Freelance Heroics (50 page)

The glade exploded into action.

The entire time they had been talking, Caspian had been circling around the glade. Gavi was especially pleased with Rhea’s long-winded instructions, which had provided the cover for Caspian’s final dash. But she pushed those thoughts from her mind, her sword up as she sprinted forward. “Mazik,
now!
”

Mazik’s sonorous voice was like a proclamation of doom. Deep and resonant, it sent a chill down Gavi’s spine as he called out, “
Mazik Missile Massacre!
”

Bolts of blue mana streaked overhead, slamming into both Rhea and her aku. Rhea took several hits before she spat out the Noble Hunt evasion spell and slipped away. Her familiar roared, probably from annoyance as much as pain. As Caspian wrestled with Boern and Hyra whistled for her spellhounds to charge, Gavi crossed the final meters to Raedren and scooped him up.

“Get out of here!” she said, pushing him into Hyra’s arms. Raedren’s feet dragged the ground as Hyra ran, her spellhounds surrounding her like a living shield. Gavi spun to Rhea and attacked.

Mazik passed Hyra as she struggled back toward town, dragging Raedren. He left her to it. Everyone had a job, and his was the most difficult of them all. He had to occupy Rhea’s familiar until Hyra and Raedren got away.

He supposed he should be proud that Gavi had enough faith in him to think he could handle it. He ignored the part where he was the only one with more than a vanishing chance at success. Mostly he was just trying to stop his knees from shaking.

“Hey, you stinking mutant! Pay attention to me!” Mazik waved his arms in the aku’s face—rarely a wise move when facing something bigger, taller, stronger, and with teeth that looked like they could crush bones. As Twenty-seven galloped up beside him and growled, Mazik snapped his fingers, and glowing spheres blossomed around his shoulders, shot forward, and exploded.

The familiar didn’t even look at him. As it tried to step past him to get to Rhea, Mazik let the spell he had been holding at the ready bubble forth, and a glowing ball burst to life in his hand. Lunging into the familiar’s path, he leapt off his feet and slammed the spell into its ugly face.

The explosion hurled Mazik away.

He tumbled ass over end, until he finally came to a stop on his back. He patted his chest, reaching for a knife—and remembered that he wasn’t wearing his robes. Raedren had his knives, save for the one at his side. He grabbed it and pushed himself up.

He was just in time.
Well, it appears I have its attention
, thought Mazik with a strange calm as, outwardly, he screamed like a frightened middle schooler and dove out of the way. The aku’s jaws nearly closed on his boots, but Mazik wasn’t fast enough to stop it from battering him with its snout. He cursed as he did an involuntary cartwheel, and didn’t stick the landing.

“Lead it away, lead it away,” Mazik muttered to himself as he rolled onto his belly. He felt the beast’s heavy footfalls, the pounding filling his head, along with Twenty-seven’s snarling as the spellhound snapped at the aku’s hind legs.

“
Mazik Move!
” Blue winds pushed against the ground, and Mazik went flying again. He soared over the monster’s head like he had been launched by a catapult, swinging his knife out of sheer desperation. He collapsed on the other side, all of the air rushing out of his lungs—but he was on the right side now, away from the others.
Lead it away, lead it away.

Mazik jumped to his feet and backpedaled, a barrier before his outstretched palms as he dodged wildly.
This thing is fast—too fast!
The beast was matching every move he made, and it was accelerating, giving Mazik no time to retaliate, no time to do anything but react. He just kept moving, leading the creature away from the others.

The aku feinted to his right, and Mazik fell for it.
Shit!
As it darted past his defenses, Mazik swung his barrier around, and accidentally knocked himself off his feet. As he fell on his ass, the aku’s snout glowed, neon green mana gathering.

Suddenly, Twenty-seven was in front of him, thick barriers a darker blue than Mazik’s own wrapped around him. The aku roared, rattling Mazik’s brain, and the spell shot forward. It struck Twenty-seven down the side, spinning the dog around.

“No!” shouted Mazik.

Twenty-seven landed on his feet. The spellhound shook his head, then resumed growling at the aku.

At first, Mazik was stunned. Then he laughed. “Good boy!” he said as he knelt behind the canine. As Twenty-seven let out a low, deep-throated bark, and the barriers deepened around him, Mazik wove a spell. He popped up from behind Twenty-seven when it was ready.

