Royal blooded, p.35
Royal Blooded, page 35
part #1 of Royal Blooded Series
Eli noted grimly that despite their disrupted magic, the elves still had years of training and experience to fall back on when it came to fighting in melee. Both guards dodged and blocked gracefully in contrast to the human’s brutal, uncoordinated thrusts and swings. In the end the human numbers won out and both elves were killed, but it came at the cost of two human lives.
Eli ordered the rest of the unarmed humans to scavenge the weapons and armour again. Every human now held a weapon of some sort, and several had traded their now-useless guns for something else. When the two humans under his control died he had felt the life drain from them. The sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach told him that it wasn’t the last time he’d feel that.
Satisfied, he turned back to Zee. “We can’t trade lives like this. In a straight-up fight, we’re going to lose.”
“I know. I’m doing my best to avoid their patrols, but the castle is filling up by the second.” She responded.
As if summoned by her words, a much larger group of guards rounded the corner at the other end of the hallway. Where the groups before were only about twenty guards each, this one was about double the size of their army. There was a brief moment of hesitation as both sides realized what they were looking at before the elves charged.
“There are too many! Back the way we came!” Zee shouted.
“Not an option!” Naz roared in response.
Eli turned around, seeing an equally large force of guards advancing from behind them. They were trapped between the two forces, with no way out. “Zee, options?”
“Door along the wall!” She shouted. “Leads to a staircase up!”
Lilly flung the door open and bounded up the narrow spiral staircase. Naz was hot on her heels, running after her. He frantically tried to plan out his next move before his mind settled on a gruesome plan. While he hated doing it, if the elves were going to chase them up the stairs he would make them pay for every inch of ground in blood.
He stood near the stairway door for a moment, ushering through Aria and Zee. Then, he formed a defensive wedge of humans in front of the door before heading up the staircase himself, followed by the majority of his forces. For every ten steps he climbed he ordered another human to stand, blocking the way. The elven guards superior numbers and training would be useless in the stairway. It would be a meat grinder, one which would slow them down significantly.
By the time he reached the top of the stairway he had felt the death of ten more humans. Counting the ten additional that he had stationed through the stairway, he knew his forces were dwindling quickly. The remaining seventy five of them spread out across the roof of the castle, and he quickly ordered them to barricade the remainder of the staircases using whatever they could find.
He jogged to meet the rest of the group standing at the edge of the roof. “We can’t keep this up for long.” He said, reaching them.
“It’s about to get worse.” Zee said, nodding over the edge.
Eli peeked over the edge of the roof. Assembling in the courtyard was a force of hundreds more elves. They were hastily arming themselves, putting on armour and weapons while Icitra prowled in front of them, screaming at them to move faster. Off to the side stood several orcs, felines, and even what looked like a demon. Shaking his head, he pulled back from the edge.
“Yeah. There’s no way we can fight that. We need an escape route.”
“What did you have in mind?” Aria asked.
He closed his eyes, trying to calm his mind. In the short conversation he had felt several more humans under his control die. Knowing that the rest of them would soon follow if he didn’t figure out how to solve this problem, he took several deep breaths before reopening them.
In front of him was the spell disrupter. “I have a bad idea.” He said, finally.
“Better than no idea.” Zee said sarcastically.
“Aria, you said that thing explodes if it’s tipped over while still active, right?”
“I mean, it’s not a guarantee, but yeah – it’s pretty volatile.” She responded. “Why?”
“What if I tossed it off the roof at Icitra?”
“It would definitely explode, and probably take half the castle down with it. But there’s no guarantee you’d hit her from this range, and even if we survived the blast the whole area would just be flooded with reinforcements.” She responded.
“It’d make for a hell of a distraction though.”
Aria started to shake her head. “How does that get us off the roof though?”
“There’s another gate at the back – fewer guards there. Remember when we jumped out of the hotel in Coldwater? Could you do that again for a larger group?”
Slowly, she started to grin. She very gently handed Eli the spell disrupter, then started to jog towards the opposite end of the castle. He looked at the other women around him before speaking. “You guys go with her. I’ll give you a sixty second head start.”
“Look at you, giving orders.” Zee said with a smirk. “Maybe there’s more to the whole ‘royal blood’ thing than just the magic.”
They quickly jogged after Aria as Eli started to count. He felt his army quickly dying around him as he waited the agonizing minute. The elves had figured out his meat grinder tactic and begun breaking down the barricades blocking the other staircases, forcing Eli to fight on multiple fronts. He knew they wouldn’t last long, and ordered everyone he could spare to join the women at the back of the roof. He visualized his next move, mentally preparing himself.
Finally, he popped his head over the roof. Grasping the spell disrupter by the middle, he cocked his arm back in his best impression of a football player and tossed. Not bothering to look behind him he started sprinting in the other direction.
As the spell disrupter sailed through the air, the elven guards broke through the few human forces he left behind, slaughtering them. He felt the last of their lives drain away as they began to look frantically around the roof, spotting him. For a heart-wrenching millisecond Eli questioned whether someone had prevented the spell disrupter from exploding.
