I head towards the front of the house, where the biggest column of sunlight is. Dark shapes fill the door, cutting off the sunlight and casting twisting shadows. I tighten my grip, focusing in on the doorway.
“Do you think it got them?” A woman asks.
“How should I know?” A man replies.
“Shut it you two! If they lived, they’d have to be pretty out of it. Let’s get this over with.” Another woman says in a sharp tone.
The three silhouettes advance through the house, their short blades held out in front of them. I inhale deeply through my nose, holding the image of a hawk in my mind’s eye. The smoke fades from my vision until I can see clearly throughout the whole house. I could see the three Zauberei clearly, shuffling awkwardly through the smoky room. This should be easy.
The three of them are wearing armor but it’s only leather, which wouldn’t slow my heavy blade. With their short swords they wouldn’t be able to touch me even if my first strike didn’t kill them. I edge closer, coiling up to spring at them. My booted foot crunches down on some glass, and the Zauberei stop in their tracks. Dammit. I freeze in place, swearing under my breath.
“Did you hear that?” The first woman asks, a note of fear in her voice.
“I said be quiet! It’s just some glass settling. It’s nothing.” The sharp voiced woman hisses.
“But what if it isn’t? Maybe we should let someone else take a look.” The man says, as he shifts awkwardly on his feet. They take a few more awkward, shuffling steps deeper into the house and closer to me.
I lunge forward out of the smoke, my halberd descending in a fatal arc that terminates in the timid woman's neck. She doesn’t even have the time to be surprised, she just collapses lifelessly to the floor. I tug my halberd free, whipping it in an arc towards the remaining two scouts. The man doesn’t get out of the way in time and my halberd bites deeply into his chest. He stumbles out of the house, his arms wrapped around himself as he gushes blood.
The last woman nervously shifts her grip on her short sword, sweat dripping down her brow. Her eyes are wide, but her lips are compressed into a thin line. Her eyes flicker back and forth between the probing point of my halberd and my footwork. She’s not going to back down. What a fool, but at least she’s brave.
I settle into a half crouch, levelling the spear tip of my halberd towards her. She takes a few exploratory swipes with her knife, which I bat aside. I thrust with the spear tip, which whistles past her ear as she dodges. Perfect.
I twist the haft of my halberd, rotating it in my hands. The inside curve of the axe blade comes in line with her shoulders, and I pull back on the haft. My opponent never sees it coming, the razor edge gleams as it slices through the base of her neck from behind. Her decapitated body falls limply to the floor.
The house is quiet again as I shake the blood from my halberd onto the floor. The smoke is finally settling, drifting out through shattered windows and the door. I glance out of the doorway, the third Zauberei lies face down on the grass a few feet away. I drag the other two corpses out and lay them down on the grass. I place their weapons on their chests and clasp their hands over them. You’ve earned your rest. I glance around, spotting the cluster of Zauberei at the woods edge.
It’s a shame Adalan’s house is so far from town, we might have had some help if it was closer. I turn and head back into the house, the others have finally decided to join me in the common room.
“Took you long enough.” I snort. Karl and Adalan look worse for wear, they’re covered in dozens of small oozing cuts. Mendalde and Caius both look fine, but that’s not much of a surprise.
“I took care of three of them, but the rest still look prepared for a fight. Our only advantage is that this house is too small for them all to rush us at once.” I say. Thank the ancestors for small blessings.
“Why don’t you just go out there and kill them now with your magic?” Adalan asks, looking at the two mages.
“I, uh, do not practice that sort of magic.” Caius says, scuffing the floor with his boots.
“You don’t do that? You can’t throw fire, call lightning, or shatter the earth beneath their feet” Adalan exclaims. Caius just stares into his feet, desperately trying to appear small.
“Not really much of a mage are you.” Karl says, glaring at Caius. I open my mouth to say something, but Adalan cuts me off.
“You leave the lad alone; the world doesn’t need more killers like you.” Adalan retorts with venom in his voice. He turns back to Caius and tousles his hair.
