Chapter 13, Turncoat allies
Janus clenched his jaw tightly, the grip of his staff whitening. One would have at least thought that the wolf would have offered help since she had tried diplomacy earlier, but it seemed like the only thing on her mind was to help her master.
Glaring at Flea and then throwing another desperate glance upwards at the prisoners, the wizard's eyes thinned.
'Slash,' he whispered with his mind, 'I have an idea.'
He paused and elaborated for less than a second.
'Well,' he added, bitterly, 'a theory...'
'I think I liked the first name better,' Slash said with little trust, 'theories are not for battle, that's knowledge.'
'But I always use theories; I never have time for anything solid,' Janus said with sardonic, humorless humor.
Slash mentally sighed, very deeply.
'Fine whatever,' he mentally growled, 'I have no suggestions. Get us out of here with your theory.'
'I'll do my best. But it'll be mostly up to you to make it work.'
'Suddenly I feel that I understand why the amphibian smashed your face after the treaty.'
Janus held back a wish to grimace. But he didn't have time, the assassins were slowly moving closer, cautiously still but preparing for the attack.
'Alright. We need to get Ozzie here to make my theory work,' he grimly said.
Slash threw a brief glance over his shoulder.
'How in the blazes would that fix anything?' the Mystic questioned.
'I'll explain, but we need him to get here. Any idea how?'
'... I swear, I'll see you die,' the swordsman snarled, frustrated, 'fine, I'll try.'
"If you want a showdown Flea, then we're not doing it right!" he called aloud.
A red eyebrow went up.
"And just what do you mean with that?" Flea snapped.
"If you blame me for letting you down, you should blame Ozzie as well."
"Hah."
Flea looked almost amused as he shifted his gaze to Janus.
"And what are you pulling this time, wizard?" he asked straight out.
"Why do you always blame me, it's the Mystic's code of honor as far as I know," the human warrior defended himself, trying to sound clueless through the tension.
"Sure."
'Friend, this plan?' Molor sent with deep worry, though the net that wrapped itself around him almost blocked even his link to Janus.
'Try not to worry, but I have no other ideas...' Janus whispered back, clenching his jaw even further, 'I'll get us out of this, I swear.'
'I hope. Insane...'
'Know.'
Janus gritted his teeth.
'God, if I live tomorrow I'll hate myself in the morning...' he thought to himself.
"Are we doing this like we should or not?" Slash demanded.
Flea smirked, but it lacked all spirit. He looked as deeply indifferent as he sounded.
"Oh whatever," he said and waved a bit with his hand, "go get him if you want, Janus. I don't expect you to run away."
"I said I wasn't..."
"Do I have any bloody reason at all to believe you? Get him before I change my mind."
The wizard glanced up at his allies, who all stared back as well as they could from their positions.
'I'm sorry...'
He pinched his eyes shut and murmured the needed spell, disappearing in a flash of light. Seconds later he returned, with a very angered green monster.
"... Can't do... damn!" Ozzie snarled, glaring at the assassins and their coldly watching leader.
"This is about us four, Flea," Janus growled, ignoring the king of the Mystics completely, "leave them – " he pointed at the prisoners " – and those out of it."
At the last part of his speech he motioned at the assassins.
'Listen you two, we only have one chance!' he hissed to Slash and Ozzie in the meantime, 'and you'll have to help me, alright? Ozzie, Flea thinks that...'
Flea gave another joyless snicker.
"Three against one is unfair, don't you think?" he pointed out.
"So is six against three," the wizard said aloud, even as he spoke finishing the brief explanation of Flea's misunderstanding.
'Oh for Lizard's blood…' the king of Mystics growled.
'He won't listen to us!' Slash snapped, 'bloody fool, he… whatever, what's the plan already?!'
"I don't give a flying damn, Janus," Flea said, unaware of the silent, rushed conversation.
