“That’s a point,” Kanae agreed, frowning as she thought about the problem. “I hadn’t thought of that, and I don’t know that I have a good solution.”
“Neither do I,” Isalla admitting, sitting back. “They’re large enough to be problematic.”
“True. We could try to fill them in, but it’s very likely that Mother will offer to regenerate your wings in the capital,” Kanae pointed out. “You really shouldn’t need to worry about it, since I’m fairly sure getting to Silken Veils will be safe.”
“Maybe so,” Isalla said, sighing again.
“True enough,” Rose agreed with a smile. “Based on what I’ve seen of her, she’s almost certain to offer.”
Kanae was about to say more, but then she stiffened as a mental alarm went off. After the surprise visit by her mother and the guards, she’d put up new wards that helped keep an eye on anyone who approached other than from the town. They were a good way out, but even so, she wanted to be cautious. Especially since they hadn’t heard anything more from the assassins yet.
“Someone set off my wards. I’m going to get my armor and investigate,” Kanae said, heading for her current bedroom. She’d moved her armor rack into it for the moment.
“Do you want help?” Isalla asked, and Rose laughed.
“What, and let everyone know we’re here? Let her go, Isalla,” Rose said, shaking her head. Kanae couldn’t help smiling as well.
“Right, right…” Isalla said, slumping back in her chair.
“Hopefully it’s just one of Mother’s guards, or maybe a bigger monster,” Kanae said, starting to put on her armor. “Either way, I’d say to be ready for an attack, just in case. We’ve had enough surprises lately.”
“Very true,” Isalla agreed, watching Kanae with a worried expression. “Let us know if something’s gone wrong?”
“Of course I will,” Kanae said, smiling as she got to work. It wouldn’t take her long to get her armor on, and then it would be a question of finding the intruder. That they’d come from the north made her feel… anxious.
Chapter 49
Kanae paused as she took another step to the north. Something felt wrong, and the forest was quiet. Too quiet for what it normally was like, and that meant that there was something dangerous nearby. That was normal enough in the hells, but even so, she recognized the sensation of being watched.
Glancing around casually, Kanae looked at the usual spots for predators that were native to the area and frowned slightly as she realized she couldn’t see any. Her gaze rose slightly, and she resisted the urge to tense or let her gaze linger on the tree branches. Instead, she turned and meandered away, yet as she walked, her body was as tense as a coiled spring.
The branches of the trees to the north didn’t bow like that naturally. After living here this long, she knew about how much weight the branches could hold, and the sight of them bowing that much made her lips thin. There were at least six branches with people on them, yet she hadn’t seen anyone, which meant they were invisible somehow. Considering the open area above the branches, she suspected they had wings, and that meant either angels or demons, which—
The hissing sound was nearly silent, but Kanae reacted instantly, sidestepping and spinning around. An arrow glanced off her left shoulder with a sharp sound, and Kanae’s sword cleared its sheath as she looked up and winced.
“You idiot!” a woman exclaimed in angelic, her voice filled with irritation. “If you’re going to attack, kill the damned hellspawn!”
On one of the branches that she’d seen was an angel. He was in close-fitting armor which was darker than most armor angels favored, the breastplate dark brown, and he wielded a bow. As she watched, he nocked another arrow. The air shimmered, and Kanae cursed as fourteen more angels appeared all around him, all of them armed.
“Shit,” Kanae murmured, and dove behind a particularly large tree as magic began to gather around the hands of three of the angels, and she internally was thankful that she didn’t need to hide her magic anymore.
Gathering her own magic, Kanae prepared to strike back. Then she could start on her defenses properly. More than a dozen angels was a bit much with her current equipment.
The crashing sound echoed even inside the house, and Isalla froze for a moment, looking up from her armor at Rose. She swallowed and said, “That… didn’t sound good.”
“No, it didn’t. And it came from the north,” Rose said, her lips pressing together. “I don’t think Kanae’s magic could’ve made that sound.”