“Don’t you worry, my wife couldn’t do any of that either. She made the world a better place, I’m sure you will too.” Adalan says warmly, clapping Caius on the shoulder.
Caius starts in surprise, turning away to hide a smile. It’s nice to see someone else appreciate Caius. Normally the people we help on our missions from the Tower are less than grateful. I suppose the rich and powerful don’t like having to deal with someone greater than themselves. The people we stop to help along the way tended to be overjoyed though, at least once they stopped being terrified of Caius. Though with mages like Mendalde running around, I can understand why they would be scared.
“What about you?” Adalan asks Mendalde.
“I could go out there and throw all sorts of things, but it wouldn’t do anything. I’ve tried it before, the armor they wear seems to make them impervious to my magic.” Mendalde replies.
“I’m hoping a more direct approach will work.” She says, spinning her sword in her hand. Adalan grunts in reply as he walks over to the doorway and peers out around the doorframe.
“There’s another group of them coming, maybe a dozen or so.” He says, rolling his shoulders underneath his armor. He watches out the door while his hands break open and load his weapon. He hums quietly as he does, his hands deftly putting the weapon back together after he loads a shining brass cartridge.
“It’s a bit far, but I think I can make it.” He says to no one in particular. Smooth as silk he leans around the doorway, shoulders his blunderbuss and fires. It makes an impressively loud boom as it fires, Adalan ducks back behind the doorway and begins reloading.
“I got him, right in the neck.” He says calmly as he reloads. That’s impossible.
I scurry forward and look out the door. Adalan is right, one of the armored Zauberei is scrabbling around on the grass. His companions have taken out their own rifles however, and I duck just before a loud crack splits the air. I flinch away from the shards of stone that explode off the doorway.
“How did you make that shot?” I ask incredulously. I smell a story.
“I wasn’t always a bartender lass, I used to be in the army. Fought in the Winter War as a scout, that’s where I met my wife.” He says with a grin. The Winter War?
“Only a Southerner would call it the ‘Winter War.’ We prefer to call it ‘Sik val’Kalid’ the War of the Souls.” I reply with a snort. Adalan gives me a long look, before smiling again.
“That explains a lot, I thought you were from the North. Maybe I met your parents when I was out in the cold. A lot of the tribes helped us, you know. What clan do you hail from?” He asks. This should be good.
“I’m from the Gelu, my father is the chief.” I say, and Adalan’s jaw drops. He looks me over again, a slow smile spreading across his face. Despite the bullets smashing into the walls, despite the squad of armored killers coming for us he begins to laugh.
It’s a full belly laugh, he puts his weapon down and clutches his sides. Mendalde and Karl look at him like he’s gone mad, Caius just gives me a quick, questioning glance. Well, that’s not what I expected. Adalan wipes his eyes as his laughter winds down to a hearty chuckle. He picks his blunderbuss back up, leaning against the wall with a wide smile.
“The universe loves its irony, doesn’t it?” Adalan says. Maybe the pressure is getting to him?
“What do you mean?” I ask. The sound of rifle fire dies away and the Zauberei give a roar as they charge. The soun
d of them running sounds like steel thunder, a chill sweeps across my skin. My heart is beating in time with their booted feet. I feel alive.
“I was at the siege of Talesta, I remember thinking that I’d never want to be on the receiving end of such a thing. Now here I am, besieged in my own home with the daughter of the Gelu chief!” Adalan shouts, slinging his blunderbuss behind him and pulling a long knife from a sheath on his back. The first Zauberei runs through the door, screaming at the top of his lungs with his mace raised above him.
He rushes towards me, bringing his mace down towards my head and I dodge to the side. The spiked ball whistles over past head and turns part of the wall behind me to powder as it smashes into it. The other armored fighters rush in past us, two of them corner Adalan and the rest rush towards Caius, Karl and Mendalde.
