Chapter 28: The Shadow, the Executioner, and the Magus

One of the knights beside me suddenly stopped breathing normally.

That was my first clue that the two people trying to disassemble Nemris were not random talented murder enthusiasts.

His sword remained raised in front of him, but his grip had gone stiff. His other hand lifted slowly, one armored finger trembling as he pointed across the torn grassland.

“There.”

I followed his finger.

Nemris stood several meters away, white greatsword flashing between two enemies.

The enormous Tigerkin was impossible to miss.

He looked like somebody had taken a siege tower, taught it anger management incorrectly, then handed it two swords.

His black armor covered nearly every inch of him in thick overlapping plates. Deep scratches crossed the metal, old scars from battles his equipment had apparently survived through sheer stubbornness. Both greatswords were nearly as broad as my torso, their black blades swallowing the sunlight rather than reflecting it.

Every swing displaced enough air to bend the grass around him.

Nemris caught one of those swords with her glowing white blade.

BOOM.

The impact sounded less like metal meeting metal and more like two wagons colliding at full speed.

The ground beneath her boots fractured.

Before the giant could bring his second sword around, the female assassin vanished.

Not moved quickly.

Vanished.

A dark blur skipped across my vision, and suddenly she was behind Nemris with one dagger already sliding toward the gap beneath her helmet.

Nemris twisted.

CLANG.

Her greatsword intercepted it.

Sparks sprayed over her shoulder.

The assassin was gone again before the sparks touched the ground.

The knight beside me swallowed hard.

“That man is Remgar the Executioner.”

Lovely nickname.

Very reassuring.

“And the woman is Gia, the Shadow of the Throne.”

Gia appeared above Nemris this time, upside down in midair, both short blades descending.

Nemris turned her greatsword sideways.

Gia landed on the flat of it for half a heartbeat, kicked away, and disappeared into another streak of darkness.

The knight’s voice went higher.

“They’re among Queen Firsa’s most powerful generals. Why would two of them be deployed together?”

Good question.

Unfortunately, reality had apparently decided the answer was going to make things worse.

A woman’s voice drifted from behind us.

Soft.

Elegant.

Almost conversational.

“You’re mistaken.”

Every knight around me turned.

The voice continued.

“There are three generals here.”

Well.

That was rude.

I faced the source.

There was nobody there.

At first.

Then the air rippled.

Not dramatically.

Subtly.

Like heat rising above stone.

A vertical distortion appeared between two trees.

The forest behind it warped.

Color bent strangely.

Then a boot appeared from nothing.

A leg followed.

Black-and-crimson fabric spilled into existence.

Then hips, torso, shoulders, and finally a woman’s face emerged as invisibility peeled away from her body like transparent silk.

She stepped forward.

And the world behind her started appearing too.

One soldier.

Then another.

Then ten.

Then dozens.

The entire forest edge shimmered.

Tigerkin warriors materialized row after row, weapons already drawn. White tigers appeared beneath mounted troops. Spears emerged from empty air. Shields formed. Armor caught the sunlight.

An army had been standing almost directly beside us.

Invisible.

The entire damn army.

I looked toward the clouds where our scouts had searched earlier.

Ah.

That explained a few things.

Large-scale invisibility.

Not the cheap kind where one assassin hides behind a magical curtain.

This woman had covered soldiers, mounts, weapons, probably their smell, movement, and everything else necessary to keep trained scouts from realizing an armed population had been camping beneath them.

The mage responsible walked calmly toward us.

Her long red hair fell over one shoulder in smooth waves.

Her face was soft.

Beautiful, even.

The sort of face that would make you trust her to recommend pastries.

Then you looked into her black eyes and realized the pastries were poisoned.

Tiger ears rose through her hair.

A striped tail moved slowly behind her.

Her clothing immediately marked her as a mage.

Dark layered robes reinforced around the shoulders and waist. Crimson symbols had been embroidered along the sleeves in patterns that gave off tiny pulses of magical light.

One of the knights whispered her name.

“Treez.”

The red-haired woman smiled.

“The Legion Magus.”

Oh good.

Another nickname.

Apparently Agran issued terrifying titles with military promotions.

Treez raised one hand and flicked her hair over her shoulder.

Elegant.

Unhurried.

Entirely too relaxed for someone who had just materialized an ambush army around us.

Then her eyes settled on me.

Not the senior knight.

Not the officers.

Me.

Her smile sharpened by one tiny degree.

“So.”

She studied my face.

“We finally meet.”

A deliberate pause.

“Diplomat.”

Finally.

Interesting word.

I glanced at the army she had hidden.

Then at the original force Nemris had knocked unconscious.

