I picked a promising looking one and sheathed my sword, ready to break my rule for this fight. As the Evenawks drew closer, I summoned some power into my foot and stomped the ground, causing the ground to shake and knock them off their feet. I hurried to the tree, grabbed the lowest reaching branch and began climbing.
It was silly to think that simply climbing a tree would elude bird people but my plan wasn’t to hide, it was to cross the battlefield to my allies. I would dive off the top and crash down on some Evenawks close to Donkor or Cathy. It would have to rely on a properly placed Pulse to help slow me down, but it was doable.
Hopefully.
At the top, I looked down towards the pursuing Evenawks and saw them circling the area looking for me. It would only be a matter of time before they looked up, so I found a solid branch in the direction I needed and headed out towards the battle.
A quick scan around showed the Jaguar warriors in the trees easily dealing with the sky archers. Many of the warriors had stolen a bow from one of the dead and were using it against the archers. With no cover in the sky, the birds were dropping quickly. I scanned the ground for a landing spot and drew my short sword again. I was a lot higher up than I had thought. I took a couple of deep breaths in preparation before pain erupted in my shoulder.
My first reaction was to drop the sword and grab the branch under me for stability. I heard the sword bounce off some of the branches while I scanned the sky for my attacker. An archer had spotted me and was circling the tree looking for his next shot. I dropped my head below the leaf cover before an arrow could find my head. I grabbed the arrow embedded in my scales and pulled it out with a hiss. Magic healed the wound as I tried to line up a shot at the archer.
A memory came to mind during my attack on Scert’chak with Lady Middleton. I could kill two birds with one stone. Almost literally. I just needed to draw the archer in closer. I peeked out through the leaves and ducked down again as an arrow flew by. Popping up, I launched a Pulse towards the archer with no intent on hitting him. The archer easily dodged and let another arrow fly. I blocked it with a barrier then ducked down into the branches. Using small Pulses, I shook branches like I was fleeing. The archer bought it and started flying closer to the tree to launch arrows into the leaves. As I prepared to jump, an arrow hit the archer from behind.
I sucked in air, waiting to see if the archer would drop immediately, but instead he thrashed about. The arrow had hit it in the shoulder and now the bird was struggling to stay in the air. He continued to thrash and only fell closer to the tree as he lost altitude. This was my only chance. Without thinking, I pushed myself up and jumped out towards him.
Landing hard on the back of the Evenawk, he squawked out in pain and thrashed to shake me off. I gripped him tightly and used my weight to turn our death fall into the direction I wanted. The ground rushed to us in a hurry and I pushed off the doomed bird and tucked myself into a ball in an effort to soften the landing. It only helped slightly as I tumbled over the hard ground and dead bodies.
I groaned and rose to my feet. The ground Evenawks were shocked to see me and started advancing. I was close enough now that I could fight to Donkor and Cathy’s position so I searched the ground for a weapon. I grabbed a fallen Jaguar warrior’s sword, but immediately dropped it because of its unexpected weight. It wouldn’t be something I could easily handle so I went to plan B and picked up an Evenawk spear.
How they carried the spears, I didn’t know. No matter how I gripped it, it always felt unbalanced. I would be useless in a fight with it, but it reminded me of an arrow and I got an idea. Power flowed into the spear and I released it so it could levitate in front of me. Summoning a Pulse, I launched it into the group, skewering a line of Evenawks. Without hesitation, I scooped up another spear and repeated the action. Spear after spear was launched into the group and the Evenawks began to scatter into every direction.
The combined strength of the warriors, Donkor, Cathy and me, had finally broken the will to fight from the brainwashed birds and they were driven into a panic with no understanding of what to do next. The warriors would be able to handle them easily now. I needed to head to the camp and fight the Mages.
Donkor slashed his way through a group and ran up to me. “You look terrible,” he said. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “Take care of things here. I’m heading for the camp. Where’s...Lady Middleton?”
