Chapter 17

Sam shoved her shield into the ground and leaned on it, panting, trying to catch her breath in the lull after the last attack. The human magic squad had almost killed her. She’d been able to protect Kuma and some of the other soldiers, but there was no way she could stop everything. Her shield was already showing signs of damage. Fire spells spilled from the human lines and engulfed orcs in a searing blaze around her. She could hear screaming coming from both sides of the conflict as the orcs struck back at the humans. The worst was the smell of the burning meat. That was going to stick with her.

She still hadn’t seen Mel. There had to be over a hundred human magic users. Kale’s army had similar numbers, but orcs were predisposed to magic. Where had all the human ones come from? She’d heard rumours in Relancia about secret experiments, but nothing was pointing to this. Kuma and his team had been able to take out some of them, but they were spread through the ranks of the human army, hidden in the black forest. Many were even protected by force shields and could block basic attacks.

\“Here come the human reinforcements,” Kuma yelled, pointing to the forest edge. At fourteen, Sam had thought he was too young to be in this battle, but this was normal in the orc world. They were considered adults. He had just turned the perfect age to join the fighting.

“Dammit. Any potions left for the men?” Sam asked the medical officer crouching next to her.

“No, we’re out. If they get hit, they’re dead,” the medic said as she picked up a soldier missing an arm and headed away from the fighting. There was a medical shelter near the castle for the seriously injured, but to get there you had to pass through the strongest part of the fighting.

Sam raised her shield, blocking another fireball from hitting the retreating woman. This one dissipated without setting the tree on fire. Using her mace, she rushed the spellcaster and struck him in the face, sending him flying into the tree. Ignoring the spatter that hit her face, she stepped up to the next man and swept him aside with her shield, crushing him against another tree. Ayasse was right, this was hard. With each person she hit a little part of her died.

“This way,” Kuma gestured. “The mages are behind that grove.” He advanced toward the trees with a group of young soldiers. Much like the natives in the Americas back home, they were all looking for recognition in this battle. Scars and trophies proclaimed them men.

Moving through the forest ahead of Kuma, Sam saw several orcs engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the human army. Bodies from both sides littered the path turning the black ground even darker. She grimaced and let them fight. Her mission was not to help everyone.

“Here comes another spell!” Sam heard Kuma shout and raised her shield. The fireball bounced off the metal, forcing her to her knees, and searing her hands from the heat. It rebounded to the trees, exploding and spreading fire to the rest of the dry forest. Kuma said something, but she couldn’t hear him with the ringing in her ears.

The human magic was getting stronger. The demon army magic corps members responded by using their water magic to put it out. Fighting in a forest was dangerous enough without a fire to complicate things. Even with a magic corps, attacking someone who wasn’t a mage with magic wasn’t honourable for the Orcs. Sam had tried to get them to send a few fireballs the other way. They wouldn’t do it and turned away from her.

“Do we have anybody getting in behind the army?” Sam yelled to the general in charge of their advance.

“Yes, now hold the line. You’re here to stop the mages from killing the young Lord. Worry about your position and leave me to mine.” The general pointed to the front. Sam punched a tree and knocked it over forcing several orcs to scatter, exposing them. She could do so much more, but they had her here, protecting Kuma. The Demon King had asked her personally and she promised to follow his orders. She wanted to move to the middle of the battle and help Kale. It was so frustrating, but she wouldn’t abandon her position. And lose Kuma. Once was enough.

In the opening chaos, Sam lost Kuma when they rushed the human forces. It had been hell. She had fought in battles before, alongside Akira and some of the humans. Never anything like this, with all this blood and ichor. Those had been small skirmishes. There, she’d been able to take out the other side without killing them.

When she tried to do that here, it failed and almost killed her. After finding Kuma fighting a man twice as big as he was and wearing the new armour, she tackled the human to the ground. As he gasped for air, she broke his legs with her shield to keep him from getting up and stood to face Kale’s son. She ignored the human soldier’s cries of pain, turning away from the sight. Sam knew people were going to die in this fight, but then, there was no way she was going to kill anybody if she could help it. It was hard and she knew she would fail to keep that promise. After the village, she should know better.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Kuma yelled at her.

“Following your father’s orders. He wanted me to keep you safe.” Sam stood away from the boy. She needed to keep her shield ready. A sharp pain pierced her calf. Jerking back, she saw the human soldier had stuck a knife in her leg.

“You will never interfere with my battles like that again,” he demanded. “Is that clear?” Kuma went over to the human soldier and kicked him in the face. The whimpering stopped. “I refuse to kill a man who can’t fight back.”

“I will do what I have to do to keep you safe. I owe your father that much.” Sam responded, keeping her voice calm as she wrapped a bandage around her leg to stop the bleeding. She was trying to control her temper, letting the boy make his own mistakes. He was still young, barely in his teens, trying to make a name for himself.

“I won’t tell you again.” Kuma had turned and raced forward into the heaviest part of the fighting. He was faster than Sam in this forest. She kept having to dodge the black trees to keep him in sight. The wound in her thigh slowed her down even more.

