Meja ran into the combat, mistfire spraying about him in a distracting display as he released the Blue mana he had built up. The Jeskai flipped backwards, uncoiling his cloth-whip and dismembering a zombie that swung at him, a foetid spray of liquid jetting out from the undead and spattering on the hard stone. He kicked another one away from him, knowing that he had to get to the Abzan mage to help her against the naga. The Abzan soldiers hacked into the undead swarming around them, refusing to give any ground but slowly being overwhelmed by the tide of corpses flowing into them. It did not matter that they had infinitely better fighting skill, or superior armour and weapons, or were enchanted with White and Green mana.
The sandcaller had obviously realised this – knowing that the naga leading the horde was the linchpin of the Sultai offence, and that the mass of sibsig would lose all direction and cohesion without his malicious influence. Meja thought it was the right thing for her to do to try to eliminate the naga, but clearly had not considered the Sultai to be as strong as it was.
The mage spun about, nullifying venomous bolts shot from the golden bow, and flung conjured sand at the naga. With a condescending laugh, the serpent snuffed out the magic, slithering forwards and warping its body at the Abzan leader, his bones snapping and readjusting as he shot into attack at a frightening speed. A scale-clad warrior threw herself at the naga, who backhanded her with bone-shattering force, crushing the woman inside with her own armour as she skidded across the floor.
Meja jumped onto the back of a reanimated corpse, using it as propulsion and leaping at the naga. At the same time, the Abzan mage released a shrieking disowned ancestor spirit at the serpent, distracting the naga who concentrated on weaving counter-spells that would return the ghost to the realm of the dead. Meja aimed his ribbon-blade at an unarmoured piece of scale in the back of the Sultai's neck, attempting to strike a nerve cluster that was present in most humanoids. As the naga dispelled the Abzan's magic, the Jeskai stuck, striking once, twice, three times. The serpent screeched in agony as green blood burst from its wounds, and snapped its limbs at unnatural angles, catching Meja as he flipped backwards and slamming the youth into the floor. The damage of the impact was prevented by a soft carpet of sand that cushioned his fall.
The Jeskai sprung back to his feet, and was joined by the Abzan mage, hatred prevalent in her golden eyes that shone from within with magical power.
"My name is Iniedra, friend," she stated, her voice slightly shaken but consumed by a steely determination to destroy the naga and expunge the Sultai from Sarashak.
"I'm Meja of the Jeskai," the boy replied, keen to waste no more time with pleasantries. The serpent emitted an amused chuckle and hissed:
"I am known as Vasjai, although I will be known to you as "Master" when you are part of my legion!"
Blue displacement magic surrounded his bow, and it teleported away, to be replaced by two melee weapons – one a short, curved scimitar, the other a pole-arm topped at both ends by fan-shaped blades. Meja felt Iniedra channelling powerful magic next to him, knowing that he should distract Vasjai while so she could prepare her spell.
"This is going to be fun," the naga cackled.
.*.*.*.
Kaldros shot through the humid corridors of the undercity, his running speed enhanced by Red and White enchantments. The young mage had met countless more parties of Sultai and quickly obliterated them – his magic was amplified by the strength of his emotions and the sensation of power he had felt back at the inn had increased hugely. His temper was short, the concern he felt for his brother mixing with the fear he felt in the dark sewers.
He followed the beacon of his brother's aura through the miasma of darkness that consumed his magical vision, Jakhan's light getting easier to detect the closer he got. Kaldros sprinted out into a gargantuan cavern – at its centre was an ancient Sultai palace that yawned open like a treasure chest of forbidden desire. Kaldros had never seen that much opulence before – and that was on the outside of an underground palace not even in Sultai territory. The Mardu could barely imagine the amount of wealth the clan had built up, as his own clan rarely used currency, preferring to simply take what they wanted.
He heard a loud screech and snapped his head up, instantly aware and charging up Red mana. Small, winged figures dove from the upper points of the necropolis, Kaldros picking out the Fang of the Dragon symbol on pieces of tattered cloth around the avens' chests. They were malnourished, rangy creatures that lacked the majesty of the Mardu rocs or the mystery of the Temur aven shamans, and carried short spears that would be used to pick off lone targets. They had probably been waiting for interlopers, as their wings weren't of much use in the claustrophobic tunnels. The scavengers had seen Kaldros and mistaken him for easy prey due to his small frame and apparent fragility.
The mage released a bolt of incandescent flame that caught one of the bird men square in the chest, incinerating him and igniting his closest ally. The largest aven, probably the leader, squawked urgently at the rest of its flock. As Kaldros narrowly missed one of the Sultai with a tongue of fire, the other seven of them spread out, greatly reducing the chance that more than one would be killed in a single spell.