“A couple of Mages joined the battle before those spears started scaring everyone,” Donkor answered. “Your Lady went to face them.”
“My Lady?” I asked.
Donkor smirked, part of me felt like he was playing a game with me. “You’re technically from Balendar, are you not?”
“I suppose,” I answered.
“Well then...” he trailed.
I shook my head. “Let’s go.”
I trailed behind Donkor and let him remove any Evenawks in our way. The Jaguar warriors were enthusiastically chasing down the scattering Evenawks. Cathy was ahead of us, defending against a two Mage attack. Donkor and I picked up speed and I launched an Ice Bolt at the closest Mage, forcing him to stop his attack to defend.
The other Mage stopped his attack and Donkor and I joined at Cathy’s side. “’Bout time,” she said. “Where’d you go?”
“Had to do some flying,” I answered.
The two Mages sized us up but Donkor wasn’t in the waiting mood. He began his charge and the Mages tossed a couple of Fireballs at him, thinking he was an easy target. Donkor raised his giant sword in defence and reflected the Fireballs back to them. The Mages eyes grew wide in shock as they dodged their own attacks.
They didn’t know that Donkor’s cleaver, a gift from his mother, was created in the Forge of Kings and had been magically enchanted to reflect magic. The cleaver was originally a gift from the King of Balendar to the Emperor of Nesqa, but only Donkor and his massive strength could wield it. For such a powerful weapon to find itself in the hands of the genuinely nicest person on the continent was nothing but a stroke of luck. But any Mage that dared raise his hand against Donkor or someone he loved was in for a nasty surprise.
As Donkor swung his cleaver at one, Cathy used her incredible speed to rush the other. Both were capable of handling the situation, but I would get an earful if I didn’t at least help. I summoned some power and launched an Ice Bolt towards Cathy’s target. The Mage saw it coming and dodged but it was enough for Cathy to get the upper hand and defeat the Mage.
Donkor’s attack was equally as quick, only more ferocious. The big man intimidated the Mage with every move as the Mage struggled to keep up. I looked for an attack but couldn’t without hitting Donkor. I watched in awe as Donkor skilfully defeated the Mage.
“Alright, to the camp,” Cathy said.
I shook my head. “Stay here. There are still too many Evenawks and not enough warriors.”
“I can’t let my men die,” Donkor said, taking off towards the fight.
Cathy looked at me silently. “Your strength is best suited here. We can’t let the Evenawks gain the upper hand again. I can handle whatever is at that camp,” I said.
She smirked. “You look terrible.”
I laughed. “I can only imagine.”
“Stay safe,” she said.
“You too,” I replied.
She hurried back to the main battle and I headed for the camp. Outside the trees, the breeze was cool and relaxing. The scales on my hands returned to skin as I wiped some of the blood, dirt and sweat off my face. I tried not to think of the blood as someone else’s. It was less stomach churning to just see it as my own.
A lone figure stood at the camp. As I approached, she crossed her arms and studied me. “Even under all that blood I can still make you out. The Master has a large bounty out for your head.”
“If it’s under 10,000 gold, you are being underpaid,” I responded.
“The real question I want to know is why?” she asked. “Why help them? You’ve seen how they’ve treated Mages since t
he Tower’s destruction. Are they really worth saving?”
I shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. I haven’t met them all. I’m still going to make sure I get that chance though.”
“There’s no talking you out of it?” she asked.
“Not if you want to collect that bounty,” I said playfully. Her hands burst into flames and my hands returned to scales. “Ladies first.”
The fire raged towards me and I dropped to the ground to cover my head. The fire blasted past me and I moved my hands to see her rush towards me. I stood up and launched an Ice Bolt at her. She easily deflected it, raising both hands and launching eight mini Pulses in quick succession. Individually they were nothing, but as each hit I lost my footing and was dropped onto my back.
