“Miss Sylaris, it’s good to see you’re up. I’d recommend you go to the Spirit Forest with everyone else, as we’re preparing to fend off the raiders,” Sir Pendas said as she approached, nodding grimly. “Not that we’re sure how many of them there are, yet. We’ve never had someone break the wards without getting stuck in them for a while first.”
“That doesn’t sound good. As for going to the Spirit Forest, I must decline. I didn’t learn magic to hide when danger came near,” Ruethwyn replied, shrugging as a flicker of indignation sparked within her. “I’ve been training to face soldiers and worse for some time, and I’m not going to hide while you defend yourselves. You’ve been gracious hosts, and that would be just… wrong.”
“Suit yourself,” Sir Pendas said, his voice blunt, and he looked to one of the other kitsune who had heavier armor. “Anything from the scouts yet?”
“Rue!” Korima’s voice was a little surprising, and Ruethwyn turned to see her friend, who looked a bit disheveled, but was wearing a couple of pieces of enchanted jewelry and was wearing a belt with a dagger and wand sheathed in it. The kitsune smiled as she said, “I wasn’t sure if I’d find you here. You’re helping defend the town, then?”
“That’s my plan, yes,” Ruethwyn agreed, then glanced over as she caught a glimpse of Sella and Tadrick approaching. When they got close, she spoke calmly. “It sounds like someone broke the wards around the village, though I’m not sure how far out those are.”
“About three miles,” Korima said, smiling thinly, though Ruethwyn could see the worry in her eyes. “We push them out as far as possible to give us time to prepare.”
“So, we’ve got five to ten minutes, I’d guess,” Tadrick said, his voice tense.
“Something troubling is coming. I smell the taint on the wind,” Luminous spoke suddenly, her voice causing Ruethwyn to stiffen. “Prepare yourself.”
“Luminous said she smells taint on the wind. We’d best prepare for something dangerous,” Ruethwyn began, but moments later, Sir Pendas spoke loudly.
“Raiders are coming from the southwest, and scouts report in excess of fifty of them, with summoned elementals supporting them! Primary combatants, prepare to intercept on the edge of the village. Second and third squads, guard the flanks,” Sir Pendas ordered. “They don’t look like they’re trying anything tricky, but be prepared for surprises. Now move.”
“That’s not good,” Sella said, her voice barely audible as the kitsune around them began to move. It was a little surprising, how smoothly they were splitting up and moving, but Ruethwyn supposed they were used to this, or at least practiced it frequently.
“Not in the slightest,” Ruethwyn agreed, glancing at the others for a moment. Then she spoke again. “Look, we aren’t used to the townsfolk’s plans, Korima, so… why don’t the four of us coordinate? You and Tadrick seem to be the best on the front line, Tadrick more than you, and Sella and I can go for support.”
“That sounds good. I wasn’t sure how you’d integrate properly, but that would work better,” Korima agreed, and nodded to the southwest. “Let’s go. Unless anyone is going to the Spirit Forest?”
“Not a chance,” Tadrick said, unsheathing his sword with a grin. “I think it’s time to put some of the training we’ve had to good use.”
“And I’m not letting all of you fight while I cower in the back,” Sella agreed, her eyes glittering in the dim light.
“Everyone had better be safe, then,” Ruethwyn agreed, adjusting the ring and bracelet she was wearing. “I’m not going to make excuses for you if you get hurt.”
That brought a titter of nervous laughter, but then they were moving for the edge of town. In the distance, Ruethwyn heard the baying of hounds, and she couldn’t help but think it somehow sounded familiar.
Chapter 24
A small part of Ruethwyn had wondered why the forest on all sides except for the Spirit Forest had been pushed back from the village for some distance, since it hadn’t seemed like the Lightweavers were making use of it. It’d been an idle thought, though, and she hadn’t spent more than a few moments wondering before.
She didn’t wonder anymore, as the kitsune defenders took up defensive positions. A handful of them used magic to dig trenches and raise earthen berms, including Korima, and they moved with a practiced ease that she marveled at. They weren’t a military unit, but it was obvious that they were used to working together.
