"Did I do something to offend you?" Bergan asked, the mage in front of him had a cross look on her face. The signs of battle were apparent over his fac e and body and the face and body of all the mages and warriors in the squad of fifty, squirming below them were countless men and women, all of whom had a tattoo of a black hand clutching a heart somewhere on their body. Bergan turned again to look at the woman who glared at him, a few years ago he could have counted on he as a friend and teacher. Maya Chamberlain, vice-guild master of the Wandering Blade, stared at him before angrily turning away. Bergan thought back to when the squads had been deployed.
It had been an uneventful beginning, many of the warriors trained together and had a sense of comradery the mages couldn't really share, of course that was due to their nature.
"Hey! Bergan!" Bergan had turned to Maya; her squad was quite close to his as they made their way into the forest.
"Didn't Celica order that we fan out and keep a perimeter?" He had inquired.
"Celica also said I'm in charge when she wasn't around, so by that matter, how about you don't question me." Maya's eyes flashed dangerously. "I don't understand just what the council sees in you to make you one of their members, almost like it wasn't just 6 months ago that I gave you a thrashing in the guild tournament."
"First of all, that only pertains to guild matters, and this isn't a simple guild matter." Bergan clenched his fists as they continued their ride through the forest. He patted his horses' neck, "One student was kidnapped, and several others disappeared to find them."
"And those several others are the prodigy brats, right? I doubt this much fanfare would be wasted over normal students. Nepotism at its finest."
"One of those brats, is our boss's little sister." Bergan said, he smiled at Maya's scowl, she was always known for trying to rile her opponent up. "And regardless of what you call nepotism, I for one don't fault the Thirteen for being human enough to try and rescue their family members."
"You wouldn't, but I do." She growled, "They have a duty to their mages, sending 20 mages and 30 trained warriors into god knows what only to rescue one first year foolish enough to break one of the few strict doctrines of the society we live in." She shook her head and urged her horse forward, they flew through the forest. Bergan did not urge his horse to try and catch up, instead, he and his squad continued down the path they had planned out, perhaps that was why they noticed.
"Captain!" He turned to one of the warriors, Brigman, he was close to retiring but was an accomplished soldier. "A red light to the north east." Bergan followed his gaze to and saw what looked like a trail of red light, slowly fading away, without another word he signaled his men to follow him, he redirected his steed to follow the dying light.
Commander Celica.
I read you loud and clear Bergan, what's up?
I'm following a trail of light, perhaps the children left a marker to let them know where they were headed, if it leads to something, I'll alert you.
Alright, let me know as soon as you run into trouble, alert Maya and Merigold as well, they are the closest to your position, I'll contact Rakus and the two of us will try and engage your location.
Thank you. Bergan tightened his hold on the reigns, kicking slightly he urged his horse to go a tiny bit faster, the trail of light seemed to disappear even quicker, he began to worry if the children were hurt or in danger, as that was normally why spells built to last long tended to fade. Eventually, he came to a divot in the ground. The trail of light ended right in front of what looked to be a massive trap door. Bergan held his hand, slowing his men, alerting Celica, it took all of five minutes for Maya to join, followed by a pleasant looking woman with green eyes and blonde hair plaited into one giant braid. "Thank you for coming Merigold… Maya." He nodded to the two of them. Like Maya, Merigold was another of the Triples, mages considered of the ability level to become a council member. Though Merigold didn't seem all that interested in trying to replace Lady Sona, or anyone else for that matter when it came to becoming a new member of the Thirteen.
"Of course, Lord Bergan," Merigold smiled, "It's better if all the teams work together. We need to be careful. We have no idea what we are running into."
"That's why I believe it's better for us to wait for Lady Celica and Lord Rakus to join us." Bergan said.
"What?! Absolute foolishness and cowardice. Those children may yet be in danger!" Maya yelled. Bergan cocked one eye as he stared at her incredulously, but she ignored him. "Mathan, open the door we must investigate at once." The warrior she commanded sighed, muttering something about two-faced wenches and stupid orders. He walked to the door, he found it surprisingly simple to open. Peering inside he began to backpedal quickly, taking out his sword.
