“Circle around!” Lynch bellowed. “We’re not going in with that thing there!”
“Then watch this!” Ashlynn yelled and threw her arms to the sky. A pillar of blue energy descended from the air above and bathed the monster in eldritch energy, killing several warriors near it. Kayleigh realized this must be the celestial bolt her father had previously mentioned, energy drawn directly from the realm of the Goddess. It was awe inspiring and looked every bit as powerful as the fireshade.
The serpent faltered and fell off the wall to the cheers of the riders and Major Lynch seized on the momentum. “Into the city! Through the breach! Reese! On point and give me a fireshade to clear the way!”
Kayleigh turned hard and sent Iarisha toward the largest gap in the wall as the unicorn accelerated, all four legs clawing at the ground beneath as the girl began summoning the most powerful weapon in her arsenal. Dropping her active magic shield, she activated one of the shield triggers Ashlynn had made for protection. Sparing a glance backward at Ashlynn, she started to shout that it was her turn when the serpent suddenly lashed out at the fake unicorn the sorceress rode.
Kayleigh’s concentration faltered as she saw the creature close and she almost lost her fireshade. The heat distortions obscured her view for a moment, but then she felt a sudden weight behind her and a pair of arms grab onto her with a deathgrip.
“That things still alive!” Ashlynn said, appearing on the back of Kayleigh’s saddle, saved by one of her evasions. “How?”
Kayleigh, grateful that the other girl was still alive said, “I don’t know! Hang on!”
Throwing her energy into the fire magic, Kayleigh, her passenger, and Iarisha went through the broken wall. Something sizable slammed against her protective shield just before Kayleigh released it and the terrifying power at her disposal.
Kayleigh knew from experience that the center of a fireshade detonation was a strange and wondrous place. For a brief moment, the world ceased to exist and it was like all those tales of how the Goddess called forth her fire and created this realm. Perhaps it was the closest thing a mortal being could come to that kind of majestic power.
That feeling was tempered with the knowledge that the other side of the fireshade was not a wondrous place at all. The world returned with a rush and Kayleigh saw the effects of her power. Her flawed attempt at creating a new realm only served to bring death and devastation to this one.
“That was astounding!” Ashlynn shouted with enthusiasm. “Let’s do that again!”
A wave of shock and confusion passed through both unicorn and rider as each collectively wondered about the young woman’s sanity.
“Not right now,” Kayleigh said, panting. She realized it had taken too much out of Iarisha. “She needs a minute to recover. Can you protect us?”
“Of course! See, I told you I’d be the one protecting you! When are you going to realize that I’m always right?”
The sorceress expended some of her power and Kayleigh saw a nearby warrior tossed aside like a child’s rag doll.
“You thought that snake was dead!” Kayleigh said.
“A fair point,” Ashlynn conceded as the other maidens rode by them into combat.
“Move it, Reese! We need you in the fight!”
Kayleigh heard Meghan Lynch’s orders and smiled slightly, knowing that some things would never change.
“Come on, Risha!”
Tossing the first of several fireballs, Kayleigh was just getting her figurative legs under her when she saw a massive form charging toward them and felt the ground quiver in fear at what was coming.
“By the Goddess! It’s the Hydra Chieftain!” Ashlynn exclaimed. “I never thought I’d see him.”
Kayleigh never really knew much about the Yar. They’d always seemed more like an irritant to Miros and Helden. She’d heard that there were different tribes, but never believed those stories about them being ruled by monsters.
The giant serpent from earlier should have jogged her memory.
“Remember the part of the orders that we should withdraw?” Kayleigh said and gulped. The manticore from Shiftla seemed relatively harmless in contrast.
“I think we should follow that order, too!” Ashlynn said. Above, there was a loud screech of some kind of bird.
The unicorn agreed and they turned toward the way they came in only to find the giant snake slithering over the wall and hissing at the hydra, who roared a reply.
For something so large that had taken considerable abuse, the snake moved fast, striking several of the maidens moving to surround them.
