She Flies Through the Air with the Greatest of Ease

As Mairwen watched her mother through the trees, her eyes were trained solely on Sir Taran as he approached. That is until she saw that someone was with him.

"She survived!" Mairwen whispered in spite of herself.

"Who?" Brinn squinted at the approaching group.

"Lady Livie is with Sir Taran," the human princess answered with disgust.

Brinn pulled her bow taut. "I've got the idiot traitor; you can focus on his hussy sister."

Mairwen was not about to argue about the woman being a hussy. Livie had let Renat turn into an abomination—and enjoyed it. There were few words strong enough to describe the blue-eyed princess's feelings for her nemesis.

Adjusting her focus to the lady, Mairwen couldn't help but notice a change in Livie's physique. She was taller and paler. Her skin was not lithe and beautiful as it had been, it was ashen and grey.

Gandr said she had been crushed, but as Livie was now walking, either her injury had not been serious or something else had happened. Maybe she had gone into the healing waters of the lake and been made whole.

But then why did she look so unhealthy?

The woman spoke and Mairwen strained to hear. Livie called out the Empress, identifying her.

"Looks like the ruse did not work," Brinn whispered with her wind magic. "Things are about to get interesting."

The elven princess had no idea how right she was. For all of a sudden, things went sideways. Sir Taran grew wings and took to the skies with Junayd in tow while Aurora gave the signal for Brinn to release the message beacon.

"Blazing bees, what is that thing?!" Brinn cried out in surprise as she unleashed a rain of arrows at the flying nobleman. Unaccustomed to shooting at things in the air, especially things that could dodge, the elf succeeded only in angering Taran but could not wound him. Brinn slung the bow over her shoulder after her failure and released the red blinking ball.

Below, Livie was revealing herself as the real threat. Mairwen was able to see the action a hair's breadth before the lady plunged forward toward the Empress.

Steadying her bow, the blue-eyed princess released her shot. It sang through the air, weaving its way between the imperial abominations and right towards Livie's heart. There was no way Mairwen could let the blow land on her mother.

But as Livie reached forward with her head and teeth first, the shaft of the arrow changed targets. Mairwen squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, but pulled them open through sheer force of will. For better or worse, she needed to know what would happen.

Instead of lodging in Livie's chest, it grazed her nose. But it was enough. With blood pouring down her face, Livie was unable to see Alvar whisk away the Empress from the fray.

Overwhelmed, Mairwen leaned up against the trunk of the tree to catch her breath.

"Did you get her?" Brinn asked, using her wind magic to clear the fog for the imperial army. Taran had moved out of range and there was no reason for them to hide any longer.

"Sort of," the princess answered, pulling herself back to her feet to rejoin the battle. "I'm a little rusty." With the wedding, honeymoon, and working at the university, her only real practice had been fighting her way into Oblivion and hunting while they traveled. It appeared that was not enough to keep up her unmatchable skill.

Finishing her work with the fog, Brinn unslung her bow and trained her arrows to pierce the sky. She was careful to make sure the downward arc would not accidentally impale a friendly abomination or the human army.

Just then a cry from below nearly rendered them both deaf. Livie's mouth opened an unnatural amount to release the screech.

"Quite a set of lungs on that one," Brinn joked, but the ringing in Mairwen's ears did not allow her to hear.

They continued to shoot in different directions, aiming at the ground and sky alternatively. In the air a growing number of abominations were taking flight.

The sight was horrifying. 'Dania did it. She made them fly.'

The princess had no time to be upset with her friend. She had no time to think about it at all, but if she had, the only thing she would have felt was pity for the guilt Dania must be feeling.

As Taran dropped the white wolf in his arms and dove at the ground, Mairwen lost sight of him within the camp. With their main leader gone, the creatures in the sky swarmed around Livie to get instructions.

A cloud of flapping, thinly-stretched skin blocked out the sun from the battlefield. Then like a torrent of grey rain, the creatures dropped from above to flood the imperial army with overwhelming violence.

They flew so fast and fiercely that the people below, both the abomination and the humans, were unprepared for the onslaught. Some of the flying creatures were already going feral, sinking their teeth into anything and everything that could not withstand their strong jaws.

Mairwen shot off as many arrows as she could. The minutes stretched on before her father's voice called out from below asking after Aurora. Mairwen was comforted both by his voice and the fact that he was now under her protective gaze.

And Mairwen was very protective. She watched as a lizard tried to circle around and attack the Emperor and Nurlan from behind. His shortened tale swished with anticipation of the kill. But he staggered backwards, a shaft protruding from his left eye.

Devrim was so focused on his own battle that he did not seem to notice the near death experience behind him. The relief the princess felt was short-lived. Above her the sun was blocked out again, this time by a single figure.

She was so silent and swift that the princess did not register Livie's vengeful attack until it was too late. But farther down the branch, Brinn quickly dropped her bow and lifted her hands.

A gust of wind pushed the winged woman into the trunk of the tree. While the lightweight wings made it easy for her to maneuver, they were even easier than the dragon's to force off course.

Livie dug her clawed feet into the bark and then pushed off. Mairwen ducked, her dark braid moving a second behind her helmeted head. It caught on Livie's elongated fangs, and pulled the young princess along the rough bark of the tree as Livie continued unhindered.

At last the Princess's hair ripped free, sending strands in every direction. Gripping at the tree, Mairwen made sure the bow was still in her hand and straightened the quiver on her back.

Only one thing was missing. "No!" The princess screamed.

"Mairwen!" Devrim called from the ground as he heard her cry.

But she wasn't the one in danger.

Above their heads, Brinn was spewing curses at the monster holding her with her feet.

"You cursed banshee! Let go of me you troll-spawn or I'll suck the breath right out of you!"

Livie darted through the air higher and higher, deciding what to do with the wretched elf in her clutches. She squeezed her clawed feet into the she-elf's arm, but the thin armor held up against the monster's effort.

Brinn flailed wildly, both to avoid Livie's strikes with her hands and to keep the flight from going smoothly.

Bending her knees, Livie tried to bring the elf under control. Brinn seized the opportunity to flip her own legs above her head and kick Livie the face. The abomination's already bloody nose shattered entirely, sending Livie's head swimming. She released the elf as both her wings and feet spasmed of their own accord.

'Idiot!' Brinn murmured to herself as she fell. She had not looked up to see exactly how high she was.

The fall was too high even for an elf. Brinn was going to die.

'Not today!' The she-elf used her wind magic to push herself sideways. The closest flying abomination suddenly had a piggyback rider, but only long enough for Brinn to leapfrog off onto the next lowest point.

Waking an invisible tightrope from one abomination to the next, Brinn played the deadly game of circus performer. An insane grin bloomed on her face as she leapt to each new moving target in an ever shifting maze of creatures. Between each landing she flipped and twirled as if she had been doing it all her life. In a way, she had.

At last Brinn landed back on the branch next to Mairwen. The princess was as white as a sheet.

"You're alright!" The princess hugged her elven counterpart.

"As if there was ever any doubt. I swear you worry worse than Rory and Alvar combined. Get down!" Brinn's victory speech was cut short.

As soon as Livie's eyes had focused, she had followed the cheeky elf on her downward path. The last shred of the lady's humanity was slowly slipping away. There was too much emotion in her on which the curse could easily feed.

All that remained in Livie's vision was anger, revenge

and red.