Etheric Apocalypse

by C M Raymond et al.

  The guard grumbled something to himself before turning back around and leaning back against the pole. Arryn moved her fingers as she controlled the ivy. The plants kept her fully enveloped as it moved her down the wall completely out of sight.

  Get ready, Arryn sent to Parker.

  She hesitated for a moment, making sure the man wouldn’t turn again. Once satisfied, Arryn willed the ivy to extend and lower her to the ground right behind her target. Even a single footstep could be enough to bring attention to herself, and she wanted to avoid that at all costs.

  As soon as she was behind her target, Arryn pulled the ram’s horn dagger from her sheathe and struck. She moved fast as lightning as her arm wrapped around him, the blade shoving directly through his windpipe to keep him from screaming out.

  Unfortunately for her, however, she’d been very right about him being a fighter. The blade in his hand stabbed through her forearm, wedging between both bones. She bit her lip as she fought a scream.

  Now, Parker! she called out in her head.

  Pulling her dagger free, she stabbed him under the ribs between his armor. He quickly began to lose his fight, and she lowered him to the ground before breaking his neck as quickly as possible.

  Everything was about to fall apart if she didn’t move fast.

  Arryn left the dagger in her arm, hoping it would keep the worst of the bleeding at bay while she focused her magic on the illusion. Her eyes brightened again as she dove deeper into the minds of her targets.

  Parker ran from the edge of the woods toward the shorter man, who didn’t seem to notice anything at all. So far, the plan was working. Upon seeing Parker, Snow and Dante stood, though a duplicate image of them still lying on the ground could be seen.

  Arryn’s compulsion was amateur at best, so she needed physical illusions to aid her. The men focused on the illusions of the injured animals on the ground as Parker struck his target on the back of the head. He managed to catch the guard before he loudly hit the stone walkway with all that armor, but it was still awkward, resulting in the sounds of a struggle.

  Once again, Arryn tensed as she hoped no one else would run out. As Parker finished with his guard, Snow and Dante had brought both of theirs off into the grass, and knocked them unconscious with careful swats with their massive paws.

  Arryn released her magic and pulled the dagger free from her arm, biting her lip again to keep from yelling out. She quickly healed the wound before going to check on the others. Each man was passed out. Snow had accidentally broken the arm of her target, but Arryn quickly repaired it as he slept.

  Now that they were unconscious and able to be easily manipulated, Arryn was able to spell each one of them to keep them knocked out for a while.

  Cathillian, we’re good here. Send Corrine to pull them into the trees. One is dead, the others are unconscious. Keep them tied, but don’t injure them any further, Arryn sent out.

  You got it. Need any help? he replied.

  Nope. We need subtlety for this one, but thanks anyway. Just stick to the plan.

  What? Damn it! I fall out of a tree on a guy one time, and I never hear the end of it, Cathillian argued.

  Arryn almost laughed. Yeah. You fell out of a tree, Mr. Druid, and then proceeded to make an even bigger ass out of yourself.

  I was thirsty, okay! I thought I’d ask since I was already there. You didn’t let me get a drink when we were close to the river. It was a freakin’ hot day!

  Arryn shook her head. You’re ridiculous. Just make sure these bodies are taken care of quickly. I don’t want anyone stumbling upon them.

  “Everything good?” Parker whispered.

  Arryn nodded and turned to the tigers. “Snow. Dante. Stay out here. I’ll call you if I need you to charge in.”

  The tigers nodded and grabbed the guards they’d taken down by the feet and began to drag them into the forest to wait for Corrine.

  “Don’t forget the dead guy. Try not to drag him, or he’ll smear blood everywhere,” Arryn instructed quickly.

  Arryn and Parker approached the castle, and she used her nature magic to sense for life inside. While she sensed many people throughout the building, no one was close to the front doors. They slowly made their way inside a large foyer and found another set of doors.

  There is one guy on each side, Arryn sent to Parker.

  Good or bad guys?

