Not All Heroes Are Guiltless

Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Aela’s POV

Everyone around me is smiling and clapping at me. Ethan tries to calm everyone down around me. Murmurs fill the air about informing everyone who I am and glad I was able to save them. Apparently, the bear was scary to them. He escaped again, though.

“You were there with the arrow?” I say, still gasping out of breath.

“I’m glad I got here in time. He nearly killed you. Did you really have to taunt him?” Ethan says with worry in his eyes.

I shrug my shoulders, knowing we don’t need to be wasting anymore time here. “I think that was the intuition I was fearing. We need to finish the chase, and we can discuss the stupid owlbear later.”

I ran through the wreckage of the buildings and found a dull sword that was discarded along the street. Ethan and a herd of feet are behind me. We pass some of the rescued civilians as they cheer and clap as we go through. When we reach the docks, we find the fighting is over, and the last Hou Ndour ship is leaving from port.

Everyone is loudly cheering, and gesturing in not so appropriate motions their goodbyes to the cowardly Hou Ndours. I searched the docks and saw they had left several cannons. Ethan notices my train of thought and runs over to the cannons.

The first one has something lodged into the cylinder. Ethan moves to the next one and the same situation. “No good. They disabled them so we couldn’t attack them.”

I nod my head and look back at the ship moving away. “Ethan, evacuate the docks now. They are going to attack us.”

Ethan doesn’t question it he starts yelling at the men and waving them back inland away from any potential fire. The first of the blasts of cannon erupts shortly after, though, before we have been able to evacuate everyone.

The cannon balls land in a fit of rumble into several of the collapsed buildings. Creating another dust cloud to hinder vision. People are running farther back as they continue to shoot into the ruins of the capital. Ethan is trying to help as many people pull back as quickly as possible, but everyone is on their feet and just not fast enough. Not to mention, the ruins have no safe shelter from the hurling cannon balls.

A whistle comes closer, and I can feel the trajectory of the ball will hurt too many when it lands. Building a simple elemental spell using wind and fire, I aim it above the dock. When the cannonball is close enough, the spell erupts, and it bursts the cannonball into fine shrapnel. Ethan pulls an iron shield over my head at the falling particles.

I increase the same spell, but this time, I am creating into a tighter weave to cover the docks completely while Ethan holds the shield over me. The ship sends several more cannonballs our way, each one now hitting my shield, which destroys any into thousands of fragments.

“Princess, that was spectacular.” Ethan says behind me as the last of the ships disappear behind the horizon. “I don’t think they will be back anytime soon.”

“We chased them out.” I say with a wry smile. I pull back on the shield, knowing we are out of range.

“For Redland, For the Princess.” Chants echo through the rumble of what is left of the capital. Ethan comes and pats me on the back, and I can tell he wants to hug me.

I turn and embrace him around his neck, and he wraps both his arms around me and picks me up and spins me. For a moment, I am able to bask in the victory of a hard fight. We won and now we can rebuild our country better than before.

Later that night, we all gathered for a large bonfire in the middle of the capital. We’ve been able to nurse our wounds and find shelter for as many people as possible. Several of the Lords will be joining us in the upcoming weeks to help organize order, but tonight, we are just going to enjoy the serenity of not being terrorized by tyrannical pirates.

“Speech. Speech. Speech. Speech.” The droning around the bonfire is consistent. Ethan and the other rebel leaders have been organizing, and you would think they would be giving them a break.

I found my place with several of the women as they were searching for food to feed everyone. During my search, I was able to find some clothes, and no one really seemed to recognize me. So, during the bonfire, I was able to sit and eat amongst everyone else undisturbed.

Ethan stands up the hush the men, “Alright. Alright. Thank you all you have supported and fought for our cause. We did it! But we still have more work to do tomorrow. Our future as Redland has been secured with the last of the Hou Ndour leaving. We have much to look forward to and rebuild after years of tyranny. Our victory, though, was hard fought for all whether they were with the army or even suffered at the hands of Hou Ndour. There is one person I wish to thank who has been supporting us through all these long months. Princess AmAela, I’m so glad you have been with us throughout these years. I know rumors have been mixed if they were true or not, but after the beautiful display of protecting us from the cannon fire this afternoon. We have our princess to thank.”

Ethan turns to me and smiles. His eyes show the longing he has tried to hide since I told him I wasn’t interested in him. Everyone around me who hadn’t spoken to me before seemed surprised, but they smiled at me hesitantly, and then I saw them move away from me. I can’t find if they are shy of me because I’m the princess or because they fear my wolf.

The other leaders take time to make their own speeches. Everyone wishes everyone goodnight, and I leave before the festivities get too rowdy again. Ethan is surrounded by women who are all flirting and giggling incessantly.

I head back towards the dock and then take the pathway down to a cleared-out spot on the beach. The moon shines brightly, although it is just a sliver. The tides dance at my toes, and for a moment, I almost wished my mate was here. I hope he hasn’t gotten himself killed, and I wish I could tell him about Tian.

I’m not sure how much I can believe from a raging madman, but I’m certain Tian would try to return if it meant hurting my mate and me. He is still so much stronger than I was, and I’m lucky I’m not dead.

Redland is free of Hou Ndour, but not all things are settled. I need my aunt, and hopefully, wherever she is, Andrew and the other nobles aren’t far.