"Arm yourselves! What did you see!" Bergan took out his blade and began applying his wards, his fellow mages followed suit. The soldier did not answer, but he didn't need to, they all felt it, a wave of dread filled their stomachs as the smell of blood and rot met them. In the quiet of their tenseness they heard a pair of footsteps. Each man and woman prepared in their own way, gripping their blades or bows or preparing to sling their spells. They were all veterans of combat, each and every single one had spent at least two years out in the war against the golden horde, those feelings met them again. No one spoke, for there was no need. Everything was communicated with their stances, the way they breathed, pensive and tight, and through the steel in their eyes. As the steps grew louder two figures slowly popped out into view. Without hesitation Bergan conjured a compressed ball of flames that he launched towards the figures, Maya was a beat behind him, launching a barrage of lightning, their fellow mages were not too far behind, launching magic as quickly as possible, burning, freezing, slicing, crushing, any host of effects, but their general motive was the same, destroy the monsters in front of them. The Shades, injured slightly, the male missing a few fingers that looked frostbitten off, and the female covered in several burns, smiled at this volley of magic launched their way, they extended their hands, expending a large service of magic to obliterate the volleys before them before it even reached.
"Look Yolin," The female said, "More humans, do you think the fat one is with them?"
"Unfortunately, I don't see them Vulna," The male said, frowning, "But… they did attack us with magic, they must be friends." He blocked a sword swing from Mathan, who had been closest. The shade cocked his head when the sword did not snap in his grip, and instead looked to be making him bleed slightly. "Oh? Magically enhanced weaponry." He looked at the soldier. "I wonder how long it lasts…" Smiling he yanked it from the soldier's hand, breaking the man's hand. Grabbing the sword, he swung it at the man's head, he widened his eyes, impressed as the man was flung to his side. "And warded armor, wow!" He turned his head, surprising the soldier who had attempted to attack his flank, deflecting his thrust easily he grabbed his opponent's sword and struck him 9 times in quick succession before he could even hit the ground, his wards caved and the solder gasped as the blades ran through him like a knife through warm butter. He laughed. Maya had already leapt towards him, concentrating energy into her fist, but the female shade was faster, blocking her punch.
"No cheating, let us ladies play together!" The shades laughed as their minds began to attack everyone in the vicinity, it was all the mages could do to defend themselves, luckily the warriors were trained for facing stronger opponents and their minds could hold, for the time being. They spread out to surround the shades, attacking in pairs of twos and threes in order to not get in each other's way too much. Magic sent at them was blocked by the mages, who fought tooth and nail to keep the shades from devising a way to bypass their wards. The shades easily fought. Attacking and defending with impunity as they batted away the swings of their assailants like an adult would parry the light fists of a toddler. Soldier's barely avoided death as their wards kept them alive.
Bergan!
Merigold? Bergan turned to see Merigold, she was chanting, eyes closed, the fact she could spare a message to him even in this turmoil was incredible indeed.
I need you to lend me your energy, the soldiers…
I understand. Bergan retreated some, he took out his crystal and handed it to Merigold.
"Soldiers!" Merigold shouted, holding her crystal and his. "Switch from defensive settings to attack settings! You won't win otherwise!"
"Oh, shut it you!" One of the shades launched a fire ball towards Merigold, only to have Bergan deflect it.
"I and Maya will take on one, the rest concentrate on the other!" He charged towards the female Shade, who was contending with Maya, from what he could see Maya's physical enchantments allowed her to keep up with and at times even over power the shade, but the shade's body kept recovering from and punches and kicks Maya threw, though Maya could maybe only take one or two before her body would give out.
"I don't need your help!" Maya yelled angrily, the shade laughed as she charged Maya, throwing a wild punch that was grabbed and thrown, slamming the shade into a tree, as the tree began to crack from the force it fully broke as Maya leapt up and punched the shade hard, the audible snaps and cracks of the shade's ribs and the tree's trunk breaking filled the area. Followed by Maya's anguished yell as the Shade retaliated, crushing her arm. The Shade attempted to strike once more to finish the job but Bergan used the moment to distract the shade, he casted a brilliant ball of light, blinding her. He pulled Maya back with magic. "Damn you let me go!" She struggled against him, elbowing him in the face. In retaliation he squeezed her broken arm.
"Shut up!" He began to heal her arm. "Now look, when you attack the shade on the ground, you're greater fighting experience lets you overcome her strength and speed, but the ground is too muddy, you can't get enough traction to do lasting damage." He let go of her, pushing her out of the way as the Shade leapt down, hand covering one eye.
