Stolen Spells and Timely Blows
Twenty-Fifth Day of the Tenth Month 293 AC
When Rina had first sworn herself into service of King Viserys and understood the sort of service that would be expected of her, she had been concerned that she could not fight without the voices in the dark commanding her, that she would be overcome with fear or horror, unable to use the knowledge and the power torn free of
Their grasp. In truth, fear was the easiest of all emotions to submerge in the cold currents of her soul. The breathing slowed to an even whisper, the flush of blood calmed. She did not fear death, for she knew there were far worse fates more deserving of terror.
And so battle raged, Korizon taking to the air through tainted sky beside the elder dragons. Spellfire and vitriol rained down from those upon the ships of the Brazen Throne, even as dragon-slaying bolts arched in their wake and for a time it was all Rina could to to heal them before they were overwhelmed, but with every pass of the dragons, every curse by the Lady of Naath, the dragon slayer weapons were silenced more and more, beyond the power of the mages on deck to mend. Rina turned her eyes to the battle bellow...
A score of the crew upon the third ship were working with a purpose to erect some sort of arcane circle upon the deck just as the Wyverns came screaming in for their second pass. They would never live to see it done. Rina proclaimed upon them doom and watched as slaves compelled to fight were consumed by the
frozen light she had conjured in their midst, slain alongside their captors.
The guilt, too, Rina could bear. She had seen the scars upon the flanks of the peaceful leviathans of the Sea of Flame, and the had heard the mournful songs that commemorated the lost, the scars that would not heal yet only the smallest part of the lives and souls the cruelty of the Brazen Throne had cost.
Even as the Shaitan worm ships were racing closer under the battering of main Efreeti launchers, one of the last remaining intact masts tumbled down. Lady Samira had cast it down upon the heads of the trio of Efreeti sorcerers she had been dueling. There was no trace of the soft spoken scholar who had introduced her to Alyn left in the eyes as she floated above the battlefield upon a storm wind of her own conjuring. Lighting danced and thunder sang, drowning out the screams of the dying.... and whatever words of sorcery were spoken on the decks below. Rina did not need to hear to know that magic had been worked upon her. Suddenly she could feel the scorching heat of the wasteland, a dozen wards and more torn from her... no
stolen. She could see them on the wind, a luminous mist being drawn somewhere in the chaotic decks below.
Alas, she was not the only one to take note of the wards falling. Two balls of roiling flame roared into being from three different mages, or more likely three different wands. One was caught by an elemental near at hand, but though Vee motioned desperately to banish the second the magic proved too strong... until that was the lady of the Djinn took note with one motion she did not merely snuff out the fire but cast it back whence it came.
Still gasping for breath in the fiery air and thankful her flight had not been stolen Rina flew higher to reach the Djinn sorceress, even as she uttered a spell to heal herself, not even caring for the moment that it was the cold touch of the grave that healed her. "Where did that come from?" she asked urgently.
"I did not see child, your enemy is rather skilled at skulking..." The answer tailed off as Amrelath swooped upon the fourth ship in the line, tearing apart all before him until the deck ran red with blood and the broken bodies of the slain rained overboard like twisted offerings. "I suspect he saw."
But had he killed the mage, or just driven him away? Rina wondered as the worm ships at last struck the Efreeti, ships one of them outright capsizing from the blow. The battle may be in their favor, but it was not yet won.
OOC: Next up will be the hunt for the mage. Rina does not know this, but Amrelath did indeed destroy the second skull. Not yet edited.