“She said she used defensive magic and telekinesis, so probably not,” Isalla said, scowling. “Help me into my armor? I’ll help with yours.”
“Right,” Rose said, standing quickly and moving quickly to help. As she did so, Isalla flinched as she heard a cracking sound like thunder.
She hoped Kanae was okay. They hadn’t managed to work out what was going on between them yet.
Sir Qorr swore as he saw the lightning bolt lash across the sky. He glanced back at the other guards impatiently. “Come on, finish getting ready!”
“What’s it matter if we’re a little slow? We’re just supposed to keep the two angels alive, not protect Her Majesty’s daughter,” Omna said, the woman pulling on her armor at a more relaxed pace than Qorr would prefer.
“Yes, but we’re pretty far away so no one would spot us,” Qorr replied sharply, looking across the rest of their team. “If she goes down too quickly, we can’t get there fast enough to help.”
“Isn’t that a little paranoid, Qorr?” Kordon asked, picking up his two-handed sword in one pair of arms, and his shield with another arm. “We all saw the wards on the house. It’ll take a lot to punch through them.”
“You’re assuming that Isalla and Lady Rose stay inside,” Qorr retorted and saw all his companions pause at that.
“That… is a very good point,” Marian said, the human woman frowning and quickening her pace. “I’d best hurry.”
“Yeah,” Omna agreed, looking distinctly unhappy at the thought.
Qorr didn’t say anything more, satisfied that the others were at least taking it seriously now. He wasn’t happy with how many of his fellow guards had decided that Her Majesty’s daughter was expendable due to the queen’s orders and their jealousy.
Besides, he’d been telling the truth, and was keeping an eye on the door of the house nervously.
“How is she still alive?” Eziel demanded to herself, firing another arrow at the woman, still angry about the injuries that several of her soldiers had sustained.
A shimmering field of purple light surrounded the demon, and the way Eziel’s enchanted arrow bounced off made the angel still angrier. Despite being surrounded by six angels in melee, the demoness was holding her own and casting spells at the same time, which was simply shocking. Every spell seemed to layer yet another defensive barrier over the demoness, which was what was so ridiculous.
The woman had started with a telekinetic blast that shattered every tree within ten feet of her, sending wooden shrapnel everywhere and slightly injuring most of Eziel’s company. Eziel’s magi had lashed out with their own magic, but the demoness had dodged two of the attacks and blocked the lightning bolt with her barrier. Now she was as persistent as a damnable cockroach.
One of Eziel’s magi lashed out with a spell to rip apart magic, and the purple barrier flickered. Eziel’s eyes glittered with delight at the sight, and her soldiers down below attacked eagerly at the same time that she and the archers loosed their arrows at the woman.
The demoness’s smile caused a hint of alarm to rush through Eziel, though, and the woman quirked a finger with one hand, her lips moving as she dodged two strikes, blocked a pair with her armor, and slipped her sword under the guard of one of her attackers, stabbing him in the gut and causing the man to fall with a cry of pain. One man was about to slam his sword home into her, but magic shimmered outward from the woman’s grasp as purple tendrils took hold of Eziel’s arrow and deflected it. Her e
yes went wide in horror as the enchanted arrow slammed into the man’s shoulder, and the sword fell from his suddenly nerveless grasp.
The other arrows didn’t care about the betrayal of one of their number, though. One missed, three bounced off the woman’s armor, leaving deep gashes in the metal scales… and one punched through, penetrating into the woman’s side. She gasped, then laughed.
“Ah, fifteen heroic angels against a single, lone demoness… doesn’t this bring back memories? How very valorous of you,” the woman mocked, dodging and taking advantage of the confusion of combat to stab the man who’d been hit by Eziel’s arrow in the leg, dropping him to the ground. “What next, another group of assassins?”
“That blasphemous… kill her already!” Eziel demanded, looking at the magi angrily.
One of them nodded and began weaving a spell, but a wave of heat caused Eziel to look up and she flinched, yelling. “Dodge!”
