by Eric Vall
I managed to break through so I could run after the Ignis Mage, but he was throwing up jets of flames at his back while he bolted to the portal, and I couldn’t get a clear shot as I wove around the trail of fire.
When I finally reached the center of the field, he’d vanished, and I found myself locked in the thick of his troops.
My heart hammered against my ribs while I summoned my powers to reload my pistols for me, but there was no guessing how long it would be before the Master knew I was at this tunnel. With his troops already alerted, I was suddenly taking on the brunt of their efforts while they tore after me instead of the knights, and I sprinted at full bore as my lungs came under attack once more.
I gasped for a full breath of air while I zigzagged through the field and shot every chance I got, and when Rammstein swooped in for me, he locked his serrated talons on the hoard of minions at my back. He had his machete tail swinging, too, and I felt warm blood splattering the back of my neck as he lacerated the heads of my pursuers.
Then he sent the crushed bodies in his talons flying across the field as he doubled back, and with my grip locked on his frame, I ordered him to bring me to the mill.
Still, the elves and mages scrambled to grab me while I shot straight down at their heads, and when I reached the ruins at the end of the field, I dropped down beside Cayla and ordered Rammstein to run a few controlled burns for me.
The princess was firing two AR-15s at once with a fierce grin on her lips, and we only exchanged a nod before I grabbed one of her bazookas and loaded up.
“Why the hell are so many of these assholes after you?” Cayla yelled over the constant report of her rifles.
“Someone recognized me!” I hollered as I steadied my aim on the incoming flock of elves. “He’s already gone to tell the Master I’m here, but there’s gonna be a pack of starved sphynxes showing up soon!”
“Godsdamnit,” Cayla growled.
“Three shots should take them down,” I shouted while Cayla swiftly reloaded her rifles in a matter of seconds, and I fired a runed rocket just as my pursuers reached the mill.
Then searing white flames burst across the snarling troop below, and Cayla opened fire on the next group while flames ate their way across the elves and mages like they had an appetite of their own.
“You make pretty good bait!” Cayla said with a greedy grin, and I chuckled as I loaded another rocket and eyed the stream of minions barreling straight at us.
I was kind of glad the Ignis Mage had alerted his troops now that I saw how many I’d drawn away from the knights, and they’d clearly been warned not to kill me, because they seemed to have forgotten the revolvers in their hands.
Without their stray bullets, our knights were making a comeback as they worked in shifts to load and fire their revolvers, and my Defenders were taking down the mages to stop their attempts at tearing the ground open. I could sense Pindor’s magic coursing through the stonework under my boots, too, and as I saw him shooting down minions in quick succession, I couldn’t help grinning over what a badass he’d become lately.
Not only could he maintain Cayla’s station and hit his mark with every pull of the trigger, but he was burying elves and mages in the ground as he kept moving to cover his troops. In the brief time I followed his progress, he killed ten mages with lightning bullets and buried nearly twenty elves, and my other Defenders were delivering almost as well as him now that the knights had hit their stride.
With Cayla and I manning the mill, we were able to keep up a constant volley of bullets and rockets to wipe them out in bulk, too, and I managed to load the bazooka with my metal powers and deliver another rocket every few seconds. It wasn’t long before our side of the field became a sea of flames as the minions couldn’t even reach me anymore, but while Mina sprinted along the line of knights to our left, she began smothering the flames before they could get more out of control.
Then the next troop came grappling over the charred remains to get at me, and I grinned as I realized we were close to winning out at this tunnel. The majority of the possessed mages were strewn across the sodden field, and the knights were hitting their mark with sharp precision. My Boms and Defenders had all barrels directed straight at the portals, and when the sphynxes finally showed up, Cayla let out a fiendish chuckle like she’d started looking forward to this.
