Dragon's Wings

Chapter 18

Meanwhile, the fight at the cliff was going a bit better. The elemental was keeping one of the spirits down below, primarily by sending gusts of wind slamming into them and changing the cliff-face and punching with the stone. The Rakshasa were smart though and adapting, jumping, and watching the elemental for cues.

Tadeo stood beside Amor, weapon in hand and watched, waiting. "You better live," Amor growled at him. "I do not want a dead summoner, you hear me?"

Without moving his gaze from the Rakshasa, Tadeo nodded. "I hear you," he said. "No dying. That goes for you too. Leave back to the summoner realm if you need to."

"You're not the boss of me," Amor grumbled, and Tadeo couldn't help but smile at the other's words. They both knew Amor wouldn't leave, not unless Tadeo was safe. And Tadeo wasn't going until the others were safe.

The Raksasha made it up the cliff.

Fuck, Tadeo thought to himself as he blocked the spirit's first attack. It went low, which he just managed to stop with an awkward block that was far from standard and made his wrist twinge with warning. Shoving forward, he disengaged and stepped back, getting into a better position.

The Rakshasa didn't wait, just lunged forward going high this time. Rather than blocking, Tadeo tried to deflect its blow. Claws screeched against metal and Tadeo snarled at the Raksasha and it bared its teeth back.

They fought. Tadeo stayed on the defensive, trying to push the spirit back so it went over the cliff, while the spirit swiped and lunged and did its best to leave him bleeding. It scored a scratch against his arm when he was too slow, and another against his leg when it went low and he went high. Still, Tadeo stayed on his feet and kept fighting.

But Tadeo couldn't keep fighting forever. He felt the trembling begin in his arms and it shuddered its way into his shoulders. The pain from fighting, constantly testing his strength against the Rakshasa, was starting to make itself felt. Gritting his teeth, Tadeo pressed on. What else could he do?

Somewhere beside him, someone screamed, and Tadeo—wide-eyed—looked. For a moment, he forgot about the creature in front of him and that it was trying to kill him. The spirit lunged, Tadeo whipped his head back around and tried to get his sword up in time. But immediately, he knew, he wasn't going to make it.

A blur passed in front of him, tackling the creature. Tadeo stumbled backwards, and spun to see what had happened. It was Amor—who had driven the creature back, shifting to their kelpie form and striking out with fierce hooves. Beneath their might, the spirit was forced backward, hissing, but- but Amor was winning, Amor was injuring it.

It was an impossibility that Tadeo shoved from his mind as he moved to help one of the other students. He came from the side, and the Rakshasa only saw him last minute, shifting and failing to escape the first blow of his sword. It didn't injure the creature—not like Amor somehow had—but it forced the Rakshasa to split its attention between the two of them. And, step by slow step, they pushed it backward to the cliff-face.

Darting low, Tadeo struck out at its legs whilst the Sensitive went high, forcing the Rakshasa to block with its arms. Together, they managed to shove it back over the cliff face, where it landed and rolled back to its feet. Once again, it began its ascent up the cliff.

It was, at least, a break and Tadeo sucked in lungful after lungful of air. Everything burned and his injuries were starting to ache, bone-deep. However, he couldn't stop paying attention. Already, the spirit had started crawling up the cliff.

Amor joined him again, bloodied and still in kelpie form. The spirit appeared dead off to the side, and Tadeo ran a soft hand across Amor's neck. "Thank you," he whispered. Amor flicked an ear and stamped their foot. Tadeo smiled in response.