Flash Fiction # 445 -- The Fae Underground/22

 Lycan was the one who said what was in my mind.

"Running," he said.  "Running would be very good about now."

I gave a quick nod of agreement.  There was just one problem.

"We can't run back and disrupt the Queen's work.  They have us blocked off in other directions.  Our only choice is to run straight ahead."

"Sounds good to me," Sylph said.

I glanced her way.  She was serious.  So was Lycan.  And it made a certain amount of sense.  If we remained where we were, they were just going to start throwing things and kill us.  We had to move anyway.

"Fine," I said.  I sent a quick wave of magic down to my leg.  I hoped that kept it from giving out.

For how long?

"Ready?" I asked.

"Ready," they chorused.

We started forward.

This wasn't as entirely suicidal as it might have looked at first.  The trolls and orcs were in the first lines and forming up into squads.  If we could keep them from preparing for battle, we would have a chance ... well, of holding them back for a little while.  Our magic would help, too.  Orcs had virtually no magic, and only a few trolls had powers.  So we had a lot going for us.

Including, of course, surprise.

As I started forward, I called up my armor and sword.  Until this moment, I had only ever worn it for a show at some court function.  Praise the gods that I'd had even that much practice.  The armor reinforced the brace on my leg, too -- a quick stab of pain, but then a steadier step.  I pulled the sword and heard a slight sound of dismay from the trolls where I headed. They knew a royal blade when they saw it, and I think everybody realized just then that this was not the battle they'd thought it would be.  Going after helpless humans?  Not this time.

Anger at what they'd intended to do gave me more strength.  Oh, there was a limit to it, of course.  I had to draw that power partly from within my own body, and I could feel my heart already pounding too hard -- but I kept going.
 
Lycan had attacked the orcs.  I wasn't sure where Sylph had gone.  I was aware of humans' distant cries, but they still sounded more ecstatic rather than fearful.

Let this work...

I took wounds, but I also took down trolls.  I had no pleasure in it.  I also had no belief that we could win, either.  I had blocked some weapons, dodged others -- but a couple of the trolls finally teamed up to take me off my feet.  I used magic to send them bowling into several others, and I thought some took wounds in that crash.

Still not enough.

I didn't have a chance to stand before a troll with more magic than the others made it through my defenses.  His sword glowed with power and managed to cut through the armor on my right arm.  I switched the blade to my other hand, but I was in no position to stop the troll who rained down blows against the sword.  He was, I could tell, aiming to take my head.

I couldn't stop him.

That next blow --

Never reached me.  Something bright seemed to explode in the face of the troll, strong and deadly magic that killed the creature before it could swing.  The body and sword dropped --

And King Pixie flew down to hover before my face.  "Up!  We need help!"

I scrambled to my feet, almost too startled to think clearly.  I did grab the troll's magical sword before it fell into other hands, though, and shoved it into the sheath at my side, the covering reshaping itself to the larger weapon.  I kept my sword in hand.

Pixies were everywhere.

And they were vicious.

The swarms of small wings flashed through the air around us -- thousands of them.  King Pixie shouted orders and spread the magic of his own.  I'd never seen such a battle.  The little pixies mostly sent spears of magic straight through the enemies' ears, and from the reactions, the spells must have all but melted their brains in the next few seconds.  Howls rose and ended abruptly as they started.  I had to scramble to keep from being buried beneath falling trolls and orcs.

Lycan and Sylph found me, too.

"We did not expect such help," Lycan said with a bow of his head and a more serious look than he'd given the pixie king before this.  I knew how he felt.

"We are not helpless," King Pixie said.  "We just don't often show our powers because it draws trouble.  But this -- this is a danger for all of us.  We must stand together in this battle."

"It's good that you came with us," I said and leaned on my sword as a sort of cane.  

"I didn't.  I came my own way to be with my people -- and found the battle had all come here after all.  I think we were drawn to this, all of us, for a reason."

That reason still moved at the edge of our light -- vast and dark.  I had the feeling that no light would ever touch it.  The light did not exist for such a being.

The few trolls, orcs, and other creatures who had not fallen to the pixies were retreating -- but I noticed something odd.  They were not retreating back to their dark companions.

"They're not allies," I said.  Lycan frowned.  "Orcs and trolls were just taking advantage of the spread of the darkness.  I don't think they know any more than we do about what's going on.  I wonder if they lost all of their crowns."

Lycan, Sylph, and King Pixie watched the orcs and trolls, but it seemed evident that they were no longer part of the larger problem.

I didn't know what we could do.