Chapter 79: Attacked

Elara:

I slowly turned around. The path behind us was empty. "I feel like someone’s there," I finally said.

Myra’s face tightened as she looked around too, her eyes moving from one shadow to another beneath the trees. "Do you see anyone?" she whispered.

"No."

I didn’t tell her that not seeing someone didn’t mean they weren’t there. I had learned that lesson long before Starfall. Sometimes danger didn’t announce itself. Sometimes it simply watched and waited until you stopped looking.

We continued walking, but the peaceful conversation we’d been having was gone. I kept my senses sharpened, listening to every rustle of leaves and every distant sound. My pace remained casual because I didn’t want to scare Myra, but every muscle in my body was ready.

She noticed the change anyway. "Should we call Violet?" she asked quietly.

"Maybe." I reached for my phone, but before I could pull it from my pocket, a sharp crack echoed through the woods.

A twig breaking.

I stopped. And Myra stopped beside me. This time, I knew. Someone was following us.

"Elara?" Myra whispered.

"Stay behind me."

Before I could say anything else, movement appeared between the trees. One man stepped onto the path. Then another. Then another. My stomach dropped as two more emerged from opposite sides, cutting off the road behind us.

Five.

There were five of them. They weren’t students. They weren’t noblemen dressed in expensive suits or clothes. They were large, burly men with rough appearances, broad shoulders, and expressions that immediately told me they weren’t here to ask for directions. My entire body went cold as I instinctively moved in front of Myra.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

The man standing in the center smiled. "You are Princess Argentis." It wasn’t a question.

My blood ran colder.

My first thought was to reach for my magic, but the familiar warmth beneath my skin remained faint and frustratingly distant. The seal had loosened, but that didn’t mean I could suddenly summon enough power to fight five grown men.

"Whatever you want," I said, keeping my voice steady, "you can tell me."

"We don’t want anything from the human." His eyes shifted toward Myra. "We want you."

I tightened my jaw. "Then leave her out of this."

The man smiled again. "That depends on you." He moved. So did I.

My first strike landed against his jaw before he could reach me, followed by a kick to his ribs that forced him backward. For one glorious second, I thought I might actually have a chance. Twelve years of martial arts hadn’t disappeared simply because I’d entered a supernatural world.

I pivoted and struck another man across the throat, then ducked beneath a swinging fist. My heel connected with his knee, and he stumbled with a curse.

"Elara!" Myra cried.

"Stay back!" I shouted.

Another man charged. I blocked his first punch, caught his wrist, and twisted, using his momentum to send him stumbling past me. I followed with a sharp kick to his side, but before I could capitalize on it, someone grabbed my shoulder from behind.

I spun and drove my elbow backward. It connected with something solid, and the man grunted. I ducked as another fist sailed over my head, then swept my leg beneath his feet. He crashed onto the road.

I was moving purely on instinct. Block. Strike. Dodge. Kick. Twist. I couldn’t use magic, but I had spent more than half my life learning how to fight.

But five against one was different. Far too different.

The man I had kicked earlier recovered faster than I expected. He charged again, and I barely blocked his punch before another man struck me from the side. Pain shot through my ribs and I stumbled. I retaliated immediately, catching him beneath the chin and forcing him backward. Then another hand closed around my arm.

I twisted, but the grip tightened. I slammed my elbow into his forearm and broke free, but another man was already coming at me.

"Run!" I shouted at Myra.

She didn’t. Instead, she grabbed a fallen branch from the ground and swung it with both hands at the man approaching me. It connected with his shoulder and he actually stopped.

I stared at her in disbelief.

"MYRA!"

"What?" she cried, terrified but stubborn. "I’m not leaving you!"

"You are going to get hurt!"

"So are you!"

The man recovered from the surprise and reached for her. I intercepted him before he could touch her, throwing myself between them and driving my knee into his stomach. "Run!" I yelled again.

Myra shook her head violently. Then she did something that almost made me scream. She picked up a stone.

"I don’t know how to fight," she said, her voice trembling, "but I can still throw things."

Despite everything, I almost smiled. "You are impossible."

"Learned from you."

One of the men lunged toward her, but I kicked him away. Another came from behind. Myra screamed a warning, and I ducked just in time.

The fight became chaotic. Myra wasn’t trained, but she refused to stand helplessly on the sidelines. She threw stones, branches, anything her hands could find. Once, she even managed to hit one of the men in the back of the head with her bag. It didn’t do much damage, but it bought me enough time to knock him off balance.

"Get to the road!" I shouted.

"I said I’m not leaving you!"

"MYRA!"

"I won’t!"

I didn’t have time to argue. A strange shimmer appeared around one of the men’s hands.

Magic.

I immediately grabbed Myra and pulled her behind me.

The spell struck the ground where we’d been standing, sending dirt and fragments of stone flying.

"They have magic," Myra whispered.

"Not much," I said through clenched teeth. "But enough."

I tried reaching for my own power again. At first, it refused to respond. But then I felt the familiar warmth surge. It wasn’t as strong as usual, but just a tiny pulse beneath my skin.

My palm suddenly tingled, and as I looked down, silver light flickered across my fingers for a fraction of a second.

The men noticed and their expressions changed.

I didn’t know whether that was good or bad. Neither did I have time to find out.