Revenge of the Sorcerer King 3 - 8

Good morning!

Chapter 8

Alessa

Lounging on a tree, I melted some blood from a blood orb. I was sending my senses out close over almost twenty kilometers. Watching for anything trying to get pass our boundary, it was a boring task, while being a continuous mana drain. Until I’d grasped the finer points of sending my mental awareness out like this, I’d been getting false alarms from monsters and wildlife left and right.

“Mistress. We’ve caught seven and failed to capture one. He managed to outmaneuver the newborns tracking him.” I had figured this might happen. They may be vampires and in the middle of their territory of night, but they were still extremely low level. A good enough scout would be able to out run them if they had the proper skills.

I sat up linking with Jade’s mental connection. “Did he get through the line?”

“No. He fled back along the road toward the east. We feel he should be making another attempt in a few hours when the sun is up.”

“Never thought someone would wait until day to try and sneak through an area!” I exclaimed with a laugh.

“Such is our nature.”

“Keep some of the day walkers ready and make sure the seniors are spread better to tighten the net on any bugs that might get through.” I wanted to see the expression on the man that got away when he finds vampires chasing him during the day. I thought about asking Jade to save it for me, but decided that killing him would probably hard enough.

“As you command.” The connection broke and I turned back to my area. Oberon said it would be several days before he moved the army. Attacking a capital took preparation, but I worried that every day we waited just gave the enemy that much longer to prepare themselves.

Another few hours passed with nothing more than a few wolves walking into the area I was watching. The vampires and undead that were outside my area reported the same thing. I mean sure, an ambush is obvious on the straightest path to the town, but you’d think there’d be at least one stupid scout that would attempt the route.

“If nothing comes through in another two hours, we’ll move up fifty kilometers,” I sent to my group.

The sun was turning the sky pink went I felt a presence enter my outer most perception. I focused expecting another monster when I found it was humanoid shaped. I grinned, my fangs popping out as I started leaping through the trees in the direction of my new prey. My armor wrapping around me from the blood ice.

I slowed as I neared my prey. It would be stupid of me to leap right in without at least checking them out first. Blending in with the shadows that were still deep even in the morning light, I looked the man that was striding calmly but quickly through the forest. He looked average to me, but I felt there was a certain strength hidden in him.

With how thin he looked as well as the quiet that seemed to soak around him, I suspected he might be an elf. Two daggers rested on his waist, and I couldn’t spot anything else. That said, he was a scout so there were likely fifty more where those came from. I observed for a few more seconds but couldn’t find anything else notable.

I clenched my fist as I channeled mana into my iced guantlets. With a leap toward his back, I flung myself at the man aiming to crush him with my mana fuel strength. He managed to sidestep and I struck the ground blasting a crater where he’d stood. I stood up shaking the dirt and gravel from my hand.

“Nice move. Can you do it again?” I asked turning to look at the man.

“Sure. With moves like that, you’ll never hit me.” A voice like silk said from under his hood.

I surged my mana into fist and spikes grow several centimeters out. “Let’s find out!” I flung my fist out and he gave me a humored look until a pulse of mana blast from my fist. He still managed to dodge, but the trees behind him were torn apart. I followed him swinging trying to anticipate where he was going to land.

He had to have the blessing of the wind as he seemed to flow around me never truly touching the ground. The area around us was a mess with trees and the ground torn apart.

“Damn you’re a violent woman.”

“I would love to insult you, but I’m afraid I wouldn’t do as well as nature did.”

He narrowed his eyes at me before he finally drew his daggers. I held up my hand and gestured for him to come at me. If he stopped fleeing, then I might actually hit the slipper fucker. He charged me his figure nearly blurring as he poured on the speed. With only two blinks, he was on me, his blade stabbing into my stomach.

He grinned at me, but I only returned it as I wrapped my arms around him. “Let go, bitch!”

