A/N
Had a reviewer ask if there was a solid image of what Fae looked like. Because I'm pants as an artist, the best I can give is a description. You can find that in the profile bio.
Now, where were we?
February X789
3 hours later
We were approaching the Island, the bridge that the bride traditionally used to access the island on her wedding day. Awaiting us were half a dozen men standing with four hostages held at knife point. All kids no older than ten.
"Stop!" two of them stepped forward l, polearms crossing to forbid us access. "The Chief of Chiefs only bade his bride and the Reviver come!"
Meaning Wendy and...?
You. His primary source of information on the Nirvit culture.
Having my work, and the memory of Cait Shelter be used to justify this entire facade made my heart grow several degrees cooler.
I had to remain level headed though. If he was basing his delusion off of my information, it means he on some level viewed me as a reliable source, and therefore as some sort of authority. Even if it was unconscious, it should give me some influence over him. And I had been able to read what he expected to happen, so I had prepared everyone accordingly.
Our entire procession was dressed in party clothes that also happened to be easy to move in. Bright patterns, formless cuts, natural elements of fur, leather, bone and wood beads. Wendy was wearing the simplest outfit of us, a white linen tunic. Bare feet and a veil covering her face completely. She could wear a freer expression than the rest of us thanks to her face not being immediately visible. Kagura's face looked a few breaths away from murder. (She was resisting the urge to maim. Kids in danger tended to be her trigger, so I would need to defuse that situation quickly before she snapped.) Lyon and Sherria were bringing up the rear, so I couldn't see them but their tension gave me goosebumps. (Lyon. Lyon's tension gave me goosebumps, making the already cool air even colder.) They were bearing a quickly crafted illusion for the bride price that was part of the traditional ceremony.
Under the illusion, it was just a plain box bearing magic restraining manacles for when we made our captures. Just in case there was a wizard among them. But as long as we did not have to open the box, it ought to suffice as cover to get us inside.
Ok, play the game out.
Assimilating Cover Story.
Prioritizing getting those knives away from those kids' necks.
I could already see phantom blood spilling on the ground. And while I couldn't explore what that would do, this island felt different. It was actively drawing away from us right now, cringing in horror at what was planned for this day.
Even in their worst, darkest days, the Nirvit's had never allowed death on this island. I could envision a hefty curse coming about if that santicity was violated now. The tribe could be triggered to return as vengeful spirits, not the peaceful craftsmen we had seen.
With Morgana's speed of thought prompting, I knew what to do to sell our presence. I let out a short huff, lifting my chin and squaring my shoulders and facing the challengers.
"If the chief believes we will allow Wendy to be wed without a proper representation of our family and allies, he might be too big of a fool to deserve her."
The words, spoken with haughtiness I did not hold, felt like bile in my mouth. I hate that we needed to kowtow to his game, even a little bit. But we needed to get the hostages out and that meant de-escalating until we had someone in play to distract or neutralize the guards. Kinana, wound around my neck in the smallest, most inconspicuous form she could manage, was hidden under the collar of my cloak. Mystogan's cloak that he had wrapped around me to send me home after Edolas.
It was far from traditional. But I felt I would need every scrap of comfort and self control I had to make it through this charade.
My reaction clearly wasn't what the men were expecting. The four captors were now confused and uncertain. The two men who had stepped forward were trying to communicate without speaking and revealing their hand. I sensed Wendy tilt her head slightly, slowing her breathing to catch every hint of noise
Bet you didn't expect me to know your script, huh?
The spokesman addressed us again, a little more hesitant this time.
"You come as companions to the bride?"
This sounded coached. They were looking for specific phrases? If Trantos had been that detailed in his fantasies, we might be in trouble.
He wasn't, they are merely suspicious of potential foul play. They did not actually believe Trantos's claims of Wendy marrying him willingly. Now they are unsettled.
I mean, they're not wrong.
Their worldview being challenged meant they would be paying more attention to us. Like when you had an extremely surreal lucid dream. You knew you were dreaming, but the moment you exercised conscious thought, you knew you would snap awake and it would be over.
To keep up the analogy, it also meant that we would have to be careful to keep them in disbelief to keep those blades from getting closer to the kids.
Dial it up. It doesn't matter if it's too much as long as it's all unbelievable.