She leapt into the air and from her palm, a long magical blade emerged. I rolled out of the way as her and the blade landed where I used to be. Ice formed around my hand and struck her face as she turned to look at me. I jumped to my feet and covered my other arm with Ice as well.
She rose to her feet, blood running down her cheek from where the Ice cut her. “I’m sorry, should I not be taking it easy on you?” I asked playfully.
She ripped the magic blade off her palm and grew a new one. With a blade in each hand, she charged. I stood my ground and defended her attacks with practiced skill, launching into my own counterattacks. My goal was to shatter one of her blades and overpower her. After dodging her jab, I swung hard at her hand, connecting and forcing her to drop the blade. It turned to dust as it hit the ground.
She swung out with her other blade and I jumped back. With her now free hand, she sent a couple of Pulses at me, making me stagger, and rushed forward to grab me by the throat. With scary strength, she lifted me off the ground and readied her blade.
“It’s almost a shame to kill you,” she said, breathing heavily. “This was a good work out.”
I chuckled. “Can I just say one more thing?”
She smiled as the power built up in my chest. “Of course,” she answered.
I opened my mouth and launched the Sonic Scream, a high pitch magical scream that damages the person’s brain. The Mage’s face changed to horror as she dropped me and the blade to cover her ears. I stopped the spell, summoned power into both hands and launched a Fireball, covering her in flames from head to toe.
“Never give your opponent the chance to fight back,” I said to her, watching her turn to ash.
Chapter 29
“Of course you start saying all the cool lines when I’m not inside your head,” Cathy said, behind me.
I smirked and watched the ashes blow away in the breeze before turning around to face her. “Sometimes you just say what feels right. How’s it going in the forest?”
“The Evenawks are in full retreat,” she answered, holding up the Nao staff. “I figured it was time to use this.”
I took the staff. “If the brainwashed weren’t screwed now, they will be in a second.”
The staff stood out of the ground on top of its weird runic symbol. It was bigger than the one we found outside of Szwen. I guessed it was more powerful so the spell’s reach could penetrate the Nesqian forest. They wouldn’t be able to simply chop down the trees and keep the natives at bay, like the Naos.
Aiming my staff at the other staff, my magic flowed through it and the yellow light connected. The red rune turned yellow and the staff did its little dance before a bright white light flashed from the ground and the staff snapped in half.
I placed the flowery staff in the back holster of my armour and turned to Cathy. “And with that, we have the Nesqian’s help.”
“Good work, Mr. Kairu,” Cathy said.
“Why thank you, Lady Middleton,” I said with a bow. We both laughed and noticed Donkor standing close to us. I turned to him. “How do you keep doing that?”
“You aren’t paying too much attention to the world around you,” Donkor answered.
“Fair enough,” I said. “How’d it go in the forest?”
“Done,” Donkor replied. “The birds became really freaked out after that white flash from your direction. Whatever ones we couldn’t catch flew off to the north. I figured that means we won this battle.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, it’s over. The camp is ours. How are the casualties?”
“Ten dead, two seriously injured, four with minor injuries,” Donkor said bluntly. “Figure we should stay the night here and give people a chance to heal, pay our respects to the dead.”
I nodded. “Know a nearby stream I can wash up? I’ll examine the injured.”
“Yeah, just this way,” Donkor replied, and then turned to Cathy. “Can you help my men bring the wounded here?”
“Yes, but be quick,” she said. “The men are in for a rough night if I have to heal them.”
“I’ll run as fast as I can,” I said playfully.
*****
The stream wasn’t too far away so I was back in the camp quickly and helping the warriors. One of the seriously injured had a leg that looked bad. I wasn’t a doctor but even I knew that in any other circumstance, the leg would need to be amputated. With the help of magic, I repaired the leg and given enough time to heal naturally, the warrior should continue to walk, run and be merry like a normal person.
Sadly, the other seriously injured warrior wasn’t going to make it. He had lost too much blood on the battlefield and the most I could do for him was make him comfortable so he could pass away in peace. It was the best I could do and the warrior thanked me for my effort before falling asleep.
