“You need to find your wizards?” Colbie asked in bewilderment. “I just assumed that you were going to see the tournament or going to join it. Wouldn’t it make more sense just to wait in Mar’kal and let them return to talk with them or whatever?”
Shaking her head, Cheleya would only answer, “It is a little more important that I find them sooner than later to help with a problem of mine. That is all.”
The women seemed to want to delve into her secrets more, but Cheleya heard Kerliss outside making his odd bark.
“What is that odd sound?” Colbie asked first having no knowledge of the crag dog outside.
Kel’lor stood slapping his forehead, “I left him sitting outside. I bet that he is just hungry and wants some dinner. He was walking and running all day.”
Cheleya stood up as well looking more concerned. “That is a warning bark.”
From the corner of the room, Veras pulled out his portal compass activating the piece since both portals had occurred in the evening or early night. Though no new ones had opened yesterday, his hunch was almost right. Nearly falling from his chair, the wizard cried, “Something from the closed portals is close! The two portals closed turning the lights gray, but I have multiple white points closing in on us.”
Kel’lor and Cheleya exchanged worried frowns before hurrying outside to see what Kerliss was barking about.
“I can see nothing like this,” Kel’lor grumbled trying to find what was bothering the crag dog who was running around back and forth frantically. He scanned the distance and even by moonlight the gargoyle could make out nothing beyond the distant stands of trees. A small lake was behind the travel cabin, but the dog wasn’t pointing that way.
The battle mages and wizards joined the two and the mages all called their night vision spells with a word. They too seemed confused surveying the land, but finding nothing beyond grass and trees.
Cheleya suddenly pointed up at the sky ahead of them over the valley. “He’s not looking at the land. They’re flying above us.”
Large dark forms were barely discernible against the night sky, but the moons struck their oily feathers with just enough intensity to flicker at the edges of their wings and legs.
“What are they?” Evantus asked seeing them with his night vision clearly despite the winged creatures’ natural camouflage.
“The emperor’s beasts,” Orlerin nearly spat as he readied for another fight.
Chapter 8- Assassins in the Night
“Shields up!” Orlerin ordered calling his blue mage shield to life moments before Colbie and Evantus joined him. All three had their swords ready and were in a loose defensive position around their wizards and new friends.
Believing Cheleya to be a typical healer, they doubted her ability to fight. In the wizard corps, healers were the most rare and precious of their kind, but rarely had any talent for battle.
Kel’lor held back a moment taking in their enemy and readying to protect Cheleya whose magic was still fighting to return. Large, black winged creatures like giant hawks, or ravens by their coloring, swept in from the north never altering their course even after seeing the shining, blue shields of the mages. As he watched their wings, black spears seemed to form from the air as the center bird dipped in the air falling slightly behind its brethren.
While the gargoyle had never seen creatures like these, he did know a magic user when he saw one. If just the one raven could use magic, then perhaps slaying the beast would hinder the others making them weaker. Thinking of killing before knowing their true intent was unusual even for a dragon mage; but after the incidents following Malaketh’s betrayal of Cheleya, he had little doubt that these creatures were here for them. Whoever had summoned them hadn’t taken into account that they would find allies like the battle mages of Staron however.
“Did you see the center one use magic?” Kel’lor asked Cheleya in his native tongue.
Her blond hair shifted into her face with her nod and prompted the girl to tear a strip from her red sleeve to tie up her long hair. With alteration magic Cheleya could replace the piece, so it was nothing more than a tool to the dragoness whose eyes held on the shrikes closing fast.
“Has your magic returned?” he asked seeing her determination.
“It doesn’t feel right, but I can defend myself with elemental magic if I must. You must be ready to change, Kel’lor. You may be our best hope of defeating these flyers.”
Worried about what their new allies would do if they saw him change into a gargoyle, Kel’lor knew that Cheleya was still probably correct. He would wait until the shrikes were closer, however, since they were likely looking for a mar’goyn’lya and in human form maybe they could fool them into passing their group by.
