Chapter One Hundred and Two
Fire and Stone
Sarah, Aroha, and Lillian burst into the great war-tent, immediately blinded by an array of multi coloured rays of light, filling the pavilion.
Sarah slowly eased through the blaring hues to find a small glowing flame, no bigger than her thumb, gently flickering above a thin, stone table in the centre of the room.
The stunned Legacies walked forward in stiff shock as the rays shifted from red to pink to purple to blue and every colour thereafter.
Lillian recovered from the bewilderment first, glancing to the rest of the room.
It was little more than two racks of long, ornate halberds, a central table, and two dangling flags much akin to the one flying from the roof.
Sarah sheathed her sword as she walked forward, unable to look directly into the light. Every step closer she took, a coldness and warmth washed out from the glowing shape, like two small interweaving breezes of heat and frost. Sarah squinted her eyes and then let out a soft gasp. “It’s a flame.”
Aroha felt the magic of the candlelight moving across her skin and she shook her head. The very chill and heat, shimmering in every colour with no business being in the rainbow, danced across her face. Aroha reached out a hand and whispered, “It’s the flame.”
Her gentle hand curled around the shifting flame before anyone could say otherwise. Like a flower petal plucked from its bud, the small piece of elder magic dropped softly into her palm.
Sarah blinked as a dull, slow flash emanated from beneath her leather chest-plate. She frowned and dug beneath the armour to find Archie’s amulet, flashing pure white in the presence of the artefact.
Aroha’s dark skin glistened with the light as it shifted from bright pink to a bronze orange, at which point, from beyond the tent-flaps, Kirkley bellowed, “We need to go!”
Aroha looked at the dancing flame, no greater than an acorn before she pocketed it and followed the others back outside.
They blew into the storming wind and rain to see the six Obthraie morphing back to life once more while Kirkley and Karmony staggered and panted.
In the distance, the great main gate of Fort Guardian boomed open as the platoon of Legacies retreated back inside.
Sarah leapt into the fray, striking down one Soiltorn and shouting, “Run!” as another half-formed Obthraie grazed her back with a shattered spear.
She stumbled forward in a fit of pain, and Aroha turned to loose an arrow through its head when Oliver, Royston, and Syon erupted into the scene, blades first, sending the five remaining enemies to the Dark Lands in but a moment of ambushing steel.
Oliver hoisted Sarah up, smiled brightly through his blood-covered teeth and stammered, “The moonlight looks good on you!” before he knew what he was saying.
She was so taken aback by his thrill-inspired confidence that she laughed as they ran, yelling, “Was that a literal pick-up line?”
“Savour it, it’ll never happen again!”
She smiled ear-to-ear and yelled, “Okay, gorgeous!”
Aroha slotted her arrow back into her quiver, shouting, “I support this but please read the room!”
The eight Legacies tore across the muddied fields with every ounce of their strength, as a wall-guard hastily waved two torches over a portion of the battlements slightly away from the hordes of monsters.
They waved the torches all the more erratically and then dropped one, letting it illuminate the slab-stone ladder as it careened down into the moat.
Aroha threw her bow over her shoulder, pounding the mud as she picked up her pace, and yelled, “Hope y’all stretched!” before she threw herself across the gorge and landed in a slide on the narrow stone platform.
As Lillian broke into a sprint to follow her, Oliver and Sarah skidded to a stop as his face darkened with worry. “Are you alright?” he idly gestured to her wound but didn’t touch her.
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Sarah nodded, brushing her side with her dirty hand and glanced down. “Just a scratch. You’re up, gorgeous,” she smirked.
Oliver had spent the entire night being used as a source of magical strength. Legacies had drawn their power from him, nearly emptying him of even the ability to stand, but as her words touched his ears he’d never been more alive in his entire life.
*****
Michael felt himself blinking in and out of pain-ridden consciousness as he staggered back toward the fortress, now bearing a flickering wall of light alongside Marken and the other light-casters.
As arrows and crossbow bolts showered down from the wall defences, the small army of Legacies broke rank and tore across the runic field, dashing as quickly as possible across the drawbridge.
With every person who abandoned the Arcancy chain, Michael felt his body grow number. The hairs upon his arms raised and a dark, electric thrum blew through the air, followed by Lain shouting, “Ballistae cover! Retreat now!”
Every forward-facing ballista across the stronghold unleashed arcs of pure sapphire energy, blasting into the sea of Soiltorn, Shade Hounds, and Mountain Wolves to stop them before the snare-line.
