[TLQ] 51. Reinforcements (Patreon)

LI

Reinforcements

Nerya couldn’t sleep. The thought of her own clanmates having summoned…she didn't even want to say it. How could such a thing possibly be true? And yet the two corpses had been identified as that of Evelyn and Morden Winterfrost. Theirs was an old lineage. One old enough to rival and challenge that of their own.

Their name had lost the battle of lordship over Winterforge centuries ago and had been one of the most influential families in the village ever since. Could resentment have built in their hearts all this time…and would it really drive them to summoning?

She placed her hand on her forehead to draw away the heat. No. The Winterfrosts had never been violent. Nerya had a great relationship with the Lady of the family and spoke to her regularly. Everyone in Winterforge spoke with each other regularly. They were a single clan, all united under one banner. None would be so greedy as to hurt their loved ones only for a chance to rule!

Or so she wanted to believe.

Turning in her bed, Nerya tried a different side of her pillow. Minutes passed. She turned again, then finally gave up, got out of bed and headed downstairs. Perhaps a glass of cold water would help.

On her way out, she spotted light coming from underneath the gap in the door to her parent’s bedroom. Levi had headed home for the night and Varrick was fast asleep (he was snoring heavily in the room over), which meant it must be Father. Nerya approached and raised her hand to knock—

A sharp sound rippled through the gap and stopped her. Nerya pressed her ear against the door. Father’s sobbing was more clear this time.

‘This was never supposed to happen…’ he whispered.

Nerya’s hand shot to her mouth. Tears were already flowing and she wanted nothing else but to burst inside and hug her father. But she had already intruded on a private moment more than was acceptable.

She turned and headed downstairs, needing that glass of water now more than ever.

As she descended the last step and turned the corner to the living room, she saw a shape standing in the yawning void that was the entrance to her cellar.

Nerya raised her hand, a spell already forming on her lips. She peered. ‘Thal?’

The shape turned around.

‘Thal,’ Nerya repeated, making her little brother out more clearly in the shadows. ‘What are you doing? It’s the middle of the night!’ she hurried to his side. ‘You’re all wet!’ she cried as soon as her skin touched his pyjama. ‘What happened?!’

Her little brother looked down the staircase. ‘There’s something down there…’

Nerya followed his gaze into the darkness and listened. Nothing. She turned back to her little brother. ‘Did you try to go inside?’

‘Yes…but I was scared…’

She pulled him closer. ‘You dummy. Get me or Varrick next time you hear something, okay?!’

The staircase creaked. ‘What’s going on?’

Father came down holding a lantern. There was no sign that he had cried besides the thin, red circles underneath his eyes.

‘I heard something,’ Thal told Father.

Father looked at Nerya, then, and the two adults shared a knowing glance. He sighed and rubbed Thal’s hair. ‘Thank you for being on the lookout. By the Sky Mother do we need it in these times. Nerya, won’t you tuck him in?’

And though his gentle words surprised her (Father was usually more gruff), she didn’t dally to comply and led Thal upstairs.

‘I really did hear something!’ Thal said as Nerya pulled his blanket over him.

‘I know.’

Even in the dark, she could see his pout.

‘Alright,’ she said. ‘I’ll head downstairs, okay?’

‘You shouldn’t go alone.’

‘Then I’ll grab my golems.’

‘Promised?’

‘Promised. Now go to sleep.’

Truth be told, she considered simply heading to bed. But she hadn’t yet gotten her glass of water. And a promise was a promise. So after retrieving her belt of sculptures, she headed down again.

Cellar first, she thought. Can’t enjoy my glass with the dark on my mind.

The cold gust of the underground greeted her as it had done the day the Mountain Wolf attacked her. It was colder than she remembered.

She picked up a lantern at the bottom step. Kegs. Wooden cradles. A damp mist that latched onto your skin and ate your bodily warmth. All old friends. There was nothing unusual to the underground. Yet Nerya strode forwards. The cellar had bugged her for some time. That day of the wolf attack, Mother revealed herself as being with Father the entire time. But if the Sky Mother had made Nerya wager, she would’ve put her life on Mother having been in the cellar.

Shadows crawled away as Nerya went deeper inside. She reached the far wall at the end, which was free of any kegs. White clouds trailed from Nerya’s breath. She stared at the wall. For a long time.

Then she hovered her palm over the stone.

This is enchanted.

And the enchantment was one she recognised. Concentric circles that could twist and form a lock of sorts. Mother’s favourite, those. She’d taught it to Nerya when she was young—

‘I told her to use a different one.’

Nerya stifled a scream. Whirling lantern light rushed to reveal Father’s face and Nerya barely stopped from casting her golem.

‘Father,’ she exhaled. ‘Sky Mother, you scared me.’

