by D. R. Rosier
“Got it.”
Tina explained, “It was more that that too. The Elves will be important if the magic blocking shields the empire use reach to the rear of the horde’s lines. If that was the case and only human mages were there, well they might as well just fall on their swords. Not many mages can use a sword like you can.”
I nodded, “That makes sense, but it’s something we can determine before we go. If we move our scrying target very close to the demon and it’s covered by the field, the scrying will fail. Still, I wouldn’t say no to the additional mages, especially ones that can fast travel, did she say how many?”
Serina shook her head, “She wasn’t sure. We’ll find out when they get back.”
I sighed, “Well, I suppose we should start our day?”
I didn’t think any of us really wanted to move. At least I didn’t, laying there in bed with them was addicting. But we had a lot to do, we had to make a few general plans and make sure everyone knew what to do at what time. Then we could finalize things quickly when the battle started and get there fast. Reluctantly I got up and started the bath…
Chapter 20
It was good to be back, even though I knew we were leaving again soon. Granted for what would hopefully be a much shorter time. I had no intention of leaving Serina and Sienna’s side today, I had a lot of time to make up for and there was simply nowhere else I’d rather be.
After breakfast which had just been the four of us, we went over attack strategies based on what we’d seen the enemy do at other towns. It was definitely going to be a hit and run tactic, there were far too many of the enemy for the group of mages to keep at bay more than a few minutes. I was well aware the longer it took for us to kill the demon, the more of our mages and warriors would die.
Besides the four of us, Sally and Steven were there along with me to represent the kill the demon group. There were a couple of guard captains in the room, as well as Carl and Maggie to represent the mage group and pass along the plan to the entire group later.
Maggie argued, “The best defense is a strong offense. Remember, we aren’t fighting off a siege that may last hours. I’d suggest less than a quarter of us should be dedicated to defense, the rest of us should be raining hell down on the enemy. We don’t have to be miserly about our magic usage, if Marcus can’t kill the damn demon in fifteen minutes or less… Point being, the fight will be short and brutal, the best thing we can do is spend our magic destroying as much of the enemy as possible to keep them off balance to prevent a counter attack.”
Carl nodded reluctantly, “I can see your point. In these last battles we’ve seen, the demon is in the rear but still within the troops. We’ll need to hit them hard and fast to kill all the goblins around the demon. Who knows, we may even weaken the thing to make their battle easier.”
After that it was just details, we split the groups into offensive and defensive. My part was obvious enough, I just wasn’t entirely sure it would work. If I could dispel his shield enough to stab the bastard, I could use my sword as a conduit to set the enchantment on him. Ironically it would be his own magic at that point that would feed the enchantment to continually draw life magic directly into his core. There shouldn’t be a way for the demon to shield itself from that.
There was no way to be sure of course, but I was fairly confident that would kill the bastard.
It was shortly before lunch when I felt a large number of magical signatures appear in the castle courtyard. Ari and Alethea’s were easy to recognize, as were Efrain, Aja, Aysha, and most surprisingly Nia’s. I wondered what they were thinking bringing her here, and hoped she wouldn’t be fighting. There were thirty five of them, so we now had sixty five mages and sixty soldiers for this insane plan.
Serina felt them as well and we moved to the courtyard as a group. Things were a little tense but luckily no one had done anything stupid.
Serina said, “Welcome to Cirenthia and thank you all for coming.”
Ari stayed back to get them all settled in empty barracks while Alethea, Efrain, Aja, Aysha, and Nia joined us back inside. Ari joined us before we were done briefing them on the plan. It seemed Efrain, Aja, and Aysha would be leading the Elves. I was relieved to hear Nia was just here to visit and would not be fighting, I knew she was close to adulthood in the eyes of the Elves, but she still looked like a young teenager to me.
When we were finished updating them, Efrain said, “It’s a good plan. Thirty of my Elves will join in the offensive defense, the other five led by Aysha, will be responsible for getting everyone out via fast travel when it comes time to retreat. Do we know when the attack will happen?”
Carl replied, “They should get to the town late tomorrow night. We aren’t sure if they’ll attack at night, or wait for the morning. Night attacks by the goblins aren’t unheard of so we should be ready either way.”
Efrain just nodded in reply. We broke up the meeting at that point for lunch.
The rest of the day and the next were interesting for me as the Elven part and human part of my life came together. I was relieved at how well my adoptive family got along with Serina. I had no doubt they would have welcomed her into the family had it been possible, but politics prevented it.
As for the rest of the Elves and other humans outside my family, there was a kind of wary acceptance that they were allies for this fight, but there was no real mingling or even attempts at friendships between the two groups. I’d have liked to see more, but suspicion was better than hatred or contempt, so I would take it. Maybe it would happen someday if they followed their leaders’ examples. Yeah, and maybe I’d sell Satan a snow blower.
That night we waited for word on if the battle would be joined. We gathered in the dining room having finished dinner. I had a large scrying window open showing the town from maybe a mile above. A large twister turned on its side indoors wasn’t very practical, so I’d created a thin layer of ice on the wall and used water for scrying. We would be ready on a moment’s notice.
