AO 4 Ch 43 (Patreon)

Chapter 43

The bodies were scattered like they’d been in a fight.

I lifted a sphere of light higher so we could all see them.

There was a feminine corpse next to a wrecked tree with a large male corpse wrapped around her.

I gasped. “Melida?” I pointed to the corpse.

Emlyn cut through the knee deep snow easily and flipped the man off the woman. “Nope. I’m guessing this is Faith?” She asked mostly towards Zuri.

The woman’s skin was a dark purple and a look of fear was fixed on her face, while her body was covered in puncture wounds. She might have been beautiful, but all that was lost in death, her limbs were all broken and twisted unnaturally.

Aurelia was looking at several other bodies in similar states. “That makes sense. These are all anchors, fits the bill. Puncture wounds to the neck seem to be the cause of death for all of them.”

“It bites them.” I said aloud, part of the mage’s memories coming back to me. “It has two long serpent fangs and seems to enjoy biting the mages and anchors.” I swallowed. “They don’t die from the bites. Most of them go into a sort of shock as soon as he bites them.”

“Really?” Uncle Valken looked up from where he was inspecting a tree.

“It reminds me of the look on my mother’s face when Carmilla attacked her soul.” I added once again. “He was thought of as some sort of experiment.”

“Our intelligence suggests that the King of Garrish has been dabbling in soul magic quite heavily.” Uncle Valken nodded. “We know he’s taken control of multiple bodies at this point.”

I shivered. “You don’t think he’s also this Colin do you?”

“Unlikely.” The Vel’shae talked while continuing to check the surroundings. “The men he controls operate like they are barely alive for the most part. Except when he takes a direct hand and they suddenly come to life.”

“Disgusting.” Eva spat.

“This is why he cannot be allowed to continue. The damage he’s already done is unacceptable. These are the kinds of uses of soul magic that even the Royal line is killed for.” Uncle Valken said with a sad shake of his head. “Sadly, he rarely leaves his castle which is guarded by dozens of anchors and several mages. We’ve lost two good Vel’shae in trying to end this war early. Do not underestimate him.”

Taking that guidance to heart, I nodded. “Well, no sign of Melida.”

“There were more that escaped.” Uncle Valken read the trail. “One of them was quite large.” He pulled at a high branch that was broken.

“That would be one of her anchor’s. He’s big, even for a Northman.” I said.

The Vel’shae nodded. “They continued fleeing in that direction.” He pointed off into the distance. “This was several days ago. The signs do not look good for her. Whatever this Colin is, it killed a mage and nearly a dozen anchors. There might even have been another mage here trying to stop them.”

“Dangerous.” Aurelia nodded. “Corrupted are already incredibly tricky. To add soul magic to the mix… this Colin should be treated as if he’s poisonous.”

“Avoid contact.” I agreed. “In the memories, it always bites them to attack their souls.”

“Intimate contact. For a beast, nothing is quite as satisfying as sinking its teeth into your next meal.” Eva agreed. “Make the carriage. I don’t want to be standing around any longer than we need.” Her eyes were covered with dark magic and her head twisted back and forth with worry.

I didn’t need to be told twice. Cyam made our ride and I hopped along with the rest of the group. No one dallied.

When the door closed, there was a faint sense of security before Cyam took back off.

Seeing the mage and a dozen anchors dead was sobering.

Not that several people amongst us couldn’t accomplish a similar task, but the way the limbs of the bodies were twisted and the woman was left naked in the snow painted a picture of a reckless slaughter. It was as if Colin had been toying with them.

I focused on what I could do, my concern growing for Melida. I scanned the mountain side trying to look for those signs of passage that Uncle Valken had pointed out.

The signs I found were scarce, but they existed and I followed them to the treeline and then lost anything that might help me.

“They are going through that ridge.” Uncle Valken said. “That’s the only sensible path left for them.”

I couldn’t see where he was pointing, but from where I’d lost the trail it was easy to see the only route and I continued hoping I was right.

When I spotted a bear ripped to shreds and left to freeze in the snow, I was sure I had found Colin’s trail again. No animal would leave that much meat behind.

Even Bear-man Brusset wouldn’t be that wasteful while being chased.

“Found something. Still looking.” The carriage shifted over the ridge, making far better time than either of the two that I was pursuing.

“Oh no.” Eva said. “Northman village east of here. It’s in smoldering ruins.”

Emlyn leaned over me for the window. “It’s still on fire.”

