IN FULL COLOUR - Dark Fantasy

Coyne

For a long time, Heir remained on his knees, slightly swaying and staring at the forest floor, breathing heavily. His knuckles turned white as he fisted his fingers and clenched his jaw.

So proud and so damn stubborn.

A trickle of blood dribbled from his ear, leaving a bright red trail of crimson down his earlobe and dripping onto his golden-plated shoulder. A reminder of the damage I had inflicted inside of his head.

“Rise,” I said, my voice calm but authoritative.

His body obeyed without question. Anger emanated off of him and he shook in restraint, rebelling against my command. He was fighting the oath with everything inside of him, but it was useless.

I could see there were a million things running through his mind. He avoided my gaze as he stood in front of me, shaking. Those bright blue eyes looking at the ground, his dark lashes throwing long shadows over the stark bands and high cheekbones.

“Order your men to stand down!”

His eyes snapped towards mine, fire and raw fury burning within. He clamped his hands over his mouth, muffling the words so they came out incoherently. I stepped closer.

“I am not fucking around, Heir! Call them off right now!”

“Stand down!” The order burst from him, echoing throug the forest.

Warriors groaned and the fighting ceased, whether the men had stopped fighting because of his order or our men dealt their killing blows, I wasn’t sure, but calm swept through the night and Heir turned on his heel, sprinting in the other direction, trying to put as much distance as he possibly could between us.

He didn’t know much beyond been trained as a formidable warrior. How magic worked, oaths.

“It wouldn’t help you to run, I can still command you wherever you are,” I called after him, but he was desperate to get away. To break the tight leash I had on him.

“STOP!” I yelled.

I couldn’t see him anymore but followed in the direction he had disappeared into. When I rounded a cluster of trees, I found him in the middle of a clearing, wide-eyed and frozen in place with Locke a few feet ahead already aiming at him with a bright ball of electricity in between his hands.

No! Everything happened so fast.

Locke attacked, hurling the fatal ball of raw energy towards Heir, who was stuck in place and had no way to defend himself. I didn’t blame the general prince; he couldn’t have known. All he saw was the commander of our enemy forces mere feet away from him. Instinct kicked in and he attacked.

There was no time to think, no time to strategize.

In an instant, I threw myself in front of Heir, blasting the blackness I had inside of me out, spreading it over us in an attempt to fight off Locke’s magic.

The swirling darkness underneath my skin shot out, covering us as I flung myself over Heir. I collided with him forcefully, the impact of the blow sending both of us crashing into the dirt with a heavy grunt. A second later, blinding white light slammed into us like a brick wall, hurling us, shield-and-all over the forest floor, tumbling violently into the undergrowth.

I ground my teeth, clutching Heir’s breastplate desperately as electricity, raw and frenzied danced over us, just beyond the thin blackened barrier. He was all I had left. He was my responsibility. Heir. My son.

When the electric light finally faded, my shadows gave chase, hunting the light, fighting it off until it vanished into the thickness of the forest.

I had used every ounce of my already reduced magic to save us. To save Heir and now I found myself laying utterly exhausted on top of him, unable to move. Every muscle in my body hurt, my veins were screaming in protest and my bones groaned in strain.

As I lay there, empty and completely drained, I felt my body move. No. I felt my body being moved. Strong hands gripped my shoulders and rolled me over, laying me flat on my back sprawled over grass and dirt.

Footsteps hurried closer and Locke’s deep voice rumbled nearby.

“What the hell was he thinking!? Get off of him! Move away!” A harsh, hostile order.

The strong hands moved away then.

It was an effort to peel my eyelids open, but when I did, I saw Heir’s horrified expression, his light blue eyes scanning my face in question.

Locke shoved him away, making him fall back onto his backside. It didn’t seem to register in his mind as he kept staring at me with his lips slightly parted in shock.

“Coyne! Can you hear me, Coyne!?” Locke yelled, hovering close to my face.

I blinked. The world was spinning around me.

“I could have killed you! What the fuck were you thinking!?”

“D-don’t hurt him,” I slurred, pointing at Heir, or at least I hoped I was pointing at him. Locke’s face turned in the direction I was pointing and when he turned back, he had a very prominent frown edged onto his features. Good.

Darkness swept in then and my body went into a deep sleep.