by Rosie Scott
Ricco was a rat, and was by far the scariest one I'd ever seen. All of his body's imperfections were mirrored on his blood-kin, making his beast form look undead with its patchy charcoal fur. Even his left ear had a chunk taken out of it, which made me realize his Alderi ear must have always been covered up by his greasy hair, because I'd never noticed the deformity. The rat twisted its head left, then right, and I heard a pop. Then, it proceeded to watch me with two beady black eyes, as if waiting for orders.
I glanced back toward the others. Calder approached me from the darkness, now in his reptilian form. Behind him were all manner of beasts. I recognized Vallen's bear form nearby. Next to him was a massive crocodile which had decided to stay on all fours, so it was much longer than it was tall. Its two cold eyes were bright red. Putting two and two together, I knew it was Jayce. I hadn't yet seen her transform, since our battle with Nirit had been so chaotic.
There were hundreds of beasts in the darkness, leaving the air within the tunnel stale with a lack of energy. They all looked to me to lead them. I turned to Calder.
“Are you ready to march on Thanati?”
One webbed hand came up to the nape of his neck, where he picked up Koby's key. Two different kinds of metal shone between scaly, silver-blue fingers. He turned his head to me, and bowed slowly.
I glanced over to Ricco, and made a hand motion toward him to lead us. He scurried ahead, hard claws clacking over the stone floor. My friends and I were directly behind him, keen on sharing our one pathetic little lantern until we could risk it no more.
I felt absolutely thrilled for the battle ahead. For nearly half a year now, I'd been preoccupied with building an army and getting to this moment. It was like I'd thought about it for so long that it felt it would never come true. Somehow, Calder and I and the others had made it work. Now, all we needed to do was win.
Marching on Thanati marked the beginning of my first offensive war campaign. If I was successful, another alliance was mine for the taking. Yet another victory would be added to my list of accomplishments. Chairel would hear of my endeavors and up their game, finding me a force to be reckoned with. After all, no one had ever infiltrated the underground and won, because no one had ever tried.
Perhaps I was crazy. Perhaps I was a prodigy. Perhaps I was both.
For Calder. For Nyx. For all of the men oppressed by this culture of inequality. For our future endeavors, and for Bjorn: I will be victorious.
Twenty-three
Blackness enshrouded us. In the distance at the opening of the tunnel, the glow of a fire was orange across the back side of a building which was carved straight from stone. The clinking of multiple pickaxes traveled through the stone to our right, calling our attention to the expansion project happening in the city just outside the mouth of our route.
Thanati was a dark city, of that there could be no doubt. But there were lights spotted throughout, to be used for various purposes. The tunnel led directly into a main avenue of travel, on which there was a magical light every few meters in lamp posts which were about five feet tall. Clearly, the fire light to our right was used for leisure purposes, since the glow came from ground level. There was also a greenish-blue glow cast over the backs of the nearest buildings, from the direction of the underground lake. So far, I couldn't see what was emitting the light.
“Enhaun visua.” Jakan's voice was so low, I'd barely heard him. The thief hovered his hand beside my face. In this blackness, I couldn't see any energy, only his shadow. But when he directed the spell to my head, I knew immediately it was his enhance vision spell, since that is exactly what it did.
I hadn't thought Thanati looked very big, but everything was simply hidden in shadow. My eyesight sharpened so greatly, I could see straight through the blackness and into the city streets as if it were day time. Buildings rose from the stone floors themselves in rows, many of them two or three stories high. Open windows were simply removed slabs of stone. The streets were uneven rock, like everything else, and were only individualized by the width of their size. Female and male Alderi alike moved from building to building. The males were accompanied by females, and many which walked along the streets had slave collars around their necks, thick chains held by the women. Some of the males were not chained at all, which confused me at first, since the tunnels were so open to them for escape.