My opponent is massive, especially in the plate armor he’s wearing. His whole body is covered in polished metal with extra, overlapping plates over his heart. Still, killing armored Southerners is something every Gelu learns at a young age. I hook the small blade of my halberd around the back of his ankle and pull hard as I rise from my crouch. His foot flies out from under him and the weight of his armor is too much for him. With a metallic crash he falls flat on his back. I sweep my halberd over my head, time slowing as I bring the axe head down on my fallen foe.
Through the slits in his visor I can see his eyes, a soft forest green, wide with adrenaline and fear. He’s probably not much older than I am. His armor screeches as the wicked point of my halberd bites deep through the steel protecting him. It sinks all the way to the base of the small blade, he shudders once and lays still.
A ragged scream from my left makes me hurl myself backwards into the wall, and a sword cleaves through the space I was in. It throws a shower of sparks as it ricochets off the floor. Its owner stepping in, standing protectively over her fallen comrade.
With another yell she chops at me with her sword, its long blade clanging off the wall as I duck. She’s just as armored as her friend, and I don’t have my halberd anymore. This new woman is standing firmly between myself and my weapon. I don’t think my dagger or the knife from Alaric will do anything.
I need to get her down to the floor somehow.
I spring up from my crouch, wrapping an arm around her sword arm and smashing my free elbow into her helm. My thick leather armor absorbs some of the blow, but hitting a piece of metal hurts regardless of how you do it. I’ll pay for that tomorrow.
My strike twists her armored helm around, blinding her. Perfect. With a frustrated growl she rips it off her head, throwing it at me as she does. A padded leather wrap frames a pale face, a solitary wisp of brown hair having escaped the leather. Her dark eyes radiate pure fury and a snarl twists her lips. No sense in letting her get her balance back.
A quick jab snaps her head back, so I step in and throw another punch. This one staggers her, and she slumps against the wall next to her. I throw a hook, hoping to set her up for another flurry of blows. This is my chance to get her to the ground.
Instead she springs up from the wall and catches my right hook on her armored arm. Not good. She smashes the pommel of her sword into the side my head and the whole world spins. My ears ring from the blow, and I can feel the cool roughness of the stone wall pressed against my face. I groan and push myself off the wall, haphazardly turning to face her again. No more playing around.
Her armored fist smashes into my chin and the coppery taste of blood fills my mouth. My right eye is blinded by blood pouring from my head. I try to throw my arms up in a hasty guard, and get an armored shoulder to the chest for my trouble. The plate from the swamp I’m wearing under my leather absorbs the worst of it, but I still slam into the wall behind me. I bounce off of it and finally get my arms up in front of me. Okay, this is getting out of hand.
I wipe the blood from my eye, trying to clear my vision. The Zauberei thrusts forward with her sword, trying to pin me to the wall with it. I stumble out of the way and with a metallic crack her blade snaps when it gets caught in the stone. She drops her ruined sword and draws a dagger, her snarl turning into a vicious grin. I draw my own dagger, spitting out a gobbet of bloody phlegm as I do.
I lunge forward, feinting towards her exposed face with my knife, which she catches on her armored forearm. The short kick to the inside of her knee goes unopposed and her knee buckles with a crack under the impact. Thank the ancestors for steel capped boots. She swipes with her dagger as she falls, but I let it go by and grab the back of her head. A swift knee to the forehead knocks the fight, and the daylight, out of her. She collapses to the ground and I pull my halberd out of her companion’s corpse.
I wipe the blood from my eye again, glancing around the house to get my bearings back. Adalan and a third armored Zauberei are sizing each other up, both with bloodied knives in their hands. Adalan’s first two opponents are down on the floor, bleeding from the joints of their armor. That’s another way to do it.
Mendalde and Karl are occupied fighting off a triplet of the Zauberei but neither seemed to be putting much effort into their attacks. They seem almost bored.
Where’s Caius? I don’t see him or the last Zauberei anywhere.