  Arryn paused. Both are cold-blooded murderers.

  Rough it is, Parker responded.

  Arryn grabbed one of the double doors while Parker grabbed the other. They locked eyes for a moment as Arryn quietly counted them down. Go!

  They ripped the doors open and rushed inside. As Arryn’s target reached for a sword, she kicked him in the side of the knee and pulled his helmet off before smashing his head against the stone wall.

  He started to go down fast, and she’d already made enough noise. She rushed forward and did her best to catch him, but she wasn’t quick enough. The helmet fell to the floor as he slipped out of her grip, the pieces of armor clanging and echoing through the large open room.

  Parker hadn’t fared much better, and Arryn grimaced. “Don’t breathe a word of this to Cathillian.”

  The sound of footsteps running into the room alerted them to at least five more guards.

  “If we live that long, sure,” Parker said.

  “Fair assessment,” Arryn responded. “We can’t risk them alerting anyone else. I’m going to have to do this another way.”

  Her eyes flashed white as she listened to the thoughts of each individual charging into the massive throne room. Not one of those men were worth losing their lives over. Stepping forward, her eyes flashed black as she shoved her hands out, pulling water droplets from the air.

  As six men crossed various thresholds, Arryn whipped her arms out to her sides. The droplets soared through the air and seeped into their helmets. Within seconds, the men were flailing around and pulling at their helmets to tear them off.

  As Arryn held the water tight to their faces with one hand, she used the other to levitate the men a few feet off the floor. As the first went unconscious, she kept him suspended and the others followed quickly behind.

  Once each of them were dead, she lowered their bodies quietly to the floor.

  “That was exciting,” Parker said quietly. “Why didn’t we do that before? Outside?”

  She gave a disappointed sigh. “Because that just used way more magic than I wanted to, and I was really trying not to use a lot. It’s hard to say how many people in the dungeons are injured. I need to save it for them. We have to save every bit of energy we have.”

  He nodded. “Now that we’re inside, it should be easier. It’ll be okay. Getting in was the hard part.”

  She nodded. No more talking. Let’s get these people out of here.

  Arryn and Parker kept low and slowly made their way through the castle. The men inside were scattered. The farther inside they went, the more Arryn realized the castle really didn’t have a lot of soldiers. A hundred or more, but not enough to be threatened by. Most of their numbers had been lost in the previous battle with the self-proclaimed king.

  Now, with a huge decrease in his numbers, good ol’ Duke Archibald was forced to take prisoners and hold them in hopes that Arryn would come for them. She knew he was hoping to catch her off guard and keep her from using her full power to bring the castle down. He knew she was strong enough to do it. Innocent lives at stake meant she wouldn’t go quite so hard, giving Archie the chance he needed to win.

  Coward.

  As they made their way through, a couple more patrols wandered into the open. Arryn and Parker easily dispatched them before making their way down another flight of stone stairs. Arryn ran into a large open armory and found a bow and quiver, having left hers back at camp due to the immediacy of their departure.

  While searching for anything else useful, her mind wandered to Hannah. Will Hannah be pissed about our detour? When you showed up in Brenin to find me
, we were right in the middle of all this. I don’t want her to be pissed, but I also couldn’t leave these people to die.

  Arryn heard a quiet snort from Parker. Are you kiddin’? She’d have been pissed if we didn’t come here. I’m not sure whose ass she would’ve kicked first, but I can tell you, it wouldn’t have been gentle.

  She smiled. She’d always heard good things about the girl from the Boulevard, but the more she heard, the more she liked her. Hannah seemed like the type of person Arryn would gravitate towards. After all, a big family was never a bad thing. It seemed as though Arryn’s close friends became more like family all the time, and she assumed that might end up happening with Hannah and Parker as well.

  She could think of worse things to happen.

  Arryn turned to leave, but a weird piece of metal caught her eye. She moved toward it. It was a breastplate of some kind, but huge. Too large to be worn by any human she’d met. The thing was newly forged, and as she moved closer, she realized it was not alone. In fact, the whole back of the armory was filled with breast plates like this one. And, helmets large enough to serve as bathtubs.

