Eclipse On Luna

Chapter-8

[Irene Miles’ POV]

Alana, Julie, Erica and I went out and monitored the area once again. Even though the ladies had already done that, I wanted to recheck myself.

Hearing what they couldn’t, I knew the soldiers were there. They were all hiding. There were many of them waiting for us to make our move while they could pounce on us. 

“Go back, all of you. Get back into the cottage right now,” I said, peering at the thickets near the walls. These damn stupids. “Don’t come out until I call you, ok?”

“But…”

“I will be fine,” I interrupted Alana. “Go!” She nodded and went back into the cottage with the others.

Mercy, constant at eighty percent. I thought to my wolf, Mercy. That was the way I used to manifest my wolf powers in my human body, even without turning into a wolf. With Fenrir’s vision, I could see all of them. There were about twenty of them near our escape route and many more around the cottage. But they were all hiding when they didn’t need to. They could have just stood. It was as if they knew we would try to escape and had prepared something. A strange uneasiness crawled into my chest. They trapped us from all sides. My legs and hands went numb when I realised that —

The game had already begun. 

Why didn’t Zane’s soldier inform me about this? Could it be that even he didn’t know about it? Absolutely! When Kage held the games before, I should have understood that he knew who in his army worked for Zane. He must completely know every step Zane was taking. I didn’t even want to consider the possibility that Zane’s soldier would have betrayed us. I never felt he would. But anything could happen. If, by the slightest chance, he betrayed us, the help wouldn’t arrive when the game started. 

The ladies are safe in the cottage. As soon as all of us get out, the game will begin. Since when were they planning all this? Damn it! I clenched my fist and ran back into the cottage. Panting, I shut the main gate. The ladies looked at me.

I took a deep breath. “We can’t go outside. Not now. We can’t escape the games.” I informed them, with shocks of nervousness flowing through my veins.

“Why? What happened?” Thalia asked impatiently.

I gritted my teeth and informed them, “the games have already begun. We are surrounded.”

“What!” Almost every lady in the room snapped at once.

“Yes. Archers are hiding in the thickets near the walls, gates, everywhere. As soon as all of us go out of the cottage, I assume that will be when the games will begin. This year many things are going on under the surface, so…”

“What do we do now?”

“My legs are getting numb.”

“What should we do?”

“It means many soldiers will be outside. Do you think we can kill all of them and escape?”

“I want to go home!”

“Why is this happening to us? What did we ever do?”

“I wish I wasn’t beautiful. I wouldn’t be here. Mother!”

Everyone had started panicking again. There was no use in giving them any hope because I knew there was no hope left. Except me. They had no hope left. But for that, I had to reveal myself, which I couldn’t. “Everyone!” I yelled and all of them became silent. “Sit down and think. Let me think too.” I sat in the lotus position. 

I teleported my consciousness within me where I sat in a blank space with Mercy and Fenrir’s light.

“What should I do now?” I asked Mercy.

“Wait until dawn…”

“That could be an option if those soldiers weren’t in the entire field. If they wait till dawn, possibilities are they will be taken to that private forest where the chances of survival are minimal.” Fenrir’s light said. He wasn’t visible as he was to me. He always appeared like a ball of light. 

“True. I was thinking the same, but it could also be that Zane’s soldier isn’t a traitor and help might arrive before that.” I said.

“Irene, remember what they said in the All Alpha meeting? They said that games were important to be held to catch Kage red-handed. First, the time of the game was altered, so Zane might not come on time. Even with your orders, chances are your orders never reach the right person if the soldier was a traitor or if he gets killed. Because if they knew he was someone they couldn’t trust, then they wouldn’t think before finishing him. So, it would be stupid for you to wait for any help from outside. You ladies are on your own. And don’t try to save everyone. In that case, you will end up losing everyone. Try to help those who can save themselves. That is how survival works, Irene. Have you heard the phrase — God helps the one who can help themselves?” I loved and hated this trait of Fenrir. He was always rudely honest and practical. Sometimes he reminds me of Zane. Maybe all intellectual men were like that.

“You are right, but how can I handpick a few of them and then leave the others to act as our shield or die? We are all innocent here.”

“In a war, innocent soldiers die, Irene. Innocent people sometimes get caught in a mess they weren’t meant to be, and that’s how epic villains are created. You can’t be the hero of everyone’s story. You have already done enough by training them. Now, leave them to their fate and will to survive.” Mercy backed Fenrir’s point.