“Luminous? Do you have any idea what type of elementals are coming?” Ruethwyn asked internally, not interrupting the bustling activity of the kitsune.
“I do not. While I can sense dark magic, your senses are too limited for me to identify much more. A hint of sulfur is on the wind, however, so some may be aligned with fire,” the phoenix dragon replied, her tone a touch disdainful at the thought.
“That doesn’t sound good. Maybe I should call for Zaria instead? She’d likely be more appropriate—” Ruethwyn began, only to have Luminous interrupt suddenly.
“No. I am a phoenix dragon, and those who wield lesser flames need to learn their place,” Luminous said bluntly, a bit of anger in her voice. “Using fire to attack innocents is appalling, and I will not stand for it.”
“If you say so,” Ruethwyn murmured, accidentally speaking aloud.
“What was that, Rue?” Sella asked, glancing at Ruethwyn nervously.
“Oh, sorry. I was just talking to Luminous,” Ruethwyn apologized with a shake of her head. “She was saying that some of the elementals may be fire-aligned.”
“Lovely,” Tadrick said, drawing several runes on his sword carefully, the dim lighting making the dark blade look almost black. “Just what we needed, more fire demons or the like.”
“It gives a better idea of how to defend ourselves, though,” Sella said, reaching into her belt pouch and rummaging around for a moment before producing a small wooden brooch, which she pinned to her cloak. “There we go.”
“What’s that? I don’t think I’ve seen it before,” Ruethwyn said, blinking curiously.
“You were stuck helping Yalline when I made it. It’s a one-use fire protection spell. If I charge it and a fire spell or a lot of fire comes at me, it’ll make me resist fire somewhat for about ten minutes,” Sella explained, then grimaced. “The trigger was the hardest part, but Master Vrenne helped me figure it out.”
“I’m not surprised. Items that activate on their own are hard to make. I tried a couple, and let’s just say… that didn’t end well,” Ruethwyn said, shivering.
“Hey, you might want to prep. The scouts are coming, and that means the bad guys will be right on their heels,” Korima interrupted.
“Right,” Tadrick said, standing up as he murmured a spell, and Ruethwyn saw his body glow slightly, then the light faded.
Nodding, Ruethwyn murmured a spell of her own, weaving threads of mana together for a spell, then held it for the moment. Ice magic was definitely easier than it had been, she noticed, even if she was channeling a fire elemental. At the same time, she sent a thread of mana into her ring, causing a faint green shield to shimmer into existence around her.
Korima hadn’t been idle, and for the first time Ruethwyn actually saw her use a defensive spell, as the soil churned below her, then rose up to encase her from the neck down in a layer of dirt that only left her hands free. The kitsune had a grim look on her face, too. Sella didn’t do anything, but she had her own shield ring on, as well as the bracelet Ruethwyn had given her that stored mana.
“I’m not liking these smells…” Korima muttered as a quartet of foxes dashed out of the woods, one with an arrow buried in its back. Ruethwyn flinched at the sight, mostly in sympathy, but she also saw glowing crimson lights chasing them through the woods.
Moments later, she saw dark figures rush out of the forest, dozens of humans and elves in dark cloaks and armor. Some wielded swords, others bows, and still others had the glow of magic around their hands. To either side of them were two packs of about a dozen hellhounds, and
she swore as they rushed out of the forest, arrows and spells lashing out. Ruethwyn snapped her fingers to unleash her spell, and a layer of black ice flashed into existence right in front of one of the pits the kitsune had dug, sending one of the attackers sliding into it.
Magic in the form of green bolts of energy, fireballs, and even a lone lightning bolt lashed out from the attackers, but the kitsune weren’t idle. Their archers unleashed their own arrows while the melee combatants held behind their fortifications, and their own magi snapped out spells that cut the fireballs and lightning bolt from the air, ripping their magic apart. Ruethwyn was about to flinch as the bolts of energy continued, but when they hit their targets, she saw the figures struck pop like soap bubbles, revealing they’d been nothing more than illusions.
“Enough watching, Ruethwyn,” Luminous said, and she reached for control, control which Ruethwyn granted her.
