"First rule of combat. Know what you can do." The Huntsman half shouted. The younglings were being surprisingly quiet, seeming to understand what was happening. "Second rule, know your opponent's as well. Split into to pairs, simple sparring, wooden blades, or if your power gives you a weapon, use that."
Lo overlooked the Battle Rock. Gnarl said her father had used as a personal training arena, and in the latter days as an entertaining way of having people killed when he was bored. The area had been repurposed, the floor had been smoothed, weapon racks had been added, and set of tunnels had been added to help with 'realistic training. The basic idea was to have two teams, they could attack head on, but the tunnels provided plant of options for flanking, as well as high ground.
From the looks of it, some had interesting abilities. There was the dragon-boy she'd seen earlier, as well as Seb, and Melisa. That confused Lo. She'd been given a list of all their names, and their parent's powers, and the girl wasn't on there. Maybe it was a mistake, but she didn't know.
It had been two days since the others had joined. The first day had been gathering the resources to accommodate them, and showing them around. That had been The Huntsman's job so she had a day to herself, just relaxing and reading. She hated books when she was little, but now she found herself just reading to pass the time.
Her chain of thought was interrupted when she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Lilith. "Your ladyship, would you like the good news, or the bad news first?"
"Good news please." Lo said, feeling slightly optimistic.
"Grubby's finished the modifications on the bow."
"Thank you, and what's the bad?"
"An attack is being launched to reclaim the coast Everlight."
"What? Don't you think I should have been told that first?"
"Don't worry, it'll take at least two weeks for their ships to cross. By then you should have taken the mainland so it won't be on two fronts. Simple."
"What city did they set off from?"
"It's a combined fleet. Nordbergian ice breakers, the merchant fleet of the desert and the dwarve's iron ships too. They really want to stamp out the Overlord before the invasion hits the coast."
"They've for to have a meeting place though. They'd have to time it very carefully to have them all arrive at the same time."
"They're already at Auros."
"I think the boat passed there when I went to the college. It looked really nice." Lo paused for a second. "I want it taken after the ships leave." Lo turned around and started heading to the library. "Do we have any recent maps?"
"I think so." Lilith said. Following her to a book shelf and pulling out a rolled up piece of paper and spreading it out on the table.
The elf took a few seconds to get her barrings before pointing to the city on the coast and tracing the line up and down. "There's mountains to the north of the city and to the south is all bogs."
"And?"
"I'm assuming they'll have enough food for a month, maybe two. If we stop them from landing and force them to turn back, we could trap them in the middle of the sea." Lo finished.
"Or, they return to the city and attempt to take it back." The succubus suggested.
"One way they die. The other is they become bargaining chips."
"And a drain on our resources. What would you even want from them anyway?"
"I don't know yet. But anything we have, they don't." Lo bickered.
"If we destroy the ships while they're at sea, they won't have them, or an army."
"Yes, but we'll have their army, and I think they'll want it back."
"But they don't have anything you want."
"I think they do." She had a moment of realisation.
"What?"
"I have a list of people I want dead. They have all apart from one, and he's already been dealt with."
"They won't accept that trade."
"They might." Lo replied, smiling slightly.
"They won't. But you don't think they will?" The other questioned.
"No. But what would people do, if the lords decides to sacrifice hundreds, for one of their own?"
"Riot. But what if they did accept?
"Then it would save me time. Anyway, I need to see Grubby. He and The Alchemist are working on weapons and armour."
She still hated the platforms, even with the handrail it felt unnatural.
"Stupid human. Lighter blade is not as killy."
"No, but it does let you strike faster."
"Speed no good if weapon not able to kill."
Lo froze as she heard the argument between the forgemaster and the abomination. They had been fighting on and off for the past few days. Grubby wanted to make heavy plate for everyone, The Alchemist made him ask each person individually. Grubby wanted to throw The Alchemist off the edge, he disagreed.
She'd just grab her bow, and be gone. That was it. She slowly crept around the corner, fortunately she was wearing trousers so she could walk faster than in a skirt. Yes! She could see it! Just one more ste...
"Mistress! You tell silly human! You tell him!''
Lo sighed. "Please leave me out of this."
Why did the arguments happen whenever she was around? Seriously? Since yesterday she'd arrived to find them arguing, and had to help them find a compromise.
"Grubby here says that heavier blades are better than lighter ones. I'm saying being able to hit them more than once is a safer bet than only needing to get one hit."
"One hit easier."
"I don't know, ask each person what weapon they want. Now can I please have my bow?"
The minion let out a low growl. Moving to the side and grabbing the weapon and passing it to Lo. The metal on the ends had been replaced with metal that The Alchemist manufactured, black steel was what he called, and they had been shaped into curved blades. A thin strip of metal ran down the rest of the bow. A sedated blade running along it with a handguard so she could hold it without cutting herself.
