When Kuro came back to us with his insane plan, I couldn’t help but shake my head. I didn’t have a better one so I bit my tongue.
To make it work, he needed us to buy him time. We knew we were up against the personal guards of the Magister Lords, and as far as I was concerned they were just slightly better versions of the mages that had accompanied Captain McFarlane during our journey to the capitol. Still, if her soldiers were any indication, these goons wouldn’t be easy to deal with.
“Alicia, will you be okay to fight?” Alverd asked me after Kuro had laid out his plan.
I rolled my right arm, trying to work some stiffness out of it but managing not to wince. “Of course I am. I’ve been sitting on my arse for too long and I’m ready to take it out on somebody. Might as well be these guys.” I smiled at him. “I’ll be fine. And you’ll be there in case anything goes wrong, right?”
He gave me a stern look, but then sighed. “Alright. But if you feel outmatched or overwhelmed, don’t be afraid to fall back. Kuro said we only needed to stall. I still don’t know how he’s going to pull off his trick, so we need to be able to give up ground if it buys him extra time.” I think he’s trying to subtly tell me not to fly off the handle. I know he means well, but I guess I’m just a little offended that he thinks I can’t keep myself in check.
Then realization hit me. No, he’s worried about you being cut off. If you get separated from him or Sheena. Come on Alicia, you should know by now that he’s more concerned you’ll get killed like you almost did back in the Palace. The sight of Leticia and her levitating daggers appeared in my head, and I bit my lip. He didn’t let you down. You went off on your own. You’re just too scared to tell him that.
“I know. My first priority is to hit the mages to get their attention then lure them back to this clearing. Once I do, we strike them together from three angles where they don’t have any tree cover. After that, we hold until Kuro’s plan goes off.” I put my hands on my hips and winked at him. “I’ve got it. I won’t mess this up, I promise.”
Alverd still looked concerned, but then he shook his head. “Remember. Fall back as soon as they’ve taken the bait. You’re our ace in the hole against that Magister since you have no magic for her to nullify.” It gave me a boost of confidence to know that Alverd was putting so much faith in my ability to take down the Magister. Don’t let him down. You owe it to him to prove you can take care of yourself.
It was a lot of pressure, but I had no right to call myself a warrior if I couldn’t handle it. “I’ll be back before you know it.” I moved away only to find myself face to face with Sheena. She was fidgeting uncomfortably.
“It pains me to say this, but with Lady Katrile out there I’m next to useless. Her nullification runes will stop my magic cold.” She coughed to clear her throat. “So please try not to get hurt. We both have a lot riding on surviving this, and I don’t just mean the future of our countries.” Her eyes flicked over to Alverd. In my mind, I rolled my eyes. Mother Evros, this girl and her damn priorities. Oh well, I guess that’s the closest she’s going to get to expressing actual concern for me.
“I got it. Don’t worry about it, Sheena.” I brushed past her.
I could feel her eyes boring a hole in the back of my skull as I stepped into the bushes. That girl. Is that a coping mechanism or does she seriously not realize we have more important things to worry about? I shook my head, then strained my ears to listen for the sounds of movement in the brush. Then again, impending death does have a way of making one reconsider what’s important and what isn’t.
As I moved as quietly as I could, I tried to calm the flow of my thoughts. Try as I might, I couldn’t stop myself from fixating on how little sense things made when Kuro had explained the situation. I remembered the panic on his face and in his voice, the disbelief mixing with his lack of breath. “Albrecht is leading the mages. He’s here and the Magisters are taking orders from him.”
Sheena had been beside herself. “You must be mistaken, Sir Kuro. It must be a trick or illusion.” I could hear the truth in her quavering voice, though. After what we saw in her memories, she knows that what hesays is the truth. She knows that Albrecht isn’t what he seems, and I think she’s afraid of confronting him because he’ll confirm what she already knows.
Kuro had told us everything he’d overheard, and what Zajj had said before his death. He warned us that Zajj’s rambling was to be taken with a grain of salt, but even with my limited understanding of magic it made some sense. The power has to come from somewhere. If Sheena’s family line really is that strong, it would follow that her life would be what was used to make a giant golem move.
Understandably, she wasn't taking any of it well. She listened to Kuro’s story but her expression became more and more distraught as it went on. By the end of it, she looked like she was ready to cry. “I don’t understand. Why would my Uncle do this? How could I not know he was Ishmarian all this time? Why hide it from me?” Tears welled up in her eyes and she struggled to wipe them away. “All this time he hid this from me. Why?”
