AO 6 Ch 30

"Father," Gwen said, stepping forward to meet him.

"I didn't think you'd have so much trouble with them," Anadonis landed with no small amount of smugness on his face. 

"Sorry to disappoint, father. However, they blitzed past our battle line anchors and into our mages. Keeping everyone alive is more important than my pride. There's no House Aldis without the rest of them," Gwen said, rolling a little closer and speaking loud enough that everyone that had been in the command tent could hear her clearly. 

Her father's smile twitched with those words as they painted him as overly callous. "Ah, of course. I see House Strathmore is proving invaluable," he said, turning to the battle and ignoring her barb. 

Gwen was resting herself while they watched the battle continue. She poured more magic into her sphere, trying to restore her reservoir of magic for what was to come.

She was certain this fight would get more difficult before they finally came out the other end.

With that section of the strange corrupted contained, the command tent reinforced the left flank with more anchors to weed out the rest and began driving back the strange corrupted and shoving them against Strathmore's army. 

It did not matter how fast the corrupted could regenerate. Enough swords would still take a serpent corrupted down. Now that the army had successfully pinched the flank of Garrish's forces, Gwen felt far more confident that they could roll up the battlefield and settle this whole ordeal. 

"Any sign of the chancellor?" Anadonis asked, standing next to her, reminding her of the one major flaw in that plan.

"Not a bit. Those strange corrupteds broke away from the archers and we thought they were a mage battalion only for them to rush our lines and surprise us.” Gwen reported.

“The question now is what other tricks they have up their sleeve. There’s always the chance that we got lucky on this one and we made enough noise on our way here that the chancellors did not come to press us, but I am not that confident in our luck. Garrish is steadily losing this war. The latest update from House Trevis is that if we can hold our borders for another six months, the situation within Garrish will deteriorate to a point that it will be like fighting a starving child." Gwen frowned with those words. War was so messy.

"Any news from Zenovia, particularly the Vel'shae or the spies that have been in contact with my grandson?" Anadonis frowned.

"Not a peep. From everything I've gathered, that information is more restricted than the movements of our own king." Gwen could not help the bitterness that seeped into her tone.

A moment later, the ground under her feet began to quake, and the hills in front of them shuddered as magic poured off of them. Large stone boulders materialized at the top of the hill and beginning to roll down, Anadonis clicked his tongue. 

"And that would be their actual mages." He observed.

"You don't say," Gwen drawled.

The boulders threatened to roll right through the front of their formation. None of the mages at the tent had moved an inch because it wasn't up to them. Instead, the mages within the battle would have to be the ones to stop the oncoming rain of stone. 

As the boulders shuddered, likely under the contested pressure of multiple mages, Gwen watched, holding her breath.

The tumbling rocks ultimately shattered and sprayed sharp shards into the front of the troops. Bloodied chunks rained past where the shards hand landed. 

"They can recover," Anadonis said, watching alongside her. 

"Not all those who just died." Her words earned her a sharp look from her father, but she ignored his chiding. Her words weren't false.

The battle was reaching its own crescendo, as mages on both sides were throwing their all into the fight, trying to keep the very fate of the battle line resting in those boulders that continued to pour off the top of the hills.

The current use of boulders was smart for the Garrish. They had their troops split down the center, creating a fantastic alley for them launch of the boulders that used the terrain to their advantage.

The Aldis troops would have to shove the oncoming earth to one side or the other, risking their own troops in any large-scale magic. As more boulders poured down the hills, any thought that a chancellor was not involved fled her mind.

The rocks just kept coming and her own mages weren’t able to keep up.

"Father, with me," she murmured, rising into the air. Several pieces of ice found their notches in her chair as she lifted herself high. She began to call on her ice magic, swirling petals of frozen flowers through the air from where she had used her magic before. She was drawing on all that ice to conserve her magic, pushing it forward like a storm. 