I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. I looked at each one of them. “Fight. Everyone. Keep fighting. Don’t give up, understand? This is for a better life,” I looked at Thalia. “For you, your strength, and for the coming generations. So, make use of everything you can, everything you have. Fighting alone or fighting in a group will be a decision you make. If you can escape, escape. If you can live, live. Don’t think about leaving anyone behind. If you can survive, survive. I will try to protect as many as I can. But I alone cannot protect everyone. I hope you understand that.”

“We know. We knew from the very beginning. We wouldn’t even have the guts to fight them if it wasn’t for you… so… thank you so much,” Julie bowed in front of me. 

“Right, that is what we prepared for. Thank you for your hard work on us, but you, too, survive. Don’t throw away your life trying to protect us all. Our fate has always been death. Even if a few of us go out alive, that will be a miracle. So don’t worry. No hard feelings,” Alana said, and bowed.

I bowed back, “thank you and… I am sorry.” I said and bit my lower lips, blinked away the tears, exhaling. 

We decided we would go out, but in groups.

“We will stay in groups of six, but we will stay close by. No group can go near the walls. We won’t run, but jog. One killer will be in every group…” Alana’s voice cracked. She gulped and took a deep breath.

“... make sure to keep moving on, even if you need to leave someone behind. We are in a group for better survival. But if it pulls you down, you are free to act on your free will,” Thalia completed what Alana had to say.

Alana, Thalia, Niya, Erica, Julie and I had to go separately. I made sure that the most vulnerable and weakest, according to my judgement, were in Alana, Erica, Julie’s and my groups, so that I could be sure about their safety. My group was going to go first so that I could finish as many soldiers as I could. I had no option but to use Fenrir’s power.

But the problem was, every time I used his powers, I couldn’t control it. It was always an uncontrolled eruption of power. That was what was needed at that time, because I planned to blast all the walls to make the escape easier. I asked the others to leave the cottage as soon as they saw the red flames.

The entire atmosphere was so heavy and scary that I hoped — with all my heart — I hoped for help to arrive. 

“Let’s go!” I said, and the ladies followed me. We sprinted towards the main gate because it had the least number of soldiers because there weren’t many thickets where they could hide. I also wanted to alert Zane’s soldiers, just in case they could understand my signal.

The archers in the nearby hiding pulled their arrows in their bows. I could hear the stretching of all the strings. “Ladies! Keep running, lie on the ground when I say.”

We had reached far away from the cottage, almost close to the main gate. I heard the vibration of the loose strings of the bow and shouted, “NOW!” The ladies laid flat on the ground, covering their heads with their hands. Red flames exploded out from my palms, incinerating every arrow, werewolf, tree plant that came into its range.

“Get up! Run behind me!” The ladies got up and dashed behind me as my flames incinerated everything that came in our path. We stopped in front of the main gate, out of breath. I directed all my energy into melting the gate with my flames, but my flames seemed not to work on them. “What? Why?” Groaning, I intensified the explosions in my palm. I shifted my flames on the wall. It seemed like they were being affected, but slowly. “DAMMIT!”

“They are coming!” 

I looked behind. The arches might have been incinerated, but the swordsmen who were hiding approached us. Ladies didn’t have a sword.

I concentrated completely on exploding the wall. As usual, my powers were fluctuating. It was all because of my concentration weakening. I took a deep breath and concentrated on all the flames in an energy ball. It hit the wall and exploded, making it look like half-day at night. I charged my attacks with controlled energy flow in me. If I let it go uncontrollably, the ladies might get hurt. I couldn’t afford that.

I heard their screams, but didn’t look behind. Taking deep breaths, I kept blasting the wall again and again. 

I heard muffled gasps of men and looked behind. Alana, Thalia, Erica, Julie, Niya and all the other ladies had joined the fight. Maybe they charged a hidden attack on the soldiers with the poison darts. The ladies stole their swords and killed them. I looked at the wall again with a clenched smile. Screaming, I gathered even more energy and put everything in the last blast. 

It blasted away the wall, creating an enormous hole. “Ladies!” I yelled, and they looked at the enormous hole in the wall. I ran to them, picked up two swords in my hands and slashed them. I don’t know how many soldiers. “Alana, Erica, Julie! Guide the ladies outside!” I held the hilt of a sword in my mouth and incinerated the rest of the soldiers that approached us from behind. The ladies didn’t move. They were all peering at me. “What! Run!” I shouted and Alana, Erica and Julie took the lead clumsily. The other ladies dashed after them.

Thalia and Niya stayed with me. All the ladies stood outside from the wall. I exited at the end, making sure everyone was out of that cage. All the ladies stood impassively looking at something in front of them. I walked through them, bumping into a few, and reached the front. 

An entire army was standing in front of us.