Shaking the momentary panic aside, Kayleigh sent a steady stream of flames against the creature’s sparkling scales with only a limited effect. The beast turned toward them and, for a second, it appeared to have grown whiskers. In truth they were arrows.
“A weak spot, Kayleigh!” her passenger cried. “Get it there.”
Her spraying flames must have caused some damage because the creature moved in their direction.
“Let’s see if it can survive a second shot,” Ashlynn said, uttering words in a language Kayleigh could only partly understand. This one wasn’t coming from prepared magic. This was Brian’s sister actively powering the spell and her second celestial bolt struck closer and with enough force to make Kayleigh’s teeth rattle.
For a brief second, Kayleigh thought they’d succeeded until the monster shook side to side and seemed only momentarily stunned.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Ashlynn said in disbelief.
The creature hissed at them. Whatever it said, Iarisha understood it and bolted forward.
“We seemed to have made it angry,” her passenger observed.
Kayleigh held on and tried to sort through the images from the unicorn.
“Risha understood it and she’s all for getting away from it!”
“Where’d it go?” Kayleigh shouted, trying to maneuver Iarisha down a narrow street made even more difficult by trash, tables, and all manner of debris barring their path. A Yar fighter leapt from behind an overturned table she’d swerved to avoid. Kayleigh muttered the one magical spell she could cast with any proficiency and created a disc of energy around her left arm that turned the weapon away.
“I can’t see it!” Ashlynn yelled in her ear while jabbing a stick at the man. A jet of yellow light hit the man, sending him careening away. She shook the wand. Realizing it was spent, she cast it away. “Wait!” It’s one street over on the right!”
“Do you have anything that will kill it?” Kayleigh asked a little more harshly than she should have. The monster kept her from turning toward the main gate and drove them further into the city where no one could help them. Iarisha’s blazing speed didn’t count for much when she couldn’t use it properly.
“Of course, Kayleigh! I’ve been holding back this really powerful spell for the right moment, because the other two times I’ve hit it with everything I had I wasn’t trying to kill it! I figured what better way to spend the day than running for our lives through the middle of an occupied city.”
“Don’t forget who thought up this wonderful idea,” Kayleigh scolded the other sorceress while turning her unicorn down another street. She hoped to find her way to the fighting at the main gate or back out the hole in the eastern wall before the giant serpent caught up with them. Both times her friend hit it with a celestial bolt Kayleigh figured that the monster was dead. The monster had other ideas.
The answer was a bit snappish and Kayleigh wondered if her fireshade, even if she had the strength for it, would be enough.
“So far,” Kayleigh said, “the only weak point I’ve seen is around and inside its mouth.”
“I’m not too keen on getting near that,” came the reply.
“Do you have an evasion that could get us both out of the way?”
“Yes, but there’s no way we can bring your unicorn.”
“That’s alright. We won’t be on her.”
“And people say I have a
deathwish,” Ashlynn quipped.
“I’ve got nothing to fear,” Kayleigh answered. “You said you’re protecting me, right?”
“In the future, leave the sarcasm to me.”
“Around this next corner, we’ll get off. Iarisha, get down to the end of the street, come toward us if it gets near you.”
Fighting alongside Ashlynn was bizarre in every sense of the word. The sorceress didn’t take anything very seriously. With the exception of the two ambushes with Meghan Lynch, it had always been Kayleigh or Kayleigh and a unicorn alone in battle.
If I wasn’t so scared this might actually be exciting.
They jumped off Iarisha at the corner of a street. Looking about, she saw eyes peeking out of their windows and people in the doorways. A few started to come out when they saw Iarisha.
“Stay back!” she shouted. “It’s not safe!”
Her words became a self-fulfilling prophecy as the serpent, scales still reflecting the morning light, slithered into view. Kayleigh had her scimitar drawn in what she hoped looked like a futile gesture and Ashlynn wasted one of her wands, throwing spells that might have slain a Yar warrior outright, but did about as much damage to it as an irate scratch from a housecat.