Behind her, Ruethwyn heard Sella start chanting at the same time as Ruethwyn’s voice rose, speaking in a sibilant manner that would normally half-kill Ruethwyn’s voice. More figures were rushing out of the forest as she watched, and with how some of the attackers were weaving across the clearing like drunken sailors, Ruethwyn realized that many of them must be ensnared by mind magic of some type, that or illusions.
The attackers in front hit the kitsune lines about the time Ruethwyn’s spell finished, and she pointed at a caster in the back as she did so, her eyes locked on the elven man’s face as Luminous’s magic sprang to life. A line of pure white fire erupted from her hand like a falling star, and she saw his eyes widen for a moment before the line struck him in the chest and sent him flying back into the forest with a cry of agony.
A crackling sound split the air, and lightning filled Sella’s hands for a moment before she threw them into the sky, the two balls of lightning connected by a single tether. For a moment, Ruethwyn wondered what Sella had been doing, then the two orbs descended on a cluster of enemies as the tether pulled them together. It landed in an explosion of lightning that arced and coursed through the five men and women who’d been in its range.
Even so, there were almost as many attackers as there were defenders, Ruethwyn realized. They were on one of the flanks, and Korima and Tadrick laid into the hellhounds as they approached, Tadrick cutting down two with a spray of metal shards before charging in, while Korima manipulated a pair of fist-sized rocks through the air to pummel them.
Ruethwyn took a breath and began yet another spell, this time creating a bolt of ice to launch at the hounds, but at that very moment she heard much louder bellows of rage. Something about the bellows filled her with dread, but she finished her spell first, blasting a hellhound back before she turned, and as she did the blood drained from her face.
Twelve massive figures had lurched out of the forest, accompanied by another human shape. The figures were mutated, grotesque shapes with scaled skin, horns protruding from their shoulders, head, and elbows, and fanged maws. Worse were the daggers she could see protruding from their chests, and Ruethwyn swore aloud as she recognized them.
“Cultists of Larimos!” Ruethwyn exclaimed, and she flinched as she saw Tadrick falter, not dodging as quickly as he should have.
A hellhound took advantage of the opening, lunging for Tadrick’s elbow, but the result wasn’t what Ruethwyn had expected. Rather than tearing through the leather there, its fangs skittered across the surface like it was made of metal. Tadrick kicked the hound away with a curse, backing off slightly.
“You’ve got to be joking! We had a hard time with one of those monsters, and they’ve got ten of them?” Tadrick demanded, cutting down one of the hounds that tried to follow him. Over half had fallen, fortunately.
“More than that,” Sella said, launching a bolt of lightning into a dodging hound to allow one of Korima’s stones to hit it. The fallen hounds were dissolving into dust slowly as they were sent back to their homes, fortunately.
“Doesn’t matter! They’re here, and I don’t know if Sir Pendas knows how to deal with them!” Korima said, her voice taut.
“Sella, I’ll help here alone for the moment. Could you make sure Sir Pendas knows?” Ruethwyn asked, barely glancing over at the raging battle and flinching.
The clash of steel and smell of blood was horrible, and magic was flashing back and forth between the sides. Worse, the man in back was using strange crimson magic to rip apart the illusions of the kitsune, who’d been holding their own before his intervention. Meanwhile, the mutated monsters tore into the kitsune lines savagely, sending the defenders flying as they ignored attacks on themselves and their wounds healed rapidly.
“I’m on it,” Sella replied grimly and darted toward the center of the kitsune lines.
As she ran, Ruethwyn shook off her shock and focused on the hellhounds. While Luminous wouldn’t be helpful with them, her help would be invaluable with the cultists, so Ruethwyn drew on her magic still more, creating three bolts of frost above her hand this time and sending them at the hellhounds.
Tadrick cut down one of the ones she injured, along with another moments later, while Korima’s stones crippled a third. Only two were left, and—
Korima glanced back, and her eyes went wide. She lunged toward Ruethwyn abruptly, shoving the elf hard as she exclaimed, “Look out!”
In that instant, a brilliant flash of crimson light erupted into existence, along with intense heat. Ruethwyn’s eyes went wide as she caught a glimpse of movement, and there was an eruption of fire and earth as everything vanished for a moment.