That’s when the princess went into general mode on me, and she ordered me to take over the incoming troops while she went after the sphynxes. Her commanding tone immediately derailed my focus as I raked my gaze over her taut leather, but I gladly obeyed the order as I took aim at the next flock. I still kept half my eye on Cayla’s rain-slicked cleavage while she jolted with every pull of the trigger, and despite the battle raging around us, I couldn’t help wondering what it would be like to find myself chained down by a general as sexy as her.
Several sphynxes had just managed to reach the knights, though, as more than forty appeared with their jaws already gaping, and it took four runed bullets from the Defenders to take down just one.
So, I dragged my mind out of Cayla’s pants and brought my rifle around from my back, and while I fired the bazooka with one hand to protect the mill, I started picking off the sphynxes, too.
I was so focused on using my metal magic to reload and trying to track two groups of targets at once that I didn’t hear Deya land behind us, but Shoshanne screeched my name at the top of her lungs to bring my head whipping around.
The healer was shaking and splattered with the blood of our troops when I saw her down near the cellar entrance, and her expression was lined with terror as she called out to me again.
“Take over!” I ordered Cayla as I dropped the bazooka, and the princess turned her rifles on the elves while I vaulted over the back edge of the mill.
I softened the ground to catch my landing before Shoshanne slammed into my arms, and she was gasping for breath while she tried to speak.
“Mason, they won’t last in the north!” the healer screamed. “They need you!”
My blood went cold as I thought of Aurora battling on the frozen lake hundreds of miles from here, and by the time I scaled the steps of the mill, Rammstein was already within my reach.
Then I lunged onto his back as he soared past, and when the minions scrambled to change course at the sight of me, the metal dragon spewed a fresh gout of flames over them until only black ashes remained.
“I don’t care what it takes,” I hollered to the dragon, “get us to Orebane in half the time!”
Rammstein let out a thundering roar as he jetted toward the clouds, and when I looked back at the mill, Cayla’s lethal grin flashed in the lightning as she kept on taking down one sphynx after another. Then Deya dove into the mayhem with her bloody jaws parted, and the black dragon thrashed her way through the field as the ogres roared with approval.
Chapter 21
My clothes were drenched beneath my armor when we reached the mountains, and the subzero front hit me like a wall of ice as the metal dragon rocketed through the sky. The deep amber glow of his channeling gem did nothing to improve visibility, and as I braced myself against the wind and snow, the bitter cold seeped through every inch of me until I could feel it in my bones.
My helm kept the shards of ice from tearing me apart at least, but with my grip locked on Rammstein’s frame, bloody cracks had broken open all over my hands. They’d already gone numb, though, so it could have been worse, and I focused on not letting my limbs lock up while I strained to hear above the howling wind.
It was impossible to tell which direction the battle was in with the storm raging around me, and the fact that I could feel the electrical surge from every bolt of lightning that came within feet of us didn’t help to calm my nerves. Rammstein did his best to keep us low in the mountain passes, but it made it difficult to avoid the ridges at this speed.
So, we tore whole shards of stone from the mountains as we barreled past, and I couldn’t tell the difference between the snow fa
lling from the sky or the snow we sent flying up around us.
Then I heard the faint crack of pistols firing in the distance, and I gritted my teeth as I connected with Rammstein’s gem to direct him toward Rausch Loch.
The first thing I saw through the whirling snow was the blaze of the Ignis Mages’ powers, but when we came soaring toward the frozen lake, I cursed furiously at what we found waiting for us.
The possessed mages had broken through the ice, and half our soldiers were trapped on ice drifts while ravenous beasts dove at them like scavengers. They struggled to shoot them down or beat them away without falling into the black lake, and the other half of Aurora’s platoon were bolting across the bloody and barren wilderness to recapture the minions who had made it past our defenses.
I couldn’t find my Boms anywhere in the chaos, though, and my mind churned a mile a minute as I tried to decide on my next move.
Then my gaze locked on a flash of blue hair, and everything else seemed to fade into static.
