“Our outer scouts have caught sight of the enemy, and they are travelling to the same area they were in last time. You all have your orders, carry them out and we will be victorious. Good luck, and may none of us join the goddess this day.”
She must have missed a meeting, because she had no idea what orders she was talking about, but then she wasn’t a part of the main battle, so really had no need to know.
As the elves started to move out Kurien said, “So where do we need to go?”
She frowned as she closed her eyes, the elves and dragons were moving almost directly north, toward the river, and the pool where the sprites lived. Her power to detect the balance wanted her to go north west, and south west. That… was a problem. She was hoping they’d just need Hendricks after all, but apparently there had been good reason to need Davidson as well.
She was frozen for a few moments, not sure what to do.
“We need to split up, there are two places we need to be. No, I don’t know why. Take Hendricks with you.”
Arielle frowned, “How will we know where to go?”
She cast the communication spell, and another copy of herself appeared, just to Hendricks, Arielle, and Kurien.
“I’ll let you know if you get off course, and tell you when to stop. Nim, John and I will go southwest, you go northwest. I’m not sure how much time we have. Hopefully this will work.”
They split up and went their separate ways, she knew they weren’t happy about it, and neither was she for that matter. She’d been comforted that her elven friends would fight at her side, but apparently that wouldn’t be. They’d be about two miles apart she thought, so by the time either could come to the others assistance it would probably be too late. Still, Nim knew how to use a weapon and she had no reason to hold back on her magic today, she hadn’t used any the last few days until a few moments ago.
When she felt she was in the right place, she found a place of concealment in the brush, and then using her communication spell ensured the other group was in place as well. Now all they needed to do was wait. She didn’t think it would be long now.
Chapter 26 – Battle
-Tarrock
Tarrock ran forward, his heart pounding in the excitement of battle. Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all, he’d never felt this rush of adrenaline sitting in the command chair, and firing beams of energy at their enemies.
They raced up the mountain, his mouth a rictus grin as they rushed into the glade by the waterfall. His crew didn’t waste any time as they made use of their new toys. He watched as several of his people took their primitive devises and stabbed them into trees. He laughed as the seal within those weapons were broken from the impact, and a thermite reaction started, setting the trees on fire.
He had no doubt the fires wouldn’t do too much damage or spread to other trees, not with magic in the picture, but it would be chaotic and distract from the real attack. There was one thing about this distraction though, that was real enough to him. Two of his people stabbed several small wooden casks and tossed them in the sprites pool. The disembodied giggles he’d heard from the water faltered, as the oily substance spread across the pool.
From what the dryad said, water elementals don’t do so well with fire.
He stabbed his thermite device into a rock, breaking the seal, and almost burned his hand as he tossed it toward the water as it flared to life. He growled viciously in delight, as the top of the wading pool turned to bright fire, and the giggles turned to screams and his dead crew members were avenged.
He was about to give the order to retreat when he heard a gurgle next to him and turned. Garrock had an arrow sticking right through his neck, and blood poured out at an alarming rate through the severed artery. He watched in disbelief as his second fell to the ground, dead.
He looked up in the trees, and realized they were surrounded by more elves than he could count, and that the fire in the trees were already spluttering out.
He loudly called out, “Withdraw!” and dodged in a random direction as the elves loosed their arrows.
-Kurien
Kurien watched from concealment, it bothered him to see Katie standing out in the open, even though he knew she wasn’t really there. He also noticed humans breathed way too loudly, it will be a miracle if they aren’t seen or heard. He wasn’t sure what to expect, but when it came it was a shock. Four of the alien beings moved silently through the woods in his direction, carrying some kind of large and obviously heavy container.
They looked far from helpless, with three hands free they had both a bow with a knocked arrow, and a crude looking sword in their third hand. He waited until they stopped, and were distracted by putting the case down, then he burst out from his place of hiding. He was connected with Arielle through the bond, and she moved in the same exact instant. They took two by surprise and sliced the back of their necks, which made them drop like stones.
The other two reacted quickly and discarded their bows and drew a second sword. These weren’t just thugs, they were trained warriors, and he attacked with measured strokes of his sword, feeling out their capabilities. He was faster, much faster, but the alien was using two swords and although slower, that and their strength made up for the difference.
Kurien was having a problem getting through his opponent’s guard.
Dodge, parry, strike, and never stop moving. He could feel Arielle’s frustration, and his bonded called on their goddess, increasing their stamina and speed even further than their natural ability. He smiled then and used his own magic as he barely kept ahead of two attacking swords, and gritted his teeth when he took a minor wound to his hip.
But his magic had done its job, and the roots of the trees started to come out of the ground, and wind around the two remaining aliens’ legs. They could no longer move or dodge very well, and a few moments later, he sliced a forearm and disarmed one of his enemy’s swords, then struck out lightning fast and slit its throat. He turned to help Arielle, but she was just finishing up with hers as well.
He reached down to touch the case and heard Hendricks say, “Don’t touch it!”
