COF 2: The Soul Spells

20 | Temple (III)

Ravalee began hyperventilating as Xanthy sent an arrow into a soldier's heart. Xanthy tightened her grip on her bow. Focus. An ashen Cyrdel wrapped his arm around Ravalee's waist. They trudged up the steps like their limbs were turning to stone.

Xanthy gritted her teeth, wishing she could make them temporarily blind to save their sanity. She kept glancing back at the brownies now enclosed in her shield as they wove among slashing swords, firing flintlocks, and lunging soldiers.

Another arrow loosed from Xanthy's bow, this time taking on a soldier as she sailed through the air in an attempt to lunge at Xanthy. Xanthy whirled back to the brownies. "Keep up!" Cyrdel nodded, which looked like he was swallowing a bitter pill.

Xanthy whirled and blocked a strike that could have cut her open like a cleret for dinner. Her boot crashed into the man's abdomen. The soldier crashed backwards, an arrow immediately stuck in his leg.

Arrow went after arrow. Xanthy was slowly carving their way towards the Temple.

Several jumped on her but a random percar or serzhak would always appear. Xanthy didn't know if that's a miracle or not. From the corner of her eye, she could see if they lived or not. Most who came to her aid didn't make it.

How long must this battle last?

She should be doing something on the front lines but she has the thief to catch. She couldn't abandon that mission. Where could the thief be? As much as she knew, shadow bending did have its limits. There's no way the thief could have made it into Adris Xena all the way from Joperos Lin.

Xanthy snapped her fingers and the arrows zipped back to her quiver, hitting anyone who dared come their way. She nocked another arrow, keeping the brownies at the edge of her vision. She clenched her jaw at the sight of her friends' frightened faces. Now's simply not the time.

They were almost to the First of the Upper when her back flared with pain. Cyrdel gave an audible gasp as Xanthy whirled to parry a sword. What greeted her was a woman with gray hair loose in straight locks. Xanthy drove the sword over their heads and tripped the woman with a swipe of her leg.

The soldier crashed but pushed herself up immediately. Xanthy edged up step after step as the woman rained attacks upon her. Defend her neck. Always the neck. The brownies were still going up the stairs. The soldier grunted as she spotted Xanthy's friends. Not a chance, witch. The fight was with her.

Xanthy gripped an arrow from her quiver and plunged it on the soldier's unprotected arm. A sword glinted silver as it slashed towards her. The skin on her stomach flared in pain as she twisted the arrow in the woman's shoulder enough to make her howl in pain.

A punch to the face, a knee to the stomach and a kick to finish. The woman tumbled down the stairs like a bag of flour, unmoving, before slamming into her comrade. Xanthy exhaled as she stood up and continued up the stairs. She called her arrows and bow back to her.

Her hand touched the growing pool of blood on her stomach. Thank the gods for her training in the Disfavoreds on how to tackle bigger enemies. Ah, bad days those were. Warmth seeped from her fingers towards her wound, hissing as she healed it. The wound and the pain vanished and she sighed. Good thing the sword wasn't made out of dwarven metal.

They got to the First of the Upper when a line of serzhakis and precaris shielded them back. Xanthy turned her attention to the brownies standing still inside the shield she put around them. Cyrdel had his eyes shut and counted backwards. Ravalee was paler than a haagen. Xanthy craned her neck up and saw a flash of red against the gray sky.

"Try your best to forget it," Xanthy turned to the altar room and eyed the statues. "You're brownies after all."

Xanthy turned to the brownies and did her best to smile. With the cries of pain and the squelch of blood around her, it's hard. "Come on. The thief's inside."