Chapter 65 – Three Magical Voids in a row

As soon as they finished breakfast, Okami melted the three rooms to the ground, and she then did the same with the shelter. The suns bathed their faces, and Alex blinked a few times to get used to the extra light.

When the horses were saddled again and Ghar had the reins of the horses of the carriage, Anika sat next to her and spoke to the women inside from the half-opened small window, “Try to relax, everything will be just fine.”

The Princess was holding the hand of her maid and said, in a worried tone, “You say that because it’s not you that they are after…”

Anika frowned and said, “What are you saying? Those men are targeting all of us to get to you. It’s not only you in danger. In fact, you are the one that will be peacefully inside this carriage, and we will do all the fighting. So, as I said, relax and don’t worry. We got this.”

Anika closed the small window and made a slight smile towards Ghar, who was frowning while holding the reins. The moment James Macdonald gave the signal, she made the horses walk, and then trot when they reached the main road again.
For almost two hours, the horses trotted, and when the shadow of the weird group could be seen in the prairie from afar, James Macdonald signalled the others to slow down, and they made the horses walk along the main road, towards the vast prairie.
As they were approaching, Alex stopped his horse and waited for the carriage that was at the back of the group.

He then escorted the carriage with his hood covering half his face, and the Princess looked at him through the window and asked, “Earl Alex, are you going to stay at the back with us? Not that I am complaining, but won’t they miss you at the front?”

“The name is Mister Alex, Miss Ebell. Let’s drop the titles for this voyage because we don’t need to attract too much attention. You are supposed to travel in secrecy to Bouria to avoid attacks from criminals, but if you keep on calling me Earl, and we call you Princess, the secret will be out the window.”

The Princess slowly nodded, but the lady’s maid peeked out the window when the Princess returned to her seat and complained, “I don’t agree with wanting to address the Princess without her title! It’s not right!”

“You don’t say! Do you want to be responsible for an assassination attempt or a kidnap if the wrong people find out who she is? What a nice lady’s maid you are indeed. Are you sure you don’t work for a group that wants her dead?”

The maid turned pale and stuttered, “I… w-would never betray the Princess… I h-have been with her since I was eight years old… it’s just… I thought… I am sorry…”

The maid returned to her seat in silence, and the Princess tried to comfort her. Since it was futile, the Princess looked through the window again with a frown. “You didn’t need to be so harsh! She was only concerned!”

“She was being a brat, and I don’t like brats. She needs to think before speaking, like you, Miss Ebell. Go to your seat. You keep on appearing, and even if that group is still distant, they can see your head and aim an arrow when we are near enough. And be quiet. You are distracting me and disturbing my Magic. I can’t lose focus right now.”

The Princess returned to her seat and went silent while holding the hands of her trembling maid. After nearly fifteen minutes that looked to Princess Ebell like an hour had passed, everyone heard Shinatobe shouting, “Everyone get ready! I sense a disturbance in the wind! A Magical Void is going to appear!”

Seconds later, James Macdonald gulped at the appearance of not one, but two big Magical Voids on the ground, about halfway from the group that was expecting them.
From them, a huge horde of Monsters came running and flying, made of almost twenty Harpies and dozens upon dozens of Goblins. James Macdonald glanced at the full-grown Shinatobe, who was fully equipped in her battle armour and with the visor of her helmet hiding her features, side by side with Kagu-tsuchi, with his red armour, shield, and spear.

Shinatobe raised both arms, pointing at the flock of Harpies and shouted, “Kagu-tsuchi, with me! Everyone else, take down the Goblins! Don’t let them approach!”

Shinatobe sent a Wind Blade straight to the middle of the flock of Harpies, with Kagu-tsuchi surrounding them with a ring of fire. While they were distracted by the surrounding fire, the Wind Blade cut them all into two pieces that fell on the path of the Goblins, making a few stumbling and delaying their run.
Suijin and Okami paired up with James Macdonald and Bethany Mathews, and a continuous wave of Magic attacks made of Water Blades and rolling Balls of Rock, killed the Goblins before they had time to throw even a rock from the ground or one of their wooden spears.
Shinatobe faced the dumbfounded group ahead, completely taken by surprise with the swiftness the Monsters were dealt with, and she shouted while making her horse to trot ahead and signalling the others behind to follow her, “Is this the best you can do, Dark Mage? Bring it on, I can do this all day!”

While two of the Dark Mages were touching a handful of small Magic Orbs they had in the inner pocket of their cloak, Commander Sebastian Cox turned to the Mage that was acting as the leader. “What now? Do we charge ahead and you and your friends take care of protecting us from their Spells?”

The Dark Mage clenched his teeth and spoke in a hoarse voice, full of anger, “No, I have a better idea. I was hoping to save this for another occasion, but it seems I must play all my cards right now, or we will lose everything that I worked so hard for!”

He took a few steps forward and shouted while reaching for his inner pocket, “You don’t need to do anything, you annoying woman, because in a few moments you will all be dead!”