“Head there.” Uncle Valken said suddenly.

“They famously hate mages.” Aurelia pointed out.

“Then guard me well.” I was already pushing Cyam in that direction from where I could scan the ground with my new use of dark magic. The blood was still warm enough to be flowing on the ground, this was recent. As far north as we were, that meant minutes, not hours.

Cyam hurried through the sky and landed near the burning buildings.

There wasn’t a survivor in sight and the buildings would still burn for some time.

Uncle Valken swept out from the carriage, followed by Emlyn and Maribelle. “Let me go first if we spot this thing.” He was taking the threat seriously enough that I had to as well.

“Emlyn and Maribelle are protected by my soul. They can help. Aurelia, Zuri, stay back for this one.” I wasn’t going to lose anyone.

The two could borrow the protection of Soulgard; I would keep them safe.

A building collapsed and we all jumped, spinning about to look for this Colin.

Yet there was nothing except death and slowly burning buildings.

Lightning flashed not far off, followed by the crack of falling timber. A mage was fighting something. Melida used lightning.

“There.” Emlyn said, flashing towards the fighting occurring in the woods.

Cyam rose from my shadow, lifting me up as he did.

“Get on, Eva.” I held out a hand.

The Zenovian mage didn’t need another offer and took my hand, throwing herself behind me on Cyam. “Surprisingly comfortable.” She commented.

Cyam huffed at her and leaned into a sprint to catch up with the anchors.

They were all ahead of us, rushing through the packed snow as more flashes of lightning cracked at the edge of the woods.

“Melida!” Emlyn screamed. “We’re here to help.”

Something shot out of the woods ahead of us; the burning village providing some light in the darkness.

Brusset held a Melida curled in his grasp. Her other anchor came out a second after looking worse for wear. He had blood caked over himself and was missing an arm.

None of them looked remotely okay.

“Ard!” Melida’s eyes lit up. “Watch out. This thing is beyond dangerous.”

There was a pause in the fighting as our group collapsed on Brusset. For whatever reason, Colin didn’t chase her out of the woods.

Perhaps we had scared it off?

“Keep your eyes open.” Brusset said. “It is still hunting us.”

Melida thrust a hand forward and lightning threatened to blind me, but I could see a figure in the woods where she was aiming, only for it to get hit directly.

“Nice.” I grinned, but my smile faded as the figure took the lightning, but didn’t budge.

Once the spell was over, it disappeared from view, any night vision I had ruined.

Summoning a bright ball of light, I threw it up above me to light the area.

“Don’t let it touch you.” Melida warned me as Brusset dropped her by me. The woman was barely wearing anything under the fur coat. Her feet were unshod and a very bad color.

She’d had a rough time in her flight from the fortress.

Still, Melida stood with poise and seemed to be kept on her feet by pure spite.

“I read the memories of another Garrish mage at the Fortress. I can assume this is Colin?”

Melida raised an eyebrow at my statement. “Yes. Questions later. We need to get out of here.”

“Why not just kill it?” I shrugged. “It can’t be tougher than an elder mage.”

“Far tougher. It’s more comparable to a cockroach; he just won’t die.” Melida held a ball of lightning in her hand. “My death magic isn’t enough, the lightning however can stop him for a moment.”

The monster appeared in the light, rushing for our group.

It was the first good look I had gotten of what we were facing.

His nose was pressed flat, his nostrils more akin to slits and he was bald with scales. Whatever uniform he had been wearing was nothing more than rags held together with a few leather belts.

The fangs that had been so ingrained in Karl’s memories were clear as day; they stuck a good two inches from his lips. Honestly, it had to be an absolute pain to eat with those.

Melida launched a bolt of lightning, only for Colin to change directions with the kind of agility that made my hips hurt just from watching.

He dodged out of the way and resumed his rush towards us. His mouth opening wide like a serpent ready to bite.

Brusset leaned forward, but Uncle Valken shot forward to meet Colin, grabbing the wicked corrupted and slamming him back to the snow.

His actions pulled the Vel’shae’s hood back.

“Another?” Melida summoned more lightning.

“He’s a Vel’shae and an ally.” I put a hand up to stop her.

While Colin jumped back to his feet, I decided it was time to join the fight. Focusing on his tongue, I went to lift it with soul magic.

The corrupted jerked back and wobbled for a moment, but I felt my attempt to implode his head fail.