Alverd pulled her into his arms and held her to his chest, embracing her gently. She didn’t try to take advantage of her situation; instead she leaned into him and continued sobbing. Can’t say I blame her. This is a lot to deal with all at once. It’s not everyday you find out your only father figure was lying to you your whole life. I winced when I realized how we were both sort of in the same boat.
Sheena eventually pulled away from Alverd, sniffling. “I’ll be alright. I need to focus. Focus.” She clapped her hands against her cheeks twice, then shook her head. “Okay. Just tell me what to do. Better to think about how we’re going to escape from this forest than anything else right now. Although we also have to figure out where we’re going after we escape.” She picked up her staff and looked at us all. “There’s two ways Uncle, I mean Albrecht, can play this. He can try to do this without causing a citywide scene, or he starts a manhunt. We need to find out what he’s gone and done.”
From my right, Kuro nodded. “Either is bad in its own way. Keeping it on the down-low means he can use whatever underhanded means he wants to catch us. Avoiding public scrutiny will prevent the Magisters from trying to wrest control of this whole fiasco from him, too. On the other hand, informing the public turns everyone in Ethenia into a potential enemy. Considering the sentiment against Sheena currently, we could be looking at mobs of people hunting her down.”
Her eyes narrowed and her tone turned to ice. “If they want to try and take me they can certainly try. Anyone who raises a hand against me will find I’m not easy prey.”
I shuddered a bit. “But they’re your people!”
Her tone didn’t change when she answered me. “If they attempt an assault on me, they are not ‘my’ people. Simple as that.”
There was an awkward silence. I know she’s had it rough, but at the same time I can’t fully support her attitude. A queen is supposed to protect and serve her people, not threaten them. I was about to reply when Kuro cleared his throat.
“We can have a philosophical debate about the necessity of dealing with civilians if it becomes relevant. For now, I have an idea for how we can punch a hole through these mages and get out of the Forest.”
He held up his staff. “I’m going to try and draw the attention of as many familiars as I can. Then, I’ll set them on a collision course with the mages. The point is to get them to stampede right over the bastards. Once we get to the front gate, we get the hell out of here.” The ruby on the end of the staff flared with crimson light, and he hopped in place a few times. “That’s why I need you to buy me some time. I can only run so fast.”
Sheena held up her hand. “Wait. I know what we need to do after we escape.” All eyes turned to her. “Once we’re clear of the Forest, we need to head to the Academy and find this Calamity. I will destroy it myself. If I can use it to destroy the other Calamities, even better.”
I gulped nervously. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so angry before. She’s suggesting we destroy possibly the greatest weapons her country has, possibly out of nothing other than spite. Despite her reasoning, though, a part of my barbarian brain thought of the idea of taking an enemy’s weapon and wielding it against them with smug satisfaction. I guess it’s too bad I kind of like that idea.
Alverd and Kuro exchanged glances. Finally Alverd spoke. “Is this really what you want, Sheena?”
She nodded energetically. “Yes. Consider it your new charge. I command you, sir knight, to accompany me on this quest of righteous reprisal against my betrayers. What say you?” She extended her right hand to him, fingers curled down. He took the hand in his and knelt.
“As you say. Lead on, my lady.” Then he planted a kiss on the back of her hand.
WHHHHAAAAAAATTTTTT?! My brain did a backflip. Sheena’s face turned bright red. I know you needed to play along with her theatrics but did you really need to go that far?! Mother Evros do you people have any shame?! I felt my teeth gnash in my mouth.
“Alright, enough clowning around! Are we going to talk about it or do it?” I stepped forward between Alverd and Sheena, facing her. “Come on! Time is wasting!”
Sheena snapped out of her embarrassment quickly. “Yes. I think our best chance of delaying our enemy would be to take out Lady Katrile. Her nullification runes could be put to good use against not just the Magisters, but Albrecht too. I can use them, but getting the runes is going to be the hard part. She likely won’t part with them without a fight.”
I gave her my best homicidal grin. “Well lucky for you I know how to start them, and end them.”
She could tell I was being supportive, because she chuckled at me. “I believe it.” She sniffed one last time. “Goodness, you’ve seen some ugly sides of me today, all of you. I apologize. I didn’t mean to put on such disgraceful displays.” With one last wipe of her sleeve, she finally dried her face. “I’ll hold it together. Although I can’t make any promises after this is all over.”