"That… hurt." She growled leaping towards him, he barely blocked her attack, with her hand occupied he kicked her in the stomach, then leaning in, he elbowed her in the face, he heard the audible crack as he broke her nose, only to see it reset itself as her hand cocked back to smash his face in, he blocked with his sword and arm, yelling as his arm gave out and sword snapped. He fought to keep conscious as he slammed into a tree. The shade charged at him, only for Maya to trip it from behind. "Stop getting in my way!" The shade brought both fists to the ground, causing a large depression as leaves and dirt sprayed all over.
"Herdtha!" (harden) Bergan clenched his good hand as he leaned against the tree, the spray of dirt began to gather together, it only covered the shade as a correct level of water left it, allowing it to cake all over her, and slowly turning it stone like. Even as it did the shade attempted to break out, unfortunately she had caked herself in a large amount of dirt and mud, even as she liberated her body from some of the mud, more found its way on her, soon a fine layer of hardened almost rock like mud covered her face and torso. "Jierda un Thringa!" (Break and thrust). The shade's screams went a pitch higher as the caked dirt and stone broke and pressed down on her skin. Some of it even drawing blood. The shade began to approach him, hand curled "Blautr" (soften), only to fall half way into a sink hole. The dirt around her began to harden again, and the shade erupted out, so distracted she barely blocked Bergan's surprise thrust into her chest, the blade pierced her hand, but jerked to a stop at the tip of her chest.
"You…" The shade eyed him, "You're cute, that makes me…" She brought her face close, "…hungry…", she opened her mouth, saliva dripping from her excessive canines, she jerked forward and Bergan closed his eyes, prepared for the inevitable, only to open and find a look of shock on her face as her chest had met his sword hilt. Looking past her shocked face Bergan saw Maya, angry scowl, bruised lip and black eye, but still spirited in the other eye as her foot pressed down harder, driving the shade's heart deeper up the blade past the hilt. The shade's eyes rolled over as she slumped apart, and Bergan dropped the sword, backing away quickly as she exploded. Not sparing time to his injuries he turned to the other shade, but he needn't be worried.
The other shade had been riding off his greater strength and speed, once the warriors switched the energy they had from defending wards to strength and speed enchantments the fight slowly became for even. The shade found to his surprise that despite still being stronger and faster, the tiny boost the soldiers received made them much more difficult to contend with. Every time it looked like he was about to overwhelm a soldier, two would step in to block and hold him back. Then a third would leap out of nowhere to attack him from the back, cutting a tendon. The lapse in concentration allowed the mages to go on the offensive, and whenever they did that, they would target wherever he was attacked. He had charged a mage in retaliation only to have two knights slip under his guard and in an elegant twisting motion nearly sever his hand from his arm, only to have the mage chant and have the wound explode in fire.
The mage, that bitch… I must… Only one mage was keeping the soldiers protected, the others simply attacked him, he could handle their attacks if not for that mage allowing the soldiers to continue to harass him. He spotted her, far back. Grinning he went for a head long charge, soldiers threw chains on him, stabbed him, shot him with arrows, one even stabbed him with a Seithr oil coated dagger, even as all of these things occurred, he merely charged the mage, eventually two soldiers leapt in front of him, blades at ready. "Get out of my WAY!" He screamed, stabbing his blade with enough force to crush the first one and knock the second one back, but at a cost, both their blades stabbed into his chest, missing his heart but getting his lungs, he began to stagger towards the mage, spells and weapons flying at him still, she was still chanting, her mind nearly impenetrable. "Damn! I! I am! I am the shade Yolin!" he cried out as the soldiers began to strain, pulling on the chains to keep him from moving, if not for the wounds he had already received they would have been easy pickings, but even then, at least with his mental pressure none could approach, but then the mage picked up a fallen soldiers spear and began to walk towards him.
Merigold could feel her wards breaking down as she approached the Shade, she had gambled, with the Shade now concentrated on her she had begun removing her protective energy from the soldiers, who continued to fight now unprotected, utilizing their crystals for attack. The mages continued their strikes on the shade, unawares that a stray attack could accidentally kill their men. She believed in their training, in their ability to keep out of the affect radius of a magician's attacks, and she believed in the magician's ability to avoid hitting their allies, for the most part she was right, but she miscalculated the Shade's attempt at a headlong charge, even with the energy she wouldn't have been able to block it all and retaliate. Those two soldiers who used their bodies to defend her bought her enough time to slow the shade down. Just enough for the men to finally hold him down, yet none could approach the pressure he gave off, except for her now. She felt her wards continuing to drop, but she had plenty of energy, she carried the spear, aiming it towards the shade's chest, letting out a harsh battle cry she ran, ramming it into the Shade, who let out a gasp as the blade pierced his heart.