Kaldros stood his ground, knowing that he could run back into the tunnels but much preferring to take his chances with the enemies and press on to Jakhan. He just had time to conjure up White armour encasing his thin body and twin blades of darkness before the aven were upon him. The Sultai attacked from all angles, scratching at the ethereal plates and denting them, leaving Kaldros unharmed - for now.
The albino swung about him with the blades, the Black mana sapping the life from the living aven whenever he struck them. He blocked a spear thrust, Kaldros's auras giving him extra strength, and plunged his blades upwards into a creature's sternum, quickly murdering it. Another aven barrelled into him, almost knocking the boy off his feet as a different bird rammed a rusted blade into a dented piece of enchanted armour. Kaldros yelped in pain as the spear's tip punctured the magic and cut open his side, red blood the colour of his eyes spilling out down his pale chest.
Kaldros snarled, abandoning his conjurations and instead focussing the mana into a summoning of hundreds of blades that swirled around him for a few seconds, eviscerating the aven assaulting him in a storm of red steel, spattering blood and feathers everywhere. Kaldros breathed heavily and wiped the vitae from his eyes, when a huge creature slammed into him, knocking him into the stone floor and winding him.
The largest aven had refrained from the combat, sacrificing his underlings and waiting for the right moment to strike. It pinned Kaldros down and stuck a curved dagger into his right shoulder, the agonising paralysis toxins running down the boy's bloodstream and causing him to howl in torture. The aven shrieked and snapped its beak down at Kaldros, who moved his own head to the side. The Mardu writhed in pain as the aven twisted the dagger, the boy's ineffectual thrashing doing little to hurt it.
Kaldros found that he couldn't use magic, the blade nullifying his attempts to concentrate mana. His panic rose as the aven leader dug its claws into his stomach, raking long gashes across the pale flesh. Then the Sultai made its mistake. The move was made quickly, but to Kaldros's adrenaline fuelled mind, it took centuries to complete. The aven suddenly pulled out the dagger, intending to slit the boy's throat with the jewelled knife in a downwards swipe, but as soon as the main block on his mana was removed, the magic that Kaldros had been trying to generate exploded out of him at full force.
A massive pillar of light extended upwards from the mage, destroying the aven and healing most of Kaldros's wounds, although the scar in his right shoulder made by the dagger still remained. The poison was gone though, and Kaldros slowly got to his feet, feeling nauseas as the effects of the adrenaline rush wore off. He swayed slightly, panting for breath and feeling weak.
I really am hopeless... he thought, knowing that he had almost died and he hadn't even breached the palace yet. Kaldros shook his head and walked inside the palace, preparing spells and charging up mana inside of him.
.*.*.*.
Jakhan winced as he saw the aven's spear pierce his brother's guard, and watched Kaldros slaughter his attackers in a spinning tempest of swords. He viewed his brother through a sphere of energy conjured by Khemet, who was intently observing the fight. The rakshasa had ensnared the older twin in chains of shadow, and proceeded sit down on the throne and almost completely ignore his prisoners. Jakhan had tried to fight back for many minutes, but soon realised it was hopeless and was reserved to helplessly watch his brother battle his way through innumerable Sultai dead to get to him.
"Kaldros!" he shouted, as the larger aven warlord swooped down onto his unaware twin.
"Quiet," the rakshasa calmly ordered, scrunching up his fist and constricting the chains around Jakhan, not even looking at the boy. Arethe was still unconscious next to him, also wrapped in the Sultai demon's magic, and Khemet had told the anxious Mardu that the venom Vasjai had infected her with was slowly killing her, delighting in the look of powerlessness on the adolescent's face. Jakhan felt frustrated and completely useless with the dying Jeskai next to him and his fraternal twin being hurt outside of the palace.
All his life he had thought he was the strong one of the two, his physical strength and his confidence matched with his brother's lack of both made it easy for him to assume the dominant role, looking down on Kaldros and treating him like a much younger sibling, instead of someone the same age. It was especially easy to boss him around, as Carrok had ignored Kaldros, so when they were slightly younger Jakhan didn't really know how to treat his smaller twin These last few days, with his twin's outburst in the battle with the Temur and now fighting his way through Sultai territory, Jakhan was slowly beginning to rethink his view of Kaldros.
"Why are you doing this?" Jakhan asked, not really expecting an answer but figuring that any information could help in his current situation.
"Oh, this?" the rakshasa purred, "This is just a little test, to make sure your brother is ready. If he dies now, then I will have to proceed with the second plan."
"Ready for what? Why are you so obsessed with Kaldros?" Jakhan was extremely concerned for his brother, as attracting a demon's attention was something you certainly did not want to do, and Kaldros had already courted with three.
