His contentment was shattered when the girl whirled around, chasing after the orks that were already running towards him! She picked up rocks from the ground and threw them at the mottled warriors all while screeching and shooting blasts of fire. She must have been so terrified it addled her wits! Aodh had to save her.
He gritted his teeth and pushed harder on his magic than he ever had in the past, harder than he knew he even could. The spirit stone that should have elevated him to a second rank orb-Bonded must have worked. Now that he was trying to, he moved several times more magic than he ever had before.
His stomach cramped so hard he almost doubled in agony, but Aodh endured it, tears standing in his eyes. He screamed in pain from his stomach hurting so badly, his bowls spasming, and launched himself forward at his foes.
***
Henry’s running slowed until he came to a stop, so surprised his brain took a short break and all he could do was stare. The two goblin siblings stopped next to him, doing the same.
Tony had gone apeshit.
The young adventurer had torn into the remaining orks with a ferocity Henry had never seen in him before. He was randomly screaming too. Tony even put a hand on his gut from time to time to taunt the giant, mottled-skin warriors trying to surround him, acting like his stomach hurt or something.
Tony spun, slashed and stabbed like a madman. “The kid’s like a fucking drunken master…” whispered Henry.
Every time an ork attacked, Tony blocked, or simply wasn’t there. He tripped, he got bumped, his blocks slammed him around, but he always managed to avoid getting hit, and his strikes found vitals more often than not. What’s more, he didn’t seem to be getting tired. Three dead orks were on the ground, and Tony wasn’t slowing down...or even breathing hard.
The tall, fierce blonde girl was throwing rocks and had picked up another stick from the ground. Every time an ork got too near, she launched a small jet of flame at his face. The warriors had no choice but to cover their eyes or be damaged by the magic. The girl took advantage of this to either pelt them with more stones or hit them with her improvised club before darting away.
She would have died several times if not for Tony. The boy was everywhere, weaving around like a maniac, stabbing orks, and even somehow avoiding the magic that the tall girl kept throwing around without any regard for her new ally. It was total chaos.
Suddenly, another ork fell, gasping out the last of his life, his throat torn open by Tony’s spear. At Henry’s side, Rekkla took off, sprinting towards the fighting again, leaving Henry and Trask behind. The little goblin girl was fast and growling in a way that Henry was starting to associate with goblin bloodlust. Every time he heard it, it reminded him of his first day on Ludus. It was not a pleasant feeling.
Trask took a hesitant step forward but Henry grabbed his shoulder. “I wouldn’t if I were you, kid,” cautioned Henry. “Tony hasn’t even pulled out the big guns yet. He still has that dagger. I’m going to run up and help, but you should stay here. ”
Trask’s expression was difficult to decipher before he said, “I will trust in the Voice.”
Henry nodded and began to run forward again, knowing that in a fight, a second could be an eternity. “God I wish I had my rifle,” he muttered. The battle wasn’t very far away, but even as Henry used magic to draw more strength from the earth, shooting forward like an Asian rocket, he knew it would still take a few seconds to reach his friend.
Luckily, it seemed Tony didn’t really need any help.
***
Aodh desperately needed help. He whirled, avoiding a spear thrust from a massive, stone-tipped spear wielded by one of the remaining orks and tripped over a rock on the ground, rolling backward with barely enough momentum to get back to his feet. Another ork he hadn’t seen had swung at his head before he was down, and was off balance.
The young man screamed, stabbing forward with his spear. The tip headed for a plate of the crude armor the tusked warrior was wearing, but the ork panicked and stumbled, accidentally placing a vulnerable armpit in the path of Aodh’s weapon.
The spear blade slammed home, penetrating the enemy’s heart, and Aodh felt another cloying rush of energy, dispelling his fatigue and dulling the pain from the bruises he’d just taken while falling. There was no doubt about it at this point, his spear, Vampire Stabber, was an extremely rare sort of enchanted weapon. He’d originally thought the name meant the weapon was meant to be used against vampires, the terrible monsters of myth and legend.