"D-damn… Tartarus promised us freedom to do what we would… he… he told us the world would be… ours… we…" His body broke apart, disintegrated as over 20 spirits exploded form his corpse screaming out into the day. Marigold kept herself from collapsing as she approached the soldiers, healing them from any wounds within her power, she went to Bergan last, using a mix of his reserves and crystal to heal him as best she could.
"Thanks…" Bergan began, "What are our casualties?"
"We started as 30, 12 mages, 18 soldiers, we are down to 22, we lost 6 soldiers and 2 mages, one mage is suffering from crystal backlash, so he's out for the rest of the mission, and two soldiers were seriously injured to the point that even after healing them I can't in good conscious let them go back in." Marigold clenched her fist, "I let too many die…"
"No… it's not your fault…" Bergan began, "We didn't know to expect shades, one had 10 spirits, the other, the one you defeated had 20! There was no way we would have known to expect that."
Maya walked over, clutching her shoulder, they had set and healed it for her, but it still ached. "So, what now, do we go in?"
"We can't leave 3 men out here, we need at least one mage and warrior out here to help them in case there's another attack, but the rest of us need to investigate this place, if we found a shade… those kids, they could be dead! I-I!"
"Bergan!" Maya smacked him slightly, "Don't go crazy on me…" She looked at him oddly, "You, you're a competent fighter, I trust you to get my back, we'll find those kids." She smiled, "And besides, we took out two shades, even if we used up a huge chunk of energy. I'm pretty sure we can take out another one with an element of surprise.
"Before you go…" A soldier speaks up, "He goes to the injured and dead soldiers and mages, and takes their crystals, "Every little bit will help. And these things are engraved with their names." He clenched his teeth. "Let's take out all the bastards in this literal hell hole." The mages nodded, taking the crystals and divvying the energy into equal parts. The soldiers nodded as well, cleaning their equipment, they left a marker and instructed the injured members to alert Celica and Rakus when they arrive. After that, the 18 or so men and women ran into the corridor, entering the complex…
"So…" Morgan whispered, "What do we do?" He turned to Seya.
"Why are you asking me?!" She hissed back.
"Because she's got white hair like you sometimes, and she keeps calling you-"
"Hey Omega!" Gamma interrupted, grinning, "You didn't say you were coming to visit! It's been years!"
"Just a minute!" Seya smiled placatingly at the girl before looking at her friends. "…look, I can't trust any of them, Bartholomew, you said it yourself, she would have killed you without hesitation."
Bartholomew was eating a pastry that he had to split with Gamma, when they had run into the group he had a good time talking to his allies about the necessity of teamwork and remembering where everyone was, though he deigned to let them know the only reason they were separated was due to the fact that he had run the instant he saw that mage, and thus hadn't caught up when they destroyed one of the hall ways.
"True," He said, "She did almost kill me, but she saved my life, and she seems to be weak to food." He patted Gamma on the head, "She seems… harmless enough." Gamma ignored their talking as she continued to stuff her face with pastries.
"Also…" Morgan continued, "We don't have any idea where Faris could be, and there's all the shades."
"Why're you guys worried about Shades? I've taken them out plenty of times, they're really easy, at least, the weak ones are easy."
"Weak ones?" Katya asked incredulously, she turned to Alanna and Dusan, the elven children were quite powerful, but even they hadn't been able to stand up to that Hruk, it had taken all of their teamwork, minus Bartholomew, to even injure that monster, and even then, they almost died.
"Yeah, for the weak ones it doesn't even matter if they begin taking hold of your mind, as long as your wards stop instant death just go for the heart, or suck them dry." She grinned impishly. "Why, did one of the weak ones give you trouble."
"It would be troublesome indeed if what we fought was one of the weak ones…" Venka muttered, the creature exuded more power than she did, with her crystal she could easily beat it, but it had taken hold so quickly she couldn't reach for her crystal. She yelped as Gamma got close to her.
