by Eric Vall
There were too many damn Archons in my head, and I slammed my well-practiced mental walls into place to block them out.
We reached Erin’s airship without too much more action, and the refugees filed onboard as a small squad of soldiers organized to stay behind and guard them. When the last man was aboard, us five mages gathered to plan our attack.
I murmured my strategy to them, and they nodded in agreement as they listened to what I had to say.
“Well,” Layla said with a playful smile, “it’s not the stupidest plan I’ve ever heard out of your mouth.”
“Are you sure about that one?” Cyra asked with a frown.
“Bah,” I scoffed, and I led my team at a jog down the path by the riverside. “Come on, time is wasting.”
They followed obligingly for half a silent second before the commentary started up again.
“I think it’s spectacular,” Ashla commented as she grinned and ran her hand along Bessie’s handle.
“I’m going to regret following you guys,” Erin sighed as she pushed her orange hair out of her face, “but I guess this is the best idea we’ve got.”
I grinned at the show of support as I ran. When we jogged past the trees and entered the village clearing, we stopped to take in the view for a moment.
Phi crashed through buildings without a care in the world. As we watched, she leaned down to pick a soldier up by the nape of his shirt.
“Ready?” I asked, and I ran my fingers along my bandolier in one last check born out of old habits.
“Ready,” the women chorused in unison.
Suddenly, Phi looked up and spotted us. She pinched distractedly at the soldier’s shirt as she tilted her head questioningly at our team of five.
Pity Gawain couldn’t join us, Phi’s voice slithered through my skull with elegant dismissal. I would’ve loved to bring so many stories to an end all at once. No matter, you five will do fine.
She flicked her fingers without looking, and the soldier went flying off into the forest. Branches cracked as he slammed through them, and I knew he couldn’t have survived the fall.
Erin gasped beside me, and Cyra flinched in response to the soldier’s death.
“You’re going to regret doing that,” I ground out under my breath, and my jaw tightened in fury as I glared at Phi.
Am I? Phi asked and she brushed an idle hand through her snow-white hair. Are you picking a fight, little Gryff?
“You bet your ass we are,” I snapped back.
Lovely, Phi replied simply. Let’s see what you’re really made of, then.
The blue-skinned Archon crouched, and a puff of dust and ash kicked up around her feet.
Then she let loose at a dead sprint, and the fifty-foot angel woman came charging straight for us.
Chapter 16
Phi charged us, and she smashed houses underfoot as her bare feet carved out furrows in the earth. The ground beneath me trembled as the vibrations from her approach grew stronger.
“Maker help us,” Cyra breathed in anticipation.
This wasn’t in my plan.
Of course, it wasn’t in my plan to get into a snappy argument with the fifty-foot demigoddess in the first place. I had assumed we would stroll back to the perimeter of the village, and Phi would ignore us for long enough so I could get my monsters rolling.
Still, I wasn’t about to go down without a fight.
“Let’s kick her ass,” I barked out, and I moved my hand to a different crystal on my bandolier.
I threw out an essence crystal shaped like a shooting star, and an enormous flash of smoke cleared away to reveal my baroquer. Mana drained from me as I resummoned him for the second time today, and I felt the elixir’s fresh mana drain away partly.
My baroquer unfolded to his full height, and I ordered him to brace himself as I gave him a speed slug for augmented fighting ability. The slug wiggled into place, and my baroquer crouched and laid his blade down as he stepped one foot back in preparation for Phi’s arrival.
Too weak, Phi boomed through my mind, and she jumped the final building before she sprinted straight for my baroquer.
My baroquer held out his hands to catch Phi so he could throw her using her own momentum. It was a standard trick I learned in Academy training duels, and my baroquer followed my instructions to the letter.
Instead of finishing her charge normally, Phi dropped to the earth and slid forward with her feet angled drastically to stop her momentum. Dust kicked up in enormous clouds as she dug giant trenches in the earth with her heels.
Phi slid straight up to my baroquer, and in a flash of a second, she planted her hands on the ground to kick directly upward into his helmeted head.