But now Aodh was stealing life. Every kill gave him a rush of energy and replenished some of his magic power, too. The weapon was suspiciously well suited for his orb abilities, and he spared a brief, suspicious thought about his chainmail-clad orb controller.
The young adventurer screamed, another stomach cramp actually dulling his thoughts for a moment, and the last two remaining ork warriors were suddenly before him and to the side, raising mighty arms to deliver crude weapons to Aodh’s skull.
They never got the chance.
Rekkla jumped onto the back of one warrior, savagely burying her dagger into the hapless enemy’s neck. The enchanted blade emitted acid, and the weapon sizzled as the ork screamed and stumbled to the ground.
The other ork just disappeared into red mist as bits of metal exploded sideways. Henry stood behind where the ork had been, his small goblin shield in one hand and his new, impressive weapon in the other. He stared wonderingly at Meteor Origin before regarding the carnage strewn across the field.
“Who are you? Are you friend or foe?” The blonde girl stood tall, holding her stick before her like a sword, chin held high and clear eyes soft, but sharp. She was so beautiful. Aodh suddenly had a hard time speaking and sheepishly lowered his bloody spear.
He’d never wanted to talk to a girl so badly in his life, but he didn’t know what to say. He felt doubly stupid because he was covered in blood and standing on a battlefield, but his tongue grew even more tied and he kept resisting the urge to blurt out random sentences. Get it together, Aodh!
***
Tanushree narrowed her eyes slightly as the fierce young warrior dropped the tip of his sinister-looking weapon, his posture making it clear he didn’t consider her a threat. The young noblewoman was not used to being dismissed so lightly, but she paused before lashing out. This man, not particularly tall or muscular, had almost effortlessly slaughtered near a dozen warthog-toothed, thick-hide man-demons with ease. In fact, he had even acted foolishly to taunt them, pretending to trip over things that weren’t even there and moving strangely the whole time.
And now he was openly disrespecting Tanushree, a noble-born Berber lady. Her house was obvious by the crest on her dress and pendant at her neck.
Everything about the boy was dangerous, dark. He had Fideli features, pointed ears, small but sharp canines, dark hair with a white lock, and a second set of eyelids that blinked independently at times. However, his eyes were unlike anything Tanushree had ever seen.
They were all black, no pupils, just black.
He was the single most dangerous person Tanushree had seen in a long while, and her heart sped up. What was this feeling? Fear. She had not felt this way in a long time. Even the warthog-toothed, thick-hide man-demons would have only killed her. Perhaps they would have tried to rape her first, but she could have killed herself if necessary. Meanwhile, the young warrior before her made her feel self-conscious just by standing there.
The young man put a hand over his stomach, and Tanushree wondered if he was holding in his mirth. Was her situation truly so laughable?
She took a step forward, gathering her dignity and reclaiming her spine. If her grandmother ever saw her acting so weak, the old crone would belt her personally. Tanushree held a hand out to point at the warrior, about to order him to assist her, but snapped her hand back. The hideous female creature with him had snapped at her hand before smiling, her eyes glittering.
What is the warrior doing with spindly cave demons, two of
them in fact? The female spindly cave demon advanced on her, magic dancing within her eyes. Tanushree pulled her lips back from her teeth and readied her makeshift weapon. She would not go down easily!
“Rekkla, stop that,” barked out the young warrior. The spindly cave demon female, rare to see outside of their cave strongholds, grinned servilely before moving behind her master, glaring at Tanushree the entire time.
“Control your slaves better, warrior,” ordered Tanushree. She brought all of her breeding and training to bear, spitting out the command with every speck of authority she could muster.
The black-eyed young warrior was entirely unaffected. He scratched the back of his head and said, “Rekkla is not a slave, she is a friend. She’s with us. We don’t take slaves.” He gasped, “Oh, don’t worry, we won’t make you a slave either. Oh, ah...forget I said that.” The dangerous man laughed, looking at the ground, making his disdain for her power even more obvious.
Tanushree bristled but held her tongue. The threat had not been subtle, but she wasn’t exactly in a position of power. She didn’t care if she died, but she had a chance to save some Bobrik house armswomen.