We went our separate ways. Kuro dashed further into the Forest, Alverd and Sheena lay in wait in the clearing, and I started moving through the woods to find the mages. Off to my left, I heard the snapping of twigs. Slowly I leaned around the edge of the tree to see if I could spy the source of the sound. I got a good look for maybe a second before a howling blast of blue light shot towards me.
With my reflexes it was easy enough to pull back in time, but the blast was followed by several more. Soon the tree was being torn apart by a steady stream of projectiles that came from four different directions. Four directions, four different attackers. Imagine the battlefield like the face of a sundial. I closed my eyes, breathing in and out slowly, the image of a sundial’s surface appearing beneath my feet. I’m facing away from them. I’m midday. Twelve.
My ears tried to pick out the distinct sounds of the magic being thrown at the tree. Seven. Nine. Five. One of them is at four but it’s close to three. He’s moving, trying to flank me. I needed to act fast, because two flankers coming from opposite directions meant one of them would hit me in the back while I dealt with the other. I can get Nine first. I’ll try to get Seven too, and then I need to get back to the others. I still didn’t know if any of them were the Magister, but I could hope.
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I wanted to use my berserker rage, but I needed a clear head for this. You have a job to do and Alverd is counting on you to do it. Do only what he said and then fall back. I breathed out one last time, opened my eyes, and then rolled to my left and broke into a dead run straight toward a mage who was in the process of aiming his staff at the tree. He saw me charge at him and tried to adjust his angle, but missed me with his ice lance as I ducked and weaved randomly. When I closed the distance, I jumped at him like a feral animal and whipped my maul around with both hands.
The satisfying crunch of his skull as the maul connected with it told me that he was down and out. As I landed, I folded my knee and rolled past his still falling corpse as two more blasts of magical force shot over my head. The world revolved chaotically as I fell out of my roll and onto my feet, looking in the direction of my attackers. Seven was in plain view, although whoever had thrown the second lance wasn’t.
Seven was already preparing his follow up shot. A fireball came straight at me, and I had to hold up the angled gauntlet on my left arm to deflect it. The sheer force of the fireball snapped my arm back, but not enough to do any damage to my bones, and the ball bounced to the left and hit a tree behind me. I reached down to my leg and pulled a knife from one of my holsters, then threw it at him.
The knife hit him in the knee, and he cried out in pain as he lost his balance. Two more fireballs came out of the brush, missing me by closer margins than I was comfortable with. It’s time to get out. I’ve definitely got their attention now. I turned and fled back through the trees, ducking my head and hunching forward to present a smaller target as more fireballs singed the air around me.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and a weird smell filled my nostrils. Bits of rock and loose twigs began to levitate off the ground in front of me, and every instinct I had told me not to be standing in that area. I threw myself to the side a mere second before an enormous lightning bolt rained down from the sky and hit the ground, glassing the spot instantaneously. The strange smell and tingling air told me another bolt was on the way and I sprang off to my right just in time.
It has to be the Magister. One shot from one of those and I might not be crawling away from her. Every bit of my training roared at me to unleash my rage and confront her, but I choked down the instinct and kept running. The second bolt slammed into the dirt behind me, and some ways in front of me another strike was already en route.
It wasn’t easy to weave in and out of the strike zones with only a scant few seconds to react. I can’t rage. Even if it makes my reflexes faster, I can’t do it. You’re almost back to the clearing. I could see the break in the trees about sixty feet ahead of me. Don’t let him down. You’re almos-
The lightning bolt that hit me didn’t come from above, but rather from the side. Burning straight through the undergrowth, the bolt caught me in the abdomen from the right, hard enough to knock me off my feet, my muscles seizing as blue-white light danced across my vision and seared my skin. I screamed as the air sizzled, clogging my nose with the scent of burnt leather. I hit the ground spasming, unable to control my own body.
A woman in a fancy robe with two separate necklaces and antlers stood over me, her face twisted into an expression of smug satisfaction. “Stay still, bug. I’ll put you out of your misery soon enough.” She pointed her staff at my face, and the end of it began to crackle with lightning, blue bolts arcing as it edged closer. She pressed it against my shoulder and I felt it burn, the bolts discharging into me. “Soon, of course. Not right away.”
I could barely hear my own cries of pain over the sound of the lightning. I’m sorry, Alverd. I know I said I wouldn’t, but I don’t have a choice. The look of unabashed sadism on Katrile’s face was enough to spur the deep rage to come roaring out of me, and as soon as it took hold the lightning was nothing more than a soft tickle. I wrestled with the rage, fighting it for full control, refusing to let it dominate me.
