Chương 81: Chapter 18

Shaya and Ren ducked behind the lip of the cliff as the heads swivelled toward them, the bandit and five raptors scanning the sky where the vulture cawed. Twenty feet down the cliff, razor claws tapped and scraped against stone as the raptors paced. Booted feet scuffed or splashed as people milled about. The camp side chatter continued in low tones in the same guttural language she heard Bari speak at times. Fearing to even exhale, the two students waited for some sign that they were—or weren't—spotted.

Each second that ticked by was an eternity, until finally Shaya tapped Ren and motioned that they should get going. No one had cried out in alarm and no Titan-infused raptor had used their unnaturally powerful-looking muscles to launch twenty feet straight up into the air to land on them. Shaya didn't want to stick around to find out if they were even capable of that.

The two scurried away with as much stealth as their fear would allow, not wanting to be caught by the camp of bandits—or, really, cultists—while separated from the rest of the Lance. Their scouting mission had been a success, assuming they hadn't been spotted, and it was time to bring the full team in to deal with them. Shaya cursed the vulture that might have given them away, still circling lazily in the air. It's alright, she consoled herself, we still managed to plant our spies.

They made it back to the edge of the frost-covered pine forest where they left their mounts and were back to their team in short order. The group was huddled close and rubbing warmth back into their bodies despite their heavy fur cloaks, their horses picking at what little greenery they could scavenge from the forest floor. Shaya gave her Lance and Bari—their supervisor for the deployment—the debrief, since Ren still looked pale from what they had witnessed.

With the possibility of being spotted, everyone thought hard and fast about what to do. Shaya saw the anger smoulder in Bari's eyes as she described the cultists feeding every fibre of their wounded comrade to the Titan-spawn and each other. She understood the feeling, seeing the acts as a corrupt version of the Asharan sky burials that returned a person to the spirits of nature.

"Did you sense if the Veil was thinned?" Samorn asked, drawing Shaya's attention.

"Have the spawn been in the vicinity long enough to corrupt it?"

"My dowsing isn't nearly as good as yours," Shaya replied, "but I didn't sense anything of the sort."

"Neither did I," Ren added, his voice carrying an uncharacteristic anger to it.

"If the raptors can modify their bodies the same way Una can change her polearm," Oraeus mused, "they will be extremely deadly combatants. Capable of closing distance rapidly and threatening a large space around them."

"This is beyond the purview of your deployment," Bari sighed, arms crossed.

"We signed you up to chase down a few bandits, not tackle a spawn-worshipping cult. I might have to deal with this myself."

"Wait, give us a chance," Oraeus said, drawing everyone's attention.

"I think I have a plan that could work, but we need to move fast. Shaya, what are they doing right now?" Shaya concentrated on the summoned creature she left behind, sending her senses down the tether of aether connecting them. It took her a moment to realize the connection had worked, as everything was dark and quiet. Which made sense, given the types of spies they had left behind. She willed her summon to raise its claws, letting her peek out of the trap door and look at the camp of cultists.

Witnessing the world through eight eyes was disorienting, nauseating enough that she regretted not practicing with this summon more in advance, but the spell eventually translated the images so her brain could comprehend them. The cultists were rushing to pack everything up, the drab ones doing all the packing while two better dressed and better armed ones had mounted each of the five Fraxraptors.

"They're packing up in a hurry," Shaya reported. Picking up a nearby stick, Oraeus nodded and sketched out a little map of the enemy encampment in the snow.

"We have to assume they're looking to flee," Oraeus said.

"This means we must be ready for a mounted skirmish.

"We only have three combat-trained riders, but the Academy's steeds are strong enough to carry a second rider—even Shaya's raptor. We pair up for the assault, which leaves us ready to chase if needed."

"If they stay and fight," Shep jumped in, "the secondary riders can fight as dragoons, dismounting when they get into position."

"Excellent point, Shepherd, I hadn't considered that." Oraeus nodded with a tight smile. He swept aside some underbrush, then sketched two circles into the ground with arrows that pointed them straight at the enemy encampment.

"Shaya and Bri take point, with Samorn and I as passengers. Shaya protects us from arrows with a physical barrier, Bri goes in hard with blasts to shock and awe them. The raptors will be too powerful for us to fight directly and will punch through any defensive spells Shaya can cast—no offence."

"None taken," Shaya said, nodding along and liking what she was hearing from the leader they elected for that deployment.

"However, where direct force fails, misdirection can step in. Spawns have minds, which means Samorn's magic can hinder their ability to attack us and sow confusion amongst the cultists. With my foresight, I can call out if the enemy is about to commit forces or withdraw, guiding the battle that way." This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"You'll have little warning," Bari warned.

"Spawn of Fraxil have enhanced senses, just like a mage drawing upon Jade aether. They'll be able to react far before we can."

"That's why we have Shepherd and Ren move to pincer or pursue, if the enemy chooses to flee. Ren's shots are strong enough to punch through enhanced hide and muscle, while Shepherd's magic can cripple them physically long enough to avoid their attacks." The Lance nodded, satisfied, and turned to Bari for her final decision. None of them, even Ren, wanted to miss out on the chance to prove themselves. To show off what they had learned in the two weeks since mid-terms.

To put down the cult that was willing to sacrifice even its own members to the Titan-spawn.

