into her body, meeting no resistance or fear as it burned its way up to her chest and then higher than she had ever let it go before. Leyla closed her eyes, her brain burning with excruciating pain as the power enveloped her completely. 

When she opened her eyes, everything looked different.

Strings of light pulsed through the soldiers fighting around her, the trees in the distance, even the hills. They shone in different colours, connecting everything to each other and deep into the ground and to the core of Gaia. Leyla looked down at Athiri. The purple string that connected him to the earth was growing weaker. Moving on instinct, she touched the string, allowing Heat to flow from her into the feline. Athiri raised his big eyes to hers. Then he got to his feet as his wound began to heal.

To her left, a dead Greenland soldier stared at the sky with frozen eyes. The strings of light in his body were gone. There was nothing left to fix. The dead could not be revived.

But those who lived, could die.

Knowing what she had to do, Leyla stood.

Leaving her sword behind, she walked past a tiring Julius and raised her hand. The purple string of the Bone Eater he was fighting unravelled and the man dropped dead.

Athiri followed her slowly as Leyla walked further into the battle. Bone Eaters fell one after another as she passed them by. Soon the uniformed soldiers in her vicinity stilled, while her enemies charged her in fear. Everyone that took a step in her direction fell. One by one, they went still as their strings were cut with a simple flick of her wrist.

By the time Leyla began walking up the hill, the men below had stopped fighting. Warriors, Lightlanders and Greenlanders watched her in silence, while Bone Eaters turned to flee. Let them run, the drugs in their veins would kill them off for her. 

"STOP! I COMMAND YOU!" Shik yelled from the hill top, his words echoing across the battle field, but no one listened.

No one would obey a god who would soon die.

Reaching the plateau where he stood, Leyla stroked Athiri's head, then looked at the man who had caused such havoc. Like everyone else, he was connected to the ground with a simple string of light. So utterly fallible.

"Wait," Shik raised his hands to ward her off. "Let's talk -"

Leyla raised her hand ever so slighting, pulling the purple light to herself and wrapping it around her little finger before giving it a small tug.

The Leader dropped to his knees, dust filling his open mouth as he fell dead.

Wind played with the red silk of her dress as Leyla turned to face the frozen crowds bellow.

"Protector!"

It was Tai calling her from the edge of the trees. Standing beside the Sage, the boy motioned frantically towards the Hayvans who approached from behind them.

Athiri's blood had called them here.

Leyla watched dozens of majestic blue felines moving out of the trees, their golden gazes fixed on her and thought: Stop! The Hayvans stood still, letting loose growls that shook the trees before they sat on their hind legs to wait.

Silence reigned for a breathless moment, then a shout sounded from below.

"THE LAND WILL BURN RED!"

Leyla turned her head to the right. Alec had stepped forward, burying his sword in the ground beside him as he stared up at her with eyes wet with tears. His soldiers followed suit, dropping their weapons before kneeling before her.

"THE NEW MOON WILL RISE!"

"AND THE WORLD WILL BE IN A WARRIOR'S PALM!"

Leyla raised her head, seeing the sliver of moon that had appeared above her in the slowly darkening sky.

When she lowered her eyes once more, the Lightlanders and Greenlanders were also on their knees. They were bowing to her. Wanting something from her, but she had nothing left to give. Leyla looked down, seeing her own light for the first time. Her purple string looked faded as it clung to Gaia, while beside it a red string she had not seen elsewhere glimmered. Asch?

She moved to where Shik lay and searched his pockets until she found the black vial. Having retrieved it, Leyla faced the crowds once more as she spilled the black contents on the ground in front of her.

"The 5th Kingdom of Gaia is one of Peace." Her voice sounded far away to her ears as it carried over the men below. "I leave the Hayvans to Protect my Kingdom and all of  you to protect the rest of Gaia."

"DON'T GO!"

"GODDESS! DON'T LEAVE US!"

The soldiers below shouted up to her. Goddess? Leyla frowned. She tapped her fingers against her leg, calling Athiri closer to her side before looking over the crowds for the last time. Alec. Gabriel. Julius. She let her eyes touch on each of them, but could not bring herself to look to where Raphael's body lay.

Maybe her soul hadn't completely disappeared after all.

As Leyla of the House of Kings Wards, Lady Alessa of the Land of Light, Protector of the 5th Kingdom and reluctant Goddess of Gaia disappeared with her Hayvan, those who were left behind tried to understand her last words: "Tell Michael I am sorry."