The hood of his indoor robe hugged his grim facial features. He kept their gazes locked but didn’t speak.

‘Are you alright, Father…?’

No answer but for the coiling mist in the underground, the cold which curled like an insidious snake waiting for its prey to enter its range.

Nerya glanced back at the wall.

‘Would you like to see?’ Father whispered.

‘See what, Father?’

Father approached and put his hand on the wall before looking back.

‘The sins of your father.’

The first group of demons and orcs hadn’t made it through the icy fortress walls until half of the allotted time had run out. Great news.

But that was the last part of the great news.

A hulking behemoth with horns wielded an equally large scythe and cleaved through one of the frost spikes blocking his party’s path. The creature was a transformed orc, its skin entirely red instead of green. Leah wasn’t certain if the transformation was a punishment of some kind or if the demons and orcs were mating when no one was looking. Frankly, it didn’t matter to her.

She blasted the demonic orc with a fireball as he was about to cut his way through another set of spikes. But his job had already been done—the four-footed demons pushed and crawled their way underneath the gaps in the barricade, not caring if their heads and bodies were ripped apart in the process. The succulae were behind them, curving around the pillars with the grace of sexworkers.

Leah offered them all a sandwich. Fire sandwiches, lightning sandwiches, she had them all and her customers partook of them greedily. Of course, the price was their life.

She whirled around at the sound of pillars shattering. Another group was making their way through a side passage. Instead of a demonic orc, they had a wolf-like demon the size of a horse at the helm.

This is just my fucking luck. Was anyone else in the Warden’s party dealing with shit like this or was it just her?

The mage turned to the frozen statue. Vanessa was no longer following her movements. Her eyes were closed—

Oh that bitch, Leah thought. Vanessa was cycling for dear life, halting her freezing for as long as she could. Given how close her allies were, she would make it too.

Leah considered blowing up the statue but that may do more harm than good. If Vanessa could survive the prison, she may also be able to survive her attack. And if that thing got out? Leah shook the idea out of her mind.

No. Better to let the spirit’s ability do the killing. So Leah pointed her staff at the monsters breaking into the central chamber. She kept her spells tight and compact, saving mana where she could. In her head, she kept track of the time. Around two minutes left.

A group of five orcs burst through the barricades from her right. Roots sprung up from the floor to ensnare them, followed by the cutting edge of blasts of wind. Only one of the orcs was a shaman, and he had only enough presence mind of mind to shield one more orc. They were the sole survivors.

Until Leah fired another volley.

She whirled towards the force with the wolf demon. They were about to bust through.

Her lips tutted. One minute, she reminded herself. I just need to hold out for one—

As she turned to Vanessa to confirm her believes, she caught sight of a small, skulking, black figure near Vanessa’s prison. A goblin, who rigged a strip of white bags around the statue’s base.

The tiny greenskin looked up from its task, finding Leah’s gaze on it. A pause. Then the goblin grinned, revealing crooked teeth.

White, thunderous light curved through the air, blasting apart both mist and rock to strike the goblin in the chest. Her spell missed. The rat of a creature skittered away, its feet boosted by a rudimentary movement technique. Leah aimed again when the air ruptured behind her in a sickening howl. The large, canine predator lunged forward, warping the mana in the air as it did and interfering with the spell Leah was building.

Fuck. Leah whipped around and struck the wolf out of the air. It crashed into the barricade of ice pillars, impaling itself on multiple spikes but not looking worse for wear. Ahead of her, orcs demons rushed forwards. They were not a priority.

Levitate brought Leah high enough to avoid a melee. She searched for the goblin but the little bastard was using the pillars to hide and it was too adept at muting its presence for her to find it.

But it didn’t matter. Not anymore. Ten minutes were over.

The explosion rocked the cavern. Walls shuddered and ice collapsed. Mist billowed deeper into the tunnels in the aftershock of the blast. Leah coughed and caught her balance, shielding herself from the flying debris.

Explosives?! Really? But a charge that big should’ve killed or at least heavily injured Vanessa.

Leah’s senses flew across the chamber towards one of the exits, where a bleeding and wheezing Vanessa limped towards reinforcements. The orc looked back, spit out a gob of blood, and flipped Leah off.

The explosion still rung in Leah’s ears, her lungs hurt from the mixture of dust and powder invading it, and her eyes were blurry. Had any one of those circumstances been different, Leah would’ve maybe not engaged.

But she did.

The demonic wolf got to its feet again and roared. From somewhere a shaman launched a fireball that sought to slap her out of the air. Beneath her orcs and demons chased on foot, ready to embed their fangs and weapons into her skull at the first and best chance. Leah vaulted over the wolf, using its body as a shield at the same time. The fireball slammed the leaping demon hound back to the ground. Leah’s staff pointed to the floor. A cone of fire burst forth, the blast incinerating those it touched while propelling her. For an moment, she was a missile.

