by Tj Dixon
“It sounds like he’s our natural enemy.” I say.
“He is, but all faeries are terrified of him. If I take the legion against him I suspect that most of the legion will desert.” Sakura tells me with her gaze on the ground.
“Then I can’t use the legion. Did they say where the Goblin Cook is or do I need to find him?” I ask.
“He’s currently besieging a city about nine hundred miles south of here. The city is called Nimes.” Sakura tells me.
“Nine hundred miles will take a long time to reach. The enemy may no longer even be there when we arrive. Are the legates just trying to buy time so that Contractia falls before we can fulfil their conditions?” I ask.
“Possibly, but they did sign a contract. So if we can fulfil their conditions they will have to honour the deal. The contract only allows them to choose enemies on this world and that are part of the empire, so they can’t choose the Fallen Angels or Contractians.” Sakura tells me.
“In other words they can make it very difficult but not completely impossible. How much help am I allowed?” I ask.
“You can use any help you can get.” Sakura answers.
“How did they sign a contract?” Jenny asks.
“With magic. Obviously.” Sakura says with a shrug.
“We’ll have to get a port boost or it will take too long to reach Nimes.” I tell her.
“If it’s just the two of us I can port most of the way from here.” Elucia says.
“It’s nine hundred miles!” I exclaim.
“I can do it.” Elucia grins.
“Have you been there before?” I ask.
“Yes. I went there a few years ago with Kelliet to watch some wind racing competition. She was really into it at the time.” Elucia says.
“Who’s Kelliet?” I ask.
“When my mother died Kelliet inherited me. In other words I used to be her slave. She was my friend before that though so it was a bit of a weird relationship. I hope she’s safe, but not as badly as I hope the others are.” Elucia answers.
“We should get some rest tonight whilst the faeries can hide us. There’s no telling how soon we will get into a battle after we port.” I say.
“I’ll need my full strength to port us that far anyway. I’ll probably need a couple of days rest before I can port back again too.” Elucia tells me.
“I’m impressed you can port that far at all.” I tell her.
“Can the two of you really defeat the enemy alone, especially if Elucia may not be able to fight?” Jimmy asks nervously.
“We’ll have to.” I answer. “I’ll need to know everything you can tell me about the Goblin Cook though, Sakura.”
“Of course, but porting one faery shouldn’t take much more mana, so I’ll be coming too.” Sakura says.
“Are you sure?” I ask her.
“Of course. Even if I can’t bring the legion I can at least fight by your side.” Sakura says.
“One faery will be fine.” Elucia agrees. “But I can’t bring anyone else with us.”
“Now tell us about the enemy.” I tell Sakura.
“Ok, well…” Sakura says and spends the next half hour telling us everything she knows about him. Unfortunately most of it is just rumours that seem to have been embellished as rumours often are. Once Sakura finishes talking we settle down to sleep. To my surprise I start to fall asleep as soon as my head touches the ground.
I wake to the cold light of day. The sun is high in the sky so it is much later than I normally wake. I feel well rested but more than a little guilty to be able to sleep so well despite Peter’s death. Right now though it means my mana is at full strength. Elucia is sitting beside me and Sakura is sitting on top of her head. Jenny and Jimmy are nowhere to be seen so have probably left the camp already. There are undoubtedly other faeries nearby but they are hidden from my sight.
“Good morning.” Elucia says with a smile.
“Good morning, Elucia. Is your mana at full strength?” I ask.
“Yes. I can port us as soon as you’re ready.” Elucia says.
“Are you ready too, Sakura?” I ask.
“Yes.” Sakura says hiding her nervousness well but not entirely.
“Give me a few minutes then.” I say and get up.
“Of course.” Elucia says.
I walk away from everyone just enough to get some privacy behind a tree. I then take my clothes off and wash with water magic. The air is cold so I am quick! Once I am fully dressed again I return to Elucia and Sakura.
“Are you ready?” Elucia asks.
