Chapter 43 - White Men Can’t Jump

Aisling felt them on the breeze long before they reached the clearing. Jorge led the way but they were close enough now that the Wind Reveals its Secrets revealed the location of the cave. The illusion hiding the entrance to the cave was nothing before the wind and from its whispers, she could sense the poor souls in their cages. The wind brought her the scents of their unwashed bodies, the smell of sweat, fear and despair. Her eyes narrowed further, if that was even possible, as the rage in her roiled, matched by the clouds overhead that rumbled and roared with thunder, lit by the occasional rampage of lightning. The storm was ready to unleash its fury, and so was she.

Walking into the clearing, it was obvious they were expected. Did one of them possess a powerful sensory skill, or was there a leak in the Guild? That was a question to be answered after as the teams with her fanned out, Deverell and Jorge by her side. It was her first time getting to see her enemy and she was not surprised to find Torian and the twins alongside Mayor Vallis. She didn’t recognise the other four person team or the short and pudgy woman standing near Vallis. But they weren’t the ones that drew her eyes.

In the middle stood a well muscled woman, shorter than herself, with bright red hair, dressed in dark battle leathers, her face hidden behind a perfect black mask. Triggering her Identification returned almost nothing on the woman, though it quickly catalogued the rest. Nothing surprising except the pudgy woman. An Enchantress unthreatened could turn a fight. Fortunately, Deverell was here and he knew his business.

“Finally, I get to meet the famous Stormspear. Only the Gods know what a Platinum like you is doing in a backwater town like this, but that’s just my good fortune. If you’re famous Stormspear, what is that going to make me when I kill you?” Asked the masked woman in a haughty voice.

Aisling snorted. She’d met people like this before. Almost always lower or discarded nobility. They were easy to rile up, and those who fought angry, died angry.

“I suppose that would make you infamous. Do you have a name? I’ll whisper it one last time to the winds after I am done with you. You’ll not be the first castoff noble bastard I have put in the ground,” she replied as she adjusted her grip on her spear in preparation.

Just as she’d predicted, the woman's body language changed immediately, gloved hands tightening and shoulders tensing. Good to know they all had the same buttons.

“Garnet,” was all the woman said before a ball of flame as tall as she was shot forth at Jorge.

Maybe, if she hadn’t been ready, it might’ve been enough to catch her by surprise. But she was ready and even as Jorge’s muscles bunched to launch himself out of the way, a sheet of shimmering water was flowing in front of him. The wall of water and fireball collided, unleashing a burst of steam which seemed to be the signal for the battle to be joined.

Deverell and Jorge dashed at Vallis, their first engagement instantly moving them into the forest. The Enchantress had vanished already, likely using her abilities to conceal herself. Deverell would find her though. The Silver teams from both sides rushed each other but halfway there one of the teams she’d brought with her turned and attacked another of the teams she had brought with her from the Guild. She was horrified to see it. That meant not one but two of the Silver Badge teams working out of the Guildhouse she was Master of had turned against them, Torian’s crew, and now this team. Fucking traitors! She’d deal with them shortly. Hopefully Deverell could run interference and save a few as now her teams were outnumbered, three against two. But she couldn’t focus on them now. She had her own opponent to deal with.

Launching herself into the sky was easy. The Flight spell was hard to come by, and expensive to maintain if you lacked the correct accompanying Skills. Fortunately, with hers aligned with her Wind Affinity and her Skills for reducing the mana expenditure of Wind Skills, she could fly like this for hours. She’d hoped her opponent wouldn’t be able to match that mobility but she was quickly disappointed as the woman calling herself Garnet rose into the sky on wings of flame.

“Looks like the storm is about to break. I’d make a quip about the comparison between you and it, but I think that was implied,” Garnet taunted as flames began to gather around her hands.

Aisling glanced up at the storm slowly, before looking back down into Garnet’s red eyes.

“Oh, she won’t come till she is called. But enough words. You wanted to kill me. Now’s your chance,” she said as lightning began to crackle on the tip of her spear.