The other injured were easily treated and after I was done I left, exhausted, to hide out in the female Mage’s tent. I believed her to be the leader of this camp and was proven right by the large number of documents in her possession. I sat down and began studying them, hoping to understand the enemy a little better.
Each Mage we had faced wore the same red-brown robes and it couldn’t be a coincidence. In the old Tower, the robes signified which school you belonged to. If the stray Mages were reorganising under Desroche under the pretence of freedom of magic, then we were in trouble. Magic-Non Magic relations would take another hit. Somewhere in these documents had to be some information to help me understand it better and with any hope, stop it before it got worse.
The documents were nothing more than instructions on how to set up the machine and messages between Desroche and Carla, the female Mage. Aside from what looked like a steamy love affair, the letters didn’t help me in any way. I was still at square one with the Mage group thing.
Like at the other camp, I burned the documents with the instructions. It was one less set of instructions I needed to worry about falling into the wrong hands. That technology can forever be forgotten and no one would be upset by it. Even if they were, screw them.
“Ah, here you are,” Donkor said, squeezing his way through the tent flap. “The celebration is going to be started soon. I want to make sure you don’t miss it.”
“Celebration?” I asked, swinging my seat around so I could face Donkor.
“The victory celebration,” Donkor said, like I should know. When I looked blank he continued. “We won a huge battle. It’s time to drink and eat and honour the dead with a celebration of life. We’ve already raided the supplies here. Not much, but enough to make a big stew. And more wine than you would think. Do all Mages drink heavily?”
“We’re usually against it,” I said. “Messes with the magical abilities.”
“No wonder we won so easily,” he smiled.
I laughed. “I think we got to them before they started drinking. We lost some good men today.”
“They fought bravely against horrible odds and laughed in the face of death,” Donkor said. “If I ever die, I want it to be that way. No greater death for a warrior.”
“Well I hope you don’t plan on dying anytime soon, my friend,” I said.
Donkor chuckled. “Dying is for old men. We’re too young for that. We have so much more adventure to have firs
t.”
“Like our big battle at Ghanlar?” I asked.
“More than that,” Donkor answered. “Ghanlar is but a single chapter in our life. No matter what they throw at us, we will march forward and set things right.”
I smiled. “I wish I was that confident.”
“What changed?” Donkor asked, sitting down on the nearby bed. “You almost seemed fearless when we first met. What’s different now?”
“Nothing I suppose,” I shrugged. “Just...growing up, I guess.”
“What are you, eighty?” Donkor joked.
I laughed. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I know what you meant,” Donkor smirked. “Your lady. The young Lady Middleton has caught your eye.”
“What?” I asked.
“Don’t play foolish with me,” Donkor said. “I may be simple, but I’m not dumb. I’ve seen the way you two are together. Andy, my friend, you are in love.” I looked past him, lost in my thoughts and he laughed. “Don’t tell me you’ve not noticed this or even suspected it.”
I shrugged, completely lost. “You forget that I grew up without parents or even friends in an isolated Tower. How am I supposed to know what love is or what it feels like?”
“Because you don’t need to be told, you just kind of feel it,” Donkor said. “It’s difficult to describe but here’s a little test I can give you. Answer yes or no to these questions.”
“We don’t...” I started.
Donkor raised a hand. “Humour me. Do you think about her when she is not around?”
“Yes, but...” I started.
“Yes or no only,” Donkor interrupted. “When you are with her, are you the happiest you can be?”
“Yes,” I answered.
“If she were to leave and you knew you would never get to see her again, would you be sad?” Donkor asked.
“Yes,” I answered.
“If I were to leave this building to attack her, would you stop me?” Donkor asked.
“I don’t think I would be needed,” I said. “She would put you down quicker than I could react.”
The Vacant Throne: The Legend Of Kairu Vol 3 Page 23