The first thing Emily did when Cupcake’s paws touched down in the dirt was to take stock. Alex had said it would take months for any army to reach Lorthil, and while she hadn’t been counting the days, this did not feel that long. When she took another look at her surroundings, what she had initially thought of as an army of thousands was nothing more than a couple hundred individuals.
And while this was a battlefield, this was nothing more than an advanced unit testing their foe's defense rather than a full-scale siege.
The men and women Emily saw on this side resembled a roaming band of paladins and priests, dressed in the traditional suffocating garb, though it was black. She also noted they wore a symbol on the front of their robes and armor, but she didn’t recognize it.
She did however feel a deep sense of unease at the sight of it. A burning sensation made itself known in her chest that quickly put her on guard.
Something wasn’t right with these people.
The interesting part was that where she and Cupcake had come out was rather near to the edge of their formation.
The army looked split into smaller teams of one hundred, and one such team was near Emily and she noticed them correct their formation when they noticed her
Emily glanced behind her and saw a thick layer of mist blocking her vision, but she could faintly hear the sound of wings in the distance.
She was trapped between a rock and a hard place.
No sooner had Emily begun searching for a way out than a woman dressed in robes as dark as tar stepped out of the formation with her hands held aloft. The shadows near Emily's feet seemed to echo out a feminine voice.
“Halt! In the name of Cyclum!”
Emily was still a ways from them so she had to shout to be heard from this distance.
“Yeah, no can do lady. I have people from the city on my tail!”
The woman glanced over to the men beside her and then back to Emily.
“I am Priestess Oressa, if you are in need of asylum from Lorthil I can offer it.”
The voice said, but Emily didn’t get any closer. The woman’s voice was welcoming enough, but something made Emily hesitate.
The men beside the Priestess wore heavy-looking armor and held short spears with shields by their sides.
Their demeanor didn’t look nearly as inviting as they watched Emily with almost hostile intent.
“If it's all the same to you, I’ll just be on my way, don’t mind me!”
Emily clicked her tongue as she moved the reins for Cupcake to move parallel with the gorge.
“Oh, but we insist. You are a lamb that doesn’t yet know the way forward. We can help you find the shadows young one.”
Emily clicked her tongue at the fervent look that entered her eyes. The heavily armored men beside her moved to advance and Emily held up her hand in a calming gesture.
“Alright, let's talk about this. Honestly, what is it with everyone out here today?”
Emily kept Cupcake moving but the soldiers up here were narrowing her escape routes. As they closed in Emily glanced back to the ravine again and noticed some of the mist being disturbed nearby. Were they waiting for her?
“Alright, that's quite enough.” Emily ground out.
The Priestess Oressa had been advancing with the armed Paladins, though she carried no weapons.
“Please child, do not worry we won’t harm you for no reason. Come here.”
Emily glanced around and sighed. Why was it never easy, she thought as she halted Cucpcake’s retreat.
There wasn’t much place to retreat anymore, and these people were going to act either way, so the only thing to do was to wait and see. If things came to it she would deal with them like she always did.
The moment Cupcake stopped backing off, the Priestess was able to close the distance.
“There now that wasn’t so bad was it? My, you look tired. If you come with us I can offer you a warm bed and food to fill your belly.”
Emily had to admit that sounded great right about now, but she still glanced back towards the city.
“Look not at that house of faithlessness, what is your name child?”
Emily pursed her lips trying to keep an eye on two places at once.
“They call me Emily,” she said with mild annoyance in her voice.
“That’s a very unusual name, my friend. Mind if I confirm it?” Oressa said, the tell-tale sign of a skill flashing through her eyes.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Emily actually minded very much, but that didn’t look like it was going to stop her either way. The Priestess must have gotten close enough for her skill to trigger because Emily could now see her features. She had long raven hair with a feminine beauty that Emily would love to appreciate if the circumstances were different.
Unfortunately, Emily was right to be cautious because the moment Priestess Oressa triggered her skill she lurched backward as though burnt by a hot iron.
“Cyclum protect us! You’re Godstriken! I knew I sensed something strange coming off you!”
Her sudden outburst caused all surrounding Paladins to raise their shields and draw their weapons at Emily.
“No wonder you came from that city! It harbors evil!”
Emily cursed under her breath, she’d been hoping the amulet Svent had given her would hide things, she wasn’t even wearing the title for crying out loud.
Emily held up her hands in one last placating gesture.
“Now hold on. I’ve totally been trying to make amends for my actions. I’m trying to repent! Teach me how to earn their forgiveness!”
It was a bald-faced lie but Emily needed to buy herself time. Religious people were supposed to be big on forgiveness right?
“Your sins are beyond my ability to forgive. Maybe a Cardinal could find it in their hearts to accept you, but I can’t. Men! Erase this insult of a human from our world!”
Emily was flabbergasted at the one-eighty this woman had pulled, from wanting to help her, to wanting her dead in a few minutes. Emily was good at pissing people off, but this had to be a record.
