Months pass. Jace was laying in bed. It was early morning, and he did not want to get up. He stretched out his legs and arms. Balling his hand and splaying out his toes. He looked up at the familiar wooden ceiling of his room. Another day in this world. There was a flash of bright mana, lighting up the room. Then a booming explosion followed, along with the sound of cracking glass. Dust shook from the rafters, landing upon, Jace rolled and pulled his blanket over his head to avoid getting any in his eyes. “What in the hells was that?!” He struggled to get to his feet, legs failing him. The adrenaline pumping through his body.

Thunder roared and the sound of cracking glass happened again. Topaz swirled into existence. “What is going on out there?!” the gem spirit spoke fearfully.

“Don’t ask me, I just woke up!” Jace was pulling on his poncho and kilt as fast as he could.

“Ashwood! Get up! We are in serious trouble!” Baysil yelled. Jace could hear her running up the stairs. She was fast enough to bust open the door before Jace could get to it. Knocking him onto his rear. “Oh, sorry!” Baysil got down and grabbed Jace’s arm quickly.

“Tell me this is just a nightmare.” Jace spoke as that horrid cracking glass sound sounded out again.

“That sounds like a barrier under incredible strain outside.” Topaz remarked as her instincts kicked in as she turned to the sound of the cracking. The battle readiness that was programmed into Topaz by her creators.

“We need to move. The shroud will not last much longer.” Baysil explained as she started dragging Jace down the stairs, past the living room. No time to think, no time to pack up. They stopped at the open front door to the keep. Cedar, Burr, the other tenants of the hermitage, were standing outside in the courtyard. Evaliena was out in front of the small crowd, looking up into the sky. The mana in the air was thick, rushing into the Keep’s shroud.

“Why is everyone out there…” Jace tentatively asked.

“I don’t know.” Baysil let go of Jace’s arm, Jace and Topaz followed outside. Cedar and Evaliena were conversing.

“It was a good run, old girl.” Cedar consoled Evaliena. “You don’t have to stay. We can run.” Run, run from whom? Another powerful attack struck the shroud, almost blinding Jace with its intensity. That sickening cracking sound rang again as the shroud repaired itself.

“They’ll just follow.” Evaliena spoke softly. “Take everyone through the tunnel and collapse the way behind you.”

“Fine, don’t get yourself killed, old girl.” Cedar shrugged and turned. “Come everyone, into the keep. That includes you two youngsters as well.” Cedar pointed his walking stick at Baysil and Jace.

Jace wouldn’t stand for this, so spoke up. “I’m not leaving until I get some answers.”

“There’s. No. Time.” Evaliena looked over her shoulder at her students with a burning sapphire eye. Her shawl burned down into a full set of two toned, hooded purple robes glinting with gold and silver embroidery. “The two of you would just get in my way.” She said in a cold, serious tone.

“Who is attacking?!” Jace spoke as Baysil grabbed his arm, being slowly dragged back up the stairs into the Keep. Baysil understood what her mentor meant.

“My enemies.” Evaliena turned her head away, pulling a highly decorated mage’s stave from her Lemis with her right hand and a large purple wizard’s hat into her left. “Now leave, or stay and die. Those are the choices, as I can not guarantee anyone’s safety.”

Jace desperately wanted to stay. “Just listen to her.” Cedar commanded. “The best we can do for her is to escape. Now everyone, follow me. We’re taking the passage that was made in the basement.” Jace didn’t struggle, as he watched Evaliena disappear out of sight.

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“We finally cornered her.” Dravian said himself internally. Blossoms wretched spawn, Ren of the citrine flower clan. The terrible witch fox that hounded his patriarch’s tradition and bloodline. The bitch dies today. He thought to himself.

Him, his two accomplices, Asher and Cedric. All powerful hume sorcerers with six elementals each. There was also a cadre of journeymen spellcrafters and their elementals working across the valley they found their foe in. Preparing the spell cannons. Many would consider this overkill. But the spellcrafter they were up against was no mere mage. Nearly 7 centuries old, a hero of the Abyssal wars, Mass murderer of sorcerers after. She was a threat to progress, a threat to making spellcrafting a reality for all. No expense spared, no precaution not taken. This witch had to, needed to, die!

Dravian, Asher and Cedric hovered over the weald, standing on disks of enchanted stone. Their red and blue robes billowing in the winds caused by their attacks. That keep, along with its habitants, will be a scorched mark on the mountainside were it not so well protected.

“Dravian, our attacks are barely making a dent.” Cedric said as they watched the smoke slowly faded away. “I Suggest we-” Cedric cut his sentence off as a figure appeared before the three of them. Two burning sapphire eyes glaring at them from under the shroud of the hat she wore.