Her foot connected perfectly with my baroquer’s chin, and his head snapped back painfully as the force of the kick knocked him over backward. My baroquer’s legs folded as he landed on his back, and I gasped as I felt fear and shock echo both ways through our bond.
Phi bent down and picked up my baroquer’s discarded sword.
Fighting with this would be hardly sporting, Phi mocked as she examined the blade. You shouldn’t use a sword against an unarmed woman.
She turned slightly and pitched the sword over her shoulder, and it shot through the air with frightening speed and power. The sword hurtled end-over-end until it landed somewhere near the rift at the far side of the Njordenfalls village.
“Get her!” Cyra cried, and Kalon launched from the ground while her silver wings flared around her in an impressive show of speed.
Ice and fire peppered the Archon’s heels as Ashla and Erin launched their own attacks. Their magic hit home, but the spells barely left a mark on Phi’s pale blue skin. Frost barely clung to her, and fire only created slight discolored marks, like Phi had been merely brushed with ash.
As Kalon approached, Phi reached out one casual hand and snatched the silver dragon straight out of the air.
The Archon’s speed was uncanny compared to her size, and her hand blurred so quickly it was almost invisible.
An argentim dragon? Phi mused as she examined Kalon’s struggling form. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one of these. No matter.
She clenched her blue-skinned hand, and Kalon squealed as the pressure increased.
“Kalon!” Cyra shouted as she recalled her dragon familiar.
The silver, scale-shaped essence crystal returned to Cyra’s hand as Kalon disappeared from Phi’s grip.
I commanded my baroquer to attack, and he swept his armored legs sideways to knock Phi off her feet.
The Archon hopped up like she weighed nothing more than a feather, and my baroquer’s sweep passed under her harmlessly, but then Phi stepped forward and planted her bare foot on the center of my baroquer’s chest.
Let me out, Sera hissed from the corner of my mind. I’ll kill her for us. You need me, and you know it.
You’re the last thing I need, I told the Archon in my head.
My baroquer grabbed Phi’s foot by the ankle before he rolled sideways. The Archon stumbled, tripped, and fell, and they both ended up in the dirt.
Dust sprayed at us, and I tugged my teammates back from the fray as my monster tussled with Phi. They turned over and over, and I tried every arm lock and dirty move I knew. Every time I thought I had the upper hand, Phi twisted away again like water between my baroquer’s fingers.
She’s eons old, Sera whispered. You cannot hope to best her in combat. She’s been fighting since long before you were born.
I shook off Sera’s words. I’d beaten plenty of people who were older than me before. What were a few more millenia, after all?
My baroquer flipped Phi over and pressed an armored knee into the Archon’s back as he wrapped his elbow around her neck in a headlock. The position felt secure, and her golden chains creaked as my baroquer squeezed tightly at her neck.
Phi slammed her head backward, and the crown of her skull shot toward my baroquer’s helmed face. He reared back to dodge her attack,
and she slithered and rolled out of his headlock with ease.
In a split second, she blurred with speed and threw him groundward. A childlike giggle echoed through our heads as Phi slammed her palm into his chest. The blue-skinned Archon dug her fingers into my baroquer, and his chestplate popped as her fingernails punctured four deep holes in his armor.
“Shit,” I swore, and I commanded him to knee her in the chest.
My baroquer’s armored boots planted directly on Phi’s tender stomach, and he pushed with all his might to throw her away.
The Archon merely went with the blow, and she took a couple steps back until she ended in a crouch without breaking a sweat. A white-toothed smile spread across her face, and her milky eyes glowed with contentment.
“She’s not even trying,” I huffed out.
“I’ve been throwing my best spells at her,” Ashla panted as a complex ice spell glowed and rotated between her fingers. “Nothing makes a dent.”
“Nothing here, either,” Erin rasped. “It’s like she’s immune to magic entirely.”
I wish I could say I was doing better, but as my baroquer leveled a kick at her, she seized his foot and twisted until he slammed to the ground.
