Alchimia Rex

“Get away!”

Eva barely had time to glance over at Embla as the Malumari clutched her head, toppling over with a scream. At first, Eva had thought someone was attacking them; the lack of blood or any other visual indicator betrayed a potential psychic. But that too was discarded when the ebon-skinned maiden slowly rose to her feet, her eyes wild.

“I… Barry is in danger…” She muttered, rising to her full six-foot height; her silver eyes had a dangerous glint in them.

The handful of knights and Orcs that had been assigned to ‘keep them contained’ exchanged glances. Those of the tribe moved closer to Eva, while the others drew their weapons.

“Embla, whatever’s going on–”

"Knights, push! Rescue the humans!" Deneva commanded from the heart of the camp.

Embla tensed, her eyes darting over at the knights first, then at Eva. “I will hurt you,” she growled, her eyes full of barely-contained wrath, yet her attention remained entirely on the knights.

A chill ran down the Vampire’s back; her first instinct had been to make a run for it, to escape here and now before she was crushed. There was no way she could survive in a fight, let alone win. However, the oddity of the situation didn’t make sense, and it compelled her to stay. Something was happening to Embla, something…

“It’s the bond?” she spoke. “Barry’s… something’s affecting him directly, and–”

“NO!” Embla’s attention turned to Eva, lunging at the Vampire with curled fists.

Eva raised her arms.

The next moment, she was sprawled on the ground, three Orcs surrounding her, shields raised, providing a canopy of protection. “Wuh?” The Vampire struggled to her feet and nearly fell over. Her jaw ached something fierce; the world was spinning.

“It was a beautiful punch,” one of the Orcs laughed, offering her a free hand.

Eva didn’t hesitate, leaning forward to pierce through the thick skin, taking a long gulp of the earthy nectar. It was rich in energy, but paled in comparison to its taste mere weeks ago—most likely from prolonged time without direct sunlight.

“What’s the plan, Little Spear?”

“I’m not…” Eva pulled back. “What’s the situation?”

“Metal-heads are losing against Embla, it seems. We’d bring you back to the others, but the Father warned us that doing so might anger the people he’s trying to befriend.”

Of course, they’d call the Malumari by name.

Eva dismissed the thought, looking around to take in the situation. The knights had made their move towards and into the palace; the squadron had clearly been selected for their capabilities in close-quarters combat. There were no Valkyries that she could see, and judging by their size, the bulk of their forces was some combination of Hounds and Pitbelles, something that could operate without much fear of disruption from a Dark Elf.

As was to be expected from a Royal Knight, Captain Deneva had built the squadron with a specific opponent in mind. It was standard procedure for any self-respecting force to ensure that one’s own forces exploited weaknesses in those of their opponents. This also happened to be the reason why knights went to such lengths to make it hard to recognize what species of maiden they were.

“And the Father?” she asked.

“With the Chieftess. He could’ve called for help but has not. We think things might be going better over there.”

Eva had to trust that the knights and the tribe would fulfill their goals and get the situation under control. It was one of the simpler facts of noble life that deference to the strategy of one’s superior was paramount.

Rick’s plan involved Embla and Eva not being a problem. They had to stop Embla.

“We help the knights. Something’s going on with Embla’s bond, and she needs to be restrained,” Eva declared, straightening out and licking her lips clean as she glanced at the three Orcs. “I can assist on my own, but it would be better with your help.”

The trio exchanged looks, their eager grins showing gleaming tusks.

“And no using the Father’s tools. Those are for an emergency.”

The enthusiasm died down ever so slightly.

"Just keep an eye upwards. We’ve seen a few of the weaker bunch getting picked off by those freaky arrows," the Orc she'd drunk from stated, lowering her shield as they turned towards Embla.

The maiden was embroiled in a fight with five knights. They weren't attempting to surround her; instead, they kept themselves between the Malumari and the palace, spread out so they could intercept any of the possible routes. Their reach was extended by their weapon of choice: metal polearms.

Eva could taste something electric in the air, and judging by how Embla put so much effort into preventing contact with the rods, it became apparent the knights had some familiarity with elemental electricity.

Pitbelles, then—one of the paths of ascension for a Doggirl, albeit one requiring the maiden to be infused with an abundance of the pertaining electric energy. Most Doggirls that became knight-trainees would eventually ascend into a Pitbelle. Unlike Hound or Terrielle, th ePitbelle could be prompted through outside resources. The Lightning-dome Lord Thorley had built in Sinco was the distillation of that process pushed to the extreme. Created solely for the purpose of pushing a maiden into the very limits of what they could become… or endure.

She pushed the distraction away, focusing on the fight, trying to think of some way they might be able to help. Eva was no general, but being familiar with how maidens fought was the bread and butter of any noble’s upbringing.

The first thing that became obvious was that they couldn’t just charge in. Embla was pushing back the knights, clearly stronger than any two of them put together, but their coordination was fluid enough to compensate for that abysmal gap. The other factor to their advantage was that the Malumari wasn't looking for a fight but to rush through.

Whatever was happening to her bond was clearly affecting her capacity for rational thought. Eva couldn't imagine why she'd keep pushing like this rather than re-evaluate and ruthlessly crush the knights one at a time.

A plan quickly formed.

"How good are you at strengthening your bodies with stone energy?" she asked the trio.

"You’re asking an Orc how good they are at being Orcs," they chuckled.

