She saw Thorel with his steel staff in hand, defending against both Jacon and Ricard Quarrel. They attacked with their blades, and the three of them fought with their speed enhanced. Ari could not tell who was winning with the way their weapons moved in a blur. She could not leave him there to fend for himself, that much was certain.
Ari enhanced her own speed and ran to the melee Thorel was embroiled in. Oh how she wished that the lightning stone had been recharged, she could certainly use it now. But the talisman would take nearly a full month before it could be used again.
Siri crushed a living guard's throat with her foot as she saw the concealed door open about five yards down the hall. She knew these soldiers had be to those who were stationed in the walls of Quarrel's audience chamber. She threw the dagger in her hand into the first man's face: she drew two more and threw one into the pretty female's face that came next. Each of them went down with a scream, as she closed with the concealed door.
“The rest of you! There are more, on the other side!” Siri yelled as she drew her long blade. She killed the third guard to exit with a thrown dagger and drew her short blade in her off hand. She jumped in front of the doorway to meet the guard coming out. She knew Jacon Quarrel must have signaled the stones of these guards to come to his aid, and that there were at least ten more coming out on the other side of the audience chamber's doorway.
She was gratified to hear Quedesham take command and yell; “All of you, with me!” to the others.
Siri sidestepped the fired bolt from the one coming out and stabbed into his face with her short sword. The man simply moved his head to the side with an economy of movement as he dropped his heavy crossbow and unsheathed his blade. He struck at her midriff in a classic draw move and Siri was forced to step back to avoid it.
Siri stabbed at him with her long blade, and with a twist of his torso he glanced it off of his armor expertly. She noted the Commander's rank on his pauldron as he clamped his arm down on her long blade and twisted as he swung his short blade at her neck. She had no time now, she could not let this man force her back any further. She knew there were at least six more guards behind him, and as skilled as she was, she would rather not face that many at once. She couldn't afford to give ground.
Siri caught his blade on her solid steel bracer and let go of her long blade. She pulled one of her misericordes and thrust it low at his side, aiming the thin blade between the hard plates, into the flexible mail between them. The man blocked her at the wrist, letting her long sword fall from under his arm.
Siri slid her bracer along the man's blade and brought her blade under his mailed wrist. He tried to bring his blade around to disarm her with a third tier form, and she promptly ended the discourse with a sharp kick to his knee. The crack of his joint could be easily heard over the other noise. She knocked his short sword aside and jabbed her short blade into his eye quickly.
The next guard came at her from the narrow hall behind the concealed doorway, and with a flick of her wrist she tossed the misericorde into her throat. The woman went down with a gurgle as she calmly flicked her long blade up with her foot and took it into hand, ready to meet the next enemy that sought her blood.
Ari activated the ring of iron skin as she arrived at the melee with Thorel and the Quarrels. With her own speed and perceptions enhanced, she could easily see the movements of the combatants and their weapons clearly. Somehow Thorel was standing against both of them, even with Jacon Quarrel's sword wreathed in Magikal flames now. Other than Jacon Quarrel enhancing his weapon, and all of them enhancing their speed the contest up to this point had been entirely physical. Thorel was completely on the defensive though: and even though Ari was not a trained combatant, she knew that in any contest one could rarely win from a defensive position.
Ari powered a greater lightning bolt and fired it at Ricard Quarrel. He would be easier to kill, she reasoned. His father brought up a shield to meet it and turned his attention to her, where she wanted it. She knew that Thorel could deal with Ricard, but she needed to separate father and son so he would have the chance to do so.
Korin Quedesham and the remainder of her guard ran past them as Thorel swung his steel staff through Jacon Quarrel's body: but somehow, it did not touch it. Ari saw a strange Magik run through his body when Thorel's weapon made contact, but it was not drawn from a spirit. She could not see the talisman though, the energy seemed to come from many places on him. Quarrel smiled at her, distorting the tattoos on his face when he did so. As he moved forward to swing his blade at her in a one-handed grip while he held his staff in his off-hand, she could see the silver flecks in his tattoos, just as she had seen in his son's.