A ball of white lightning quickly enveloped the front of the castle, blinding Eli for a moment but easing his fears. He leapt forward, desperate to get as far away from the source as possible. That light was quickly accompanied by a boom which Eli felt in his chest. He opened his eyes just in time to see a large explosion throwing chunks of the castle high up into the air. Fire blossomed outwards in every direction, and the front face of the castle began to collapse. He immediately began casting.
“Snámh Objet! Ventilabis Retro!”
He reduced his own weight to the point where he was floating, then blasted himself backwards across the roof. It was crude and uncontrolled, but in milliseconds he slammed into the cold stone at the other end of the roof – far enough away to dare to hope that he might be able to avoid the worst of the explosion. He held onto the crown with one hand, not willing to risk the one item they came all this way to retrieve. His stolen war hammer skidded to a stop beside him on the ground.
Eli stood and grabbed the hammer before throwing himself over the castle wall, feeling himself slow and stop before being placed gently onto the ground. Next to him stood Aria, her hands glowing gold before quickly fading as she grinned. “I told you I’m getting stronger.” She said.
“I never doubted it.” He replied, looking around.
The fact that they were on the other side of the castle had protected his group from the worst of the explosion. All told, the four women plus twenty-two humans had made it onto the ground. Reminding himself it was better than the alternative, he ordered the force of humans forward towards the gate. Zee appeared behind two of the guards at the door, stabbing them both through the throat with twin knives she had scavenged from somewhere. Whirling around, she blasted what looked like sand outwards at three other guards, blinding them for a moment.
Naz took advantage of the distraction to leap on the three guards, throwing them into the wall behind them. Two of them dropped large axes which she picked up before hurling them into two more guards who were watching, dumbfounded. Aria followed up their strikes by pulling the remaining three guards through the air towards the mass of humans, where they were quickly stabbed, slashed, and beaten to death.
As he watched the violence unfold in front of him, Eli realized the spell disrupter had masked the fact that the hammer he held was enchanted. Now that it was gone though, he was unconsciously absorbing a steady stream of mana. Not having the time to examine it, he quickly cut off the mana he was absorbing from the object, hoping he wouldn’t have to figure out what the enchantments did in the middle of a fight.
The group of them sprinted out the gate and into the city. Flames flickered high in the castle behind them, casting long shadows in the darkness. There were screams coming from the castle which they did their best to ignore, moving as quickly as they could into the city. The distraction appeared to have worked – they were soon half a mile away from the castle, moving quietly through the dark streets.
Not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention, they discarded most of their recovered weapons and armour in a side street. For the first time, Eli noticed how ragged each of the humans looked. Their faces were gaunt and their clothes were almost universally dirty and torn. He could feel their fatigue as he commanded them onwards, following Zee through dark alleys and streets. By the time they reached the warehouse with the portal the sun was starting to rise.
As soon as they stumbled inside Aria drank a potion offered by Lilly to fortify her mana before casting a spell on the portal. The rest of them waited nervously as she traced her fingers through the air while chanting an impossibly complex spell. Gradually the space in the enchanted ring began to flicker to life, first turning a sort of translucent white before gradually turning into the shimmering blue water-like substance he had become familiar with.
Despite her increased power, Eli could feel Aria start to sag as the portal opened. She had been casting all night, and he knew she wouldn’t be able to hold it open for long. He pointed to Lilly, who happened to be standing closest to the portal. “Lilly, go! Get someone on the other side to hold it open for us!”
She hopped through without question, and a few moments later the light emanating from the portal seemed to brighten. “Zee, Naz – you’re up next. Tell them to expect human refugees.”
Zee dropped the two knives she had been holding onto, and the two women jumped through the portal. Eli gave them a few seconds head start before sending the twenty-two remaining humans through the portal in groups of four or five. He breathed a sigh of relief when the last of them were through, knowing that he had at least saved some of them.
His relief was short-lived. He was about to carry Aria through the portal when the side of the warehouse exploded, knocking them both to the ground. Eli was the first to recover, rolling over and springing to his feet in a practiced motion.
In the rubble of the warehouse wall stood Icitra. Her tight black dress had been torn in several places, and blood dripped down her chin. She grinned maliciously as she began to cast again, eyes locking on the open portal. Eli realized she meant to repeat her trick by trapping them.
“Not this time bitch!” He shouted sprinting and jumping in the line of fire.
The fireball hit him and blasted him backwards. He managed to absorb the majority of the mana but it still caused him to wince as he stood. He looked up in time to see Icitra cast another spell – this one at Aria who was still laying dazed on the ground. He screamed in horror, realizing he was too far away to do anything to stop the evil elf from hurting her.
The fireball engulfed Aria, burning the area around her. Eli charged head-first into the flames, ignoring the pain as it singed his arms and legs. He picked her up roughly and threw her over his shoulder before sprinting out towards the portal.
“Coward! My people will rain hellfire down on Irandell! I will have my revenge!” She shouted as he reached the portal.
