The Art of Blood and Power (Book 2 in The Gifted Trilogy)

25- Marshall Sarcovian

As the troop of Ocean Soldiers reached the base of the hill, June, Kess and I were already in position, lying on our stomachs at the peak of the hill out of view from the enemies who were now trudging themselves upward.

    We watched for June's cue, which came as a hand silently counting down from five. The moment her hand closed into a fist, we were on our feet, weapons drawn, and charging down the hill.

    The advantage of surprise gave us a strong position to pick the fight, seeing as they were halfway up a hill and had gravity working against them. With barely a thought, shadows swirled around me while I dropped into a crouch as one of the Ocean Soldiers shot a reckless and desperate arrow towards me. Immediately my shadows stretched forward towards him. As they swirled around his legs, he stumbled backwards in an attempt to get away from them. Water shot towards me from the opposite direction but I managed to dodge it as June took the soldier down with a powerful wave.

    I reached the first soldier and we began a close-contact combat, him using water as a shield against me. It was only a matter of seconds before I overpowered the soldier and caused him to retreat backward while still attempting to block his body from me. I shot a stream of darkness towards his head. The moment the shadows reached his eyes, he dropped to the floor, his body seizing slightly from the hit. I recoiled but turned away from him. He would survive the blow, but for now his upper body was numb and he was useless in a fight. It was time to move to another competitor.

    I turned to see June locked in an aggressive fight with the largest soldier on the field. One look at his build and worn face and I knew he must have been the General June had named Marshall Sarcovian. As another soldier prepared to send daggers of water towards her back, I shot out my hand. A rope of shadows coiled itself around his wrists and as I pushed my hand downwards, he was pulled downwards until he was sprawled on the ground. A dagger thrown by Kess that lodged itself into his side guaranteed he would stay down.

    With June focused on keeping Marshall locked in a fight and the four remaining soldiers gathering themselves together, Kess and I moved towards each other until we were back-to-back, each facing two other soldiers. I was shocked when I realized that one of the soldiers facing me had hands that were glowing rather than the swirl of water that surrounded the fists of the others. Before I could tell Kess, the Ocean Soldier stepped forward, throwing a punch that sent the water flying towards me. I dodged the water, but as it circled behind me, I felt it press roughly into my back, shoving me forwards.

As I fell, I saw a beam of light meet the shadows that swirled around me. Immediately, I hissed in pain at the burning sensation that traveled up my arm, the closest part of my body to the shadows that were touched by the light. I withdrew the shadows closer to my body, rolling myself away from the Sun Soldier.

Before I could stand, a second wave of water crashed into me, sending me to my back once again. This time I didn't fight the current, loosening my body as I flew backwards. My body rolled several times but as soon as I could determine which direction the Ocean Soldier was in comparison to me, I stretched out a hand towards him and clenched it into a fist. The shadows sprung up once again and this time knocked the soldier square in the chest. He flew backwards into the trunk of a tree. His head slumped forward and he didn't get up again.

The painful burning returned as I swiveled to find the Sun Soldier closer than before and already directing various pulses of light towards different parts of my body. As if they had a mind of their own, my shadows stretched outwards, forming separate long streams of shadow. With no particular pattern, they began striking the Sun Soldier with the motion of a snake pouncing on its prey: lightning-quick before retracting towards me and performing the strike again.