A moment later, backlash hit me like someone had dropped a fortress on me.

I wobbled and Emlyn caught me. “That hurt.” I blinked as spots filled my vision.

“What?” Melida asked.

“My trick to kill elder mages didn’t work on him.” I clicked my tongue. “That’s a damn shame.” Pulling myself to my feet, I rolled my shoulders. “Guess we have to do this the old fashioned way.”

How hard could this thing be to kill?

It was just this thing versus three mages, six anchors and a Vel’shae. I refused to believe this thing wouldn’t go down.

Colin was stunned for only a moment before he lurched unnaturally forward.

Uncle Valken caught his strike, twisting the monster’s arm and throwing it across the snow. “It’s stronger than me. However, it lacks combat experience.”

Stronger than him? That was shocking.

“We’ve noticed the same, but it has been improving over the several battles. It’s learning how to fight and becoming a growing problem.” Brusset spoke to the Vel’shae and dipped his head. “We welcome your assistance, but we aren’t sure if it can die.”

“All things can die.” Valken shot forward and clashed with Colin.

The two of them were fast enough I was having trouble tracking their movements as they tusseled in the snow.

Both of them exhibited the traits of anchors and mages.

In a way, I saw Colin as a Vel’shae gone wrong.

Colin twisted away from Valken with cuts healing all over his body and his jaw cracked open as death magic swirled out, splattering everywhere.

Valken was forced to jump clear of the mess and Colin used that moment to rush towards our group again.

“You sssmell sso good!” His voice had a sibilant kiss to it as he reached for the first person in our group.

Aurelia’s axe swung out to meet him.

Colin twisted and grabbed onto the head of the battle axe as his feet slammed into the ground.

Aurelia’s axe ground to a halt before his chest, his hands bleeding all over the weapon. Aurelia grit her teeth trying to move the blade, but it wouldn’t budge an inch.

Dark magic bled along the blade as Colin used the bluesteel to channel his own magic and Aurelia poured fire magic into the handle to stop its progress.

I threw a bolt of lightning, catching the corrupted in the chest.

Yet he only licked his lips like he wanted to devour my anchor.

Maribelle hit him from the side, ripping him off the axe and into the snow, only for Uncle Valken to rejoin the fight.

Aurelia was shaking. “What the fuck was that?”

“Colin apparently.” Emlyn huffed. “It’s hard enough to fight him given these weird abilities. Yet we can’t all fight against him at once without getting in each other’s way.”

I could see what she was talking about. Maribelle and Uncle Valken were essentially taking turns, one after the one in rapid succession. Cyam huffed from my shadow, but after Carmilla had hurt his soul I wasn’t going to get him involved with this monster.

Instead I made six manticore claws that whirled around me and shot into the fight.

“Careful.” Emlyn moved slightly closer to me.

I used the claws to go for Colin’s back, yet I accidentally smacked Valken with one of them, not that he seemed to notice. “Damn.” I tore piece after piece out of Colin’s back.

Yet as soon as I saw him turn again, they were all healed up.

“The thing doesn’t stop healing.” Brusset said. “I knocked it off a mile high cliff. It came back a day later.”

“I put enough death magic into it to kill Brusset a dozen times over. The thing only got a little pale.” Melida shivered. “You see the state of its uniform. This monster should be dead a hundred times over.”

“Uncle Valken should be able to manage it.” I said.

Melida did a double take her eyes going wide. “Uncle Valken, as in, Lord Valken of Zenovia?! What the fuck is he doing here with you?” She stared back at the fight with a new outlook.

“He’s the one that protected me until you and Brusset showed on the night I awakened.” I said.

“Fuck me.” Melida glanced back over at the fight. “I mean, if someone could kill this thing he could.” That even Melida knew of and was impressed by Uncle Valken spoke volumes.

“The problem is how long this might take.” Brusset grumbled. “I need to get you someplace warm, preferably with enough time to have Ard heal that frostbite creeping up your ankles.”

“It’s not so bad. I don’t even feel it anymore.” Melida smiled at the big man.

Brusset’s face went flat.

“That’s how you know it’s really bad.” I stage whispered.

Colin sent Uncle Valken flying and took the moment to rush our group again.

Emlyn got in front of him in a clash of lightning, but he didn’t meet her sword. Instead, he spun at the last moment and caught Maribelle by the arm, twisting himself up with her to fall to the ground in a lump.

I saw the flash of his fangs before they slammed into Maribelle’s shoulder.