Still in my power pose, I moved forward with an air of impatience and a tone of command. The tone Erza would use when she had stuff to get done. (Only with better acting skills, because that woman, love her as I do, is absolutely hopeless in front of an audience.)
"We are the kin that has sheltered her for these past years. If she wishes to be tied to another it is our duty to see to it that it is done properly."
One of the hostages, a little boy, started to cry. The silent tears of someone trying to keep as quiet as possible for fear of the consequences of drawing unfriendly eyes. I forged ahead, focuses on spinning the right things they needed to hear...
"Did Trantos explain nothing to you? Get those knives away from the Messengers, you fools! It is too early for the Ancestors to receive visitors."
That and Kagura, who had to forgo openly carrying her favorite glaive, might very well tear someone's throat out with her bare hands if she saw one of those kids bleed. The knots in my stomach tightened seeing the reddened, fear filled eyes on the kids. But their captors didn't move to stand down. I had to apply some more pressure. The best way to do that was to unsettle them still further. Become someone they did not want to mess with.
Cold, merciless. I'm not human. I'm not someone to challenge.
My gaze went cool and dispassionate as I looked at them. As though they were weeds in my garden that I had just noticed and was deciding if it was worth the effort to root them out.
More pressure needed. They took these hostages to ensure good behavior. They did not anticipate it from the start.
I made my tone a little more forceful and scornful.
"This day has been years in the making, are you really going to spoil it now? Are these his most trusted war brothers?"
Morgana was showing me a gauge of how compliant they were feeling in the corner of my vision. This last statement sent the needle flicking to a better direction. They hauled the kids to their feet, marching them ahead.
"The Chief waits for his bride!"
They are returning them to the others.
Good. One group is easier to defend.
All our preparations had led up to this confrontation. But the moment I set foot on the island itself, I got proof once again of what was said about plans.
Specifically, that no plan survives first contact with the enemy.
Our plan was for Kinana to split off and take care of the men guarding the hostages. She would protect them while Wendy, Kagura, Lyon, Sherria and I handled breaking the main group up. Simple enough. Kinana was more than capable of handling groups of enemies while all of us were versatile and experienced enough to run down all those who remained. With a dozen hostages, they would likely have at least four men watching them, leaving eight or nine for the rest of us. All of us were skilled enough that having one of us for every one to two opponents was good odds. We were anticipating them being well armed enough to be considered wizards. And we couldn't have risked bringing a larger or more threatening party without triggering violence before we were ready.
I had gone to the island, planning on there being equal parts hostages and enemy bandits.
And I was right.
But there were twice as many of them as I had concluded from the available information. About a dozen of Trantos's men were here, six standing watch the closest group of prisoners, ten set up at the shrine to officiate the wedding.
Where are the rest?
Five are watching the second group of hostages. Three are attending Trantos, his immediate lieutenants.
That meant we were outnumbered five to one and had two places to find and defend. We would have to split our already small forces and history showed that was rarely a good plan.
Has anyone died yet?
Morgana's distant reporting held a soft, sad echo. She drew my gaze to one of the men who was struggling to breathe where he was being held.
One elderly prisoner is a few minutes away from a stress induced heart attack.
And once we started acting out, that timer would drop dramatically. I reached for the telepathic network we had all been installed into prior to being dropped here for the operation.
"Hibiki, ping the others. We've got more perps and hostages than we thought."
We were currently linked through his Archive magic combined with Warren's telepathy, for security purposes. To keep us coordinated and organized. That was the plan. Except I could only hear white noise when I tried to contact our back up.
"Guys, do you copy?"
Interference in the area's ambient magic is preventing the network signal from transmitting clearly. They can hear you are trying to reach them, but nothing is coming through clearly.
A ragged pulse fluttered in my throat.
The plan was in place. People would act as they had been coached, as we had prepared. But we weren't prepared for the reality of the situation. Someone could die because of my lack of information! And we were being watched right now, so there was no way to tell people that we needed to adjust the plan!
Twenty six stories were hovering around me, close enough to touch. Bright and hopeful even though they were as of yet unknown to me. One of them was flickering, tearing gently at the seams. The old man on the verge of heart failure. Morgana was restraining from reading in depth about him and risking us being distracted. But I could already read that he was a widower, but had eight grandchildren. One of the kids that we had first seen, a little boy with dark hair and dark eyes. His eyes were still reddened from when he had been crying earlier.
