“I can create a distraction. When it happens, you three run for the tree line and I will follow when I can.”
“Father, no!” Tas said, almost too loudly.
I placed my hand over her mouth, and she nodded.
“I know, Daughter. But there is no other way. I will be fine, trust me.”
She nodded but looked upset. Tyla reached over and put her arms around the red-headed woman, kissing her on the cheek and whispering something in her ear I did not hear.
“Okay,” I said. “I… We trust you and will be ready to run. If you don’t show up in fifteen minutes, I am coming back for you. So, you better not be bullshitting me about following.”
“Bull—?” Roman shook his head. “Trust me, I will be fine. Be prepared.”
He moved off quickly and quietly, leaving his pack behind. I picked it up and put it on my front, adjusting it so that it did not cover my sword. “Alright, Tas, like I said, we trust your dad. He is a tough bastard who knows what he is doing, let’s line up, you two first, and we get ready to run.”
We watched the gates for the next several minutes as women were brought out bound and placed into the back of several wagons on the far side of the gates from us. I could not see the details because of the darkness.
I grasped tightly around the hilt of my great sword, the coolness of the grip comforting me only a bit as I struggled with allowing this travesty to occur.
“Why are they taking so many?” Tas asked.
“I am not sure,” Tyla responded. “There is no way so many could be Chosen. It only happens to one out of several hundred women.”
“My guess,” I said, my tone grim. “They are putting them in one place for testing later or will use them as pleasure slaves to keep the male troops happy. But the history from Earth that I know of could influence my thoughts.”
My emotions were getting the best of me, and I was about to get up when Tyla pressed her hand on my shoulder. “Master, there are only four of us. There are at least fifty that we can see, along with a Demigod and his Chosen. Not to mention the soldiers in the town. I love your willingness to protect, but… we really have no chance against those odds. If you order it, I will go with you, but we will die and do them no good.”
I let out a deep sigh. She was right, but I could hardly live with myself and was still considering it.
“Derk,” Tas said. “I know it’s not my place, but if we run now, we have a chance to build and do something for them later… hopefully.”
She was also right. But I absolutely hated it.
“Fuck Vex, he knew I could not resist fighting his war. Fuck them and their stupid games. I am making this vow right now. I may not have the chance to help them now… but I will kill every fucking Demi that I can, just to see all the people of this world free.” I pounded my fist into the palm of my hand.
“And we will help you, Master.”
“I will be by yer side as long as you let me.”
Both reached back to put their hands on my shoulders as they said this.
But before I could say anything to them, an explosion came from inside the town. So large that a fireball reached up into the sky from somewhere off in the distance and I could feel the ground vibrate. Debris from the palisades fell on the three of us, and more importantly, most of the soldiers at the gate went running towards the explosion.
“Run,” I said and pushed forward on both girls to get them moving. I held back for several heartbeats to make sure all the attention was away from them.
Everyone was running towards or staring at whatever Roman did to make that explosion. I could see the last vestiges of the fireball’s glow on the other side of the buildings fade away.
With the attention away from us, I ran, my pack on my back, Romans pack on my front. Gripping the great sword so it did not jangle too much. I did a low shuffle rather than a full sprint to keep my outline and, hopefully, my noise level down. Following the girls, the two hundred yards distance to the tree line.
When we got there, I hid behind the shrubs next to Tyla and Tas, looking back to see if anyone had seen us. No one at the gate looked in our direction. However, it was too dark for me to see anything beyond the torches that were set up near the entrance to the town.
“Let’s head farther into the woods, find some thick underbrush, and wait for your father.”
The girls nodded, even though Tas hesitated a bit, chewing on her lower lip. We worked our way through the thick brush to a point I figured we could be safe from casual observation.
A small clearing proved perfect for our needs, and we set down all the packs on the far side from the town.
“This should work. Put all your stuff over there so we can grab it if we need to run. How are you both doing?”
“I drained a lot of that power you gave me in that fight. I am not sure how much I have left. But it’s not much. I went a little… overboard on the man who was going to shoot you.” I could see her smirk, even in the darkness. The moon’s light was just enough to let us see each other’s outlines.
“It’s okay, try to save it. I’ll try to figure out how to give you more, but for now, I don’t think it’s a good time to go to sleep and try it again. Something we will have to work on. Tas?”
“I wish I knew more about my power. I felt so useless.”
“You were a natural with that sword. You impressed me with how you handled that man” I said, putting my hand on her shoulder and making eye contact. “You did great.”
“Thank you, Derk,” she said, smiling at me.
Her pale face was easier to read in the darkness than Tyla’s, and I could see the outline of her lips. I would swear that I could almost see her blush. But I may have been projecting that part.
“Alright, I am going to sneak back over towards the clearing and see if I can keep an eye out for your dad. You two stay here with the stuff and keep as silent as possible. I’ll knock on a tree over in that direction before—”
A crash behind me in the brush got me to turn around as a hulking figure trampled through the brush. “There you are, little Tyla. I have been looking everywhere for you,” the figure said.