She decided to run for it, not wanting to get caught up in their arguments anymore. After she got to the platform she decided to go to the training area. Her bow felt a bit heavier than usual, she wasn't sure if that would effect her shots, but she wanted to make sure.
When she arrived at the rock she walked past the training area and found a spot in the far corner. She placed her palm flat on the ground and a pulse of light appeared, before several, human shaped rocks forced their way from the ground. It was purely target practice, so it didn't matter if her arrows went in or not.
She started taking shots. Aiming for the chest or head, each arrow hit below its mark, the metal making the bow more difficult to fire. After that she started aiming for were the weak spots in the armour would be. It was usually at the joints that there was the least armour, but most soldiers had very little armour at the neck.
After a minute Lo carefully put the weapon down before taking a deep breath and pressing her hands together. A light appeared in between her palms, shifting between red and blue before forcing her hands apart slightly. After another fifteen seconds she pulled her arms back before launching it forward.
The projectile shifted into a disk and hit the centre rock, smashing through it with ease before splitting in tow and hitting the other. In the end, only rubble was left. Lo created another set of targets and repeated, trying to take less charging time.
In the end she managed to get it down to fifteen seconds, launching the rings in pairs. She felt someone touch her shoulder and swung around, accidentally letting the barrage loose behind her. The first one hit the floor at Seb's feet, the other's aim was not as fortunate. Lo turned to see the other flying towards a girl's neck.
She didn't move, not even flinching. Before she could stop it, the disk hit. Instead of ripping the girl's neck apart, it froze, hanging in the air before dissipating. It took Lo a second to realise that it was the girl from the cavern, the one that she didn't like.
After a second, a disturbing smile spread across her face, somewhere between serial killer finding their next victim, and childish delight. Her eyes were the strangest, the pupils turning black and small, pinpricks of light circling around the centre. The awkward silence that had developed was broken when she let out a whoop. "What, a , buzz."
"Might require a bit of explanation." Seb commented.
"Maybe a little bit." Another one commented.
"I honestly couldn't care." She replied, wandering off, but not before touching the dragon boy on the neck.
"Err, bitch." He groaned in response.
"I'm sorry. What the hell's going on?" Lo demanded.
The boy stumbled for a second, covering his head for a second and letting out a moan. "Her power, is evil."
"That's Kira."
"I thought it was Mellisa?"
"She said something about false names. Nasty ability she has though temporarily takes our powers, causes a really bad migraine for about thirty seconds." Seb said. "Says she gets a some sort of ecstasy from it. Anders thinks she's some sort of anti, whatever we are."
"And Anders is?"
"Me." Added the third one. "And the other guy's Drake."
"Drake, The Dragon's son. Honestly." Lo whined. She was tired, between The Huntsman fighting Lilith, The Abominations fighting the minions, and the (younger) half of the people fighting themselves.
"Honestly."
"Oh." Seb interrupted, clicking his fingers. "This is Lo by the way. She's a mage who melts my money for fun."
The stranger walked down the alleyway, wearing a cloak, but the night would have hidden their features anyway. Metal boots clicked against the floor as they walked until they came to the door. They tried to pry it open, shoving a blade between the wood and stone but failing to pry it open. It froze, hearing a slight jingle. An alarm. Simple.
Velvet tried to pull her grandmother up, struggling to lift her from the bed. "Come on. We need to leave."
"Run you foolish girl."
"No."
There was the sound of an echoing slap, the two women separated after a brief hug then the younger one left and half jogged down the passage.
There was a slight pause as he drove his boot against the lock. It didn't break. After five minutes of smashing the lock it finally came loose. When they were inside a group was there to meet them. It was the women in white, but afterwards all that was left was red. There was a few quick slashes, the stranger moving faster than the eye could see.
There was a brief glance as they looked at their handiwork, wiping the blade on one of the corpses before heading to the door. Instead of smashing it open he simply turned the handle.
"I see the grave agrees with you."
In a flash the same sword that had murdered a doze was pressed against her throat.
"Now, now. Can't we be civil."
"What did you tell her?"
"I'm guessing not then."
"What did you tell her?" The stranger sounded angrier this time.
"Tea? We have this coffee thing from Everlight, but it's a bit bitter really."
"I have been absolved of the sins of the past. Can you say the same?"
"There are no gods elf. There is no threat you can give to make me scared of you."
"There may be no gods, but I serve the closest thing to one." This time the elf wiped the blade on a small piece of cloth, throwing it on the bed before lighting it.
A/N Sorry it took so long to get a chapter out. I'm not giving up on it, but I'm not promising to get them out quickly. And thanks to all the new followers, all are appreciated.