The woman in red armor was unfamiliar, but the blazing ruby-bladed sword in her hand was unmistakable, as were the wings on her back. Eziel almost missed the figure on the ground, wingless but wearing the armor of the Order of the Phoenix as she raced forward with a sword and shield in hand. Most important was how a column of fire was extending from the upraised ruby blade, and then it came down.
Eziel and the other angels quickly dodged to the side as a blade of fire ripped through the forest and through the trees where the magi had been standing, incinerating wood and setting the trees alight where it passed.
“Stand down and you will not be harmed!” the woman in red armor called out, her voice clear across the battlefield, magic seething within her sword. “Continue, and I will have no mercy on you!”
“Death to traitors!” Eziel cried out, gesturing forward one of her magi and hesitating herself as the demoness on the ground restored her shield, despite the arrow sticking out of her.
This wasn’t going as planned, and even if the mage was skilled in countering fire magic, she needed to ensure that Roselynn and the other woman died.
“No demon queen, but I don’t have time for this,” Eziel muttered angrily, rage almost overwhelming her. So she reached into her quiver and found a different arrow, this one made entirely of mithral and with glittering gold feathers for fletching, the entire length marked with runes.
Taking aim at the demoness, Eziel muttered, “Block this, hellspawn.”
And then she loosed the arrow.
Isalla rushed forward, then dodged to the side as an archer fired an arrow at her. She didn’t quite get far enough, but raised her shield in time to block it. The enchanted tip bit through the steel face of the shield and partially out of the back, but it did its job.
A mage threw a spell at Rose, causing Isalla’s heart to lurch in her chest, but Rose dodged, instead extending Ember and snapping out a quick incantation, launching a ray of fire at one of the archers and knocking her out of the sky.
Isalla focused on rushing to Kanae’s assistance, wincing as she saw the damage done to the demon’s armor and the arrow protruding from her side. Multiple scales of Kanae’s armor were missing, and enchanted blades had cut deep into the pauldrons and vambraces. Kanae wasn’t moving quite as adroitly as she usually did, and she was under attack by three warriors.
“Kanae, this way!” Isalla called out, and she smiled as Kanae began shifting in Isalla’s direction, still dancing about, holding off her attackers, while multiple layers of enchantments enveloped her. Isalla had seen some magi use similar magic before, reinforcing their skin or armor with spells, but she’d never seen someone do both at the same time as well as a shield around them, though the barrier seemed mostly focused on spells or the like, since the swords of the nearby opponents cut through it.
As Kanae retreated, a glimpse of movement drew Isalla’s gaze, and she paled as she saw the raven-haired angel’s bow drawn and an arrow glowing on it that was far brighter than the others. Isalla spoke just as the woman let go of the bowstring. “Dodge!”
The arrow leapt from the bow like a thunderbolt, a crack exploding through the air loudly as multiple silver shockwaves exploded outward from the arrow’s wake. Kanae started to dodge, but it was too late as Isalla watched in shock, then horror.
The arrow hit the barrier and didn’t even slow as the spell shattered. A few fragments of the breastplate exploded outward as it hit Kanae’s chest, and then it was through. Kanae only barely began to stagger, her lips parting as if to say something… and golden light erupted from the arrow.
An explosion of gold erupted across the clearing, along with a sound almost like a heavenly chorus. Isalla staggered under the reverberation, then looked up.
There was no one where Kanae had been standing, just an empty spot on the ground. The fragments of armor tinked as they hit a rock, and Isalla froze for a moment, disbelief rushing through her… and whispered softly, tears welling up in her eyes as grief tried to overwhelm her. “No…”
Chapter 50
Kanae’s breath left in a rush as the arrow punched through all her defensive spells and armor effortlessly. How mild the pain was surprised her, considering the power it had to pierce everything else, and it didn’t hurt nearly as badly as the other arrow that’d lodged in her side.
She opened her lips to tell Isalla she was okay, but that was when the arrow surged with immense magical power and golden light. Kanae didn’t have time to resist as the magic rushed in and took hold of her, and with a flash of golden light, the world moved.