The earth underneath us trembled, and I bit my lip as Phi launched herself at my baroquer with a straight-armed punch that dented his chestplate. Pain echoed through our bond as he suffered yet another blow.
She was faster, stronger, and more experienced, and my mind raced as I tried to think of something, anything, that would turn the tide of the battle.
Layla smashed an essence crystal between her hands, and I shook my head at her.
“What are you doing?” I asked in a hushed tone.
“She won’t catch my keichim,” Layla whispered, “since she can’t see it coming.”
Layla’s batlike familiar could deliver a pretty good electric shock after it gathered energy in its wings, and it had the added benefit of being near-invisible on command.
“Be careful,” I murmured back. “There’s no telling what she can do.”
“She’s distracted,” Layla dismissed as her expression grew concerned, “and for that matter, so are you.”
Phi swung a right hook at my baroquer while I wasn’t paying attention, and her fist left a deep dent in his left shoulder plate. I quickly commanded him to block her next punch, and he just barely managed to avoid a similar dent on his other shoulder.
Having fun, Gryff? Phi asked in my head. I enjoy a good fight, you know. Playing games always makes me happy.
“If you like playing so much,” I yelled, “stop killing your opponents.”
My baroquer backed up my words with a series of simple jabs and feints designed to confuse and tire the opponent.
Phi dodged and stepped away effortlessly with perfect footwork as she avoided every real attack and ignored every fake one. My baroquer kept his guard tight and close to his face, but she didn’t throw any counterattacks.
Winning without a good kill at the end isn’t a win at all, Phi retorted as she weaved under another jab. Though I’ll make an exception for you, Gryff. I need your body for what I have in mind.
Suddenly, electricity arced through the air, and fire sparked across the crown of Phi’s head. The silvery outline of Layla’s near-invisible keichim still darted around Phi’s face as it let loose a series of electrical attacks.
Phi shoved my baroquer by the shoulders, and he was thrown backward into the copse of trees behind the two fighters.
“Get fucked, bitch!” Layla shouted as she commanded her keichim to let loose incredible bolts of lightning directly into Phi’s face.
Phi leaned back and bared her teeth in irritation as the keichim set fire to part of her snowy hair. Then the Archon ran her blue-skinned hand along the white strands, and the flames snuffed out as if they had never existed. There wasn’t even a mark on her pure, ivory-colored hair.
A keichim, if I’m not mistaken, Phi huffed. What an annoying little rodent.
The Archon opened her mouth and breathed out a cloud of white vapor which quickly spread and settled around her head.
Layla gasped, and I didn’t realize what had happened until her keichim slammed into the ground below. Its camouflage flickered and disappeared, and I caught a glimpse of the still, unmoving body of the keichim before Layla recalled it.
Anger rushed through me, and my baroquer got back to his feet just in time for me to order him in for another attack. My armored giant picked up a nearby broken tree trunk and heaved it at the Archon with all his strength.
Phi held up her forearm, and the tree glanced off as it shattered into a shower of dirt and splintered wood.
I didn’t wait, though, and my baroquer followed up the throw with a kick that connected just barely with Phi’s chest as she dodged away. I ordered my baroquer to get in close, and he threw a series of punches to keep her off her guard.
Excitement thrilled through me as I felt the taste of victory for the first time. Maybe, if we kept this up, we could actually beat her.
Suddenly, Phi stepped forward and ducked with blinding speed. I directed my baroquer to back off, but she planted her bare foot on top of his shoe in a stomp that crunched the metal of his boot inward.
I’m the winner, Phi announced. Your monster fought valiantly, but he’s no match for me.
The blue-skinned Archon grabbed my baroquer by his damaged shoulder and clenched her hand around the metal plating there. As she squeezed, my baroquer struggled helplessly against her while he tried to escape. Phi placed her other hand against my baroquer’s cheek, and after she clenched her fingers in a firm grip on his helm, she pulled in one smooth motion.