Then toward Nemris herself.

“You know, I’m getting this strange feeling that today’s events were not arranged by random chance.”

Treez said nothing.

Just smiled.

People who smiled instead of answering simple questions were always fun.

I looked back toward Nemris.

And immediately noticed another problem.

There were now three people attacking her.

Remgar.

Gia.

And...

I squinted.

Shiny head.

Blue robes.

Several rings.

Familiar expression of smug irritation.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”

Balder.

Lord Balder.

Councilman Balder.

The same bald nuisance who had sat across from me in Viar’s council chamber pretending his main concern was responsible governance.

Now he stood near the edge of the fight hurling lightning at Nemris.

Blue-white electricity gathered around both hands.

He snapped one arm forward.

CRACK.

A bolt tore across the grass.

Nemris blocked Remgar’s first greatsword.

Gia appeared at her flank.

Nemris turned.

Balder’s lightning struck the ground beneath her.

Thunder exploded.

Dirt and grass blasted upward.

Nemris jumped clear, but that forced her into Remgar’s second attack.

Her white blade caught it.

The collision shoved her backward several meters.

Balder’s spells were nowhere near Remgar or Gia in raw power.

He didn’t need them to be.

He only had to attack at inconvenient moments.

A flash when Nemris needed vision.

A bolt when she needed footing.

A blast forcing her to shift position.

He was fighting like an annoying mosquito who had somehow acquired thunder magic.

I stared at him.

“Balder.”

Treez followed my gaze.

I shook my head.

“That son of a bald man.”

Treez’s amused expression did not change.

Then she lifted two fingers.

Her hidden army moved.

“Take the diplomat alive.”

The Tigerkin soldiers lowered spears.

Treez’s voice remained gentle.

“Everyone else dies.”

There it was.

I was special.

How romantic.

The army charged.

White tigers surged forward.

Armored feet hammered the ground.

The forest edge erupted into motion as dozens of Tigerkin rushed us simultaneously.

Our remaining horses panicked.

The Inizio knights closed around me.

Too few.

The first ambush had already ruined our formation and killed or injured most of our mounts.

Now another force was closing in.

I looked at the knights.

Then the incoming army.

Then at Treez.

“Okay.”

A knight glanced at me.

“Sir Caled?”

“I would like it officially recorded that I attempted diplomacy first.”

Wind curled around my hands.

At first it was barely visible.

Then the grass around my boots began bending outward.

Dust lifted.

Loose leaves spiraled upward.

The air compressed between my palms until it felt heavy enough to hold.

Treez’s black eyes narrowed.

I planted both hands toward the ground.

“Tempest Burst.”

The world detonated sideways.

WHOOOOM.

A circular wall of compressed wind erupted from me.

Grass flattened outward for dozens of meters.

Tigerkin in the front ranks were ripped from their feet before they could brace.

Some flew backward like dolls.

Others slammed into soldiers behind them.

White tigers skidded sideways, claws tearing trenches through the soil before the wind lifted them too.

Spears spun through the air.

Shields cartwheeled.

The forest itself bent away from the blast.

Branches cracked.

Leaves vanished into a massive swirling cloud.

The Inizio knights around me crouched instinctively, but the center of the technique spared them the worst of it.

Treez reacted immediately.

A transparent wall flashed into existence in front of her.

The wind struck.

Her barrier bowed inward.

Cracks of pale light raced across its surface.

Her robes snapped violently around her legs.

Her red hair whipped backward.

She slid several meters despite keeping both feet planted.

Then the blast faded.

Silence hit for one beautiful second.

All around us, Agranian soldiers were sprawled across the grass.

Some groaning.

Some unconscious.

Some trying to remember what direction gravity had previously worked.

Treez straightened.

Her barrier dissolved.

She looked at me.

“Interesting.”

I glanced around.

The horses had taken the worst damage earlier, but our knights were still standing.

No bodies.

Good.

I rolled one shoulder.

“I’ve been called worse.”

Treez’s smile disappeared.

She raised both hands.

Magic circles unfolded in front of her.

Not one.

Three.

The first formed vertically, crimson symbols rotating clockwise.

The second appeared inside it, turning the opposite direction.

The third ignited at the center.

Heat struck my face.

The grass between us started turning brown.

Then black.

The air distorted around the circles.

“Oh.”

Treez pushed both palms forward.

The center opened.

Fire roared out.

Not a fireball.

Not a stream.

A flood.

A massive column of flame tore across the field wide enough to swallow every Inizio knight behind me.

The sound was monstrous.

Like a furnace had grown lungs and decided to scream.

The earth beneath the flames blackened instantly.

Grass disappeared.