Fae...Calm yourself. Your fear is as deadly to you as it is to them.
Morgana's soft prompting helped me reestablish control. I felt pulled back into my body, aware of the lives at stake, but no longer too mixed up in them. I felt Kinana slide down my back as our party crossed the bridge and passed by the hostages. She would take up a spell Wendy and I had collaborated on and take out the people on the fringe. Our enchantment, settled into the spelled necklace she had taken to wearing even as a human, would allow her to control the lethality of her venom. Instead of being instant death, she could opt for mere unconsciousness when she bit someone. Since Kinana could normally make someone die painfully in a matter of minutes it was a needed addition for this venture.
The woman called 'the Naga' had recently figured out how to manifest and use her wings when she was no longer than about 18 inches. (You try catching something that small and fast moving while not letting it bite you.) Or that was my suggestion to take out the guards quickly, I was not going to tell Kinana how to hunt prey. If she had a better method, Morgana hadn't seen it necessary to apprise me of it. Just affirming in my plans that Kinana would be the best fit to ensure the hostages were freed without coming to harm.
Phase one complete. Please let it be enough even with the surprises.
The path was decorated before us, strewn with the crushed petals of red flowers that Morgana subconsciously identified as we walked over them. Streamers of red hung in the air as well.
And I could still see that the men waiting us at a shrine like structure were all armed and what was that thing behind them-
An Edolas Harvester. Active and on the lowest setting.
My gut dropped.
The interference in the air suddenly made sense. If it was on, then it was slowly, steadily draining the magic from the air. The air the Telepathy would need to traverse to reach the Christina and vice versa.
Murphy's Law in action.
Aside from the immediate effect of every wizard losing magic faster than we were used to, there were long term repercussions to consider as well. Edolas had lost its self replenishing magic because of things like this magic tool. It was incredibly damaging to the environment in ways that it's inventors had never been able to understand. Rather than taking the ethernano from the air, they managed to target the very source of that energy itself. Aether, the actual element in our world that stored, magnified and helped generate the energy we could use as magic. Its existence was what made magic a sustainable resource. The theory claimed, and current research supported, that aether was recharged by proximity to living beings with powerful magic.
Edolas used the Harvesters to create their long lasting, durable, high output magical weapons. They were removing the aether from the world around them and locking it into a state where it could not be naturally recharged since Exceed could not manifest that kind of energy, and humans didn't have the capability to use magic at all. Humanity tried to solve this by creating magical fuel, and engines, distilling liquid ethernano. By...producing machines that needed aether cores in order to work. So Edolas had gradually begun to destroy their magical ecosystem as their industrial era progressed. They didn't realize this for years, centuries even. Not until it was too late.
By the time Faust rolled around, the only remaining aether in the world was what was stored within the Exceed. And without the aether in the natural world, it couldn't be recharged and the soul fueled wizardry that typified Fiore was lost forever.
I was looking at something that had destroyed an entire world with no one being the wiser. A one time use might not shake our magical cycle forever but it certainly wouldn't benefit it.
Is it original?
Some parts were refurbished and replaced by ******.
The censored name even from Morgana made me hide a bitterly satisfied smile.
I had found Trantos's real name and enough of his identity to know him for who he was. But he was wholly embracing the false identity. So much so that Morgana was censoring his real name even now.
The stories of those who survived the robberies made sense now. The ones about their running out of magic power sooner than they should have. Trantos had only turned it on briefly to neutralize the wizards coming after him. But this...this was important enough to him I could see him leaving it on much longer. He had already turned it on in anticipation of this confrontation. He was expecting a fight from us.
And it meant that this operation had gained a much narrower time frame unless we wanted to create a magically dead-zone in the heart of Fiore. The Harvester was not currently active to a dangerous level. But it meant that they had had the means to supercharge all of their weapons, and at the same time they could easily render us helpless by robbing us of the ambient ethernano.
He knows it. All weapons and armor have been supercharged and modified to optimal levels.
So...this was going to be much more like Edolas than we anticipated. The X-balls would let us continue to fight even after our ready supply was depleted. The Fairy Tail wizards knew what Edolas fighting was like, how much more conservative you had to be while using magic. Lyon and Sherria didn't know that but-
Will God Slaying magic be like Dragon Slayer magic?