"Wow… you're pretty strong for a human! It's like an elf! And wow!" She turned to Alanna and Dusan, "You're elves!" Shaking her head, she cleared her throat, "Well anyway, I say a weaker one because Shades start off at different strengths. The less spirits go into a shade, and the smaller the spirits, the weaker the shade, for me, I'd say a weak shade would be anywhere from 1 to 5 spirits, any more and they'll be medium in power I guess, if it's a medium powered shade I'd have trouble, and I'd have to leave it to Alpha or Beta, or Delta when she's on a good day."
"The spirit we fought had 12 spirits." Seya said, interrupting her, "So there could be stronger shades?"
"Of course! Though 12? Wow, I'd have trouble taking that guy down, but any way, when shades are first born, they aren't really that good at using magic, it takes them a while to remember the magic they did know if the human was a magic user, and depending, their brains are all mashed up and gushy from everything. Sometimes the humans still fight, and the shade's a little weaker, normally that only happens if the shade is one or 2 spirits, and the human was really strong willed." She put her finger to her chin, green eyes sparkling, "I remember one time we had a lot of trouble, some idiot decided to try and stuff 50 spirits into a person, and we took it out, but Alpha and Beta almost died. Though we're lucky we killed it so soon."
"What do you mean?" Venka asked, worried now, "What would have happened if you didn't kill it?"
"Well, when a shade is born it's at its weakest, especially if the possessed guy or gal is still fighting. But the longer the shade lives, the stronger it becomes, it depends on how many spirits a shade has, and how long it's been alive, but even a shade with three spirits after living for 50 or so years could apparently almost meet the expectations of a shade with a dozen spirits in it. It's not just about strength though, smarter hosts make smarter shades, and whatever the person's skills were when they were alive kinda seeps into the shade." She turns to Seya, "That's what makes us special Omega, we're just like shades, but we can grow and learn and all that stuff much easier than a shade can, the doctor'll be so happy to see you." She got up, "Anyways I think we're out of time here." The door burst open revealing a shade. Gamma frowned, "AWW MANNNN!" she groaned "Twenty-Five Spirits?!"
The state mages poured down the hall way, they found very little in the way of resistance, the few cultists they had surrendered easily, and often they'd run into gruesome sights, bodies split apart, burned, crushed.
"Shades' doing no doubt." A soldier spat. "They must have been doing some crazy things, those cultists, summoning spirits and creating shades?" The group moved to the bodies, any time they found a salvageable crystal they would take it and drain its energy. Belinda, one of the mages in Merigold's squad was able to identify a few of the enchantments on some tools, and the group took what was useful. After another 30 minutes they decided to rest, take stock of their provisions, and see if Celica and Rakus had arrived on point.
"We have gathered, maybe half of what we lost on that fight with the Shades, but with our reduced numbers the net loss per individual still capable of fighting is not as damning as it would have seemed. Splitting it all evenly I'd say we are all just slightly over 91% capacity." Bergan quickly calculated the energy divvying up and was pleased that everyone's moral went up from hearing that and seeing for themselves the improved stores. He took out a magic mirror, chanting some words in the ancient language he pictured an image of Rakus, and a separate one of Celica, they appeared, split screen to him, but from their background they were in similar areas. He saw though alarmed that they both looked a little worse for wear. "What happened to you two? To your squads?!"
"Same as you from what I gathered from your men, the injured ones are being escorted by a few, we were about to contact you all but you called first." She spits out a tooth. "Damn shades…"
"How many did your group encounter?" Bergan had once seen Celica tear a Shade f
"There were five of them, annoying bastards, they attacked each other half as much as they attacked us. All of them raving about this Tartarus fellow."
"The shades we dispatched also mentioned a being by that name. Perhaps it could be a high-ranking sorcerer working in the cult…"
"Or a more powerful Shade, if any of these snuck into the city…" Bergan winced at the thought.
"More importantly!" Rakus interrupted, "Where's my grandson?!"
"Oh? Sir, well we haven't quite found him ye-"
"Your excuses matter not! I've been scrying him for the past few minutes! He seems frazzled though unhurt with his friends! But he's speaking to a stranger as well! I cannot see them, or his location! Be sure to find him!" Spittle flew from Rakus's mouth. "Make sure he's been eating well! And hand him a comb for god's sake! His hair looked ridiculous!"
