“I’m afraid I must decline my father’s request!” Shouted the prince across the span between the groups. “I’m quite safe here with my friends! Tell him and my mother I send my love and will return in due time!” Hoxley watched the man’s stance shift as that was obviously not the answer he wanted.

  “I’m afraid I must insist!” The man called back to him.

  “I appreciate your concern, but my answer is still no! Go in peace, good sir!” A long pause followed before the man spoke again.

  “If you want it that way then you leave me no choice, your highness! The sun is almost to the horizon and my archers stand ready with arrows nocked! You and the others have no way off this mountain! If you do not give yourself to me before the first rays touch you, they will fire until your friends are dead. After that, I will climb up there myself and yank you out!”

  “There’s nothing for cover here.” said Ignatius

  “There are archers on both sides.” said Idris

  “What are we going to do, Hoxley?” asked Morell

  “I…I don’t know.” She said somberly with a vacant expression. “I don’t think there’s anything we can do. The old soldier never told me there would come a time like this.” The sky to the east grew brighter and brighter until the sun was about to crest the horizon. There were only seconds to spare.

  “Archers stand ready to fire!” The man shouted. Fire on whichever one lights up first!”

  “I believe in you, Hoxley.” Morell said.

  “Then perhaps I’ve achieved something in this life.” She said. “I thought that kindness would be enough to deliver me to an end better than this.”

  “What’s that?” asked Morell.

  “What, kindness?”

  “No, Hoxley. Look!” Morell pointed “What’s that coming up the mountain?” Everyone followed where he pointed to see the same awe stirring sight found in an enormous black blotch the size of an entire castle cascading like a river in reverse up the ridge straight for them. The shadowy shape moved and slinked faster than stampeding horses or birds of prey diving from the sky

  “Is…is that?” asked Hoxley

  “Wait!” the prince said excitedly. “It’s the shadow girl! She came back!” The soldiers saw the companions pointing and turned to see what the commotion was. Yelling began to echo from their group. Not wanting to waste a good distraction, Hoxley had to think quick on her hooves.

  “Everyone listen up, I have half a plan.”

  “Half?” asked Robert

  “Half is better than nothing.” said Ignatius. “What do you know?”

  “Siouxsie…” Hoxley said. “You still have a bolt in your pocket?”

  “I- I do.” she huffed

  “Then get ready. I want you to put that bolt right in the middle of those archers. As soon as it strikes, we’re going to jump down on their side. This platform will give us temporary cover from the men to the west. That should buy us a few seconds…”

  “Then what?” asked the prince.

  “Then it’s up to fate. Everyone, get ready. Siouxsie? Unleash the sky.”

  “Cover your ears,” said the witch. “This one is gonna be a doozy!” Siouxsie dropped her broom and made the sign of the pitchfork to line up the shot. The inkblot slithered closer up the mountain, a thousand paces a second. When it drew close enough, the blot reshaped itself to the form of a girl over a hundred feet tall, its silhouette framed I starlight.

  “My friends….” It spoke with no mouth but with a voice as big as the mountain itself. “I have returned to you…” Its piercing white eyes each as big as a barn looked upon the figures of the peaks as though only insects. Any sense of assurance held by the bravest of soldiers shrank in its place and become as still as the frosty air. None who beheld its wickedness could not be unmoved and chilled to the core at her magnificence. An abyss had taken eyes and set its sights upon the crest of Faustacon mountain

  “Everyone, cover your ears.” Said Ignatius

  “Furious cumulus!” Siouxsie bellowed. Before the enemy archers could look again to take aim, the lightning bolt split the air and struck the man standing in the center of the second file. For the blink of an eye, the man the bolt hit appeared as a human-shaped orange flash before collapsing. And in the same split second, the concussive blast of the strike knocked over anyone within ten feet of them.

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  “Now!” Commanded Hoxley. “Charge!” The companions moved as a single unit to jump down the eastern side and rush the soldiers before they could gather their courage. Hoxley led the way with her long spear held horizontally across her chest and head down to bear her mighty horns. Men large and small were pummeled two and three at a time as she barreled her way through their ranks, her horns battering soldiers. The spear across her chest knocked enemies from their feet like a speeding clothesline to send them sprawling. Behind her, companions came in quick behind her to reinforce their leaders’ position, weapons cutting the air.

  Even timid Morell found the renewed daring to swing his mighty mace. Shields and the men who wielded them withered in its path. Ignatius parried the most skillful swings with his sword to disarm opponents as his twin siblings slipped around his cloak to seal men’s doom with lythiuum spears. The long, needle-like tips cut through leather armor as though it were only parchment before swiftly moving to the next. The melee became a wild whirlwind of its own as they clashed. And in the heart of the fight where sanity and reason had lost their way, the companions fought as one; their indivisible cause resonating in the clash of steel upon steel and the calling of arcane magic.

  “Tinder and Cinder!” Robert called to light three men aflame.

  “Tinder and Cinder!” echoed Ignatius, loosing fire of his own to scorch two more. The clash happened so fast that by the time Hoxley reached the back of the enemy position and turned around she saw the soldiers from the west side climbing to the platform atop the crest. To her horror, archers were up front and nocking arrows.

  “Archers!” she shouted over the clash of the melee. Robert turned around just in time to see a main aiming his bow straight at him. Before he could utter a warning or yelp of shock the arrow was already in air. He watched it, actually saw the arrow zipping its way across the battleground to bury itself in him when another person stepped between him and the projectile. He barely had time to register who it was when he recognized the lythiuum shield. With a move usually reserved for trained and experienced soldiers, Prince Damron held his shield out to block the arrow and send it ricocheting out of sight with a loud “Pank!”

  “Behind me!” said the prince. Robert wasted no time stepping behind the boy’s profile before launching another pair of sizzling fireballs. One sailed wide and missed but the other caught their aggressor in the chest. The main cried out in anguish.

  “You are good for something!” said the witch. “Hold your ground! Ignatius! The prince guards our back!”

  “Well done, your highness!” Shouted the silver haired witch as he parried the blow of a soldier before bashing him in the face with his hilt. The entire mountain began to tremble as the titan sized girl made of shadows advanced upon the peak. Her feet, each the length of a castle drawbridge, closed the last of the distance between herself and the fighting. She squatted low for a better look. Her mammoth hand and arm reached out like a ribbon across the sky to black out the top of the mountain. Soldiers fired their arrows upon her only to see them pass harmlessly through. When the limb reached the highest point, her fingers swept all of the men aside in one forceful swatting motion to send all twenty or more hurling off the lip. Bodies tumbled into the depths like discarded dolls. They rolled and smashed themselves across the rocky ledges until they were too small to see. Hoxley looked upon the unnatural sight in wonder.

  “How terrible.” She whispered to no one. “How amazing.”

  All was quiet save for the sounds of Robert and Siouxsie yelling taunts after the handful of soldiers who were fleeing in a panic down the eastern slope. Hoxley took a quick headcount to discover that none of their band had been injured or killed. Even Morell seemed to be standing tall, clutching a gore blood smattered mace. But for his brave endeavor, his expression remained true to that of a frightened child who’d been set upon an unconscionable task against his will. He wandered between the fallen bodies watching for signs of movements. After watching him check the same eight bodies for movement more than once, she clopped her way over to him and placed a hand upon his shoulder.