A group of Alderi women were talking with each other beside a building that simply rose out of the stone of the floor, rising until its form melded back into the cavern ceiling a few floors up. Beside one of the women was a male slave, without any ties, standing beside her obediently. She turned to him, and a sharp purple energy was shot toward the male. He immediately screeched in fear, before darting off through the city. As the woman and her friends laughed, another assassin a few streets down saw the male run past her, and threw out emerald green energy. The fleeing slave froze mid-run, the momentum causing his body to collapse to the rock.
It was no wonder many males could not escape, even with the open exit. I'd nearly forgotten that many assassins dealt in alteration and illusion magic. I assumed the first woman had used fear, an illusion spell Jakan had told me about, though he didn't know it. The second woman's spell had to have been paralyze. Seeing the assassins wield it so needlessly and cruelly down here only fueled me.
The constant chipping of pickaxes on rock to our right had helped to mask any sound our army made as we neared entering the city. Now, however, we were moving within their visual range. My friends and I moved to the right-hand side of the tunnel to prepare to free the miners, letting the beastmen have the majority of the tunnel to our left.
A second later, one of the assassins wandered lazily out in front of the entrance from the excavation area, stretching her arms wide as if terribly bored. She turned to the tunnel, glancing curiously into the blackness, before she stiffened, seeing us.
Ricco dashed forward, determined to start the fight, his long tail trailing behind him. The assassin's hand flew to her belt, immediately grabbing the handle of a dagger, before pulling it out of its sheath with a metallic ring. Ricco was already upon her, however. He leapt up, turning his rat head sideways while his jaw was fully open. The nearby fire glow glinted off his four incisors as they neared the sides of the assassin's neck. With a rodent grunt, he snapped his teeth together, the incisors sinking halfway through the woman's throat. Blood audibly poured from the fatal wound, and the woman dropped her dagger as she died. Ricco ripped his head to the side, tearing the majority of the assassin's throat straight out of her body. The chunk of throat landed in a heavy splat feet away as the corpse fell. Blood gushed from the fatal wound so hard it squirted outward, and the puddle of blood surrounding the body was so large it was as if there had been multiple casualties.
Screams of alarm sounded out from all directions, and the beastmen stampeded forward, intent on causing as much chaos as they could before the assassins could formulate a plan, or even a thought. As the beasts rampaged into the main street of Thanati, my friends and I rushed into the city and turned immediately to the right.
Dozens and dozens of males were along the rocky wall, all holding pickaxes and appearing absolutely perplexed as to our arrival. Following the wall farther, there was the lake Thanati had been built around. The water was transparent even in the darkness due to thick, glowing mushrooms which grew in patches at the waterside, some even beneath the surface of the lake. Thinner fungi stuck out of the rock wall above the lake like little shelves, lighting the wall up with glows of greenish-blue. This was the only area of Thanati so far which was well-lit, and it was thanks to the plant-life's bioluminescence.
There were a handful of female assassins in the midst of standing around a campfire, where they had been cooking food. All of them pulled weapons from their belts as my friends and I rushed toward them. One of the assassins turned to Anto, throwing coral-pink energy toward the orc, charming him.
Anto had been in the midst of running to battle with the assassins, but now he turned to
us, preparing to go toward Jakan and I in a spin. Jakan screeched in fear and horror, rushing out of the orc's way. My mind racked for options, my heart thudding in my throat in hot rushes of blood.
“Anto!” Cerin swung his scythe out in an arc, the thick blade catching onto the edge of Anto's arm blade, keeping him from his spin. “Anto, it's us!”
Cerin's pleas were not working. Why would they? Such a tactic had never worked for our enemies.
Anto glanced down at Cerin's scythe, before busting out into a spin. The orc's strength was far above Cerin's, and the necromancer's scythe flew out of his grasp, clattering over the rock nearby. Cerin jumped back, attempting to avoid the orc's rampage, and thrust a shield up with life energy. The arm blades skidded across the surface of the shield, over and over, until it flickered with weakness.
You know how to combat this. I rushed to Anto, thrusting out a ball of emerald green energy in an alteration spell Calder had taught me. Every muscle in Anto's body immediately froze, and the orc spun in mid-air a few times from his momentum, before falling to the ground.