Ari took my hand and asked, “What are you thinking?”
I gave a light hearted smile and replied, “That I’ll be happy when this is over and we can concentrate on our lives instead of safeguarding them. We’ll still have the empire to worry about of course.”
She threw my own words back at me, “Life is what happens when you’re making plans,” she leaned in and briefly kissed me, “But that sounds good to me. I love you Marcus.”
She’d been my mate for a while now, over five months pregnant, and those words still sent a thrill down my spine. I was a lucky man.
“I love you too Ari.”
I wanted to add that she should remember that no matter what happens tomorrow, but I didn’t want to be maudlin. I knew this would be the first fight I was in since I got on this world that I wouldn’t have the advantage of my speed. If anything, I would be at a disadvantage in speed, strength, and magic. I was doing my best to bury my head in the sand, I couldn’t even consider I might lose one of them in this fight, or even die myself.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d truly been afraid of death, but I had so much to live for now. I reminded myself that the goddess said I had what I needed. If I didn’t have a chance, she wouldn’t have chosen me for this.
Besides, I thought with a smile, if I died at least I wouldn’t have to watch the world be destroyed…
The demon and his horde arrived at the town that night and surrounded it completely about a half mile away. The horde was ridiculously huge and despite the towns obvious readiness I didn’t see how they would hold out more than an hour or two. They didn’t attack however, it looked like they would wait for dawn, or perhaps right before.
We left a watch and went to get some sleep. We were all in the bed that night for the first time in a while, none of us initiated sex, we simply lay together and held each other as we went to sleep. I wasn’t sure if it was the same for the ladies, but I knew in my case making love to them would have felt like saying goodbye on som
e level, and I didn’t want to feel that.
I almost snorted at myself. So much for being an ageless and fearless being.
We woke two hours before dawn. I didn’t want to be half asleep and scrambling when the attack happened so we got up and headed for the courtyard. A few of our attacking force were resting, some even asleep. Others were stretching and limbering up. I knew I’d made the right decision when a half hour later the attack commenced.
We verified the demon’s position, made last minute adjustments, and entered fast travel. To minimize the chance of it changing, our six fast travel mages all dumped an eighth of their magic into speed. That was a huge amount of magic, and I’d never seen so many elementals in one spot speeding us along. It couldn’t have been more than two minutes before we popped back out of the elemental realm of air.
I released the wards I had ready, for myself, sienna, and our weapons. The view was daunting and the stink of the horde was awful. There were just… so damn many of them. Most of them were facing the other direction, but I could see some of the goblin mages turn toward us as they caught our magical presence. The demon turned as well.
The demon had a presence that made it much worse than just a scrying. He didn’t look any larger, or more menacing, but I could feel how unnatural the thing was. Sixty mages launched attacks and didn’t hold back. Storms appeared and tore apart the enemy, fire fell from the sky to immolate them and the ground opened up to swallow them. It was destruction on a scale I hadn’t seen since modern warfare on Earth.
The wind of the storm blew away the smoke, ashes, and dust. The demon was the only thing left standing in the center of a large circle. The attacks didn’t stop; they just expanded and caused a panic in the surrounding horde. It was our turn now and I charged the demon at my top speed.
It tilted its head to the side, as if trying to figure out if I was suicidal, stupid, or possibly a threat. It waited until I was close, drawing its sword in a blur as I struck out. I continued to attack with all the speed I had and the creature merely parried, blocked, or dodged effortlessly as its grin grew wider.
The thing was toying with me, as if determined to let me know how futile my actions were before it stomped me like a bug.
Then I felt my magic start to drain. It took me a split second to realize it was my enchantment that was doing it. The enchantment was drawing harder and faster from the realm of life. It was almost immediately apparent the demon was attacking me somehow with anti-life, if it wasn’t for the enchantment I’d probably be on my way to passing out and death. Still, my magic wouldn’t last forever at this rate.
Ari, Sienna, and Alethea were attacking to. Sienna’s arrows were simply batted out of the air by his sword, the spells from my elven mates seemed to dissipate against his protections. I tried to go faster; I needed to run the asshole through. Without a conduit there was no way I’d get my personal magic and the enchantment through his protections.
The truth was, I was already going as fast as I could. Outside of the anti-life attack, the demon hadn’t even attacked me yet really. I hardly even heard or noticed the sounds of the dying around me as the horde was kept back using extreme killing fields and lines of fire. I knew my time would run out soon, the mages couldn’t keep up such a high intensity attack for very long.
The demon slipped his sword inside my guard easily, like he had all the time in the world and slashed my arm. It gurgled making a disturbing sound of laughter that held nothing but the promise of death. For the first time I knew what the normal human soldiers must feel when facing me, I was completely outclassed.
I had an idea, but my magic was already draining fast, I hadn’t used magic yet and it was already at three quarters as the enchantment sucked it down. I remember the first time I fought Ari full out, she’d surprised me using her air magic to speed up her own attacks. I remember she’d only been able to fight a minute or two that way, but I thought it might be my only chance.
