Cecilia rode atop of her were-cat, a refined-looking creature of shimmering browns and greens, with large, intelligent eyes and six limbs and curved horns around her head.
All of her guards wore blank expressions as they looked around, also riding were-cats.
A dominating pressure weighed on those around them, making others unconsciously back away from them.
“Slow and steady. We will grind them down. Make sure that the other armies know this,” Cecilia said.
“Yes, General.” A goblin Guardian used their shamanistic power to send a message via Guardian Flame.
Guardians had been embedded into both armies, to remove corruption, organize them, and restore order. The beast kin and human armies had both been judged; for many, carrying out their sentence meant that they had to fight for Dena and then they would be sentenced for a second time. Conscripted fighters weren’t reliable, so she wanted to rein them back so that they didn’t charge into the fight and break apart.
“They’re conserving their power.” Cecilia frowned as the armies continued to advance in their slow, careful, and methodical manner. A high-pitched wail came from the main crystal camp.
Beasts and Drafeng poured out of the main camp, heading east. Those who were fighting the armies turned and ran, many getting cut down as they fled.
Cecilia felt the others relaxing but her frown only deepened.
Suddenly, the interior of the crystal camp started to glow.
“Shields!” Cecilia enhanced her voice so it could be heard over the three armies and Skalafell.
Mages who had been taking a breather readied their shields.
Cecilia saw the forces that had been going northeast and southeast now crossing back. They had left a straight path from their camp to Skalafell.
She saw all of this and her stomach dropped. A beam that was made from the combined power of several Drafeng elites shot across the battlefield. It threw up dirt and burned a line in the ground underneath it. The twisting light broke through mana barriers, shattering them as if hammer striking glass. It slammed into a purple barrier that covered Skalafell—the Guardian barrier, powered by the Guardian Flame.
It held, becoming darker and darker as the beam increased in strength.
The shield faltered as more power was pumped into the beam.
With a shudder, the barrier dimmed and brightened before it broke. The beam hit Skalafell’s walls. Defensive and strength-enhancing runes flashed into existence and then were burned away as Skalafell’s wall exploded. The beam from the Drafeng forces died.
Cecilia looked away from the blinding light of the impact but forced herself to look back as the light dimmed.
Rocks and debris rained down on the city. She could hear the people of Skalafell screaming out. Those who had been standing on the wall couldn’t have survived.
The Drafeng who had feinted their retreat now charged for the twenty-meter-long breach in the heart of Skalafell’s defenses.
“Sound the horns! Double time it!” Cecilia ordered, snapping everyone out of their reverie.
***
Damien saw the blast of chaotic energy but they barely had time to react. The mages had only just thrown their mana barriers up, but they didn’t even slow the attack.
Damien turned as the wall was struck. He saw the light swallowing people, the rocks and people flung into the air as rocks smashed through houses, slammed into the roads, and peppered the already savaged city of Skalafell.
The wave of force from the explosion threw Damien backward and into the rear battlements of the wall.
He grabbed the wall and pulled himself back up. Dust settled over him and those nearby. He saw the fear in the people’s eyes. He looked to his right, seeing the Drafeng army charging right for the breach.
Damien started running. Three sets of tattoos glowed through his armor and he started to grow in size. He grabbed his hammer; his speed increased as he pulled the falling dust with him, passing those who had been knocked down and others who had been wounded.
With a yell, he jumped off the wall. The first Drafeng were just entering the large breach.
Damien brought his hammer down with all of his might, landing it in the middle of the breach. A wave of force flowed through the area, clearing the dust and sending rocks flying in every direction as the front line of the Drafeng were thrown back.
Damien picked up his hammer and swung it with a grunt, gaining momentum. His hammer glowed with purple Guardian Flames; purple runes appeared on his armor and his Guardian emblem burned into his chest. He stood there in his werewolf form as a Drafeng who had been just out of the blast wave leapt up. Damien sidestepped in a move that belied his overall size, strength, and his still-swinging hammer.
The blow took the Drafeng in the side, sending them flying back twenty feet.
Damien’s speed increased as two chaotic beasts arrived.
Damien shifted through the gaps in their attacks. His hammer cracked bones and took their lives as they were sent flying back.
People were still recovering. Damien knew that they were in shock. They were tired and on their last legs; they needed to rally themselves.
“Hear me, Skalafell—hear me, people of Dena! Today!” Several beasts attacked him and Drafeng sent a chaotic blast at him. Damien greeted them with his hammer as he talked. “Today is the day we start our march to victory!”
Damien ran to the side and jumped off a piece of rubble. Two chaotic beasts and a flash of a chaotic beam appeared underneath him. He landed, holding his hammer in one hand and he crashed a Drafeng head with it, and then brought it across his body, striking a Drafeng in the face and sending them flying to the side. He grabbed an axe from his belt and threw it underhand, hitting another Drafeng readying a blast in the mouth. They exploded and Damien sideswiped a beast to his left and threw his hammer to the left. He grabbed the axe on his right hip as he caught his other axe in his right hand. He sent them out again, taking out a chaotic beast trying to climb the breached wall and sending bricks and rocks to the ground below.