She didn’t wait for a response. This woman was engaged in slavery. There would be no mercy in this battle. Only a victor. Mana flowed through her as she activated Stormchild and Daughter of the Storm. The first made the lightning jump from her spear to the rest of her body, but the second Skill was what made her truly formidable, as the winds began to pick up and assist her movement. There was no friction with the air as she dashed forward, the winds parting a pathway for her as her spear darted at Garnet, lightning shining on the tip. Thunder heralded her approach and she watched as Garnet went from holding nothing to having a silver rapier in her hand, a flaming slash rising to meet her. The grin on her face stretched ear to ear as the blast of flame and her spear met in an explosion of force that rocked the tops of the trees they hovered above. Not a pushover then. Good. I’ve been craving a decent fight. With that thought she dived back in, a wild smile written upon her tanned face.

*************

Nate and Kiri jogged through the forest. They weren’t too far from the clearing now. Kiri had needed to be reminded that sprinting all the way was a bad idea and that arriving tired to, what was most likely going to be a fight, was going to have a negative impact on their chances at saving her Mother. Still, they’d pushed as hard as they had dared. He’d prepared to act as a support mostly. The six rune slots on his robe filled with three Barrier runes, a Powerful Light rune, a Life Drain rune and finally a Powerful Earth rune. He had his Acidic Projectile Wand for tough to crack opponents, like Torian. He was as ready as he was going to get. Nate heard the resounding boom of thunder and caught a glimpse of flames above the towering trees.

“That will be Aisling,” Kiri huffed out as they continued to jog.

“She uses fire too?” He asked.

“No…that’s whoever she is up against. She’ll win though. Do we have a plan?” Kiri called back, a few steps in front of him.

Nate looked at Frick, the blue goblins' ears flapping in a non-existent wind. The little bastard of a Familiar certainly had an eye for the details.

“Fight the enemy. Save Kiri’s Mum. Kill Torian. Not in that order! It’s time to go….goblin-mode!” Frick yelled as they broke into the clearing.

It was utter chaos. At least twenty men and women fought in the clearing and in the darkness beneath the storm it was hard for Nate to recognise friend from foe. Spears rang against swords, hammers crashed down on shields. The only people who Nate could recognize in the mix were Deverell and Torian. Deverell, his straight black hair flowing with each movement, was darting in and out of the fight and it took Nate's brain a couple of seconds to realise what he was doing. He was defending some of the other combatants. Every time he slid in he’d deflect a spear thrust or slap a sword to the side. But there was something weird about his movements. It was like he was stuttering. He’d smack a spear and then move as if he was going to counterattack only to stop for the briefest of moments, allowing his opponent to reset, then he’d be off to defend another fighter. It only took a moment after that to determine who was who and Nate realised that the Guild was slightly outnumbered.

Surprisingly, he hadn’t been attacked during his assessment of the battle. Apparently standing over on the edge, most hadn’t noticed him yet in his dark robe. That was never going to last though as Kiri launched upwards with Archer’s Steps and began unleashing a hail of arrows on their enemies. Nate had no intention of holding back and spun up a Barrier from his robe, defending himself as he split his focus and called on his Powerful Light rune. He knew he’d struggle to harm them with it, but that wasn’t his goal.

Using Imbue Intent, now capable of applying eight Intents, he split the releases into four, picking four different locations before unleashing quick blasts of light right in the faces of four of the enemies. He made sure to include Torian in the mix. The blasts flashed and were gone, disrupting the fight and temporarily blinding at least a few people. Kiri didn’t waste the opportunity and managed to put two arrows into one of the spear wielders before the shieldbearers managed to get in front and protect them.

“Mage!” Yelled Torian, striding forward, rubbing at his eyes as he did so. Apparently his defences didn’t include resistance to light blindness.

“I’m gonna finish tha job this time!” Torian roared as he charged.

Nate had no intention of waiting for him to arrive, turning he began running, immediately using his second and third Barrier runes to start creating steps which he ran up.

“Ember!” Torian screamed as he gave chase.