Bergan smiled apologetically, "Of course sir, we will do our best to find him." He turned to Maya and Merigold, "So far we haven't encountered any more Shades, we believe perhaps they may have all been dealt with." No sooner had he said those words when a loud ringing boom echoed from down a hall to their left. "Speak of the shade." He turned to his fellows, "Come on then!" They ran down the hall way, the sound of battle and shouts mixing with their footsteps…
"If you're so great and all Gamma! Why don't you take this thing out right now!" Bartholomew yelped as his mud golem finally collapsed, he took out another tiny crystal, throwing it unto the pile of slag that used to be his golem, it slowly surged upwards like an active volcano before taking the loose form of a humanoid. It began to slither back into the fray of battle, and what a battle it was. The shade handled the group with an ease that could only be likened to a seasoned fighter facing against newborns, he seemed bored as he toyed with them, the only ones he seemed to put any real effort into fighting were Gamma, Seya, Venka, and the elves.
"I already told you! Twenty-five spirits! I can't handle that by myself! I'd need at least two people!" Gamma had attempted several times now to stab the vines she'd place energy in into the shade, only to have the vines be unable to overpower his wards, and any vines that got close were burned. Eventually she had stopped using the vines offensively, instead vying to levitate and propel stones and discarded weapons and even corpses along the way as they ran from the shade, continuing to fight a retreating battle, if not for her expertise they would have met a dead end and would have been crushed already, even then for two paths rocks had fallen and it had required quick thinking on Venka's part to blow a path for them.
"This monster! Who would allow such abominations to continue to exist!?" Alanna cried out as her blade barely fended off the shade's fist, he had noticed how Nya had utilized her magic, and had emulated it, hardening his body. She and Dusan, paired with Seya, were the forefront of physical confrontation. With Nya and Venka jumping in when one of those three were knocked back or injured. Katya ran backup, healing anyone who was too injured, and stepping in to block an especially vicious attack with her wards.
"Monster? That's hurtful, I have feelings you know." The shade smiles as he rushes up to Alanna, fist exposed, "I am Atlas" he had by now no longer got surprised when his fist felt like it struck an angled wall and bounced away from its target. "For mortals, you are all quite powerful."
"Mortal?" Gamma retorted, "I'm a greater being than you ever could be Shade!" Angered, she shot a huge chunk of energy into the walls, vines and roots erupted out, followed by a large amount of earth to cover it, the debris formed together, spiraling into a spear like sheath for the vines and roots to congregate inside. She launched her spear into the shade, who simply cocked his fist back to blast it away.
"Malthinae" (hold down!) Bartholomew called out, the shade's eyes widened as the annoying thing of mud and dirt and rock erupted from below his feet for the third time, wrapping around and attempting to bind him. He would have broken it easily if not for the blond child who had placed a crystal on it.
"Herdtha un verda drjugr!" (harden and become strong!) Morgan backed up quickly, fearing for his life as the shade's fist barely missed his neck and bounced away through Katya's quick ward.
The hardened earth acted as tethers, keeping the shade from moving its arms or legs as the spear came close to it. The dirt of the golem and the spear began to burn as it approached the shade's wards, and the spear began jerking to a halt, Venka began pushing the spear forward with her magic, the shade began to bleed in one eye and a vein on its temple pulsed as it fought back the two powerful magicians. Alanna and Dusan charged it from behind, swords flying through the air, their target was the shade's heart. The shade screamed out, his power radiating out as a dark flame, Alanna and Dusan backed up quickly as the flames burned away the dirt and mud golem. The spear cracked and broke apart, the vines dead and lifeless as they faced the heat.
"Amazing…" The Shade said as he lifted his hands, bringing everyone towards him, "Tartarus had told me I should not underestimate you puny beings, especially the white-haired ones. I've even learned a new trick."
The children screamed in pain as the shade's oppressive mind bore down on them, if not for Seya, Gamma, and the elves, the others would have succumbed to the Shade's mind. Even then they were losing, even worse than when they had fought against Hruk. Venka shouted angrily, eyes glowing bright red as she began using a massive amount of magic to bolster her mind. The shade's smile faltered slightly as the tide began to turn, then he cocked his hand back, stabbing towards Venka. Venka gasped as he utilized the ward piercing techniques, they had used on him to stab her.
