“We have to know what is waiting for us down the river,” Luke argues, his eyes sparking with annoyance. “This is our chance to learn of the Lich’s plan.”
“She does not know anything and chaos elves never tell the truth when caught. You cannot still believe that she is the queen,” says Aedyn, who looks at Luke with a cold stare. “How can you believe that your stupid plan to switch rooms with Kellia in the middle of the night manages to catch someone like that? This assassin is a simple grunt.”
“You seem to be having some personal issues. I’m just going to head out the door and we can pretend that this never happened,” Trinity whispers. Luke roughly shoves her into the wall and takes a step toward the priest.
“Why do you have to keep insulting me? Can’t you accept that I actually won over a stronger opponent?” Luke asks with a surprisingly calm voice. Trinity is about to sneak toward the door when Luke draws his other sword on her. She looks at him to see that he is still glaring at Aedyn.
“I can prove that this woman is lying with simple logic. The real chaos elf queen would send an assassin instead of endangering herself. If she came here and died then her people would be left in anarchy,” Aedyn explains. He gets to his feet and walks over to Luke. “This woman is probably as stupid as that chaos elf you fought in the arena and she is making up extravagant lies to scare us. She got greedy with her claims and you are falling for it. The woman looks like a simple, chaos elf whore anyway.”
“Hey! I am the deadly Queen Trinity! My power is beyond your feeble imagination. You may have handled that pathetic Lich, but I’m ten times the caster that he pretends to be,” Trinity rants, the idea of escaping vanquished from her thoughts. “The only reason I’m here is because your irritating thief sabotaged my original plan. He crippled the guild for the night and cost me days of planning. Not to mention several of my Rodillen contacts and fifty diamond orbs. Now, stop your bickering and tell me where the heir is.” She tries to hit both half-elves with her poison-laced needles, but the projectiles are batted out of the air by a quick slash from Luke’s sabers.
“That is it. I am killing her. Get out of my way, Luke,” Aedyn roars fiercely.
“Shut up and let me handle this, Aedyn,” Luke orders the priest. Aedyn spits at the forest tracker and tries to shoulder his way to Trinity. Luke flips his right-hand saber in his hand and belts Aedyn across the face with the solid hilt.
Aedyn wipes the blood from his mouth and shakes it to the ground. “I see you still resort to violence when you do not get your way.”
“What are you going to do about it?” Luke asks. The answer comes in the form of a staff to Luke’s chin. The forest tracker reels backwards as blood flies from his mouth. Due to his sudden movements, Luke’s saber cuts across Trinity’s chest, leaving a thin slice in her shirt and cobalt skin. The chaos elf backs away as she finds herself stuck between two angry half-elves.
“I didn’t agree to work with the Lich in order to find that you people have gone insane. I demand that someone explain this nightmare where the heroes are about to kill each other,” Trinity says in a fit of frustration and mild pain. The only response she hears is a faint bell from the other side of the wall.
“That should do it,” Luke states with a grin on his bleeding face.
“Just like we planned. Although, the strike to the face was not as light as you said it would be. I cannot feel my nose,” Aedyn complains, his voice very nasal and low.
“Sorry. It was tough pretending to fight all day,” Luke apologizes. He keeps his sabers against Trinity as she backs away. “Good thing Nimby warned us that we’d be watched as soon as we got off the ship. It’s so easy to send out disinformation when everyone believes you’re drunk. This was definitely our best plan yet.”
“You two tricked me?” growls Trinity. She stands against the shuttered window, violet magic billowing around her. The half-elves can see she is about to scream and step back to give her more room for an attack. A spark of energy from the walls hits her when she tries to cast a spell. The chaos elf falls to her knees and growls, baring her teeth like a cornered animal.
“What the hell did you do?” she snarls.
“That would be the rage-triggered magic negation field that Aedyn set up around this room. Being a caster, you already know how it works and that you’re defenseless,” Luke says with a pompous smile. “Be thankful that you didn’t choose the room with Kellia. That bell you heard was Nimby telling us that your other agents were disposed of. From what he described to me, it wasn’t going to be pretty. I didn’t know he could be that mean when it comes to traps. Spikes, smoke, poison, and a weapon called caltrops? Very messy.”