“Once we get there Sakura will hide us, so don’t fight even if we port right on top of the enemy.” I tell Elucia.
“What if the enemy see through Sakura’s magic?” Elucia asks.
“If that happens we will have to fight, but I hope it doesn’t come down to that, because I want you to have a chance to recover your mana first.” I reply and then hold out my right hand. “I’m ready.”
“Sakura?” Elucia asks as she takes my hand.
“Still ready.” Sakura says trying to sound bored but not quite succeeding.
“I’ll port on the count of three. One. Two. Three.” Elucia says and as she says three I feel the port. It is much further than normal but it’s still instant. Sakura’s magic instantly hides us but we find ourselves falling from the sky. I catch Elucia and myself with wind magic, whilst Sakura floats just above our heads with her own magic. There is a foul smell in the air even though we are still far from the ground. It is also much warmer here. It feels like summer.
I look down and gasp at the sight below. Ash is littered all over the ground below and the whole way between us and the city walls. We must be about a mile away from the city. Behind us there is a forest that I suspect once reached the city walls.
Below us there are also three huge round white clay pots each about the size of a large house. They are arranged in a triangle and almost touching each other at the closest points. Inside the nearest pot is boiling water. The second closest pot is filled with a red liquid that smells like blood. The third pot is covered by a white clay lid with a round nob sticking up in the centre of the lid like a giant handle. I dread to think what may be inside it.
“There used to be a wind race arena here and it was surrounded by trees.” Elucia says.
“Goblins are the enemy of nature just as much as they’re our enemy.” Sakura says with a dark scowl at the ash covered barren land below.
“True, but I don’t sense any goblins. Can you sense any, Sakura?” I ask.
“No, but I feel their foul magic in the air and the soil.” Sakura says.
“Yes, even this high up their taint is impossible to mistake.” I agree.
“The city walls look intact so Nimes can’t have fallen. Do you think they beat the goblins?” Elucia asks.
“No, I very much doubt that. The goblins are probably either hiding or too far away. Most likely they are close to the city, although they probably have some hidden guards here too.” I answer.
“What are the pots for?” Elucia asks.
“Cooking.” I say grimly. Elucia winces as she remembers the gory rumours about the Goblin Cook.
“Sorry. I forgot.” Elucia says quietly.
“Once you have recovered your mana we’ll take care of the enemy. For now though you can rest whilst Sakura hides us. I’ll take us over the city and then keep us up.” I say.
“I can’t rest in the sky!” Elucia protests.
“You’ll be fine. It’s actually quite easy. Landing in the city would most likely get us killed by the city’s guards and enchantments, even with Sakura’s magic. Landing anywhere else on the other hand would most likely mean having to fight the goblins. They shouldn’t find us up here though and certainly aren’t going to be directly above the city.” I tell Elucia.
“I still don’t see how I’m expected to sleep up here and it’s not even night yet.” Elucia complains.
“It will be later though
. Just rest for now and sleep when you’re able to. I’ll even sing for you to help you rest.” I tell her.
“Might the enemy hear you?” Elucia asks.
“Only if they break through Sakura’s magic and if they do that they’ll find us, song or no song.” I tell Elucia.
“Then please sing for me.” Elucia says.
“This is the first song I ever learnt.” I tell Elucia as I fly us towards the city.
I begin to sing that sad nostalgic song with the wind gently washing over us as we continue to fly towards the city. My sister always loved this song. She’d always get me to sing it to her when she couldn’t sleep. I wish I could sing it to her once more but that is a wish that will never come to be.
Chapter 2 (Dairon)
Elucia is sleeping soundly in my ‘arms’ of wind magic with a smile on her pale face so I stop singing. It seems that my song has driven away her worries for now. They will return all too soon when she wakes but hopefully by then her power will also have returned. Not to full strength of course, but to a level much greater than that of a normal human. Elucia’s cool blue hair is hanging down loosely as it is blown about a bit by my wind magic. Asleep she looks so gentle and delicate that it is hard to remember just how powerful she really is.
