167 Never a Dull Momen (1/2)

With Dawn the Dawn Breaker chased away by Red Bull, I was left alone in the middle of a chaotic battlefield wondering just what the hell happened to me that I actually saved my enemy's life.

And while I stood there feeling clueless about the sudden turn of events, a few enemy soldiers thought to take advantage of my appearance and attacked me.

I was thankful to them because their charge required a simple answer, and that at least returned my focus on current events.

The first attacker, an elf with a spiral face tattoo wielding a pike in both hands, thrust his weapon toward me.

I slapped it aside with a single swipe of my falchion, and in the few moments where he was unbalanced after his attack, I drove forward and shoved my falchion deep into his gut and felt the blade pierce the other end of him.

Normally, this kind of deathblow wasn't encouraged in a fight between one against many as there was a moderate chance of your weapon getting stuck between flesh and bone long enough for another enemy to take advantage, normally.

However, my falchion's vibro-sword skill made this irrelevant as it could easily rip through any bone or flesh that clung to my shadowblade. But my enemies didn't know that. So I let one or two of them think I was defenseless. I even let them get in close while I pretended to struggle with pulling my sword out.

The first guy lunged at me with his long sword swing down from an upward arch. His companion, an elf like him and the guy I'd just defeated, had chosen to attack me from the safety of the other side of the dying elf stuck to me.

In response, I pulled out my sword and push kicked the dying elf toward the guy behind him. And in that crucial last second, I pivoted around on my back foot, easily dodging the other elf's attack, and catching him at a very vulnerable sideward angle.

My falchion's shadowblade came crashing onto his side and cut up a chunk of elf flesh and leather vest.

I heard the scream before I smelled the blood, but neither of these two awful, awful things distracted me from the fourth attacker who had just finished notching his bow and aimed it at me.

In the future, when historians spoke of me—if that kind of awesome thing ever came to pass—they'll probably reveal to the entire Fayne that I was, in fact, this generation's sense knight of sight. And I imagined future fairies and viseres coming to a sudden realization that taking me on with a bow and arrow from within ten feet was a stupid way to die.

The arrow had already flown toward me when I sent my falchion flying toward the elven archer.

I easily dodged the arrow with a simple pivoting of my body to the right but the archer didn't have the same kind of sight I did so it was no surprise to me when my falchion embedded itself deep in his chest.

Finally, the elf that had been pushed back by the dying body of his companion was able to disentangle from the now lifeless body. But seeing his friends die around him and finding me standing just a few feet away without my weapon while giving him a death stare I'd learned from Edo, he chose the sensible course of action. He dropped his weapon and ran away.

I pulled out my falchion from the dead body on the ground while feeling that gut-wrenching guilt at slaying another fairy.

\”Get over it, Dean,\” I chided myself. \”Lots more death tonight… you can regret it later… mourn later…\”

Last thing I thought before I rejoined my unit in their attack against the center of the oasis defenses was of a redheaded half-elf who'd gazed down at me from her swifthart with something like charmed curiosity.

We won the battle an hour before dawn. It was hard-earned for sure, but the enemy defenses had become less sharp after the Dawn Breaker escaped the battlefield, and without her leadership, it seemed the remaining enemy just couldn't rally together and counter our offensive.

I learned later that the reason she never came back was because Red Bull had chased her out of the valley and kept on chasing her and her entourage for miles and miles before he and his soldiers finally quit. The satyr was certainly true to his name, a bull that charged with little regard for anything else.

This left me in charge of conquering the valley, and with the help of April Valentine who was an excellent adjutant, we managed to route the enemy forces with less deaths than I'd previously predicted.

Luca ended up with another wound on his chest. It was another scar to join the half-dozen others he'd accumulated since.

I watched my shirtless brother being tended to by Berrian Berrygrove while Pike fidgeted around them and frowned at the wound. It was another reminder of how dangerous Luca's life had become, and while I was off flirting with the enemy, he was getting hurt.

\”Stupid Dean,\” I hissed under my breath.

\”Stupid Dean, what?\” Aura asked.

She found me sitting on a pile of sacks and offered me the elf tea in her hand.

I took it gratefully while avoiding her eyes and prayed to whichever spirits were listening that Aura's bracelet couldn't share with her the sense of guilt creeping up my mind.

Nothing was going on, I repeated in my head. We were just talking and I wasn't on top of her because I wanted to… honest.

Why I felt the need to sound defensive when Aura and I weren't in any sort of romantic situation was making me cringe inside.

That's because you want to be in a romantic situation with her, my brain told me.