As if reading her mind, the ground began to rumble. Small pebbles skittered down the face of the cliff. Screams came from above, and a body tumbled down from the heights. Well, that was one way to take care of things.

Turner yelled and she turned to look at him. He lifted his hands and threw a splattering of ice in her direction. Senara jerked around to face the trees and nearly lost her head. Two swordsmen backed up a couple of steps and started circling in opposite directions around her. The archers must have been a distraction.

Three more men ran out from among the trees, headed for Wanha, who was bent over, nearly passed out. That much magic flow always took a toll. How many swordsmen were there? This was a well-planned attack. The enemy would know they needed a large number of troops to best the Orcus Corp.

“Turner!” Senara yelled, not taking her eyes off her new adversaries. He didn’t answer, and she didn’t turn to see, but she pointed at Wanha. Hopefully he understood what she wanted.

One of the swordsmen lunged at her. She pulled ice from the ground and swiftly formed it into a sword, blocking his thrust. The ice chipped, not having time to fully harden. Curse the handlers for not allowing the Orcus to carry weapons except for straight before a battle.

“Don’t kill her,” another swordsman shouted. “That’s the one!”

Another spray of ice created a dagger in her off hand. At this range, an ice attack would just break against the specially made armor the swordsmen wore. There wasn’t enough room for earth to gain enough speed to penetrate either.

Senara threw the dagger, followed quickly by a burst of lightning. The dagger left a dent in his armor, but the lightning just dissipated. Whoever had sent these men had planned for everything, even thick rubber soles no doubt. The soldier kept coming. She blasted him with a gale of wind, but he dug in, only sliding backward a fraction of what she’d intended.

With her attention on his friend, the other swordsman had edged his way closer.

Senara dropped to the ground and twisted back to her feet a short distance away, only just missing a swing meant to cleave her in half. She let her ice sword go and flung a fireball at him. Nothing. Who were these men? Apparently they were warded to avoid flames.

A bloodcurdling shriek sounded behind her. A quick glance showed another Orcus going down. This was not good. These men were here for them. Knew how to fight against them, knew how to protect themselves. Even the place where they’d attacked showed meticulous planning. No real water source for the Orcus to use, not enough room to truly fight with earth or wind.

The blade of a sword shoved through one of the men from behind. A small shimmer of air told her where the blade had come from. “Senara! Catch!” Her handler. What was he doing here? They were not to get involved at any cost. Too dangerous. If too many handlers were killed, the Orcus might find a way to free themselves. Another sword flew toward her, end over end. Senara used a small blast of air to direct its fall and caught it by the hilt. The weight was good in her hand. She allowed herself a short moment of relief at having a weapon.

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Now to see how the swordsman who was left would do against an armed woman. He came at her right away, no doubt trying to keep her off guard.

It didn’t work.

She parried a swing, redirecting his blade and letting it slide off hers so she didn’t have to absorb as much of the impact. He swooped around and came at her again. She dodged blows, trying not to take any of the massive swings on her blade. The man was just too strong. Black dots crowded her vision and she nearly fell, using her blade to prop herself up. She wasn’t going to be able to last much longer. The constant use of elemental magic was exhausting, on top of the fact that she’d started this fight already injured.

The soldier lunged forward. At the last moment he redirected his sword and slammed Senara with his shoulder. She went down, hard, her previous injuries wailing under the pain of new ones. He reached down and grabbed her hair. Her feet scrambled as he pulled her up, sword at her throat.

His first mistake was allowing her to get so close. His second was making her this mad. She reached a hand forward and touched his armor, feeling his sweat underneath and freezing it into small fragments. She closed her eyes and could feel each splinter.

The soldier shook her, but didn’t seem to notice what was going on. “The General wants some of you alive. Cooperate and you could be one of them.”

“Not likely,” Senara said, forming the small ice crystals inside his armor into a knife and driving it into his chest. The man dropped, nicking her neck with his sword and sending warmth seeping down toward her shirt. She didn’t have time to deal with that right now.

“Senara, this way, run!”

Leave? Turner was still standing. She shot a blast of wind at a swordsman headed his way. Wanha was down, but still alive. She couldn’t just leave! The pull of the bracelet started, urging her to obey her handler. She resisted, nausea threatening to overwhelm her.

“Senara, we’re leaving, now!”

“Turner!” she yelled, backing after her handler, Melin, enough to slow the pain the bracelet was radiating through her at her disobedience.

“He is useless. Come. Now.” The handler turned and moved into the trees, obviously knowing there was no way she could fight the pull of magic. She sent a shot of lightning, followed by ice, as she backed toward the trees, trying to give Turner any chance he had to slip away. He’d been her second, once.

He was still fighting when she reached the treeline. Once Turner was out of her line of vision, she took off running after Melin.

“Defend me,” Melin said.

Senara glared at him, putting all the contempt she felt on her face.

“Someone must warn the rest of the army,” Melin snarled, turned and ran. She let him get a few steps ahead, until the bracelet started to heat up, and gave chase.

A man lunged from behind a tree and swung a sword at Melin. Her hand went up automatically and the soldier went down in a rain of sparks. Apparently he was not a part of the forces with special armor. Now they were getting somewhere.

Melin didn’t pause to see if she brought down his attacker. He continued forward. She saved him twice more before they came to a small clearing. Melin paused, looking toward the sky. He must have seen something there to figure out which direction they were supposed to be going in, because he started forward again.

Too late. The hiss of an arrow leaving a bow and then Melin was face up on the ground, arrow quivering in his chest. Instantly any magical energy Senara had not depleted melted from her body. She collapsed, muscles in spasms, instant exhaustion nearly causing her to vomit. No, no, not now. Melin could rot for all she cared, but the bracelet blocked all contact with magic unless she had a handler. She crawled along the ground, trying to move out of sight, dragging her sword along behind her. It was her only means of defense now. Without her magic, she was still more than competent at killing. But if there were many enemies...

She wouldn’t go down without a fight.