Golden afternoon light shone through the window, directly into Lilia’s face, drawing her out of her blissful slumber. Grimacing, she pulled the blanket up to cover her head, rolling over to press herself to Reud’s comforting back.
He wasn’t there.
Groggily, she sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Immediately, the headache from earlier pounded its way back into existence, beating an agonizing rhythm just behind her eyes. Like the worst hangover she’d ever experienced.
Gods, why were there no biomancers when she needed them.
There was an odd feeling in the air, a difference in the ambient noise of the village she’d grown used to over the past couple of weeks. Instincts honed by years of adventuring and war screamed at her to beware, forcing her to full alertness.
A rap on the door snapped her head around, a movement that sent a wash of pain through her head and caused a pained grunt to escape her throat.
“My lady.” Came a female voice. Lilia recognized it as one of the maids who worked at the inn.
“My lady, the Seekers say to gather in the square. I’ve been told to fetch everyone.”
If she wasn’t on alert before, that put her into full combat readiness. The Seekers, which meant Lightire.
Whatever was going on, it couldn’t be good.
Standing, gritting her teeth against the nausea the movement caused her, she strapped on her sword, then wrapped her traveller's cloak around herself. It would just about cover the weapon and had a hood that would cover her face. If she was careful, and didn’t use any magic, they shouldn’t be able to see the colour of her eyes.
Pulling open the door, she headed downstairs to the tavern room. The innkeep and his wife were already shuffling out the door ahead of her. Beside them stood a young man, clad in silver and blue brigandine criss-crossed with pitch black lines, with a stylized lantern and eye symbol embossed right in the centre. Lilia pulled her hood down further and hurried past him, hoping that the man wouldn’t look too closely.
Thankfully, he did not.
A miasma of fear filled the village, hanging palpably in the air. Soldiers dressed in the same silver and blue armour were going door to door, forcing people out into the street and directing them towards the square. Lilia counted thirty at least, all dressed in the same fashion. A sizeable force, especially for so remote a location.
Which meant that whatever was going on, it was really really bad.
Keeping her hood down, Lilia followed the crowd to the square, keeping as many people between her and the soldiers as she could. Snippets of conversation washed over her, the nervous crowd seeming as confused about the Seeker's presence as her.
“Maybe they’ve come for Lord Reud?” One man said to another. “I told you Telac’s death would bring it down on us all.”
“Nah, why would the Seekers care about him?” The other man replied. “I bet you it’s cause they found another awakening not reported.”
“But this is a bit much, don’t you think. And Marla and Vorlo just got taken.”
“Don’t matter, I bet there’s more. Why else would the Seekers care?”
The rest of the conversation was lost as the movement of the crowd took Lilia away from the pair. Their thoughts seemed to be echoed by the rest, confusion and fear the prevailing emotion in the bewildered people.
At the centre of the square, a squat wooden platform had been built, seemingly hastily constructed from boxes and assorted wooden boards. On it stood a large man, with a thick, bushy moustache that he stroked thoughtfully. His armour had none of the odd black detailing that the other soldiers had, and he carried no weapon.
He was obviously the leader.
With a crash, the door to the biggest house bordering the square flew open. The mayor’s house. Rachel’s house.
Lilia’s heart sunk.
A young man strode out, floppy blonde hair covering half his face, his hand resting on a rapier strapped to his belt. He turned back to the open doorway, waving his hand at something, revealing a cloak on his back emblazoned with the same lantern and eye symbol as the other soldiers.
A moment later, Graham stumbled out, his face covered in dark bruises. He sagged to one side, a hand pressed to his chest as if in pain, a trickle of blood running from a cut on his forehead. Behind him emerged a woman, her mouth twisted into a snarl, her short red hair and a long scar across her face giving her a feral look. Her eyes blazed with purple light, and between her fingers flashed a discharge of sparks. She stepped forward and touched Graham on the shoulder, her mouth twisted into a savage smile.
Immediately, he went stiff, his face distorting in terrible pain.
After a moment, the woman removed her hand and Graham collapsed to one side. The blonde haired man caught him before he could hit the floor, yanking him back to standing by gripping his coat. With a shove, he forced the old man forward, towards the platform.
The crowd was silent, watching the display in terrible horror. Lilia glanced around, trying to spot Rachel in the mass of faces, scanning for her blonde hair. She was nowhere to be found. Which was either a good or a bad thing, Lilia couldn’t decide.
