When Iona stopped in front of her mother, she was the dark witch with pointy teeth and skin made from obsidian glass. Vision red and mind in a frenzy, Iona bared her teeth in a smile and said, "You have to kill me first."
"With pleasure," Adrianna replied.
Hearing her, Etaya yelled at her soldiers, "Attaaaackkk!"
When both the armies clashed, the sound subdued the lightning in the skies.
In the next second, Ileus unleashed a blast of blue light that slammed into the faes in the first line, Screams emanated. This was Ileus' signal. The wizards and witches moved, shooting like comets from the skies, just as the fae soldiers rose up from the ground with their wings.
The witch army blasted their magic on the fae soldiers as they careened right or left to dodge it. The fae army retaliated well. They also used their magic and hurled it towards the foes.
One thing was clear that in Sgiath Biò the magic abilities of both the sides were too limited. They had to depend on their weapons too. The fae soldiers and the Draoidhian army clashed and then it was just screams and clanking of metal and sizzles of magic and blood everywhere.
Iona barreled her way inside the Draoidh army, her eyes all the time on Anastasia.
The wizards and faes clashed midair. Some wizards went down quickly against the faes. However, when they realized the growing threat, they used their weapons to shield them against the magic and a flurry of arrows.
On the ground, Adrianna's and her allies' soldiers charged at the remaining soldiers who were not faes. More divisions arrived from Vilinski one after the other. None of them could use their magic until suddenly a blast of magic surged between them. It was from the heir with ancient blood. Only she could use her magic. Only her magic unleashed in this wilderness. Because Sgiath Biò listened to Anastasia only.
Armies were stunned in surprise as soldiers fell apart.
And all through it, Ileus barreled right between the faes—a blur of shadows, claws, fangs, brute force and often black fur. Wherever he struck, there was a trail of blood and screams and groans or crack of bones.
The fae soldiers were fighting with all their might but no one went near Anastasia. No one wanted to fight her. They watched her from afar. The way she wielded magic, if this continued, they were sure that the battle would soon fall in her favor. And they wanted it… except they were bound by their blood oath towards the throne.
The dragons above breathed fire over the fae army, toasting them to the bones, their charred bodies lying on the ground. Brantley and Dawn were having fun with their dragons.
Anastasia was keeping an eye on Etaya who was fighting her way towards Adrianna. And Adrianna was unstoppable. She was like a blur of fire, who moved so fast that it was impossible to spot her. Amidst the blood that sprayed around her, amidst the swords that she swirled with her hands and dagger that she threw at her enemies, she looked like fierce golden flames with occasional spray of crimson.
Seeing that Etaya had gone too close to Adrianna, Anastasia barreled her way towards her and sent a blast of ice to stop her.
However, soon she found herself surrounded by a layer of magic, a circle, so thick that she couldn't move out of it no matter how hard she tried. And in that cage, she found herself staring at Etaya and… Adrianna. Hair on the back of her neck rose in dread. Etaya swirled her sword in her hands and muttered, "Good, you got yourself with me, Anastasia," she snarled. "I am going to slice your mother-in-law and feed her to the dogs in front of you."
Anastasia's violet eyes flickered silver. "Really? Etayalar Aramaer?" said Anastasia in a calm voice even as she wanted to rage, scream. The woman knew very well that she was married to Ileus in Evindal, yet she kept coming back, steaming with greed. She lowered her hand to her sword.
Etaya froze and then blinked, shocked and stunned into silence.
"Why?" Anger flashed through Anastasia, hot like fire. "Don't look so shocked," she said as she prowled closer. "Etayalar Aramaer—reincarnated as Etaya."
Stunned as hell, Etaya was unable to move. She stared at Anastasia as if she had seen a ghost. Blood drained from her face.
"How do you feel when the first layer peels off, aunt?" said Anastasia. "Daughter of Estelar Aramaer, who was never married and who vowed to the Lore that she would return to avenge her father." Her lips peeled back showing her fangs. "Am I right?"
"You are speaking utter nonsense," Etaya said in a low voice.
Anastasia threw her head back and laughed. She shook her head and then said, "Are you so scared of your true heritage? You came back as my father's sister. Did he know about it?" Her eyes narrowed. "I think he sensed that about you."
"Shut up!" Etaya was shaking with fear, with anger. "You don't know anything!"
"Oh, I know everything," Anastasia said with a feral grin. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Adrianna opening the layer of magic with her bare hands and stepping out after giving her a knowing look, as if saying that she is all yours.
Etaya was dumbstruck. "H— how?"
Through the haze of the layer around them, she pointed to her left. "Because of her."
Etaya turned her head over her left shoulder to see who she was pointing and her eyes widened. The Dark Witch was fighting with the wizards and witches. Confused, she looked at Anastasia.
Anastasia prowled closer as if stalking her prey, like a hunter. "You never visited the tomb of ancient kings, did you?" she asked. "Or you never could enter?" Anastasia took her Evindal sword out. "Iona read about the history of fae and of demons. She found out that your name was never written in our family tree. Why is that… aunt?" she asked, stressing on the word 'aunt'.
Etaya stumbled back as disbelief flashed across her face. Her knees became wobbly. The battle cries from the outside faded.
"Iona stole the book from your chamber—the one that you had so beautifully hidden under your bed."
Etaya's body shook with disbelief and confusion. Her head jerked back in Iona's direction. If she had found so much about her, then how did Anastasia know about it?
As if reading her thoughts, Anastasia said, "Iona accidentally summoned me in her room when one night she was reading the book." Anastasia remembered the first day Iona had summoned her. She was sleeping in her room with Ileus's arm around her waist, when suddenly she felt as if she was being driven, forced to go somewhere. Her body felt distant. It was a like a call to her lands. She had to go. She had to answer the call. And then to her utter bewilderment, she found her spirit in front of Iona.
Etaya's lips trembled. A shudder passed through her body.
"Together we found out about you, Etayalar Aramaer. The ploy, the scheme, the conspiracy runs deeper. You want the demon kingdom to take over the fae kingdom."