His hammer struck a group of beasts, exploding into purple flames that covered the ground.
“Stand firm and hold fast! Protect those to your right and left. Protect those who stand behind us, your friends and your families! For Skalafell!”
His hammer shot back toward him.
“For Dena!”
A collection of voices appeared behind Damien as two purple arrows crossed over his shoulder and under the opposite arm, striking down a Drafeng. As Damien’s hammer returned to him, he grabbed it and turned with it. His hammer crashed into a chaotic beast. Clearing his vision, he saw a shamantic curse fall on a group of chaotic beasts, slowing them. A gnome rogue appeared among them in a flash of smoke. Her blades shone with enchantments; her attacks were swift and accurate as she tore through the chaotic beast’s weaknesses.
A woman from the badger clan ran forward. Her spear took a chaotic beast in the neck. A dwarf, behind her, fired his hand cannon, taking out three beasts that were rushing her.
“Spray and pray!” The dwarf showed his missing teeth, wearing goggles to block the smoke from his eyes.
Explosions went off from the side. Goblins hurled grenades that were as big as their heads, their hobs making sure to control them as they excitedly threw out the explosives, seeing the resulting explosions.
All around him, Guardians joined the fight, becoming the new wall in the rubble.
He saw the chaotic beasts and Drafeng clamoring to enter the city. They were climbing up the walls on either side; the pressure on the defenders increased rapidly. The army was moving in the distance; their pace had increased but Skalafell needed to hold their walls.
If we don’t hold, then they will pour into the city, killing the people here before the army arrives.
Damien slammed his hammer forward. A Drafeng stopped his blow, stabbing out with his arms. Damien was forced to roll to the side; he grabbed his returning axe out of the air and threw i
t. It was covered in purple flames. The Drafeng smacked it away with a mace but the purple flames covered its vision as Damien’s hammer glowed with force.
He hit the Drafeng. A blast of purple flames emanated from his hammer, creating a vacuum in the Drafeng army ranks that was swiftly filled with greater numbers.
***
Dion let out a yell as his spear took one chaotic beast in the neck, dropping them off the walls into the writhing mass below. “Duck!” he yelled.
Jun, one of the three leaders of the Black Scarves and from the feline kin, did so as Dion brought his spear across in a wide arc, aiming to slice across a Drafeng’s neck.
A blade came out and blocked him but Jun drove his sword through the gap in the battlements, hitting them in the chest and opening them and covering him in blood. They dropped to the ground below.
“I thought that Drafeng didn’t climb walls.”
“Guess they just don’t like it.” Dion jabbed forward at another chaotic beast that had appeared.
The walls around the breach were chaos. Melee fighters stood there, holding against the climbing beasts and Drafeng.
The Guardians held the breach, but even they weren’t immune to fatigue.
People cried out as they were torn from the wall, or cut down by the enemy getting in an unexpected attack.
Someone cried out; Dion and Jun looked over to see the person pierced with a spear, before being lifted up and tossed back over the wall. His attacker jumped over the wall and landed on the walkway.
People rushed forward, but the elite’s blades and weapons spun forward, pushing through their ranks, chaining attacks together until two shield bearers pinned down his weapons, locking the elite down, neither side getting an advantage.
Jun and Dion ran to help.
The elite’s mouth glowed and fired a chaotic beam from its mouth to hit the person on his right, making them scream out; it used three arms to throw the other shield user back before cutting down the blinded and screaming beast kin.
It turned to face Dion and Jun. Jun attacked low while Dion went high. The elite cut out with two swords at Jun, who fended them off with his own swords and contorted his body to drive the attack away from Dion.
Dion’s spear, aimed high shone in the Elite’s eyes.
With a yell the Elite forced his head to the side, a bloody line appeared on the side of his face. Jun cut out with his free swords, opening up the Elite’s leg.
Dion’s spear forced the Elite to the side. The Elite stabbed out at Dion and Jun jumped tp the side, leaving a bloody line on his chest.
Dion’s spear jabbed forward, stabbing into the Elite’s neck.
He stumbled, finding the wall behind him.
He had a look of shock on his face as he fell back over the wall, crushing a Chaotic beast on the land below. His weapons weapons dissipating and his body starting to fall apart from the chaotic power consuming his corpse from within.
Purple flames appeared across the battlefield, burning away the chaotic power and forcing the Drafeng to convert the power of Dena into chaotic power. Reducing the speed at which they could attack or the number that could evolve quickly.
Dion looked at the shield bearer. “Are you okay?”
“No, but I can fight,” the lizard kin man said.
Dion nodded and he turned to the wall again.
Bloodline evolutions were rare. It happened when a beast kin surpassed their abilities and pushed beyond their limits. The beast kin people of Skalafell were fighting against creatures that were much stronger than them, fighting for their homes and the ones they cared for. In the fighting, bloodlines continued to be ignited as they stood firm and held their positions.
Dion focused back on fighting. He couldn’t think of anything else, just noticing as the United Army pressed into the rear of the Drafeng army, pressuring them on two fronts and crushing them against Skalafell’s walls.