The Paladins charged at Emily and suddenly the shadows beneath Cupcake's body rose and bound her legs to the ground.
Emily ground her teeth together, anger surfacing from the depths of her stomach. Fine, if they wanted to do this, she showed them why that was a bad idea.
“Attack me at your own risk, but know it was your choice to start some shit!”
The charging men and women didn’t even hesitate at her words, their faces filled with hatred and determination.
Emily took a breath and reached into her chest. Her blood responded with eagerness as it began to pour out of her skin.
Red shifted over her body and came to rest at her boots, a gown taking shape and shifting under its own breeze.
When Oressa saw this her eyes widened and lifted her hands causing shadow to climb up and envelop Emily.
Sadly for her, they were too slow, and the next instant Emily was floating far above them all.
“You’re a Blood Mage!? Are your crimes that twisted?” Oressa screamed.
Cupcake was still thrashing under the weight of shadows, but Emily raised her arm causing four blood bolts to appear.
Which she then sent flying at Oressa. Two nearby Paladins jumped into the path of the attacks and raised their shields, but Emily was expecting that, so she weaved them around and crashed them into both their necks. The gaps in their armor could not withstand the force and both dropped to the ground dead, their heads rolling away from their bodies.
Oressa screamed in sorrow as Emily let herself drop down into the oncoming horde of people, crescent blades surrounding her.
She released them out in a perfect circle as soon as she landed which cut through several unprepared Paladins and fed off their power.
Emily collected another wave of blood and slashed out again, but the Paladins had already regrouped and slammed their shields together.
A wall of shadows encompassed Emily and the blood was completely erased. They began to close the circle but Emily created several whips originating from her back, which reached up and over the wall the Paladins had created. She then yanked them back and pulled their formation apart. As Emily had expected their skill worked better when they worked together so when the gaps began to form she sent more tendrils of blood outwards. Stabbing through gaps in their armor.
The more blood Emily spilled the better her chances were.
Oressa screamed as more of her men died but Emily saw when she collected the shadows and fired off a familiar beam of negative light. Emily had to duck under it out of desperation, but she realized this was nowhere near the lethality of the one she had seen back in the mountains.
The nearby Paladins rushed in to take advantage of the opening but Emily had her scepter out so when the nearest man took a swipe at her, she parried with the rod.
The vibrations shook up her arm, but she remained focused on the enemy in front of her, snaking out a blood whip and yanking him off balance. As he felt Emily grabbed his visor and fired a bolt through the narrow opening, detonating his skull inside the metal hamlet.
The next fighter that arrived swung his blade and when Emily raised her weapon to block it, the incoming sword passed straight through her weapon and ground against her gown. The weapon had phased straight through her scepter but could only make a faint cut along her chest.
The force behind the attack still hurt like hell but Emily hardly had to heal anything. Or in this case, ruby guardian didn’t need to. That changed just seconds later when another blade cut her across the back of her neck, deep enough to sever her spinal cord. Emily couldn’t even scream as she dropped, but before she hit the floor her arms were tingling and moving once more. Emily caught herself and used the returning blood from all the nearby wounds to shift into a half-dome coated in spikes. Several blades sunk partway through the barrier but were unable to reach her.
Emily launched the spikes out in all directions. The bloody shrapnel tore through several men and women causing screams of pain to fill the air.
Emily got up, standing ready for the next wave, her lips curving upward.
Power was beginning to flood in from all directions and Emily couldn’t help the smile that found its way onto her face.
Oressa looked like she wanted to fire another beam but hesitated because of her men in the way. So instead she conjured up a cloud of shadows that she then released onto the battlefield. It traveled through her men at an alarming rate but instead of coming directly for Emily, it expanded into the area and coated her ally's wounds.
Their wounds didn't close, but the shadows instead collected on the area where they were bleeding the most stemming the flow of blood. It was almost like their wounds didn’t affect them anymore. Those faces that were twisted in pain seemed to come to their senses and quickly get to their feet.
“That's cheating!” Emily shouted, but Oressa ignored her.
The men that Emily had been pulling blood from were suddenly up and surrounding Emily again.
Laughing to herself Emily got ready for the long haul when suddenly an arrow shot from the mists and lodged itself in Oressa's gut. She screamed in agony causing the shadows tying Cupcake down to dissipate, though the Paladin's wounds remained sealed.
Emily glanced over to see three ravens burst from the mist, two heading from Cupcake and the other for Emily. The man with the red facial hair shot an arrow at Emily which landed at her feet. It took only a second to realize a rope was attached to the other end.
Emily had the briefest window to decide between the army of fanatics or her potential jailers. Glancing back at Oressa Emily saw she was already recovering, so Emily grabbed hold of the rope and let it almost yank her shoulder out of the socket. Emily went hurtling into the air her bloody dress trailing behind.
Cupcake tried to struggle at first but Emily told her to calm down and the Rime wolf let herself be abducted.
As Emily fell back towards the mists she flipped Oressa off, and even though the woman probably didn’t understand her, it made Emily feel marginally better.
Blood points: 296