"You shall see," Khemet smiled at Jakhan's obvious anger at the rakshasa manipulating his younger brother, his eyes widening in hunger as he saw the albino annihilate the aven commander with the release of a colossal amount of mana.
"Don't worry, dear Jakhan, now that your precious little brother has passed that test, there will be no more obstructions until he gets here. Then we can have a cute little reunion – isn't that what you want?" Khemet's laughter boomed across the cavern containing the necropolis, and Jakhan secretly willed for Kaldros to turn around and leave.
.*.*.*.
Vasjai flung himself at Iniedra and Meja, his scintillating blades tracing arcs of death in the air as he shot forwards with amazing speed. Meja leapt to intercept him, somersaulting and twisting to avoid the weaving blades in the Riverwalk technique, which emulated flowing water and allowed Meja to slide past the curved weapons. The flat side of the sword caught him unawares, smacking him back into the ground, where he landed on all fours, regretting that he hadn't practised much with the technique and focussed more on offensive styles.
The naga was attacking him again, almost no break in the aggression, which Meja found shocking. He had always assumed the Sultai were manipulative uses of forbidden spells that would avoid direct combat unless it was in their favour, but Meja could tell from Vasjai's fighting style that he lived for close combat, acting more like a Mardu clan member than one of the Sultai. He narrowly dodged the curved glaive which shattered the hard stone on impact, the serpent's immense strength growing every second as his Green enchantments gained more and more power. His blades also grew with him, the sword now more like a huge cleaver.
The naga was now almost twice his original size and still expanding, Vasjai's movements cracking the ground as he pressed the attack against Meja. The blades lashed into the stricken Jeskai, who disappeared into mist and reappeared behind the naga. He punched into its back, his hands alight in the Dragonfist method of combat – his favourite. He landed one burning punch, and then a second, before Vasjai shouted, spikes tipped with corrosive acid launching from his back and into the Jeskai student.
Meja smashed the spikes away from him, but was distracted long enough for Vasjai to catching him with the edge of the sword. Meja cried out in pain and fell to the floor, blood pumping out of his left arm and wincing in anticipation of the deadly toxins probably coating the Sultai's blades. Vasjai laughed, slithering towards the downed Jeskai and grinning in expectation of the murder of the annoying brat.
"You'll find that these blades are not poisoned," he said to the surprised Meja, who stood up as Vasjai continued, "I am not like my fellow naga kin, I much prefer to engage challenging foes in single combat, not by silently killing them – where is the fun in that? However, my weapons are enchanted – they prevent those struck by them from using deceitful magic until the wielder or the afflicted is dead. No more tricks, Jeskai. Now we fight properly."
Vasjai was famed within his clan for his distaste of what he deemed to be cowardly magic, and when he slew Orfan Windstrike, the naga had the Mardu's swords melted down into more elegant weapons that still retained their original purpose – to be used against Blue mana wielders. Vasjai had utilised his new armaments to great effect slaying potential rivals, most, if not all of his fellow Sultai clan members unable to combat him without their tricks.
The naga came at the Jeskai student in a whirlwind of sharp metal, Meja hard pressed to avoid the extremely large reach of the now-gargantuan weapons. He blocked the arcing pole-arm with fiery crossed arms, sparks flaring up from the impact and the ground cracking underneath his feet under the weight of the blow.
Vasjai's tail lashed out, Meja jumping over it and making him take another swipe, this one square in the chest, as his wounded arm slowed him down. The Jeskai yelled in pain, his vision blurring due to the loss of blood, and the naga moved in for the kill.
A loud chant interrupted him, and shields of White and Green mana blocked the Sultai's downward slash, and Vasjai shrieked in frustration as a defensive cocoon of magic blocked him from the downed Meja. He was now around four times his first size, his reptilian body expanding at an unstable rate with the Green mana left unchecked. Abzan mana flowed out across the battlefield, enhancing and rejuvenating the embattled soldiers and giving their weapons the power to permanently slay the dead.
Vasjai spun around, turning on Iniedra, who was still locked in a trance casting her spell, and charged towards her. However, he was soon stopped, all the Abzan soldiers that remained in the cavern blocking his way. Their armour glittered with the spiritcaller's powerful enchantments, and Vasjai noticed that he no longer had any sibsig undead under his command. He looked down at the warriors, battered, but still determined to protect their leader and their eyes lit with hatred of the naga.
Growling in vexation as he realised that there were far too many Abzan to handle alone, Vasjai suddenly cracked down to his original size and shot off down a side passageway, cursing in frustration. Some of her soldiers, emboldened by their victory, went to chase down the Sultai warlord, but Iniedra waved a placating hand and moved towards the wounded Meja.