A Tale That Dawned [Book 4 of Selvina's Tale series]

Chapter 45: To Battle a Sovereign

The musketmen fired in unison, each shot sounding like a crackling pop. Selvina heard the whistle of musket balls screeching past her but felt no contact. Holding onto Amalthea's back so tightly her hands ached, she gazed ahead, struggling not to scream. The musket volley had left behind a great cloud of smoke behind, momentarily blinding the shooters. Behind them stood their queen, cursing loudly.

Selvina's eyes widened as the queen's hand began to glow blue. Would the elf-stone protect her from a spell if it was cast beyond its range?

No, Amalthea said, answering Selvina's mental question. The elf-arrow prevents spells from being cast but is not a shield against those already unleashed.

Queen Svala let out a cry and then threw her hands forward, blasting out a huge shard of ice. It flew through the air like a frozen lance and Amalthea narrowly avoided it. The spell had missed and yet Selvina's body had shivered as it passed by and the skin on her arms had burned cold. She winced from the pain and whimpered lightly as the queen launched another lance.

This one struck the ground directly in front of Amalthea and burst into thousands of tiny shards. They struck the unicorn and young woman and made them both cry out in agony. The conical hat covering the unicorn horn was torn apart, revealing to all onlookers the white horse's true nature. Amalthea didn't slow down, however, and kept running, despite the slivers of ice poking out of her body.

The smoke now cleared and the muskets freshly reloaded, the shooters aimed and fired at once as their queen danced in glee behind them.

Selvina cried out as she felt the searing pain of a musket ball glancing across her left shoulder. She heard the whistle of other missed shots but felt Amalthea's body shudder beneath her. The unicorn's pace faltered for a moment before recovering and continuing on.

"Amalthea?" Selvina asked, wincing through the pain. "Are you hurt?"

The unicorn only replied with heavy breathing and a fresh burst of speed.

Selvina looked up above and searched the sky. "Tinkerbelle, help!" She soon spotted the fairy diving down at the attackers, stabbing at the musketmen's eyes and then pestering the Swordenish queen in the midst of casting another spell. It caused some confusion and disruption but not enough to stop another volley from the musketmen.

This one, fortunately, was hurried and poorly aimed and all shots missed.

Amalthea was just over twenty or so paces from the pikemen now and Selvina could feel her pace faltering. Her breathing was ragged and she was slowing down.

Hold on Selvina, Amalthea said with some struggle. I'll charge straight through...

"You won't make it!" Selvina replied, pale-faced. "You'll die!"

Svalla screamed and blasted forth a dome of frozen air around her, annoyed with Tinkerbelle's attacks. It froze the musketmen instantly but the clever fairy was too quick and only just avoided contact. She was about to dive in again to keep up the attack when Selvina called her.

"Fairy dust us!" the young woman screamed. "Hurry!"

"The elf-arrow!" Tink shouted back, flying toward her anyway.

To that, Selvina tore the necklace off of her and tossed it aside, not bothering to look where it landed. Tinkerbelle didn't ask any questions. She flew in and spun circles around the unicorn and young woman, dusting them heavily.

Svala shot forth another spell, this one coating the ground ahead of the unicorn with a thin layer of ice. Selvina saw it and felt her hopes of escape plummeting. If they didn't rise up in time, Amalthea would slip on the ice and slide directly into the waiting pikes.