The beast appeared wary of their false last stand and took forever for the snake to close for the strike. As it did, Kayleigh fretted over whether Danella had somehow warned these monsters about her.
“Get to my unicorn!” she lied. “You’re the duke’s daughter! We can’t afford to lose you! I’ll try to hold it off with the magic I have left in my weapon!”
She added a weak flame to the scimitar and used it to throw a few feeble spatters of flame at the snake. It took the bait and snapped into motion, reminding Kayleigh of Danella’s bullwhip. She waited for the jaws to fully unhinge before thrusting her hand forward and sending a column of angry red flame directly into its gaping maw.
She felt something akin to a muscle cramp, if such a cramp could strike every part of her body at the same instant as Ashlynn cast her evasion.
She found her bearings twenty feet down the street as her weapon clattered against the stones below. Kayleigh gasped and followed her weapon moments later.
“You actually like doing that?” Kayleigh croaked, shaking like she was feverish.
“You get used to it. It hurts more if you’re wearing metal which is why I only wear a tiny bit,” she explained as they saw the snake thrashing about in agony. It smashed into a house and sent the terrified residents running into the open.
“And you could have warned me!”
“We didn’t exactly have time to remove your armor, now did we? Even so, you were still going through with this plan. I saw no reason to tell you it was going to be like torture.”
The pain was bad enough that Kayleigh swallowed a vial of healing tears as they witnessed the serpent in what they hoped were the throes of death. The effects lessened, but did not completely go away. Fumbling, she retrieved her scimitar and hoped she wouldn’t have to use it anytime soon.
Iarisha rejoined them while Kayleigh alternated between looking for Yar warriors and watching the serpent thrash. A full minute passed before it stopped and lay still.
“Should we go make sure it is dead this time, once and for all?” Kayleigh asked.
“No, I think I’m good here. Besides, you know what happens in all those stories where the heroes think the monster is dead?”
Growing up, Kayleigh never read those types of stories, but she had a good idea what her odd friend was talking about. “Fair point,” she said. “Let’s catch our breath for a minute more and then rejoin the battle.”
As she spoke, the serpent folded in on itself and shrunk. For a brief moment Kayleigh fought against the panic rising in her soul that the snake was truly unkillable. Seconds later, she felt relief when she saw the body of a man left behind. She’d killed again, but she wouldn’t berate herself for this death. The man was a monster in both the literal and figurative sense of the word.
“Oh, so they are shapeshifters,” Ashlynn observed. “I guess that makes sense. Otherwise, how do you understand a hydra when it gives you an order?”
Kayleigh really couldn’t care less about Yar political structure and changed the topic. “Okay, I think he’s dead now. C’mon, let’s go.”
As they climbed onto Iarisha, Kayleigh caught sighted another unicorn rider rounding a corner a few blocks down. She recognized the woman instantly and had never been so happy to see Meghan Lynch in her life.
Things are starting to look up!
Meghan Lynch approached at a rapid gallop as Kayleigh called out to her, “Major! We were driven into the city by the giant snake, but finally killed it.”
Her only warning was a sudden flash of danger from Iarisha, who must’ve picked up on something from T’rsa. Kayleigh wheeled her mount away, but the major’s sword slash struck Ashlynn across the back and she dropped from the unicorn and fell awkwardly onto the street.
In shock and disbelief, she managed to get her scimitar around to block the second strike, aimed at Kayleigh’s head, but the dirk in the officer’s near hand penetrated her mail shirt and jabbed into Kayleigh’s flesh underneath.
It was then, that she saw the soulless black orbs where Meghan Lynch’s eyes were supposed to be.
Iarisha took a stabbing wound to her flank from T’rsa’s horn and the second jolt of pain shook the young sorceress from her horrified state. The street offered little room to maneuver, but Kayleigh got Iarisha back and away from T’rsa. A wave of her hand sent a burst of flame intended to keep her opponent at a distance until she could figure out what to do.