“Do not get cocky, Luke,” Aedyn warns his friend. “She is still a chaos elf and is still dangerous without her magic.”
“The priest is intuitive. Nice game, boys. You two win this round, but I don’t fall so easily,” Trinity declares. She throws a bag of powder that explodes in the air and blinds both of her captors. Aedyn can hear her kick open the window and leap through. He isn’t surprised to hear another pair of footsteps follow her out of the window.
“Good luck, Luke,” he coughs.
*****
“Watch your step!” Trinity yells as she vaults to another rooftop.
Luke can still hear her laughing as he flips back to his feet. He takes a deep breath before sprinting along the roof in pursuit of his enemy. With every step he takes, a spike that is taller than a grown man shoots from the roof. Luke manages to stay half a step ahead of the traps on the roof until a spike erupts in front of him. He feels the point nick his chin as he snaps his head back. Not wasting any time, Luke leaps to the side to avoid the final roof spike. The ceramic tiles slip under his feet as he makes an awkward run to the edge and hurls himself to the next rooftop. He lands and skids along the tiles only to stop at the feet of Trinity.
“You seem to be having fun,” Luke says. He draws his swords and tries to slash at her ankles as he spins into a crouch. The chaos elf flips out of his reach with a one-handed cartwheel and rubs at the fine cut on the top of her foot.
“Immensely. I love the non-thieves of this town,” Trinity announces, licking her lips in excitement. “They’re so scared that they had their roofs fortified by the gnomes. All flavors of pain and death up here. You will find it hard to catch me and avoid them all night. Go home and wait for me to strike again.”
She is about to turn and run when Luke makes a slashing dive at her. Trinity leaps above him and hurls a dagger that grazes his side, landing gracefully before blowing him a kiss. Luke is about to follow her when he notices the dagger has struck a pressure plate. Trinity is already in the air when the tile below her explodes. Luke jumps across the roof in time to avoid losing his leg. Closing his eyes, the half-elf relies on his ability to see sounds in order to avoid the explosions.
“Going to have to bounce around until I see any opening,” he grunts, rolling away from another explosion. An explosion takes out the tiles in front of him, causing him to flip backwards. He propels himself forward as soon as he hits the ground to avoid the next trap. Two more jumps and a sideways combat roll give him the opening he needs to leap to the next building. Trinity is waiting patiently at the other end of the roof and waves at him before running away again.
“She thinks this is a game,” he hisses.
Luke continues to chase Trinity over the rooftops while they avoid the deadly traps of Rodillen. The night is filled with explosions, plumes of flame, and the metal singing of lancing spikes. One roof is a near endless volley of arrows that leaves Trinity with several scratches. It is on the edge of this roof that she turns around to see that Luke has vanished. The forest tracker was behind her when she landed, but now he is gone.
“Maybe he got hit and fell off the roof,” she casually says with a worm of caution in the back of her mind.
Trinity takes her time with the rest of the traps as she continues her gradual retreat from Rodillen. From the final
rooftop, she takes a running start to jump into the safety of the dark forest. Her sprint skids to a halt as a blur wielding twin sabers leaps onto the edge of the roof from the ground. Luke wastes no time rushing towards her and spinning his blades in an attempt to slice her head off. Trinity blocks both swords with her stiletto daggers and is pushed back a few feet away. She can feel her heart racing from the sudden attack.
“You ran ahead to of me and waited,” Trinity growls through clenched teeth. “I wondered why the traps were already disarmed here. I figured it was nothing more than a local thief at work. You have impressed me again, forest tracker.” They continue to push against each other’s blades until Luke kicks her in the stomach, which knocks her back a few steps.
