Chương 506: AF Chapter 505 – An Ending to the Blood

Nothing! There was nothing here! Nuhmudira did not want to believe, she DID NOT believe it! So much time wasted and effort spent, her last gasp to evade those hunting for her and her daughter, and she could not FIND them! The foremost Isparian maga alive grit her teeth, wondering if she was simply unable to sense them and they had evaded her somehow…

"Fire when ready." Her eyes flared wild, and she whirled around in shock at the magnificent bass voice washing past her. The Wagons, the custom towed battle-vehicles of Commander Briggs and Warlord Princess Kristina Rantha, were impossibly right on the flanks of her ship. The Archers and Mages were up higher than the decks of her dhow on the roofs of the two Wagons, and there were slits open in the side, out of which poked the geared Autobows now being used by the royalist forces of Freehold.

The two Warlords were down on the water, the young woman smiling up at her with the expression of a pouncing tiger, the huge dark man grim as the coming night. Above them, Nuhmudira met the eyes of Elysa Strathelar, the former High Queen she'd attempted to have assassinated at the hands of Oswald the Green Hunter long ago, staring down the point of a glowing arrow at her.

On the opposite Wagon, the Lady Magos met the eyes of Xunidara, dark eyes long turned silver cold and serene as polished metal as her Staff of jet and silver flared with Light.

"Wait!" Nuhmudira cried out desperately, clawing for her power, attempting to buy some time, any amount of time. The TWANG of all those Bows and Autobows releasing spell-laden loads was like thunder. The Spellflare hit first, and blew apart what defensive spells the two women and those about them had in effect with terrifying, devastating thoroughness, the Lady Magos somehow managing to eclipse their Caster Levels despite being a dozen years younger than the one, and a full generation on top of that than the other.

Defensive Buffs flared and went wild in crazed magical release, just as dozens of Arrows found deep and lethal homes, then released the battle magic imbued into them. The deck of her dhow was washed in fire and lightning. The crew screamed as they were blasted by the backwash of magic and their own deadly loads, turned to char and bloodspray as the ship erupted in fire.

Crimson sprays blew out of Nuhmudira, and she staggered as decades of Health Qi built up to defend herself vented explosively, keeping her alive against a massive consolidated attack that should have killed any human instantly. She wanted to flee so badly, even if she had to leave her daughter behind… her daughter, who was gaping with a dozen Shards of magic impaling her, so many hostile magicks riding the jetsilver arrows of magical energy.

She looked at her mother in terror and horror at what was about to happen as the missiles pulsed once… Nuhmudira watched her daughter blow apart into the white dust that swallowed bodies and souls, and knew she would never see her again. The Veil was sealed harder than iron, she could not whisk herself away at all, and she hadn't discovered how to fly… not that she believed such flight would outrun anything.

She began to unwrap a horrid gift for those who would dare to kill her, a Curse and Conjuration that would bring a truly terrible being here to slay them all. It might cost her body and soul for vengeance, but no one would survive to gloat that they had killed Nuhmudira, and if nothing else, her legend would… Would… The firm hand gripping her chin turned her head just enough to glimpse the bright green eyes sliding in next to her, the other hand seemed to be pressing up under her chin...

"Ah, ah," Master Oswald said calmly.

"No bad thoughts. No black revenge. No wails of protest, no more justifications. Just Regrets and death, woman," the master assassin, made so much deadlier by the Matrix Magic she had not been able to learn, whispered quietly in her ear. A bright Ruby light ignited in her brain, severing her from her magic, her power, her very life… but not from her Contracts, her obligations, leaving those for her to deal with. A shadowy tentacle seemed to coalesce out of nowhere, countless burning eyes focused on her.

Nuhmudira's scream was heard by no one but herself as her soul was yanked away from what might have been its course and pulled away to something far grimmer. It was time for her to pay the price for her bargains, and there was no one to take up the price for her this time.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Master Oswald watched the whole corpse of Nuhmudira fall to ash and vivus in his grip, sloughing through his arms. Her clothing and equipment clattered to the burning deck, leaving nothing of her behind, while staining his entire green-clad front extremely white as they did so.

A wave of icy blue flashed over the blasted and burned deck of the ship, snuffing the flames which had blasted apart the mainmast, ashed the sail, and basically cleared it of anything living.

"Master Oswald," Princess Kristie spoke up from where she was standing on the water, "if you and your Cloaks would be so kind as to loot the damn thing clean before we sink it, everyone would be obliged." There were soft thunks as Adso and the rest of his team hit the deck. Without a word being spoken half the team kicked away the cover to the hold, while the others headed for the stairs and cabin at the rear of the boat.

Oswald concerned himself with picking up the belongings from the remains of the two women nobody was going to miss, and any magical items left by the crew who'd been blasted apart. None of it could be trusted, but that didn't mean they wouldn't be examined before they were Burned away. A satisfied smile was hard to take off his face.