“Here they come,” Evantus warned. The three mages had fanned out putting themselves in harm’s way first. Battle mages were the ultimate soldiers and it was their duty to protect their wizards and innocents like they believed of the two from Mar’kal.
A pair dived towards the small group, but instead of using their black spears, the shrikes turned at the last moment bringing their right wings to bear against the blue shields. Evantus and Colbie raised their defenses and watched as the wings struck leaving cuts in the shields shattering the magic as they whipped past.
Curses of surprise filled the darkness as the two summoned new shields even if they seemed nearly useless against these new weapons of the Dark One.
“What kind of magic was that?” Evantus asked in confusion. A mage shield was supposed to catch any magic and reflect it. They would break in time, but he had never seen one cut in such a way and so easily.
Orlerin’s voice barked an order, “Keep your eyes on the enemy, Evan! We’ll have to adapt as best we can here.”
The remaining four ravens dove from their leader towards the group backed by the cabin behind them. It was their only defense, but they knew running inside meant they had nowhere else to go; but the shrikes understood this as well and swept in attacking with their wings. The mages fended off attack after attack as Veras let loose a calculated attack of fireballs over their heads trying to strike the flying creatures. Tilana began to chant a spell in their center as the battle raged around the wizard.
Spikes of earth flew into the air, but the attack was too slow for the swift and agile shrikes.
Orlerin shouted over his shoulder to the wizard, “Can you bring up a tall ring of stone spikes around us, Tilana. Maybe we can even things out if they have to work around your defenses.”
“Right,” the wizard abruptly answered before chanting the new spell.
One of the ravens swirling around the group went for the earth wizard as she chanted. Cheleya leaped towards the dark haired woman knocking her down interrupting the spell as the sharp wing passed where her head had been.
The attempt a failure, Tilana looked at the small blond, who was surprisingly solid for her size and voiced her thanks. Picking themselves up, Tilana tried to summon her magic again as Cheleya stood close watching out for the wizard.
A shrike landed on the roof behind them and Kel’lor turned to face the beast. The black spear lunged for Veras behind the unobservant wizard, but the gargoyle called out, “Dragon claw!” A giant, crimson claw tethered to his hand lashed out pushing the shrike back before Kel’lor gripped his amulet with the other hand. As the gargoyle changed in a flash of light, he leaped to the roof hoping to end the shrike.
“Behind you, Kel’lor!” Cheleya warned seeing another shrike speeding towards the gargoyle from behind.
A rumble in the ground around the group distracted the dragoness as the ring of spikes summoned by Tilana rose from the ground. The defensive perimeter only surprised the winged creatures for a moment before three of them landed around the circle. Thinking things had finally become more even Colbie and Evan stepped beyond the stone ring firing their fireball spells with their off hands and bringing their flaming swords to bear with the others.
Fireballs struck scattering on
their oily looking wings and disappeared as the two shrikes sped in almost as fast as they had flown. Their speed nearly slew both mages in that instant. Only their training and skill managed to save their lives as swords rose catching first one wing and then their shields deflected the other driving the two back between the stone columns in an instant. The top of the stone spikes sliced free in a single sweep of razor sharp wings as the two mages managed to duck the final blows.
Behind them, Kel’lor dodged the second shrike rolling onto the roof and calling for his dragon claw spell again knocking the flyer from the air. It landed next to the hut unharmed and recovered quickly. Cheleya used a fireball unable to hit the swift assassin and wished that her dragon mage powers would work for her once more.
The shrike stood and lunged between the stone spikes sweeping with a wing. Veras never had a chance to turn as the sharp wing cut the wizard’s head from his shoulders.
Cheleya screamed as her fingers found her own throat unasked in her fear.
Orlerin turned from his centering point in the front to attack the invading shrike. It had made one mistake. The spikes limited the creature’s movement and to fly away still required space to flap its wings and move forward. Using his advantage, the battle mage cut at a defending wing with his sword ducking low only to rise once more using his shield.