Before the scared faces of his partners in crime, the Dark Mage summoned a gigantic Void a few metres from them, and a huge horde of Goblins exited, running straight ahead to Shinatobe and her group, with a few dozens of Goblins looking back at the Void in fear.
Alex frowned, not because of the number of Goblins, but because they seemed to be running away from something. Then, everything became clear. Almost one hundred Orcs came from the Magical Void, a few on foot, and most of them riding Armoured Boars. The Orcs looked around confused, but they continued on their run after the Goblins, killing the ones nearest and continuing ahead, trying to catch the others that were running towards a dumbfounded Shinatobe.

From the carriage, Miss Olive’s voice shouted, and her voice overlapped the noise of the Goblins screeching and the Boars hooves, “Everyone stop! Ghar says to help the Orcs and kill the Goblins! She knows the Orcs and the Goblins are the enemies!”

Shinatobe frowned and shouted back, “You heard her take down the Goblins! Ghar, come here right now! We need your help with those Orcs!”

Ghar jumped to the floor and made a loud growl while Miss Olive was coming out of her necklace and the tiny ball of light flew to Shinatobe, increasing its size.
The full battle form of Miss Olive appeared in a dark shining helmet with two pointy horns. A dark chest plate, a short leather skirt, dark leather boots that ended in metal protectors on the knees, and the gauntlets with the small crossbow on the right wrist. A huge sword on the left hand stuck on the soil, completed the scary sight. Shinatobe made a slight smile because it had been a long time since she saw Olive looking like that, ready for battle.
Okami’s Armoured Boar was trotting behind the carriage, and he immediately answered Ghar’s call. She mounted as he was running past her, without even stopping, and in seconds, Ghar was next to Shinatobe, who was sending Wind Blades after Wind Blades against the Goblins that were dying by the dozens, leaving on the ground body parts and blood, while making sure her magic attacks didn’t reach the Orcs by creating a thick Wind Wall in front of them, making the Orcs pull the reins of their Boars to make them stop before hitting the Wall.
Kagu-tsuchi, Suijin, James Macdonald, and Bethany Mathews joined Shinatobe at the front, and in mere seconds, the last Goblin died with a scream.

Shinatobe dispersed the Wind Wall and said, “Ghar, your turn! If they make a suspicious movement, they will die.”

To be sure that Ghar understood her, Shinatobe made a signal with her index finger on her neck, and Ghar nodded. She kicked the sides of the Armoured Boar and trotted ahead to meet the huge group of Orcs while the Dark Mages and Commander Sebastian Cox were looking at her, completely dumbfounded by the easiness with which the Goblins were dealt with, and wondering why the Orcs weren’t attacked.
The Orcs made a few low growls, and Ghar stopped the Boar at ten metres away and took off her hood. She made a loud growl, and the Orcs growled back while bumping their right fists on their chests, surprised and happy to see her.

Olive was looking at Ghar and spoke while squeezing the hilt of her sword, “Ghar is greeting them and telling them to stand down.”

Shinatobe frowned and asked while gathering Magic on both hands, “What are they saying? They keep on growling back and forth and some seem to be smiling?”

Olive Andrews raised one eyebrow. “It seems I can still understand them with the link I have with Ghar. Those Orcs are from her mother’s clan, and they have known her since she was a baby! She is pointing at us and telling them how she got here. Wait… something is wrong.”

One enormous and muscular Orc came from the middle of the group and stood in front of Ghar. He dismounted his Boar and Ghar did the same. He took a few steps forward and growled at Ghar, looking annoyed. Ghar was shaking her head and pointing at the group behind her.

Shinatobe clenched her fists full of Magic and asked, “What’s the matter? Who is that guy?”

“It seems he is Ghar’s distant cousin, and he is not happy with Ghar, who is telling him they are safe. He keeps on ordering her to kneel and recognise him as her leader, and Ghar refuses because she is the next in line to be the leader of her Clan, and he should be the one kneeling. It seems to be a power struggle of some sort. Ghar is telling me this is normal, and that the others already recognised her as their leader. He is the one that is fearing losing the leadership of that group of Orcs.”

Suddenly, the huge Orc made a run while lifting the sword he was carrying, and Ghar reacted immediately. She took one of her short swords from the sheaths at her waist and threw it at him while running ahead and taking one of the long swords from the sheaths on her back.
The Orc grabbed the short sword in mid-air, only to be surprised by a downward slash from Ghar’s sword that cut him in half. She picked up her short sword and used it to remove the Magical Orb from the Orc’s chest. She then faced the surprised group of Orcs and pointed her long sword at them while growling. The ones that were on foot immediately kneeled, and the ones still mounted on the Armoured Boars dismounted and kneeled as well.
A loud growl echoed as they all greeted Ghar, who was looking at them solemnly. She then nodded and signalled for them to follow her.

Shinatobe asked, with a bit of surprise in her voice, “Is she… bringing them to us?”

Olive gave a big smile. “Yes, they will join us and help against that group ahead. I bet those Dark Mages are pissing in their pants right now!”