Chapter 73: Chapter 73

It wasn’t long before she spotted him, standing under one of the large trees, his eyes looking up while his jaw was clenched firmly, a frown settling between his eyebrows, she wanted to go there and caress his beautiful face, erase the frown and ask him what was bothering him so much, but before that, she looked up where he was looking, she noticed the big scorpions placed on the giant branches, and didn’t need to ask to know that it was the weapon the ascendants used to shoot the spears at them.

Did Henry want to do anything with them, she asked herself before taking a few steps towards him, only to be stopped by her fourth in command.

“My lady, I need to report something!”

“What is it?” Rima frowned, knowing that her fourth in command must’ve got new input about the task she had given him right when Henry went with the shadow demoness.

“We have explored the island as you ordered us, the forest is safe, no hidden threats, but when we tried to approach the castle, something happened!”

“What?”

“Our demons turned to ashes the moment we approached the perimeter of the castle as if it was protected by something!” Another barrier? Rima wondered, and more so, one that made those who approached it turn into ash!

Deciding it was better to share the new knowledge she had with Henry, Rima dismissed her fourth in command and walked towards Henry, only for her feet to hesitate when he turned to look at her, accusations written all over his face.

Feeling her heart clench with fear, Rima gulped down, a faint voice of her younger self telling her to turn and run away, that the next confrontation won’t be as warm and loving as the previous one, and she had an idea why, a scary idea.

The man who was hugging her a while ago with all his might was now staring at her accusingly, his eyes held disappointment and anger, he was only few steps away but looked as if worlds separated them, he was distant, she smiled at him, wanting to break the unwanted strange ice which she couldn’t control, but he didn't smile back, instead, he looked away...

Taking the remaining steps that separated them, Rima stood in front of him, her eyes wanting to make contact with his beautiful ones, but he denied her even that small favor, as if he hated her at that moment…

“Henry?!” look at me, say something, she wanted to say, but he cut her words short when he turned to her, his eyes overflowing with rage and betrayal, and palpable pain…

“We need to attack, fast!”

“Alright, but you need to know, there is another barrier around the castle, one that turned demons to ashes.”

“Noted!” was all what Henry said, and then he turned away, giving the soldiers more orders.

Under the cloak of fog and shadows, the army was divided into a hundred group, each  surrounding the castle from one side with one of the giant crossbows under their control, all waiting for one signal to fire the spears at the castle, with the possibility of a barrier existing they did not want to attack the castle directly and risk losing more of their soldiers...

Watching him worriedly as he acted aloof and distant, giving stern orders and moving all around the place, away from her, Rima wished she could have a moment to talk to him, to understand and make him understand, but her hopes died when he ‘suggested’ that each of them go in a different group from the other.

“Are you deliberately avoiding me?” unable to take it anymore, Rima asked the question which was bothering her, his clouded eyes told her that the confrontation was going to be hard, but so were his actions…

"Henry..." she whispered his name but he sighed deeply stopping her from saying anything else...

"Max, was actually the son of one of the major generals in Taghit, we grow up together, he was a pain in the neck, I’ve never met anyone with a bigger appetite for trouble, I even ended up in a cell once because of him, he was a good man, a great friend, Damian on the other hand, was the quiet one on our team, he was the one to cover for us, but we somehow managed to drag him along in our adventures, soon enough we became so close it was hard to differentiate between us, do you know where they are now?" Henry watched Rima's expression shift from sadness to confusion and last to shock as the realization hit her hard, a dry smirk left his lips as he continued "That is right, they are in the bellies of some sea cannibals, because the woman I trusted, the one whom I wanted to protect so I sent both of my best friends with her made them scapegoats.." Henry said with so much pain in his voice, a part of him wanted to choose her side, to be convinced that she couldn't help it, but another part, a bigger part kept on imagining his best friends' horrible death, their flesh being torn by the sea monsters, he looked in her eyes, searching for denial, he wanted her to say no, to be angry at him for thinking ill of her, but he found none of that, only regret and shame danced in her beautiful red eyes, she opened her mouth and closed it a few times, once she gathered her courage to tell him how it went, what made her take such a decision, and how she felt about it, he stopped her…

“Save it, I don’t want to hear it, I don’t want any more of your lies!” and with that he walked away to his position, leaving her behind, not once looking back.

"Everything's set?" Henry asked no one in particular, he knew he had to get a grip on his emotions but they were simply all over the place, He didn't know what to feel or what to think, he desperately needed some rest and solitude to think things through, he was tired and sad and agitated and worried, nothing made sense to him anymore and he felt like he was standing blindfolded on the edge of a cliff, one wrong step would end life and so would standing still, all he could do was take cautious steps toward the unknown and wish to survive without losing anyone or anything else.

"Yes Your Grace, Everyone is in their position, we are waiting for your signal", one of the shadow demons replied, their plan was to use the giant crossbows to attack the castle from all sides all at once, their next step would be decided by the outcome of this attack, he couldn't see any barrier around the castle but Rima confirmed that her demons were not only met but destroyed by one, in that case, it must be another invisible magical barrier that was somehow immune to magical attacks, Henry hoped that would make it vulnerable to physical ones because he had no idea what to do if it wasn't ...

Taking a deep breath to clear his head, Henry nodded to the demon who mind linked other troops to attack, in a fraction of a second, the sky was lit up by thousands of fire spears, all directed towards the castle, only to crash mid-air, all of them with their fire…absorbed by something invisible? Henry clenched his teeth, giving orders to adjust the crossbows angles to a lower area of the barrier and then a higher one in a third attempt, but unfortunately it all went the same way, it was exactly what he feared, the barrier was too strong without weaknesses all over its perimeter, Everyone looked at him waiting for one of his usual smart last-minute decision but he had none, this wasn't an enemy he could trick or a dispute he could solve, it was something beyond his power, he opened his mouth and closed it , not knowing what exactly to tell the thousands of soldiers who were waiting for his next command...

The command never came but instead, a terrified scream did, Henry who was still thinking looked where the soldiers’ widened eyes were looking and his chest was instantly filled with panic.