“Damn kid,” Sam grumbled. Kuma was as headstrong as his father and, like the king, wanted the humans out of his country. He didn’t have his father’s experience, however. That made it more dangerous for him to be here.

Hah! What does that say about me?

“Another fireball!” Sam heard the voice and saw the flame come through the tree lines

“Dammit!”

Stretching half the hill, this one made the others she’d deflected look like one of her firesticks. It was plowed through the soldiers and trees, turning everything black.

And it was headed straight for Kuma.

“Damn!” Sam swore and dove in front of the flame. Bracing her legs behind her she leaned her shoulder into the back of the shield and tried to deflect the ball. It spilled over the sides, the flames licking her arms and singing her uniform. The fireball pushed her back, burning her skin through the leather armour. She let out an agonized scream.

“Samantha!” Kuma shouted and ran to her.

Her feet left furrows in the forest loam as she was forced back. It was only a matter of time before she tripped on a tree root and the fireball swept over her. She felt Kuma get in behind her and use his strength to brace their position. Sam could feel the shield melting, the metal leaking onto her hand. The repairs Kale’s men had done on it were finally giving out. She needed to get rid of this fire before it overwhelmed her.

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Leaning back against Kuma as a fulcrum, she kicked the bottom of the shield and directed the fireball into the sky, letting it explode against the treetops. The pressure from the explosion forced her to her knees and caused her to burn her shoulder on the shield. Kuma and his men grabbed their chests, breathing out in gasps. Heat and pressure knocking the air from their bodies.

Her shield was now no better than slag. She dropped it to the ground, shaking the last of the molten metal from her arm and gave it a silent thanks for the protection. Another fire spell took out the magic brigade as they moved to quench the fire. Looking up, Sam saw Mel.

“Leave them alone, Mel!” Sam screamed from the forest floor.

“Well, if it isn’t Sam. I was hoping to run into you,” Mel cackled as she waved her hands to cast another spell. “I have something special I was saving, just for you.” She finished the hand movements and shot out the same lightning spell they had used against the Demon King.

Sam dodged against a tree and the spell hit one of Kuma’s men. He stopped moving, his body twitching from the static. Sam could see he had stopped breathing. She glanced over to Kuma. He had crawled behind a tree and was gasping for air, safe for the moment. Mel needed time to chant the right words to make the spell more powerful.

Sprinting from behind the tree, Sam moved from side to side, ducking to avoid the fireballs. She needed to reach her before Mel could make the spell more powerful.

“Stop it, Mel!”

“You don’t get to call me that,” she fired another fireball inches from her head. “Only my friends can call me that!”

“I thought we once were!”

“Never! I’ve always wanted to see you fall. It must be nice to be loved by everyone you meet. To not make them turn away in fear!” Mel said, sending out a beam of fire. “I didn’t ask for these powers, I didn’t want the Demon blood in me, but I’m going to use it to make you pay!”

Sam could see the fear rising on Mel’s face as she got closer. The sweat shone off her forehead. When Sam reached grabbing distance, Mel’s fear switched to glee, and in an instant, “Gotcha.” The lightning spell hit Sam head-on. Mel had been simultaneously preparing the spell with her other hand, waiting for Sam to get in close.

Pain racked Sam’s body. When they had gotten the combination spell from that loner in Sywind, Mel tried it with her lightning spell on a pig. Sam remembered the smell of burning flesh, the charge filling the air with static and causing her hair to stand up, even away from the pig. This was like shoving your eyeballs through your head and yanking them through your stomach.

“I’ve waited for this, ever since we first met. I wanted to get rid of you then, but Eon made me wait, said we needed you. Akira was supposed to have been mine. I was to be the princess and they marry the hero in all the stories.” Everything sounded muffled like it was through cotton. The electricity was filling her ears.

“Mel, I’m sorry for everything between us,” Sam forced out between gritted teeth.

Mel bared her teeth and made the spell stronger, her face displaying her contempt. “Sorry? Sorry! How dare you say that! Thrusting your body out at everyone. You stole him from me! We shared the same dreams, the same ideas of a better world. You took him away from me, used him and tossed him away when you were finished,” Mel screamed at Sam. “I didn’t want to kill you, Akira has reserved that for himself, but I can’t stand the sight of your face any longer. I’ll have to tell him that accidents happen.”

Mel increased the intensity of the lightning attacking Sam. Her grin grew larger as Sam screamed out.

“Mel! Stop this, please. You don’t have to do this,” Sam begged through clenched teeth.

“Yes, I do,” She tilted her head to one side. “But I’m surprised you lasted this long.”

Sam heard Mel begin the gestures to combine the spell with the same spell she used on Kale. Sam needed to stop her before she finished chanting. She inched closer to the white-haired mage. If she could disrupt the gestures, then Sam had a chance.

I have to get her leg.

Sam grunted. The pain was coming in stronger waves, but it was pushing her down. Without her strength, she would have died in the first attack, but there was a limit to even what she could do.