“
Mazik Mega Cannon!
”

The cloud of mana cleared, and the aku sniffed. Its barriers were crackling, a sign that at least the spell had struck, but the monster was uninjured. Mazik’s shoulders sagged. “Well, fuck.”

He and Twenty-seven scattered as the aku charged.

Gavi swung, but Rhea blocked it. Again. Rhea didn’t look impressed. Gavi got the impression that the older woman was stifling a yawn.

Rhea began chanting a spell, and before Gavi could stop her, she had slipped several meters closer to Hyra and Raedren. Nearby, Chief Boern did the same thing, causing one of Caspian’s arrows to go wide. They had done this several times since the battle had started, and though Gavi and Caspian had so far kept them from reaching Hyra, Rhea was less than ten meters away now, and closing.

Hyra’s spellhounds growled and snapped, but Rhea sneered. “Silence, mutts.” She waved a hand, and steely gray mana exploded against the nearest spellhound. It yelped and fell to the ground, its legs twitching.

Gavi closed the distance, her lungs burning. She stabbed at Rhea’s exposed side, but the woman chanted another spell. Gavi felt her sword buck in her hands, as if it had been batted away, though Rhea hadn’t moved and there were no signs of alteration magick. Rhea cast another spell, and a spellhound yelped but didn’t fall.

“Watch out!” Caspian shouldered Gavi out of the way, then caught Boern’s knife with his own.

The remaining spellhounds were barking and firing spells at the former head breeder as Hyra tried to pull away, but Raedren’s weight was making it difficult. Words spilled from Rhea’s mouth as she let her barriers absorb the spellhounds’ attacks, and her body blurred again. Suddenly she was ahead of Hyra, cutting off her escape.

“How many damn times can they cast that?” muttered Caspian. Gavi nudged him out of the way, taking his place in facing Boern. Caspian strafed and fired a hail of arrows at Rhea.

“We were given high ranks within Wildan’s host,” said Boern with a nasty smile. He blurred as well, and reappeared on Gavi’s other side, between her and Hyra. “Sorry, son. Stand down if you don’t want to get hurt.”

“Same to you, old man.” Caspian kept firing on Rhea. Another spell exploded among the spellhounds, dropping one and injuring another.

Gavi took in the battlefield. Rhea and Boern had Hyra surrounded, while Gavi and Caspian had been pushed to the outside, with Boern standing between them and their friends. Hyra, who wasn’t much of a fighter in the first place, had her hands full with the still-unconscious Raedren, and was down to four spellhounds, one of which was heavily injured.

She glanced behind, and saw Mazik and his spellhound companion still tangling with the aku. To their credit they had dragged it away and were keeping it occupied, but it didn’t look like they had been able to put a dent in the creature.

Frustration welled up as Gavi searched for an answer, a part of her mind processing even as she attacked Boern, pressing him onto the defensive. She knew they needed to do something to hold Rhea and Boern here long enough for Hyra to get away, because they weren’t going to be able to make it back to the village with those two harassing them, not unless they left Mazik behind to occupy the aku, and she would
not
do that. But their options were limited. As far as tools went, Gavi had her sword, her knife, her holdout crossbow—a
nd enough mana to change the flow of the battle, if I could only use it.

Gavi tamped down on her pessimism.
No. Thinking like that won’t help me
, she told herself as she circled Boern’s knife with her sword, trying to rip it from his hand. He stepped to the side, smoothly dodging a blast from one of the spellhounds, and forcing Gavi to dodge it herself.

I have to believe in myself
, thought Gavi as she bent out of the way. The spell flew past her face, heating her cheek.
I’m close. Mazik, Raedren, Hyra, and Caspian have all said as much. I can do this. I can do this. I can
do
this.

The words repeating in her mind, Gavi felt the mana within her stir. She willed it to move more, urging it on faster. Boern was still in front of her, leering as he prevented her and Caspian from getting past. Beyond, Gavi could see Hyra scrambling out of the way as Rhea blurred again, and made a grab for her. There wasn’t much time left.

Gavi almost stopped mid-step as she remembered another tool she had.
Oh, yeah.
She chided herself for almost forgetting. “
Ichn ir ukk—Swiftness!
”

This time it was Gavi’s form that blurred. Chief Boern yelped as she surged forward, and he barely got his knife up in time to block her first blow.

He missed the second, and the third, and the fourth.