-Katie
Katie grimaced as the aliens came into view, four of them carrying a large case, along with a variety of weapons. She nodded to both and then in the depths of her mind intoned, “Earth,” and stone spikes shot up from the ground at an angle, impaling their feet, and their legs, holding them in place as their blood ran from their bodies.
She felt a little sick as they cried out in pain and dropped the container. Nim and John darted forward and ended two of them quickly. The others glared and tightened their grips on their weapons and fought back with an insane ferocity.
She focused through her distaste of what was necessary, and the pang of guilt even though she knew these aliens came here to destroy and kill. “Water, ice” she intoned in her thoughts.
The aliens jerked, and started to choke, and water started to pour from their mouths, then it suddenly stopped flowing as it turned to ice, that ice expanded within their lungs, bursting the organs. The aliens lived long enough to suffer. She shuddered, she thought of other ways to kill, because she’d been disgusted by the idea of burning them alive with magic, but these alternatives seemed no less horrific to her now.
Still, she took a deep cleansing breath and walked over to the case, the feeling of the balance still told her it was in danger, they were in danger.
John asked in a concerned voice, “Are you alright?”
She shook her head, “No, but I’ll break down later,” and fanned the flames of her determination, she must not fail.
“Hendricks what are these?” she asked aloud to the illusions of Hendricks, Arielle, and Kurien.
-Tarrock
Tarrock was angry as he ran through the woods. Their attack was supposed to draw the enemy away with shock and awe, to allow the real attack to go through. The enemy wasn’t supposed to be waiting for them with an overwhelming force. He supposed it was just as well they
hadn’t dawdled when they arrived, or they wouldn’t have done any damage at all.
He looked around, there were maybe thirty of them left. The first volley of arrows had instantly killed more than a hundred of his people, the ones too slow to react and dodge in time when he’d shouted his warning.
They’d all run, but the elves had managed to take down an additional two thirds of them before they outraced the bastards. There were so many of them, it was a miracle any of them escaped.
He heard a loud roar as they reached the bottom of the mountain and he looked up. The sky was full of… he wasn’t sure what. Flying reptiles, as big as a lander. Then they dove, there were gold and silver ones, in addition to bronze, red, blue, green, and violet.
A large silver headed his direction, its eyes looked like dancing amber flames as it opened its mouth, and he was engulfed in fire, which was the last thing he’d ever see.
-Katie
Hendricks replied, “Alright, you can open it up, but don’t jostle it too much.”
She studied it for a moment, the latches were along the top and the sides of the large square case toward one side of the box. She assumed it was some kind of cover.
Kurien asked nervously, “What the hell is it?”
Hendricks said, “Some kind of chemical weapon, and I think we have to assume it’s going to work if Katie’s balance thingy is going off. Just relax, I was a bomb expert and this thing is primitive as hell.”
Katie froze, and then continued unlatching the case even slower.
“Okay, it’s unlatched. What now.”
Hendricks said, “This one didn’t have booby traps, so just be gentle and pull the short side off.”
She tried to get a grip on it, she expected something bad to happen, but the side just slid off easily in her hands, and she moved it away getting her first good look inside.
There were two very large glass flasks, turned upside down over a large metal bin. Between the two flasks, was a much smaller one, above a crossbar that kept the flasks from emptying out. It looked pretty simple in concept. She’d seen enough television to know if the two flasks emptied, and the liquids mixed, that would be very bad.
Of course, when she’d watched those shows her heart hadn’t been hammering, or her hands shaking.
Hendricks asked, “Do you smell anything?”
She nodded, “There’s a nasty metallic smell actually.”
Hendricks grunted, “That’s the fuse, obviously electronics don’t work, so they used an acid, as soon as it finishes eating through the metal, well, you get the idea.”
Now that he mentioned it, she could see where the metal was thinning.
She asked, “Okay, so what do I do?”
Hendricks said, “Well, there’s a small screw on the small flask, if you tighten it, the drip will be stopped by a glass flange.”
She laughed a little hysterically, “Does anyone have a screwdriver...”
She bet Davidson had one, and that he’d been a bomb expert as well.
She frowned, “The thing depends on gravity right? Without a pump, can we just turn it upside down?”
Hendricks said, “No, don’t do that. Look up at the top and you’ll see why.”
She got down a little lower, and could see a similar pan on top, and a small metal tube in the base of the large flasks. Turning it over meant no waiting for the shit to hit the fan.
Hendricks said, “We got this one disabled, and a couple of scouts are getting rid of it, taking it far away. We’re on the way to you now, a little over ten minutes.”
She shook her head, they wouldn’t get here fast enough, she could feel it.
John said, “Can’t you use magic on the screw?”
She frowned, why not?
She stared at it and intoned, “turn” in her mind. The screw did indeed turn, but there was a secondary effect. Magic had an effect on chemical reactions, and she’d just focused a large amount of magic in that spot, and she heard a sizzle as the remaining acid ate through the metal like a knife through butter.