Dravian almost shuddered at the sudden arrival. But he was ready for this… This moment. He sensed her power being heavily veiled. His vision past the vanishing mana suggested to him that Ren’s aura was weak, a fading golden hue. He knew Ren was a shapeshifter, all therians were to an extent. Ren, however, could change her forms as easily as the waves moved across the seas. But he was told she had three tails and her fur was of a golden-like yellow.

“Looking ancient, are we? Missing a few tails?” Dravian gloated. The purple robed Reynard said nothing and just glared. Her tail didn’t lash, she appeared to be standing on nothing. The barest hint of mana holding her aloft in the air. This intrigued Dravian. Maybe they could extract the spell from her memories once they finally subdue her.

The veils across Ren’s core peeled away. One by one, she glowed a brighter and brighter golden hue in the eyes of Dravian. Only for it to fade to a pathetic yellow round. An interesting disguise, projecting the power of an archmagus with veils when in reality she had weakened over the centuries. We should have found her much sooner. Dravian thought, watching his quarry. The teams of sorcerers below needed time to set up. The rituals needed time to get going.

Dravian was a trained mage, fully immersed in the ways of spellcrafting, so were his fellows. The elementals only augmented their power. They prepared themselves, commanding their elementals to attack as they moved around. Building power for their spellcraft.

A ball of intense cerulean blue mana formed in Ren’s hand. She threw it to the ground with blinding speed and the world’s weave screamed! The fight was on; the timer was counting down. “She cut her own escape!”

“And ours!” Asher yelled. Dravian was feeling a lot less confident.

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Jace was afraid. He was sick to his gut as they trudged through the dark, musty, and smooth passage Evaliena had created through the mountain. His feet crunching across the smooth rock. Mage lights gliding over above to illuminate the way. Topaz was providing light too with her body’s natural radiance. He feared for his mentor, his guardians, no, his surrogate mother’s life.

“It was good while it lasted.” Burr spoke. “But at least she gave us time to get away instead of outright killing us.”

“What do you mean?” Jace asked, shuffling along with the rest of the group.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

One resident, an older male Reynard, spoke. “No one told you? Ah bliss is the ignorant.”

Another feminine voice spoke from behind. “She allowed us to live with her, to let us have our solace with her. Were this another time, a different Sandalwood. She wouldn’t have hesitated to sacrifice us for her own safety.” Those words bite into Jace’s image of her. Was she that heartlessly pragmatic?

Baysil put her hands over Jace’s shoulders. “Don’t listen to it. She’ll survive. If the stories are about her and what she’s told me and you is true. She’ll survive.”

“B-but how many were out there? Will they come after us to clean up the loose ends?” Jace asked himself.

“Three masters and a gaggle of journey mages.” Cedar shifting a boulder out of the way with a spell. “They were packing some hefty siege engines. They will not go after us. They are here purely after her. She’s relying on her former reputation for our escape.”

“And her reputation was?”

“She’s a very messy fighter. She doesn’t let little things like hostages and bystanders get in her way.” Burr replied. Why was that Jace wondered? Then he remembered, many of her children and clan were murdered.

“Yeah, that’s the witch fox for you.” Topaz commented, her ears low as she looked at the ground. “Ayre’s most well-known terror.”

The mana throughout the mountain screamed as something tore up the weave. Apart from Burr and Cedar. Everyone else fell to the floor, vomiting up the foul smelling contents of their stomachs. Baysil and Jace lasted a little longer before collapsing against the wall. The mage lights flickered along with Topaz, left screaming as she rolled across the floor, her physical form cracking like glass under the disrupting effect. “Make it stop! Make it stop!”

“She’s taken this pretty seriously.” Burr commented. She looked up and down the flickering tunnel before she looked to Cedar. “At least we have a mountain of rock above us.” She said morbidly.

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This is getting ridiculous, Asher thought. Ren’s core was pathetic. Yet she was blocking everything, rarely dodging side to side. Fire missed. Lightning bounced harmlessly off of wards. Ice found no purchase. Wind and water couldn’t cut. They were too high for the earth. But they didn’t need their attacks to affect their target. They needed to keep the witch fox occupied for long enough so their journey mages could finish their trap.

His spiritual senses flared, and he threw himself to the side instead of raising a barrier. A bright, fiery purple bolt zoomed past him. Impacting the range behind him, blasting massive chunks out of the rocky face. If he had shielded himself with force, he would have drained his elementals and strained his mind severely. How could such an old mage with no elementals fight like this?!

“She’s putting up a fierce fight for an old hag!” Asher shouted.

“Concentrate on keeping her off balance!” Dravian commanded. They needed to wear her down.

Then Asher caught the glimpse of two golden hued tails. And a faint, haunting, malicious laughter. As the purple-robed witch fox twirled her stave around her, showing no signs of weakness, no slowing down. Everything. Asher needed to pour everything he had into this fight if he was going to come out of this alive.

“Move!” Dravian signalled Asher and Cedric as they flew away from Ren in different directions. The valley lit up as a barrage of multicoloured projectiles flew out from around the mountain range. All seeking a single point, a single entity. Ren.

