CHAPTER 14 – KYLE

God his skin was itchy. And why was he so sticky?

A vision of Angeline naked, covered in paint, drifted lazily to the forefront of his mind. He smiled. It wasn’t a vision, it was a memory, a perfect moment from mere hours before. One he wouldn’t be forgetting any time soon. Maybe never.

Kyle opened his eyes and blinked away the last remnants of sleep. He chuckled to himself as he stared down at the destroyed bed, blue splotches smeared all over the blankets. The Castle Mages would be pissed when they had to wash that out, or maybe, if they were skilled enough, they could use their magic.

He shifted his gaze to the angel still sleeping in his arms… an angel covered in splotches of greens and reds. She looked like a damn Victoria’s Secret Christmas special. Good thing there wasn’t a mirror in that room; she might be pissed when she saw how she looked.

Something stirred in his chest. As relaxed as he felt, he couldn’t help the thoughts itching at the back of his mind. She’d said the safe-word. They’d been doing the dirty, all out too, but when he kissed her, she froze. He wasn’t sure why it was getting to him, it just didn’t make any sense. It wasn’t that she didn’t like him, she’d made that plenty clear by initiating round 2. But he was so thrown by her reaction, he didn’t try again. What was going on in that pretty head of hers?

Kyle dropped his gaze to her soft lips and all he could think was how much he wanted to kiss her again.

Then the goddamn bell started ringing and shattered his thoughts. He snagged a pillow, about to lob it at the stupid bell, when Angeline shot out of his arms and shoved herself upright.

“We have to go,” she said.

“Says, who,” he laughed, sliding his hand up her cheek. He dropped his head, towards her cute little face.

She ducked away. “That’s the emergency alarm. We need to go see what’s going on.”

She leapt out of bed and glanced down at her paint covered arms, flustered.

Kyle fought the urge to laugh, but the worry in her eyes caused him to bite it back. “Elves?”

“I don’t know,” she said, tugging on her pants, “but I do know that they wouldn’t rile up a Castle full of Diviners and untrained Mages if it weren’t a serious situation.”

Crap, should he really be there still? Sure, he wanted more time with Angeline, but getting himself dragged into a Castle politics situation? No thanks. But then again, what if it was more serious than that? What if it really was Elves? He couldn’t just leave her there, she didn’t even have a new amulet yet. As much as he wanted to leave, he knew she would do no such thing until she knew what was going on, given the control freak that she was. He had no choice but to stick with her until he could convince her to bail.

He let out a heavy sigh and pushed himself up off the mattress, dry paint crinkling on his skin as he shifted into his clothes. Angeline waited impatiently by the door, peeking into the hall. “Hurry,” she said, voice tight, concerned, “it’s still the middle of the night. Whatever this is, it’s serious.”

As soon as he finished dressing she practically flung him from the room.

She half-dragged him down the corridor, the same kind of hustle in her step as she’d had when they traversed the forests. That woman, that Captain, always on the go, always trying to keep ahead of things. Things that he had actively avoided, things that he did not want to be walking towards.

He jogged to keep up after her as she flew down the stairs. There were a lot more people on the next floor. A lot of scared people, expressions ranging from confused to full-on panic, none of them ready for battle, none of them brave. If Elves were there, they really were screwed. No wonder Angeline was so on edge, it made sense now, they wouldn't stand a chance.

The stream of wizards fed directly into a large open hall. Kyle spotted Master Pallas and Master Merlena standing at a large podium at the front. His heart leapt into his throat. Even Pallas looked concerned.

He glanced down at Angeline, she had apparently noticed the same, her face even grimmer as she stared at the withered Arch-Master. Reaching down he placed his palm on the small of her back and guided her through the crowd to the front, where the few other soldiers had congregated, all half dozen of them. All Mages, not a single Salamander. No fire-power. What kind of idiot would leave a stronghold so poorly guarded?

As they drew closer he saw that master Pallas wasn’t just worried, she looked downright distressed.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know how they could have done it.”

“How do you not know?” Merlena sneered, flipping that ugly-ass blue hair. “You know everything. You can See it all.”