“Hello, Kayleigh! I see Meghan found you first. Well done, Sister!” a second voice called. That’s when she saw the black unicorn and the woman riding it. She’d seen Majherri’s new appearance in Cyemma’s memories and thought she’d prepared herself, but seeing him in person stirred so many emotions inside of Kayleigh.
He has his horn again!
“Keep her from fleeing, my slave,” Danella said. “I have earned the right to deliver the deathblow.”
“I thought my father wanted me alive?” Kayleigh countered, her wound felt tender.
“Yes, but in the fog of war things happen that are beyond anyone’s control,” Danella said, bringing Majherri down the street in a leisurely manner. “I’m sure he’ll be disappointed. At least I’ll be able to bring him that pathetic wretch you call a mother.”
“You’re lying!”
“No,” Danella said and laughed. “I’ve got her alright. Majherri found her for me to prove his devotion. I only told you because I wanted you to know what was going to happen to her after I kill you.”
Kayleigh hurled a series of fireballs that Danella blocked with one of her own while continuing her taunting.
“You’re good, Kayleigh. I’ll admit that. I see you took down that fool Orgo, and saved me the trouble of doing it myself, but I bet that took quite a bit out of you, didn’t it?”
Danella followed with a firewall that pulsed and rushed toward Kayleigh and her mount. Kayleigh triggered her second mage shield and used it to protect both her and Iarisha.
“Always with the tricks, little girl. I guess we could sit here and play games, but I’d rather finish it like this!”
Under the woman’s command, Majherri bolted toward them at a speed Kayleigh had never seen him capable of before. Iarisha tensed and prepared to dodge. Reaching to her belt, Kayleigh tugged the Yar knife from the sheath and released it just before Danella arrived.
The third and final mage shield absorbed the impact of Danella’s flaming sword in a burst of magic that immediately dissipated. Iarisha and Majherri both drew blood, but Kayleigh’s unicorn suffered a larger and more painful wound. Kayleigh’s knife had hit Majherri’s shoulder instead.
The two unicorns circled, locked in a deadly spiral and Kayleigh was forced on the defensive raising a series of active shields to protect her wounded unicorn.
Her scimitar, surrounded by flames parried and struck at Danella, who countered. They were almost even, but the situation was tilting in Danella’s favor with each passing second.
She’s so strong! I need something! Danella and Majherri together are too powerful. That’s it!
“Risha, get in close,” she said and sensed immediate hesitation. “Trust me!”
Her unicorn did as she asked and Kayleigh snatched at Majherri’s horn while swinging wildly at Danella. There was pain as the jagged end pierced through her palm.
Kayleigh screamed in pain, but assaulted the bond between her opponents, remembering how it incapacitated everyone involved last time.
Danella screamed as well, even as Kayleigh’s mental scimitar reflected the motions of her real one, hacking away at the swirling mix of light and darkness linking the rider and unicorn.
She tried again and the jolt of pain caused Danella’s sword to slip from her grasp. Kayleigh managed to slice her opponent’s leg, but the vicious woman grabbed Kayleigh’s arm with both hands preventing a second strike.
The bond resisted her attempts at severing it, healing as fast as Kayleigh could cut it while she and Danella wrestled for control of the one remaining weapon.
Danella let go with one hand and used it to deliver a punch that landed on Kayleigh’s shoulder.
“Your little gamble isn’t working! Time to die!”
Kayleigh couldn’t spare the energy to answer, but someone else did - Majherri. He snorted and neighed. Within the swirling energies of the bond, a piece of magic that was outside of the link formed into something resembling a unicorn horn and stabbed through the tether connecting him and Danella.
By no means did Kayleigh think of herself as a cruel person, but she enjoyed hearing Danella’s howls of agony. Between Majherri’s efforts and her own the bond snapped and released a tremendous backlash of energy.
Kayleigh was thrown from Iarisha’s saddle and suffered even more damage to her ruined palm, landing in a heap on the cobblestones. Her first attempt at rising failed miserably. On the second, she was able to get up on one knee. Iarisha stayed at her side defending Kayleigh.
Sorceress (Book 2) Page 35