“Please, Mel! Don’t do this,” Sam shouted, screaming as the electrical power caused her legs to spasm and drop her to the ground.

Mel finished her preparations and raised her hands to release the spell. “Now! Di—” Mel’s voice was cut off and the spell stopped.

The lightning burst into the trees, shattering them, and knocking down everyone in the area. Sam felt a blissful release from the pain. The tingling continued causing her body to twitch, but it wasn’t growing. It was done. After what seemed like forever, Sam raised her head and saw Kuma standing over Mel and his knife was dripping blood.

“I couldn’t let her kill you even if it was your fight. I had to return the favour, for my honour,” he said as he stumbled over to her. “We are even now Samantha. Yes?”

Sam let her head drop to the ground and smiled into the dirt. “Yes, we are even. I still owe you. She had me. I wouldn’t have survived.” She couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. While she was happy Kuma had saved her, someone who she spent the last year with, who she thought could have been a friend, if things had been different, was dead. Sam pounded the ground.

“Let us return to the battle,” Kuma lowered a hand. “My father will still need help.” Sam reached up to grab it and saw the boy stiffen and fall.

“What the hell?” She saw Mel standing, holding her stomach. The blood had already stopped and she could see the light of a healing spell being cast.

“Did you forget I could heal myself? Fools.” She raised her hand again and cast another spell, sending Kuma flying against a tree. The boy collapsed and didn’t move.

“Damn you, Mel. He’s just a boy!” Sam pushed herself to her knees and reached for the knife Kuma had dropped. She was having trouble moving her fingers and couldn’t wrap them around it.

“A boy, who’s willing to kill. That makes him a soldier to me.” Mel staggered up and went over to Kuma. “Did he say ‘father’? Who is this boy?” Mel asked as she bent down.

Sam looked around. “Where are the rest of the soldiers?” Kuma’s men? Had the human soldiers advanced this far? Sam heard signs of the battle going on but nobody was interfering with them. This place was too quiet.

“I set up a barrier. Now be quiet,” Mel said, adjusting her clothes.

“Leave him alone. He’s just a soldier.” Sam pushed herself to her feet. She had maybe one last attack in her and had to make it count.

“I think I know this face. It was older and more experienced. Ah, yes. This is the Demon King’s face, tusks and all.” Mel turned her head to Sam and released another simple wind spell, driving Sam from her feet and planting her face down in the black forest loam. “Stay there.”

Mel stood up and stretched her arms over her head. “I’ll have to thank him. His attack helped clear my head. If I had killed you, even by accident, Akira would never have forgiven me. He’s already difficult enough to handle as it is. Your death at my hand would’ve pushed him over the edge and I would have lost him forever.”

“Leave him alone,” Sam said, spitting out black leaves. She tried to push herself up. Mel just sent another spell to keep her down.

“I said, ‘Stay there’!” Mel turned to the human lines and cupped her hand against her mouth. “I need two of the new mages to come here and assist me.” If they were close enough to hear her, then Kuma’s men were probably already dead.

Sam saw two young children come over the rise. A boy and a girl, they must have been about ten. “What’s going on?” Sam asked as the two positioned themselves next to Sam and wrapped her with a wind spell. Mel performed a new chant; one Sam had never heard before. When it was finished the three stood back. The wind pressure was gone and Sam was able to get to her feet. She gripped the knife and took a step towards Mel. The two young mages fell, choking, hands around their throats.

“What happened? I didn’t touch them.” Sam, dropped the knife, bent down and placed her hand on the children. The two stopped choking and started to breathe, gasping for air.

“You are way too strong for most spells and the bindings we have, won’t hold you. We’ve tried before.”

Mel’s smile reminded Sam of Iago from that play. She cried then, but she was only ten. Now it felt like death was walking down her back.

“Akira wanted you alive and I knew your weakness.” Mel sauntered to Sam and leaned over her. “Remember the village. The children.”

Sam grimaced but said nothing.

“I didn’t like doing that then, but it needed to be done,” Mel smirked and pointed at the two. “If you decide to take any sort of action other than what I tell you to, these two will die, and it will be your fault.” Mel stood up and raised her hands to the sky. “Kill me and the spell will continue. I know how much you love children and figured this would be perfect. Ingenious, is it not?”

“Damn you, Mel. I’ll find a way out of this,” Sam promised.

“I have no doubt you may try to escape and fail. Besides, you’ve given me the Demon King`s son to play with. A little present is in order.” She turned to the two soldiers who followed the young mages. “Report! What’s happening at the front?”

The first soldier saluted Mel, “Lord Akira has sent the Demon King running and they have gathered several captives. He sends word that if you can join him, please come. They need to prepare for the final assault on the castle.”

“Excellent.” She turned to Sam. “Hear that? We are going to meet an old friend. Exciting, isn’t it?” Mel directed the soldiers to tie up Kuma and help Sam to her feet. Sam wanted to end things with Akira once and for all, but not like this.