Ari hopped away from his forceful swing and realized that his tattoos were not decorative. They were talismans themselves. That was why the ink had been imbued with a mineral, in this case, silver to hold the Magikal charge. It only seemed as if it came from nowhere because the tattoos were large and it dispersed the energy signature. Did this man sleep uncovered in a cot by his window to charge them? By the spirits, that would be inconvenient! Particularly in winter!
It would make them difficult to confiscate though, she realized.
“Do you really think you can take me on, little girl? You are a fool to try,” Quarrel taunted as he closed on her, building enough energy for a greater power. He had not yet committed himself to an element though. “I am a Master, and you are not your mother.”
Nothing in her recent memory had angered her as much as Quarrel's words did now. How dare he say her step-bitch was her mother! She snarled and fired two greater lightning bolts one right after the other. The effort of recharging that quickly made her break out in a sweat, and the spirit she drew from dissipated, leaving her eight. Quarrel's mocking demeanor changed to one of surprise as he brought his shield up to meet them. His shield shattered with the second impact and a different pattern of his tattoos activated this time, dissipating the remaining energy.
Thorel barely brought his staff up in time to block Ricard's vicious swing. He'd been stunned for a moment when his staff had passed through his father's body harmlessly. A fact that Ricard capitalized on. He dodged a few crossbow bolts with his enhanced speed as Quarrel guards emerged from a concealed door to his left. Ricard sliced his leather armor open on his side when Thorel did so. A light pain pierced him from there, but it wasn't debilitating. He was quite sure without the leather armor that his viscera would be streaming out of him though.
Korin and the other guards with him fired their crossbows into the Quarrel guards, and several went down. He threw the empty weapon into the face of the nearest man and drew his blades as he rushed in. He didn't have time to worry about whether the Dothranan guards followed him, if he didn't act now, they would be flanking Thorel while he fought the Wizard's apprentice. He knew he couldn't help much there, but keeping these soldiers at bay was something he could do.
He brought the King's blade up to block the soldier's swing and was surprised that the blade didn't divot the way he'd seen other blades in countless combats and practices. Sparks were struck though, and his long blade sailed through its arc into his opponent's knee dropping the man like a stone.
The Dothranan Guard beside him went down as a huge Quarrel guard pulled his short sword out of the man's body from between his pauldron and neck. He wore a Captain's insignia and was nearly the size of Thorel. The man swung his long blade with shocking speed at Korin's neck, and he barely ducked the killing blow taking a ding to his helmet. Korin barely blocked the savage thrust of his short blade, and nearly lost his grip on his own due to the force of the blow.
No man should be that big, and that fast at the same time! Korin thought as he barely evaded another attack. “I've got this one!” Korin yelled. He just had to stay alive until the others could deal with the rest, then he'd have help. Just stay alive. He needed them to keep the others off of him and Thorel.
The huge man smiled at him in a most unpleasant way. Korin swung his body
down to sweep the man's legs and the man deftly stepped back with his long legs completely avoiding his attack. He brought his back leg forward and kicked him hard in the side before he'd recovered from his maneuver. Korin was sure he felt a rib or two crack as his breastplate dented. He rolled with it though and regained his feet quickly.
What tier is this bastard? Korin wondered painfully, as he prepared for his opponent's attack.
Thorel fought with Ricard, but no great help came from the animal spirits as it had last time: they were helping, in fact he was sure the ram had saved his life. But they didn't seem to assist with the ferocity that they had during the duel. Why? He wondered as he swung at Ricard, his foe barely ducking in time.
Ricard brought his blade up to impale him from the crouch his duck had forced him into. Thorel was forced to step back to avoid being skewered. Ricard didn't play about as he had before. The man was not trying to defeat him. He was trying to kill him, in as few strokes as possible.
