One thing about war was that seeing everything from a far-away perspective made it happen slower. Her gut sank at the visible ripple of light in the distance, but she ground her teeth and stood her ground. If it's a battle they wanted, they would get one.

She pushed her sword's hilt with a click, knowing full well it'd cave under the pressure of the unique material the Sovereign flooded her armies with. Breaking a sword, while it might not be her goal, it would be a privilege for her to have an excuse to discard it. Her weapons were not the Lifecatcher. She could afford to lose them.

The spies from the supplies chamber saw the flare and understood what it meant from their side—evacuate to other quadrants, or if they're able, join the fight coming from the rear. Since it already came to this point, Canelis had one job.

It's somewhere in the contingency of a contingency, but it'd have to do for now.

Canelis drew her sword and launched herself off the battlements, throwing herself into the heart of the pending flames. Her sword slashed in a wide arc, taking down a soldier with her. She rolled behind an abandoned cart, eyes scanning the line of explosives waiting for their spark. Not now. She'd have to make sure the others made it out first.

She summoned her magic and blasted the gates to the supply chambers with a bolt of light. The gears reset, tumbling down in a series of damning clunks. It betrayed a view of a sea of Synketrians, lowering themselves into a stance. A horn tore through the soundscape, followed by a defiant yell. Another answered from behind, and the rear exploded in a shower of light and fire.

Two armies clashed as the entire pixie army who survived the onslaught in Yin-Alora forced the Synketrian soldiers deeper into the supply chambers. Which proved volatile, as a single, wayward spell could doom them all in the presence of the explosives. Canelis blew a breath, easing the tension in her shoulders. When she opened her eyes, her goals laid themselves in a perfect line in her head.

She spread her wings and launched herself off the cart in time to meet a spear rushing towards her. Metal thwacked against the shaft, her blade diverting it somewhere past her ear. Her knee dug into a stomach, and she didn't stop to watch as she finished her swing with a forceful swipe, hitting a wall of flesh. She yanked her blade off the wooden handle, her foot trampling the weapon's owner.

Another replaced the attacks, and she dealt with them with fiery twirls and violent slashes. Her periphery tracked the soldiers who only turned to fight as the Synketrians caught up with them as they tried to flee. She angled her sword to block another swing before moving north towards the supply chambers' gate. If they're going to spring the trap, she'd better be there.

The battlements lit up with traces of Synketrians scrambling towards the crossbows. They must have concluded the dart mechanisms weren't working, so now, they have to do it manually. Not if Canelis could help it. Her magic flashed to the surface, three bolts forming in her palms. Pointing her sword towards the first three soldiers who made it to their stations, she aimed her bolts at them. Then, she shot.

Three forms crashed backwards, shoulders bleeding from the searing bolts that hit them. The particles had long blended with the visible light, but they left a sizable wound in their wake. She lowered her sword. Her first mistake.

Her shadow morphed into an attack from behind. She cursed, bringing her arm up, but not her weapon in time. The sword bit through fabric and skin, bringing its owner closer. She bared her teeth, closed her hand around the soldier's wrist, and dug her nails into his flesh. He yelped, his sword dropping from his grip. She didn't wait for it to fall. She hooked her leg around his and pulled, sending him crashing to the ground. Before he could recover, she plunged his own blade into him.

The chaos around her made less sense. Everywhere she looked, she saw pixies locked in battle with a Synketrian. They seemed to have forgotten the goal, and that was to herd the enemies into the supply chambers and flee before Canelis tripped the explosives.

This wouldn't do.

Her second mistake showed. Too many plans and backups to the backup plan could prove fatal on the battlefield. Soldiers weren't thinking when in war. They wanted orders.

She parried another strike out of the way, spreading her wings and bringing her form to a hover. Her magic blasted the nearest Synketrians in the immediate radius, driving them back a mere fortwere in time for her to retrieve another flare from her belt. One spark, and she threw it into the air.

A blast of green and white.

Flee.

The commanders understood, judging from the heads craning to the sky at the flare's explosion. She didn't need to see if they would follow. If they get caught in the flames after she sparked the explosives, it wouldn't be her fault. She told them to flee. They should flee.

Their only mercy was the Synketrians not knowing what the flares' colors meant, but they'd have a good idea once they realized the shape the pixie army was trying to mold them into. Canelis better not allow them to reach that point. That's why she needed to get to the nearest wall. Hopefully, she could fly up and escape before the terznite blew her to shreds.

A shadow lurched towards her and dug into her back. Air went out of her throat in an involuntary gasp, her form thrown out of its flight. Pain shot up her neck and arms as she slammed into the wall, right above a cask hidden underneath the carpet of unburnt grass. She peeled off the wall, in time for a fist to come rushing towards her face. Who—

Another lump of weight slammed against it, diverting the swing to the ground. Cailen's dark hair swished with the motion as he drew back and readied his sword. Blood dripped from his hairline and dust streaked his tanned skin, but he was here. He's alive.

"Whatever you're doing, go," he rasped, shoulders rising and falling.

"I'm going to start it," she answered. "You need to go."

Cailen lunged and met another blade which might have decapitated her from behind. What's up with her today, being distracted and ambushed from her blind spots? She didn't normally fight like this.

"Most of the soldiers are in the armory," Cailen reported. "Only a handful are left here. If you don't go now, you will be trapped."

"And you?" Canelis leveled her sword and pressed her back against his. "I don't hear you planning to get out of here."

She heard a grunt and a clang behind her before Cailen's warmth reappeared behind her. "I'll start it," he said. "Go."

Canelis drove her stolen sword into a soldier and yanked it free before the corpse hit the ground. She whirled towards him to see him skewer another Synketrian with a blade he picked up elsewhere.

"That's not the plan, Commander," she said, clamping a hand on his shoulder and swinging him away to parry an attack coming from him. "I order you to get out of here."

Cailen kicked another soldier in the gut before clashing his blade against a dagger. "Not happening, General," he said. "I have orders to ensure you survive."

"On whose command?" she demanded, bashing the next soldier with a pommel of her sword before slashing with her other blade.

He had the nerve to smile and grate Canelis' gut with it. "Mine."

Her world swiveled, and she felt a strong grip on her collar. Cailen's translucent wings flashed in her periphery, and together, they launched off the ground. She squirmed and flailed, fingers clawing at his grip as the battlefield grew smaller and smaller beneath her feet.

She only got control of her limbs back when Cailen deposited her atop the battlements. "When will you ever listen to me?" She slapped his arm, and she didn't hold her strength back. "This is insubordination."

"Since when do I care about that?" Cailen threw her a look. It took her a while to realize anger clouded his features. What for? Was she out of line? She's only going to do what they planned, and if she didn't survive, then so be it. "You know I don't care about that."

Canelis threw her hands forward, palms to the Synketrians charging towards them from manning the crossbows. Bolts of light brought them down before they could take another step closer. "This is no time to argue, Commander," she said. "I have to get down there."

"You're right," he said, pushing his hair off his forehead. A frown pulled his lips down at the splotch of red that stained his fingers. "But that doesn't mean I'll let it happen."

She opened her mouth to protest and lunged at him to put him in place, but he jumped off the battlements. "See you at home," he yelled up at her with that stupid grin on his face before the rysteme spell bled out of his lips.

A column of flames ripped from his fingers, straight into the line of explosives. After that, an inferno burst from the ground in pure rage, leaving Canelis staring into their fiery depths with a hand outstretched but no one to take it.