CHAPTER 58 A HELL OF A FIRING
Sire! The rebels have almost broken through the western gate!” Brendan cursed over the clamor of battle below him.
As if things weren’t bad enough, they had discovered that the rebels who met their front lines were using poisoned weapons …
The poison didn’t react instantly, but within a few moments, the affected men fell to the ground either dead or barely alive.
From what was screamed back and forth on the field, it sounded as though the weapons were coated with a form of Witch’s Brew …
“Godsdamnit. Mage Sebastian! Start lighting the oil on fire! We are going to be launching this as far and wide as possible. We have to resort to distance attacks!” Brendan bellowed toward the mage, who was in the midst of magically halting the enemy’s arrows from cresting the castle wall.
“Yes, sire! Though please pass the order for everyone to duck while I do so!”
Brendan grimaced. He knew even with everyone taking cover that they wouldn’t be completely successful in avoiding being hit. He hoped that they were able to at least take out a hefty number of enemies with the catapults that were already being loaded along with the oil to at least offset those losses …
However, even if those assaults went well, things were not looking hopeful, and the king couldn’t help but turn his mind to the civilians in the city behind him that would be subjected to the rebels who were about to plague their streets.
Gods, I hope Alina is safe …
“MEN, TAKE COVER!” Brendan bellowed once Mage Sebastian gave him the signal confirming he was ready to send out the first wave of boiling, flaming oil.
The men ducked and within minutes, they could hear the shouts and cries of their enemies in pain.
“At the very least because we had to retreat, we have less casualties when we do this,” the king muttered as he pressed himself into the stone wall behind him.
“Sire, I’ve finished!” Mage Sebastian called out.
Brendan still waited an extra moment before ordering the archers and knights near him to stand once more. It was the most he could give Mage Sebastian as far as a rest went.
The mage’s voice was already hoarse from casting so many spells, but his eyes were ablaze with ferocity, the crystal dangling from his ear burning constantly …
“Sire! An urgent message from the castle has arrived along with some crates!” a squire on the stairs to the wall hollered up.
Brendan’s heart dropped to his stomach, but he didn’t waste any time making his way across the wall while still crouched, passing behind his archers.
Once he reached the squire, he looked back and was relieved to see that most of the men had lived through the moments during which they had lost their magical protection.
“MEN! RISE AND FIRE!”
After giving the order, the king turned around to receive the message that the squire brandished to him.
Unfurling the parchment, Brendan’s eyes flew across the page.
At first his eyebrows shot upward in alarm, then he let out a breath of relief. But at the last part of the message … he looked confused.
Until a sudden explosion of blue lightning erupted behind him, drawing everyone’s eyes as they then witnessed three creatures no one had ever seen the likes of before launch through the sky at an alarming speed and disappear into the distance.
Brendan dropped his attention back to the note, reread the last line, and gave a bloodthirsty smile.
He hurried down the steps to the crates and lifted off the lid to see the bottles and barrels of Troivackian moonshine and piles of rags …
Within several sacks were globs of …
Small bits of beeswax.
Hope swelled in Brendan’s chest.
“MEN! NEW ORDERS!”
Kat had lunged forward, intending to cut down the first witch or at the very least incapacitate her while she was surprised by the presence of a sword crafted by Theodore Phendor. While the former handmaiden had once upon a time even been the one to deliver the weapon to Kat fully repaired—thanks to it at the time being fully wrapped—she had not been aware of its true origins.
Despite this unexpected twist of events, however, Aradia still dodged Kat’s initial strike and then the second. In fact, she continued evading each cut and stab easily, but after leading Kat away from the castle, she didn’t need to worry about dodging again, as the imp Kat recognized from the attack on Faucher’s keep appeared in front of her with Likon once again gagged and blindfolded, and now with a knife tip pressed firmly at his throat.
“That’s enough, burning witch.” The imp’s set of three pupils spun as he bore down on Kat.
She snarled in response, her aura burning higher so that it spanned nearly twice her height.
“Your magic cannot—”
The imp wasn’t able to finish his sentence, as through Kat’s aura, an arrow was shot, and because Viellen was not able to see through the wild flame-like magic surrounding her, he could not stop or avoid it.
The moment the arrow pierced his skull, Kat severed the arm clasped around Likon from its shoulder with a leaping swipe from the ground.
Now free, Likon crumpled to the ground as the imp fell back, dead.
“NO!”
Kat paid no mind to the first witch’s shout as she hastily, while using her inhuman strength, bent down and flung Likon over her shoulder before starting to retreat toward the castle gate where her father’s blue lightning shield still shone brightly.
To her left, the stone golem was stumbling in and out of the realm, struggling to stay upright and present. She managed to dodge its right foot that was ambling off toward the east side of the wall as she darted toward the safety of the shield and castle walls.