Luke silently watches the chaos elf, who is cautiously eyeing him. He can sense that she expects him to try to trick her again. Luke smiles at his luck since he never tricked her in the first place. He knows she would be less leery of him if she figures out that he had accidentally slipped off the rooftop full of arrows and landed in a full horse trough. The only reason he caught up with Trinity was because he was following a thief in the hopes of learning where she went. Even this plan had failed when Luke startled the burglar and set off an electricity trap that launched the thief into a barrel. It was only by chance that he caught sight of her in the shadows and managed to get ahead of her.
“I admit that you caught me. It was a nice chase,” Trinity admits. She straightens her leather shirt and pushes her hair behind her ears. “Yet, I don’t think you have the skills to keep me here.”
Luke starts backing up as she runs at him with a flurry of stabs aimed at his chest. He blocks all of them before spinning on his toes and kicking her in the face. The chaos elf coughs and snarls while twirling her stilettos and carefully jabbing at him. With the fast movement of the spinning blades, Luke can barely tell their point from their pommel. He flails in a desperate attempt to defend himself as he is sliced up and down his arms. Trinity begins to push him closer to the edge of the roof. She suddenly makes a quick step forward to finish him off with a stab to the throat.
“Crap!” she yells. She slips on a pool of Luke’s fresh blood and her killing blow goes wide. Luke stumbles wildly as Trinity crashes into him and they begin to fall over the edge. He quickly puts his hands on her shoulders to flip himself back onto the roof. Trinity continues to hop and flail in a comical attempt to regain her balance.
“Time to put you down, lady,” Luke says. He stabs her through the back as she begins to topple forward. The dead weight slips off his sword and plummets to the ground. The body lands on its head with a sickening crunch.
“You sure showed her,” says a voice from behind Luke.
“She was tough, but I . . . damn it,” Luke groans, noticing he is cornered.
Luke is about to turn around when he feels a spell take hold of him. His body refuses to move and a searing heat starts to rise in his muscles. He strains his body against the spell, but it only succeeds in making the heat intensify. Even his blonde hair remains motionless against the cool river wind passing through the city. Luke feels a dull pain through his skin when he hears Trinity approach him and the sound of metal running along metal sings in the air. The thin daggers cross against his throat as Trinity embraces Luke from behind. She blows in his ear and licks his neck in a playful display.
“You were a very entertaining mouse, but this is where our game ends,” Trinity coos into his ear. “I won’t kill you though. I will simply cut your tendons to prevent escape and hand you over to that demon. He really wants to see you again.”
Luke grunts through his frozen mouth and continues to fight the spell. He only succeeds in shuddering slightly before the strain becomes too much for him. Trinity can feel his body give up and slump against the stasis spell making her spell the only thing keeping him on his feet.
Trinity eyes him with wonder and reaches out to stroke his cheek. “You fought that a lot longer than you should have. The demon will be mad, but I should kill you since I can’t give your friends a chance to rescue you.”
“Ahem,” interrupts a voice from behind her.
Trinity drops her blades in fright as a finger taps her on the shoulder. She turns to feel a fist hit her in the eye. The force sends her rolling down the roof until she slips off the edge and falls onto the ground. Trinity drags herself up to her feet while holding her aching back. She wipes the dirt off her sleeves as her attacker lands in front of her. Trinity lashes out with a hand of acid, which she stops an inch from Nyx’s face. The half-elf already has a palm of flame an inch from Trinity’s nose.
“You really are a quick caster, Nyx,” Trinity says, her breathing becoming labored. “Nice punch too. Any reason you started with your fist? It’s so barbaric.”
“I owed you for this,” Nyx hisses. She points to a cut on her cheek that has already started to heal.
Trinity stares at the wound until she realizes what it means. “That sleeping Callindor in the hallway was you. A shape alteration spell done so perfectly that I couldn’t tell the difference between you and the real thing. It looks like I have found a rival.”
“You found someone who is going to blast your blue carcass from one end of Rodillen to the other,” growls Nyx, pulling away from Trinity.