“My Sight is fainter these days,” Pallas said, dark skin looking even more green than the day before. “Perhaps this is the same mysterious magic the elves used to curse those amulets.”

“The amulets were cursed?” Angeline cut in shoving her way to the front.

Pallas gave her a grim nod.

“Not that it’s your business,” sneered Olga the Obnoxious, crinkling her blue eyebrows.

“It’s my business if Elves are on their way,” Angeline spat. “You may be a Master, but I’m the highest-ranking soldier in here.”

“Not if I take away your rank, like I’ve been considering anyway,” said the stupid blue cow.

“If you want to play your little games, fine, but do it when there aren’t dozens of lives at stake. Look around you.” Angeline gestured wildly to the hall of panicked wizards huddling in small groups, whispering in fear.

Pallas put a frail hand on Merlena’s meaty forearm.

Merlena narrowed her eyes at Angeline but kept her mouth shut.

“Yes,” Pallas said softly, ashamed, “A hundred Elves approach the Castle as we speak, closing in on all sides. They’ll breach the walls in under an hour. I don’t know how I didn’t See them sooner, none of us did.”

“Then we need to evacuate,” Angeline said, standing up taller.

“We can’t,” Pallas said, “in every vision I’ve Seen, no more than a pair can escape their formation. If more than two leave they get caught every time,” her voice dropped to barely a whisper, “and made an example of.”

Kyle’s gaze fell back to Angeline, her jaw set tight. Two could escape, why shouldn’t it be the two of them? They weren’t even supposed to be there. He knew she wanted to stay and fight, to protect the Castle and its inhabitants, but six soldiers against a hundred Elves? That was suicide. He’d have to get her alone and try to convince her to leave with him.

“Then we send two out, to call for reinforcements,” Angeline said.

“I already mentioned that idea,” Merlena said smugly.

“Who are you sending then?” Angeline demanded. God the feisty Captain thing was starting to get kinda hot.

Kyle gritted his teeth. What was wrong with him? Why was he even thinking that way? Maybe because he’d already made up his mind he wasn’t sticking around for the shit show, and neither was she. They could be the two who left, they could go get reinforcements. He’d be protecting her and getting away from the Masters at the same time.

“We’re not calling for reinforcements,” Merlena said, face souring. “Besides, I could have just teleported an SOS to the camps in range already if that’s what we were doing.”

Pallas placed her hands on the podium, as though she might be sick. “If reinforcements arrive, the Elves will slaughter all those inside.”

“Besides,” Merlena said, “to get sufficient numbers we’d have to call in the three closest camps. It’d take half a day to get here.”

Kyle couldn’t help himself. “Well who the fuck created that set up? Why the hell aren’t there more soldiers stationed here?”

The soldiers, the Masters, and a few surrounding observers turned toward him, shocked. Except for the Viking shrew, she just looked pissed. Guess he got his answer. Of course she set it up. Shit, why did those at the top always seem the least competent?

“There was never a need for soldiers,” Merlena said, narrowing her eyes, “our Diviners used to See all threats days before they occurred.”

“I know,” Pallas said, breath rattling, “I have failed us all.”

All fell silent for a moment.

Angeline’s face grew dark. “We only have one choice. We have to evacuate the Masters.”

One of the soldiers leaned in. “Won’t that cause a panic? Look how many eyes are watching.”

Angeline turned and gazed upon the sea of frightened faces. Kyle followed her line of sight. Bunch of kids. Mostly scrawny. A full ocean of black amulets, dotted with the occasional blue of the Castle Mages, glorified washing machines in a room full of brainiacs. How the hell were they supposed to fight heavily armed shit-demons, twice their height and triple their weight?

Another soldier questioned the small group. “What do they even want? There’s no doorway to Earth here. They can’t cross The Veil.”

Kyle watched as the last little light in Angeline’s eyes went out.

“This isn’t about the doorways,” Angeline said, voice softer now, “not yet. They haven’t been able to get close, because we always See them. So, they’re going to blind us. Half The Realm’s Diviners live within these walls. They’re going to kill these kids.”