Heat rolled ahead of the attack hard enough to sting my skin.

Several knights shouted.

I lifted one hand.

Treez’s barrier technique answered.

A transparent wall erupted from the ground in front of us.

Mine expanded higher.

Wider.

Thicker.

Layer after layer of magical force condensed until the barrier looked less like a shield and more like an invisible castle wall.

The fire hit.

BOOOOOOM.

The entire field flashed orange.

Flames climbed over the barrier.

Split around both sides.

Trees behind us shuddered from the pressure wave.

The dirt beneath my boots cracked.

I leaned slightly forward as the force pushed against my spell.

But the barrier held.

Treez stared.

Her expression remained controlled.

Mostly.

“How?”

The question came quietly.

Confused rather than frightened.

I peeked around my barrier.

“Honestly, that question follows me around a lot.”

The flames finally died.

Heat shimmered across the devastated ground.

Treez’s eyes remained fixed on the shield.

Good.

While she was staring, I changed the subject.

With rocks.

I activated the Rockkin technique.

Stone ripped free from the earth.

Chunks of gray rock rose around me, spinning in a widening orbit.

Then they rushed inward.

One slammed across my forearm.

Another locked over my shoulder.

More pieces collided around my chest, back, thighs, shins.

Within seconds, rock covered me from head to toe in a bulky shell.

The ground shook every time another slab joined.

Several Tigerkin soldiers stopped advancing.

Reasonable.

Then I changed it.

The stone darkened.

A metallic sheen spread across the surface from my chest outward.

Gray became silver-black.

Rough rock smoothed into hard metal.

The transformation ran over my entire body like liquid steel freezing instantly.

I clenched one fist.

Metal groaned.

Treez took one step backward.

I spread my arms.

Then released it.

Metal fragments erupted from my body.

Not sharp enough to slaughter.

Heavy enough to ruin everybody’s morning.

Dozens of pieces blasted outward.

CLANG.

THUD.

CRASH.

Tigerkin soldiers were knocked from their feet.

Shields buckled.

One man spun sideways and crashed into another.

A mounted soldier was struck squarely in the chest and flew from his tiger.

The forest echoed with impacts.

Treez snapped both hands together.

Light gathered around her shoulders.

Dozens of glowing blades formed in the air.

Thin.

Long.

Bright enough to leave streaks across my vision.

She flicked her wrist.

The blades fired.

I dropped the metal transformation.

Blink.

The first cluster sliced through empty air.

Blink.

I appeared ten meters to the right.

More blades changed direction.

Blink.

Gone again.

Treez turned.

I was already closer.

White magical wings erupted from my back.

Not Spriggan resonance.

The same luminous wings I had watched the royal horses summon.

They spread wide, built from concentrated magic and light.

The force of their appearance sent dust spiraling around me.

Treez’s eyes widened.

I launched.

Then blinked halfway through the flight.

To her, I probably disappeared from one point and materialized at another before her brain had time to complain.

Light wrapped around my fist.

Bright yellow-white energy crawled over my knuckles.

Light Buster.

I did not hit Treez.

I punched the air beside her.

The light detonated.

BOOM.

The explosion swallowed her position.

The shockwave punched a crater into the grass.

Treez flew sideways.

Her body spun once in the air.

Then wind wrapped around her like invisible ribbons.

She slowed.

Rotated.

Landed on one knee twenty meters away.

Smart.

I landed too.

She looked at me differently now.

No elegant amusement.

No casual confidence.

Just calculation.

“Who are you?”

I brushed dust from my sleeve.

“The Lone Spriggan.”

Her brow furrowed.

“A lone Spriggan?”

I raised one finger.

“No.”

Then pointed at myself.

“The Lone Spriggan.”

Important distinction.

From far across the field, Remgar roared.

“TREEZ!”

His voice carried over the entire battlefield.

He slammed one black greatsword into Nemris’s white blade.

The impact exploded outward.

Gia flickered behind Nemris.

Balder fired another thunderbolt.

Nemris blocked, twisted, ducked, and countered in one continuous motion.

Remgar shouted again.

“What is taking you so long?”

Treez glanced toward him.

“We need you here!”

He pushed Nemris backward.

“Leave the diplomat to the soldiers! Help us finish her!”

Treez looked around.

At her troops.

Or what remained of their formation.

Bodies covered the grass.

Most alive.

Most not interested in standing anytime soon.

She looked back toward Remgar.

“Our force is already down.”

Remgar froze.

His twin swords lowered by an inch.

“What?”

Treez’s mouth tightened.

“The soldiers assigned to me have been neutralized.”

Remgar turned his head.

His eyes swept the field.