She screamed and a white hot pain lanced into my soul.

I screamed with her. Something was crashing into Soulgard like a hot poker into my head. The hit was far worse than anything Carmilla had ever tried and hurt more than the times that I abused my soul magic.

This thing was incredibly powerful when it came to the soul.

Yet, I wasn’t about to be done in by something so ugly. I grit my teeth and pushed back against the pain, imagining walls of bluesteel catching the creature's teeth, locking them in place.

I could vaguely feel a fight happening around me, but I reached out through the connection Colin had made with me and beat it back.

For a moment, I was in Soulgard, the walls gleaming with bluesteel as giant white fang pierced through the side of a mountain and scraped at my walls. The walls were even beginning to buckle against the pressure.

Maribelle was at the pointed part of the giant fang, pushing on the other side of the wall with all her strength.

I had to stop what was happening. I would not let Colin destroy all I had built. He would not get a chance to touch Maribelle’s soul.

Bluesteel chains shot from the ground, binding the bulk of the fang and stopping it from continuing to press upon Soulgard.

The fangs’ pressure increased with a sudden urgency. It was trying to suck away the wall.

More chains wrapped around the wall and held it firm.

Soulgard would not lose and I would not lose anyone!

***

Emlyn wasn’t afraid to admit the moment when Colin’s fangs pierced Maribelle, her heart had stopped.

Not because she cared that much about the maid. Though it would mean she couldn’t beat the woman any more. Nor was it because Ard became a screaming mess held up by Zuri behind her.

No, she was terrified of what Ard would do if he actually lost someone. This thing fought on the level of the soul meaning that Maribelle could actually die.

Having just experiencing Ard’s confusion at the fort she had felt what had been behind his stunned expression.

He had been about to set the entire world aflame.

She knew just how much losing someone again would hurt him, but not the reaction. It was completely over the top, yet that was perfectly Ard.

So, when Colin’s fangs pierced Maribelle, Emlyn saw the world burn.

Only for Maribelle to fight back like a cornered honey badger.

The short woman screamed and grabbed the monster’s head her fists covered my the spiked finger guards of her daggers and started to punch dozens of holes all over the monsters face and neck.

Emlyn was only frozen for a moment before she jumped in to finish this.

Maribelle wasn’t dead, yet.

Only when her sword tried to pierce Colin’s head, he jerked back, still holding onto Maribelle with those fangs.

“Hold him still.” Emlyn shouted, rushing in again with her sword.

Maribelle twisted, wrapping her legs around the monster’s trying to trip him up, only for her legs to break from the force of his steps.

Lord Valken shifted behind both of them, his arms ground around the struggling pair. “Kill it! Both of us will heal, pierce its heart.”

Emlyn didn’t hesitated, lightning wrapping around her body as she darted across the snowy field, her sword shimmering as it went through Maribelle’s chest and into the monsters and even into the Vel’shae behind it.

Yet it still struggled.

Maribelle twisted in its grip and started stabbing it deep in the skull, her blades finding one of its eyes and tearing out of the side of his head before twisting and trying to take the whole thing off.

The monster’s neck broke and it was missing a good chunk of its skull, going limp.

“Get it off me! How dare this thing touch my flesh!” Maribelle flung herself out of Valken’s hug and tore the fangs out of her neck.

Emlyn stood there staring down as Colin’s body crackled and the neck righted itself as flesh tried to heal over the missing chunk of its skull.

Maribelle lost it and started slamming her daggers into the monster’s head for a solid minute before she panted and stood up, calming herself down.

Right, keep her alive so that Ard doesn’t burn the world and then keep Ard alive so she doesn’t go on a killing spree a continent wide.

No problem.

Emlyn stabbed her sword deep into the monster’s brain, maybe it wouldn’t heal with something in it?

***

Then the fang disappeared, completely throwing me off. I stumbled. The sudden absence of the pain was so shocking everything went white.

That whiteness turned into a complete blackness an instant later.

The next thing I knew, Zuri was holding me and Emlyn’s sword was buried in Colin’s head, with Maribelle released.

My anchor was wiping away the blood on her and fixing her very ragged skirt.

I let out a sigh of relief. She was fine.

“What the heck was that?” Melida asked.

“We’re bonded. Whatever it does went through the bond and got me too.” My words were ragged from the screams that had torn my throat apart. “At least she killed it.”