Whilst Elucia sleeps I send my senses out searching below us for goblins and any other enemies we may face. If they are there then they are hiding themselves with magic and will not be easily found. Even so if I focus my senses I should be able to find traces of the magic that they are using to hide themselves. So I focus my senses on a spot of land not much bigger than two feet by two feet for a few moments before moving on to the next spot right beside it. If I am lucky I will find the enemy like this and if not I will only have wasted time that I would have had to waste anyway.
A few hours of my painstaking search pass without any luck before I finally sense something. It isn’t below us though. The sun is suddenly blocked and a chilly foul stench wafts down.
I look up and just a few feet above my head is a giant bird with four white wings each twenty foot long. Each feather is almost a foot long and ends with a sharp bony tip. Its body is about twelve feet long and four feet across. It has pale red talons and beak. Its right eye is bright red and presumably its left eye is too. It is quite intimidating, especially just a few feet away.
It hasn’t sensed us yet though, so more urgent than its appearance is another sight directly below it. Six long white bundles of cloth tied to its underbelly, each with a human head sticking out the end. By the length and shape they are fully grown women and from their sticky blonde hair, terrified blue eyes and sweat covered pale skin they are most likely Contractians. Worse there is a foul goblin magic cast upon them that is slowly draining their souls. There is also goblin magic hiding it, but it is so close to us that its magic is useless.
“Is it night?” Elucia asks sleepily rubbing her eyes, apparently woken by the sudden chill.
“Don’t scream.” I tell Elucia urgently but from the sudden look in her eyes I realise it’s futile. I cover her mouth with my right hand just in time as she lets out what would have been a very loud scream. Instead it’s muffled and I can only pray that Sakura’s magic is enough to hide it from the enemy.
The bird twitches and tilts its head for a moment. It seems to dismiss its suspicions after a few moments though. Wide awake now Elucia stops her screaming so I take my hand away from her mouth. I also move us just behind but still below the bird in case it chooses to descend.
“What is that?” Elucia whispers.
“I’m not sure, but it’s using goblin magic and human hostages so it is clearly the enemy.” I tell her.
“Can you fight it?” Elucia asks.
“Just one would be possible, but I suspect it is just one of many.” I reply.
“It is.” Sakura warns me. “Also it’s a blood bird. Goblins ride them into battle. There are nine goblins on this one. They are all mages. I count about fifty blood birds.”
“So there are probably around four hundred and fifty goblin mages riding fifty monsters like this.” I think aloud.
“I’ve only recovered a little of my power. I’m not much stronger than an average mage at the moment.” Elucia warns me.
“Sakura, when they attack the city are you able to break their magic so the city isn’t taken by surprise?” I ask.
“I can, but only if I drop the magic hiding us.” Sakura replies.
“Then the timing will have to be perfect. It will have to be after they have dropped far enough that they can’t quickly return to this height, but not far enough that there is no time for the city’s mages to react.” I tell her.
“What if they port back up here?” Elucia asks.
“I can suppress porting with song magic. I was using something similar when I first met Peter.” I reply suppressing my sadness at the mention of Peter.
“It will affect the city’s mages as well.” Sakura warns me.
“I know, but it may also prevent the goblins retreating or sending in reinforcements.” I tell Sakura.
“What about the hostages?” Elucia asks.
“Unfortunately I doubt they can be saved. The city’s mages can’t afford to hold back.” I admit.
“If we are hidden couldn’t we do something now?” Elucia asks.
“If we do we’ll be exposed and the city may fall. At the very least more people will die if we are unable to help.” I reply. Elucia frowns unable to hide her feelings.
“It’s so sad.” Elucia whispers to herself.
“When you’re invaded by an evil enemy there are only two things sadder than fighting a war. Losing a war or not fighting a war.” I tell Elucia.
