by Bethan Johns
His eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth. I held up my finger. “You let me worry about my power reserves and you can worry about your own.”
I raked my eyes up and down his body and met back up with his now obsidian gaze to show him I was not impressed with what I had found and moved toward the table with the low hanging lights above it before he could respond.
Stopping before the male with the brown eyes I had noted earlier “I am Si” I pointed to Faust “This is my second, Faust.”
They nodded to each other. “I am Bryln. I am second to Gaelen.”
“Nice to meet you Bryln.” I said. We all settled around the table to look at the map laid out.
We were on a wide beach. On one side was a cliff rising thousands of feet, on the other an ocean.
“Do your reports show they have Fae magic users with them?” I asked.
Gaelen responded. “We have confirmed they have earth users and we are assuming that they also might have a strong show of water users based off of their choice of location.”
I nodded. “What of the strength of your water users? Is it enough to hold back any water offense or to hinder any water defensive? They must have had some intel about facing my Howelltie.”
He nodded “Yes we were thinking the same.”
Bryln spoke up “When we saw the location we brought in an extra unit of water users. If their forces can beat ours water to water I would be very surprised.”
I nodded then “What of earth? I imagine they intend to bring the cliff down upon us. My fire users can create a molten shield strong enough to protect the entire army if needed, but I would much prefer to divide that up and use their strengths elsewhere.”
Elliot narrowed his eyes. “Where are you fire users going to get the energy to do that?”
“Siphoning.” I responded.
The three of them sat shocked for a moment. Gaelen spoke first.
“Firstly, who are they siphoning? Secondly, how are your soldiers to still be functional while they siphon? And finally, what other strengths are you looking to use and where?”
I smiled at him then, “I am so glad that you asked Gaelen Stormcleaver.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“I have on hand, back at my camp, thousands of Howelltie connected to mine through complex psychic channels, those Howelltie’s only job is to have their magic siphoned from them. Both psychic and fire, thus nearly always eliminating the problem of having enough power for battle.”
He opened his mouth and I narrowed my eyes on him in return as Faust spoke up. “As for your second question, the day that Sierade won leadership of Rustlavayne she ordered that we all be trained in siphoning. It was messy at first, yes, but now it is second nature for us to be connected to another creature. I myself am currently connected to a Howelltie cook back at our camp. It took me nearly fifty years to completely conquer the practice.”
Bryln spoke. “This is incredibly cunning.”
I nodded. “Every soldier out there who has fire magic is able to simultaneously siphon magic, feed it into a physical manifestation of their power- most are dragons – and still fight hand-to-hand as they had when they were not siphoning. They also are able to easily break the connection if they feel as though they, or their siphon are getting too low in power.”
Gaelen leaned back and laughed. His eyes sparkling bright gold now.
He looked to Elliot. “This is going to make things interesting.”
He leaned forward studying the map, his wings casting a shadow over it, his hair drifting into his face. He quickly snapped his wings and they disappeared, he tucked the hair behind his ear.
I jerked at the sight of his wings disappearing. Elliot met my eyes and smiled.
“I propose that your psychics and mine work together to break down whatever psychics the Elfin have.”
I nodded “I will also personally be scouting to find where their psychics are.” He eyed me over his shoulder, but simply nodded and continued.
“I think our water users should work to combat theirs, they will try to make the elfin advantage of having water users redundant. They attack, we defend and vice versa. A stalemate is what I am looking for there. Merely to take away the advantage.”
Faust grunted his approval beside me as Gaelen continued pointing to the map.
“My fire users are better trained in defense than offense, if we add my fire users to your defensive fire users then can some of your defensive users move to offensive?”
I nodded “They are interchangeable”
“Good” Gaelen said, He studied the map for a moment longer, I could see the picture he was painting. It was smart, it was ruthless. It would win.
“Your earth users should be able to combat theirs, to nullify the advantage of the cliff?” Faust asked of them.
Elliot nodded. “Then our hand-to-hand combatants have nothing in their way.”
“This is going to be a beautiful battle.” I smiled up at Faust. He put his hand over his heart and left the tent.
Bryln followed a moment after.
I felt Gaelen’s eyes inspecting me now, looking for signs of weakness. For chinks in my armour.
I felt him lightly touch my mind and I sent a spike of metaphysical psychic magic into his “Back off” I growled.
He smirked. “Fine.” He prowled towards me and I looked at Elliot questioningly.
What is your Stormcleaver doing? Is what my face said to him, he rolled his eyes and shrugged in response.