When the light cleared, Ruethwyn’s breath caught in her throat. Tadrick was barely standing, looking scorched as he breathed hard, while one of the two remaining hellhounds was staggering back to its feet. Korima, though… she was over twenty feet from where she’d been standing, and Ruethwyn could barely see movement from her. The earthen armor had shattered across her right side, and the scorch marks against her skin were horrific, revealing what Ruethwyn thought were broken ribs. As rage began to kindle within Ruethwyn, her gaze rose to look at the figure that was floating above where Ruethwyn had been standing.
Ruethwyn recognized Hekara, with her blood-red skin and blazing crimson eyes, the immaterial wings of fire beating behind her as the demoness scowled in displeasure. Hekara spoke, her voice annoyed. “Foolish girl, getting in my way. That was supposed to deal with you once and for all, Ruethwyn. Ah, well… now to do it the hard way. At least it’ll be more fun.”
Chapter 25
“That was a mistake,” Ruethwyn replied, her rage burning brighter as she rose to her feet. “You should’ve stayed in the hells where you belong.”
“Where I belong? Please, I’m not going to do that when I could come destroy you first,” Hekara replied, sneering. Tadrick started to lunge toward her, but one of her wings lashed out, knocking him backward just in time for the last hellhound to hit him from the side. “Down, boy. I’m busy, and I don’t have time to play with you.”
“You stupid… get off me!” Tadrick roared, but he didn’t look in nearly as good of shape.
Ruethwyn was about to speak, but Luminous interrupted. “Let me handle this. I cannot burn her, but I can help them. Calm down and think, Ruethwyn. The situation is perilous.”
She almost refused, but after a moment, Ruethwyn forced herself to give up control for the moment. What she wanted more than anything was to summon Zaria and lay waste to Hekara, but Luminous was right, going at the demon in a rage was likely to be counterproductive .
“Ah, a fire demon. How unpleasant… and uncouth,” Luminous said, her tone casual. “I always wonder what it is that made the gods think creatures like you were even worth the time to create. Perhaps you were cast-off scraps?”
“What? Who the hells are you?” Hekara demanded, and Ruethwyn saw the figure of a horned demon she’d seen once before start out of the woods, one which had helped Hekara just before Ruethwyn had entered the rift in the academy.
In response, Luminous inhaled deeply, and Ruethw
yn’s eyes went wide as mana spindled within her, drawing on the dragon fire, and then erupted out of her mouth in a torrent of brilliant flames that shone with the light of the sun. The flames washed over Hekara, the hellhound, and Ruethwyn’s friends, to her panic.
“Agh! Damn you, arrogant, foolish…” Hekara exclaimed, staggering backward as she fell to the ground instead of hovering.
“Foolish? Perhaps. I’m not the one who didn’t recognize a phoenix dragon, however. I’m not the one who cannot control her flames to heal as well as harm,” Luminous retorted, smirking in reply as wisps of flame swirled around Ruethwyn’s mouth. “And I’m also not the one who was banished by what she considered a weak mortal student. I believe those rights belong to you.”
Ruethwyn blinked internally at the dragon’s insults, but as Luminous worked, her thoughts were drawn to the sight of her friends. Korima’s injuries looked like they were slightly less severe, and Tadrick threw off the hellhound and cut it down, panting as he did so. Luminous had drawn on her fire, Ruethwyn realized, as well as the dragon’s own magic. However, that didn’t mean that it was the only way it could be used. Fire coexisted with ice within her body… so might she be able to contain two elementals at once.
“A phoenix dragon. No wonder, but you aren’t here in person, and you’re young. Too young to defeat me even if you were,” Hekara replied, glowering as she jumped to the side to avoid a strike from Tadrick, calling out. “Collax, deal with this boy; he’s annoying me!”
The other demon charged toward Tadrick as he cursed angrily. “Coward! You’d have gotten your ass kicked if you’d faced us directly!”
“What does that matter?” Hekara taunted, grinning as Tadrick was knocked backward by the demon’s charge, staggering as he regained his balance. “The point is to win, not to be fair.”
The Obsidian Palace (Through the Fire Book 3) Page 23