Like a blade, the mage’s shield slashed across the raven’s belly cutting through the feathers and spilling red blood from the wound. Distracted by its pain, the shrike lowered its head as Orlerin’s sword point drove upwards through the neck and into the base of its brain inside the skull.
Covered in the shrike’s blood, the mage backed off from the creature as it fell to the ground lifeless. He turned looking for the next threat.
“Orlerin, duck!” Cheleya warned as one of the shrike’s brethren sought revenge sweeping from the air to slash at the battle mage. The man’s reflex spell was enough to make his body move faster than the swiping blow. His shield rose as he ducked taking a hit deep enough to give the mage a cut along his forearm, but it was just a minor gash.
“Hup, hup,” Kerliss barked. Cheleya turned to see the crag dog defending the point that the mage had left. A shrike lunged in attacking the dog catching the thick armor on its back. Kerliss lunged using his one good tusk and gored the black beast in the leg.
It screamed in pain, but lifted the powerful leg kicking forward with its taloned feet. Kerliss yelped as it drew blood and kicked the crag dog free. The black spear caught the dog in the shoulder piercing between the armor plates, while the swiftly whirling shrike finished the animal slashing its throat with a sweep of its right wing.
Screaming in anger, something inside of Cheleya snapped. The power of the dragoness awoke and she cried out with fury, “Dragon claw!”
The crimson claw lashed out knocking the shrike back from Kerliss.
“Dragon spikes!” she cast with her left hand driving two black spikes through the shrike’s wings and pinning them to two of the stone columns behind it.
“Dragon wing,” the small woman growled almost as deep as her mother’s dragon voice as the darkness of her anger lashed out with one wing. Like the shrike beheading Veras, the crimson wing took the raven’s head sending it flying away from the creature’s shoulders spewing blood in a geyser as its life released into the air.
Her anger held the dragoness and she looked to their leader. “Dragon wings, dragon scale,” the girl ordered her spells before launching into the air towards the magic using shrike. A dark form moved in front of the furious dragon mage, but she recognized the familiar features of Kel’lor.
“Stay with the others, Cheleya. I will take care of that one.”
Not swayed, the girl looked ready to ignore his order, but Kel’lor continued, “We don’t know if your powers are back for good or not. Stay where the others can help you if they fail.’
Looking ready to argue, the gargoyle didn’t wait for her answer as he flew towards the shrike leader.
Cheleya knew that he was right and turned to see how the battle fared by the cabin. The three battle mages used the stone spikes as protection as they ducked in and out of the stone fighting three shrikes. The dark, winged creatures would attack from the ground and use their wings to take to the air changing the level of the battle almost every second.
She watched as Tilana tried to used her magic to catch the shrikes off guard, but the earth element was at a disadvantage with the swift moving birds of the air. Swooping down, Cheleya dove at the back of a shrike concentrating on Evantus.
“Dragon talon,” she called the spell to her feet as the girl moved to stomp on the shrike’s back with her flying speed. Like the shrike’s talons, the spell cut into the winged beast’s back piercing deep and driving it forward towards Evan’s waiting sword. The blade drove into the shrike’s chest piercing a lung, but not the heart. Driven to the ground, the shrike still fought to survive as it grabbed at the mage’s sword arm and attempted to pull the blade free.
Perched on the shrike’s back, Cheleya wouldn’t allow such a creature to live. “Dragon spike,” she drove another spike through the back of the beast’s head. Collapsing forward lifelessly, it nearly caught Evan under the weight of the shrike and girl, who quickly proceeded to launch back into the air.
She watched as Tilana caught the shrike that fought Orlerin with a spell. Stone spikes pierced the wings before the mage made short work of the creature with his sword and shield technique. The last shrike noticed the death of its fellows and lifted away from Colbie unsure of what to do. Seeing its leader fighting Kel’lor the creature decided to attack from behind.