“I have been curious about you Sierade. I must say in some ways you are exactly what I expected and in other ways very different.” Gaelen said when he finally reached me. Instead of responding, I lifted my hands in front of him and splayed them out waving my fingers like the wings of a bird.
He chuckled, and his wings burst out behind him. His eyes darkened slightly as I reached out toward them. I stopped short, letting my hand fall.
“So what manner of creature are you?” I asked him.
He scoffed, “Rude.”
“Am I?” I laughed turning away. “I have been called heartless, ruthless, cold, conniving, bloodthirsty, sadistic and many other things, but rude?”
Elliot raised his eyebrows. I smirked at him showing a little more teeth than was needed. “I earned those names, don’t give me that look.”
They both stood staring at me. Elliot spoke finally. “I have only heard the stories of your reshaping the Rustlavayne. I should like to know who I battle beside. How is it that you have earned those names exactly?”
I sighed “If you must know, it all started when I ripped my college professor’s dick off and burned him alive in front of his students.”
Elliot coughed hard. Gaelen looked at me with some concern to which I responded with a sultry wink and a pointed look downwards.
He flushed.
“Now that we are better acquainted, I am going to get into position. Will I be able to find you in the skies during battle?” I nodded to his wings.
He nodded with pursed lips.
When I left the tent, I could see the Elfin army had filtered into position and that our positions had altered to our new specifications. I rifted myself to the front line of my soldiers, waiting. I saw Elliot far down the beach rift to the front of his. I saw Gaelen soar high into the sky.
Turning around, the army behind us was much larger than we were. I heard Elliot speaking to his front line. I turned to mine. Meeting as many eyes as I could I screamed, using my creation magic to manipulate echoes out over the soldiers.
“Fuck!” I shouted.
“FUCK!” They responded as one unit with a stomp.
The sound reverberated through me, I felt it down to my very soul.
“Fight!” I shouted. “FIGHT!” They roared.
My mercs and I rolled in the after waves of this, this, our ecstasy.
Battle.
Blood.
“FIRE!” I screamed as my firedrake erupted from my chest. I let her take a lot of
magic. If she needed more she could have it. If I needed more I could have it.
The Rustlavayne responded to my firedrake with thousands of their own, they soared high over the battlefield. It was legitimately like having thousands of dragons added to my numbers.
Following the lead of my firedrake, those belonging to the mercenaries would all operate independently wreaking havoc on the army before us. They shone like burning stars above my army.
I felt Tundra below offering itself to me. I knew I could wipe this plane clean with it, but I loved the rush of battle, the blood beneath my nails. I knew how it felt to have endless power, to never have to worry about running low or burning out.
That was the feeling I wanted to share with my people. That was why they loved me as their leader, they knew I was powerful, but they also knew I wanted to share.
They knew I longed for battle and gloried in the feeling of strength I gained from it.
I was Howelltie, to the bone.
I smiled at Faust and left him at the front line.
✽✽✽
Gaelen
I had not been prepared to meet such a stone wall with Sierade, I was used to people being intimidated by me, even Howelltie, especially females.
Smiling to myself I watched as the tiny Fae riled up her army of monsters. I watched as her dragon burst from her chest. I watched as the physical manifestation of the passion she incentivised in her soldiers blossomed out of their hearts into the formation of thousands of dragons.
Filtering back through my long life I chuckled, wondering if a single one of them even realized how incredible their power truly was. They were known for ruthlessness, but their pride was the magic of the heart.
Fire.
I flew above the crowd and I watched her rift away from the front line. She had said she would be personally trying to locate the other army’s psychic forces.
I didn’t have time to think for much longer. I would stay in the skies and if there was ever a weak moment in our lines, I would fill it. If ever a weak moment in the enemy lines, I would exploit it.
The battle began with water and earth magic. They were testing each other, and I was pleased to see that so far we had nullified the advantage they had tried for by using this beach. I watched as the dragons soared forward and began bombing the Elfin and Fae army.
They began to fire back and there was a suddenly a massive wall of flame leading between the two armies, the dragons flew through to the other side. We had far more fire magic on our side and because of the siphoning we would have no problem outlasting theirs, but I still hated this part, sucking them dry, they didn’t even realize they had no hope of outlasting us.
I saw a flicker of silver and looked down to see Sierade standing among our psychics. She rifted away again.
I flew closer to the wall of flame, I flew over the front lines and their clashing swords. The Howelltie fought like monsters, the Fae like graceful dancers, the Elfin were graceful like the Fae, more powerful, but slower.
It looked bloody and brutal down there. I knew I would end up down there at one point, I would go and fight among my men, but not yet. I would use my magic, but not yet.