Not ten feet away to either side of him, the two people he loved more than his own life fought for their lives. He could see the massive amounts of power being exchanged between Ari and Quarrel, and the big guard that Korin seemed to be losing ground against. And this small, arrogant man stood in the way of him helping either one of them.
“You should have killed me when you had the chance! You won't get another!” Ricard yelled as Thorel blocked another of his slashes. With his off-hand he threw a fruit-sized ball of fire at him, and he was forced to twist his body to avoid it.
Thorel snarled and activated the bear ring that Ari had given him, her father's talisman. He had tested it once to be sure that he could activate it, but he had never actually used the enhanced strength it gave him. He blocked another of his savage slashes, then Thorel pushed Ricard back as if he weighed nothing. He tumbled back over one of the soldiers' corpses and fell hard to the marble floor on his back.
Thorel with his enhanced speed simply stepped to him and impaled the blunt steel staff through his breastbone with the ease of splitting rotten wood. The surprise in Ricard's eyes caught Thorel in their intensity. Thorel knew he should not take pleasure in killing anything, but seeing the realization in Ricard Quarrel's eyes that his life was ending was... satisfying.
After the trouble he had caused, he deserved no less, but he felt as if he'd betrayed Korin's teachings by taking such a pleasure, no matter how brief.
He put his foot on him and didn't wait for him to die before pulling his staff free. Even though he would be dead almost instantly, under the influence of the eagle talisman, even immediate things seemed to slow to a crawl.
He looked to his left and right. He knew they both needed help, but which one of them needed it first? Then it was decided, as Korin's opponent disarmed him of his long blade and sent him aloft with a vicious kick.
Korin had not yet struck the ground when Thorel confronted the big Quarrel guardsman. The man was almost of a size with him, and barely had time to acknowledge his arrival when he swung his staff. The man moved so slowly to his perceptions that Thorel easily read him, and simply continued his motion. His staff struck him with an upward swing in the groin. With his enhanced strength, the man collided with the ceiling, which was easily twice his height with the sickening sound of bones breaking. Thorel looked in dismay at what remained of his broken staff. He could still use it as a cudgel, at least.
He never imagined he'd be so strong using this Magik. It was shocking how powerful it made him. The man he'd just struck was completely broken, inside and out. He'd been fully armored, but it made no difference. Thorel felt as though he could toss a horse like a stone if he wished.
He went to Korin and deactivated his rings to help him up. Words were garbled under the influence of the eagle ring because his perceptions were sped up so much. So he deactivated it to communicate.
“Are you alright?” He asked Korin with concern.
“I'm not that bad. I think your Lady needs help more than I do, go to her. We can hold them... but thank you,” he said sincerely, trying to cover his pain.
Thorel nodded grimly and moved, reactivating the eagle talisman.
Ari infused her earth shield with water, which changed it to ice as Quarrel's fire charged sword struck it. Ari charged the shield with more power to try to hold and envelop his sword. She was growing very tired from her exertion. She was beginning to think Siri may be right, she does need physical exercise. She needed to get his weapon away from him first though.
The cold of the ice began to creep into the flames of his blade, but Quarrel simply fed it more power to cancel her effort. He charged a thread of pure spirit which Ari met with her own to cancel it. He was trying to dissipate her shield altogether, which she could not allow. Not if she intended to live.
The duel with Wizard Hanar had been simple in comparison to this far more subtle battle of wits and power; she was frankly astounded that Thorel had not died confronting him alone. Every move he made was calculated precisely to end this battle, and cut her down in one stroke. She was irritated that her step-cunt had written as if Quarrel were a skillful amateur in her journal. He was no amateur in Ari's estimation.
Ari stepped back and saw him channel earth into the floor; she channeled power to bring herself into the air to be able to avoid whatever he intended. Then he channeled again, this time the weave was fire, and a greater power as well. She poured as much as she was able into the shield she maintained, changing the weave into pure water to more effectively counter the fire.