“I didn’t.” Emlyn said as she stabbed it again in multiple places.

Colin’s body continued to regenerate, even with a huge chunk of its skull missing. At the moment, without its full brain, the body twitched and struggled to make coordinated movements.

“That’s just disturbing.” Melida made a face like she was going to puke.

Valken knelt down next to it to observe. He must have some strange hobbies because he poked at the regenerating brain with a smile fishing out huge chunks. “Interesting.” He pulled his hand back quickly. “This thing’s soul is hooked up in a feedback loop, I think. It will never stop healing.”

“Even life magic has its limits. It has bled far too much, how can it keep healing?” I asked, a little curious if I was honest.

“Soul magic. This thing's soul is… huge.” Uncle Valken shook his head. “Even I, who’s lived for as long as I have, am not the equal of his soul.”

My eyebrows crawled up my forehead. That just seemed impossible. “Shit. That’s… not good at all.” The thing wasn’t just attacking souls. I had felt it, Colin had been feeding on souls. The numbers for how many must have died for its soul to grow so large made me shudder.

“An understatement.” He said. “I have no idea how long it would take to burn out his healing. Years?”

“Alright, Em. You heard him. Just keep stabbing.” I smirked.

She rolled her eyes. “Get Aurelia over here to start chopping him up.”

Use my pendant. This thing should not exist. Missy’s voice slipped into my head. It is an abomination of magic. You have defeated it. In this instance, I can step in and finish the job. She sounded eager or perhaps impatient.

I raised an eyebrow, but if Missy wanted to get rid of this ugly monster, that worked for me. I didn’t hesitate to pull out the pendant. “You can’t normally step in?” I asked the air.

No. I cannot fight your battles. Long story, but there are rules.

“Who’re you talking to?” Melida asked.

“Just a goddess, don’t worry about it.” I dipped the pendant into Colin’s body.

Normally there was a small glow from it, but this time the light was blinding.

I could see a bright whitish blue thing being sucked up by the body as the pendant became purple speckled by stars. Each of the stars began to glow brighter.

“Fuck me.” Melida gasped.

I had to blink away the sudden chill that rushed through me. It was normally refreshing, but this was like the time Emlyn had put a half cup of muddled mint in a soup as revenge. It overwhelmed my senses.

Bear with it. This will be beneficial for you.

My other hand cupped my head as it felt like a brain freeze.

Your soul is injured and it is healing. Put that stupid horse you favor in there too.

“Cyam is not stupid.” I huffed, but I listened to her, putting him into Soulgard rather than my shadow, making sure the bonds between Maribelle, Emlyn, and I were wide open.

Both of them gasped and I heard Emlyn’s teeth chatter.

“Suck it Em. Remember that time with the mint? This is payback.” My own teeth clacked as I spoke.

“Fuck you.” She shivered and knelt where she’d been stabbing the monster. “What’s happening?”

“Soul juice, freshly squeezed by your local goddess. Drink up. Fuck, this hurts. How is this not done yet?” I groaned feeling the cold numbness spread down my spine.

He’s been growing his soul forcibly by drinking the souls of others. Missy informed me. A lot of them. Your country likely has more dead mages than they realize.

Those words were not comforting, but I would have to deal with them later.

Damnit, the connection was too thin! Missy sounded pissed and then I felt her presence disappear as the chill stopped. The only thing I could think of this being connected to was the King of Garrish. Had Missy just tried to end the war?

“Alright, let's get you back Melida.” I stood up, my whole body felt stiff like I’d been laying naked in the snow. “Aurelia, if you could heat the carriage for all of us that would be absolutely wonderful.”

“Yes please. I’ll start calling you anything you want if you’d just give us some warmth.” Emlyn batted her lashes at Aurelia.

“I’d love some too.” Melida was back in Brusset’s arms. “Then we probably need to have a talk, Ard.” Her eyes shifted to Uncle Valken.

“Oh yeah.” I slapped a sloppy salute to my forehead. “Mage Arden Aldis reporting for duty!”

***

Melida was looking better, and I had been sworn to secrecy about what happened during the healing of her frostbitten feet.

“So, you killed the mages at the fort and then came after me?” She confirmed.

I had told her what she’d missed related to the warfront, not having the time to dig into her other questions yet.

“Just happened to bring one of the oldest Vel’shae with you?” She stared at him.

