Behind enemy walls

Aurelia

They looked similar to the ones we faced on the field, but also different somehow. There was no light here to illuminate them, they looked like black blobs. Mixed within, there were ones that looked like sea creatures. Strange arms waved around one of them. They were frightening to behold. In the dark they were even more terrifying.

“We go at the same time. Kairios make sure that no signals are sent. Keep the water away from me. The rest of us will kill them. There are eight. Be quick take as many as you can, no noise, no light.” My orders came firm and fast.

I readied myself for the jump down. It was about six feet down from the last ledge. It was a wonder that they hadn't noticed us yet. I drew my sword, checked that the others were ready and jumped. I landed right behind one of the sea creatures, unnoticed until my impact alerted it. The creature had giant claws for hands and a hard shell for a body. My sword cut through like he was paper.

I moved onto the next one, in the dark it looked like it was made up of black water. Its arm lashed out at me and something black and slimy shot out and grabbed my sword arm! I grabbed my knife from my belt and cut the slimy tether from me. Whatever was coated on it left a burn. I could feel my skin melting away.

There was no time to do anything about it right now, I still had a demon I needed to kill. I spun my knife so that the blade ran along my forearm and held my sword with one hand ready. It was heavy to hold one handed and the burn didn’t help, but I had so much fire running through me that I moved without flaw regardless of the pain.

It tried to grab me again with those poisoned tethers but I danced around them and lifted my sword high before I brought it down in a fake out then twisted my arm and drove it up and into the chest of the demon. I screamed as I drove my blade in deeper and grinned at its pained face. “Die.” I breathed to it.

It splashed to the ground leaving a body that I refused to look at. I surveyed the area and saw that the others had finished off their opponents as well. I walked up to Saira saw that she had a burn across her cheek similar to the one on my arm. I wanted to lift my arm to touch her wound but she stepped back from me.

“The sea weed is poisoned.” She told me. “That was louder than it should have been. We need to hide these bodies and move.”

She was right about the bodies. If the noise was going to draw attention, hiding the evidence might help delay them further. I grabbed the now human body of the one demon I had slain. I couldn’t look at how they had turned back into the very people I was trying to save. It was cruel to think that I was the one who brought death to them.

The bodies were hidden in a dark alley behind a large bin for garbage. I hated having to hide them there and even more so when we covered them with some of the garbage. It was all for the peace, I hoped I would be forgiven. Let these be the last crimes against me.

We moved at a crouch, slow like shadows. Saira took the lead and hugged the wall as she led us through her home town. The buildings were empty from what I could tell. There were no sounds from the inside, no lights in the windows I dared to peer into. What was going on here? Where were the citizens?

Sounds could be heard from the larger streets. Sounds of marching or other movements, no words were spoken. I realized suddenly that the air no longer smelled of burnt ground or dead bodies. There was no smell at all! It was hard to explain and made no sense. I wanted to ask Saira what it meant but could not disturb the silence we were trying to maintain.

The door we were about to cross over suddenly burst open and we all stopped dead. I stopped breathing and my heart skipped a few beats. Something dark started to ooze out of the doorway. Red and orange began to glow from underneath as it moved forward.

The movement wasn’t fluid like the water demons. It was thicker and chunky. At the same time we started to take a step back to round the corner behind Galorian to remain unnoticed. A rock on the ground had other plans for us and when my foot knocked it to roll across the ground. A terrifying face shot around the corner and looked right at us.

We had been found, the spell Saira cast to keep us hidden had not worked. This creature knew to look for us, knew that I was still alive. He would know I was here, Zephyrus. Maybe he already did. The creatures mouth opened wide and a black cloud shot out towards us. Saira waved her arms and shouted as she cast a protection spell, but it wasn’t in time to stop all of the ash cloud.

I was third in our little line. Kairios was before me and covered by most of the shield, a small part of his arm was scorched by the heat of the cloud that passed by. The cloud seemed to come right for me. I knew I could stand the heat so I threw myself in front of Galorian. I had to protect what was mine!