He darted in and cut me again as I ordered my elementals to make me faster and started feeding it a ridiculous amount of magic. The demon darted in again, but I was able to parry this time. The fucker should have just taken my head when he had the chance.
I attacked with renewed confidence. The demon was good and still a little faster. But it wasn’t as good as I was. The problem was I had a minute tops before my magic was completely gone between my spell and his anti-life attack, whereas he had all the time in the world.
I attacked fiercely trying to find a gap in his style as we traded blows. I didn’t have much time left, maybe thirty seconds, and my magic would be drained. The demon may have had time on its side, but apparently it wasn’t a patient being, because it made a horrifying sound that possibly could have been a frustrated scream and swung at me overhand as hard as it could, trying to break through my defense.
I suppressed a smile as I flowed to the side, the sword missing me by mere inches and hitting the ground as I lunged forward running the demon through. I didn’t waste time, I didn’t have any left to waste. I gathered some magic and ran it through my enchantment and directed it through the sword and into its body as fast as thought.
I hoped it worked, I dropped my spell, having less than an eighth of my magic left, but the demon was still draining it. That was okay though, I felt Alethea’s power start to surround and cradle me in elemental fire.
The demon screamed in pain and frustration as we disappeared in elemental fire. I was almost curious enough to stay to see what happened, but I had no doubt the demon had enough life left to take mine. So I was glad Alethea had pulled us out. I had faith the rest of them got out, us disappearing was their signal for retreat as well.
Sienna grabbed my hand and scowled at me, “Are you okay?.”
I laughed in relief. I may have been the only chance, but it had been a hell of a slim one.
Sienna asked caustically, “What’s so funny?”
I smiled, “We’re still alive, the demon is… hopefully dying if our guess was right.”
Both Ari and Alethea used more fire magic to increase our speed. It was maybe ten minutes later when we appeared back in the courtyard. I was a little disturbed; we were the only ones back so far.
I was tempted to scry but Ari glared at me. I didn’t blame her; my magic was the lowest it had ever been. A few more moments in the battle and I’d have been empty, dead. Ari opened one up for us and my eyes goggled at the destruction around where we fought the demon. None of our people were there anymore, perhaps they stayed long enough to unload most of their magic, to take out as many as the enemy as possible before leaving.
Or maybe they just didn’t pump as much magic in and were moving slower than the trip there. I was sure I would find out.
The demon was still there; it looked to still be screaming and was doubled over in pain. The groups started to appear around me and it was eerily silent as we watched and waited. It took at least another twenty minutes before the demon collapsed to the ground, five minutes after that the body broke down and disappeared.
Maggie asked, “What the hell did you do to it?”
I thought about that for a minute. I didn’t want to tell the truth, but I didn’t want to lie either. The goddess told me to keep my immortality a secret if possible; it could cause too many problems.
Finally I told a partial truth, “In essence, I healed it. The spell summoned life into this realm at the core of its being. It couldn’t shield from that.”
Maggie wasn’t stupid, she knew I was holding something back, but after studying my face she just nodded, “I’m just happy that thing is gone.”
I smiled and laughed a little hysterically. What an understatement.
Serina invited the elves to stay and celebrate, but they declined, pleading the desire to get back to their families and loved ones.
We said goodbye to my adoptive family, promising we would visit over the weekend. Then went and washed up. There would be a feast and celebration tonight. There had been a cost; while
we fought the demon we lost six elven mages, four human mages, and twelve guardsmen.
Chapter 21
The celebration was well deserved. There was no longer a danger of the world having all life purged. There was still some concern obviously, there was a horde of goblins that still warred in the neighboring empire, and of course the empire itself was a threat to Cirenthia. I did my best though to put all that in the back of my mind, but I couldn’t help but consider the problems may cancel each other out, at least in the short term.
Still, we would have to be wary. I considered that not letting the lying bastard emperor kill my mates was self defense, but I was sure in Rhimera I was considered an assassin. I had no doubt Halli would try to respond in kind, especially since she didn’t have the troops available to both fight a horde and invade Cirenthia at the same time.
I wrestled with my conscience, perhaps we should strike first. Those things never worked out well though, she would be replaced by someone just as bad or worse, and if the government fell apart in the interim that would make it worse.
It took the ladies a long time to get ready for the celebration. I actually ducked out to the receiving room of our suite after a quick bath and a shave. I was a brave man, but women of any species could be scary when they dressed each other up and did makeup and hair if I got under foot.
Not that I was complaining, the results would be quite worth it I was sure. They were all stunning in their own way, when they put forth the effort to dress up they dazzled my mind.
While I waited I made plans to go over the businesses with Sienna and head into the city to take care of any issues that built up over the last month. I also rethought my glider idea, a dirigible would probably be a lot easier and would hold more people. The only question was, did this world really need it? Probably not, I just hated slogging across the miles on horseback.
As predicted I couldn’t take my eyes off of my mates when they came out. Whatever I had gone through since I arrived here was completely worth it. I wanted to kiss them all but settled for a smile. The mussing could come later, I was sure they wanted to remain flawless for now. Even Tina looked less like the servant and more like a lady in waiting.