The resemblance was profound in the way it worked. It didn't come with the defensive capabilities of Dragon Scales. (What normal wizards could do to protect themselves from attack, but on steroids.) Instead, it was pure offense on a mildly ridiculous level. However, they did both have the common capability of all Slayer magics, the ability to devour their element for power.
Wendy might have to fight after all...if this went bad, only she, Kinana and possibly Sherria would be fighting at full capacity. Wendy because she could convert air into magic, and Kinana because her power was a Curse and operated on a different spectrum.
We reached the shrine, which was decorated with the same red flowers that had strewn the path. I could see Trantos's fantasy playing out like spectral shapes and shades. Leading us to the place where he wanted us...
About a dozen hostages were all kneeling on Wendy's side of the shrine, signs of their mistreatment evident in minor wounds, their dirt streaked clothing and six armed lackeys bearing whips. Whips that moved of their own accord, taunting their prisoners with faint jabs and snaps. Responding to their welders will.
They would be Kinana's job. She would go small and as silently as only a snake could be, would sneak around to get the drop on them. I couldn't see where the other prisoners were, but I knew they were here. There was a tiny counter reading 'hostages rescued 0/26' in the corner of my vision. I felt her slide down my back and slip into a largish tuft of turf, moving without disturbing so much as a single blade of grass. She would need to move quickly once she started. Lyon would erect an ice barrier to ensure that friendly fire wouldn't be a worry for that group.
Where are the rest?
Morgana was running probabilities, analyzing the ideal scenario, the worst scenario and formulating plans in response. And trying to deduce where the rest of the prisoners were. They wouldn't have been kept alive if he didn't need them for his fantasy...
He needed them to draw you here.
I seized that course of action.
He wanted us here. Why? What did he gain by having us here?
The Harvester.
The Anima had been a portal creator and a magical Harvester. This was just something to refine aether and magic fuel from the air.
Or from people.
And his trap had baited in half a dozen powerful wizards.
He could run his tools for years off of us.
But that didn't feel quite right either. It didn't play into his deluded state. This was about himself and Wendy...
This all ran through my head as I saw Trantos face to face for the first time. He was standing in bastardized Nirvit ceremonial attire at the opposite end of the shrine, his own 'blood soaked' path leading him to the place where Nirvit's had been wed for generations prior. He looked...sharp. Thin nose, thin lips, thin face, and wide manic eyes under pale hair shaved close to his scalp. A few lines of blue and white paint were daubed carefully onto his face. Symbols I had cited as being Nirvit tokens of good fortune and prosperity.
He wasn't just looking at Wendy with hungry eyes though. He was looking at all of us with that same look. What he wanted came from all of us, not just her. She was a key part of his goal, but not the whole story.
His eyes met mine. A malicious, triumphant glee shining from them that crystalized my resolve into an icy certainty.
He had set this game. He thought he knew the rules. Maybe he even thought there was no way for him to lose. He had managed to hoodwink me. To surprise me. But one way or the other, he was not leaving this island as the victor.
-vVv-
She was quite accustomed to needing to change her perspective on demand. But what she was doing right now was still something she never would have thought of doing.
Kinana was carefully getting into position behind the guards over the dozen or so hostages. She would never be able to bite them all before one of them had the chance to snatch one of their prisoners. Not without using her newest...trick to ensure they would be too distracted to try it.
Having Transformation magic meant one could make yourself look like many things. The bottom limit was often set at whatever boundary you felt would deprive you of your mind and sanity. You risked the corruption of your soul with inhuman thoughts and instincts if you pushed Transformation magic too far. Takeover magic was the next tier of Transformation, and it was so difficult to master for that reason. Her curse had tried to steal the ability to root her identity down as something intelligent and capable of thought.
Kinana knew who she was. She always would. The curse had tried to make her forget. Even after she came to Fairy Tail and started to relearn what being a person was. But it had ultimately failed. And its power was now hers to command evermore.
So she commanded it to change her shape again, while staying small...
Growing extra limbs had been doable for years now. Transformation magic was one of the branches that was purely limited by the imagination. And having the friends that she did meant that Kinana had quite an active imagination.
She heard Fae speaking to the thin man who to her eyes, did not look like he deserved to be called a predator. The only imposing thing about him was his zeal. Ever since Wendy had appeared, he had been watching her. Not as one watched a dragon, with the fearful respect one gave an apex predator, but as one anticipated a meal.
Foolish two-leg.