With a muffled scream, the last Zauberei comes flying back into the common room. His flight terminates in a deafening clatter as he smashes into the far wall. Caius leans against the doorway to his room, a winded look on his face. His arms and hands dance with a blue glow, he flashes me a wan smile. The last three Zauberei are still attempting to hack Karl and Mendalde to pieces. Not with any success, unfortunately.
Karl is parrying the attacks of both of his opponents, having apparently decided against killing them anytime soon. Mendalde is toying with her single opponent as well, effortlessly batting her sword away. Her guard slips though, and the Zauberei finally manages to bring her sword down onto Mendalde’s shoulder in a vicious chop. With a high pitched ping her blade cuts a chip from the stone covering Mendalde. A scowl twists Mendalde’s previously calm expression.
Now you’ve done it.
Mendalde spins her opponent around with a clawed backhanded slap, and follows that up by swinging her sword in an arc above her head. The Zauberei throws her blade up crossways in a desperate block as Mendalde’s sword comes crashing down on her. The wooden blade cuts through her steel sword, armor and body without slowing at all. The woman collapses to the ground, twitching on the stone floor. That sword is a lot sharper than it looks.
The woman lays there, twitching for a few more moments as vines burst from her wounds. The long slash across her body sprouts roots and flowers, and they spread rapidly across the corpse. I hastily step back from the twitching mound, filled with an intense feeling of revulsion. This is why people are afraid of mages. I don’t see how Karl hit his opponents, but the sound of them hitting the floor tears my gaze away from the menagerie of leafy horrors.
Ancestors, can’t those two do anything normally? The two corpses in front of Karl look like they’ve been left out to dry in the sun. Their gaunt, pallid features make me shudder. The fact that they’re still moving slightly only heightens the feeling of disgust. Those two are probably the reason the Zauberei exist. I’m glad Caius doesn’t practice magic like this.
Adalan finishes the last Zauberei seconds later, their fight having ended on the floor. He looks a bit pale, even with his dark complexion the blood is obvious. I probably don’t look much better myself. Everyone else seems relatively untouched though. Adalan walks over to the doorway and peeks out. I hope we can get a moment to rest, I need to get the blood out of my eye.
“They don’t seem interested in finishing us right this moment.” He says wearily. He doggedly walks back over to us and slumps down in a chair. Caius motions for me to sit and I gratefully collapse into the proffered chair as well. Caius tuts as he pulls rolls of bandages from a pouch.
“You need to be more careful Kearika, I cannot afford to heal you yet. Once the battle is over I will fix what I can.”
He says wearily, his hands shaking as he cleans my wounds. I give him a bloody grin.
“This will just teach me to dodge better, you know I’ve always struggled with getting out of the way.” I say trying to reassure him. Caius just sighs as he starts applying the bandages.
Chapter XVIII - Caius
Duras - Outskirts of Ba’tshish
11th of Telod, 1873 MD
Kearika is going to need stitches. A lot of them. As well as at least a week of bed rest. I can probably get her to agree to the stitches. That pommel strike to her head has left a deep gash along most of her forehead. The blood from it coated her neck and face, and is clumping her braids together. Some clean water and fresh cotton from a pouch gets the bleeding stopped. I gingerly cover the cut with more strips of bandage, carefully wrapping it without disturbing Kearika’s hair. I know how much her hair means to her.
Kearika’s tribe believed that the body of a person is sacred, and telling them what to do with it is a serious insult. I remember when I found out about that little tradition. When we first met, I suggested that she should cut her hair, thinking that three feet of hair was not conducive to fighting well. Nearly getting stabbed on our first day was an interesting way to start our adventure. I concentrate on cleaning up Kearika’s various scrapes and nicks, she’s busy describing her fight with the Zauberei but I’m barely listening.
“When she knocked me back against that wall, I thought for a moment she might get me. But I’m the best, as you know.” She says with a wink that I don’t notice. I’m going to have to wash these out when I get the chance, so they don’t get infected.
“Caius, are you even listening?” Kearika asks, annoyance in her voice. Whoops.
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