- Rematch -
Guiche's head throbbed painfully in tune with each step he took.
The last thing he could recall was tailing a suspicious group of men after he had stumbled upon Kirche's wand abandoned in an alley behind the marketplace.
It was no coincidence that he had appeared there of all places. After having his advances repeatedly rejected by numerous waitresses who weren't nearly as frivolous as his source had implied, he had departed the tavern in search of Kirche only to be set upon by a large number of ruffians.
It took little effort for his seven Bronze Valkyries to repel the mob, as such Guiche continued on his merry way towards the markets. He scoured the stalls for the busty redhead whom had pretty much dragged him to La Rochelle, and managed to catch sight of her entering an alley with someone who appeared to be a merchant, followed by a small group of armed men which he presumed to be a guard detail of some sort.
By the time he reached the alley, there was no sign of either the guards, or Kirche and her companion. What he did find was her wand and a scattering of buttons, he wondered if something had happened. That's when the sound of voices further down the alley drew his attention, curious he moved to investigate.
Following the voices, it took him some time to catch up as they had a significant lead, when he finally caught up; he peered around the corner and saw.
A large group of armed men, some of them he recognized barely as the guards that had followed Kirche into the alley, and there... standing among them was the merchant, but no sign of Kirche. Then he noticed that one of their number was carrying a large sack over his shoulder and sticking out of the end was a pair of boots - recognizably Kirche's.
'The fiends,' Guiche thought, 'they've abducted Kirche.' He could scarcely believe it, Kirche was one of the most gifted students at the academy, having already reached the rank of Triangle while the majority of her peers remained Dot mages and yet somehow she had been outwitted.
As a nobleman bearing witness to such a nefarious deed, he had to act. A fair maiden – whether Kirche qualified as such was debatable – was in distress and on his honor as a Gramont he could not allow any misconduct to befall her person, but first things first, he needed a plan.
Following the typical Earth mage mentality, the plan he came up with was both bold and direct, drawing inspiration from his father's numerous war stories, he recalled him saying. 'When assaulting an enemy position, one must employ shock and awe.' Guiche liked this simple two step plan, one step more complex than a reckless charge. Now to begin phase one.
Peeking around the corner once again he saw that they had posted a single sentry outside to guard the door. The merchant, 'how dastardly inconspicuous,' Nevertheless Guiche prepared himself mentally for battle, raised his prized rose wand and readied his spell.
Leaping out into the alley, Guiche thrust his wand towards his target as he ran a bronze Valkyrie materialized before him. The guard seeing him briefly shouted an alarm before the Valkyrie's fist connected with his chest knocking him into and through the door.
Guiche felt ecstatic at the overwhelming success of the first phase of his plan; Shock. Now all he had to do was follow up with phase two; Awe.
Following his first Valkyrie, Guiche burst through the doorway while conjuring a second. Standing between them his two Valkyries flanking him on either side, he thrust his wand toward whom he presumed to be the leader and issued his ultimatum.
"Unhand thy maiden, curs," He said, it was a bit more grandiose than necessary, but he digressed. "Or you shall..." That was when he was Kirche standing behind the leader, wearing virtually nothing; suffice to say he was stunned by the image before him. Guiche was distantly aware of the swift destruction of his two Valkyries before something clocked him over the head.
Guiche woke up a short while later to an empty room, well empty except for the guard dressed as a merchant whom he had overpowered earlier; he was still unconscious.
Shouts in the distance clued him as to the whereabouts of the others, looking around for his wand it was nowhere to be seen; fortunately he still had Kirche's which was better than nothing. Just as he was about to follow he spotted something towards the back of the room. 'Oh, I better grab those,' he thought. 'She'll need these later... hopefully.'
By the time he caught up to them, the battle was over, the ruffians lay dead across the entire width of the street, impaled by numerous icicles and there at the other end being enveloped by Kirche's generous bosom was Tabitha, Kirche's savior. Guiche looked on in envy at the pair what he'd give to trade places with Tabitha.
At this point Tabitha apparently needed to breath and unfortunately for Kirche, Tabitha's short stature meant that Kirche's rear was within easy reach. She pinched her.
"Yeowouch! Tabitha!" Kirche whined, "That hurt."
Tabitha however was unrepentant, much to Kirche's evident dismay as she rubbed her sore behind. She then noticed Guiche at the end of street trudging towards them. "Guiche you're still alive?"