  “What the hell?”

  Besides the size, there was something else strange about it the armor. Almost as if it was designed for someone with four arms. She reached her hand up to touch some of it when she heard a shuffling outside the armory.

  She quickly nocked an arrow, crouched low and headed toward the door.

  You still shopping in there, or would you like to help? Parker asked through the mental link. She knew he was trying to stay quiet and not yell out, but his battle grunts weren’t exactly quiet.

  She sighed and shook her head as she knelt and turned toward the first of two men scrapping with Parker. They were in close combat inside a ten-feet-wide hallway, but Parker was handling himself well. Since she’d been so quiet and had stayed so low, neither one of the guards noticed her.

  Parker punched one in the face, knocking him back a few feet. He stumbled into the doorframe and Arryn took her shot. The arrow pierced through his temple and dropped him fast. She nocked another in less time than it took for her to draw a breath and aimed at Parker’s last opponent.

  Just as she was about to shoot, Parker slammed his shoulder into the guard’s chest and thrust him into the far wall of the hallway. He pulled back and punched the guard hard in the face before reaching for the sword on the guard’s hip and shoving it into the man’s side between his armor. Parker pulled the sword back, but not completely out before burying it again at a different angle.

  The man finally sank to the floor, and Arryn put the arrow back in the quiver before slinging the bow over her shoulder. She rushed to grab the guard she’d killed and pulled him inside the armory and left him in the corner before helping Parker with his.

  “I really hope these weren’t the good guys,” Parker said quietly as he dropped the legs of the guard they’d just hidden.

  Arryn shook her head. “No. Both were assholes. It seems the farther we go, the worse they get.”

  “Makes sense. They’d have to be pretty rotten bastards to keep innocent children locked in a dungeon.”

  Arryn, Corrine’s voice broke through. While Arryn had been most proficient with physical and nature magic, Corrine had been best with nature and mental magic. Arryn had tried to teach her adopted daughter as her mother had taught her, but Corrine didn’t connect to the magic like she did the other two. Arryn couldn’t fault her. She was no better with mystical magic.

  What is it? Arryn quickly responded.

  You have incoming from above. The kingdom has risen. They’re coming for their kids.

  Arryn’s eyes widened. It had taken every ounce of patience and will she’d had to convince the rightful king, William, to stand down and allow Arryn to take care of everything. She’d saved their kingdom, and they trusted her greatly, but they wanted revenge. The duke capturing the kids was a far worse offense to them than the usurper king taking their kingdom and enslaving everyone.

  “Damn it,” she whispered.

  She’d run out of time.

  I’m almost there. I can feel them. I’m only one floor above. Hold them off as long as you can. If they storm the castle while the guards are still in there with them, all those children will die.

  Arryn could sense Corrine’s hesitation when she replied. I don’t know if I can. There’s too many for me to influence, and I’m still too new at it anyway. They think an approaching army will be enough to scare the duke and bring him and his whole army out—saving the kids in the process. They think they’re helping you.

  THEY’RE NOT! Arryn shouted through the link. They are making my job harder. Arryn punched a shield hanging on the wall hard enough to dent it and break her hand. Five minutes. I’ll blow this place apart if I have to. Five—more—minutes. Got it? I don’t care if Bast and Cleo have to bury them to their shoulders. Five minutes.

  Corrine sighed. You got it. We’ll keep them back—no matter what.

  “What is it?” Parker asked, obvious worry on his face.

  “Our deadline was just cut by an ass load. The freed people of Brenin are coming to storm the castle. We have five minutes to find the kids and get out of here. That means I’m going to need to go all out.”

  His eyes widened. “That’s going to waste literally everything we’ve been working for. The girl who escaped said they’re down there with ten guards, all of which are armed to the teeth. They will shoot them before we can get to them if we don’t do this right.”