“My caravan was attacked. We were on our way to Chapal.”
“Where are we?” asked the Terran man. He was armed and armored but looked scruffy. Tanushree decided he was probably the young man’s armsman, and a mage. She’d seen what he had done to the last warthog-toothed, thick-hide man-demon.
His question had been silly, though. The man was obviously not newly transported to Ludus. He must be simple in the head. Unfortunately, Tanushree needed to ask these...people for help. It wouldn’t kill her to humor a simpleton. “This is the country of Berber, about two days from the town of Chapal and four days from Makovo. My group was heading from Makovo to Chapal when we were ambushed.”
Tanushree swallowed and decided to just be blunt. “Please, you must hurry. I was convinced to run away because the fight was grim. I almost died for it. This would have been appropriate, and I will never let my armswomen convince me of such a thing again. But please help me save them.” She looked the young warrior in the eye. “My name is Tanushree Bobrik. You have great power. Please help me save my armswomen.”
The black-eyed warrior narrowed his eyes at the Asian man who cocked his head and said, “Yeah, I can hear them over the hill. We should probably help. Also, you know your eyes are fully black right now, right?”
“Huh?” The young warrior gave a questioning look, probably irritated that his guardsman was asking obvious questions.
“Don’t worry about it, we’ll talk later, Tony. Let’s go run towards the fighting...again.” The Terran man sighed.
Tanushree inwardly grimaced but held her tongue. What a craven man. She’d seen him out the corner of her eye earlier, hanging back from her own fight too. She could not stand cowards or weaklings.
Tanushree couldn’t wait to get her own orb. She was so close… Just another reason she was in the debt of the mysterious young spearman.
“I think we should go, Henry,” said the dark warrior, Tony.
“Of course you would say that,” sighed the cowardly Asian man. He was wearing battered armor. Tanushree wondered if it was just for show. He continued, “Okay, follow me. I actually have sort of a plan.”
With that, the man began running and the two spindly cave demons followed. The warrior with the black eyes, Tony, brought up the rear. Tanushree decided her place was next to him since he was in charge of her mottled group of rescuers.
As they ran, Henry picked up a huge rock from the ground. Tanushree was surprised that he handled such weight so easily, but her eyes fluttered with surprise when he began manipulating the rock with magic, making it grow several times larger, hollow out, and form a lattice work of sorts, like an ornate, hollow ball.
The man yelled back, “I figured it out, Tony! Rocks aren’t really different than bullets. I don’t actually need to throw them. I’ve been thinking about this all wrong.”
Then improbably, Henry scooped up another rock with his other hand and began doing the same thing to it as he had to the first. Tanushree goggled. She’d never seen an earth mage do such a thing. “Where did you find such a talented mage?” she panted.
“Oh Henry isn’t really a mage, he’s orb-Bonded. Me too,” responded the warrior. He grinned, showing his sharp Fideli canines, issuing a clear admonishment or threat. Tanushree almost tripped and fell but managed to correct her stride. She hadn’t seen information scroll over her left eye for either of them. That could realistically only mean one thing.
They were nobles, like her, or very highly placed within their government. Suddenly, it didn’t seem so stupid for the other man to have asked where they were. She briefly considered they could be from enemy Fideli lands, but they were far too inland for that. She’d have to unravel the mystery later.
The group ran over the crest of the hill and Tanushree’s heart dropped. The last of her guardswomen were in a tight cluster, protecting each other with enchanted shields while a sea of man-demons besieged them. Without the wagons at their backs, they probably would have already been overrun.
The guardswomen were well trained and kept spears out, shields interlocked, fighting in the Berber fashion. A few soldiers stayed at the rear, popping up and loosing arrows. They could not stay up for long, or the man-demons return fire would take their heads off. It was a losing battle, and every single warrior involved knew it.
The group continued running forward until Henry slowed down and stopped. “What is he doing?” demanded Tanushree. There was practically no chance their little group could save her women, but she still had to try. She didn’t want to die, she’d been looking forward to getting her orb and attending an academy, but she knew her duty.
