Chapter 40: Choking Air

Note: Thanks to WRC 264 for beta reading this!

Aingeal – Princedom of Kivoneth, The Strifelands of Zeutch

The Abjuration spirits danced around me, darting through the air, leaving streaks of purple, coated in the aura of my will. They slammed into the magic rippling off Shevoin that was trying to kill us. The wicker body of the feyhound creaked as Ava maneuvered us, dodging around the ground rumbling beneath our feet.

Shevoin faced us with a face twisted in concentration. He brimmed with magic. He drank more of those vials of pussy juices, fueling his power, creating a vast reservoir of magical energy to throw at us. The wind slammed down at us. The earth burst up to grab us. Fire sparked in the air. Water formed into spikes of ice to find me.

I sent blasts of evocation spirits at him, forming beams of purple death lancing at him, stabbing at him from different directions. He defended himself. Bursts of rocks ripped out of the ground absorbed the energy, or air solidified into solid blocks of frigid gas. Dust and steam billowed through the air.

Shevoin’s magic seized a rising gout of steam generated by my last attack. He channeled his power into the clouds and swept the hot vapor at us. He sought to wrap us up in superheated air and set alight the wicker body of the feyhound.

“What are we going to do? asked Princess Ava as she darted the feyhound’s body to the right.

“Keep trying to kill him, I shouted back into the shared soul. Ava trembled against mine. She writhed about me, clutching to my own spirit.

We darted forward. She leaped over ground that was bursting up with stone spikes. Wind whipped down at us, slashing at our fey body. I sent my abjuration spirits to slam into his control of the air, disrupting his magic. His face clenched.

A different power surged into us. Something new.

Immediately, our wicker body spasmed. Ava gasped as the wood creaked. She lost control of our body as Shevoin soared backward, using wind to carry himself away from our hurtling body. He settled on the ground as we crashed hard into the earth, limbs spasming. It was life magic assaulting the wicker body. He was attacking the enhancement spirits holding the woven wood together.

I snarled while Ava whimpered, her soul brimming with concentration. I seized more enhancement spirits, dragging the green orbs down at our body. They surged into the wicker body, strengthening the bonds holding us together. Blue abjuration spirits crashed into the life magic attacking my body. Our legs twitched.

Shevoin’s face twisted in anger as we rose, Ava back in control of her body.

Frustrated, I fired a beam of evocation death at him. He ripped up another shield of earth. I hated this. We were at a stalemate. We couldn’t get to him. We couldn’t harm him. It took too much of my power to stop his magic. I couldn’t keep attacking him and defending us, but he couldn’t overcome us.

I snarled in anger.

Zanyia

I yowled in delight as I darted among the soldiers. They scrambled around, clinking in the slow armor, their horses snorting and neighing. My katars punched and slashed. Blood spurted in crimson streaks. It filled the air with that coppery tang. I darted beneath a stallion. I slammed my weapon into its belly. It whinnied in pain, throwing its rider to the ground. He crashed in a clattering pile. I landed on him.

He gurgled as my katar ripped from his throat.

My ears twitched as I leaped straight up in the air. My tail slashed behind me, turning me, letting me witness the battlefield. The soldiers were in disarray, half down or dying, others broken and shattered.

“That’s right!” I shouted. I let out a chortle of delight.

The air crackled nearby. The black-robed mage dueled with Ava’s feyhound. Purple energy clashed into magic. Stone burst out of the ground and spikes of ice appeared out of empty air to slam down at them.

My eyes narrowed. The mage’s back was to me. A smile grew across my lips as I descended back to the ground. The soldiers were routed. It was time to help out my family. My legs bent. I landed on the blood-smeared ground without making a sound.

In a low crouch, I stalked my newest prey.

Sven Falk

The hill burned around me as Prince Meinard pinned me to the ground. His pincers dug at my armor, struggling to penetrate the black leather. I growled, feeling the pressure, pain swelling across my chest. I had to do something. I snarled, the power of my armor filling my limbs. I reached out to seize shadows and...

I grabbed smoke.

So much poured around me. Thick and black. It swirled in currents of boiling air. The pain grew. My ribs creaked. The smoke flowed at me. It was like shadows staining the wind. It swirled down at us, drawn from the flames. I slammed it into Prince Meinard’s face. He had to breathe. Right?

I could choke him.