He wasn't noticing the murder in Kagura's eyes, or the careful blankness that had come across Fae's face.
Sunk into her curse, she couldn't understand human speech nearly so well. She allowed her higher reasoning to mostly slip away and only held onto the signal phrase she was primes to react to. It rendered her more animalistic mentally, but gave her more flexibility and breadth in her transformations. Fae would give the signal, their way of early warning for when it was time to strike.
Kinana's prey remained utterly oblivious.
Six before me. Ten more spread out. All armed. Fae senses another threat.
Animal instinct became attuned to the tiny betrayers of tension in the people around them. Especially those they were close with. When she had been wholly Cubellios, the snake-woman had seen Fae as an ally practically from the beginning of their association. She had spent years with her since then, working, fighting and living as Kinana. An identity she only had now because of her young friend's efforts... And Fae was nervous about something, though she couldn't show it.
A faint odor reached her. Her tongue flicked out to confirm the scent. Fear-stink from the dragon hatchling.
Her predatory nature rose up in response, though her instincts were mostly affronted that something had the nerve to make her dragon hatchling afraid. Her Meteor Hatchling was on the verge of snapping. The little sky-whelp that her dragon hatchling had mentored was nervous too. Only the Cold Crafter seemed to be really steady. That was only natural, he was the most experienced. He had hunted like this before. He was keeping an eye on her even now, ready to cut off the hostages from further attack. Once he did that, it would be up to Kinana to defeat and disable all of the men before they harmed anyone.
Kinana waited impatiently for the signal.
When Fae moves, or when the first attempt at death is made.
Balanced on a razor's edge, Kinana saw the third man in the row of prey before her draw a knife. Black bladed, obsidian glass. Highly ceremonial in appearance but it had the matte look of something that had been blooded before. The weapon was aiming for the prey kneeling before him. One of the ones they intended to rescue and release. Her human self identified the threat, commanding her serpentine body to uncoil in an attack.
Faerun uttered two words, imbued with power.
"Vatican Cameos!"
All the hostages fell flat as if pushed down by a massive hand. A faint shimmer in the air covered them. And Kinana surged forward, growing rapidly from about two feet long to twenty. She lunged, even as Cold Crafter used a one handed Ice Make spell to erect a twenty foot tall barrier just enough to give them cover from the other side. And as she grew, she did not just grow longer and larger.
Venom Transformation: Hydra's Bite.
Not one, but four heads snapped for the men before her with a hiss loud enough to be mistaken for a growl. Three of the bites struck, two of them delivered a sufficient dose of her poison to neutralize them. The third struck the man's armor and the fourth missed as her target hurriedly leapt aside. The false heads were a bit more difficult to aim effectively. Her goal was to be able to start the spell with nine heads to match the stories Fae told her about hydras. She was nowhere near that point yet, but they did serve their purpose in making the men scream in terror as a venomous, purple, four headed snake seemed to materialize out of nowhere. Since she was not using lethal venom, most of them were still standing after the first bite. A second successful injection would bring them down, but now she had to maneuver herself away from reprisal. Their cutting whips were unfortunately good for extending the reach of the men and two of her false heads took some deep wounds. Maroon colored venom spilled from them in place of blood. Two of the six enemies were injured and would fall unconscious shortly. Two had gotten grazing blows. Two were unharmed.
Kinana hefted her weight, bringing her tail up into a heavy swat that sent several of them tumbling to the ground. Two heads went after the fallen men, envenomating them directly and forcing them into unconsciousness. The other false head breathed out reddish mist over the men who had wounded her. They hastily cover their noses and mouths to avoid breathing in her poison. She also lunged and bit the uninjured man, working her jaws to ensure a strong dose of venom made it into his body. He went limp.
Three down. Two occupied. One- circling.
The many tailed magical whip, sharpened to a deadly, desperate edge, cut at the head on the right of her main head. It fell, cleanly severed with another gout of thick maroon fluid. Kinana drew more deeply on her cursed magic...and regrew the head, plus one more, snapping both for added effect.
The man went ash white as two hissing snake heads lunged at him where there had previously only been one. She had to feed a bit more magic into the core of the spell to allow the false heads to extend their lunge a bit more. Enough to get a solid bite on the man who had felt brave for a brief moment.
