Chapter 140

Ilyin would never stop her from becoming a knight again, she knew. Etra thought of what she’d said before she went to sleep – a past she wasn’t proud of, but not one she couldn’t talk about with one she served so dearly.

So she had thought, but the moment she had been about to speak of it, she couldn’t. Why was that? Probably because Ilyin was too pure, and Etra looked back on her own past with jaundiced eyes.

“Good enough,” Emil said, and left. Etra listened to his steady footsteps travel down the hallway, and heard the door open at the end. 

Ilyin didn’t know it, but Etra often slipped into her room while she was asleep, just to see if she was comfortable or needed anything.  

As she quietly opened the door to ma’am’s room, Emil’s suggestion kept circling in her mind. But she had no intention of returning to the order, and in any case it would be rude to even consider it without ma’am’s permission.

At first, she thought her mind was just playing tricks on her, that the smell of blood was just a mirage from her own bloody past. But then she saw the truth, and her eyes opened wide.

Ilyin always slept peacefully nestled in white blankets. But now, the blanket was stained red, and Ilyin’s ragged breathing – the breathing of the badly injured – reached Etra’s ears.

“Oh my God, ma’am!” she screamed.

***

The sudden disaster that had befallen the Yesters was amusing to some of the Mollys. They were hunkered down, hiding near the Yesters’ base, talking about the Yesters’ fate and how it might affect their own, how they might take advantage of it.

It will be good if we take over Yesters’ base.

Once the attack is over, we might be more numerous than the Yesters.

One of the Mollys that joined in the conversation held something that seemed very out of place here, a fancy box decorated in red and gold ornament. The box was nearly pristine, despite being handled by the creatures with their sharp claws and hard scales. There were almost no scratches on it. The Mollys had taken great care with it, as if it were a holy thing.

If that’s the case, then our relationship with the Yesters should change.

Of course, the other Mollys agreed.

Earlier, the Mollys had been on the brink of extinction. In desperation, they’d had to shame themselves by turning to the Yesters for safety. But if the Yesters’ numbers were about to shrink to their size, or even smaller, didn’t that mean their new relationship should change in response?

Kyak!

As the Mollys mused about their future, their further lookout suddenly fell. Its red scales were suddenly covered by the flow of a deeper red – blood. At this distance, a human could have barely seen even that much, but the eyes of the Mollys were sharper. They saw the blood … and the dagger, engraved with the symbol of Delrose, that spilled it.

It’s an ambush!

What?

The Mollys scattered, panicked in their confusion. Weren’t the humans here for the Yesters?

The oracle was wrong!

Kill the oracle!

Kyak! 

The Mollys dashed about in their fury. Hearing their words, Aden smiled. An oracle, they say…

Another dagger sunk into a Molly’s chest.

“Get rid of every single one of Mollys!” Idith cried as he came into view, raising his sword high. He was one of the few humans whose face the monsters knew.

“Catch every single one of them!” he shouted again, and the Delrose knights came into view behind him.

It’s Delrose!

The Mollys could use magic but were weaker in close combat than the Yesters. And casting magic took time, so the Mollys struggled to keep their distance from the knights. 

But that effort only caused their line to collapse. Some tried to run without even looking back. Those who were hit by a dagger in their head or chest collapsed where they stood. It was a weapon unsuited to knights, but the dead had no chance to lodge that complaint.

“Be careful of their magic!” Idith shouted as he threw the rest of his daggers. Aden ran past him, the blue light already brightening in his hand. The fleeing Mollys slowed considerably. As winter region monsters, they were also vulnerable to high temperatures, though much less so than the Yesters.

Kyak!

The slowed Mollys fell quickly under the swords of the knights. A huge fire rose in front of Aden, but he swung his sword into it, and the rush of air as it passed extinguished the flame.

“Don’t you feel unsafe whenever you go to the battlefield?” 

Ilyin’s voice sprung unbidden into his memory, the happy memory of the night spent with her. With her in his arms, the bedroom had seemed as clear and green as the warm region. It had been beautiful.

“You don’t have to feel uneasy this time,” Ilyin had said. “I saw Delrose’s victory.”

Her words had been a relief. He still didn’t let his guard slip – he never did – but the assurance of one that can see the future meant a great to one standing on the battlefield, navigating the narrow path between life and death.

“Ha!” he shouted and surged ahead.