"Try not to sound so disappointed." He griped, seriously this attitude of hers was getting old. "I may have bungled the rescue, but at least I provided an exit, a simple 'thank you' would suffice, here."
With that said he thrust a bundle of cloth into her arms, she quickly realized that said bundle were in fact her clothes. Quickly she changed into them, not even bothering to look for a place to change after all anyone who'd been in the street before would've already seen her naked dash so there was no point.
The first issue she had to deal with was her blouse; the majority of the buttons had been torn off during the initial struggle, only the top three near the collar – the ones she never used – were intact, she did them up anyway. However no manner of arrangements of tucking her blouse into her skirt would permit her to completely cover her torso, so she had to make do with having her navel and the lower portion of her cleavage exposed for all to see – it was a new experience for her – Guiche most certainly approved of the new look.
"Speaking of which, how did you escape anyway?" He asked curiously, "For a practitioner of fire magic the room was nearly spotless."Kirche grimaced.
"I had to use wind magic." She lied.
"Really?" Guiche was genuinely surprised, Tabitha however eyed her suspiciously.
"If I had used fire magic within that confined space, I would've set you on fire along with the rest of them." She reasoned. She refused to admit that the spell she used was inspired by Vallière's mishaps. Guiche accepted her explanation; Tabitha however remained skeptical but said nothing to contradict her.
Guiche gave her wand back in exchange for his explaining that he found it in the alley. Kirche was quick to accept, the rose wand didn't suit her anyway. In the back of Guiche's mind though the idea of his rose wand been nestled between magnificent peaks made for a tantalizing image, seeing his expression she could guess what he was thinking.
"Get your head out of the gutter Guiche, now is not the time," She chided him, causing him to deflate. "And Guiche. Thank you." Guiche's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the warmest and most heartfelt smile of which he hadn't seen from her since his attempted rescue from Louise's golem familiar. At that moment she looked radiant and his heart began to skip.
Suddenly there came a shout from the rooftops, "I saw her go this way!" And just like that the magic of the moment was gone.
"For me." Tabitha blandly informed them.
Kirche looked to her surprise. "You too, Tabitha?" She nodded, Kirche continued, "no matter, run! Head for the hotel."
The trio ran for their lives using the back alleys as cover, though eventually they were forced back onto the main road, where they ran into another group causing both parties to pause briefly.
"Oh, it's my lot." Guiche pointed out recognizing them; apparently the feeling was mutual as one of the men in the lead pointed to Guiche.
"It's that blonde bastard, get him!" The group charged, weapons raised and the trio resumed running.
"Why go after you of all people?" Kirche wondered as they ran.
"Why are you so surprised?!" Guiche demanded indignantly.
"Well... we all know why they came after me, obviously... and I can guess why they went after Tabitha..." Which she had no intention of explaining, she continued, "you however-"
"Insignificant." Tabitha interjected.
"-It's a wonder they even bothered. Heck it's a mystery you made it this far without a scratch." Kirche finished.
"I'll have you know that they're not that tough, I beat all of 'em easy." He recalled, mostly due to luck on his part and general incompetence on the enemy's.
"Then why are running?" Kirche muttered under her breath.
When the mercenaries were briefed on their targets by the thief, there was little to know about Guiche other than he was a low ranking earth mage with no considerable skill or experience. As such those mercenaries whom were new to their career and lacked combat experience against mages considered him to be an easy mark and had left the remaining two Triangle mages to the more experienced veterans among their number.
Their first error was they weren't aware of that Earth mages were good for more than shoring up and tearing down fortifications. Powerful mages like Fouquet could summon a small army of golems making mages like her literal one wo/man armies and in Guiche's case a one boy squad.
Their second error was the battleground they chose; ideally they should have engaged him in a wide open area and attack from all sides, capitalizing on their sheer weight of numbers to overwhelm his meager defenses. Instead they attacked him in the street, right out in front of the tavern he had just departed from, the narrow confines of the street negated their numbers as it, while allowing Guiche's squad of seven Valkyries to efficiently repel the mob with ease, bows could of offset the mercs disadvantage had any of them thought to bring any.
Back in the present the trio saw their destination. "Straight ahead! There's the hotel!"