With four of their number down, facing the closest thing they had ever seen to a hydra, the two men decided to try and cut their losses but running. Kinana exercised her power again...And grew a total of four wings to lift her into the air in pursuit. She was not nearly as fast on the ground while using Hydra's Bite and would need to rely on her wings to run down her prey. The hostages, still lying where they had fallen from when Fae had pushed them with her spell, had made it through the lightning fast fight without a scratch.
As soon as Kinana had subdued the last two enemies, she reverted to a more human appearance.
The feral instincts dropped away as her human consciousness reasserted itself. She flew back on violet wings to check on the prisoners. The air smelt slightly different and there was a chaotic discord audible from the other side of the wall. But She had to make sure everyone else was safe first.
"Is thisss all of you? Are there any other prisoners?" She addressed the one who seemed to be the most lucid, wincing internally as she couldn't keep the hiss out of her words. He shook his head, flinching as she cut his bonds.
"N-no. He didn't want us."
Kinana the Naga gave him a sharp look.
"He didn't want you?"
He swallowed, eyes darting to the left and right nervously.
"He said he had a plan to...f-feed his bride more worthy sacrifices."
The man seemed genuinely terrified. Though that may partially have been because of her. Somehow, being a large talking snake was not as scary as being a snake woman. But Kinana couldn't help but laugh, darkly amused. She couldn't quite conceal her fangs as she grinned at the man knowing only her Fairy Tail guild symbol was keeping him from screaming himself at the sight she made, mouth still lightly colored with blood from the bites she had administered.
"The only ones who will eat today are the Furies."
Then she had to adjust and correct herself, because the hostages were now looking even more terrified. This was why she preferred to not be the one doing the talking unless she already knew the person and they knew her.
"My apologies. It's just an expression. What I meant was, Fairy Tail will ensure that he learns that he cannot target one of our own without consequence."
The hatchlings had learned how to hunt individually while living as a pack. And now, they were truly hunting as a pack.
The man who thought the kindest and best of them would make easy prey would learn why Wendy, despite all her power, was a preferable enemy to Fae or Kagura.
-vVv-
A few minutes earlier...
The waiting was the worst part. Also her biggest weakness.
Kagura felt naked without a weapon, disgusted by merely breathing the same air as the one who had victimized Wendy like this. The clothing was vaguely traditional, reminiscent of Wendy's childhood home. Even if it was a gift, the Gravity mage would have to fight the instinct to burn it after this charade was over.
She briefly visualized the overdressed man before her going up in flames. With that as an aid, she managed to give a passable if bloodthirsty smile when his gaze passed over her.
"My darling Wendy! I've been dreaming of this day for a long time."
The veiled dragon slayer didn't respond. Fae spoke in a measured, formal tone.
"Who comes to be bound to the Last daughter of the Nirvit Empire?"
Trantos swelled with pride like some grotesque toad and Kagura's mental image of him being on fire was replaced by him being impaled on a spear and deflating.
"Lewin Trantos, son of Revan the Defiant!"
His accomplices shouted rhythmically, probably meant to be some sort of celebratory chant. But Kagura could hear the leers hidden among them. Feel the eyes on Sherria, the youngest of their party. The anticipation when they looked at Wendy. She fought down a sneer.
Scum.
The cheers died out with an air of expectancy. The encounter was back in Fae's hands now.
The Story Mage stood straight as an arrow, her hair pulled back and up in several long braids, one hand holding a book by her side. Her spellbook, with a cover thrown on it to suggest it was some sort of scripture. Kagura was sure her gaze was as merciless as a glacier waiting for a ship to doom itself by crossing her path.
She tilted her head slightly, looking over them all...
"No falsehood may be spoken once one has crossed the Unity Bridge. I ask again, who comes to be bound to the last daughter of the Nirvit Empire?"
This was familiar. Fae was winding up their enemies, making them tense and nervous while seeming to comply with their demands. It was an excellent strategy for creating surprise attacks. Though Kagura usually saw it when she was dealing with sponsors or academics she didn't like.
Trantos seemed more than a little irritated at the Rune Wizard's deviation. But Kagura was watching his men. They were unsettled. Fae's initial compliance with Trantos had given them a sense of security and confidence. Reaffirming their faith in their leader. And now she was changing the script. It made them uneasy.
"I, Lewin Trantos, of the bloodline of Revan the Defiant."
