"I can sense them. He didn't take either of them to the front lines."
"Thats..."
"Surprisingly decent," Aric finished for her.
"I wouldn't go that far. He's possessive of them, doesn't want them too far from him at all times. Im sure he just wanted to keep his possessions as far from harm's way as possible."
"Well," Mania started with a wince, "let's go save the little ungrateful bastards."
As they started their journey into the town proper, Jonas started to lag behind. Talia saw him look behind and up every once in a while, whenever those loud explosions touched the battle field. Didn't the army have a mage who could contest stupid James Halden's inferno spell?
The first house jam packed with people wasn't the one, nor the second house.
Third time was luckier for them.
Jonas was a whole building behind by now, and he only spared their mission the briefest of attention. Talia frowned when the mage grabbed Aric by the shoulder and dragged him back. She made to comment, but Mania reassured her with a nod.
'I hope they know what they are doing.'
*************
"What's wrong Jonas?" Aric asked as the two of them outright ran back the way they'd come. "D'you forget something back there?"
"Yeah, and it rhymes with halls."
"What are you talking about?"
"That invisibility spell he uses, it makes my head hurt."
"Again, what are you talking about?"
"The boy, Aric! He'll hunt us down, if he knows we stole his property, he'll try to kill us. We need to get him first, now when he's distracted."
'"She'll never forgive you..."'
But Aric found that he didn't mind it at all. The boy was dangerous, and he had to die.
"Tell me where he is." And he held his bow at the ready, already nocking an arrow.
************
James was feeling uneasy. Now less than twelve men still fought, and they were scattered all over the field. His shots were aimed at preventing them from advancing rather than killing them.
He was hoping Hansworth could finish them off before his mana was depleted from casting so many fourth-tier spells. It seemed like reducing the spell's size cut on the mana cost, but not by much. He had at most five more wild fires left in him, and even his invisibility would fade after that.
He'd only managed it by hiding in the shadows of clouds, and even those were starting to get scarce. What worried him though, was the telling lack of mages in the army they'd fought.
Hansworth was locked in battle with the commander now, the big man proving inhumanly strong by swinging his hammer one handed. Hansworth was his match now, but he'd only ever be able to beat him if he trained a lot harder, and with a bit of love for the weapon. You cannot use aura unless you love what you're doing.
The big man growled in frustration, then, with a shout, used his broken hand to support the hammer with both hands and swing it with more might than he'd commanded before.
Somehow, the sword managed to survive the impact, but James wouldn't bet on Hansworth being fine as he flew back, bouncing three times before the ground could finally stop his fall.
James landed before he could stop himself, and his invisibility fell off as the full force of the morning sun hit him. They'd been fighting less than an hour. Somehow James found that hard to believe.
"Hey Hans, you good?"
"Nothing but a scratch, young master," he wheezed as he struggled to get to his feet.
"I may have underestimated our enemies. And this isn't even their full army."
"You're right about that boy, ha!" commander Toura's voice rumbled.
Had he heard him from all the way over...Where were the enemy anyway?
"I'll admit, I'm impressed with the amount of mana you possess. My mages cannot keep firing off fourth-tier spells like that for more than half an hour. But...I have more than one."
'As if that scares me,' James snorted internally. 'Not every mage out there can release a fourth-tier spell.'
"I bet you're probably thinking mages who can release fourth-tier spells are rare?" the maniac laughed again.
James tried to look for the man in the distance, but the dust was too thick. And it was growing thicker by the minute.
"But you know, they don't all need to cast the spell. We can just use them as mana batteries, and wipe this stupid village off the face of the earth."
James gritted his teeth. He might not have said it outright, but the leaders of the revolution were known to sacrifice their pawns in extreme circumstances. They saw people as no more than pieces on a board. James wanted to growl.
Hansworth was on a knee now, and he exchanged a frightened look with James. If only he hadn't split up their party. He didn't have enough mana left to repell fourth-tier destructive spells, nor did he have any strongly defensive attribute even if he wanted to.
The town was on the verge of destruction, and the people. He felt for them, but what good would it do to die here. He had the ability to escape if worse came to worst. He had the power, so why not use it?
He reached out to grab Hansworth, planning to take to the skies and flee. He could feel the mana starting to build up, and they wouldn't survive it.
