As her knuckles smacked into the blond human's face, he shouted and staggered backwards, with a very satisfying crack. She grinned as she flipped to her feet, hands going straight to her swords. A flick of the wrist, and they were out and ready.
Soren, meanwhile, was clutching at his nose as blood ran down his face. "You brode muh node!" He complained, dropping into a ready position.
"And?"
"Uhm gunna kill you!" Soren threatened, lunging for Rayla as she scanned the forest, looking for Claudia. While she was almost certainly more than a match for Soren, even if he was stronger and faster than a human should be... Claudia could end the fight in a few heartbeats.
As their blades clashed, Rayla allowed Soren to drive her backwards, into the treeline, where she would have the advantage. Even if she'd never beaten Runaan in a spar, she'd come closest when bounding in and out of trees. Using a tree limb as a support, she swung away from a horizontal slash that would have sliced her in half, coming back around to slam her boots into the back of the human's head with a gravity assist.
To her surprise, instead of Soren collapsing unconscious, he simply turned around and swung another too hard, too fast slash at her. She threw herself backwards, avoiding the blade by inches, continuing several narrower evasions as Soren grew increasingly frustrated. Finally, though, she wasn't fast enough, and Soren's blade sliced straight through her neck... And kept going, without the slightest reaction from Rayla.
With a scream of rage, Soren threw his sword at the illusory Rayla, who responded with by raising her second finger, then fading away.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Sprinting frantically, Rayla burst back into the Moon Nexus, and practically ran into Lujanne. "They're here!" She gabbled.
"Who's here?" Lujanne asked.
"Viren's children. They want to kidnap me and use me for a ritual..." Rayla blurted, speaking fast enough to be barely comprehensible.
Lujanne grinned briefly. It put Rayla in mind of Kim'dael for a split second, before morphing into something less vicious.
"We'll have to do something about that." The elder moon mage said. "Go and see if the kids are breaking into the storerooms again. Stevo is watching Callum, so we just need to get them under cover. Take them all to the lodge Callum is in."
Rayla dashed off, heading straight for the storerooms. When she arrived, Ezran and Khidell were standing next to one of the locked cupboards, with profound expressions of innocence on their faces. Shela and Ellis were standing nearby, clearly acting as lookouts.
"That where Lujanne keeps the moonberry cookies?" Rayla asked, carefully scanning for any sign of lockpicks.
"Uh, no, we're just standing here." Ezran said. "Doing absolutely nothing at all. Definitely not breaking into anything."
"Sure..." Rayla said. "I need all of you to come with me. Right now."
Ezran started slightly at the sudden edge to her tone.
"Trouble?" He asked.
"Trouble." Rayla replied.
Without further protest, the four kids tailed Rayla back to the lodge, before she rapped on the door.
"Dè a dh'ith an sgàil-riochd?" Lujanne asked from behind it.
"Aon elf teine grèine, aon elf fuil talmhainn, Aon sgiath adhar is aon elf ceangailte ri làn-mara!" Rayla replied in elven, recognising a moonshadow fairy tale's plot.
The door cracked open, and Rayla shepherded the four children, dragonling and wolf inside the door, before it was closed behind them. As soon as they were inside, Lujanne stepped over to the door.
"Stevo, once I'm out, lock it. I'll let you know when it's safe." She ordered, before stepping through the door.
As Stevo bolted it shut, he smiled.
Whoever was out there, they were about to have a very, very bad day.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
As Claudia came out of the treeline, she saw Rayla standing a few yards to her left.
"Fle eht dnib ylthgit ssarg!" She shouted, pointing at Rayla.
As the strands of grass flew towards the elf, they were slashed apart, before the elf flew at her, blades raised over her head. Claudia ducked under the blades, before retaliating.
"Erif yrgna fo llab!" She shouted, sending a fireball the size of a plum tearing across the clearing, barely missing the elf.
"You missed. Humans can't do anything right!" Rayla taunted her, before kicking Claudia in the face. She'd have sworn it felt like a punch, but she shook her head, dodging away as Rayla attempted to pin her to the ground.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
As Soren came out of the tree line, Callum was standing right in front of him, with a sneering look on his face. "Vinea funes!" Callum shouted, sending grass ropes hurtling towards Soren, who slashed straight through them as he advanced.
"Pila Fulgar!" Callum shouted after a moment. A ball of lightning shot across the space between them. Twisting his body, Soren narrowly avoided the blast, before getting close enough to punch Callum in his big, fat, step-prince face. Callum staggered backwards, shaking his head, managing to evade his attempt to pin him to the ground.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Fifteen meters away, Lujanne watched the fight unfold, as Soren and Claudia fought furiously. Showing them targets they wanted to attack, it turned out, worked surprisingly well. Especially if you made what they said provocative as well. Using her illusions, she slowly guided them across the Moon Nexus, to the edge of a cliff leading to the forest below.
With a gesture, the illusions suddenly stepped away from Soren and Claudia, and she appeared, as if from nowhere. "Humans, you have violated the Moon Nexus. You will leave, and never return."
In that instant, she walked up to the pair, who were staring at her illusionary double, who was standing on what looked like a continuation of the ground. Grinning, she pushed Claudia and Soren in the small of the back, sending them toppling down the cliffs. The slope was gradual enough the fall probably wouldn't be fatal, but they'd be unable to go anywhere much for a few days, once at the bottom.
"Well, that's that, then." She muttered to herself.
Then she headed back, sending an illusion straight through the wall to tell Stevo it was safe.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Inside, Rayla was entirely unsurprised to see Lujanne come walking through the wall, before Stevo unbolted the door and let her walk in.