She gasped and stepped back as there was a clink, and the bar holding the stoppers in the large flasks split. The supporting bar in the middle, which exerted upward pressure was no longer a consideration and the chemicals started to fall into the basin.
“Fuck!” she said with feeling.
She watched as a white gas started to build and spread from the device. She shook her head, no fucking way was she failing now. She’d been through too much.
She pulled Nim and John close, and intoned, “Filter,” in the depths of her mind. A bubble shield surrounded them, keeping the toxic smoke and fumes away, but she watched helplessly as the closest trees started to rot, and the gas seemed to be pouring out now, faster and faster.
She needed to think, but she had no time.
It was an act of desperation, but she whispered, “Funnel,” and a small twister built, and sucked in the smoke. It was a funnel of death though, and when she ended the spell the smoke would… disperse, possibly farther than it would have originally.
She asked, “Any ideas, this is taking a lot of magic, I’m down a quarter of it in my staff and it’s shrinking fast.”
Nim frowned, “Cleanse it, like the fields.”
She brightened and closed her eyes, imagining the toxic gas and smoke simply, being washed away, turned inert, and whispered, “Cleanse,” and the magic rushed out of her staff, draining close to half of it, which seemed about right to her. She cut off the magic feeding the twister, and it died a few seconds later.
There was no smoke.
Still, she kept up her air filter shield for a few more minutes, just in case, that one hardly took more than a small trickle to keep going. She was sure it was fine though, she felt no threat to the balance, not for the moment anyway. That urgent feeling and direction was gone. She hadn’t failed after all.
She muttered darkly, “If I ever see Davidson again, I’m going to kick him in the nuts. And remind me to pick up a Swiss army knife, with a damned screwdriver on it.”
Nim laughed, and John winced…
It’s been two days since the battle. There’d been a large victory feast, and a bonding feast for Kurien and Arielle. She’d felt a little conflicted about leaving that morning with John and Nim, but Nim was taking her to her inheritance.
Kurien, Arielle, and Bria hadn’t come along, although they said if she ever needed then to contact them and they’d come. But they had their own thing to do as well. Kurien and Arielle were planning to take Hendricks back to his unit, and attempt to open up a peaceful dialogue with the governor. Perhaps Colorado’s governor would have been a better contact, but so far there was no proof he’d even survived.
The aliens were all dead, the remnants of the attackers that escaped the elves ambush had met their end by dragon breath, tooth, and claw. Right now there was no pull to a new problem, so she agreed it would be a good time to visit there with Nim. It wasn’t all that far, it only took them a couple of hours at a horse’s walk to reach the mountain that had housed Merlin’s knowledge, and was now hers.
She’d felt the magic barring the doors, but that same magic was no barrier to them, almost as if the place had expected them. It looked like a crude cave at the entrance, but a short way inside the walls became smooth and the corridor a perfect arch. Nim gave her a tour, showing her a well-appointed bedroom, stock room, living area, and a library that was alarmingly large.
She laughed, so much for a shortcut, it would take her a hundred years to even make a dent in the place. Still, it was there, and it would no doubt help her tremendously, when she learned how to read Latin of course. Then she got one more surprise, this one not as pleasant.
Nim said, “I have other work to do for Gaea, and you are off to a tremendous start. It’s time I left you too it, and don’t forget to practice against each other often.”
Katie felt a rock in her stomach, how was she supposed to get on without Nim to advise her?
Nim s
miled, “You’ll do fine, will you accept my blessing?”
She nodded slowly, curious.
Nim returned her smile and gave her a hug, followed by a soft kiss, right on the lips. She was too shocked to object, and by the time her body started to tingle she no longer wanted to object and kissed the goddess back. She was breathing rather heavily when their kiss ended.
Nim stepped back with a cheeky smile for John, who looked… turned on actually, and Katie laughed.
She felt really good, energized, healthy, and full of life. That was some blessing, and kiss.
They said their farewells to Nim, who left in a flash of magic, instead of using the door. She looked at the huge library and wondered where to start, but John took her hand and led her toward the bedroom. She smiled at him, and decided the library could wait a while longer…
Epilogue – Sean
“You’re really amazing at that you know.”
Cassie giggled, “Thank you,” as she continued to massage his shoulders.
He felt like putty in her hands and her hands felt like magic. If he didn’t know better he’d think she was actually using some.
“I’m sorry for snapping orders at you.”
Cassie paused a moment and kissed the back of his neck, and said, “I truly don’t mind, part of me actually enjoyed that.”
He froze, “Snapping at you?”
Cassie said softly as she continued massaging, “No, the orders part. In a strange way it’s nice to let someone else make the decisions. I’ve come close to exploding and killing people, its less stressful. I love you, and trust you, so it works for me.”
He shook his head, as he wasn’t sure if he wanted that power over her.
She added softly, “Plus, it makes me a little wet when you get all forceful and confident.”
Emergence: Return of Magic book 1 Page 17