“Then let’s help win this war so that we can stop the suffering.” Elucia says rubbing her eyes again, but this time she’s rubbing away silent tears. Then she blinks and asks urgently. “What’s that down there?”
“Contractian wind mages. Nine of them flying in three wings of three.” I reply after a quick glance.
“Do you think they know the goblins are up here?” Elucia asks hopefully.
“No. If they did they would have brought a lot more mages than just nine to fight four hundred and fifty goblin mages.” I tell Elucia.
“Then they’re in danger, aren’t they?” Elucia asks.
“If they notice the goblins they’re as good as dead. If they just fly by without noticing anything the goblins should let them leave alive. Killing nine mages isn’t worth losing the advantage of surprise.” I reply.
“Please don’t notice anything. Please don’t notice anything.” Elucia repeats over and over again like some sort of prayer. Unfortunately her prayer goes unanswered.
Just as the mages are more or less directly below us one mage looks sharply up at the bird above us and sends a lightning bolt at it. I quickly dodge the lightning pulling Elucia and Sakura with me. The lightning strikes the bird which starts to spasm violently before dropping like a stone. The hostages and goblins on it seem to have been killed by the same lightning bolt, but the other birds become visible as the goblins swap their stealth magic for shielding, port blocks and fireballs.
The nine Contractian mages appear shocked but break formation instantly and dodge the hail of fireballs. They then reform their three wings of three but each wing acts independently. The three trios of mages not only dodge with wind magic that reminds me of Peter but counter attack with powerful, accurate and perfectly timed trios of lightning bolts. The first barrage of lightning bolts actually overwhelms the shield around one of the blood birds. The bird, its human hostages and goblin riders fall from the sky as charred corpses. The other goblin riders quickly reinforce their shields though so the next attacks fail.
“They’re doing well. They might even survive at this rate.” I whisper.
“There are more Contractians on their way.” Sakura tells me.
“How long until they get here?” I ask.
“Maybe a minute or two.”
Sakura answers.
“Can’t we do anything for the hostages now?” Elucia asks.
“It would put us in a lot of danger just to save some random humans.” Sakura says.
“It would help defeat the goblins.” I remind her.
“Killing some goblins would help more, but revealing ourselves to help before reinforcements arrive will attract a lot of enemy attention. Once the Contractians arrive they may target us as well. Elves and faeries are their enemies after all.” Sakura reminds me.
“I hate letting innocent, helpless people die like this.” Elucia tells me earnestly.
“Me too.” I say and then quickly dodge a trio of lightning bolts, pulling Elucia and Sakura with me again. I look past and don’t see any enemies in the path of those lightning bolts. “Did they just target us?”
“Maybe they targeted us in the first place too.” Elucia suggests.
“Are you calling faery magic weaker than goblin magic?” Sakura asks crossly.
“Sakura, forget that. We should get out of here quickly in case the Contractians really have seen through your magic.” I say urgently and fly us down away from the battle. Lightning bolts shoot down at us and I barely dodge them this time. Without slowing down I say grimly. “They’ve definitely noticed us.”
“The port block is down.” Elucia exclaims and she’s right. A moment later the sun is completely blocked out as if night has come early. I look up and enhance my vision with magic. I almost drop my flight magic in shock. There are so many blood birds above us that it is pointless to try counting them.
“Nimes will fall.” I predict with absolute certainty.
“I sense the Goblin Cook, below us!” Sakura shrieks.
“What?!” I gasp and then narrowly avoid a huge fireball shooting straight up at us.
“Faery stew! Elf stew!” A high pitched goblin cackles below us. He’s riding a blood bird about ten times the size of the other ones we’ve seen. There are no other goblins on it but I sense lots of hostages tied underneath it. Its four white wings must each be two hundred feet across. The feathers are each two feet long and their tips are glowing blue, with lighting magic clearly readied. Even at full strength I’m not sure if Elucia could shield a full out attack from that blood bird.