"VENKA!" her friends screamed shrilly, doubling their efforts. Seya's hair turned fully white as she kicked at the shade's hand, breaking it instantly, the shade's hand snapped back in place and he removed it, licking the blood.
"First the liver, then the lungs, then the heart…" He cocked his hand back again, only to stagger as an arrow went through his chest from behind. He barely had time to react as another one hurtled towards his chest, with how easily the first one had cut into him he ducked, he was still even then too slow as the arrow pierced his skull. His screams were cut off as he exploded into shadows, but no spirits broke apart, one giant amalgamated chunk instead fled the hallways, going past the group that attacked him.
The kids did not care, they were gathered around Venka, who was coughing badly and bleeding quickly.
"Come on! Godsdammit!" Katya screamed, tears in her eyes as she began to slow the bleeding, attacks from shades healed slowly, magically or not, as a bit of their corrupt energy seeped into the wound. Even Seya and Gamma's wounds from the shade healed a bit slower than normal. Soon the mages ran up to them, a woman pushing through the kids and sitting across from Katya.
"Calm down child!" Merigold said, cross, "Remember! Once you lose your composure as a mage, you're useless out on the field!" She began chanting magic, she connected her mind to the girl. Child, may you combine minds with mine for but a moment, only enough that I may use some of your energies to help you heal. Merigold received her answer in the form of a draught of energy flowing in like a broken dam, using it she quickly began to isolate and drive out the corrupted energy of the shade, Venka's face, twisted in pain, began to soften as relief filled her. "She will be fine." Merigold wiped sweat off her brow. "Any blow to a vital area is serious, but a blow like that is especially dangerous with a Shade's magic." She looked at the students, angry, "You could have all gotten killed! How could you be so stupid!?"
"We, we needed to save Faris!" Nya shouted defensively, "He'd been jailed for over a month! Then taken!"
"We wouldn't have that if he hadn't been foolish! Rembrant was faulty in his actions but he had the legal precedent to arrest your friend!" Maya spoke up crossly, "And he should have been prepared for punishment and retaliation for what he did!"
"You…." Venka struggled to get up.
"I wouldn't bother, I've put a strong sleeping agent into you, into all of you," Merigold began, "First we're going to take you out of here, then we're going back in with back up from Celica and Rakus to see if we can find your friend and rout out any remaining enemy."
The kids found to their alarm that a level of lethargy began to take hold of them, the only ones unaffected in any way were the elves, and Venka and Gamma.
"Kids," Bergan sighed, "Why did you have to go and do this? Not only are you risking your lives but you even dragged our elven ambassadors into this mess?! The kingdom of elves would rail against us if the children die."
"For your information sir we chose to leave on our own volition." Dusan put his foot down, his face betraying a bit of exasperation. "Faris is near and dear to our heart, to leave him abandoned for so long…"
"And the crime he committed, perhaps human laws are different, but to the elves, children are extremely sacred, anyone harming a child, whether human, elf, or animal, would be met with appropriate punishment, sometimes even as harsh as death, the men Faris killed, did they not harm hundreds of children?" Alanna's pure eyes made the mages and warriors turn away, suddenly ashamed of themselves. "Perhaps he was too quick to slay them and cast judgement, but he himself was a child, and perhaps like the rest of my friends, he saw a bit of himself in each child that's life was cut short due to the evils of the men he killed. The true crime was leaving him in that cell for so long."
"I do not come into your kingdom and tell you how to govern your people," Maya began obstinately, "Don't you dare-!"
"Maya!" Bergan interrupted, "Now is not the time! We have little time as it is, that Shade was not killed, he took the blow to the skull instead of the chest, and with his power he will likely reform quickly. Dallying and arguing won't get us anywhere. And like it or not, you know this entire debacle was a sham in the first place."
"A… sham?" Venka winced out, even though she was healed there still lay a bit of a phantom pain, and that did not even include the light-headedness and sluggishness born form the blood loss and enchantment from Merigold.