"I like it," Bari concluded after a moment, stringing her bow—"short" to her, but easily a long bow to the average human. It was of a similar design to Ren's, an Asharan composite bow, but with a lot more bulk to it, even the string appearing thrice as thick as what Shaya would expect.

"I'll join the pincer group and intervene if needed. I'm not Zaal, I will not watch you take stupid risks and burn yourselves out to overcome odds beyond your level, and to that end…" There was a burst of Jade energy as Bari touched each of them and their steeds in turn. Stiff bark grew over their flesh, hardening their bodies against attack.

Beyond that though, Shaya felt an almost dangerous amount of life and vigour flow into her, giving her the odd sense that her body was straining to keep it in check to avoid sprouting new limbs.

"That will provide each of you a modicum of protection against the cultists," Bari explained, "and regenerative powers that should keep you alive should a raptor hit you. Seems only fair to balance the scales, given that you were only supposed to fight some bandits."

"Thank you," Oraeus said, a bit of warmth to his otherwise flat tone.

"Now, let's go."

"I think you mean," Bri said, her tone deepening to a cool growl: "Let's ride."

"Yes, I thought that was assumed."

"No, you see it's about sounding"—Bri sighed—"never mind." +++++ Shaya and her huge raptor, Talon, led the charge, Samorn clinging tightly to her waist. Shaya conjured a huge, plough-shaped barrier spell in front of her, anchoring it to Talon's helm. The plough's blades were feathered, just like Shaya's esper: Phaedra's angelic form hovering next to Shaya on her mount. Bri and Oraeus followed behind them, slightly to her right so Bri would have a clean line of fire into the enemy camp.

Shaya spotted the shadows of her friends as the other three climbed the western hill she and Ren had initially scouted from. The pair of angelic beacons Bri had summoned blinked brightly twice as they scouted ahead. Each one a glowing rune surrounded by fire, like miniature suns the size of a small bird.

"The enemy is prepared for us!" Bri shouted over the thundering hooves and scraping claws.

"And looking to fight!" The same rust-red vulture from before flew past them, releasing its own hoarse, raspy shriek. In response, a volley of arrows soared towards them.

"That damn bird is a familiar!" Shaya shouted.

"Kill the vulture!" Bri commanded her pair of beacons. They seemed to roar to life, flames going from deep red to a searing white as they shot toward the vulture. Hail upon hail of arrows fell upon the mages, a discordant variety skipping off or shattering against Shaya's barrier. A few looked military grade, but most had crooked shafts and sharpened wooden tips rather than proper bodkins. While most of the arrows didn't even dent her barrier, the few with iron heads sent cracks spider-webbing across it.

Shaya hoped they didn't have many more of those, since the spell was neither simple nor cheap to cast at its current scale. In the skies above, Bri's beacons danced with the enemy's vulture. Despite the skill of her summoned creatures and the vulture's gangly appearance, it fought with surprising ferocity and skill.

It escaped their attempts to pin it down with slow-firing lances of light and, though on the defensive, one of her beacons even dropped from the air suddenly, melting into the aetherplasm it was formed of in her plane of existence and leaving behind the arrow that had broken its inner rune and slain it. That's not in the path of the volley fire, so one of their elite archers must have picked it off, Shaya thought, processing the information quickly. Hitting a bird mid-flight is no easy shot.

"I've got the vulture," Samorn said, whistling an invocation and casting a spell in half the time it would have taken Shaya. Seconds later, an inky-black bird with the hideous head of a giant mosquito shot from a small rent in reality, small wings humming as it climbed towards the aerial duel. The strange fae bird moved fast for its size, the enemy vulture double-taking as it noticed the new threat.

That allowed Bri's remaining beacons to singe one of its wings, but the larger creature managed to flutter away before the beacon could put it down. It turned its attention to the incoming bird, easily a quarter its own size, and its long neck extended like a lunging snake, hoping to crush the new threat before it could do anything. Rather than try to dodge, the strange bird flared its wings out to brake its ascent. As it did so, there was a blast of prismatic light from the inside of its wings.

The vulture, mid-lunge, couldn't turn away, taking the flash directly and screeching in pain as its senses were overloaded. It started to tumble through the air, but before it lost more than a few feet of altitude the small bird shot forward and burrowed its proboscis into the vulture's body. Given the sheer size of that mosquito-bird-thing, Shaya doubted the vulture would hit the ground with any blood left in it. She shuddered at the thought and made a mental note to ask Samorn about that nightmare later.

With the enemy familiar taken care of, however, she focused on her own summon spells, which she'd need for the next stage of her plan. Meanwhile, the storm of arrows continued as the Lance closed in, Shaya's barrier hanging together by threads. She could make out the enemy camp clearly now, the tents and belongings all packed. The five Fraxraptors watched the charging group with curiosity and hunger, each held in check by their two riders, while two dozen ragged-looking archers lined up in front of them.

The riders looked to be the elites of the cult, clad in leather lamellar armour beneath their heavy cloaks and wielding actual iron weapons: the front riders with spears and the rear riders with the traditional short bows of Asharel.

"We need to slow down the archers," Shaya said, wincing as she pushed more aether into the spell to keep it up, but knowing she couldn't repair at this rate.

"Is it time, then?" Samorn asked.

"It is," Shaya replied with a smile.

"Commit the reserves!"