Boern winced as his barriers cracked, long cuts appearing through his clothes and skin. He chanted the evasion spell, and slipped several paces away—and found Gavi on him almost as soon as he reappeared. Though he redirected one of her attacks with another spell, Gavi still struck him several more times, his defenses eroding under her assault.

I can do this, I can do this, I can do this
, chanted Gavi. Her mana singing and her confidence buoyed, she swung one last time as her body slowed to normal, her mana gathering along the length of her blade. She shouted, “
Gust!
”

Nothing happened. Gavi felt the mana leave her body, but no winds pushed Boern off balance. She barely brought her blade up in time to block his counterattack.

“Sorry, little girl,” said Boern. Any evidence of the overwhelmed but affable old man she had first met was gone. “I’ve seen you practicing, but it looks like you’re still no good.”

“It’ll work as a distraction, though,” said Caspian—from behind Boern. “
Forceful Winds!
”

As Boern went tumbling, Gavi raking her sword down his side as he flew past, the two of them immediately turned to Rhea. Arrows flew, forcing Rhea to defend. Then Gavi was on her, her sword snaking past Rhea’s defenses. The older woman winced as Gavi drew blood.

Her passive defenses aren’t that strong
, Gavi thought as she danced away from Rhea’s reply.
She’s a glass cannon. Good to know. I just need to hit her.

“T-thank you!” gasped Hyra. Her forehead was bloodied and her chest was heaving, but both she and Raedren looked otherwise unharmed. Though the same couldn’t be said for her remaining spellhounds.

“Clever,” said Rhea, staring at Gavi through her glowing gray barriers.

Gavi ignored her. With Boern injured, they might be able to get away, even with the aku pursuing them. Whatever the case, Gavi knew they needed to try, before Hyra and Raedren ran out of spellhounds to protect them. She shouted over her shoulder. “Maz, we need to get out of here!”

“Hold on, I can’t—” Mazik started to say, and then Gavi heard what sounded like a barrier shattering, and then a meaty thump. Mazik cried out.

Gavi pushed Rhea away and spun. She watched as Mazik crashed to the forest floor, his dagger spinning away. The aku casually batted Twenty-seven aside, and the dog struck a tree, collapsing.

“Disable him,” said Rhea.

Before Gavi could move, before she could so much as think, the monstrous aku bent down, gathered Mazik’s right hand in its mouth, and bit.

It was like someone had punched Gavi in the gut, hearing that
crunch
as Mazik’s hand shattered. He sucked in a breath and screamed. The monster let go, and Mazik rolled away. His hand flopped so far backward it brushed his forearm.

Boern jogged over to Mazik and kicked him in the side. While the chieftain looked worse for wear, he was still very much mobile. While Mazik sputtered in rage, Boern grabbed his broken hand. Mazik bit back a cry, his curses intensifying, but he wasn’t able to stop Boern from slipping the ring off his hand and throwing it into the forest. Mazik’s ring, along with his focus crystal—and with it, his ability to cast spells at range—disappeared.

Gavi suddenly found it hard to move or breathe. It was like the air had turned to jelly. She knew she should have expected it, that Mazik would have the hardest time since he had by-far the toughest enemy, but somehow she hadn’t considered the possibility that he would fail. She had always assumed it would be her. Not him. Not her powerful friends. Not Mazik, who was writhing on the ground, or Raedren, who was unconscious.

“At this point, we could give you the same choice we gave you earlier,” said Rhea, her voice snapping Gavi back to reality. She turned. Rhea’s smile was tight and vicious. “But I don’t think we will.”

“Agreed,” purred Boern. He twirled Mazik’s dagger, and then his body blurred.

Caspian went down next. Gavi heard him curse, and then Caspian’s bow snapped in half. The young Nijāst tried to back away from Boern, and was almost trampled as the aku ran past. A few well-placed blows from Boern dazed him, and then the chieftain threw him to the ground. He tore the focus crystal from Caspian’s hand and took his knife.

Gavi didn’t know what hope she had against the aku charging her, but she needn’t have worried. The beast ignored her, a word from Rhea sending it at the spellhounds protecting Hyra. It was Rhea who attacked her. Gray mana exploded against Gavi’s side, and then Boern was on her as well. She lost her sword in short order, and then took another spell, her barriers and armor boiling away. Gavi’s legs collapsed, and she struck the ground with skull-jarring force.