“Why would I do that?” I exposed my fangs as I went for his neck. There was a burst of wind from inside my arms and I was forced back a step. “You don’t want my kiss?” The wound in my stomach already healed.

“Monster!”

“Considering you can keep up with me, I feel like you’re the monster,” I retorted getting back into my stance. The man was keeping up with a vampire! Even Oberon claimed to have trouble tracking me when I went full speed.

He spun his daggers and didn’t say anything. I felt he was finally getting serious. With a blink, we charged each. Again, his speed kept me from landing a blow, but my hug from earlier had given him some damage. He was stumbling every now and then while gripping his side. I couldn’t see any blood, but I’d used a good amount of my strength in the squeeze.

As the battle continued, the area got more wrecked from my blows. It was coming up on five minutes now and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to defeat him with martial skills anymore. The elf was just too fast, while I was too untrained. With a grunt, I started channeling my mana into the surrounding air.

“What tricky is this?” the elf snorted. “Are you a mage now?”

I smirked before I slammed my fist on the ground catching him by surprise. A tidal wave of ice flashed out around us freezing everything it touched. He tried to leap into a nearby tree that was still standing but fell short by a few centimeters. The wave of ice wrapped around his leg and crawled up his body until he was a statue.

“Why yes, yes I am.”

Oberon

With the satisfaction that I had successful struck back at the mages, I looked at the girl. The spell had completely worn her out and she’d fainted. Not that I blamed her. Something like this was hard for even a grandmaster. She had an amazing talent for being a sorceress.

“Flaira!”

The shadows shifted nearby and a woman that still possess some semblance of beauty even in death appeared. The woman from the Galley that had volunteered to become a lich bowed with grace. “Master?”

“Take this girl and clean her up. Find some cloths that suit her as well. We can’t have her going around in the nude.”

The lich moved up to take her but paused when her eyes went over the girl. “What in Siateth’s name have they done to her?”

“Something even the undead can’t abide,” I replied with a frown.

“I shall tend to her.” Flaira took the girl and made her way down the tower. I sent a mental command to all my undead that the girl wasn’t to be harmed. Some of the less intelligent undead might try something.

“Now then,” I muttered once I was alone. I moved back up to the attic of the tower and began working on the Lay-line array. I wanted to try and create a link with the one in Fallen Haven. If successful, I could create a Line Portal that would allow for traveling between here and Fallen Haven.

It required me to know the location of both sides of the portal. An uncalibrated portal could result in the destruction of the tower, just like the other lay-line arrays experienced a few minutes ago. A person used the river of mana to cross vast distances instantly after all. It required a fair amount of power. I summoned a handful of undead and got to work.

~~

“You sure this will work?” Helena asked looking at the admittedly crude archway that would serve as the portal frame. It possessed a mixture of metal and stone. I would have to thank the mage guild next time I found any that were living for supplying all the great materials needed for constructing the device.

“After all this time, you still don’t trust me?” I retorted with a smirk.

“I think of trust as an illusion to surrender your fate.”

“Fair enough.”

Mayaappeared with Flaira from the lower levels of the tower. She was cleaned up and with cloths on, she looked like a normal girl. The metal and stone arm were mostly hidden by the long sleeves of her shirt. “What is that master?”

“A great piece of magic that used to allow me to travel the world in minutes.”

“Amazing!” The intelligent eyes were already wandering the device drinking in every detail of the structure. I wondered for a moment how much she actually understood.

“It sure it. Now. Time to test this beauty.”

I activated the magic circuit and it began to draw mana from the lay-line. A vortex of colors appeared before it started to bend inward. After close to a minute, another room soon appeared on the other side of the portal. A hall filled with close to twenty similar portals that were much grander in designed.

When it stabilized, I pushed a rather unremarkable undead through the event horizon. Focusing, I mentally connected with the undead to make sure it was unchanged. Other than a slight mana charge. Everything was normal. I ordered it to come back through the portal.

“Anyone up for a trip to Fallen Haven?”

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