I pulled my sword as I put myself between the girls and this current threat. However, he did not rush me right away as I would have expected. Following him were three other figures that had much smaller silhouettes, likely women.
The man was closer to seven feet than six. Shirtless except for a single piece of thick leather armor on his left shoulder that was more decoration than actual protection. It had straps going down to his pants and held a war hammer from a thong on it. The costume, because that is what it really was, reminded me of old cheesy roman gladiator movies I used to watch as a kid, showing off the muscles more than protecting the body.
“Lord Seir has bid me to capture you and return you to your mother. Whom I am told is very much looking forward to getting you home. I promise to be polite should you come with us and allow no one to touch you.” The man said. I was now sure it was the one from earlier, the same feeling of… not quite right, permeated off of his body.
I drew my sword up in a guard. “Sorry buddy, she is not going.”
“Ha, ha, ha, little mortal. You may not know who you are dealing with, but I am Albris, Demigod and the right hand of Seir. You will not survive, but I am merciful. If you put your weapons down, I will let you go with your life.”
“Really?” I asked. “You're going to monologue like a cheesy super villain?”
“What did you say, mortal? Your words make little sense. Are you insulting me?”
I rolled my eyes, even though I was fairly sure he could not see them. This guy did not seem the smartest, but he had size. That mattered too. “No… just saying that she is not going, I don’t care who you are.”
I hoped the girls behind me had prepared. Without further warning I rushed forward to Albris to take him by surprise, pushing all my focus into my time dilation perception.
I was a litt
le disconcerted when his eyes widened for only a brief second and he moved, matching my speed in drawing out his war hammer.
A loud clang of metal meeting metal clanging throughout the night.
My confidence fell, however, now that I realized he could counter all my advantages I had relied on to that point.
Fuck it, I’ll go down swinging.
I backed away from him after our weapons met and he took a swing with his hammer and his giant reach. I barely made it out of the way. The wind from the blow came hard into my face as it came within inches of turning me into a nail.
Then fire ran through it as it lit up, creating a light that we could all see by, which also ruined my night vision.
Now I was even more concerned. Not sure how I could handle the fire and keep it from burning through my defenses.
I swung the sword at him in an overhand blow, his hammer again meeting with a clang I could feel reverberating down my arms. The heat from his hammer made my palms burn a bit as it transferred its energy to my sword and then down to my hands. I pushed my water element into them to heal them and then tried to move it up into the sword to see if it could counter the heat.
Steam resulted from my success, but it did reduce the burn I felt.
Sounds of struggle were happening around us, even if that fight was happening in slow motion to me. As Tas and Tyla engaged the three women that had come with Albris.
I blocked another strike from Albris’ hammer, again my arms felt like they were going to shake out of their sockets from the blow. I knew in the back of my mind we were in trouble at this point, and I started mentally struggling for a way to get out of it, but I was coming up blank.
I backed into a tree and stopped while Albris swung his hammer at me sideways. While he had great strength, he did not vary his technique much. I ducked and rolled underneath him as the hammer hit the tree like a supersonic jet. The tree blew out but did not catch fire like I had expected as the debris rained down on everyone here with no flames.
Using the moment of chaos, rather than attack the big and ugly brute, I instead went for one of his companions. I got up and leaped at a dark-haired woman who looked like she had electrical wires coming out of her hands, about to attack Tas from behind. Before she even realized she was under attack, she died as I stabbed her through the chest and killed her instantly, this time twisting my sword as Roman taught me, so it would be easier to get out.
“Noooo!” Ablris screamed
Each of them, his women included, all shuddered and took a step like they were puppets that had a single string cut. It was not enough to put them out of the fight, but I think it just put the odds from overwhelmingly against us to just significantly against us.
Baby Steps! I thought to myself just before the giant fucking hammer hit me in my right shoulder.
I flew sideways, and I was sure that my entire shoulder was just broken from the impact. I was an idiot that let his guard down for a moment and now I was paying the price.
I managed, just barely, to keep my sword in my hand when I landed.
I heard a scream of rage that sounded like Tyla, and I glanced up just in time to see her send a bolt from her crossbow at the now unarmed Albris. The bolt landed with a meaty thwack into his own shoulder, missing his heart with a last-minute dodge from the giant.
One woman rushed up to Albris and put her hands on him, obviously his healer from before. While the other woman’s hands blazed a reddish orange as she prepared to cast what I assumed was fire at Tyla. Before her energy left her hand, Tasnia came up from behind and pushed her rapier through the woman’s midsection in her stomach.
While I was proud of the girl, I noticed it wasn’t an instantly killing blow.
“Off me, woman,” Albris yelled and stood up. “So, you are one of us. I do not recognize you. What is your name and why do you not serve Seir like the rest of us in these lands?”
I had my shoulder mostly healed, but my power was running low. Not sure I could do that again, I decided stalling would be good while I figured out a new plan.
“I… am a rival faction. That is all I can say,” I said, bluffing my ass off.