My baroquer’s neck cracked, and his head parted from his shoulders in one hideous sound of grating metal.
Horror thrilled through me as I watched helplessly, and I could do nothing but recall him.
My baroquer’s decapitated head vanished from Phi’s grip, and his body dissolved out from under her other hand.
“What do we do?” Ashla asked in hollow terror as she thrust one more spear of ice toward Phi’s leg.
The point of it glanced harmlessly off the Archon’s calf, and nothing but a discolored scratch was left behind.
Let me free, Sera hissed from inside my head, and I will kill her myself.
“My baroquer was supposed to weaken her,” I said helplessly. “Without any damage done, I don’t know if I can finish her off … “
“We have to keep going,” Cyra pressed. “I wish we could get the soldiers involved, but I doubt it would do us much good.”
“There are barely any survivors left,” I agreed hastily. “Alright, I’m going to use my pyrewyrm, and hopefully it can weaken her in time for the final blow. I need to save the rest of my mana for that last attack, though.”
“Use the pyrewyrm,” Layla urged. “We have to try.”
I threw out the gray essence crystal for my pyrewyrm, and my monster burst from it with a shriek and a whirling of smoke.
“Alright,” I told the women. “Stay safe on the ground. I’m going to be flying circles around her, and I don’t want you getting crushed underfoot.”
“No worries,” Ashla said as she passed me and walked over to my serpentine monster.
“What are you doing?” I asked as I met her at my pyrewyrm’s side.
“I’m going to ride it,” Ashla announced as she pulled Bessie out and rested the axe on one shoulder. “If your pyrewyrm can’t do any damage, at least my Bessie can make a dent in her.”
“No way,” I argued. “It’s not safe.”
“None of this is safe,” Ashla retorted, “and sitting here wasting my mana is far more likely to get us all killed in the long run. I’m sorry, Gryff, but it’s not up to you.”
I watched in shock as the ice mage rested her hands on my pyrewyrm’s flank as she waited for me to command him to bend down.
“Wait,” I said brusquely. “If you’re going to do this, we have to take Erin.
She knows how to fly better than I do, and my pyrewyrm has experience in listening to her.”
Erin was already ahead of me, and she joined us by my pyrewyrm’s side.
If you’re going to take so long, Phi said as she pounded toward us, I’ll end this myself.
“Shit,” I swore. “Let’s hurry.”
I ordered my pyrewyrm to bend down, and I helped the two girls mount it before I followed them and clambered aboard myself.
“I won’t fail,” Erin told me as she leaned forward to speak into my ear, and her voice was steely with determination. “Trust me on this. I won’t.”
“I trust you,” I said as my pyrewyrm spread its shadowy wings wide. “You’ll keep us all safe.”
My pyrewyrm crouched, and it burst from the ground with powerful wing beats as it took to the air.
Phi stopped to watch my monster fly toward her.
Four for one, she observed in her mature, elegant voice. More fun to destroy.
As we flew, I slipped a speed slug crystal from my bandolier and cracked it between my hands to release the monster within. I attached the slug to my pyrewyrm’s neck, and we instantly picked up speed.
The wind whistled as we cleaved through the air like a knife through warm butter. My stomach lurched as we dipped and wove, and we avoided a clear path to keep Phi from knowing where we would be next.
Ashla was sitting behind both Erin and me, and she twirled her axe menacingly as I directed my pyrewyrm to shoot past Phi’s face. As we did, the ice mage thrust her double-bladed axe outward in a display of pure muscle, and the weapon sheared a section of Phi’s snowy hair off as we passed.
A fine, pink line about two feet long opened up on Phi’s cheek, and red blood trickled from the wound.
You’re starting to get on my nerves, Phi hissed, and real anger filled her voice this time.
She breathed out another cloud of the white, deadly vapor, but Erin pressed against me to direct us as we twisted away from the cloud and into clean air.
Phi swiped out an eager hand to catch us, but Erin turned us away in a teeth-chattering upward pull that made my head feel strange with the force.