Vanessa downed the red potion her ally offered her and threw it to the side, the glass vial shattering. ‘Bad call,’ she said.

Leah spun her staff around and aimed. Vanessa jumped out of the way of the column of wind. But the orc was still weakened from her brush with death and landed badly. So when the blast hit the pillars and sent broken shards flying everywhere, Vanessa’s arms barely raised in time to cover her face.

Vanessa’s right arm went limp and dropped the weapon it was holding.

That wasn’t enough. Leah fired at the ceiling. The force got her barrelling towards the ground, a jet of flame trailing in her wake. Her impact rocked the cavern. Buffeting fires rushed forth in a growing wave and swallowed any individuals dumb enough not to move out of the way and instead boldly charge through. No one did.

No one human at least.

Four-footed monstrosities bounded for her position, any concern for their missing limbs or half-burnt faces gone with the wind.

Leah cursed and whirled her staff repeatedly. Winds kicked up around in her in response and demons screeched as they were tossed in every direction. She had kept them at bay. But Leah’s mana had dwindled. This is my last big spell, she thought, watching those demons not caught in the spell cling to the remainders of the ice defences, their waiting gazes reflecting in the ice.

Vanessa’s face reflected in one too, made all the bigger and uglier for it. ‘Not going to call your daddy again?’

‘No need,’ Leah said.

She turned her staff horizontally.

The vertical column of wind thinned and condensed at the top, spinning on its own axis to rotate and aim at the orcs arranged like dominoes below it. Demons scattered. Vanessa dashed away, but her dash was more of a fast walk, given her injuries and the winds pulling her in. The tornado swept forwards like a tail, slamming the enemies already in its grasp against the walls and turning them into paste. Those who ran and were too slow, the tornado sliced open like a fine cut of meat. Leah had her sights set on the black orc. But while Vanessa was no longer quick, she remained nimble. She used one of her subordinate’s head like a footstool, kicking him back into the path of the tornado in the process to vault her way over the spell’s tip.

‘To me!’ Vanessa yelled. The wolf-like demon, which had regenerated its wounds, rushed towards her and caught Vanessa as she fell to the ground.

Leah grimaced. Her spell was losing its power.

With a grunt of effort, the tornado caught the wolf on the rear, causing beast and rider to tumble.

And now the winds had the black orc.

Vanessa cloaked herself in darkness, the shadows thick like a blanket against the cold. Leah’s spell ripped it away like a mother angry her child was still in bed. Blood sprayed and flesh tore. The twister cut into Vanessa’s armpit and towards her neck but the dagger in her good farm kept her head from the same fate as her limb.

‘You…’ Vanessa said through gritted her teeth. ‘Will need to do…better than that.’

Oh, believe her, Leah was trying. Her hands vibrated as her digits gripped onto her staff. Even the nerves on her forehead were pulled taut. It won’t be enough. The thought jabbed into her soul like Vanessa’s dagger would her throat. Already, she could see the orc looming over her, clutching her arm stump, barely holding onto a single dagger—but alive.

So Leah changed her strategy. With her last remaining breath of energy, she grabbed hold of her spell and twisted.

Cutting winds paused for a fraction of a second. Then from the base of the twister red light raced towards the tip. Winds grew hotter. The air became more difficult to breathe.

Leah pulled and condensed the whole of the spell into a single point over her staff. Below, enemies dropped to the ground at the sudden disappearance of the gale and looked up with horrified gazes.

‘I hope this…is to your standards,’ Leah heaved.

It was impossible—at least for Leah—to turn one type of magic essence into another after a spell had been channelled. But augmenting it was possible.

The ball of wind and fire magic released. At first, the orcs and demons count themselves lucky. Instead of themselves, the spell fired at the ground right below the mage—she had missed. A product of the fatigue that had settled into her being from their onslaught of attacks.

They would win.

That thought remained firm in their mind as the sphere of magic burst apart and released a screaming typhoon. Beast and humanoid alike were pushed into the walls. Their faces disintegrated, revealing their bones and teeth.

Vanessa shielded herself with some piteous subordinates but was similarly slammed into a wall of ice.

It was alright, the black orc thought. They just had to bear this—

A snap sounded behind Vanessa. Soft. Swallowed immediately by the gushing storm. But her head was firmly planted against the ice, which was why she noticed the crack. The wall hissed as steam rapidly escaped from its surface.

Vanessa glanced at the rest of the chamber, at the multitude of walls and pillars all hollering like snakes.

Her eyes went wide.

And then the chamber exploded.