Nate glanced back to see Torian, red in the face still chasing him. Turning to continue to run, he stumbled. It only took a moment to realise why. He’d tried to create a barrier a step higher as he continued to climb but it had formed at the same height as the previous one. Trying again, the same thing happened. Confused, he glanced back in time to see Torian jump, the action denting the ground as the bald, bearded giant catapulted himself up towards Nate, his axe cutting sideways as Nate braced himself before it impacted his barrier. With only two Intents controlling the shape and distance of his Barrier, the remaining six were all put towards reinforcing it. While that prevented the Barrier from collapsing under the strike of the axe, it did nothing to keep Nate in place and so the force of the strike launched him, flying off into the trees.

Unlike the last time this had happened, he was better prepared and had more combat experience. That translated into better awareness of his surroundings. As he started to fall, the barrier still around him, he activated his Powerful Earth Rune, shaping the earth where he would land to be softer and catch him. A tonne of the loosely packed dirt was launched into the air as he impacted the earthen divot he had created to catch him. That was perfect as it would give him a few extra seconds while Torian tried to find him amongst the dust. Setting off at a run he tried to climb his Barrier steps again but ran into the same problem, unable to climb beyond three metres off the ground. Something weird was going on. Converting his secondary barrier to a slide he slid back down to the ground. There was no point staying at that height since Torian could reach him with his jumping Skill, whatever it was.

Running back towards the fight he could see Kiri, on the ground fighting against the twins from Torian’s crew. That confused the fuck out of him. Why wouldn’t she use her height advantage by getting into the trees and rain a storm of arrows down on them. As he watched she used her Archer’s Step, bouncing upwards and away as the twins had tried to pincer her, but she didn’t use it a second time. That wasn’t like her at all. His brows furrowed in confusion as he stood there, trying to figure it out, when he heard Torian laughing off to the side as he exited the miniature dust storm he had kicked up.

“Girls good ain’t she?” Torian gloated.

“Yeah, she is. You know she’s going to kill your two flunkeys, right?” Nate said, referring to Kiri.

Torian glanced sideways before guffawing, “Not her. Ember. Can’t even sense it can ya? Her little suggestion that you and ya little friend stay a bit closer to tha ground. Now ya stuck down ‘ere wit me and tha boys. Boss wants ya alive but I think she’ll forgive me if ya ain’t. Ya shoulda never haf embarrassed me boy.”

With that Torian growled and rushed at him as his mind whirred. Suggestion? Was that a Skill? Was that why he and Kiri couldn’t get above three metres off the ground? What the hell?

“The Mental Mage,” Frick whispered to him in his mind.

“They can do that?” He thought back at Frick as he started running again.

“Be glad she ain’t stronger, Boss man. A powerful Mental Mage would just command you to sit down and close your eyes. Whatcha wanna do, Boss?”

“Set up the trap, Frick. You know the plan. We’ll lure them in,” Nate commanded Frick with a thought, glancing back and seeing the distance slowly close between himself and Torian. He was going to get hit again before this was over, he just knew it.

Frick dove out of his back, the blue goblins' ears flapping as his sharp teeth gnashed the air, flying straight towards Torian.

“Here comes goblin death!!!” Frick yelled.

The brute didn’t hesitate, Torian winding up and cutting across with his axe with a wildly powerful swing that passed straight through Fricks incorporeal form, the Familiar continuing on and vanishing out Torian’s back as he flew into the nearby forest. Nate had felt a slight tug on his mana reserve as the axe passed through Frick’s body, mana used to restore the Spirits form. Torian spun to look back but seeing Frick disappear into the trees he turned around to see Nate hadn’t stopped and was running straight towards Kiri and the twins.

Nate dashed over the grass of the clearing, ignoring the ringing sounds of battle going on as he approached Kiri. One of the twins tried to slip in close and use his shield to bash her but as he did so Nate shifted the earth beneath his feet, causing him to stumble slightly. Kiri didn’t miss the opportunity and slammed one of her daggers into the twins' exposed leg before jumping away from the follow up sword strike.

Kiri paused to glance at him as Torian joined the fray, now aligned two against three.

“Mental mage get you too?” She asked him, not taking her eyes off their opponents.

“Yep. So we have to do this the hard way,” Nate said, seeing the twins smirking even as they bled from a couple of wounds.

“Wouldn’t be a challenge otherwise,” Kiri replied, as she charged the three traitors to the Guild, Nate’s eyes narrowing as he prepared to employ his and Kiri’s favourite move. The one, two setup.