The small set of troops hiding even behind the archers were now visible. The bowmen had dropped their bows and instead now held bucklers and short swords to defend the mages behind them. The rest of their forces too intermixed for the bows to still be useful.

Gwen regretted what she was about to do to them, but this was her duty. Ice gathered higher and higher into the sky, creating a massive, twirling blossom. Its colossal petals were giant, frozen blades of a grinder as it swirled and twirled, falling upon the hill. 

Fire came up to meet her. A large, swinging executioner's axe smashed into her twirling petals, only to be ground to embers before a second and third spell came up to meet hers.

Gwen frowned. There should be someone amongst that group capable of grand magic. 

Sure enough, it came a few seconds later. A twirling storm of fire grew atop the hill, sweeping up their own archers and swallowing them in a vicious maelstrom as it reached higher and higher into the sky. It didn't leave the ground, instead just growing at a fierce rate like a fire consuming a forest, ever burning higher as it spun opposite of her flower with even more intensity. 

The two grand spells smashed together. The hill nearly exploded from the impact, and it reverberated throughout the entire battlefield. Friend and foe were momentarily forgotten as people watched magic that could go head to head with an army clashing right besides them.

Gwen was only focused on what was happening in front of her. 

The two grand magics ground together, giving off small explosions of chaotic magic that rippled away and tore through the battle lines that were too close to the epicenter. Gwen grit her teeth, pushing her magic for all she was worth. Her sphere opened entirely, feeding her magic, but the magic was not coming nearly as quickly as she was consuming it. Her total stores were steadily waning as she focused all of her attention on keeping the frozen blossom moving. 

Even though the tornado fire was spinning the opposite direction and tugged on each of her petals, trying to pull her into its momentum, she knew the second that happened would be the moment she lost.

But as she watched, the tornado fire doubled in effort, swelling even larger than her massive frozen blossom, swallowing the tip and slowing it down. Gwen could feel her magic coming to a slow grinding halt as the tornado fire continued to pull it deeper and reverse its spin. 

A few moments later, the storm of fire swallowed it entirely. It spun away from the hill with it in tow. 

"Shit," Gwen cursed.

She grabbed hold of her spell and unwound it, flinging petals out from the storm. The first two shot out, benign, crashing into neighboring hills and slicing off the tops. The third flew in the direction she wanted, but sailed high over where the Garrish mages were sheltered behind the hill. The fourth was a disaster, smashing into the battlefront and killing friend and foe alike. 

With that hit, she stopped and instead tried to ground the entire spell, hoping to at least halt the tornado. Yet it was too late. The tornado ripped her blossom apart, scattering giant frozen petals into the battlefield before it too swept down from the hill, angling straight for their command tent which would destroy their army on the way. 

Gwen didn't even have time to curse. 

Her father's own magic joined the fray, chains of ice wrapping up to try and contain the spinning, flaming disaster that had become the centerpiece of the battle.

Soldiers scattered. Avente and Garrish forces stopped caring for who was next to them, as long as they could get away from the impending doom. None of them would survive the firestorm if it reached them. 

As Gwen surveyed the field and her father's efforts, another fact became clear behind her. A force was moving through the forest, quite stealthily, coming up behind House Strathmore's forces. Gwen's heart pounded as she stared, waiting with bated breath to see who was going to show up next. 

Avente colors emerged on the first banner. She was elated for the briefest of moments before she noticed the second and third banners weren't that of any house, but instead of the royal family. Gwen’s breath leave her lungs as hope fell to the pit of her stomach. She should be celebrating, but she couldn't convince herself that the sudden appearance of the Avente King was to her benefit.

After all he was the one that pushed them into this snake pit in the first place. Perhaps it was time that he came and finished his plans.

*****

I traveled along with my anchors and Eva on the bluesteel plate, skirting down through the desert into where my mother and the rest of my noble house would soon be taking on a rather dangerous army. 

