Chapter 3

We tear through the first floor

We reached the bottom of the stairs without anyone tripping and falling and entered the room. I took a step to the side, counted to six, and stepped back into the doorway again. I was a delicate flower, after all, and while there wasn't really "cover" like there would be from a door frame it would keep them from attacking me from the side. If they even survived our initial assault, anyway. I took a slow breath and steadied myself. My clan had a reputation for terrifying combat not strictly because of our prowess, but because of our seeming indifference to the whole proceedings. This wasn't because we didn't care, but because we practiced a battle technique akin to meditation. I wasn't as practiced at it as some in my clan, I hadn't seen that much real combat after all, but I was fair at it. I relaxed, picturing in my mind the box that held my emotions. No matter what happened, even if someone jumped me and stabbed me from behind I would be at peace, for I locked that box with my emotions up tight. Whatever happened now I would simply accept it, rationally decide what to do, and then act. I was ready, I was at one with my opponents, and either they would walk away from this or I would. It was all the same thing.

A second later and I heard a battle cry, and the shocked bandit tried to jump back from Malachite going for his throat. He didn't manage it, and Malachite's claws raked across his flesh, drawing blood but not dropping him. His hands of course went to his throat as blood started pouring out and he gave a startled gasp.

"Huh?" was the general sentiment as the others in the room took a second to process what had just happened. "We're under attack!" one cried.

No, you think?

Hanz appeared, yanking the sword away from the surprised man in front of them. They drew it back to stab the man. Meanwhile Snarly appeared and went to stab the man in the back with his knives but it had been just a second too long, the man was moving and noticed him, jumping out of the way.

Great. So much for the element of surprise.

I raised my hands, deciding I would hit the man Malachite had attacked and the man that just got away from Snarly with my elemental wind spell. Snarly was in the most danger, and getting rid of the attacker that was already wounded was just good strategy. I'll have to apologize to Malachite afterwords though, he'll understand. I skipped most of the incantation, whipping my fingers through the motion and envisioning the symbols needed to cast the spell. Two bolts of air came out of nowhere, striking both men in the head. The one Malachite had attacked went down, the other man again tried to dodge out of the way of my bolt and got struck, but remained standing.

"I had him," complained Malachite.

"Get them!" shouted one of the men. He started to get up, drawing his sword as he did so, as did the man who had been playing the dice game with him.

Hanz tried to stab the guy they had stolen the sword from in the chest, but the man threw himself to the side.

"Spellcaster, there you are," said one man, drawing his sword and looking right at me. I couldn't have him rushing me so I drew an imaginary line between us. He won't hit one of my friends. I thrust my palm out, casting another Mercury spell as I did so with a single word of the incantation. He went flying straight backwards, the air whooshing out of him as he hit the wall behind him. He crumpled.

Malachite looked both ways, decided the man with the sword was the bigger threat as he was about to attack Snarly and could anything really hurt Hanz? His decision made he lunged for the man, grabbing him around the waist. Snarly stabbed him with both daggers. One went into the guy's right arm, the other into his left leg. "Gotcha that time!"

The man recently disarmed by Hanz went to grab the sword back, but they simply lifted it a little and the man's hand grabbed only air. "Organics are so clumsy, don't you find?" they asked. One of the men that had been dicing was now up and attacked them. The blade clanged off their metal body. "Please wait your turn, sir, I'll be with you in a moment," they promised the man.

The man grabbed by Malachite tried to break loose, but Malachite was pretty strong. He got slammed to the ground instead, crying out in pain.

The other man who was playing dice was now also up, and I couldn't take the chance his sword was sharper and able to damage Hanz. I concentrated on both men, this time swaying my whole body to cast a Moon spell. I spoke the three words of the incantation and let the spell go, but both men shrugged it off. The second man took a swing at Hanz, but again they were unharmed. "Sirs, I'll have plenty of time for each of you, please wait your turn!" They went to stab the guy again, and again the man dodged. "Oh bother. If you would just stand still a moment sir..."

"No!"

The other man drew back, raising his blade high possibly to stab directly at Hanz's head. I couldn't have that, so I thrust my palm out again, speaking part of the incantation. He too went flying into the wall, his leg bent at a weird angle as he slammed into it.

Snarly plunged both daggers into the chest of the man thrown by Malachite, and he went still.

The first man I pushed with my magic got up, grabbing his sword as he did so. "I'll get you for that!"