I used my knife as a shield and covered my face. The heat of the ash cloud was more than I expected! It was all I could do to keep my arm up and not scream in pain. Then the cloud started to clear, I looked at my exposed flesh and saw that I was burned. The skin was red and in some places, purple or black. These demons were stronger than the others we had faced on the battle field.

I had to keep moving, it was the only way to get passed the pain. I couldn’t make out the sight before me, my vision was blurry from the tears in my eyes. Saira and Kairios worked together and used their magic to fight the demon. Blue light filled the street, flowing from Saira’s hands. I stumbled back into Galorian and watched as they killed it.

Saira had worked as many spells into his sword as she had mine. The blade had no issue cutting through the thick crust that was its flesh. “It burns.” I whimpered.

“You saved me.” He whispered back.

The beast fell and Saira spun looking for me. When she saw me leaning back against Galorian, she drew her crystal and rushed over to me. “I’ll heal you!” She repeated three times.

“What are you worried about?” I asked. “I have been in worse shape before. This is nothing.”

While it was the truth, my body had survived far worse than this. I was relieved when the pain subsided at her touch. Her magic washed over me, warming when it found my wounds. “Thank you.” I sighed.

“We have to move, now. Others will have surely heard that.”Kairios warned us.

He moved first, Saira followed and I went behind her. I could feel the heat off of Galorian's body close behind me. We were almost at a run, half bent over trying to keep to the shadows. The ground started to rumble under our feet. The sensation reminded of when we saw the earth type demons on our way here.

“Faster!” I hissed.

Kairios stood and started to run. Windows and doors flashed by us as our feet padded against the ground. We ran until the rumbling was far enough behind us that Kairios started to slow. He peered into a window, didn’t like what he saw and peered into another. The windows were all dark on this building. I looked up at the sign and saw that it was once an apothecary.

He went and tried the door handle to find it locked. He started to turn away from it when Galorian stepped forward. “I can pick the lock.” He said pulling out a small bundle from one of his many pockets.

He stood before the handle and used whatever tools he had. Soon we all heard the click and the door swung open. We filed inside and closed the door. “Check upstairs, make sure no one is here.” I ordered before I went to the back of the building and looked through the back window.

I could see the castle from here. I had no idea where we were, how far we had run. “We are closer.” Saira said from behind me.

“Yes, we are. I think he knows we are here. There's something odd in the air that I can't explain.”

“If he knows we are here then why hasn’t he sent his legion after us? Why have we been allowed to walk the streets without seeing them?”

“True. The first ones were just a guard standing under us. The other one wasn’t even looking for us, until I drew its attention.”

“My spell failed us.” She admitted.

I looked at her and saw something like defeat on her face. “It doesn’t matter. I am sure we would have been in this mess at some point or another, even if it had worked.” As I said it, I knew it to be true.

“It's clear upstairs.” Kairios informed me when walking in behind us.

“There is a small storage in the basement, it's clear as well.” Galorian added.

“What are we doing?” Kairios asked me.

“I don’t know. We have to go there.” I said pointing at the castle through the window. “We are never going to make it through the city. If we keep trying to fight our way though, by the time we get there we will be too weak to fight him.”

“That has to be his plan.” Saira said.

“There is one other option.” Galorian cut in. “We fly there.” He said as if it was a simple solution.

“We will be seen. Those in the streets will attack us at the same time.” Kairios countered.

“We need a diversion. Set a building on fire, they should all head that way.”

“Then what? I fly over to the castle and face Zephyrus alone?” I crossed my arms over my chest. I did not like this plan.

“No, you won't be alone. Two can set the blaze while you and I go to the castle. The others can then make their way across the city to meet us there.”

“How will they do that with the legion going after them? They will be in the same position as we are now.”

“I can delay the diversion. The fire can start small, give us some time to get away before it is noticed. Then we hide wait for them to pass us and then make our way to the castle.” Saira added.

“I don’t want to separate.” I admitted. I didn’t want to tell them that I was afraid.

“We have no choice. We have to split up.” Kairios said as he grabbed my hand. “I will keep us safe and see you there.”