Aurora was yelling to our troops from one of the blocks of ice, and my rune rose like a war cry in my ears when I saw her lose her footing. The ogre beside her managed to drag her and a dwarf back to the center of the ice, and the half-elf carried on urging our Defenders to hold out as if she hadn’t just been seconds away from a frigid death.
The black waters kept rolling more violently beneath our troops, though, and that’s when I realized they were warring against the power of the Master’s mages while they attempted to stay afloat.
Aurora had the Defenders doing what they could to trap the mages as she steadied herself between two ogres, but their attackers were too fast as they darted around the lake and dodged our other troops.
So, I kept my eyes on my half-elf as I summoned my Terra Magic, and I ordered Rammstein to get ready to dive in case she lost her footing again. Then I sent my powers surging beneath the snow to connect with the ground, and I let my focus latch onto any spark of magic I could sense.
It didn’t take long to discern the possessed mages from the Defenders since their magic was volatile, and it was becoming dangerously unbound as they began overpowering the Defenders on the lake. If they kept it up, they’d end up killing themselves from the effort soon, but we didn’t have that long. My own Defenders were struggling enough as it was, so I forced my Terra powers to split as many ways as I could manage, and while I tracked the possessed mages’ footing, I started tearing pits open at their feet.
I crushed every mage I could find in solid stone while Rammstein wove to lash at the others with his machete tail, and when the pitching of the water finally slowed, I heard the Defenders coordinating to get everyone safely to land.
Then I ordered Rammstein to head for the peaks, and as he circled back, my head spun from the aching cold. My vision began to go foggy, too, as we soared over the heads of our troops, and the barren landscape was a blur of bodies and blood while lightning struck between ridges ahead of me.
If I squinted hard, I could just make out the swarm of minions who had nearly reached the mountain passes, and the elven warriors were hot on their trail while the ogres lumbered at top speed. Without the dwarves being able to keep up, though, they’d be dangerously outnumbered if they managed to close the gap. Either that, or the Master’s soldiers would disperse throughout the passes, and our troops would be separated and lost in their attempts to track them down.
The jagged peaks loomed not sixty yards ahead while I urged Rammstein to speed up, and as soon as we overtook everyone, he veered sharply and let his flames spill across the base of the ridge.
Then the wall of green fire he formed devoured the Master’s minions by the hundreds as they barreled straight into the inferno, but several frantically tried to double back only to find themselves cornered by my troops. Elven warriors buried arrows in their throats and sliced their necks apart with Halcyan glaives, and the ogres were right behind them to tear the rest limb from limb. The few dozen who made it past the green beasts were bludgeoned by a line of dwarven maces, and as I eyed the slaughter from above, I could tell the troops in the north had given up competing ages ago.
They butchered each other’s attackers without pause as the wails of the Master’s soldiers rose above the wind, and I let the inferno rage on to help them out as Rammstein tore his way back toward the lake.
The Defenders had managed to take down most of the sphynxes while our Flumen Mages got everyone back to safety, but as I scanned the state of the shattered lake, I could tell the portals had been destroyed. No new troops were arriving anymore, and our army was swiftly overrunning the last of the Master’s soldiers now that they’d gained the upper hand.
I knew I needed to get to Vasdor and make sure Dorinick was okay, but before I gave Rammstein the order, I pulled my AR-15 around, and I took down the last dozen sphynxes since I still couldn’t see my Boms anywhere. In the eerie green firelight, the tundra surrounding Rausch Loch looked like a sea of ghoulish corpses while the death count rapidly piled up, and as Rammstein’s flames built higher, the blaze got so hot, the storm began drying up before it reached the ground. The heat was enough to melt the snow as I turned on the griffins next, and I’d just emptied my magazine when I saw Aurora send out a jet of flames to consume ten elves while she bludgeoned two others at once with her flails.
She was covered with blood as she chuckled with every strike, and when she buried the iron spikes in an elf’s head, his brains exploded out the side of his splintered skull while the half-elf gasped with delight.