"My pretty?" Hanz asked, dodging the man again who tried to grab his sword hilt back. "And her little dog too? Keep trying sir you nearly had it that time."

"Stupid remnant," said the other man, "I'll deal with you later." He looked over at me and grabbed a knife that was strapped to his leg. It looked like he was going to try throwing it at me.

Well we can't have that, can we? I figured it would take a moment to flip the blade over as you can't really throw a knife by the hilt, and pointed downwards like that, so I took the full time with my air attack this time. I slammed him from two directions right in the head, and he crumpled to the ground.

Malachite, probably figuring this guy was down for the count after being stabbed by Snarly headed over to help Hanz, aiming for the man getting up from my Mercury spell. He went for the throat again, and with his leg unable to support his weight he went down for a second time.

"Ah ha! First blood is mine!" Hanz reported, finally scoring with their stolen sword. They got the guy in the arm though, but it was a fairly deep cut. "Have at you, swine!"

First what? Are they not paying attention to the rest of us or what?

The other guy I tossed with my magic got up, and looked around wildly. It looked like he wanted to race to the door but one of them was blocked by me, the other was closed and there were two people nearby that would be sure to catch him before he got there.

"I surrender?" he asked tentatively, bringing his hands up.

"No, you're a bad man!" Snarly screamed at him, lunging for the guy with his daggers at the ready. One of them scored on the man's chest, the other in his left leg.

"Fine, kill me, but my master will see to you!" said the man before Hanz.

"We will see about that," Hanz replied, thrusting the sword home. They gave it a twist and pulled it out, causing the man to gasp and fall to the ground.

"No!" cried the last man standing. "I surrendered, you have to spare me!"

"No we don't," Malachite told him. "Should have chosen another profession." He sank his claws into the guy's chest, and he too gave a gasp and fell over.

"What is going on in here?" shouted a voice, as the door opened. The man on the other side froze, taking in the scene. "Never mind!" He slammed it closed again.

"We have to get after him!" Malachite screamed.

"I've got this," I told him, lining myself up with the door. I spoke the full incantation, targeting the door, and when I thrust my palm forward it tore off the hinges and went flying into the next room. The man wasn't able to get out of the way and the door slammed into him, knocking him over, and then went careening past him to smash into the far wall. Two surprised looking men with bows looked back at it, then back at me. The four skeletons in the room didn't seem to care one way or the other.

"Get them!" cried one archer, reaching for an arrow. The other one followed suit, shouting "And by get them he means attack and kill them, not just bring them over to us!" The skeletons seemed to perk up a little, while both Malachite and Snarly tore into the next room. It was much longer than it was wide, but the skeletons were about halfway between the door and the other end where the archers were.

"After you," I told Hanz, who slipped through the door frame after them.

The quicker archer let loose with his arrow, and we couldn't have that so I cast a quick defensive spell, and it slammed into magical energy and bounced away. I had to do it again as the other fired as well.

Snarly and Malachite got up to a skeleton, but really only Malachite had a chance to do any damage to one. Both attacked at the same time, the skeleton's sword smashing into Snarly's temple and sending him flying.

"Snarly!" Malachite cried, and grabbed his skeleton's arm.

"Oh dear, this is bad news!" Hanz announced, stepping over Snarly to engage the skeleton themselves. They swung the stolen sword, but the creature simply swayed a little and they missed.

Meanwhile Malachite whipped the skeleton around that he had grabbed, flinging it backwards and into the other two behind it. All three crashed together and fell into a pile of bones.

I watched all this rather dispassionately, keeping my breathing even and looking the situation over as it was, not as I wished it to be. If Snarly was still alive, he could be healed. If not, there was nothing I could do for him. The archers were the clear problem, while we tried to get through the skeletons they could continue firing arrows at us. However, an archer without a bow isn't worth very much, so I raised my hands to see what I could do about that. I began casting, using the full incantation as they hadn't drawn new arrows yet. I was confident I could do what needed to be done before they were ready.

The man we had seen shakily got to his feet, it looked like he was in a lot of pain, and he started staggering towards another door. Ah, a "two for one deal" as the old saying goes. Opportunity knocks once, that sort of thing.

The skeleton that hit Snarly went for him again, but Hanz managed to block it. "You're fighting me, old chap," they told the thing. Meanwhile two skeletons had untangled themselves from the pile and were reaching for their weapons, so Malachite kicked one, driving it back again. It drew back so he missed.

"There's nothing to hit!" he complained. "Stupid bone men!"

They could be bone woman.