Nothing she could do about it now, though.
The crowd parted before the two Seekers and mayor, the pair shoving the old man until they reached the platform. They took an arm of the sagging man each and dragged him up to collapse to his knees on the wooden surface.
The moustached man stepped forward, raising his arms. “I am Lord Seeker Sar.” He bellowed. “And I am here to investigate a most blasphemous crime.”
He paused, looking over the crowd.
“You have hidden a free mage!” He shouted, gesturing violently.
He put his hands behind his back and began pacing up and down the stage. “Understand, this is not simply just a law. It is an affront to nature, and in doing so you have risked your eternal souls. Risked your chances at paradise.”
He turned to look over the crowd. “It truly saddens me to see a people so fallen.”
Lilia’s eyes narrowed as she watched him. The dilation of his pupils, the twitching of the corner of his mouth. The man was enjoying this, which was not a good sign at all.
Which seemed to be the theme for this whole situation.
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Sar turned to Graham, pointing at the crumpled man. “Your mayor knowingly accepted free mages into the village. He allowed them to slay another mage without challenge. He did nothing to report their presence.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about!” Graham protested weakly, pushing himself up to kneeling. “There are no free mages in Littlestream, I promise you!”
Sar’s eyes flashed with burning fury. “Silence! Your poison words cannot save you now.”
Turning back to the crowd, he raised his arms. “There is only one way your souls may be saved now. Only through the fires of repentance may your crimes be absolved. Your mayor, however, is beyond absolution.”
He nodded to the blonde haired Seeker. The man drew his blade from its sheath, his eyes blazing with indigo light, a white glow sheathing his body. A kinetomancer, just like Lilia. Suddenly, his arm flickered, his blade disappearing for a moment.
A wet gurgle burst from Graham as a fountain of blood sprayed from his neck to shower the crowd.
The crowd erupted into screaming. A wave ran through the mass of people as those closest to the platform recoiled from Graham as he slumped forward and tumbled over the platform’s edge.
“Noo!” A familiar voice wailed. “You, you monsters!”
Rachel. Oh gods, she’d just seen her father murdered.
Lilia pushed through the crowd towards the voice, her heart full of worry for the woman she’d taken under her wing. She had to reach her before the woman did something foolish.
Finally breaking through the crowd, Lilia spotted Rachel, the woman’s distinctive bun standing out against the close-cropped, military hair of the soldiers. She was still dressed in the training leathers she’d been wearing earlier. Tears glistened on her cheeks, and she gripped a sword with a black streak running down the middle of it in her hands.
A real sword. Now, where had she got her hands on that?
A soldier, lying on the ground and holding his face, answered that question.
“I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you all!” Rachel screamed, charging the stage and the mages on it.
There was no way she was going to reach it, the soldiers encircling the stage would intercept her long before she even got close. And there was no way she’d be able to overcome those odds, not even with years more training.
Lilia muttered a curse under her breath, throwing back her cloak and drawing her own blade. Gone was the time for subtlety. Hiding would just get Rachel killed, and there was no way she was going to stand by and let that happen.
Calling mana to herself, she wrapped her body in the glowing sheath of a force mage, feeling the wash of exhilarating power that the magic infused her with soothing the pounding headache that still drummed behind her eyes.
Then she charged after Rachel.
Like an arrow shot from a bow, she was across the square, her blade flickering in the golden afternoon sunlight. The soldiers weren’t even looking for her.
Two heads were sailing through the air before the Seekers even realized they were under attack. Lilia darted between the men’s falling bodies and reached Rachel, grabbing the back of her training jerkin and yanking her to a stop.
“Enough Rachel!” She shouted. “Get back, you’re going to get yourself killed!”
“But… But…” She sobbed, pulling at Lilia’s grip.
Lilia pulled her back, lifting her blade to point at the soldiers surrounding them. “No! Enough! You said you’d listen to me, so listen. You dieing does nothing for him! We are leaving. Now.”
Rachel pulled at her grip again, but it was half-hearted at best. Lilia glanced around, looking for a way out. The eastern gate was the closest, just a few houses away.
And through a dozen Seekers.
“Isabella?” A deep voice shouted from behind her. “Stand down, Seeker, that’s an order!”
Lilia flicked a glance back to the stage. The lead Seeker, Sar, was standing at the edge closest to her, looking at her in confusion.
