The Hunt of the Grimalkin (Erresuma Book 1) Dani Swanson (reading women .txt) 📖

The look on Robin’s face was of pure annoyance. “I already knew you were going to say that.” The girls collected their things and smothered out the fire. They heard a twig snap off in the distance; the opposite way of the fairy circle. All that could be seen were shadows. Fig with his hair on end hissed in the darkness.

“Fight the unknown, or fight the little creatures who are fighting each other?”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

They each picked up their staffs and pulled their wagon towards the war ahead. The noise ahead sounded like fireworks as they neared the battle. The tree elves that the girls had helped just a few days before were attacking the fairies, but this time, they brought reinforcements. The Water Nymphs stood five feet tall and had human forms in all aspects, except for their hypnotic beauty, which took away the breath of all who looked upon them, with hair that flowed as if they were still under water, in the shade of seafoam blue and skin that glowed, even in the moonlight. The Nymphs were off to the side of the battle; launching water bombs at the fairies, causing their wings to become wet, making them unable to fly. Ravens were there, assisting the elves and chasing the much smaller sparrows back into the trees. Bright colors were exploding throughout the night sky in bursts of pink and blue as spells were shot across the trees.

“This is utter chaos,” Robin whispered as they watched from a distance away.

“What happens when they kill each other?” Thea questioned.

“You heard the fairy. The victor is the one who writes the history. I want to know what is so special about this land,” Robin responded.

    They crept in the shadows as they moved towards the fairy circle. Colorful orbs were flying every which way and the birds were diving at each other. Bombs and poisoned arrows were zinging past their heads, and the ground was littered with tiny bodies. They all were dressed for battle, as if they knew this was going to be happening this night. Armored bodies on the back of birds were flying through the trees. The elves wore armor that was painted with the same raven figure that was on Thea’s cloak, and the fairies had the sparrow embroidered in rich colors across their capes. Swords and bows drawn, there was no hesitation in the attack.

  “Stop!” Thea yelled as she started to swat at the airborne attacks. “This doesn’t need to happen!” she screamed. She was now in the middle of the battle field. She pulled a small poisoned dart out of her neck and felt woozy. “Robin, have your trolls clear the ground!”

Robin stood next to Thea and the ground started to shake as the tiny trolls started to rumble out of the dirt. One by one her creatures started to pick up the fallen and moved them to the base of one of the trees; a pile of fairies and a pile of elves. The numbers of injured totaled into the thousands.

 Thea was doing her best to separate the two groups, and was failing horribly. That’s when she saw him; the Elf King! He was riding on the largest of the ravens – soaring up to the palace window of Queen Anastasia with a bomb lit in his hand. He threw it into her window, sending shards of glass flying into the palace. Just before the branch of the tree exploded, a light pink fairy came flying out of the window at great speed.

Thea needed to do something to gain their attention. She stood in the middle of the fairy circle and conjured a fireball in her hand that she threw up into the sky. Only a few of the birds were bothered by her fireball attempt and left the scene. Everyone else continued to fight. Robin had the water nymphs restrained with her mud trolls and Fig had the wounded separated, but there was no way for them to reach the air attacks above their heads.

“Thunderbolt!” Robin yelled over to Thea.

She hesitated, as the last time she did that she almost killed herself. She took that fear and focused her hands up to the sky, shaking. The sky illuminated with such a bright light that it no longer looked to be night. The electricity poured down into her hands and she dropped to one knee as she threw the thunderbolt to the ground. The fireworks had stopped as the birds and fairies were running from the battle field to find shelter. More thunderbolts came crashing down to the ground around Thea. She shrieked with each one that hit the ground like flashes of falling stars kissing the earth. The sky opened up and the rain started to pour down while the electricity from the thunderbolts were still dancing across the ground. The mud trolls turned back to mud puddles, and the only creatures that seemed to enjoy the rain were the nymphs who now were able to retreat back to the lake. Thea looked up to the sky and embraced the icy drops upon her face. The battle field was being cleansed by the rain, all that could be heard was the rain meeting the earth’s mud puddles.

The rain slowly puttered to a stop, and there was silence in the forest once again. The two witches stood in the center of the fairy circle looking at the destruction of the forest. Water dripping from their clothes and they shivered in the wind. Thea conjured a fireball that she placed into a bush for light. There were too many fallen to count who had won this battle.

“Do you see what damage your behavior causes?!” Thea yelled out to the darkness. “Do you see what you are doing to your peoples? Your families? For what?” She slowly spun in a circle and yelled