Then found me.

“What do you mean neutralized?”

Treez never got to answer.

My wings flared.

I moved.

Light Buster returned around both fists.

Treez threw up another barrier.

I punched beside it.

Explosion.

The shield cracked.

I blinked behind her.

She spun and launched three fire lances.

I vanished.

They tore through the grass where I had been.

I appeared above her.

Another Light Buster detonated downward.

Treez rolled.

The ground exploded beside her, throwing dirt over her robes.

She rose quickly and fired a wave of ice shards.

Blink.

Wind blades.

Blink.

Lightning.

Blink.

A sphere of compressed flame expanded around her to deny me space.

I flew over it.

A mage had options.

Lots of options.

Treez clearly knew more spells than some libraries knew words.

But every spell required a target.

And I refused to remain one.

Wings changed my angle.

Blink erased distance.

My physical speed filled the gaps between both.

Treez’s calm expression started cracking.

Her breathing became heavier.

Her spells grew larger.

Less precise.

Then I activated Berserker Aura.

Red energy erupted around me.

The grass beneath my feet bent outward.

Heat rolled off my body.

Every muscle felt sharper.

Stronger.

The world itself seemed to slow by comparison.

Treez saw the crimson aura.

Her eyes widened fully this time.

I rushed her.

No blink.

No trick.

Pure speed.

The ground burst beneath my first step.

Treez threw both hands forward.

A barrier appeared.

Then a second.

Then a third.

Transparent layers stacked between us.

I punched.

CRACK.

All three shattered at once.

Magical fragments burst across the air like broken glass made of light.

Treez staggered backward.

“What are you?”

I stepped through the fading pieces.

“You’re not a normal diplomat!”

I stopped directly in front of her.

Close enough to see her black pupils tighten.

I placed one open palm gently against the center of her chest.

She froze.

I smiled.

“I am a normal diplomat.”

Wind compressed beneath my hand.

“I’m just not a normal warrior.”

Treez’s eyes widened.

“Tempest Burst.”

The explosion of air hit her point-blank.

She launched backward.

Her feet left the ground instantly.

She flew through branches.

Leaves exploded around her.

Then her back struck the trunk of a thick tree.

CRACK.

The entire tree shook.

Treez dropped.

Hit the ground.

And remained there.

Unconscious.

I lowered my hand.

Then noticed the silence behind me.

I turned.

Every Inizio knight who could see me was staring.

Some had lowered their weapons without realizing it.

One man’s mouth was open.

Another looked at Treez.

Then me.

Then Treez again, as though repetition might make reality less offensive.

Right.

Later.

I spread the magical wings.

“Save the questions.”

Nobody moved.

“Preferably until nobody is trying to kill us.”

That helped.

A little.

I launched upward.

The battlefield opened beneath me.

Then I flew straight toward Nemris.

She was still fighting all three.

Remgar attacked from the front.

Gia appeared and disappeared around her like a knife-shaped nightmare.

Balder kept launching thunder from a safe distance because apparently betrayal did not cure cowardice.

Nemris blocked Remgar.

Turned.

Deflected Gia.

Lightning struck near her shoulder.

She stumbled one step.

Remgar immediately advanced.

I dropped from the sky.

My boots struck the earth beside Nemris.

Dust burst outward in a ring.

All three enemies stepped back.

Nemris snapped her head toward me.

“Caled?”

“Hi.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“What are you doing here?”

“Making excellent decisions.”

“I told you to remain with the knights.”

“You can yell at me later.”

“I intend to.”

“Wonderful. Do you have another weapon?”

Nemris stared at me for one second.

Then opened Dimensional Storage.

Darkness unfolded beside her arm.

She reached inside and pulled out a second greatsword.

Golden metal gleamed beneath the sun.

The blade was broad, beautifully balanced, and looked expensive enough that damaging it probably required a conversation with the treasury.

She tossed it toward me.

I caught it.

The weight settled comfortably into both hands.

Nice.

Very nice.

Remgar glanced around suddenly.

“Where is Treez?”

Then he saw her.

Across the field.

Collapsed beneath the tree.

His eyes widened.

Nemris looked at me again.

“What did you do?”

“Later.”

I rolled one shoulder and turned toward Balder.

His face had changed.

No smugness.

No councilman’s polite arrogance.

Just irritation.

And maybe the smallest amount of concern.

I rested the golden greatsword against my shoulder.

Then gave him my most respectful diplomatic smile.

Perfect posture.

Perfect tone.

Leyra would have been proud.

“I must say, Lord Balder, I did not expect our next meeting to take place on opposite sides of a battlefield.”

Balder clicked his tongue.