Nuhmudira had used him and set him up all those years ago, misleading him about what kind of a woman Elysa was, that she was manipulating and killing in the shadows, just another player of the Crimson Game and so just another target to take out. The fact she was actually widely loved by much of the population had almost resulted in his death when they kept hunting for him. If they'd been anywhere as capable as the three young newcomers were with their Matrix Magic, he would have died back then.

Now, he got to collect the last valuables from the treacherous, lying, and almost certainly paranoid delusional woman, while knowing he had a Road ahead of him that was going to be greater and grander than anything she had ever thought of. Life was sometimes great, and, he had to admit, having people he could trust, even call friends, was rather remarkable...

Mira, my thoughtstream semi-duplicate of Shamira, the girl I'd been stuck into, was, if not exactly happy, satisfied at how everything had turned out. Oswald taking out the mother had enabled me NOT to have to blow the crap out of whatever Death Curse effect she was mounting, and that would have gotten pretty explosive, considering the amount of energy put into it.

Master Oswald's skill at Cutting Life, severing Deathstone and similar protections, dovetailed nicely with vivus and Ruby, interrupting her magic and dissipating it by dint of inserting his long Dagger into her brain, stopping her thoughts and the impending disaster quite cold.

The Mick and Master Ben were now dragging everyone toward Yaraq, while Kris and Briggs were pacing me while we all skimmed over the water toward the north-eastern island, my Wings out for propulsion, not lift, Footsteps of a Mage and Cloudstepping Sandals keeping me elevated above the waves. Passive use stuff. Nobody was supposed to be able to Cast here, so any spellcasting was sure to trigger an alarm.

Sandwiched between a Null and a Source who weren't tripping anything, I wasn't going to be setting off anything as long as I didn't Cast. If something came up, I was just going to have to use my Staff as a real Weapon, and not an Implement… and probably run around and beat on ankles while the two deadliest Melee combatants in Dereth did all the heavy lifting. They were welcome to do so.

I was perfectly happy to hand away the kills like that if it meant not getting us all killed by hugely overpowered automatic magical defenses of Eternal-grade.

The island had no beaches or easy water access, surrounded by cliffs anywhere from a hundred to three hundred feet high, as well as some nasty reefs and shoals that would have completely torn apart any real ship trying to sidle up next to them. Not so much an issue when you're lightfooting or skimming above the gentle waters. However, the shape of the cliffside further up on the interior side seemed to indicate some sculpting of the stone had gone on. Walkways or something? It was hard to tell from below.

Accordingly, we went up the inner side, and actually had to climb the thing. This was nothing to Kris or Briggs, who could casually drive their fingers into the stone, without even popping their soulclaws to do so. We all had Cloudstepping Sandals, so we effectively weighed nothing, but none of us wanted to try actively using the Soul Magic to move sideways up the wall. So, climbing it was, rather amusingly.

Kris basically hauled me up and along, driving her nails in and making finger and toe holds for me like a ladder, with a rope tied between us just in case I got stupid and slipped. Who didn't invest in Climbing Ranks because she had a dozen different options for flight or morphing to do such a thing? Nobody I knew, certainly, nopers.

Still, the Isparian schema had made sure I was far stronger than any normal person, even my pitiful starting 10 base Strength all the way to 200 now, which was the equivalent of a Matrix 25 Strength, equal to a massive powerlifter. So, I didn't weigh much to myself, and so had few problems keeping up with a trail of perfect toe and handholds being premade for me.

Not being saddled with a mage, Briggs, full Armor or no, still reached the top first, his Crystal Dragon style giving him a perfect grip and feel for the landscape. He rolled onto the top of a narrow cliff overgrown with scrub trees accumulated on the rock over time and a lot of built-up vegetation, the place overgrown with hanging roots, creepers, vines, and bushes. Certainly the place wasn't lacking for water or rain, it seemed…

He began forcing a pass through with his bare hands, ki around his limbs as good as machetes and bladed boots, his Armor impervious to them. Kris reached the top only a minute after him, expedited matters by hauling me the rest of the way up, and we paced after his clear trail onward and upwards. It was not an easy way, more climbing up short faces, sometimes sideways, and all the more level areas were occupied by plants that were a bit miffed to have to let us through.

Nevertheless, Briggs was insistent, and if that meant tearing bushes right out of the ground with main strength, cutting brambles wide open, or slicing down walls of roots and vines, he was patiently willing to do so. If I had my magic, I could have told all the plants to get out of the way, or even help us along. Silly Wards, who would invent such things to impede mages like that? It was unsporting! But that was looking more and more like a walkway of some kind carved into the face of the stone above us.

Slowly, patiently, like people with overwhelming athletic ability, we kept pressing up the side of the mountain towards our goal.