Eva nodded. "Then our better option for helping is for you to try to put yourselves between the knights and Embla," she pointed ahead. "Specifically, to try to grapple. But the electric element will shock you as well."

"That’s it? Then we have nothing else to do but fight!"

There was no more that needed to be said; the trio slung their shields to their backs and approached the fight, looking for an opportunity to slip in. Eva had an easier time at this, using the shadows to emerge slightly behind Embla.

The maiden barely even spared her a glance. There was an overwhelming feeling of… insignificance. Both of them knew she could not pose much of a direct threat; the gulf in experience and skill was too vast.

For now, words were all she had. "Whatever’s happening to Barry, we have a healer. Dia’s the likeliest option available since she’s familiar with the Pinielf’s parasites."

Embla didn’t answer, launching herself at the knights again. She twisted and turned, hastily slapping away the electrified poles thrust her way. Eva could sense some disruption going on, a momentary flash of power that overwhelmed and removed the knight’s own energy. It was within this split second that she would slap the poles away, safe from their paralyzing effect.

The demonstration of skill was impeccable.

But while she was powerful and skilled, she was no Monica. Embla’s style of combat relied on using either brutal strength or her impeccable timing to overwhelm her enemy. It was meant to quickly dispatch opponents and was likely at its strongest against a singular target.

In Eva's eyes, Embla had been trained to be the perfect counter against a Champion that was heavily reliant on elemental energy rather than physical prowess.

That same specialization made her less capable at handling many foes at the same time. The five knights had been doing their damndest to exploit this, offsetting their attacks by fractions of a second to guarantee that even if Embla disrupted them, each blow would carry its own threat.

One managed to land a charged blow, and Embla’s whole body stuttered.

The next instant, a pulse of power sheathed the maiden, blasting outwards as she launched herself away from the knights. It was the perfect opportunity for the Orcs to move in, chasing after the Malumari.

“You don’t need to fight; they will have the situation under control!” Eva called out, keeping her distance, waiting. Clearly, this behavior was not brought up out of fear of Barry’s death, yet it wasn’t wholly her own either.

Again, Embla didn’t answer. The maiden snarled like a wild animal. Unlike with the knights, she took the Orcs more seriously. Whenever one of them got close, she’d rush to narrow the distance and hammer them with enough power to shove them away.

She was holding back, which was a good sign.

“Whatever Barry’s feeling, you can block it. The bond isn’t—”

“I don’t care!” Embla roared, moving with more determination, meeting the next Orc not by trying to avoid the grapple but by pummeling the maiden’s arms, entirely uncaring of the hardened body and shattering the bones. “If I wait any longer, the bond…”

When one of the knights pushed in with a thrust of their polearm, Embla grappled the weapon and let out a wave of power, a blast that had an almost physical presence and made Eva jump backward in fear. The knights didn’t hesitate; all four others threw in their attacks. Yet the Malumari did not let go, gritting her teeth as her body spasmed from the shocks running through her from five different maidens.

Another roar, a second blast that disrupted the elemental energy of the other maidens, provided Embla the split second she needed to kick the knight away while retaining the polearm for herself.

All combatants paused; the Orc with a broken arm had gotten back up, calmly placing the limb back into position while her sisters tightened their stances.

“Then help us,” Eva called out, hesitating. Embla was getting serious now. “The sooner we get Barry safe—”

“STOP TALKING LIKE YOU’RE ONE OF THEM!” Embla’s roar brought with it an opportunity for the others; the knights jumped in, pushing an assault while the Orcs corralled her, blocking out most paths for her to dodge.

Most paths but up.

Pole in hand, Embla thrust down to the ground, launching herself above her attackers. The knights instantly pulled back and began to thrust upwards to take full advantage of the new situation. Airborne targets had a harder time maneuvering; there were ways to get around that, though. Embla twisted herself, swinging the weapon like a counter-ballast.

Suddenly erratic, another burst of power was followed by a downward swing at the unarmed knights. There was too much strength in that blow; however, blocking would be suicidal, and the maiden lunged out of the way. The polearm hammered against the ground, its tip embedded in the soil.

Eva realized what was about to happen and leapt forward, materializing next to the weapon and kicking it away before Embla could use it to launch herself past the knights.

One of the knights took advantage of Embla's instability to knock her down to the ground, where the Orcs quickly moved in to collectively pin her in place. It was a hard, messy process; the Malumari was physically stronger than any single maiden there, but not more than all of them together. Eva approached, fully intent on draining the maiden of some of her blood, and energy, to make this easier.

“No matter how hard you try, you will never be one of them!” Embla screamed, her silver eyes full of anger, hate, and desperation pinning Eva in place. “Stop acting like the noble that you’re not!”

The accusation startled her, and Eva took half a step back. “I’m a maiden,” she declared. There was no hesitation in the statement, nor the lingering regret that those words had held a few months prior. “I’m not acting—”

“Can you even sense it? The knights do; they know,” Embla laughed, a sound equal parts bitter and amused. “They know your human is being targeted by the Golden Elves right now. And where are you?” She snarled. “You’re here playing pet to the very people who would execute you without a second thought.”

In that instant, several things happened at the same time.

It was like a fire had burst into existence within Eva; her pupils narrowed into pinpricks, her blood turning to ice. Eyes glowing in a bloody glow shifted from Embla to one of the knights, peering straight into the darkness of the Pitbelle’s helm.

The maiden flinched.

That was all the confirmation she needed.

One of the knights tried to say something, but by the time the first words rang out, Eva had already leapt into the shadows.