Kat was almost at the gate when three sirins landed in front of her.
She halted in place and gritted her teeth.
The three creatures were beautiful and nightmarish with their red eyes, silvery hair, and pointed teeth.
“Likon, cover your ears!” Kat shouted over her shoulder.
Hearing this order from Kat, Likon wasted no time in obeying and was just in time as the three sirins opened their mouths and let out a chord of hellish shrieks that would’ve most likely rendered someone temporarily if not permanently deaf if caught unawares.
Yet, interestingly, Katarina Ashowan only flinched as she kept barreling toward the castle, sword in hand.
The sirins attempted to blast her away, their hands outstretched and releasing streams of hurricane-force winds, but Kat’s aura devoured their power greedily. She smiled, her golden eyes shining as she drew back her sword and was about to cut through the sirins when they flew up out of the way. But then two crashed down beside her and seized her arms while the third grabbed Kat’s waist from behind in the span of a breath.
Kat let out a feral growl and tried to wrench free from their hold, but they had sharpened claws that pieced her skin, latching firmly on to her.
Letting out a shriek, Kat lunged for the lightning shield with the sirins in tow, but they instead dragged Kat up into the air, her skin tearing under their viselike grip.
With her waist and arms restrained and Likon on her shoulder, Kat had no space to move. As the ancient beasts flew higher while she struggled, she could see the top of the castle wall rise before her. And so with a surge of strength, she managed to lurch her body enough that Likon was able to roll through the shield and onto the top of the wall as they passed where the archers and Annika Ashowan awaited.
Free of Likon’s deadweight, Kat tried to fight against the sirins more aggressively despite knowing they could drop her.
Arrows whistled out of the shield near them, but the winds the sirins produced stopped any from hitting their mark. Kat could tell they planned on dropping her from a great height; she hoped that her abilities would prevent her from being hurt too badly …
However, things took a surprising turn when out of the shield, jumped Eric. His armor gleamed in the stray beams of light that broke through the cloudy day.
And it was thanks to his heavy armor, that he was not as easy to blow off target as an arrow. While he wasn’t able to tackle Kat and the sirins out of the air, he was able to latch on to both Kat’s waist and the sirin who held her there.
The sirins let out another earsplitting set of screams, but Eric, like Kat had done before, only flinched.
While they tried to burst his eardrums, Eric fumbled around his wife’s side, procured the dagger she had at her belt, and proceeded to plunge it into the side of the sirin’s head that still clung to Kat’s waist.
The sirin had opened its mouth to let out another terrible shriek just as the blade sliced through its pointed ear, but the sirin wasn’t able to make a sound as its red eyes turned black … and its body then went limp as it fell from the sky like a ragdoll, dead.
Without their third sirin holding up the couple, the remaining two let out another bout of screams and released them. On their descent, Kat at least had the presence of mind to shove Eric back to land on the castle wall as she plummeted to the ground below, her aura blazing.
She landed with a crash against the stones, her armor unpleasantly bending from the impact, the gashes she’d received from the sirins bleeding heavily. Her shoulder piece dug into her rotator cuff, making Kat wince as she pushed up to a sitting position.
As she started to get her bearings back, she looked around, expecting to see more chaos, thanks to the stone golem that she had last spotted near the north side of the castle. However, she instead found herself staring at a wall of men on horseback, dressed in black.
The rebels that had kept their horses through the initial attack had reached the castle before their foot soldiers, it seemed.
The first witch stood nearby. “Pardon me, Lady Katarina, I believe I will need to go elsewhere for the time being, but these men are more than happy to fight with you.”
Kat grimaced as she pushed herself, bloodied and bruised, to her feet. Thankfully, her sword was still in hand …
“Where do you think you’re going … ?” Kat pointed her sword in Aradia’s direction as the first witch had turned around and began striding away from the castle. “We’re not finished.”
Aradia raised an eyebrow and blinked. “Mm, we are for right now. The sirins are telling me there are other witches hiding in the city. The Troivackian king, or the coven leader, I don’t know which, must’ve had them scatter, but no matter, I’ll find them one way or another.”
“If I promised to help you open that gate, would you go back to the Forest of the Afterlife with your brother?”
Aradia turned back around, looking completely amused by Kat’s suggestion.
“I need to finish the task the Gods sent me here for before I go back. I just can’t do that if my ridiculous brother keeps getting in my way.”
“So to convince Troivack that you, the first witch, can help them … you … you are killing people … ?” Kat questioned while hoping that the first witch wouldn’t notice she was buying time …
Aradia shook her head, suddenly appearing morose, though whether that sentiment was genuine was hard to say. “No. I am trying to lessen the influence of witches, but to do that I need a position of power. Witches are taking over Daxaria, and that is not at all what they should be doing. Troivack is the perfect place to gradually spread this teaching.”
