Sini had spoken to her Archon, and departed to Winter. But the disturbances reached her even beyond the border, nearly to the Winter Court, as did a messenger wind, sent with the final breath of one of Spring’s border guards, and the tinny keen of of a frightened light flyer, another messenger. Spring’s defenses might be breached, but the message network was intact, and the kingdom itself stirred. The young knight frowned at the words whispered in her ear. They were confused, labored, panicked, and from various places. Whatever was going on, Spring was in danger. Her place was at the side of her ruler. She turned to the escort beside her. “I regret the inconvenience, but I must go. Please, convey my apologies for the discourtesy to her majesty of Winter; I or another from Spring shall be in touch as soon as we might be spared.” She bowed deeply, wings spreading as the sylph leaped skyward. Another breeze ruffled her hair. The invaders had passed the first defenses. Gathering a wind of her own, she sent a reply, brief instructions. She pushed herself to go faster, but she couldn’t risk arriving unable to fight. The guards were well-trained, and knew their tasks. The other defenses would hold.
Yet one by one, they fell, and she was only to the border. Sini’s heart beat fast. Who dared attack Spring, risking the fragile balance of the Courts and endangering them all by tipping them into open war? For the moment it did not matter. She had one duty above all others: protect Spring and its Archon. And she could not do it from where she was. She summoned her sword, and drew upon her reserves of magic. Desperate times called for desperate measures. It had been a scant few minutes since the appearance of the first invader, and already her beloved Spring reeled from the destruction wreaked upon it. Better weakened than too late; Sini dove into the current of the wind, her form fading until she was nothing more than wind herself. In this manner she rushed to the inner court where Nyx fought among members of the elite guard. She could feel Yggdrasil stirring, and the Archon sought to fall back to the tree. The beasts attacking were tall, gleaming with hard facets and many colors, reeking of rot, and they were strong. Bodies of Spring’s defenders lay scattered about the courtyard, mixed with the bodies of the invaders. They gave as good as they got, but these were not foes they had ever encountered before, and they were strong in ways the knights had never had to handle. One by one the dark attackers fell, but not fast enough.
Nor had Sini herself been fast enough, for even as she returned from the wind, Nyx was overcome. She felt his magic fade as his broken body crumpled to the ground, as his killer bent to consume the corpse. In that moment, rage beyond any she had ever felt flooded her, driving out the weariness of her desperate flight. The knight howled in fury, lunging to sink her swords deep into its middle, the iron-edged blade of her longsword biting deep into magic in addition to flesh, even as Sini sent lightning through her saber and fried the beast from the inside. Already weakened some by previous injuries, the sylph’s attack finished the job, and she yanked her blades free, turning to take in the rest of the battlegrounds. The captain of the guard was hurt but still on his feet, coordinating his remaining forces and attacking with magic, as his injury prevented him from effectively wielding a weapon. Lightning crackled in her wake as Sini ported to that part of the courtyard, a burst of force dragging the dark creature coming up behind the guard captain away from its intended victim, and within range of the furious knight’s own attacks.
There was no time to spare for thanks, nor even for a grateful look. The captain did not regard Sini beyond what it took to determine her position, instead laying into his erstwhile attacker now that it was turning its focus to the sylph. “There are only a handful remaining of this force, but others lay waste to other parts of Spring,” he told her as he threw a handful of seeds at the beast of opal and shadow. They sprouted moments after making contact, vines bursting out to wrap around limbs as roots penetrated deep into its body, ripping the creature apart from inside and out. “And more come by the minute.”
“The shield ward must be raised,” Sini replied, glancing at the gargantuan tree behind her. “Yggdrasil holds the focus, and I do not know precisely where -- but someone must make the attempt. You can handle the offensive against those already in Spring lands?”
“Even if I could not, what choice do I have? Go. The Archon has fallen, but Spring must not.”
She nodded curtly and leaped into the air, arrowing for the nearest entrance to the depths of the World Tree, but she did not step inside yet. The air beyond was cool, heavy with darkness, moisture, and the hint of ancient power. Sini had always wanted to explore its depths, but sense told her that it was a risky undertaking, and she had no desire to antagonize the ancient giant. It tolerated her, when she walked the outer ways, but she had never sensed any particular fondness, certainly nothing of the apparent friendship Nyx enjoyed. Thus it was with some trepidation that she addressed it. All the court respected Yggdrasil; many feared it, but for her, it was something closer to awe. “Spring is threatened,” she said softly, placing a hesitant hand on the rough side of the tree. “Our ruler has fallen, and our defenses fail. I know you have the power to keep more from entering Spring’s lands, but I do not know what, if anything, you require to cast such protections, or in exchange. I humbly beseech your aid, Great One. Shelter Spring as you have in ages past. And guide me, so that whatever else is required to keep Spring safe might be--”
The knight did not get a chance to finish. One of the darklings slammed her aside, and it was only because she’d noticed it coming at the last moment that she didn’t suffer far worse injury. Her wings caught her and kept her from slamming into something, but she could not speak with Yggdrasil further. Another wave of beastly shadows had made it to the courtyard, and the defenders were hard pressed. Nor did the tree seem to respond. Might it be ignoring her? Who was she, after all, to address it, no matter how respectfully? She was not even a thousand yet, an insignificant drop of time compared to the eternity the tree had witnessed, and her strength and magic equally minuscule.
But all at once a new player entered the field of battle, tall, androgynous, clad in robes of green and gold, with eyes and hair to match. Sini did not entirely understand where they had come from, but she sensed that this was Yggdrasil’s answer to her plea. A grim smile spread across her face as the newcomer blasted one of the attackers as if it was nothing. She had done all she could here. Either the tree’s messenger would have things in hand, or they would not, and she would be of limited help against what seemed to be the very strongest of invaders, with so great a defender present. Better to go somewhere her strength and cunning might be of use.
Fighting raged throughout the palace, now, and she dove into it with a will. The sylph always tried to keep her judgment separate from her feelings, and she had managed long enough to find their best defense. But her fury still burned, and even as she rallied the remaining elites and helped coordinate the defense of the palace, her own caution was slipping. She took chances she wouldn’t ordinarily, and sacrificed defense for a powerful offense. Her Archon was dead. She had failed him, and her court as well, and this knowledge affected her. They had no clear choice to replace Nyx, and with things as they stood, they could not afford the posturing and infighting that would result.
She should have been more careful. Should have fallen back, when accumulated injuries took their toll and slowed her. But instead Sini pushed herself, moving to rally the defenders here, breaking a stalemate there, until at last one of the shades bested her. Even as its claws tore through her armor, she channeled all her remaining energy into a strike of lightning she sent burning through its flesh until it smoked. There would be no recovering from her injury, for the creature had cut far too deep, but she would take her attacker into death at her side. The ground came up to meet her, and one wing was smashed as the spell protecting it failed. The last thing the knight saw before oblivion claimed her was the shifting patterns of sunlight dancing through the leaves of the World Tree.