"Eva, you don't have any way of getting a hold of Uncle Valken, do you?" I asked, not for the first time. 

"No, Ard. I don't. He's the kind that tends to show up when he wants versus being summoned." The princess shook her head and glanced off into the distance.

"Well, that's just unfortunate," I huffed. 

I wasn’t worried about his well-being, knowing that Uncle Valken could handle himself. There was no sense worrying about a five-hundred-year-old Vel'shae that had likely survived more situations than could be imagined. I chuckled at the idea of people thinking he was the one that we needed to be worried about.

At least, for now, my assumption was that we'd been split apart when we were driven into the Badlands. Having trained my father and countless other spies, the old Vel'shae could likely completely disappear into the Garrish population at the slightest sign of danger.

"Uncle Valken will be fine," Emlyn said, rubbing my shoulder. "He's got more training than all of us here combined. Let's also not forget, he's a serpent sphere Vel'shae. He could get limbs cut off and probably grow them back in a day. Not to mention, detaining him is pretty much impossible."

Her words helped me pull my mind from the silly concern and focus back on what we were heading into.

Far ahead, my senses flared up like the first lightning strike of a storm. Dust was thick in the air, likely from so many stomping boots. I squinted, wanting to understand what was making my magical senses go off.

All I knew was that there was something big in the distance wreaking havoc. I could only assume that the battle had already begun and escalated to the level of powerful mages. That meant my mother and grandfather were in danger, and there was likely a chancellor to be killed.

"Double time, ladies," I pushed more magic into the sheet of bluesteel, hurrying us to the fight ahead.

Emlyn crouched low, kneeling on the platform. "What is it, Ard?" Emlyn asked.

"Magic. Lots and lots of magic. I think my mother or grandfather and a chancellor are battling." I explained, continuing to speed up the sled until my ladies’ hair was whipping in the wind, slapping other faces.

I stood close to Maribelle, her long blonde curls assaulting me as they whipped about, but that was of no concern to me. I was solely focused on reaching my recently recovered family. 

Zuri had my spyglass out, trying to quickly determine what we were rolling into.

"I'm sorry for the wind, ladies, but this is urgent.” I called out.

“We've had worse, I assure you.” Aurelia stood steadfast amongst the wind, leaning into it so that she didn't get blown from the platform.

Eva was the one who had it worst off, tendrils of darkness swirling about from the shadow under the platform and latching on to her to keep her from soaring off into the distance. And while I cared for her comfort, time was too valuable at this moment. I refused to be too late.

"Not looking good, Ard," Eva said, her eyes wreathed in shadows.

"Okay, now again, but make it sound slightly less doom-y." I offered with an eager nod.

"Ard, there is a whole mess of armies down there." Eva told me.

"All right, but a little good news wouldn't hurt. Besides armies are always messy, right? What do you see?” I asked, still unable to make out anything in all the dust.

"What I assume are your mother's forces are on the battlefield. It chaos and there’s a second banner starting to join the fray.” She told me.

“Describe it.” Zuri stated.

"Stag on a viney green field." Eva reported.

"Strathmore," all of the anchors said in unison.

"That begs the question, what the heck is Strathmore doing here?" Emlyn frowned her eyes shifting to me.

"Don't look at me. It's not like I was told the whole plan. But if they're there and fighting the Garrish troops, then I can only root them on.” I added.

“Looks like your mother is fighting a chancellor. There's a huge frozen flower in a tornado made of fire." Eva told us.

"Alright, go Mama Aldis!" Emlyn cheered. "If she's there, what's the problem?" They were all strangely confident of my mother. Then again they were all a little scared of her too.

"The problem is that she's not winning the fight," Eva said. "There's two chancellors working together. Oh, there's Ard's grandfather and the armies are scattering."

We were all hanging on as Eva gave us a play by play of the battlefield ahead.

“Third force through the forest. I recognize the Royal banners.” Eva continued.

