Forged Destiny [Book 9: Ch. 22]

A bell tolled in the distance.

Vale…?

A whistling sounded in my ears a second before I hit the floor, hands over my head. Arrows rained down, thudding into the Nucklelavee and all the other Grimm. The thunk-thunk continued, occasionally split with a clink of an arrow hitting a metal tree and deflecting off. I huddled into a ball and wondered how I hadn't been hit as even spells came, exploding all around me and hurling Grimm from their feet.

Hot fire and cold ice washed over me, burning and freezing my skin. Wind howled and lightning crackled. Grimm roared and through it all, Salem screamed in a mix of fury and pain.

I cracked one eye open. The first thing I saw was the shade all around me, which I quickly realised was a solid sheet of Ironwood that had grown over and shielded my body, providing the cover that kept me safe. The next thing I saw was the grass.

No, not grass. The grass outside Vale had been burned away and turned into a charnel of mud and ash by all the spells. The stalks that stuck up from the ground were all wooden, their metal tips buried in the soil and disappearing Grimm. Arrow shafts peppered the ground all around me, apart from patches where spells had burned them away.

I'm not alone, I thought, crawling out into the open.

Everyone was fighting. Everyone was watching. Everyone was doing their part and pinning their hopes on me to make a miracle happen. As Salem brought her wings back, peppered with arrows and burned from spellfire, I knew I'd have to make it soon.

[...]

The bell of Vale tolled.

"Not again…"

I took the chance to slip behind a tree for cover and catch my breath as arrows and spells rained down for a second time, now on a Salem who couldn't stay in the air to dodge. I could hear her casting spells at the oncoming attacks and probably smashing them aside, but arrows continued to thud down so she couldn't have blocked them all.

The barrage continued, overwhelming Salem's defence and bathing her body in fire, ice and every other element under the sun. The Ironwood tree provided me cover but even then, flames licked left and right of me, burning away until the tree was toasty warm.

When it dissipated, I peeked around the corner.

Salem's arms and shoulders had arrows in them. Her hair was blackened, and her white face smudged with dirt and, unless I saw wrong, blood. It definitely wasn't mine. Had they managed to wound her?

—Forged Destiny [Book 9: Ch. 22]