The Foolhardies 167 Never A Dull Momen

And while I stood there feeling clueless about the sudden turn of events, a few enemy soldiers thought to take advantage of my appearance and attacked me.

I was thankful to them because their charge required a simple answer, and that at least returned my focus on current events.

The first attacker, an elf with a spiral face tattoo wielding a pike in both hands, thrust his weapon toward me.

I slapped it aside with a single swipe of my falchion, and in the few moments where he was unbalanced after his attack, I drove forward and shoved my falchion deep into his gut and felt the blade pierce the other end of him.

Normally, this kind of deathblow wasn't encouraged in a fight between one against many as there was a moderate chance of your weapon getting stuck between flesh and bone long enough for another enemy to take advantage, normally.

However, my falchion's vibro-sword skill made this irrelevant as it could easily rip through any bone or flesh that clung to my shadowblade. But my enemies didn't know that. So I let one or two of them think I was defenseless. I even let them get in close while I pretended to struggle with pulling my sword out.

The first guy lunged at me with his long sword swing down from an upward arch. His companion, an elf like him and the guy I'd just defeated, had chosen to attack me from the safety of the other side of the dying elf stuck to me.

In response, I pulled out my sword and push kicked the dying elf toward the guy behind him. And in that crucial last second, I pivoted around on my back foot, easily dodging the other elf's attack, and catching him at a very vulnerable sideward angle.

My falchion's shadowblade came cras.h.i.+ng onto his side and cut up a chunk of elf flesh and leather vest.

I heard the scream before I smelled the blood, but neither of these two awful, awful things distracted me from the fourth attacker who had just finished notching his bow and aimed it at me.

In the future, when historians spoke of me—if that kind of awesome thing ever came to pa.s.s—they'll probably reveal to the entire Fayne that I was, in fact, this generation's sense knight of sight. And I imagined future fairies and viseres coming to a sudden realization that taking me on with a bow and arrow from within ten feet was a stupid way to die.

The arrow had already flown toward me when I sent my falchion flying toward the elven archer.

I easily dodged the arrow with a simple pivoting of my body to the right but the archer didn't have the same kind of sight I did so it was no surprise to me when my falchion embedded itself deep in his chest.

Blood spurted out of the body like a tiny fountain as he toppled backward deader even than his two friends who were in varying stages of dying themselves.

Finally, the elf that had been pushed back by the dying body of his companion was able to disentangle from the now lifeless body. But seeing his friends die around him and finding me standing just a few feet away without my weapon while giving him a death stare I'd learned from Edo, he chose the sensible course of action. He dropped his weapon and ran away.

I pulled out my falchion from the dead body on the ground while feeling that gut-wrenching guilt at slaying another fairy.

"Get over it, Dean," I chided myself. "Lots more death tonight… you can regret it later… mourn later…"

Last thing I thought before I rejoined my unit in their attack against the center of the oasis defenses was of a redheaded half-elf who'd gazed down at me from her swifthart with something like charmed curiosity.

We won the battle an hour before dawn. It was hard-earned for sure, but the enemy defenses had become less sharp after the Dawn Breaker escaped the battlefield, and without her leaders.h.i.+p, it seemed the remaining enemy just couldn't rally together and counter our offensive.

I learned later that the reason she never came back was because Red Bull had chased her out of the valley and kept on chasing her and her entourage for miles and miles before he and his soldiers finally quit. The satyr was certainly true to his name, a bull that charged with little regard for anything else.

This left me in charge of conquering the valley, and with the help of April Valentine who was an excellent adjutant, we managed to route the enemy forces with less deaths than I'd previously predicted.

Luca ended up with another wound on his chest. It was another scar to join the half-dozen others he'd acc.u.mulated since.

I watched my s.h.i.+rtless brother being tended to by Berrian Berrygrove while Pike fidgeted around them and frowned at the wound. It was another reminder of how dangerous Luca's life had become, and while I was off flirting with the enemy, he was getting hurt.

"Stupid Dean," I hissed under my breath.

"Stupid Dean, what?" Aura asked.

She found me sitting on a pile of sacks and offered me the elf tea in her hand.

I took it gratefully while avoiding her eyes and prayed to whichever spirits were listening that Aura's bracelet couldn't share with her the sense of guilt creeping up my mind.

Nothing was going on, I repeated in my head. We were just talking and I wasn't on top of her because I wanted to… honest.

Why I felt the need to sound defensive when Aura and I weren't in any sort of romantic situation was making me cringe inside.

That's because you want to be in a romantic situation with her, my brain told me.

To which I answered, Shut up, brain! There are far more important things to worry about than getting a girlfriend, idiot!

Unsurprisingly, my brain had the perfect counter that just made my cheeks feel hotter. Luca seems to be juggling life and death situations and girl issues just fine.

"Shut it," I finally said aloud.

"I'm sorry?" Aura asked unsurely.

"Um, not you," I said quickly. "Just quieting the voices in my head…"

Aura tapped my hand with the fingers of her hand, and that lingering touch threatened to boil my cheeks past their usual redness.

"Are you feeling guilty again?" she asked with a concerned tone.

I shook my head. "I always feel guilty but all the deaths don't give me waking nightmares anymore…" I glanced over at Luca who was just finished with first aid. "There's a lot at stake… I don't have time to second guess myself."

Aura nodded approvingly. "But you can talk to me if things get too difficult for you… you know that, right?"

I offered her a wan smile which she returned, and I swear to G.o.d, I'd never seen anything more beautiful. All thought of pretty redheads vanished from my mind in that instant.

"Oh, right," she reached into her pocket and pulled out the intel scroll she kept there. "Got this from Nike… she's out of breath so I asked her to jot it down… Do you want the good news or the bad news first?"

"There's good news?" I asked wryly.

"Bad one first, then," Aura said with an eye-roll. "It looks like Verania managed to conquer the oasis to the east of here."

I self-palmed myself. "Dammit… she stole another one from us."

"Yes, but I understand General Red Bull is giving us full credit for this oasis victory… which means it'll be recorded that you defeated a highly regarded fairy knight of the Sunspire Dominion," Aura laughed.

The thought of Dawn and her long red locks made my face go red again. Dammit, Dean.

Luckily, Aura hadn't noticed as she continued to give me the news, the so-called good one.

"We've received a message from the council regarding the Starfall clan," she explained.

My ears p.r.i.c.ked up.

"Chris Pint has agreed to the conditions of the alliance proposed by Chancellor Orryn.," Aura revealed.

"He must have really liked the scent your brother sent him… Eau de perfume of the Patriarch," I chuckled.

Aura rolled her eyes at me but there was a smirk on her lips too. "A formal meeting for finalizing the alliance will be held in Shärleden in three weeks' time."

"That means… no war until the alliance has been formalized," I reasoned. "Garm must hate that."

"Indeed he does. In fact, he's already complained to the council about the timing, Aura chuckled. "Oh, and there's more."

"Chris Pint wants us there at the meeting, maybe as guards or something like that," I guessed.

Aura nodded again. She eyed me with a curious look. "I sometimes forget that I sought you out because of how your mind works."

"You're making me sound like a weirdo," I joked.

"That's because you are a weirdo," she teased as she got up and then offered me her hand. "Come on. General Red Bull wants to see us."

As I reached out for her hand, I wondered if these little moments between us could last forever.