"Yeah…" Seya said bitterly, "Regardless of whether or not they found Faris to be in the right or wrong, once the real trial occurred all he would have needed to do was speak the truth of the events in the ancient language, the trial would be a jury comprised of 50% aristocrats and 50% normal citizens. Most citizens hate magic but you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone so blind-sighted as to sentence a boy to death for avenging children from criminals. The reason Faris was still in jail was because of all the red tape being put up bureaucratically, technically he could have been released on a form of parole or house arrest but many pro mages wanted to believe he could be made a martyr against the anti-mage group amongst the aristocrats. I can't do anything other than swing my blade and let loose my magic at my father's behest, so my words and placating would have done nothing…"
"But…" Morgan began, struggling angrily, "That's… inhumane, it's, but…" He collapsed on the floor, barely conscious, Nya followed suit, followed by Venka, followed by Katya. Alanna and Dusan lowered their weapons, but they're faces had lost their expression, they hid whatever emotions they were feeling down a passive mask.
"I can understand the merits of the plan, it works, but… huh…" Bartholomew collapsed, "When it happens to someone I know and at least relatively appreciate… it… tastes sour…"
Bergan had a look of sorrow and rage on his face as he lifted the kids up with magic, he turned to the others, "Come one elves, Seya, erm…"
Gamma smiled, "See I can't exactly let you leave. You're intruders."
Maya laughed, "There's just one of you child"
"Actually, make that two." Seya stood with her, eyes glowing gold, "I came in here with my friends to find and rescue Faris, we are going to find and rescue Faris."
Maya's face turned dark, "You're making a mistake child, when we get back, the shame you bring for defying our orders and endangering the elves will undoubtedly bring shame to the mages and to your father."
"Actually, you aren't going anywhere," a voice called from the gloom. Stepping out of the dark was a man with straight brown hair and a soft looking face twisted into a grimace-like smile. He was surrounded by several guards and cultists, and 6 children with white hair like Gamma's, everyone in his group had some form of dirt and grime and blood on them. He wore spectacles, but one of them was cracked, this mixed with his odd facial expression and nearly ruined coat would give anyone the impression of 'mad scientist.' He looked at the group around him then turned to Gamma, who flinched under his gaze. "Gamma, I can't say I'm surprised you didn't report all our guests." His scathing brown eyes flitted from one person to another, his gazes lingered on Bergan's and the two Triples. "My goodness council members and council hopefuls? To what could I expect such an-!" He stopped as he looked at Seya, resisting the urge to rub his eyes he smiled hungrily. "…Omega, I see you have returned home, this is a momentous occasion, it almost fixes everything else that occurred today." He turned around, "All of you, come, a great moment is upon us."
Maya stepped forward, "By authority of the Broddring Kingdom, you and all of your members are under arrest for suspicion of illegal magical experimentation, child exploitation and kidnapping, illegal magic use, sorcery, and the summoning of multiple shades." She cracked her knuckles, "I'd heavily suggest that you surrender."
"Beta…" The girl with red eyes spoke quietly, her eyes looked calm, a look that caused Gamma to sweat. The tallest youth, a muscular teen with short white hair stepped forward.
"I'd politely ask that you all surrender, right now I do not have the wherewithal to go easy on you, especially due to the level of skill you seem to display." He raised his fists, a deadly calm on his face. Maya answered by charging him, ground cracking beneath her, sword raised she swung to chop his arm off without hesitation. To her surprise he seemed to disappear from her view. A split second later she felt a sharp pain on her lower back as she hurtled towards the wall, colliding with it hard enough to lose conciousness.
Bergan charged at the boy, only to be pushed back by the only other white-haired boy, a youth even younger looking that Faris, he launched levitating blades and conjured fireballs at Bergan, who felt his wards begin to lessen quickly. He prepared a retaliation only to find himself unable to move. To his alarm all his allies were unable to move as the girl with violet eyes lifted her hand.
"Please surrender." She said quietly, "I do not wish to see any more split blood."
"Excellent point Delta." The man with the broken spectacles spoke again, "I grow tired of having to deal with shades on such an alarming basis, of course, it would normally be a thrilling venture had they not been enchanted to have the spirits disappear almost instantly!" He growled in anger. "That damnable whelp…"
"Where's Faris?!" Bergan demanded, the man laughed.
"Wouldn't you like to know…"
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Afterword:
I literally rewrote this chapter 3 times, I didn't exactly know what to cover for this chapter, so I'm doing things a little out of order, you're gonna see from this what happens after Faris's friends arrive to try and rescue him, then a bit of the recovery squad Lord Jaya prepared, the next chapter will be about the court case, with a little snippet of what's going on here at the end, all dramatic and stuff, then the chapter after will depict what happened exactly too Faris, and why all these shades are running around.