The teleportation was far more violent than any Kanae had experienced before, and she felt her stomach lurch hard, roiling painfully as she was ripped through space violently. Kanae came out the other side gagging, almost unable to hold down her nausea. Then, with pain rippling through her, she looked around and blinked in confusion.
Kanae was in the middle of what looked like a courtyard, with perfectly fitted white stones beneath her feet, and elegant fountains set into walls around the broad courtyard. Beyond the walls to either side she could see the upper branches of trees, their bark brown and leaves green, and above them was a brilliant, blue sky, a yellow sun, and white clouds.
More important was the temple-like building behind her, and what looked like a gleaming palace ahead of her, most of it white and with gleaming silver roofs to the buildings. Guards stood atop the gate to the palace and Kanae blinked. She knew she was in the mortal world now, but why had the arrow brought her here?
Magic rippled through the area, and all around the courtyard Kanae saw spells begin to form, just as an alarm sounded in the palace ahead of her. Kanae tensed, gasping out the words of a defensive spell, reforming the shield around her body, but as the spells around her took form, Kanae’s heart sank.
“Oh, brimstone,” Kanae muttered, despair overwhelming her.
Dozens, no, hundreds or thousands of arrows formed of pure magical energy took shape all around her, forming not only a line around the courtyard, but a full dome above her head. There were more than she could count, and the magic hadn’t finished yet.
“This is going to hurt,” Kanae said, tensing to try to dodge.
The arrows all launched forward at the same time, and no matter what she did, Kanae didn’t see a way through them. Her barrier lasted less than an instant under the torrent and shattered. Her armor didn’t last even that long.
At least the pain was over quickly, and everything went black as Kanae hoped that the guards would reach Isalla and Rose in time.
Rose hissed angrily as she blocked an attack, then used her attacker’s stomach as a springboard to launch herself at the other. The woman in front of her looked startled, but she prepared to block, obviously not expecting just how ruthless Rose was feeling.
Ember sheared through the angel’s wing effortlessly, setting multiple feathers on fire as it cut through them, and the woman screamed as she fell from the sky.
“You monster! You’ve betrayed your people and the heavens themselves! Lay down and die!” A woman cried out, lo
osing another arrow at Rose, but it was all too easy to dodge with the enhancements the new armor gave her.
“Betrayed? Isalla was betrayed by those she trusted. Someone paid for me to be ambushed, another angel. Then you came here and killed someone who only offered us succor!” Rose retorted, lashing out with Ember, surging her mana through the blade, which amplified the power and turned it into a wave of fire that lashed out at her attackers.
The mage behind the woman hurriedly cast a spell and quenched the flames before they could reach the woman, and Rose’s lips pressed together tightly. While she’d managed to take down two attackers so far, she wasn’t sure how much longer she could last, especially with four tying down Isalla. Her friend was fighting frantically against one woman on the ground, her shield battered and with several arrows embedded in it.
A lightning bolt lanced toward Rose as she thought that, and she only partially managed to dodge, gasping as part of it discharged through her body, causing her muscles to spasm and her to go a little off course. At least it threw off the aim of the archers aiming at her, and Rose stabilized, feeling a wave of warmth rush through her body from her chest, easing the pain.
“Only as is appropriate, from what I’ve seen!” the woman cried out, nocking yet another arrow. “You deserve to fall here!”
Rose blinked as the man who she’d launched off suddenly descended from above, his sword held in both hands as he brought it down toward her, and she braced to block it, hoping her armor was strong enough to handle any arrows.
The next instant, a huge axe swirled through the air and hit the man in the side, knocking him away as he choked, the blade leaving a huge gash in his side that bled profusely. The axe kept swirling through the air until it was caught by a demon on the ground, the man in heavy armor and with four arms, two of them holding the axe, while one of the lower pair held a shield. He was accompanied by three others, all of them in midnight blue and silver.
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