"I'm okay!" Snarly croaked. "If anyone cares?"

"Just stay down for a moment," Hanz told him. "We'll protect you."

My spell was ready, so I gestured with both hands, and both bows flew out of the archer's hands and into the back of the man who was now almost to the door. He tumbled forward and didn't move.

"Hey!" both archers shouted.

The final skeleton had gotten up, but Hanz was busy with another. They swung their blade, but the thing skipped back again, teeth clacking. "They do seem rather hard to deal with," they agreed to Malachite.

"Orchid?" he called.

"On it!" I figured they weren't very strong, being all bones, so I thrust my palm out again and spoke the first word of the incantation against three. I would have liked to take a second to gather extra mana but with them swarming and Snarly down, I couldn't risk it. They were blown off their feet and smashed into the wall behind them. I wasn't straight on with any of them so none was blown back enough to hit the archers, but you can't have everything can you?

"You left one?" Malachite chided me.

"What, you can't take one wittle skellington?"

"Oh I see how it is." He lashed out, grabbing the thing by the shoulders.

The archers started for their bows, and we couldn't have that now could we? I flexed my muscles (such as they were) and targeted the bows with a Mars spell. Both burst into flames and the archers skidded to a halt. They looked down the corridor with murder in their eyes, and I gave a little wave to them. "Hiiiiii."

With Malachite now gripping the bones of the skeleton Hanz swung their sword in from the side, aiming for the neck. The head came clean off, flying off to the side and bouncing to the ground. The bones went limp, the animating magic leaving them. One down, three to go. Malachite dropped them and they scattered apart, no longer connected by magic.

But another was ready to take its place, though the sword it had been carrying had gone flying. It started running towards them.

"No, no, kill the magic user!" one of the ex-archers shouted to it. What? Kill little old me? For shame. I do declare, I think I've rustled their jimmies a bit. The skeleton stopped, confused and looking around.

"It doesn't know what a magic user is you dolt! The woman down the hall! Kill her!"

The bony eye sockets locked with my big, beautiful blues. Come and get some, boneman.

Malachite was on the case, saying "Oh no you don't," and rushing it instead. The thing had its orders, kill me, so it didn't bother dodging as he grabbed it. Just for good measure I threw a Saturn spell at it, so whatever he was going to do he would have an easier time of it.

With no other weapons in sight the ex-archers became swordsman, grabbing up the fallen swords from the skeletons. They were still way down at the other end of the room though, I wasn't that worried. The skeleton now tried to break free of Malachite and get to me, but he was having none of that. He slammed the thing into the wall, head first, cracking bone and leaving the head at a weird angle. It must have been hanging by a thread, the bones didn't go limp.

"I'll handle the next one," Hanz announced. It too had gotten up, so they planted themselves in front of it. It too had heard the orders to kill me, so it tried to get around them as they swung. The blade passed through the ribs area without stopping, so they hit nothing. "Oh dear this is difficult isn't it!"

I wasn't too worried about the skeletons reaching me, but with the swordsmen now armed and heading towards me I figured I should do something about it. I took their bows away, now it's time to take their newest toys away. I started casting. A second later I let the magic go, which worked on one of them at least. His sword squirted out of his grasp and he had to shuffle to the side and stop to avoid it chopping his legs off. The other man turned but he waved him on. "Take her out!"

"To the ball game!" Hanz started singing. "Take her out with the crowd."

The last skeleton finally got up and started towards me as well. What a popular girl I am today.

Malachite didn't waste time, simply grabbing the head of the skeleton he had hold of and yanking up. The bones fell in a heap and he hurled the head at the other one. It smashed against the wall, missing by inches.

Hanz tackled theirs to the ground, pinning it for the moment.

I didn't like how close the other skeleton was to me, as my friend's efforts had failed to stop it. That one swordsman was close on his heels as well. I couldn't waste time, so I gestured, calling up a sliver of wind at leg level. Both stumbled as the elemental energy slammed into them. I had gotten myself a second of breathing room at least.

Hanz slammed the skeleton to the ground as it tried to wriggle away from them, but it was still moving.

Both the skeleton and the man were about a meter away from me now. The man had victory in his eyes, raising his sword to cut me down, and finally get rid of that pesky magic user. How I hated to make him start all over again, but that's really how we learn and grow, isn't it? I shoved my palm out, speaking the first word of the incantation. Both went flying back away from me.

Hanz held the skeleton while Malachite grabbed the head of it, trying to twist it off. There was a cracking but it didn't come off.