With a furious grunt I lashed my foot out, hitting Katrile in the shin. The tall mage buckled down, and I rolled onto my feet and swung my left arm at her, my hand balling into a fist. I felt the satisfying impact of my curled fingers as they shattered her jawbone, everything moving in slow motion. Before I could bring my maul around for an attack, she vanished in a puff of mist, only to reappear about thirty feet away.
Letting out a garbled cry thanks to her now loosely swinging mouth, Katrile aimed her staff and shot a lightning bolt that forked into three separate prongs. Where the prongs hit the ground, however, they created three foot tall beings that looked like walking humans made of blue energy. They lumbered towards me, “arms” outstretched.
Ugh, that is creepy as all hell, like something out of a nightmare. The monsters had enough solid surface to be struck by my maul though, which was proven when I hit one with an underhand swing that knocked it six feet in the air before it disintegrated. The second one leapt at me, but I planted my boot in what would’ve been the face on a normal human. It hit my foot full tilt, and I pushed forward and stomped it onto the ground where it fragmented in a flash.
Without stopping, I ran forward and swung at the third, but it slid under my legs and jumped on my back like an angry monkey, grabbing at my face with spindly fingers made of electricity. As I thrashed left and right to try and dislodge it, I felt something wrap around my legs. Looking down, I could see the vines and roots of the brush crawling over my feet and up my legs, locking me in place. Katrile was still trying to cast her magic, slurring her words as she concentrated on restraining me.
I AM NOT HELPLESS. I AM NOT WEAK. I AM THE STONE THAT PARTS THE RIVER AND YOU WILL NOT MOVE ME. Dropping my maul, I reached up and seized the head of the lightning creature, yanking it forward and over my shoulder. With an angry grunt I wrenched my right foot free and then my left then tossed the creature at Katrile. She saw it coming and sidestepped, but it was enough time for me to rush her.
I hit her like a wagon careening down a hill, pushing her back and up against a tree. Alternating between my left and right arms, I started throwing haymakers at her, hitting her in the stomach, chest, face, and shoulders with no consistency to any of it. At some point I hooked my fingers and started scratching at her too, anything to make her hurt. Eventually she put her hand against my face and I felt electricity surge out of it and into me, blinding me and causing my muscles to slack as they got zapped. I fell back, still tearing at her, and she vanished in a cloud of mist again.
When she reappeared behind me, again thirty feet away, I anticipated her attack. Rolling to one side to avoid a bolt of lightning that would’ve hit me square in the back, I ran at her, scooping up my fallen weapon along the way. As I charged, I saw her eyes widen, and she tried to throw up her hands in some kind of arcane gesture, but as lightning began to glisten along the edge of her staff, I saw it fizzle out with a sputter. Seeing my chance, I aimed my maul at her head.
The sweeping sideways blow clipped her face, and there was a loud snap as part of her left antler broke off. She hit the ground, her jaw broken in two places now. Gurgling, choking, and with blood cascading down her face, the pathetic mage tried to form words but nothing came out but gibberish. Based on the look of seething hatred on her face, it wasn’t hard to guess what she was trying to say.
I knelt down and picked up the broken antler, holding it like a knife, as I approached her. I knelt down next to her, and she continued to try and curse at me. I put down my maul and put my left hand on her neck to hold her still. “Like I told your assassin, don’t play with your food.” Then I jammed the antler into her chest, straight into her heart. I leaned down to stare into her face. “And when you corner an animal, finish her off quickly. Because animals are always more dangerous when they’re cornered.” She jerked twice, then laid still.
Letting go of the antler, I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to let my rage subside. I visualized myself stepping out of the river, and slowly the red haze left my vision. As I took a deep breath in, I became aware of something wrapped around my hand. Looking down, I saw one of Katrile’s necklaces had caught on my wrist during my assault.
The runes on the necklace were flaring in a variety of colors. Many of them were the same blue as the lightning the Magister had conjured during the fight. Was that why she couldn’t stop me in the end? I held it up, and that was when my mouth opened in shock. While the runes weren’t anything I could hope to understand, the metal blocks that comprised the necklace were made of refined dragon tooth metal. This is the same stuff as what we use to make weapons for Black Scale Legionnaires and armor for the royal family.
