Evening the Odds (Part 2)

From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Camellia. Her teary-eyed gaze followed the young woman, who stumbled into the dirt, hands grasping uselessly at the wound pumping blood into the dirt.

Shields were flickering to life and then disappearing all around them, keeping the non-mages safe from most of our side's spells. The orphaned students were more capable than I might have guessed, but not of the same caliber as trained Alacryan soldiers.

I turned toward the line of Shields just as the flail-wielding mage closed in on me.

The muscular Alacryan was covered head to toe in heavy metal armor, and the burning flail was whooshing around and around above his head. Panels of mana floated a few feet from him, keeping him shielded from the spells of my allies.

With the threat of the Casters still at my back and the non-mage soldiers pressing the villagers and students, I couldn't wait for him to come to me. Lunging forward, I feinted to the left, then cut right. As I'd hoped, his flail swept down to my left. I condensed a step of air under my foot to push off of before wrapping myself in a cyclone of wind, like I had back in the Underwall.

A dull throb radiated through my body as my shoulder slammed into his heavy armor, but the burst from the cyclone sent him flipping through the air. At the same time, one of the trees leaned over and fell on a screaming Shield, crushing him.

There was a glimmer of green in my periphery, but I saw it too late to dodge. The spell splashed across my arm, burning into my protective layer of mana. I pushed more mana into it to minimize the damage, but I could already feel the corrosive substance burning against my skin.

I scanned the battlefield, looking for the Caster.

The ice-armored Striker was dead, steamed alive by her own evaporating mana. The Caster who had been shooting off the red rays was gone too; my wind blade had made a gory slash across his face.

The non-mages had closed in around the others, protected by several Shields, but I had to deal with the last Caster before I could help.

Two more green bolts flew toward me, but I dodged between them and hurled myself at the twitchy Alacryan. A thick wall of wind sprang up between us. I cast a glare at the Shield, but a second wall appeared, cutting me off from that direction as well.

Covering my body in my own wind-attribute mana, I manipulated it to push in the opposite direction of the protective barrier, then stepped right through, my spell counteracting the Shield's.

The Caster, who was building up mana for some more powerful spell, yelped as my wind-wrapped fist crashed into the side of her head, knocking her out cold.

The wall of wind faded as the Shield began to retreat, trying to take cover behind the wagons. Since he was no longer a threat, I left him there, turning my attention to my allies instead.

The first thing I saw was the mayor's body lying on the ground, her sightless eyes staring up into the sky and blood staining half her face. Camellia had retreated to hide behind Jarrod. Her face was muddy with sweat and dirt, and she was focused on animating her remaining tree, redirecting it toward the rest of the Shields.

Jarrod was focused on the villagers. Perhaps taking some inspiration from our enemy, he used his wind spells like a shield to keep the attackers off balance and block their strikes, allowing the farmers to retaliate.

Darts of fire were jumping from another Xyrus student's hands, winding around the magical barriers that kept appearing, and striking soldiers like arrows.

The Shields were struggling to deal with Camellia's tree, lacking any effective attacks against it. From within the knot of Xyrus students, she directed it to swing its branches and stomp with its roots, knocking down and crushing the enemy Shields.

When the first of them broke and ran, it was all over.

Within moments, the last of the mages were sprinting away from the battlefield, making a break to the south. Without Shields to protect them, the non-mages were easy targets for the Xyrus students.

 I noticed Gideon crouched over a prone form near the carts, but shouts to the south drew my attention back to the fleeing mages. The earth cracked beneath their feet, causing them to stumble and fall, and a hail of arrows and spells fell on them.

I recognized those arrows.

Forgetting everything else for a second, I rushed toward the fallen Shields; three figures were approaching from farther south.

A big, stupid, sentimental grin split my face as I recognized Helen Shard, Angela Rose, and Durden. Helen had her bow drawn and trained on the corpses, but Angela and Durden were both giving me equally big and stupid grins as they burst into a run.

I forced a neutral expression onto my face as I reached my old companions. Raising one eyebrow, I looked at Angela Rose. "Who invited you guys to my party?"

Their grins flickered and they shot each other a concerned look. "We were on our way to the Wall, actually..."

"Come to scold me again?" I asked cooly.

"No, of course not," Durden said, looking surprised and a little upset.

 "We—" "She's winding you up," Helen said in that resigned-mother tone I knew so well. 

I snorted and held out my hand to Durden. "You big oaf."

He shook his head and grinned again as he engulfed my hand in his own. Angela Rose grabbed me and pulled me tight against her chest. I tried to free myself, but she'd pinned my arms to my sides. "No hugs, remember?"
"Sorry, not sorry," she mumbled, squeezing me tighter. "Oh, who's this?"

Finally pulled myself free of Angela's hug, I turned to see Camellia walking hesitantly toward our group, her head swiveling back and forth as she scanned the battlefield. My ward was favoring her left leg slightly, and I could see scorch marks on her loose trousers and the hem of her tunic. She looked healthy enough otherwise.

"Come here," I said, waving her over. She quickened her pace, coming to a stop with her head resting against my arm. Grabbing her gently by the chin, I pulled her face up so she was looking in my eyes. "You all right?"

 The elven girl nodded, but I could see her lip beginning to tremble. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder. "Camellia, these are the Twin Horns. Horns, this is Camellia. I was trying to bring her to you, actually."

Helen patted me on the shoulder as she looked over my ward with an appraising eye. "You've been very brave. You remind of me someone, know that?"

Camellia's overly large eyes were swimming with exhausted tears as she gazed at Helen. "Who's that?"

Helen smiled warmly. "Lady Tessia Eralith. In fact, she's leading a group of brave elven warriors into Elenoir right now, to save your people from the Alacryans. They might even be back already. Would you like to meet her?"

"Oh my gosh, really?" She turned to me and tugged at my arm, her fatigue fading away at the idea of meeting the elven princess. "We're going with them, right?"

I gave her a wry smile. "I thought you wanted to stay here and be the sheriff's deputy or something?"

"Oh," she said with a thoughtful pout.

"Of course you'll come with us," Helen said, giving me a look. "It won't be safe here anymore. And who knows, maybe some of your family will be waiting for you at the..." 

Helen trailed off, her words dying as her brow creased into a frown.

Durden and Angela Rose exchanged uncertain glances. Camellia wrapped herself around my arm, her eyes shifting nervously to the horizon beyond the Grand Mountains.

Something was happening to the mana, something I'd never felt before. I could tell from their faces that the others felt it too, like pressure building in the air before a storm. It made the hairs stand up on my neck.
Then the ground began to tremble.