He almost spat the words, his temper noticeable fraying. He gave a short signal and Kagura felt the air change around them. She heard a faint whirring...Wendy's slightly trembling fists went still. Poised and motionless. She had sensed something was wrong too. The Gravity Mage reached out clumsily, still unused to transmitting through telepathy.
"Wendy?"
Hazel eyes narrowed in concern and the young woman looked around them again, trying to not make it too obvious.
"Hibiki, what's happening?"
Testing the telepathic network again yielded no result. Their communication amongst themselves was down as well as their group's way to signal for back up. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Lyon was doing the same thing she was. A tiny crease in his brow as he tried to find more information.
Alright. The old fashioned way it is. Kagura would have to read the room, so to speak. A vital life skill for any child in an orphanage.
Fae, looking as if she didn't have a care in the world, shook her head condescendingly. Smiling at Trantos like a snake about to ensnare her prey in her coils, cold and pitiless.
"My my, two lies repeated on this sacred isle at your own wedding. Your name is not Lewin Trantos, and you are not of Revan's blood."
Fae's hand was shifting slightly, a signal she was trying to give as subtly as possible. The signal to act? ...No, she was spelling something out, one letter at a time.
E-D-O-L-A-S.
Kagura was momentarily confused, but Wendy seemed to understand what was happening. Because she started to charge up. She began to breathe more deeply, devouring the air around her and drawing more into herself than her lungs should be able to take.
"You trifle with your friend's heart, Reviver. Your manner is as false as your friendship with my Dragon Queen."
As if he knows anything about friendship or us...!
Trantos's tone had shifted again, Kagura's anger had a distraction. An attack was soon coming. His men responded to the shift in his voice, weapons lifting to ready position. Sherria had noticed what Wendy was doing and was likewise breathing as deeply and subtly as she could. Building her magic power. Fae continued nonchalantly, as if they weren't surrounded and outnumbered.
"The Ancestors know truth. And they have shared their knowledge with me. Your name is not Lewin Trantos. Though you may claim adoption by Revan's clan, you cannot make a blood claim. Revan was incapable of siring children. As you have prepared to begin a new life this day, baptized in the sacrifice of enemies of the tribe, you may adopt Lewin Trantos as your name. But first, you must give me your name as you are now."
Fae's tone was honey sweet now, catering to the madman's whim. Luring him into a new fantasy, one more dramatic and potent.
Distracting him to let them stockpile power and prepare for the fight, because they all knew one was coming. Like the heavy, wet air that preceded a thunderstorm.
Wendy likewise was signaling Kagura now, hand concealed inside the loose, long sleeve of what was a traditional Nirvit wedding gown.
1-4 M-O-R-E.
Fae's signal had been to stockpile magic power however they could. Wendy, in her gathering of power, was telling Kagura there were 14 more...enemies?
Her fingers were a little clumsy in the subtle language that Fae had devised to communicate silently. She made sure Wendy could see while concealing the motions from their enemies.
B-A-D-?
Wendy's expression was hidden and she didn't stop stockpiling energy, but Kagura couldn't help but feel she was a little exasperated.
H-O-S-
She held still suddenly. Kagura followed her gaze and saw that one of the three men standing near their primary target had turned his head slightly to look at them. Their hand signs would be seen if they continued. But her mind turned over their briefing for triggers, or abbreviations...
Hos.
Hostile? There were more enemies than they had talked about being. But that was self evident and Wendy had indicated the negative.
Hos...And not 'bad'.
Hostage.
14 more hostages. Somewhere they couldn't see.
Right when their telepathy was down. They couldn't even send their back up to secure the second location
Kagura's face remained blank, but she was cursing a blue streak internally.
They only had secured half of those they were here to rescue. Kinana was in position, but there would be more at risk.
They had been told of the concept 'minimal loss of life'. That some hostage scenarios could not be resolved without some death on both sides. It went without saying that the wizards were angling to be able to rescue everyone. Anything less would be to allow Trantos, or whatever his name actually was, a victory they were unwilling to give him.
Wendy was in the center of their party. Sherria was bringing up the rear. Kagura stood on her right and Lyon on her left, towards the place where a dozen kneeling hostages were. Mostly adults, but there were a few children among them. Fae was foremost, closest to the enemy and drawing all the attention she could with her knowledge of the play they were acting in without a script. Kagura could move the best but-
That's not normal.