I flew over the enemy lines and cast an illusion over myself, willing myself to become the grey sky.
Now that I could see past the wall of flame, I was surprised by the damage the firedrakes were wreaking. They were independent, but they were organized, being led by her dragon, distinguishable by its silver eyes and belly.
Looking closer I could see that she was riding atop it, her hair flying out behind her, cutting low over the soldiers. She lifted her arm forward and cut off the formation to the left, another drake moved up to lead in her place. This one rider less. I wondered if it belonged to Faust.
I watched as she and her drake flew steadily towards the back of their army. I flew along to see where she was going. Suddenly the drake started growing smaller, she was pulling it back into herself.
The last of the distance she travelled, she was walking on flames and landed in a group of Fae, they faltered for all of a moment before they started attacking her. She pulled out her weapons and started fighting in a circle of hand to hand combat.
“What the hell is she thinking?” I muttered to myself. I scanned the situation. Were those the psychics? Was she truly planning on fighting them off herself?
Her skills were incredible, fast, light, brutal, but she was in the middle of thousands of soldiers.
I flew quickly down and landed beside her snapping my wings away and whipping out my weapons, I started cutting a swathe through the Fae around us, I felt them probing my mind. She had found the psychics.
I felt her enter my mind and falter when she did not see any walls she could knock on, merely a void of space as though I was not truly there. She merely shouted.
Get out of here Gaelen. I glanced over to where she was and saw that she was absolutely soaked in blood, looking like a goddess of wrath and war.
What do you think you are you doing?
In response she sent out a light pulse of silvery energy from her body. It did not taste like any particular type of magic, just, magic.
It tasted like Faery, this was just raw power.
I faltered and felt a sword slice down my arm. Suddenly she had grabbed my arm and rifted us high into the sky. “Wings.” She whispered in my ear as we plummeted towards the battle below us.
I could feel the energy burning off of her in waves as I spread my wings and let them catch an updraft.
“Stay!” she screamed at me and she disappeared back into the soldiers. I watched her slice down a few more before she seemed to just stop. She took a few hits and I nearly rifted down to her again.
She exploded. A massive explosion of silver. Pure, raw magic blasted out among the crowd. A thousand soldiers were merely wiped away. It was not creation magic; that is a taboo that even a Howelltie would not cross. This was just her power, raw and unformed, like a bomb.
She took out all of the psychics at once. She was left standing alone, an aura of silver whirling around her. I rifted behind her and let my eyes bleed to black.
I let my power burst through my wings in rainbow waves of colour and sent out a light pulse of my own golden energy. I watched her shoulders shake as she shivered with the touch of my energy before she turned around.
She looked like a demon, or an angel, or both. She looked like power. Her eyes flashing as she took me in, her energy sending tendrils to touch along mine. I loosed my power further, I let the ground shake with it. She closed her eyes as though breathing it in. When she opened them, she breathed out and let hers loose further.
Her silver eyes shone like diamonds. She smiled.
She was still holding back.
I heard her whisper into my mind Tundra Gaelen, you are beautiful.
Then her dragon erupted from her chest and she climbed atop it to make her way back out over the field. I flew into the sky, watching as she flew back towards the wall of flame at the border.
By the time she arrived before it, it faltered, and disappeared altogether. As I watched thousands of soldiers below me began falling, seemingly for no reason, the firedrakes in the sky began blossoming and growing larger.
“By the Gods.” I whispered. I flew closer and suddenly Elliot had rifted into the sky in front of me. I caught him.
“What is happening?” he yelled, watching with wide eyes as thousands of the Elfin army fell useless to the ground while the firedrakes grew stronger and blasted their way through the others. It was chaos. I watched as thousands more soldiers in a different line began screaming and turning on each other. They began to fight amongst their own ranks.
“She took out all of their psychics, leaving their fire users unprotected. Our psychics went in and broke down any personal protection these fire users had, now her soldiers are siphon raping every fire user on this battlefield.”
Elliot shook his head in horror and awe as the enemy army fell apart in
front of us, as the foot soldiers were able to swarm in and take out the rest. Some were rifting away now, retreating.
“The psychic users on our side then fed as many of the unprotected soldiers on this side illusions causing them to attack themselves.” I whispered.
Elliot again looked around in shock. He rifted away, and I flew back over the now destroyed battlefield.
I let my power soak back into myself as I flew over Sierade shining like a silver star surrounded by thousands of enemies spinning her blades. She was an angel of death flying through, and glorying in, the battle.
