"Neither side can continue to fight in this, let's fall back to that cavern!" Leongarde shouted to Y'Silda at his side.
Y'Silda fired several [Fire Ball]s into the remaining Dancing Blades as she followed Leongarde's lead and rushed back to the take. She let Leongarde run ahead as Y'Silda stood at the entrance, sweeping her finger tips in a line across the entrance.
[Infernal wind churn upon]
[Be the bulwark of this firmament]
[Fire Palisade]!
Y'Silda drew a conflagration across the cave's entrance, wide enough from the entrance to cut off the remaining Nassinites but keep the smoke from fanning into the cavern. Two Dancing Blades managed to jump through, sprinting at Y'Silda with their blades crossed to [Cross Cut] the mage. Leongarde tilted his blade to the right side, resting his other hand on the bottom of the pommel. He took a long step forward, gliding across the ground in front of Y'Silda, his blade trailing a quarter of an inch from the ground as he slashes horizontally towards the remaining warriors.
[Iron Cleave]!
Leongarde's sword cried at the slash's speed, the sheer force enough to send an invisible cut that cleaved the two fighters in half without touching nor staining the blade. Leongarde fell back onto his haunches, taking in deep labored breaths. The cold air had put a much greater physical toil on his body than he imagined.
"I should get a fire going," Y'Silda said.
The Court Mage drew several runes onto the rocky, cavern floor and uttered silent words, a small orb of flame igniting and hovering in the air over the drawn symbols, sustained with enough of Y'Silda's Eth to last them several hours while they waited out the storm.
"We keep running into each other like this," Leongarde laughed, looking around at their surroundings
Earthy, gnarled stalactites hung from the high cave ceiling above. With the limited lighting from Y'Silda's magic, it was hard to see far into the cave but based on the size and ambiance, Leongarde could tell it continued a bit further in. Leongarde checked his equipment for any defects. Good – his sword still held durability and he had enough rations to even split with his Vasque companion. Companion, huh? How long had they known each other?
"It's been six years hasn't it?" Leongarde asked, looking at Y'Silda. She sat on her calves by the fire, warming her finger tips – long, elegant and covered in various rings
"Has it?" Y'Silda said absentmindedly.
"Wasn't the first time you saved our asses," Leongarde said.
"It will not be the last time either I surmise," Y'Silda replied.
Leongarde let out a guffaw, slapping his shin guard with his palm. He winced.
Y'Silda looked over at Leongarde. He barely saw it but she had a bit of a smile on her lips' edge.
"You're not wrong there," Leongarde said. "Divines know when this war will finally be finished. When these wars will end even."
"Ever the protector is the Kingdom," Y'Silda said while she stroked the fire in absent thought with her fingers as if a treasured pet.
"Hey now, you know the Prinicipality is just as involved in keeping our southern border's secure."
"Yes, but for how much longer should we come to the defense of the Northern Nassin? Ought not they be able to defend themselves without our assistance? Five of these skirmishes have occurred within my lifetime – eleven if you include my mother."
Leongarde gave Y'Silda a blank stare.
"How old are you anyways?"
"Do not change the subject, Leon," Y'Silda said, her eyes closed. They might as well have been rolled up towards him.
"Can you at least tell me how old your mother is in comparison? That's almost two centuries ago"
They sat in silence for several minutes, the only sounds being the distant howling of the exterior storm and a persistent grumbling from the ground beneath them.
The first one to break the silence was Leongarde.
"Thank you," Leongarde said.
"For?" Y'Silda asked.
"Saving my hide"
"Yet again."
"Aye, yet again. I thank you for it. Truly"
"It is . . . my duty after all."
Their eyes met for almost an eternity, the fire between them reflecting their personal memories. Their feelings.
"Do you remember that time when —" Leongarde said but Y'Silda's raised hand cut him off.
"Do you feel that? Hear it?" Y'Silda asked.
"Hear and feel what?" Leongarde said.
"That tremor . . ."
The ground continued to grumble, but its reverberation gradually grew stronger and louder. Enough to match the intensity of the storm outside.
"Isn't it just the mountain? There's an active v–" Leongarde asked but again he is cut off. But not by Y'Silda.