"Come on, come on!" he shouted.

"You're dead! You hear me? Dead!" shouted the swordsman that was getting up a few meters away from me. I cocked my head to the side and looked confused.

"I don't seem to be at the moment."

"Our master will destroy you!" He grabbed up his sword again.

I hadn't lost track of the other one who was about to reach me, but decided throwing them around wasn't really cutting it. I switched tactics, twisting my hand and bringing my palm parallel to him. A beam of elemental energy slammed into him as I spoke the first word of the incantation, skipping the rest. He stumbled backwards and tipped over, the sword clattering away from him. Whew.

"No!" cried the other one.

"Yes!" I cried back, and started the full incantation for the bolt. He won't reach me before I can finish it.

Malachite tore the head off the skeleton and simply tossed it, then offered a hand to Hanz to help them up. "Just laying around?" he quipped. "There's still one left you know."

"I know," they sighed. "Let's go get it."

The swordsman had his blade up and was waiting for me to finish my spell, which I did. He tried to dodge but I had noticed he was favoring his one leg and accounted for that in which way I figured he would go. The bolt slammed into his face but he didn't go down. "I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do!" he promised. "Or maybe your friend!"

"What?"

I didn't expect the man to chuck his sword at Snarly, an awkward proposition at the best of times. I figured it was going to go wide but I couldn't take the chance. With a gesture and the one word of this particular incantation it bounced off a magical circle in the air and clattered to the floor.

"'anks!" Snarly managed.

"Really?" I asked the man, now coming into the room totally. "You would try to kill someone who was already hurt and no danger to you?" The box my emotions was in was trembling, I couldn't let it break open yet though.

"I didn't expect you to be able to deflect it, or I would have done something else," he admitted.

"I see." I started casting again. He looked for a way out but the door was covered by Malachite and he would have to get past me to leave that way. He took a step back and put his hands up. "I surrender."

I finished casting but held it. Three magical circles were pointed it him, my wind spell ready to be unleashed.

"Fine," I decided. "Get out of here."

"What?" Hanz and Malachite gasped. They got distracted by the last skeleton again though.

"Go on, get out of here." I stepped to the side and pointed to the door with my thumb. "Tell your friends if they keep up this kind of lifestyle, we're coming for them too."

"You won't leave this place alive, but sure, I'll tell them." He gave the other two a wide berth, and suspiciously went past me. My magic paced him, but he raced up the stairs and out of sight so my magic splintered and vanished. Now the box broke open, and I rushed over to Snarly.

"How bad is it?" I asked, concerned.

"I'll be fine," he tried to insist.

"You're bleeding all over the place. Quit squirming around and let me heal you. I won't even charge you for it." Being a member of my group and everything. I started casting. It took two castings of the spell but the wound closed and Snarly sat up. By that time the forth skeleton had been dealt with, and the others helped Snarly up.

"Good as 'ew," he insisted. "Sorry to have worried ya."

"Your spells are quite versatile," Hanz remarked. "I also notice you can cast them rather quickly."

"Oh, it's nothing. I may be slow of foot, but I'm not slow of mind," I humble bragged. And not having to worry about dodging helps, I can concentrate on what's going on all around me by staying back like I do.

"To be sure."

"Why did you let that guy go?" Malachite demanded.

"I heard a plea for surrender three times down here," I told him. "Snarly decided against it. As did you. This one was my choice. Killing him gained me nothing, and goes against the Allfather's will. You must each decide for yourselves the condition of your soul after this. Perhaps prayers of forgiveness, if meant genuinely, will afford you some mercy when you are judged."

"As I have no soul," Hanz announced, "I will make sure all of the bandits are in fact dead. Allow me to retrieve a weapon and I will set about the task."

"I just knocked the one out," I told them. "We don't have to end his life."

"Do you believe leaving him alive will benefit the area?" they asked. "Will this brush with death change his ways in any way?"

I sighed. "No, probably not."

"Then best to end it. Doing this may save other lives down the line. You need not watch if it bothers you."

"Just… just do what you have to," I told them. "We have another level to clear out it seems." I gestured to the door.

"Yes, hopefully no one comes from that level until we are ready. Malachite, perhaps you would like to stand guard?"

"Yeah, okay," he allowed. "And Orchid, I see where you're coming from. You were probably right, killing him wouldn't have changed anything, and he had surrendered. I can't fault you for your choice."

"Thank you for understanding," I told him.

"Looting time!" Snarly announced.