Day 4: Powers

day 4: Powers

@tamlinweek

Protector of the Emerald lands

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They had come - and Tamlin had managed to rally that force I'd so gleefully destroyed-

(ACOWAR ch.70)

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Lucien panted, wiping at his bloodied lip with the back of his hand.

Even with the combined efforts of the Illyrian forces and Miryam and Drakon's army, Hybern was still outnumbering them. Pathetically so. But even as his stomach roiled and his heart jerked, Lucien tightened his grip on his sword and continued onward.

If today was to be his last, he would fight like hell. 

The hours bled into the next in a wild blur. 

Foe after foe fell under his sword, and yet still more appeared.

A shrieking cry erupted from above, and Lucien was sent sprawling across the dirt. He instinctively turned himself onto his back, bringing his vambraced arms up into a cross just in time, the sound of talons against metal setting his teeth on edge. Lucien snarled, grappling frantically for his fallen sword with his free hand. 

The harpy's wings beat at the air as it swiped madly at him. It was all he could do to keep a firm grip on its throat, pushing its gaping maw away from his face. His arms screamed under the effort. Flames would not deter the disfigured beast, no matter how intense, and soon he could feel himself weakening under the exertion of using his powers.

But then,

The groan of a war-horn. 

It reverberated through his chest. 

The beast was distracted by the sound too. 

It paused in its attack, confusion marring its features. Lucien took advantage of its distraction, slithering his arm down towards his boot as quick as lightning and drawing out a hunting knife before ramming it into its throat, killing it instantly.

He clambered to his knees, crawling towards his sword with great panting breaths. 

A second groan of the war horn. Then a third.

He twisted his head round, eyes straining.

It was- Mother and Cauldron above…

High on the cliff's edge...

It was Tamlin.

And- no, it couldn't be…

Autumn was there too, their scarlet banners whipping wildly from the steady flaps of the gryphon horde waiting in the skies above. 

The sight was enough to bring tears to Lucien's eyes.

Tamlin wore no helm, and carried no shield. He wore no armour at all. Only his favoured cuirass and vambraces, made from supple leather the colour of the forest. 

"Gods damned idiot," Lucien breathed.

Stupid though he was, Tamlin cut a formidable figure, flanked on both sides by the beasts and fae of Spring's army. 

Along the cliff's edge, the warriors beat at their painted chests with throaty cries, their weapons shining in the sunlight. Lucien thrust his own sword into the air, screaming until it felt like his lungs would give out. Hope flooded his veins for the first time that day.

As Lucien watched, Tamlin raised one arm and the air seemed to freeze, every being coiled and prepared to strike. Then, with a sharp cry, he sliced his arm through the air.

Hundreds upon hundreds of shrieking gryphons dove from the skies, their talons glinting as they sliced through Hybern's army. Centaurs galloped down the ragged cliffside, brandishing wicked swords. Nymphs and dryads rode atop the backs of wolves and bears, daggers and bows gleaming in their hands. 

And in the thick of it all, their High Lord.

For a moment he stood alone on the edge, his hair whipping like a golden silk about his face. Then he ran, leaping off of the cliff. At the last possible moment, Tamlin flicked his wrists, bending and shaping the land to his will. 

Columns of earth and stone rose to meet his nimble feet. He swept through the battlefield, the dancing movements of his fingers sending devastating shockwave after shockwave through Hybern's forces, the soldiers flung in every which way into the neat paths of the diving gryphons.

In the sky behind him, Lucien could spot Rhysand flapping midair, caught in a trance.

Tamlin's arms rested lightly by his sides, then slowly, he began to raise them.

It was a quiet rumble at first, so soft he could barely feel it. But then the earth began to shake, in great waves of energy that pulsed and reverberated up from his feet to his chest. Louder and louder, a crescendo of pure noise. It rattled his teeth and sent his stomach lurching. 

Then everything stopped. The battlefield froze, a thousand hearts barely daring to beat.

And then the earth split apart with a horrible, thundering crack. 

Lucien stumbled to his knees, his ears ringing. 

An ugly chasm tore across the battlefield like a gaping maw. Those of Hybern's men that weren't dragged into the chasm's depths were thrown violently through the air, where the gryphons awaited them. 

Disjointed screams of pain echoed up, bloodied arms clawing at the earth, struggling to pull themselves free. The nymphs rode swiftly by, yipping triumphantly as they loosed arrow after arrow into their trembling hands. dropping them into the cool depths.

For Spring.

For all that Hybern had taken from them.

A laugh tore itself free from Lucien's throat. 

Hybern would fall today. 

Once and for all.