Y'Silda rose to her feet in a single fluid motion as if weightless, her arms acrossed defensively as a jetting flame engulfed her, sending her crashing against the cavern wall.
"Silda!" Leongarde shouted, rising to his feet. His eyes darted to the flame's source – perhaps a hidden mage hiding in the shadows. Instead he saw the fire reflected in the eyes of a scaled beast standing on its hind legs, boney wings too small on either side for any sort of flight except for short glides and gripping onto cliff faces. A wyvern.
It must have been further down in the cavern. Why couldn't it have been a damn bear? Leongarde leapt forward, his hands already lifting his sword high into the air as he brought it down hard against the wyvern's skull. The blade sparked against the wyvern's iron-like hide, unable to cut into its flesh but with enough force for it to clamp its jaws shut, ending its [Flame Breath].
"Silda! Are you okay!?" Leongarde pivoted in front of the Wyvern, bringing his sword up into a guarding stance, blocking the sudden snap of its sharpened teeth at him. He coughed – every snap brought out the pungent smell of sulfuric brimstone from its gut. "Silda! Damn it, answer me!"
"I am . .. fine," Silda said. She stood up from the stoney rubble, her left arm a violet hue from having taken the impact, her magenta blood dripping down her wrist and finger tips.
"The hell you are!" Leongarde shouted.
Leongarde took a giant step forward and in a whirlwind-like blow, brought his sword hard horizontally across the Wyvern's jaw.
[Iron Tempest]!
Several chunks from the Wyvern's hide flew off creating a small wound, amber blood spilling to the floor with a popping sizzle, partially from the drastic change in temperature and also from the dragonkin's own elevated body temperature.
"Damn it, even that wasn't enough!" Leongarde cursed. What luck did they have, to escape the Dancing Blades only to walk in on a fire breathing lizard. And he didn't even know if Y'Silda could still fight.
He weighed his options in between blocks from both the bipedal Wyvern's claws and violent jaw snaps. Going further into the cavern was a death sentence as they could either run into a dead end or get pincered by other wyverns. The storm hadn't let up but it still gave them a better chance than fighting in such a space. A fleck of amber grazed his arm and he winced from the burn.
"If you can move, get the hell out of here! I can hold it off while you escape," Leongarde said, parrying another claw from the Wyvern and again cutting into its hide, only chipping off bits and pieces at a time.
"You do not need to be a hero," Y'Silda said, walking toward the two of them.
"Damn it, Silda! Let me save you for once!" Leongarde hissed between gritted teeth, ducking under a sudden tail swing.
"Nor do you need to be a moron," Y'Silda said, raising her uninjured arm in front of her.
[O Sacred northern wind that gives life]
[Cease the offender with thine silence]
[Ice Prison]!
In mid snap, the Wyvern is frozen from opened maw to clawed toe. However, it continues slowly in its motion, its fiery blood keeping the momentum of the strike nearly frozen in time. Leongarde hesitated, surprised that his companion could still muster the strength for such a spell.
"Are you daft? Strike now!"
Y'Silda's words woke him up from his stupor and he braced himself, getting low to the ground before leaping forward, his body doing multiple somersaults as he brought his sword down on the wyvern's crown.
[Steel Sunder]!
The blow is enough to cut a jagged line through the Wyvern from top to bottom. As its fiery innards try to spill out, the remaining ether from the mage's spell rapidly froze it, its bisected body standing in perpetual, icy memoriam.
"See? Not a proble–" Y'Silda said, her legs buckling beneath her.
Leongarde moved forward, catching the Vasque Mage in his arms before crumpling to his knees in exhaustion.
"I could have handled that by myself," Leongarde said. "You should have run or at least healed yourself before hand."
Y'Silda chuckled, looking Leongarde in the eye.
"You are a fool, Leon," Y'Silda said. "Who would have saved you this time? Sure not yourself?"
"Yeah, I am a fool," Leongarde said with a laugh. He reached out and held onto Y'Silda's hand. "But I'm your fool, and I welcome your save anytime."
Y'Silda closed her eyes for a moment.
"Silda? Silda!?" Leongarde said, about to shake Y'Silda awake.
She opened her eyes and smirked at Leongarde.
"Stop trying to act the hero," Y'Silda says.
Leongarde sighed with relief and shook his head.
"Never."