A shrill scream from a familiar voice rent the air, and James's arm paused mid-motion.
"Nino...?" he said, looking towards the town.
Then he felt mana coming from the town as well. They'd hidden a few of their men in the village, just as James thought he might have done had he been in charge of this force.
Never underestimate your mark. A key tenet he'd lived with for so long, and now he'd just made the same blunder.
But if his own men were there, could he really destroy the village. Yet that was the very reason he hated this stupid ideal spouting army.
James faced Hansworth. "Go! Save them! I won't let anything happen to the village."
'Why did I get this power? I wanted to survive, but also to protect what's precious to me. I'd rather die than become the kind of person who chases power for power's sake. The kind of person I was before.'
Hansworth hesitated, looking towards the unnatural dust cloud.
"But... young master?"
"Go, Hansworth, you promised to take those children home."
"Yes...but...I—"
"Go, Hansworth, I'll see you after this. I just have one tinie-tiny thing to do, and I'll be right behind you."
Hansworth hesitated still, but the sound of more screams rose from the village, and then he had no choice.
James watched him leave, some unfamiliar feeling welling up in his chest. Something wet might have escaped one of his eyes. He started to call upon the last thing he could try. 'They did say the power I can summon up depends on the power of my witch's factor, and just now I wish to destroy these pests with everything I have. No, I'll destroy them with more than everything I have.'
He felt something crack as he ordered the sky to fall.
***********
They'd stormed into the house, Talon at the head. The frightened denizens with their pitch forks and spades shook in their cocoons. Talon couldn't resist smirking, and smacking the head of his club into his palm.
"Stop it!" Talia snapped. "We're looking for two kids, not from around here? Boy and a girl?"
They'd given them up without so much as a second thought. The boy looked defiant, growling at them. The girl on the other hand, just held onto her brother's hand and pulled him along as she moved to step out.
"Listen to your sister kid," Talon snarled at the boy, "she knows whats best."
The boy's confusion morphed to anger. He pulled his hand from his sister and turned to snarl in the big man's face. The girl didn't stop him.
"Why are you following them like this, sister?!"
"Because, it wouldn't do to fight from inside the house. The young master would yell at us for putting kids in danger."
"Oh ... you're right," the smaller kid grinned with evident blood lust.
"Woah, woah, woah," Talia raised her hands in a placating gesture. "We're here to rescue you, not fight."
"Rescue us from what?"
"That noble brat is keeping you as slaves, isn't he?"
The children exchanged looks of confusion.
"Do we look like slaves to you?"
Talia was starting to get frustrated. "Don't be ridiculous! How else would a stupid noble get to own three-tailed foxes like you two?"
"Own?" the boy asked.
"James doesn't own us! He's our friend. Though I wouldn't mind being his slave..." she'd said the last part in a quiet whisper, but her brother shot her a sympathetic look.
"Well," Talon growled, "we're still going to take you. It's for your own good. The boy is clearly manipulating you, and you'd do much better in our army anyway."
"Talon!" Talia hissed.
But just then, the fox girl's eye brows shot up, and she let out a scream as an arrow took her through one thigh.
Talia's short sword was out before she turned to the charging bandits. A separate group was charging toward the house they'd just left, aiming for the defenseless innocents jam packed in there.
The fox girl and boy had disappeared, and Talon and Rob were getting ready to fight. Mania was holding her knives, but she was in the worst shape.
When her sword collided with her enemy's blade, the biggest storm of swirling wind she'd ever had the pleasure of being close to shook the world.
****************
Aric had an arrow trained on his enemy. It had been trained on him since he'd fallen out of the sky.
He'd been about to abandon everything and run to save Talia when the commander had made his threat, but the brat was here. And it was futile anyway. The brat could fly, and for some reason didn't need mana to do so.
The brat would escape alone, and everyone else would die. Aric was even more convinced of this when he'd sent his servant away.
But then the boy lifted his hands, and summoned power that should not be allowed to remain in this world.
He fell onto his knees, heaving blood even as his storm was impacted by strong destructive spells. For some reason, it felt like the other spells were being defensive. One mage was overwhelming a legion of mages. And he wasn't even using mana. And when the battle of mages was done, James Halden would die with an arrow straight to the heart.