The dark-eyed warrior, Tony, shrugged and said, “Just watch Henry. I think he’s been looking for some way to get some payback.”
Tanushree narrowed her eyes and watched. She was skeptical that the craven Terran man would do anything notable, despite his skill in magic, but she would humor Tony. She really had no choice, either.
Henry raised an arm. He carefully seemed to sight down his limb for some time, long enough that the distant orks had time to notice their group. A flying ork mage shot up from the rear of the mass of ork soldiers, soaring high and fast over the field, heading for them.
The supposedly orb-Bonded Terran man ignored the approaching ork. Tanushree fought her helplessness and her fear, opening her mouth to ask what the man was doing. She knew she would probably die, but suffering fools was too much to ask, especially in her last moments of life.
Suddenly, the giant, magic-worked stone disappeared from the man’s palm, the air before his him bent and twisted. A huge crack tore the across the soundless sky and made Tanushree’s ears ring. The effect on the distant enemy warriors was immediate, and she could barely believe her eyes.
Over a dozen warthog-toothed, thick-hide man-demons just came apart into pieces, their limbs blown multiple directions. Heads exploded. The man-demons’ armor, leather, wood, bone, bronze, and other materials were shredded. The field turned to a bloody swamp in an instant, and the remaining, living man-demons recoiled in horror.
While he was distracted, the flying warthog-toothed, thick-hide man-demon mage came screaming down towards Henry, but a random gust of wind buffeted the mage to the ground before he actually reached them. As silence otherwise reigned on the battlefield, the man-demon mage rolled several times, directly towards Tony. The slim man widened his eyes in obvious anger and whipped a dagger out from behind his back, the motion enveloping him in a cloud of darkness.
The ruthless warrior quickly stabbed the attacking mage in the arm and sheathed his dagger, making the cloud disappear. The man-demon slumped down, completely dead, the light gone from his eyes. What in creation is happening? Tanushree was utterly stunned. She’d never seen anything before like what she’d just witnessed. What magic is that?
If anything, the battle
field grew even quieter, both sides of the previous struggle staying absolutely still until the tense scene was broken by an old ork man scrambling forward from the rear of the enemy warriors.
“Har-ri!” he cried. “Han-ri!” He shouted a string of words in his native tongue. Tanushree’s jaw dropped as every ork turned and dropped to their knees, bowing towards Henry. The goblin girl, Rekkla, sniffed and said in accented Luda, “All should kneel to the Voice and the Demigod. Proper.”
Henry groaned and exchanged glances with Tony. “What now?” he said. “I have a feeling I’m not going to like this. I’m not worship material.”
“It’s better than fighting, though,” muttered Tony. “Let’s give them a chance.”
“Like you gave that mage a chance?” Henry asked, pointing toward the dead man-demon at their feet.
Tony sighed and said, “Rekkla, Trask, can you stay behind with Tanushree. That is your name, right?” The young man turned, and Tanushree’s breath caught.
Where Tony’s eyes had been all black before, now he had small pupils in the center of his eyes, just like Fideli people. What is happening? It has to be magic.
“Hey, volleyball girl,” said Henry, pointing at Tanushree. “You got any gold? I need to make a MMB call.”
“No, I...we used it up sending missives and…a MMB? I...” she trailed off, staring past the strange men to the kneeling orks and the completely stunned and immobile surviving Bobrik house guardswomen.
Henry sighed and lightly punched the spear-wielding Tony in the shoulder. “Come on, kid. Let’s go make nice with some psychopathic orks. Again. All in a day’s work, right? God, I hate this fucking planet.” With that, the Asian man began ambling towards the two score remaining, kneeling orks. Tony shrugged and followed, his lethal, dangerous looking spear casually slung over a shoulder.
Tanushree carefully calmed herself and focused on squaring her shoulders, and maintaining an air of strength and confidence for her watching subordinates. She was not sure what was going on, but she knew she had to radically reevaluate her relationship and station with the strange group she’d just met. Their casual displays of power reminded her of the high nobles in the capital city.
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