***
“Break, dammit, break!” General Jaxus almost pleaded under his breath, seeing the people of Skalafell on the walls. They were so close yet so far away. He wanted to be up there supporting them, but he had to maintain the northern flank.
The Guardians stood in the breach, creating a bulwark against the Drafeng army. They had been able to create a short wall to fight from; all of the archers now wielded spears to push the Drafeng from their walls.
The Guardians’ attacks, imbued with their flames, lit up the battlefield from time to time. The arrowhead of the United Army were as a knife in the Drafeng’s back. Spells fell from the skies; cutting snow, meteors, lighting, hellfire, and starlight fell upon the Drafeng, reaping countless lives. Spears, quagmires, curses, demons, summoned beasts, and golems rose from the ground.
They were a grinder: the magical types hit those at range; the archers, weaponeers, and grenadiers killing those at mid-range while the melee types finished off those who reached their indomitable advancing steel wall.
Buffs supported them and curses weakened the enemy.
The formations shifted, rotating out the third group of fighters. The formation rippled as the changes were offset from one another. Even those in reserve would do all they could to break the Drafeng.
“Come on!” Jaxus yelled, willing the United Army forward.
He didn’t know how it started, but those at the edges of the Drafeng army leaked away at the sides of Skalafell. It was a small trickle, a few Drafeng running at first; then others started to join. The chaotic beasts started to follow, turning into a full rout.
The army pressed forward, keeping the pressure up, but there were no more who were rushing to attack the walls.
They were broken against the Skalafell city walls, scattering and fleeing to the east.
The defenders continued to hold until all of the Drafeng were fleeing.
Horns sounded out with new orders. This battle was over, but the war hadn’t ended.
Chapter: A Lich’s Duty
Claire did her best to keep Anthony at arm’s length. Being around him made it hard for her to keep her emotions in check.
She wanted to reach out, hold him and hug him, tell him what her plan was, tell him that it was what she needed to do.
She sprinkled sand on the letter she had written. It adhered to the ink, speeding up the drying process.
With a flick of her hand, she removed the sand and the letter rested on the table. She looked at it. The cold words couldn’t express all that she felt.
“It will have to do.” Claire looked at the dagger that was to her side. Runes had been carved into the metal to create a powerful enchantment.
With a sigh, she stood, grabbing the knife and tucking it up into her sleeve. “Okay.” She shook herself and then headed out of the room.
She went through the halls. Anthony was outside of Shivernsin. The soldiers had been put to work, carving out small trenches in the ground to slow the Drafeng.
He seemed to sense her and looked up from his work, waving to her.
“Are you okay?” Anthony looked at her with worried eyes as he wrapped his hands around hers.
She let go of her nervousness and hugged him, resting her face against his cold breastplate. “I will be. Come, I need to show you something.”
“Okay,” Anthony said.
She felt a pang of guilt and sweetness at how he trusted her completely. She led him into Shivernsin, down to the lower floors to a supply warehouse filled with food and other goods.
“What is it?” Anthony said.
“We need to wake up the Guardians,” Claire said.
“That would be nice. Though, when I went there, I didn’t sense any fluctuations of mana. It’s as you said—it looks like they can’t be woken up,” Anthony said.
“I think that I might be part of the problem,” Claire said.
Anthony cocked his head to the side.
“You see, I raised everyone from the dead. I bound their souls to their bodies. I am their necromancer. They obey my commands. I created an e
nchantment over the area that would take my mana and wake the others, working around the sentence that I was given. The problem is that I am still controlling them. I can’t release them.” Claire’s head dropped.
“If we can’t wake them, we’ll find a way.” Anthony’s armored hand pushed her hood back and then tucked her hair behind her ear.
Claire would have been crying if not for her lich form. “I found a way,” she said in a low voice.
“What was that?”
She activated the formation that she had hidden in the warehouse.
Chains grew out of the ground and wrapped around Anthony. He was stunned for a second and looked at Claire, not fighting back out of trust of her.
“Claire?”
“There is a way to wake them up. If they don’t have a necromancer controlling them, if they are directly injected with mana to power their bodies, then they should wake up.”
The chains wrapped around Anthony’s limbs, holding him in place.
“Claire! What are you thinking of doing?” Anthony started to struggle.
“For them to live...I can’t.” Claire looked at Anthony, her eyes filled with love. “We have only been reunited. I wish more than anything that we could spend eternity together. But we made an oath—we would defend the people of Dena, even if it meant our deaths.”
She stepped forward and touched Anthony’s breastplate. The hidden formations activated and his breastplate fell off, revealing his ribcage and her beating heart in his chest.
She pulled out the dagger. “With this, the formation in the dagger resonates with the formation that is in the mausoleum. With my death, all of my power will be injected into the Guardians.”
“No! Claire! We can find another way.” Anthony’s voice deepened as he used all of his strength. She had contained his familiars but he channeled their frantic power into his body, struggling against the chains. Some broke but were reformed quickly.
“Anthony, I love you, now and always,” Claire said. Determination and a feeling of peace filled her as she stabbed forward.
A Lich's Love (Death Knight Series Book 5) Page 13