“No, you don’t!” Cheleya stated flying to cut the shrike off.
Fireballs launched from the ground catching the shrike. The damage was negligible, but seeing that it was outnumbered and cut off, the raven dodged to the left trying to avoid the dragoness. Using her magic wings, the girl hurried to keep it from reaching Kel’lor or the last shrike. It didn’t matter, however, as the creature saw an opening to flee to the north. The shrike was much too fast for the dragoness, so she turned to see how Kel’lor was doing with the leader.
The gargoyle wished that he could have let Cheleya go. While he had been born to wings, the dragoness was a natural flyer. Both lighter and more agile, Cheleya was perhaps a better match for the swift flying shrikes, but Kel’lor was determined to protect her even from herself. With her magic having been altered by Malaketh, he feared that should her adrenaline or whatever had restarted her dragon mage power fail; the girl would almost certainly be killed.
A bolt of black magic lanced out trying to hit the gargoyle; but he was ready for similar attacks and having fought the dragoness in training, Kel’lor timed his dodge easily. A dragon claw attack lashed out in response catching a hastily raised black shield. His magic wasn’t elemental based and struck the barrier breaking it in a single powerful blow.
A trio of black spears appeared and lashed out at the gargoyle. Two missed completely, but the third struck the black scales of his dragon armor. The color didn’t make his magical armor any different from Cheleya’s red, it was simply the color the summoner chose. Still, the black spear glanced off the scales and Kel’lor was glad for the protection even though he felt the blow from the spear. The pain was a lesson to be even more careful with the swift caster.
Dodging and counterattacking in quick succession over and over, the two casters rose and fell through the air looking for the timing that would catch the other unaware. In an aerial battle of this kind, it would only take one mistake to send someone plummeting from the air where the ground would finish the job.
As he watched his opponent’s attacks, Kel’lor noted its preference for the element eating black magic. The spells were common to the emperor’s forces and a bane to elemental users. A dragon mage’s spells were similar to summoning magic and had little to do with the elements, however. His opponent must have realized that the longer the fight lasted between the two, the
more likely that the gargoyle would strike a final blow. In his desperation, the shrike wizard called a rippling black energy around his right claws. It lifted quickly before reversing on the trailing gargoyle. The speed of the move surprised Kel’lor and the two came together in a bone jarring collision.
Swooping into the mar’goyn’lya hands first and apparently not fearing falling from the height, the raven wings bent back as its claws went for the chest of its opponent. Drawing its legs in, the shrike’s talons raked at the dragon scales on Kel’lor’s stomach. The gargoyle grasped for the creature, but it proved too elusive as it twisted and kicked away pushing its opponent back.
Kel’lor struggled to right himself in the air and lost track of the shrike. As he twisted to get his wings into position to thrust against the air preventing him from plummeting to the ground, a smaller form with glowing crimson wings and scales shot past. Cheleya moved to try and catch the shrike wizard fearing that the move had been meant to get Kel’lor to turn his back to the assassin exposing his back for some new attack. Fooling them all, the shrike leader turned away to follow the last of its flock winging back to the north.
Hovering in the air a moment longer, Cheleya looked like some crimson angel of vengeance, both beautiful and deadly. She returned to the cabin and landed with Kel’lor just outside the defensive circle of stone. The gargoyle could see tears in the girl’s eyes and watched as she ran over to Kerliss. No amount of healing skill could save him this time however, as the crag dog’s last breath had already passed.
Her crimson wings and scales faded into memory as the girl knelt beside her dead friend. Kel’lor checked his armored scales making sure that the shrike hadn’t managed to cut through his defenses before releasing his magic and went inside to retrieve the flask of tears. The gargoyle wiped the girl’s cheeks and placed the healing drops into the flask even as she mourned the lost crag dog.
Battle Mage: Dragon Mage (Tales of Alus) Page 10