He was about to step into the portal with Aria before the truth in her words registered with him. By running now, he was guaranteeing an attack on Irandell. He wasn’t sure which nation would be stronger, but he knew that innocents would die in the battle. “Fuck.” He cursed softly, realizing what he had to do.
Rolling Aria off his shoulder, he gently placed her into the portal before peeling the crown off his head and tossing it in after her. He turned in time to see another fireball racing towards him. Reaching his hand out, he absorbed the mana into him.
Eli could see her smirk as she realized he was turning to fight her. Something about that smirk awoke the boiling rage within Eli. It was the same smirk that the satyr and Anar wore constantly, and he hated it on them. He decided he hated it on Icitra even more.
His hands began to glow gold with his unrestrained mana. Months ago, the thought of allowing his mana to fire outwards without any semblance of control would have terrified him. Now though, he was ready to fully give in to the extend of his new powers. He held his hands out in front of him and watched the smirk on her face freeze before falling into a look of terror.
“Fuck you!” He shouted.
A beam of golden light fired from his hands. It impacted Icitra with the force of a small bomb, blowing her backwards into the street behind her. Eli cried out wordlessly, continuing to fire the beam into her for several more seconds as she skidded backwards.
The edges of Eli’s vision started to blur as his supply of mana ran low. He dropped to one knee as he stopped firing, taking several deep breaths. Looking around him, he slowly got to his feet before picking up one of Zee’s discarded knives. He slowly made his way towards Icitra’s impact crater, intent on making sure he she was dead.
As he reached her, he saw with surprise that she was still alive. The beam had torn a large hole in the dress as well as fully removed one of her arms. She was bleeding from her head, and had a deep-looking wound running up one of her legs to what looked like an artery. Despite all this, he knew better than to assume it was a fatal injury. After all, Lilly had pulled him back from the brink of death more than once with her potions – it would be stupid to assume that Icitra didn’t have her own set of healers.
He gripped the knife tightly as he prepared to finish the job. The sound of Aria’s voice echoed in his head, reminding him that he should have killed the satyr when he had the chance. Kneeling, he prepared to stab her when suddenly one of her eyes opened.
The two of them looked at each other for a long moment. “Do it.” She croaked out.
He paused, taking a long deep breath. “No.”
“What? You are human – merciless. Animals. Finish it.”
“You have a lot to learn about humans.” He said, shaking his head and dropping the knife before standing.
Belatedly, he realized a crowd had gathered in the dawn light to investigate what was going on. There were dozens of elves standing in the street, watching him hover over the elven queen. He narrowed his eyes and prepared to defend himself before he realized that they weren’t guards – they were just people, going about their morning routine.
Shaking his head, he walked away. Icitra began shrieking about something, but he couldn’t care less. He was tired, and wanted to go home. His feet picked up speed and he had reached a full-on sprint by the time he leapt through the portal.
Chapter 33
“Hey now. Easy. You’ve been asleep for awhile.” Eli said, entering the room to see that Aria was awake.
“Hey.” She croaked out. “Got any water?”
He slipped into the chair by her bedside, pouring her a glass of water and handing it to her. Lilly sat on the bed beside Aria, smiling as she helped the princess tilt the glass back. Aria guzzled the entire thing in one go, sighing contentedly as she finished it.
“Thank you.” She said.
“You’re welcome.” Eli responded. “This is a little funny, isn’t it? It wasn’t so long ago that you were waking me up after having been out for a couple of days.”
Aria giggled. “Yeah, that’s true. Except based on the furniture, we’re in Irandell – so I’m guessing that means we won?”
He leaned forward, kissing her softly. “Yeah, we won. You had no small part in that – thank you.”
“So are you going to tell me what happened?” Aria asked.
“Yeah, just let me get Zee and Naz first. They’re going to want to know you’re awake.”
He kissed her again before getting up and poking his head out of the room. Naz and Zee both stood guard, chatting as they did so. In the last few days they’d become close. Zee would describe at length all the ways she could try to break through the layers of security Naz had set up around them. Naz would respond by tweaking some idea or plan to foil Zee’s simulated attacks.
It was a weird friendship, but it worked for the two of them.
“Hey guys. She’s awake.” He said.
“How’s she doing?” Naz asked hesitantly.
“She seems okay so far. I was going to tell her about the parts she missed. Want to come in and correct me when I miss some details?”
Zee giggled. “Yes please!”
Rolling his eyes, he stepped back into the room. Aria was looking up at him, shaking her head as she smiled. “Lilly tells me you’ve barely left my side the entire time I was out.”
“It’s true!” Zee said, entering behind Eli. “He’s barely left the room except to check on the humans.”
“I had to pick the time she was waking up to do that.” Eli mumbled.
“The humans are here? They’re safe?” Aria asked.
“Yes. They’re awake too! You can meet them later if you want.” Lilly responded.
Eli sat back down, looking at Aria. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
“Icitra tossed a fireball at me.” She said plainly. “Am I horribly burned and disfigured now?”