'It's rather simple,' the wizard said, his thoughts turning into a hiss, 'this is what we'll do…'
It took only half a second to convey the gist of the plan, and Flea thankfully didn't catch that his two former companions were doing their best not to blink or glare rather stupidly at Janus. The human clenched his teeth hard enough for the jaw to nearly break.
'Understand?' he thought.
'I strongly believe you are to be labeled insane, human,' Slash stated, however the harshness in his voice had been colored by a faint snicker, 'though I admit it might actually work.'
'Don't think I enjoy teaming up with you two,' Janus growled, 'but it seems I've got no other options.'
At this, the pair of Mystics could hardly contain their amusement, despite the situation.
'Oh, but don't worry, Janus,' Ozzie said in a somewhat neutral voice, 'we'll watch your back.'
The wizard held back a dear wish to shake his head.
'I'm going to regret this...'
'Serves you right for dragging me into this mess,' Ozzie smirked.
The wizard clenched his teeth and thought the words he never had believed he would have to tell these two monsters. But to save Schala, Lai and the others, it was a sacrifice he was prepared to make.
'Very well, it's up to you then. I'm counting on you.'
'Oh, certainly,' Ozzie said.
Janus chose not to comment.
The silent conversation had barely taken a moment, led by thoughts as it was.
And there was no turning back now.
Without another word the wizard vanished from view and appeared behind the wolf-demon. The monster ducked for the staff with perfectly trained reflexes, but it wasn't prepared to find Slash at it's throat in the middle of its movement. A well planned slam of insanely strong, condensed wind sent the lizard flying on Ozzie's command as it tried to attack. The wizard rendered the wolf unconscious with the help from Slash's distraction and tackled the ghost which tried to get a grip of the swordsman.
All the while Flea watched in silence, indifferent.
Janus took a blow from the back from the invisible creature and it apparently got his arm since he furiously tried to break free from thin air while the mantis rushed at him. The insect got slammed off course and onto the ground by an ice block, and Ozzie smirked a bit.
However the magic could only push away, not hurt.
'They like this too damn much...' Janus grimly thought as he fought to free his arm.
The bad feeling of future regret was growing, but he was as cornered as ever.
Finally he scored a hit even if he couldn't see his foe, and he managed to tear himself free.
'Hang on, everyone...'
Not that they had much of a choice.
'Now, how to fight something that I can't see?' he thought, eyes narrowed as he tried to keep focusing on the empty space that he thought was occupied.
It wasn't the first time he'd "faced" an invisible assassin, but the circumstances were less than exceptional. The otherwise helpful dust on the floor had already been thrown around due to the battle, and he couldn't fully concentrate with the sound of the other assassins behind him.
'Bloody screw this!' he thought despite himself, spun around and seemingly blindly charged at the lizard.
Afterwards nobody really could tell how it happened. One moment the creature was standing up on his hind legs to claw at Janus who raised his staff, in the next second the transformed goblin hit the deck due to a slam from behind. Janus didn't even stop, hardly touching the floor with his burning eyes set on the target.
Finally Flea reacted, with a hiss tearing up his hands to protect himself. The wizard ducked for the magical bolts of electricity and sent the staff whirling through the air. With a shriek of mixed anger and shock the magician threw himself out of the way for the uncontrollable weapon and hit the floor. He rolled over on his back and was halfway into a sitting position when his eyes locked on Janus' gaze that was moving closer at the speed of lightning. The wizard's hands were stretched out in front of him and his teeth bared in a raging growl.
The magician threw up his hand in front of his face, trying to call upon a spell before the impact...
Through the fingers he saw Janus' head-on flight suddenly change direction to the sound of a surprised and pained shout. A flashing light from aside also added to the rather shocking effect.
The prisoners up by the ceiling froze in shock, their frail hope once and for all broken by one single blow.
Unceremoniously the wizard crashed on the hard ground several yards from Flea, the magical impact not simply stopping his dash. Snarling and clutching his burnt side he got up and stared with eyes filled with hatred in the same direction as Flea glared, dumbfounded.
Ozzie held up his stretched pointing finger and smugly let out a flow of breath on it, though there was no heat left.