“The king’s army is there?” Zuri asked, putting the spyglass down and furrowing her brow.

"Well, this doesn't sound too bad. And hey, the king came with reinforcements. Honestly, I figured all of the royal family were rat bastards." I was proud of the king for putting aside his differences and doing what was right for his people.

"Ard, they're not reinforcements," Zuri said, confusing me.

"What do you mean they're not reinforcements?" I turned towards her, shocked that I had to spell this out for my strategist. "They're Avente troops, and we're Avente. They're against Garrish forces." I shrugged at the simpleness, but then as I looked at the faces of my anchors staring back at me like they were pained, I started to feel less certain.

“Guys? Say something.” I pressed.

Eva sighed. "The king's horses have clashed with the back of the Strathmore army. There's some light scuffles, but for the most part, they seem to be standing down and surrendering."

I cursed, and then for good measure, cursed again. The first curse was for what was happening, and the second was because I was mad I was not yet part of the fray.

"Don't stop there, Eva. What now?" I pushed.

"The Strathmore army is folding in on itself and away from the battlefield, while a giant swirling tornado of fire is rushing towards your family's army and their command camp in the back.” She reported.

“Do you have eyes on my mom? Or my grandfather?" My voice betrayed me, cracking a bit at the thought of them being taken from me.

I could feel several flickers of magic from Eva as she was likely jumping her vision from shadow to shadow. "I'm trying to get an answer for you. Your grandfather's magic is clearly engaged with the enemy chancellors and slowing it down, but I don't see him. He's not standing out, whatever he's doing."

As we continued to hurtle forward, the giant swirling column of fire became apparent quickly. It was rather hard to miss.

It stood amidst the center of the battlefield with small flecks of blue restraining it. Knowing my grandfather's magic, those were likely chains. The old man seemed to have a penchant for them. Like the icy tomb, I'd seen him cast once before.

His use of ice magic was more about control. Locking down and freezing the opponent to death.

While his magic was the center of the magical battle taking place, a quick read of the battlefield proved that this fight was not going to be that simple.

There was a dense cluster where Garrish, Strathmore, and Avente troops all fought in a scattered melee. The Garrish troops seemed particularly volatile, smashing their way through, friend and foe alike. That was where the true battle was centered.

"We have a decision to make," I said, surveying the field. "We either join the magical battle, the melee, or we see what the heck the king of Avente is doing here."

Emlyn scoffed. "I hope you know there's no way that last one ends well for anyone. He's not about to let you off the hook, Ard, even if you beg.”

“The whole reason we had to go to Garrish was to avoid him," Eva coached me.

"Who knows, maybe he's had a change of heart," I said, but I was not that naive.  The king of Avente had practically chased us into enemy territory. Old man Trevis had warned us that he was coming and was unlikely to be friendly.

No, my own king wanted me dead. To show up in the middle of the battlefield where he appeared to be making his own people surrender? What was another dead mage compared to what looked like treason to his own country?

"Can a king commit treason?" I asked, squinting at my anchors.

"Ard." Emlyn watched me carefully. "I think we have bigger things to worry about."

"Yeah, yeah," I waved a hand. "I was just thinking that most people would get treason for what he's doing, but if he's king, can he even be accused of such a thing?"

"Kings don't get accused of treason, Ard," Zuri said. "They just get thrown off their thrones by the court of public opinion."

"Oh," I said, my voice tight. "Right. That makes a certain sort of sense. If we're picking our options, though," I continued, "I think joining the magical battle will have the greatest impact.”

“At the same time, Ard, you're the only one who can really fight in that fray. So, put us down a good distance away from that chaotic melee. We can square up and defend you while you help your grandfather with the magical mess that he's having to clean up.” Zuri offered.

“Makes sense. Anybody have any other ideas?" I checked with the group before we jumped into the fray.

Emlyn shrugged. "I'm on team follow Zuri's idea. They tend to work out best for us."