“It is you, Isabella! What in His Holiness’s name do you think you are doing!? Drop your weapon, this instant!”
“I don’t know who you think I am, but tell your men to stand down and let us through. No one has to get hurt.” She shouted in response.
“Have you gone insane? No.” He responded. “Take her! I want her alive!”
Well, it was worth a shot.
The two other mages on the stage hopped down, moving towards her with violence in their eyes. Lilia backed away from them, flicking her attention between the solders between her and the gate, and the oncoming mages.
“Rachel, get ready to run. You have to get out, do you understand.” She murmured, pushing the woman along.
“Master Lilia, but what about…”
“No questions. I’ll clear you a path, you have to get through it. We’ll only have one chance at this.”
“Yes, Master.”
Lilia turned and gave the woman’s arm a squeeze. “See you on the other side.”
And then she exploded into motion. It took almost a second to reach the first soldier, and half that time to ram her sword through his head. Pulling her blade free took an equal amount of time, then she was on to the other.
A kick sent him tumbling back, and Lilia vaulted his falling body to strike at his companion. His reactions were, annoyingly, much better. He managed to get his blade between Lilia’s and his skull, just barely deflecting the strike to cut into his arm instead.
The moment her blade impacted his, Lilia felt her magic begin to fade. In an instant, she realized what the strange black metal on the Seeker’s armour and weapons were. Magebane. Of course, she should have recognized it immediately.
Its presence would make this fight so much harder.
“Move!” She screamed, throwing the soldier before her back into his companions.
Rachel burst into a desperate sprint towards the opening Lilia had cut in the Seeker forces. An opening that wouldn’t stay for long.
Lilia dashed across the gap, turning aside a strike that would have cut Rachel’s legs from under her. Once again, her mana was sucked out by the black metal, her sheath faltering for a moment. Lilia gritted her teeth, stomping the man’s blade into the ground and cutting his hand off at the wrist. He fell back, screaming in agony, blood spraying out all over Lilia’s waist.
A light flickered in her periphery.
Lilia span, catching a glowing blade on hers. The blonde haired mage faced her down, sheathed in his own force spell.
“Surrender, and we will let the girl go.” He said, a confident smile on his face. “You should remember you could never beat me, you’re outmatched.”
This arrogant prick. She’d show him.
Without a word, she struck back, their blades clashing with a great ringing. The mage’s eyes widened as he was pushed back, evidently not having expected the strength with which she retaliated.
He didn’t give up, though.
The pair launched into a frantic frenzy of strikes, their blades moving so fast that any unenhanced observer wouldn’t be able to make out which attack was which. The man fought with the strength and endurance of youth, but his experience was lacking. A good thing, given that each exchange caused the nausea inside Lilia to grow, exasperated by the after-effects of having so much of her mana drained by the magebane.
Still, slowly, experience edged out youth.
Suddenly, the man stumbled back, his blade flying high as Lilia struck it in just the right way, leaving him wide open and vulnerable for a killing blow.
But before she could take it, her world erupted into pain. Her muscles seized in agony, and Lilia dropped her blade, falling to one knee. The other mage stepped past her companion, her body crackling with sparks, her hair sticking on end.
Ah yes, the electromancer.
Teeth bared, she raised a hand and Lilia was thrown onto her back as her body contorted without her consent, white-hot pain surging through her.
“Give it up, Isabella!” The woman shouted, letting out another agonizing bolt of lightning.
From where Lilia lay, she could see Rachel running down the road, five soldiers hot on her heels. She’d make it to the gate, but there was no way she was going to be able to open it without being caught. Especially if this lightning mage could lock down Lilia and prevent her from assisting, as she knew any electromancer worth their salt should be able to. And that meant Rachel would be dead, with Lilia following depressingly soon after.
She had to think, had to find a path out of this predicament. It couldn’t end here. She wouldn’t let it.
And then the gate exploded.
The huge door, the gate house, and a good half dozen of the sharpened logs that formed the wall flew inwards to smash against the houses to either side of the road. Silhouetted in the entrance, outlined by the golden afternoon sky, was a great skeletal stag with a pair of skeletons to either side of it.
And on the stag’s back was a figure, sitting tall, its eyes blazing with so much amethyst light it hid the rest of its face. But Lilia knew who it was instantly.
Reud.
He was back.