In the dining hall of the 'Goddesses' Temple hotel,' Louise and Wardes were having lunch. For Louise the day had started out perfect, she had nice sleep, a nice breakfast, Kirche and the others had being out of her hair all morning – which was admittedly of some cause for concern considering what they knew – other than that nothing could go wrong today. Then she looked out the window...
And saw Kirche and the others running from a large mob of armed men. Following her gaze Wardes said. "It appears the enemy his found us, quickly Louise, let's go. We'll leave through the back."
"But the others!?-" Louise argued.
"Have led them to us!" Wardes cut her off before gently adding, "My dear, we must hurry. We don't have much time."
Reluctantly she followed him towards the back. "What about your griffin?" She asked.
"Already stowed aboard the 'Marie Galante.'" He answered. Using the 'fly' spell he carried Louise over the back wall, as they made their way to the port he continued, "If we hurry we can depart before they can catch up to us."
As the trio ran through the gate and into the courtyard Kirche called out to Guiche.
"Block off the entrance!" She told him.
Turning on his heel Guiche conjured a row of four Valkyries who stood aligned across the gateway entrance, their spears arrayed before them. Kirche had to praise his cleverness – or perhaps his luck was in play once again. A wall of earth would have been more effective, but that would've resulted in the enemy scaling the walls and there was too much wall for the three of them to defend and while the hotel had originally been a battle castle before its conversion it lacked the one thing all other forts had; a garrison to the defend it.
By lining the gateway with small golems instead, Guiche had created an obvious weak point. So naturally the enemy would concentrate their assault there and when they inevitably broke through, they would all funnel through that one opening.
This gave Kirche an idea."Tabitha, remember when we fought the undines at the lake?"
When she nodded, Kirche turned to Guiche, "Guiche, hold the gate as all as you can."
"What!?"
"Just do it!" With that settled Kirche crossed her wand with Tabitha's staff and the pair began to chant in unison.
By this point the two groups of pursuers had merged into one, as such Guiche's lot of amateurs now under the supervision of Tabitha's veterans, became a more effective fighting force forming a phalanx in preparation to assault the lightly guarded gate, while archers formed up behind them and fired volleys of arrows over the wall into the courtyard.
When the first volley came over the walls, Guiche conjured three more Valkyries, the three of them holding a single giant bronze great-shield, hefting it in front of the trio to shield them. Arrows skipped off it and others lodged within it, their chisel shaped steel arrowheads piercing it. 'Someone remembered to bring their armor piercing arrows,' Guiche noted.
Back at the front gate the mercenary phalanx collided with the Valkyries' defensive line. Those with halberds used their hooks – normally for unseating horsemen – to snag them and pull them out of formation, then pined to the ground before being set upon by those armed with maces, war hammers - and other weapons designed to defeat armor – pounded them into scrape. As this happened the rest poured through the gate and spread out into the courtyard beyond.
"Umm... Girls, anytime now would be great." Guiche pleaded as more arrows glanced off the shield with increasing frequency.
The pair stopped chanting, Kirche looked to him and said, "Raise the shield."
He nodded and gave the command. The shield held at an angle to catch arrows falling overhead was tilted back further, revealing the army of mercs in front of them. Both Kirche and Tabitha directed their crossed wands through the gap between the Valkyries.
""Firestorm!"" They called out in unison.
Whoosh! A spiraling flame, like dragon's breath leaped from the gap between the two wands and into front ranks of mercenaries, before following them out as they retreated through the gateway and engulfing the rows of archers beyond.
The battle was decided in an instant. Most of those that had yet to pass through the gate managed to flee in time, while those at the forefront weren't nearly so lucky.
After climbing a long flight of stair, Louise and Wardes arrived at the top of a small hill. The pair had made good time after fleeing from the hotel, now the mountain sized tree port loomed before them, branching out in all directions, as numerous airships gathered around each branch. This was the tree port of La Rochelle, the single largest port on the continent, not one of Albion's ports who supported its immense air navy could boast anything like it.
The pair ran to the tree's base and made their way up the tree's roots into the hollowed out center. Each flight of stairs was connected to another, there was scaffolding and supports on them but they still looked worryingly dangerous. Between each flight were metal panels indicating the destination of the ships on that particular branch.
When they found one for departures to Albion they ran out along the wooden pathway craved into the enormous branch, only to find their path blocked whey they were confronted by a dark figure wearing a mask.