Her magic was being depleted. She wasn't actively using any spells, and she normally was so close to overflowing with magic power that the lack was more of a relief than a true problem. But she hadn't used at spells, and she was still losing magic power.
EDOLAS.
The world without magic. The world that had almost stolen her friends and her brother from her before she could even meet them. That used living beings as fuel.
This is a trap. They're here to take us. We're the ones they are going to kill, not their hostages!
They only had minimal time before they became sitting ducks to the men that were already subtly closing a ring around them.
"I have no name but the one I have given."
Another sharp, dangerous smile from Fae at the soon to be dead man.
"I'd beg to differ, but you're not worth it: Bov Oris."
Kagura felt a thrill of satisfaction as the recently identified Oris flinched, face shifting into an ugly snarl under his face paint. As Fae had predicted, hearing his actual name, rather than his false alias enraged him. Just like the decoy. It made him make a mistake.
He had been in a better position than he thought. But he was going off script from his place. The ring of his men wasn't entirely in place, their strike force was still in a tight formation.
It made him act. He took a deep breath and just started to shout.
"Begin-!"
But his was drowned out by Fae's voice ringing like a gong.
"Vatican Cameos!"
The code words. A spell Fae had written out painstakingly and carried even now in her book, several folded sheets of paper that she had hidden within. Something that would channel a story to make the hostages drop and offer them a mild protection while they drew most of the attention.
At Fae's signal, Kagura lashed out. The wordless, instinctive spell altered the center of gravity of the four men on her side of Wendy, largely negating it for them. When Sherria's Sky God Bellow reached them, they went flying. With Kagura's help, they landed in the river. She chanced another small spell to pull a polearm into her hands with a thread of gravitation. The heft of the weapon felt familiar and comfortable.
Almost instantly, Kagura felt part of herself relax. The worry and stress of waiting was over. Now it was just a matter of defeating the enemy in front of her.
"Kagura!"
Fae was pointing off to the side, but her focus was on the man before her. A clear, sharp call and a direction.
That's where they are.
Kagura used a Gravity Change spell to twist her personal gravity so she literally fell headfirst into the sky. Others might use it to change where they could walk, but she has grown up with Fae, who would live flying in the sky if she could, and Wendy who belonged in the air. Kagura had long lost any fear of heights or regard for ground based activity as the default. She could see Kinana fighting over the wall, her violet scales dulled by her own venom as she snapped five serpentine heads at the half a dozen men that had been threatening the kneeling hostages. Two of them were fleeing away from the nightmarish sight. One was limping on a wounded leg, but the other was relatively unharmed. But they were not towards one of the bridges. Further into the forest area.
You.
Calculating his direction, Kagura used another Gravity Change to pull herself after him.
Fae described the use of this spell to soar, or jump in graceful arcs. Something harder for enemies to predict. Kagura preferred to travel in straight lines. Shortest distance between two points and all that.
She was moving a lot faster than he was. She could see another group of people, tied to trees. Seven guards already starting to converge, some of them were heading for the hostages, others were hurrying towards the sound of the fighting.
Kagura called her magic around her in a dense shell, then twisted her Gravity Change to bring her down in the midst of the group.
The spell was formally registered as Dragoon Fall. Fae called it the 'human ballistic missile.' The magic was channeled into the ground through the spear in her hand, a decent weapon with relays in it that kept it from simply shattering when she used it. The area immediately around where she had landed simply exploded as she released the compressed magic and sent it away from her. Cushioning her landing and sending debris flying everywhere and knocking the closest two men prone. Now that she had some extra magic hanging around her, Kagura didn't waste any time.
Gravity change: Attraction.
All of the men were within about 15 feet of her. So Kagura extended her will into that area, locked onto the enemies around her...And twisted so that they would be pulled back towards her. All of them at once. A leap, the two closest collide with a crunch. Others managed to resist getting pulled into each other. One of them even drew a short sword and lunged with the direction her spell was pulling him in.
Kagura eagerly swung her borrowed spear up to engage the man. She upped the downward pull of gravity, making him stumble. She pounced on the opening with righteous glee.
This part was simple. Clean in a way that life rarely was anymore. This fight was hers. Her friends would take care of the rest and the gritty details.
Though if Trantos survived, she would see to it he did not enjoy his life afterwards.
A/N
I was shooting for a 3 part arc, but I didn't want to short my girls on their scenes and it got way too big to post as one. Final Chapter of this arc coming soon!