“A rival? But wait, does that mean… No, it can’t be.” Albris said, looking up to the air while he thought.
I did not know what he meant, but I was really hoping he would say more. Information was king of the battlefield. So, I just stayed silent, and I worked my way back to my feet.
“Do you serve Rilro or Takus? I offered my services to both of them, but they refused me.”
“I am forbidden to speak more about it. I will, out of courtesy, offer for both of us to walk away while we consult our masters for further guidance.”
God, I hoped he bought this line of bullshit and kept talking.
“Your offer is tempting, but I cannot,” Albris said, shaking his head. “I bear you no personal ill will, but I gave a compact to Seir and I must keep it unless released.”
Fuck!
I moved over, putting myself beside my girls again, who had gathered to one side, and his. The briefest thought of why I was suddenly considering Tas as mine nagged at me, but I ignored it.
“I understand. I am sorry the others did not accept you. They have… a little more honor to them than who you serve now.”
A motion in the distance caught my eye, and I resisted the temptation to smile.
“I… agree. While I find Seir’s methods cruel, he is also not the worst of them. As you know, what we call life in our society is rigid. The freedom granted to us in these worlds, the release of the rules placed on us, not to mention the pleasures of the flesh we lost access to when we accepted our ascension so long ago. I gladly accepted the first opportunity to leave.”
“I understand, and do not disagree,” I said.
“You did not give me your name yet. May I have it?” Albris asked.
I considered for a moment but decided against it. “I wish I could, but I also have a compact, and it is not time to reveal that yet.”
Albris nodded. “Understood. Shall we carry on then?”
“If that is your wish,” I said.
Albris picked up his hammer and the fire on it, which was almost dead now, came back to life. Lighting up the clearing once again. He looked at his healer and pointed at the bleeding fire mage. “Heal her. I will handle them.”
“Yes, lord,” she said and went to comply.
Her face was void of any emotions that I could see.
“Let’s finish this, and for what it is worth, you fought well,” he said and took a single step toward me.
However, right as he did, a blur came out of the bushes and sliced down with a great sword. Albris had the advantage of being able to slow time just as I could, so he was able to dodge the sword. It only sunk into his shoulder, punching through the armor padding then bit into his shoulder an inch or two at most.
“You will not have my daughter!” the man screamed.
Before he could follow up with anything more, Albris elbowed him hard in the gut.
Roman staggered back from the blow, leaving his sword wedged into the giant, and I moved forward to deliver my own attack.
My goal was to finish this bastard off with a head strike from behind, but Albris stood unexpectedly, turned to me, and used his good arm to block my sword with his hammer.
He followed with his other arm, even with a sword stuck in it, to punch me in the chest.
The force was enough to send me flying into the dirt several feet away. Landing with a thud and a roll.
I lifted my head just in time to see Albris reach and grab the part of the sword that still stuck into him.
Pulling it out of his shoulder, barely grunting from the pain.
How he did not scream from all the damage I did not know.
The large man threw the great sword in the air and caught it so that it was now in his hand like a javelin.
He threw it as hard as he could right at Roman.
Roman died, nev
er having a chance.
It impaled him right in the middle of the head, and I watched the man I grew to respect die right before my eyes. Hatred welled up inside me as I struggled to my feet. Promising myself that I would mount Albris’ head on a fireplace somewhere and use it for darts.
I, however, was not the one that Albris needed to worry about.
“FATHER!” Tasnia screamed in a combination of pure sorrow and rage.
It was a scream that I am not sure could have existed at that pitch if I had not been there to hear it.
Tas’ arms lit up with the glow the colors of hellfire, her eyes lighting up an eerie orange and red to match. The energy then traveled down her arms and pooled up into bright balls of light in her hands. She pointed both at Albris and his two remaining witches and in a powerful scream.
“BURN!”
Albris did the smart thing. He turned and ran, picking up both his women in his arms as he did so. The flames coming right on his heels.
Tas unleashed two torrents of flame from each palm, each the size of a basketball in width. They coated the ground and the foliage like napalm as they hit.
It was so bright, I could see nothing on the other side as the fire spread throughout all the brush in front of us like a world war two flamethrower. I did not know whether she incinerated her targets or not, as I had to turn my eyes away from the vivid light.
When the glow finally stopped, I turned back just in time to see Tasnia tittering on the verge of collapse.
I ran over and caught her, laying her gently on the ground. “Tyla! Grab the packs that you can. I will get mine and carry Tas. We need to run. I don’t think we have enough left to go again, and we need to run from the fire.” My voice barely made it over the roar of the flames, the crackling of the burning trees also making it difficult.
Our only salvation was that the breeze was pushing the smoke and some of the heat away from us but sweat started pouring from my forehead anyways.
“Yes, my love,” she said and moved to comply.
I dragged Tas away from the flames, setting her down briefly to pick up my pack and my sword and put them on me. I had to leave Roman’s gear to carry Tasnia, but I picked her back up in a bridal carry and we left the now blazing inferno behind us.
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