Hundreds of creatures were obliterated as the energy snapped between their bodies and pounced on their neighbouring allies before they even had the chance to translate the words ‘Chain Reaction’ into Fiend-Speak.
One of the enormous ballista-bolts struck shy of Nikereus’ main array, igniting one of the magical snares, causing ten square-feet of muddied grassland to erupt with razor sharp spires of ice.
The monstrous vanguard pursing the Legacies stopped dead as the frontline looked mechanically over the activated rune.
“Seal the gate! Raise the drawbridge!” Jack bellowed, waving the last of his company back into the stronghold as the enormous, pure steel doors heaved closed again. He jogged back up the forum as Legacies shouted in energy-fuelled excitement, clapping the light-wielders on their shoulders and wrapping each other in tearful hugs.
Jack looked over the wild commotion, and turned, sprinting to the nearest stair, cursing internally. He emerged on the battlements to find Avery overlooking the vast army, spread out mere steps away from the enormous line of snares. Pointedly, they stood, watching the activated ice-spikes melt in the rain.
Avery’s arm was clad in the bronze plating of their own devising, now armoured all the way up to their shoulder. The young noble glanced at Jack and bitterly nodded to the hordes of Nikereus. “So much for our element of surprise.”
Jack let out a dark sigh before shaking his head and looking to the now eerily silent armies standing frozen on the edge of the snares. “That prick will have to walk our gauntlet whether they like it or not.”
Avery crinkled their bronze fist and ruffled their hair. “Instead of a thousand unknowing victims, we’ll get one person per trap, maybe. That’s if Nikereus can’t think of a way to set them off with a sacrifice, which I wager they could. I could.”
As shouts filled the night sky, Sidney jogged up to the battlements shouting, “Jack, come, Acquisition One just arrived.”
Jack bid the noble paladin to keep watch and followed his lieutenant down the steps of the wall once more.
They made their way over to the central forum, and the scarred man shouted to get the thrilled crowd under control, yelling, “Alright, alright, calm down! Sabotage units, step forward and report!” Jack climbed the forum step and leant tiredly against the platform of the hanging station as Oliver, Nichole, Nydol, Karmine, Magnus, and Rose moved through the crowd and stepped into the clearing.
One-by-one they declared the success of their missions, leaving out the less graceful moments to the applause and congratulatory shouts of their comrades.
Jack tried not to let the cheers sour him as he was starkly reminded of the last victory he celebrated too early. “Acquisition Unit One. Commander-Archangel Robinson, how’d you do?”
Sarah swept her rain-matted hair from her face and described their own mission.
Lillian knelt down as she spoke and pushed Arcancy healing into the small of her back, stitching the small wound closed as Sarah steadied herself on the medic.
“All said and done... I think we can call our assignment a success, right, Ari?”
Sarah turned to face Aroha and on cue she raised the Immortal Flame high into the air and opened her fist, unleashing a flowering cascade of multi-coloured light, sweeping and dancing across the gathering of Legacies as they shouted in awe and excitement.
Jack knelt down and looked over the single, shade-shifting flame, even daring to smile with disbelief. “I’ll be damned. Lain, Willem. Go start testing this in our weapon-making process. I want to see what’ll happen when we use a divine tool to craft mortal devices. Let’s see how smug Nikereus remains when we fire arrows down upon their ranks, forged in a crucible of Creation Magic.”
The crowd shouted and cheered as Michael darted through the crowd to find Oliver, Sarah, Nichole, and Aroha all caught up together in a rush of excitement. He slammed into them with tights hugs and saw Magnus wandering back into the shadows of the keep. The joy in his heart wasn’t stopped, but Michael’s insatiable curiosity still wondered, Where do you keep going?
Jack dismissed Sarah and her unit to be properly attended-to, before announcing, “Acquisition Unit Two!” Jack then frowned and turned to Sidney as she stepped to his side. “Who led unit two?”
The Mhairian warrior pulled off her black helmet in the rain and turned to the rumbling crowd. “Commander-Archangel Cox, step forward and report!”
The crowd murmured as Michael and his friends turned excitedly to see their friends, but aside from the growing concern, nothing came forth.
Michael’s wild smile fell away as he jogged to the front of the crowd, looking through the lines. “Carter?” It was only then he stopped to realise Carter wouldn’t have been able to go anywhere without someone else. Not since the scouting mission. “James?”
Sidney looked to Jack to find him standing with his eyes closed in grim, gutted devastation before she yelled, “Guardians Cox, White-Steel, Darvish, and Taylor, report!”
The chorus of joy faded from the crowd as they looked around, and Sarah watched Michael looking frantically between the ranks as blood drained from his face.