“Long story, but my father was Harry Zenov. Gwen knew and sent for Uncle Valken and Eva here to help me with four sphere magic since they have some records from before the rebellion. That’s the magic I used to kill the two elders. Didn’t work on Colin though.” I summarized as quickly as I could.

“Fuck me.” Melida glanced out of the carriage.

I moved to see what she was looking at and my jaw dropped.

Dawn was peeking over from the edges of Garrish territory, and as it rose, thousands upon thousands of steel helmets gleamed in the rising sun.

The way the light poured over the horizon and caught more helmets with each passing second made the Garrish army appear to be flowing like water through the pass.

The pass itself was a series of cliffs. A particularly wide cliff had been smoothed out with a railing on the same level of the fort.

After that, the cliffs gave way and it was a long drop down to the desert below.

The pass was full of Garrish troops moving towards Chillwind Fort.

“That’s not good.” I said.

“My fort!” Melida shrieked as she pointed ahead to the mostly collapsed structure. Her shock quickly turned to anger. “Did you do that?”

“It was that way when we found it. I swear.” I raised my hands in a plea for a stay of execution.

“He didn’t do it.” Emlyn added in. “One of the Garrish mages did it to try and kill Maribelle.” She hooked a thumb at the maid who was sitting politely beside me.

“She looks pretty alive.” Melida crossed her arms, looking Maribelle up and down.

“Death didn’t stick.” I shrugged. “So… more importantly. What are we doing about this? I think this is a problem.” Perhaps my explanation had a few holes.

“Understatement of the century.” Emlyn mumbled.

The rising sun stopped illuminating new helmets. They would be at the fortress within an hour.

“I think… I think we have bigger things to worry about Em.” There were tens of thousands of soldiers down there, likely dozens of mages and perhaps hundreds of anchors not to mention the mage-forged that would be hiding among the ranks of the soldiers.

“Ard, if you can pull a miracle this would be the moment.” Melida pulled her gaze away from the army with big hopeful eyes.

I stared at the pass and lifted my hand, concentrating as magic filled my soul. I reached through, grabbed onto Soulgard and focused on what I wanted, feeding magic into it.

“What are you?” Emlyn asked only for a roar to answer her.

The mountain beside the pass shook, rocks came tumbling down, building into a rock slide.

“Ard that won’t be enough.” Melida said.

Sure enough as the rockslide approached the army, earth mages acted and diverted the rockslide above and through the army ranks.

But that wasn’t my plan.

That rockslide had only been part of it. I pushed and pulled, but the mountain wouldn’t move, then an idea hit me.

The mountain continued to shake and the tip sheared off turning to sand on its way down.

Sand spilled over the army with more volume than the mage’s could handle, washing out strips of the army. The stone railings were made to stop carts from falling off and the soldiers clung to it, slipping through the gaps as enough sand to crush them pushed them through and over the railings.

More of the mountain turned to sand washing down onto the army.

I only needed to knock them off the pass and they’d be finished. There was plenty of material as I continued to shake the mountain turning more and more of its surface into sand.

“Holy fuck.” Melida breathed as she watched the mountain continue to strike into the Garrish forces.

I was glad she was impressed because sweat was pouring down my forehead despite the frigid chill in the air.

My soul feel squeezed dry and my sphere couldn’t keep up with how fast I was draining all of the magic from it.

Walls of stone sprang up all around the Garrish army as their mages tried to stop the sand.

Ice wedges appeared trying to shelter soldiers and powerful anchors tried to redirect the tide of sand.

For a second I thought I’d route the whole army, but they adapted.

When I realized they weren’t losing more than a few soldiers here and there, I shifted tactics, bringing a rockslide down on the front section, and tried to tear the cliff out from under them, turning it to sand.

They lost another section up front before mages were fighting me with everything they had.

“Ard.” Emlyn shook me.

I was drenched in sweat and my vision was growing fuzzy. “Did I stop them?” Between the damage from Colin and fighting against a dozen mages I was feeling wrung out.

“You bought us time.” Zuri said. “Maybe as much as half a day. It depends on how long it takes their mages to get up and back to work.”

The carriage was quiet.

Melida looked at me dead serious. “You do realize you have to build that mountain again after we’re done? And my fort.” She grinned. “Half a day is more than I expected. Get us down to the fort. It seems this war front is about to get busy.”

AN - Phew. That was a good run. I think this turned out to be a pretty darn good book. Pats self on back

We have Epilogues tomorrow both in 1 day, but they are about half a chapter each.