Her body vibrates for a few seconds before four Nyx clones slide away from the original and surround the chaos elf. Trinity rolls her eyes in mock boredom before showering the Nyx in front of her with a stream of acid. The headless body slumps to the ground, but Trinity loses her cocky grin when she sees that the others are still around her. All of them begin to charge at her with hands of fire, which she nimbly blocks in a flurry of motion. With all of the Nyxs running around her, Trinity barely notices someone leaping down from the rooftop. The chaos elf dives between two of the Nyx clones as a pillar of flame erupts from the ground and destroys all of the magical copies.
“You have to tell me how you did that,” Trinity insists, genuine amazement on her face.
“I used the visuals of a clone spell to hide my location shift,” Nyx gloats as she walks out of the dying fire and bows. “Now, are you ready to really fight, old hag?”
“Old hag? You don’t look any younger than me!” Trinity screams.
The queen of the chaos elves covers her arms in whirling winds that lash out at the half-elf. They hit Nyx in the side before she plunges her hands into the wind and sets off a pair of sonic booms that rip through the spell. Trinity screams in pain as she feels her bones crack under the force of the attack. She ducks a blade of lightning and gracefully sweeps her leg across the ground to kick up a protective wall of dirt. Nyx is unable to break through and is forced to dive behind a water barrel to avoid a volley of magic arrows. She is in mid-step with another spell ready when an arrow passes through her calf. Nyx stumbles to the ground where she watches her spell spiral away and ignite a wheelbarrow. Trinity steps through the dirt wall like a deadly phantom while stone gloves wrap around Nyx’s hands. The chaos elf’s fingernails have grown to a foot long and drip with crimson venom as she swoops toward the half-elf.
“You forgot someone,” Luke announces, diving off the roof and lands between Nyx and Trinity. He gets his sabers tangled in the chaos elf’s nails and flips to the side, pulling her off her feet. Trinity manages to land on her feet only to feel her nails snap against the perfectly made sabers. Luke makes another dive at her, but is slammed into the ground by a giant brick of solid air.
“Thanks for reminding me, hero,” Trinity says, standing over Luke with a glistening stiletto to his forehead. “You two have proven to be very skillful. I wonder why you two are so dangerous at such a young age. I don’t want to, but I should check your potential before I kill you both. This type of information could prove useful in finding other potential obstacles. My employer will appreciate and reward this extra service.”
A muttered spell opens her eyes to their magical auras. She grins while looking at Luke’s aura with its dense, u
ntapped core. Occasionally, there is a sudden surge of activity within his aura that quickly fades away. It reminds her of the beginning of storm, which will become dangerous if ignored. Overall, she finds his aura to be unimpressive compared to what she can imagine Nyx’s would look like.
Unable to stop her curiosity, Trinity turns to Nyx and is immediately blinded by an inferno of power. She stumbles away from Luke and gropes blindly as she listens to soft, advancing footsteps. A few desperate slashes with her stiletto do nothing but cut through the night air. Her panicked attempts at defense continue until a blunt object knocks the weapon from her hand. Trinity’s struggling finally stops when a vise-like hand grips her face.
“Die, chaos bitch,” Nyx says in a chilling voice. A fire blast that lights up the entire town erupts from the caster’s hand. The attack engulfs Trinity before cutting a smoking path along the western side of town. The spell finally ceases when it hits the river and a blanket of steam covers Rodillen.
Luke scrambles to his feet and looks at the long line of scorched earth. “Did you get her?”
“I hit her, but she isn’t dead. I could feel her face vanish as my spell went off,” Nyx replies, her breathing becoming ragged and labored. “That woman is good and I was lucky this time. I lost a lot of blood before my fire cauterized the wound, so I’m pretty dizzy. This must be how you feel most of the time.”
Luke moves to help Nyx walk as they make their way back to the tavern. If any thieves notice this injured duo then they do not bother to approach them. It is an uneventful night as the half-elves drag themselves through Rodillen and struggle to push the door of the tavern open. They collapse in exhaustion and pain a few feet inside the tavern where nobody is around to help them up to their rooms. It would be morning when Fritz wanders in and trips over the sleeping pair.
Legends of Windemere: 02 - Prodigy of Rainbow Tower Page 16