  Arryn nodded. “Five minutes. That’s all we have.”

  Parker took a deep breath before nodding. “Better make ‘em count.”

  She nodded as black pooled into the whites of her eyes and the irises flashed green. Arryn stretched her broken hand as magic flowed through it, the tiny breaks snapping back into place as she healed herself. She kicked off her boots and placed her feet on the cold stone floor. This would allow her to move faster and quieter.

  “Let’s go,” she said before exiting the armory.

  She pulled the bow from her shoulder and nocked an arrow before picking up her speed. Her feet barely made a sound as she jogged down the long hallway. There were several doors ahead, and she could sense people moving around in each room. More than that, she could sense almost thirty people huddled together the next floor down. They were getting close.

  One of the doors opened and a guard stepped out. She could feel the darkness radiating off him and wasted no time. The bow lifted as she ran, and she loosed the arrow. It shot straight through his head and pinned him to the door as she once again picked up speed.

  Another door opened, and another guard stepped out. Arryn already had the arrow nocked and ready, but she stopped. The guard dropped to the floor and removed her helmet, bowing her head. “Please,” she said quietly.

  Arryn could sense genuine fear in the woman as soon as she’d laid eyes on them. Other than fear, she didn’t sense much else. The woman didn’t scream “dick” to her.

  “Help us or get out of the way,” Arryn said, her voice a little colder than she’d meant for it to be.

  The guard nodded and slowly stood, her hands raised. “I thought he was sane. I never imagined he was as cold and terrible as his brother.”

  Arryn scoffed. “No. He’s worse.”

  The guard nodded. “I realized that when he brought back twenty-three kids and a few adults. You don’t hurt kids. I don’t care how important a war is to win.” She paused before pointing down the hall. “At the end of this hall is a T. Turn right. At the end of that hall is one of the entrances to the dungeon. Down there, you’ll find all the kids. You have to be careful, though. All the hallways with entrances to the dungeon are full of traps that can be set off by anyone waiting at the other end.”

  “Thank you,” Arryn said, her eyes still glowing.

  “I’m Amy. What can I do?” the guard asked. “I want to help.”

  Arryn looked at Parker, who shrugged and gave a quick nod.
She faced the guard again. “You can help us fight. We only have a couple minutes to get to those kids before King William and his people rain hell down on this place.”

  The guard’s eyes widened. “If they attack directly—”

  Arryn nodded as she interrupted. “We know. Let’s go. We don’t have much time.”

  Arryn once again broke into a jog as she took the lead. Three more guards crossed their path at the end of the hall, but Amy and Parker took them down easily enough while Arryn turned right as she’d been instructed to. Becoming more and more anxious by the second, Arryn picked up speed.

  At the end of the hall, Arryn heard a loud click and immediately turned to Parker and Amy. “Stop!”

  Spikes burst from the walls and impaled Arryn through the thighs and abdomen but missed her chest thanks to the way she’d twisted her body at the last second.

  She cried out, the bow and arrow hitting several spikes as they clattered to the floor. Several men ran through a door at the end of the hall that Arryn assumed was the entrance to the dungeon. She struggled to breathe and fought back tears.

  “Arryn!” Parker called out from behind.

  She lifted a shaky hand as she waved him back. “Stay back. I don’t know what’s about to happen, so just stay back. I don’t want to hurt you by accident.”

  Laughter filled the end of the hall as the guards looked at her skewered where she stood. She could feel their darkness radiating through the hall, and it made her sick.

  Corrine, Arryn called out. How far away is the army?

  You have about two more minutes. That’s all I could do, Corrine responded quickly.

  Arryn sighed. Change of plans.

  Oh? What’s up? What can I do?

  Arryn could sense the fear spiking in the individuals below them. A quick peek into a single child’s mind told her exactly what was happening. Most of the guards were standing at the end of this hall, laughing and making jokes at her expense. The rest were still in the room and were now herding all the innocents into the center. Magitech rifles in hand, the guards circled the innocents.