Then he unleashed the wall of flame upon her that had killed Silene, but this one was far more powerful. His attack smashed her shield, which she'd expected and flung her through the air. She was fortunate the ring of iron skin still functioned, or she would have been killed by the molten metal from her armor that burned through her clothing. Quarrel's affinity was fire, just as her stepmother's had been.
Ari released her flight and channeled her power into cooling her armor. She brought her shield back up as she struck the floor. The impact knocked the breath from her; then the earth power he had channeled into the floor manifested and wrapped her legs in marble to hold her. Ari cursed herself for not seeing the trap he had so cleverly laid. She had no power to spare as he stepped to her, faster than any non-enhanced observer could follow.
With a mighty shout, Jacon Quarrel poured all the power he could into the firebrand that encased his blade and thrust it at her heart. The Magikal fire pierced her shield, and Ari barely deflected it away from her heart with her hand, which was still under the influence of the iron skin enchantment. Fortunately, the blade's flames had been dulled by her shield, as she felt it pierce her stomach and nick her spine on its way through her body.
Ari was surprised at how little this actually hurt compared to other pains she had endured in her life. The heat inside her body from his Magik was more painful than the stabbing had been. With her hand still on the long blade protruding from her, she channeled a weave of ice into the blade itself and snapped the brittle blade with her hand just outside her body. The cold would numb the wound until she could heal it, she knew. And at least she had broken his weapon. Unfortunately more than a foot of it had penetrated her.
Thorel's heart dropped into the pit of his stomach as he saw Quarrel's fiery blade pierce Ari's body. Her skin was red and burned, with painful looking blisters swelling and bursting on her face. Her circlet dripped liquid metal down her beautiful face. He leaped and swung the remains of his staff wildly into Quarrel, but it connected with nothing, just as before. It was as if he was trying to strike a spirit.
Quarrel turned to him and dropped his broken blade. Thorel could see the reflection in his eyes when he saw his Ricard's corpse on the ground. The pain, grief, and rage played across the man's tattooed features, fighting for dominance. Thorel swung his weapon uselessly against him again; with the same results as before. Then Jacon Quarrel's hand shot out like a snake and grabbed Thorel by the throat, lifting him easily, crushing his
windpipe slowly.
“You've killed my son, you adopted bastard of a whore!” Quarrel said directly into his mind with such force that it blinded him for a moment. He felt the blood run out of his eyes and swung the remains of his staff with all of his strength. The weapon seemed to just bounce off of Quarrel this time. when his sight returned he could see the man's skin had changed to stone; but he also saw the tears of grief on his face as the force on his throat increased implacably. Thorel couldn't breathe at all now. He knew that in only a moment, his neck would be broken. His strength left his fingers, and his weapon clattered to the floor.
Then Ari grabbed his neck from behind, and Quarrel froze instantly.
Thorel saw her vicious smile, on her beautiful now unblemished face. Ari whispered venomously into Quarrel's ear: “I had my stepmother's blood on me; not in me fool.”
Thorel saw her begin pulling Quarrel's spirits from him by force, and Jacon Quarrel let go of him. Quarrel was completely immobilized; screaming madly with his eyes rolled back in his skull.
Thorel fell to the ground, and he tasted sweet air again. He looked and saw Siri pulling daggers from corpses before she walked towards them. There were so many bodies near her... Did she actually kill them all herself? He wondered as Ari continued pulling the spirits from the screaming man.
“Ari, isn't it a death sentence to steal spirits?” Thorel thought to her directly, not having the strength to physically speak.
“Yes, but there are exceptions; they can be taken from an enemy Wizard in a duel to the death, or during wartime,” she replied. “Thank you, Thorel. You gave me the distraction I needed to deal with him.” Thorel noted the foot of bloody steel laying on the floor near where Ari had been impaled, with the broken marble that had trapped her legs.
Spirit of Magik (The Dothranan Chronicles Book 1) Page 57