Their foe disappeared in a spectacle of light and deafening explosive power. This was his signal. He gathered mana for a powerful spell to add to the conflagration. The artillery was not going to breach what defences the witch fox had. Asher and the other two master sorcerers had to provide the finishing blows to crack Ren’s will. The barrage intensified as more of the mountains lit up with fire.

Three masters let loose their attacks at the high of the barrage. The forest below flattened. Beads of sweat dripped down Asher’s face. Was it finally over as he dared hoped? His eyes went wide and his soul shook with fear. Ren was standing hale and defiant above the devastated forest below. Two blue burning eyes staring up.

They had contingencies.

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They had finally made it outside to the other side of the mountain. Everyone had taken to their travel forms for more speed. Jace was wheezing. Clearing the untouched stone at the end of the tunnel was gruelling under the effects of the disruption spell. He had to tear away each layer painstakingly with his earth craving spellcraft. One of the few spells simple enough to survive in these conditions. Clouds above hid the sun. The thunderous roars of battle echoing from behind the mountain.

Jace could only imagine the kind of conflict happening over there. The ground was rumbling from the impacts. There was even a sudden quake as a loud series of explosions happened. Was this how powerful mages could be? Evaliena was practically a god of magic surviving this long.

He had to ask. “How are they able to keep going?” He looked back, Topaz’s gemstone swinging around his neck. The gem spirit had retreated back into the gem to stop the pain affecting her.

The group stopped as they reached the edge of the forest on the other side. “They have elementals. She’s aged like a fine wine. Figure it out.” Cedar shouted.

Then the sky reflected bright white light from the other side of the valley, then a crimson red as something roared through the firmament. The ground dropped from Jace’s feet as the impact sent him up into the air. Baysil quickly leapt and caught him in her arms.

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How is she still standing?! Cedric stared at the purple clad Reynard as the pillar of light from an old, powerful spell dropped upon her. Her shield slowly fading as the energies it captured dissipated into ether.

The three masters had to close in and assault her with force spells, testing their wills against hers. The day was full of surprises. Her point defence shields were perfect and it would seem to others that she was wielding three of them at a time.

Cedric knew better. There were ways to manipulate force mana in such a way that it would appear as a mage was breaking the hard laws of spellcrafting. Strain must be wearing her mind to keep those defences raised. They couldn’t fight with the elementals anymore. They drained faster than expected. Maybe the disruption effect the witch created at the beginning of the fight affected them.

Surprise caught Cedric from the speed and grace at which Ren moved, her form shining brighter and brighter. There was power rising as she hopped between three points before landing in the centre of them. A massive arcane circle appeared around her as she stabbed her stave into the ground. She let go of the stave, swung her arms out and raised them slowly up. Attacks harmlessly bouncing off her wards.

“We just lost the artillery.” Dravian pronounced as the sky roared with crimson and the masters quickly looked up at a comet descending from the heavens before bursting into hundreds of fragments, impacting the mountain range.

Three turned back to Ren, who had finished their spell, staring at them. But they were just seeing the afterimage. Ren appeared between the three. The witch held out her hand. The light seemed to bend around a point before Ren’s held out hand. Cold, glaring sapphires burning with controlled fury. Then there was a pull, a hard pull. On his being as if the world was trying to drag him into that point, he fought against it. Flying away with all his power. His stone flying disk shattered.

Fear welled up in Cedric’s heart. They were done. And the three master sorcerers were dragged screaming into the inky black vortex that formed.

Evaliena dismissed the hungry spell and looked around her. Letting out a mournful sigh. The battle had destroyed the old forest of the deep weald. Fires burned across the land. Ancient trees shredded to tinder. She stood upon the air. The only place left on the mountains was her home for the past few hundred years. The black keep standing proud.

More work to be done. She clicked her fingers. Summoning the orphaned elementals that were left behind from their dead sorcerers. She clicked her fingers again, breaking the shackles that bound them to their service. “Go, be at peace.”

The elementals collectively seemed to bow and disappear one by one. Evaliena dropped to the floor and lay her stave across her crossed lap. She was tired. Her glamour shredded, exposing her original golden furred form. “On the move again. Not strong enough to fight them in their domain. But they’re too fearful to take to the field to deal with me. What a conundrum we have. So exhausting.” She sat for a while. “That’s tomorrow’s problem. I still have an apprentice to finish training.”

Evaliena rose from the ground and lightly tapped the butt of her stave against the ruined soil. The world twisted as she appeared before her tenants.

“You’re alive!” Jace’s voice rang out, then Evaliena was impacted by the young therian wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. She carefully put her hand on the back of his head. “But you look different…”

“I’ll explain it to you later. But not now. We have other things to attend to.” She looked around at the group. “I’m sorry this has happened. I can no longer offer you refuge and you need to return to your families.”