My head spun. Why would we export this metal to Algrustos? Under no circumstances would this be allowed. Our methods for working dragon tooth metal are jealously guarded secrets and even being in possession of the metal without authorization is punishable by life in prison. So why does an Algrustian Magister have two whole necklaces made of the stuff, and how is she using it for her magic?
I grabbed the other necklace from around Katrile’s neck. Sheena might know. And if not her, then that backstabbing bastard Albrecht will. If I have to beat the answers out of him I will. If he knows my father like he said he did, then he has a hell of a lot of explaining to do. I stuffed the necklace in my pocket, then looked at the one I had wrapped around my wrist.
Something tickled my brain, almost like an instinct. I broke the chain holding the necklace together, then wrapped it around the head of my maul. It took some doing and a small bit of extra twine from my pouch, but I managed to secure the necklace to the weapon. It was an ugly sight, the metal runes against the majestic gold filigree of the hammer head, but if it was capable of interrupting a mage’s spell, then having it at hand would give me a serious edge in battle.
Immediately after I had finished wrapping the runes around the maul, the ground started to rumble. I nearly lost my footing and had to lean against a tree to avoid falling. Looking down through the trees, I saw a horde of animals coming straight at me. Oh Mother Evros, the madman actually pulled it off! I hauled myself up the tree and off the forest floor mere moments before the stampede passed by.
Creatures as small as squirrels and cats and beasts as large as wolves and bears surged past, all headed in the same direction. Given their speed, it wouldn’t take long for them to reach the Forest’s gate and give Albrecht’s men a nasty surprise. Clinging to the side of the tree, about ten feet off the ground, I was pretty sure I was safe from the horde.
Then the fox passed by.
That is the biggest damn fox I’ve ever seen. It was huge, covered in red fur and burning with white-bluish flame, its eyes a blazing golden color. It stood taller than any other familiar, walking instead of running, so colossal and majestic that there was no doubt it was the leader. I could almost feel waves of force radiating off of it, as though it were compelling the other familiars to action.
It looked at me, and my blood froze. Will my maul even work on that thing? Would it send the others after me if I attacked it? The giant fox cocked its head to the side, then sneezed. At least, it sounded like a sneeze. Then it went forth, leading its army of magical animals away from me. When the last of the stampede faded off in the distance, I dropped down from the tree.
Shortly afterward, I heard footsteps behind me. “Alicia, are you alright?” Alverd and Sheena jogged up to me, his armor clanking loudly. I waved at him.
“Yes, I’m fine. I got to safety before the familiars came through.” I put my hands on my hips. “Kuro really came through, huh? Good for him. Glad to know we keep him around for some reason.”
“I heard that.” The mage in question stumbled forward, clearly out of breath. “Damn it, you’re all taller than me, cut me some slack.” He leaned against the tree while he wheezed. “Just give me a second. I’ll be okay.” He weakly held up his hands to give us a thumbs up.
Sheena’s gaze was fixed on my maul. “Wait, why are the runes active?”
I looked at the runes, which were still flashing various colors. “Oh. Katrile tried to do magic on me while I was holding them and then her spell stopped working. Here.” I handed her the other necklace. “You can stop Albrecht with just one, right? I think I’ll hold onto this one, if you don’t mind.” Shenodded dumbly, taking the necklace without a word.
She wrapped the necklace around her wrist, making a kind of bracelet. Like mine, it began to flash bright colors in a seemingly random sequence. “Now, for the next part of the plan. The destruction of the Calamities won’t stop the war, but it will definitely delay it. Without the Calamities, the Magisters will have to fight the Ishmarians at a severe disadvantage, and that means they’ll have to put off starting the war to make additional preparations.”
Alverd scowled. “I caution you against the course of action you want to take, my lady. To say it’s dangerous is an understatement.”
Sheena shook her head. “We have the chance to do this, here and now. If we flee, that chance is lost forever and countless lives will be lost with it. I know it’s a lot to ask of you all, but I need to do this. It’s up to you to decide whether you’re with me or not.”
Kuro coughed, then held his thumb up again. “All in. Not like it matters. I would like to see the look on Albrecht’s face when we blow up his whole scheme in his face.”
Alverd sighed but then drew his sword. “I’m with you. Lead the way.”
I cracked my knuckles, then my neck side to side. “Do you even need to ask if I’m ready to knock some more mages’ heads?”
Sheena smiled wistfully. “Thank you. Then it’s official. We’re going to make our way into the bowels of the Academy, and I’m going to try and activate the Calamity.”
“And then I’m going to use it to destroy the others.”