"Sorted?" He asked, almost too jovially.
"Sorted." Lujanne confirmed, smiling. Rayla noticed it didn't reach her eyes. "How's the boy?"
"I'm fine, thanks for asking." Callum said. "Feeling a bit strange, but I guess being struck by lightning..." Callum said, before Rayla punched him on the shoulder hard enough to make him stumble.
"Callum, ah swear to the moon, if you ever do something that bone-headed, suicidal and dumb again, ah will bind meself tae kill you!" Rayla shouted, her accent broadening. "Do ye hear me, Callum? Ah will bind meself tae kill you if you ever scare me like that again!" Without a backwards glance, she stormed out of the hut.
Callum went to go after her, but Lujanne intercepted him. "She just needs some space, Callum. But she probably means that."
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
As they staggered out of the charmingly fragrant, gloopy swamp that had awaited them at the bottom of the cliff, Claudia and Soren were bickering furiously.
"I could have just grabbed her!" Soren shouted.
"Or you could have just let me cast a sleep spell without interfering. Or a spell that got a tree to grab hold of her."
"You're the mage! You should have told me you could do that. Not to mention that you should have seen through that illusion! You nearly killed me!"
Claudia turned around to fire back, only to freeze as she felt a blade resting against her throat, pressing just hard enough to nick the skin.
"I would advise you to turn yourselves in to King Harrow. He may be merciful." She heard a polite, cultured voice say, in her ear. "Because if I see either of you again, I will not be."
The blade disappeared, and she spun around with a spell on her lips.
There was no-one in sight. The only evidence she hadn't imagined it was her own blood, trickling down her neck.
Turning to Soren, fighting back an urge to tremble as primordial senses told her she was being watched from the tree line. "Soren, we need allies if we want to bring our father back. We stood no chance against that moon mage alone. How does a trip to Neolandia sound?"
Soren seemed to start for a moment. "Good. Why?"
"We need allies." Claudia repeated. She could still feel the gaze from the treeline, fixed on the back of her neck.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Runaan allowed himself a small smile as he settled back into the tree outside the moon nexus, keeping an arrow nocked in case either of the humans decided to double back.
"What was that?" Corvus asked, from his own spot.
"I'm simply ensuring that Rayla and Callum will be unmolested for the remainder of their journey."
"Why?"
"I don't like dark mages."
Corvus smiled. "I think I can understand why. One question, though... Why are we camping in a tree, a few hundred yards from the Moon Nexus?"
"Lujanne." Runaan grated.
"Lujanne?"
Runaan growled. "The moon mage protecting the Nexus. She decided that it would be..." Runaan stopped talking. "Suffice to say that I have no intention of going anywhere near her. I have no desire to spend three hours being chased by a moonstrider that thinks I'm a jackalope again."
Corvus stifled a laugh.
"How do you think your niece is getting on?"
"If that boy has touched her..." Runaan said. "He will wish that he had never dreamt of it. And possibly have a lifelong phobia of scorchberries."
"You could try trusting Rayla?" Corvus suggested.
"I trust her. I do not trust teenage boys of any species."
"Callum is..."
"A teenage boy."
As the two melted back into the forest, Corvus asked another question.
"Why did you let those two live?"
"An assassin doesn't decide right and wrong - only life and death."
"That's not an answer."
"I... Am not a murderer. I'm an assassin. I do not kill children unless I must."
Corvus nodded silently in agreement.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Ever since he'd woken from his coma, Callum had been feeling strange.
"It's like a storm is constantly thrumming under my skin, Ez." He explained. "I feel… different. I just don't know why."
"Have you ever felt anything like it before?" Ezran asked, talking around a jelly tart.
"Only when I… when I touched the primal stone…" Callum's voice suddenly ground to a halt. "Ez, you think you can find Rayla?"
"Uh, sure. Where do you want me to bring her?"
"You know that clearing with the big rock?"
"Yup."
"Get her to meet me there. And bring everyone else as well."
Ezran dashed off without bothering to answer.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
When Ezran appeared, Rayla was sharpening her swords, sitting cross-legged against a rock.
"Um… hi?" He tried.
"Hey, Ez. Callum send you to find me?"
"Uh… yeah… um… he's got something to show you."
"Oh, he's got somethin' to show me, does he?"
"Yeah."
"Any idea what?"
"I… think that he'll need to… uh it might be best if he just shows you."
Rayla rolled her eyes, before unfolding and hopping to her feet. "If it isn't something worthwhile, I reserve the right to stab him."
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
When the various humans, elves and one small dragon had assembled, Callum was standing in front of a large rock, pacing up and down, clearly trying to centre himself.
"Well?" Rayla demanded, without preamble.
"Ok… I… I've been feeling really weird since I woke up."
"And?"
"And I feel like I'm touching a primal stone. All the time. Like I've got a storm inside me waiting to get out."
"Oh, right." Rayla said. "Anythin' else you want to get off your chest? Like being able to turn into a banther? You're a human, Callum. You can't have a link to a primal source."
"Why?"
"Well, no human has ever had one. Why do you think humans learnt dark magic in the first place?"
"Rayla, just give me a moment."
Rayla stood there; arms folded. "Fine."
Callum took a few deep breaths, centring himself.
Then he drew a rune in the air, pointing at the rock.
"FULMINIS!" He shouted.
A bolt of lightning shot out from his outstretched finger, blasting a small crater into the rock.
Zym barrelled forwards with a happy yip, pressing himself against Callum's legs.
Rayla's jaw practically hit the floor.
"You're… you're a mage!"
"I'm a mage?" Callum said. "I'M A MAGE!"
"Shh!" Rayla said. "No-one likes a loud mage."