Then I smirked and reloaded my rifle one last time, and I took down every other minion within thirty feet of my half-elf as Rammstein soared past.
Aurora had a silly grin on her face when she whipped around to find me, and as she narrowed her emerald eyes in mock irritation, I wrenched my axe from the side of the dragon and ordered him to circle back. Then I sent the axe spiraling down to make it up to her, and when the half-elf wrenched it out of a corpse to test its weight, I didn’t think her grin could possibly get any wider.
“I forgive you!” Aurora hollered, and she was already sprinting for the next elf with the axe raised at the ready.
I stuck around long enough to watch my half-elf decapitate three elves in one wide swipe while she giggled like a lunatic, and as blood splattered the Defenders around her, I kicked Rammstein into gear.
The metal dragon doused his flames just as we crested the peak, and then he dove over the next ridge as bitter wind engulfed me again. The storm hadn’t even begun to let up in all this time, and I could see forty-foot drifts had formed in the valley below. Dorinick’s platoon didn’t have any frozen lakes to worry about on this side of the peak, but the valley wove north and south for miles from Vasdor, and with the snowdrifts shifting and growing higher, our soldiers were losing track of the Master’s minions.
“F-Fuck this weather,” I growled as I realized I couldn’t feel my limbs anymore, but if I could finish out the fight at Vasdor, all of us could get the hell out of the mountains before we froze to death in them.
So, I scanned the whole valley as we finally reached the portals, and while more possessed creatures spilled out into the snow, the Boms had already learned they could take down the sphynxes better than anyone. My Defenders were doing all they could to combat the elements and fire their pistols at the same time, but the wind tearing through the valley was strong enough to send even the ogres staggering sideways while they struggled to keep track of the possessed elves darting through the snow. The dwarves were forced to hang back and fight in the areas they could wade through, too, and I could tell the Master’s soldiers were already too dispersed to catch now.
A pack that must have had more than two hundred mages and elves in it had broken through our lines, and they were bolting north to follow the valley straight to Aurum. Another hundred were sprinting toward the outer passes to head deep into the wilderness, and Dorinick was trudging his way across the valley while he belted orders to the tribe of ogres and elves
he led toward the passes.
The ogres snatched the griffins who dove at them to tear the wings right off their backs, but the effort slowed down their progress while I eyed how far the northern swarm had gotten already.
Then I tightened my hold on Rammstein’s steel.
“You know the drill, buddy,” I said with a grin. “Show ‘em how it’s done.”
Rammstein let out a grating roar, and he fought to avoid rolling in the crosswind while I kept urging him to pick up speed. We managed to reach the passes just before the Master’s troops could escape, and once we seared a line of flames across the southwest edge of the valley, we circled back to block the eastern side next.
We left Dorinick’s crew to handle the slaughter from there as I quickly turned Rammstein north, and even though he couldn’t gather nearly as much speed with the wind coming at us head on, the metal dragon roared with a vengeance as he chased after the dim swarm of minions in the distance.
Then I heard the roar of another dragon, and I craned my stiff neck to see Deya diving through the clouds to join us. Shoshanne was wrapped in drenched fur with ice forming in her hair and on her arms, but she looked at me with fierce determination before she ordered Deya to stay in pace with me.
“The mages can’t keep this up much longer!” the healer yelled through the wind. “Eleven are unconscious from overusing their powers, and the healing staff doesn’t counter that kind of damage!”
“If we destroy the portals now, the Master keeps his soldiers!” I hollered back. “We need to ride this out!”
“But only the Defenders can use your pistols!” Shoshanne countered. “Without them, the others will… ”
The healer’s eyes widened at the same moment mine did, and we looked around to try and locate whatever it was we were hearing. It was impossible to guess the direction it came from with the howling wind and thunder, but it was some sort of deep rumble that reverberated through me even in midair.
Then Deya screeched and turned back to the south, and I slowed Rammstein as I followed her gaze to a giant, flaming, demonic skull emerging at the center of the valley.