Wardes drew his rapier wand. His opponent mimicked the motion drawing a black cane from within his cloak. Wardes struck first unleashing an 'Air Hammer' spell that fired invisible blocks of compressed air. His adversary deftly sidestepped the spell with surprising ease before thrusting his can towards Wardes, its length surrounded by a whirlpool of air generated by an 'Air Needle' spell.
Wardes narrowly avoided the thrust. However rather than turn and reengage him, his opponent dashed past him straight toward Louise. Forgetting the sword fastened to her back, Louise stood frozen with fear, her eyes locked onto the tip of the cane and the whirlpool of air spiraling around it, as it grew larger with each second her attacker closed the distance.
"I don't think so!"One of Nemo's blonde-knives burst out of the ground in front of Louise and impaled her attacker, knocking him off his feet and into the air. Half a second later the masked man's form dissipated into nothing, not a trace of him remained. Nemo recalled her slash-harkens which vanished back into the woodwork, while Louise continued to stare at the space where attacker had once being mere seconds ago.
"How?" Her voiced croaked, dry from fear.
"Ubiquitous Wind." Wardes explained, "A body of air, shaped in the image of its caster."
"But it used magic." Louise said, still in a state of shock.
"Yes." Wardes continued, "But is restricted to only wind magic. It can't utilize the other element; even so it's a troublesome spell regardless." Wardes scanned the area around them warily. "The 'Ubiquitous Wind' can appear anywhere within the caster's line of sight. We must hurry before the enemy sends another." He urged her, the pair continued on their path to the ship waiting for them.
Back at 'The Goddesses Temple' hotel, Guiche could only stare at the devastation before him.
"That was amazing!" He said and he wasn't exaggerating, the spell unleashed by both Kirche and Tabitha rivaled that of a Square mage in sheer power. Guiche couldn't fathom how they had pulled it off.
At this point the three remaining Valkyries were dispelled along with their shield. The three mages were exhausted, though Guiche wasn't affected as badly as the other two, being a dot mage he didn't have much power to drive his spells but by that same token it didn't take much to recover, a few minutes rest and would be ready to cast again.
However bad he felt, the girls being Triangle mages felt it fourfold after having drained two thirds of their willpower each. Tabitha leaning on her staff appeared especially debilitated with shadows under her eyes from casting spells all day, Kirche affected less so simply slouched where she stood.
Suddenly there was a rumble and a giant shadow was caste over them. Looking up they saw peering over the castle walls, a giant earth golem than a familiar figure stepped out onto its shoulder.
"Oh no," Kirche groaned. "Not you again."
"Oh yes, me again." Fouquet mocked, "And I must say you've rather disappointed me."
"And how did I manage that feat?" Kirche asked hoping to distract her small talk.
"The state of your blouse says it all." Fouquet pointed out, causing Kirche to glance down at her exposed navel. "Letting those thugs get the better of you. For shame, just because you have magic doesn't make you invincible you know. A woman should take better care."
Kirche could feel Tabitha's pointed stare boring into the back of her skull, silently chastising her. Fouquet continued, "Though you did impress me a little with that combination spell."
The girls' eyes widened in surprised, Guiche looked back and forth between them in confusion as to what they were talking about. "Oh yes. I know about that secret magical art. Coveted by the church and jealously guarded by the royal families. One would wonder where you two learned it, however..." Fouquet's eyes narrowed at Tabitha.
"Blue hair," She observed. "A rare hair color, even amongst mages, the number of bloodlines that can boost it can be counted on one hand. Among them is the prestigious Gallian royal family."
Guiche stared dumbfounded at Tabitha even as her expression shifted ever so slightly to something resembling a scowl.
'Crap! She knows.' Kirche realized.
"It seems that I've underestimated you, not once but twice!" Fouquet's golem raised its fist into the air. "Let's see if we can avoid a third." The golem's fists turned into hammers and a wave of her wand 'Transmuted' them into steel. The golem took a step forward.
"Umm... guys," Guiche's voice trembled. "Now would be good time for another big spell."
"Sorry Guiche." Kirche apologized in a tired voice, "even if I wanted to, Tabitha's barely standing." He saw that she was indeed leaning heavily against her staff for support.
The golem took another step. Being the only Earth mage in the group, Guiche racked his brain for a solution. They couldn't hide in the hotel, even if it was a castle, large golems like Fouquet's existed to knock 'em down and while his Valkyries were numerous they lacked the sheer mass needed to go toe-to-toe with that monster. Surely there was a simple spell that could bring the golem down, maybe even a combination of spells-
"I've got it!" Guiche announced.