Cerin threw me a look of gratitude before rushing to pick up his scythe. Jakan and Nyx were being overwhelmed, and Anto was temporarily out of the fight. I rushed over to the fallen orc, giving him a shield. My paralyze spell would keep him immobilized, and the last thing I needed was for him to be hurt while he couldn't move. I hoped that by the time my spell wore off, the charm spell would be gone as well.
Shik! I jerked from the sudden pain in my left breast. An arrow stuck out from my armor, the arrowhead having barely penetrated the thick leather. The ammo was stuck at a wayward angle, and had been meant for my heart. As it was, I could feel the steel lodged in the tender flesh just above my nipple. It wasn't a hit that could kill me, but the pain brought moistness to my eyes. I could feel the heat of my own blood traveling down the curve of my breast to my torso, dripping so slowly that it itched.
I had a shield around me before I'd remembered summoning it. My eyes flicked to the nearby buildings, where they caught on an assassin holding a bow out of a window, though she hesitated to take the next shot, knowing my shield would prevent the arrow from hitting. She had seen me wield life magic. Perhaps she'd even been watching when I'd used paralyze on Anto. Maybe she wouldn't expect me to use fire.
An orange glow flickered across the stone wall beside me as the fire energy built in my hand, hissing as if the flames themselves held a grudge. I took a step away from the building, before thrusting a hand toward the assassin's window. She only realized what I'd done when the fireball was halfway to her in a trail of smoke.
The assassin scurried back from the window, but I'd aimed the fireball to fly within it, and it heeded my direction. The fire flew through the opening, before I saw nothing but a burst of flames within it, and then a scream echoed off of rock. I heard the sound of glass breaking, and then a moan, and then a crash.
I didn't have the time to ensure the assassin would die; we had the entire city ahead of us. Over the rooftops of nearby buildings, I heard the howling of a wolf rise over the sounds of battle. I spun to my right, where all of the male slaves were simply watching through anxious eyes.
“We are fighting to free you!” I exclaimed toward them. Motioning to the nearby corpses of the assassins, I added, “Pick up a weapon and help us!”
Some of the men exchanged glances. Some of them rushed forward, more than willing to do just as I said. Others were hesitant. One man dropped his pickaxe and rushed off toward the tunnels, determined to escape during the distraction of battle. There were not enough weapons for them all, but these men in particular had pickaxes; for some unfortunate assassins, that would be plenty fatal enough.
I ran toward my friends, the arrow still stuck through my armor. I didn't want to pull it out until I had a moment to heal the wound. An Alderi slave ran up behind me, skidding to a stop as I threw ice toward the legs of nearby assassins, slowing and inhibiting them.
“The beasts are with you?” The slave inquired. I had to remember that these slaves had never seen the surface. Many of them would not be aware that the beastmen even existed.
“They are. Many are Alderi men, like you. They will not harm you.”
The man nodded, grasping his pickaxe tightly and rushing ahead. I glanced back, seeing that all of the slaves had scattered. Anto stood up as I scanned the area, before he started jogging toward us.
“Anto,” I said simply, testing the orc for loyalty.
“I am me, Kai,” he encouraged, though the tone of his voice gave away that he felt ashamed for being charmed.
“Glad to have you back, then.”
We fought at the end of the row of buildings which sat facing the lake. The body of water seeped outward into the city in a point at its center, so there were only a few rows of constructions before we were blocked off from the rest of the city by the lake. We'd need to go around, but that was fine. We needed to make sure each assassin was dead, and that we freed every slave we came across.
An assassin nearby was in the midst of fighting Cerin, forced to the defensive as she dual wielded daggers against his scythe. Then, her throat was slashed, and blood poured from the break as she collapsed. Cerin hadn't been the one to kill her. When a nearby magical light reflected ever so slightly off of thin air to Cerin's right, I realized that Nyx had used her invisibility spell.