“We’re not taking over Daxaria though! We’re working with humans as we should!”
“You’re helping them with their inventions and civilization, you are not connecting them to nature. Now, I’d love to elaborate, but time is somewhat of the essence here.”
The first witch pivoted away while giving a wave over her shoulder, uninterested in anything else Kat had to say.
However, that was when an arrow struck Aradia in her shoulder.
It would have been a deadly hit if it hadn’t been for the short burst of air that interfered from the sirin still holding the devil.
With a paling face and clutching her wounded arm, Aradia swiftly located her assailant.
The Troivackian queen, Alina Devark, stared at her, having just stepped from a nearby alley.
“Good day, Lady Wynonna. I have a few things I’d like to discuss,” Alina called out while reloading her weapon and pointedly ignoring the knights on horses who were turning toward her with their swords drawn.
The first witch yanked out the arrow with a quiet grunt as she started to stalk closer to Alina.
From the other end of the castle wall, more crashes and cracking could be heard as the stone golem continued his struggle with the familiars, but aside from that, all was silent.
“Your Majesty, you should remain inside the castle. I honestly don’t want to see any harm come to you.”
“I’m afraid that I honestly can’t say the same.”
Aradia managed a tight smile while she shook her head and drew her dagger, the sirin carrying the devil fluttering closer to her mistress’s side. Aradia reached into her pocket, looking for something else … only … she couldn’t find it. Giving a quick frown, the first witch realized she didn’t have the luxury of searching more thoroughly for her beloved Chronos.
“Is there some grand plan other than you and Lady Katarina fighting magical beasts, me, and an army?” she asked while recovering from her startle, twirling her blade expertly in her hands.
“I have a parting gift for you, as I take it you will not be returning to your position as my handmaiden,” Alina explained evenly. Her lifeless eyes bore into the first witch.
“Oh … ?” Aradia was only fifteen feet from the queen. “What is this gift?”
“Well, I remember how much you like your moonshine.”
Aradia was about to roll her eyes and continue walking away, though still eyeing the weapon in Alina’s hands, when all a sudden, several barrels of moonshine crashed to the ground in a circle around the castle, right behind the rebels and right between Alina and the first witch. All of them had been magically launched and upon impact … burst into flames that roared high.
And as though it were the first strike in the tentative stalemate, a war cry from Katarina filled the air as she charged at the wall of men before her.
Alina stared at the first witch through the flames, who merely shrugged and grabbed hold of the sirin’s arm at her side, intending to be flown over the fiery barricade, when the earth abruptly opened up and ate the sirin, first witch, devil and all, then just as quickly closed once more.
Alina smiled emptily at the patch of churned earth they’d disappeared beneath, then turned toward Kezia, who stepped out from the discreet doorway she’d hidden in, her locket aglow, and the ancient mage words flowing seamlessly from her lips as she proceeded to magically stack the broken rubble around them from the stone golem’s demise to continue to bury the first witch, devil, and sirin deeper and deeper underground.
“How long do you think that will hold them … ?” the queen asked her sister-in-law as the shouts and clangs of Katarina fighting with the men carried over the flames.
Kezia shook her head seriously as she continued uttering spells. She was in the process of melting and solidifying the stone over the ground into a molten sheet.
A hiss of steam emanated from somewhere, indicating that just as they had anticipated, the first witch had tried using her stolen water abilities to blast through.
However, all that it accomplished was cooling the molten lava to a rock-hard state, making their underground tomb all the sturdier.
With that finished and the liquefied rock starting to singe the tips of Kezia’s and Alina’s boots, they each took a step back.
“I spun the earth around them a few times, so it is likely they will have trouble directionally … We have maybe an hour?” Kezia explained uncertainly. “She’ll most likely find a loose patch of earth and crop up somewhere.”
Alina nodded. “So we have that long to figure out how to stop her from channeling the deaths of our army into opening a portal?”
Kezia nodded. “Come, Your Majesty. We need to get back to the tunnels to return to the castle.”
Alina followed her handmaiden quickly. They needed to stop a portal opening and the deaths of thousands as quickly as possible.
Despite the tunnels they had discovered in the castle being an issue during Mr. and Mrs. Levin’s betrayal and subsequent escape, the queen had seen it as an excellent opportunity to come and go from the protected castle during the battle.
“Hopefully, by then both Duke Ashowan and Kat can take on the first witch together, and then …”
Kezia raised a smile at the queen over her shoulder. “Then it would be lovely if this could be over once and for all.”