"Don't keep us in suspense Guiche." Kirche said impatiently.
"Remember back when you had that fight with Louise?"
"Must you remind me?"
Guiche rephrased his question, "Remember how we beat her golem familiar?"
Kirche paused to think it owner. "Guiche! That's brilliant." She then looked up at the golem approaching them in concern before continuing, "That thing is quite a ways bigger than Vallière's. Do you think you could cover the whole thing?"
He nodded vigorously.
"Tabitha?" She asked. The girl nodded as well, she should be able to muster a light breeze easily enough.
Fouquet's golem surged through the outer wall and into the courtyard, sending fragments of stones flying everywhere smashing empty barrels and glass bottles. Kirche erected a 'Wind Barrier' to shield them from the debris.
"Guiche, you better get started." Kirche told him.
Nodding, Guiche began mass producing rose petals from his wand which were then carried away by Tabitha's breeze towards the golem where they adhered to its surface.
"What on earth do those brats think they're doing?" Fouquet wondered out loud.
When the petals covered the entire surface of her golem, they then dissolved into oil. "This is... Alchemy!?" She realized, suddenly there was a flash out of the corner of her eye and she looked up in time to see a fireball leap out from Kirche's wand. "Oh shit."
Fouquet's golem lit up like funeral pyre and shortly after collapsed in a flaming heap.
As Louise and Wardes boarded the 'Marie Galante,' three figures wearing cloaks and masks watched the ship depart before diverting their attention to the city below.
The plan to separate the girl from her familiar had likely failed, however they still succeeded at removing the three interlopers from play. Even if they survived and flew to Albion on their Wind Dragon, by the time they arrived it would be too late. No one could stop what was about to happen next.
The exhausted trio watched the hill sized bonfire for a time as they recuperated.
"Not bad Guiche." Kirche said, "That's twice you've saved me, I could kiss you-"
Guiche perked up at her praise... and possible reward.
"-But I'm too tired right now."
And deflated just as quickly. 'Perhaps later,' he hoped.
"Well," he said dejected. "At least this ordeal is finally over."
He spoke too soon.
"Not quite I'm afraid." Out of the ground in front of the burning remains of her golem rose Fouquet, her hair singed and her cloak in tatters. "That's three times I've underestimated you."
"Argh! Don't you ever give up?!" Kirche complained, "Maybe you should quit while you're ahead."
"Hold on-" Guiche said but they ignored him intent on their argument.
"Normally I'd be happy to call it a day, unfortunately my current employer has little tolerance for failure, and he's not the type that I can slip away from easily."
"Hey! Stop ignoring me!"They continued to ignore him.
"Quite the pickle you've got yourself in."
"Tell me about it."
"WAIT A MINUTE!" Guiche yelled, everyone turned to see what his problem was. Guiche pointed a finger at Fouquet, "the Headmaster's secretary? Why is she attacking us?!" He demanded.
"Oh right." I forgot you weren't there the first time around." Kirche realized.
"Funny, I would've thought that everyone at the academy would be aware of my identity by now." Fouquet commented.
"Anyway the short story is that she's really the infamous thief Fouquet the Crumbling Earth and she's here to take revenge on me and Tabitha for our part in throwing her in jail."
Guiche looked to Tabitha for confirmation. She nodded; he looked to Fouquet who also nodded. After a moment's pause he said, "Can you repeat-!" He was rudely interrupted by Tabitha, who whacked him on the head with her staff, reminding him of the headache he had acquired earlier, which thanks to Tabitha had returned with renewed vigor.
"Now. Where were we?" Kirche asked.
"I was about to kick your ass." Fouquet informed her collapsing her telescoping wand before returning it to its holster on her belt.
"That's big talk coming from you, old hag." Kirche retorted tucking her wand into the waistband of her skirt. The pair stalked towards each other until they were face-to-face.
"I'm twenty three! You top heavy tart!" Fouquet shrieked, punching Kirche who returned the gesture in kind.
As the two women brawled, Tabitha sat down on the steps and began reading one of her new books, Guiche held his head in agony. Overhead the 'Marie Galante' departed for Albion with Louise and Wardes on-board.
- End of Chapter 10 -