My eyesight returned to normal as Jakan's previous spell wore off. It was a difference between night and day—quite literally. I could no longer make out the outline of the buildings around us. There was nothing but shadows upon shadows, for the lamp posts were used so sparingly throughout Thanati's streets.
Shadows were fighting in the corner of the street before me, but I could no longer tell anyone apart. I was terrified of using a spell, just for it to hurt a friend.
“Jakan!” It was a hiss in the dark. I needed his spell, or I would be useless.
“...yeah. Coming.” One of the shadows moved toward me. A moment later, the sharper eyesight was back. “I will teach you this later so you know it.”
“I'd appreciate it.” I glanced toward the nearby wall, where Cerin was fumbling around. “Make sure to give it to Cerin, too.”
Jakan nodded, before hurrying to the necromancer.
My attention was back on the corner we were trying to fight through. The assassins were so numerous. We were killing so many, and yet they never ceased coming. I lowered my palms to the rocky floor, releasing death energy. The magic sought out the fresh corpses, adding to our numbers.
Our energy reserves were limited underground, so I decided to stick with death energy, and began leeching from the assassins. Like anyone else, each woman I used the spell against fell within seconds, and my body was bolstered with the excess energy. I kept leeching, again and again and again, until the high took over my mind.
“Move!” I exclaimed toward the others, my voice thick and trembling with my power. Anto and Cerin both leapt out of my way, leaving the group of advancing assassins directly in my path. This battle would be long; I wished to recycle energy as often as possible. I did not have access to the sky to call a lightning storm, but that wasn't the only air magic I knew.
Sheel a mana. A magical ward flickered up over me, an additional protection from my own upcoming magic. Then, in both hands, I built chain lightning. Blue and purplish veins of hot energy danced wildly above both palms, crackling and popping sharply in the air.
Some of the assassins attempted to run, since they knew the spell I wielded. I decided not to give them the time. I forced both hands forward, and the bolts veined outward, striking the first assassins in line to kill me. The bolts were chaotic when wielded by hand, and hit wherever they pleased. One of the assassins was hit directly in the eyeball, the bolt seeking out excess moisture. She shook in place as she was electrocuted, even as the lightning coursed through her and chained to another. Bolts arced through dozens of the women, only using their dying bodies as catalysts to lead to their next vic
tims.
The smell of burning flesh was overwhelming. I continued to stalk directly into the group of them, forcing the lightning in all directions. The spell was a fantastic choice for dispersing a crowd. Though many of the assassins had tried to run, many of my bolts shot through their friends and comrades, reaching toward their backs as they fled, and killing them even as they ran. Smoke rose from burnt bodies at my feet. There were so many bodies here, since the lightning had killed and disabled them where they had stood. As I continued to force my spell into the group of them, I had to step on and over the corpses of previous victims.
I only stopped my spell when no assassins were left in the area. I turned back to my friends, finding them still standing at the corner from over dozens of frying bodies. Nyx was no longer invisible, and she grinned at me with pride.
“Damn, woman!” She commented, before rushing forward over the corpses. The others followed.
The spell had taken much of my energy, though my senses were still sharpened with the last remnants of the leeching high. With this advantage, I turned my attention to the nearby buildings, now that the surrounding streets were clear of enemies.
My improved hearing picked up on rushed whispering coming from a three story construction between our new location and the excavation site. I hurried there without another word, ducking inside its open doorway.
This was a longhouse of sorts, used for planning the excavation happening just beyond it. There were tables scattered with maps and measurements. Steel mugs still filled with ale dotted over top of the parchment. One of them had spilled over the maps, causing ink to bleed through previously unblemished paper. Our attack had caused the women inhabiting this building to leave abruptly.
Supplies for the dig lined the rocky walls, but I saw no slaves. I did see a hole in the floor in the far corner, where a staircase leading to a basement was sculpted.
I headed downstairs, with Nyx and Jakan on my heels. The others stayed upstairs, prepared to defend us from outside attack.