Alchimia Rex

After Eva and Sheel handled the dead, Rick was given a rather unnerving piece of news: some of the militia had gone missing. None of them had been bonded, and none of them had so much as left a scent that Monica could track down. It was as if they had vanished into thin air. Even Eva had been confused by this. The only reason she could fathom as to why the Darktons might have gone to such lengths was to avoid having their defection caught.

That didn’t quite sit right with Rick, however, so he ordered interrogations of the families of those maidens using truth detection. If anything, he should make sure this hadn’t been preemptively planned.

As the day came to a close, the Darktons sent their cavalry and some helpers to pick up their dead. Their torches flickered in the night as they took several round-trips to clear everything up.

Monica was sent right after to make sure no foul play had been left behind.

She came back with even more unnerving news.

“Someone's watching Monica,” she’d proclaimed with a frown. “Sneaky.”

They were inside the "command room," a dug-out hole reinforced and tightly guarded, placed within the trench system itself.

“Sneaky how?” Rick asked, looking over the map that had been made of the whole area.

The feline shook her head. “Sneaky.” She shrugged, reaching over to the map and pointing at a spot west of the Darkton camp. “Here.”

The spot she'd pointed at had nothing but the odd tree or boulder and rolling hills as far as the eye could see. It was the sort of area where one could easily hide from anything that wasn’t airborne, and it was also an area where cavalry could rule supreme.

“Probably a trap,” Eva immediately piped up. “Monica is a threat they can’t readily ignore. If they can lure her out into an ambush, then that’d remove our strongest fighter.”

Rick’s lips pursed at that. “What are the chances the Darktons have a champion we don’t know about? Whatever brought down the Frostcaller was not on the list.”

The vampire hesitated, then grimaced. “It’s tricky. The thing that took down the feral could’ve only been a Draiga, but if there was one amongst their ranks, their strategy makes no sense.”

“It’s not helpful that the only Draiga you know of is a Royal Guard,” he rubbed the bridge of his nose. The Royal Guard were exclusively under the King’s command; just trying to think of the politics that might be involved was a headache. “For now, we’ll keep an eye out in case something tries to sneak close. How’s phase two going?”

Eva straightened up instantly. “The explosion caused several parts to collapse, but otherwise, we’ll be ready in three days.”

“Any news on Raphaella or Urtha?” By now, Urtha’s absence was starting to be suspicious. Rick knew for a fact she was still in the forest, and he could vaguely make out that she was moving in his general direction. But nothing else beyond that.

“Nothing yet,” she shook her head. “Rollo’s new weapons…”

“Yeah, yeah. Instruct the Horde, and give the update to the tribe,” Rick glared down at the map. “We need that air superiority gone, or this’ll get ugly.”

The second day after the first attack, the Darktons marched to battle once more. This time, they had begun their approach at the crack of dawn, so by the time they passed the halfway point, the sun was well and truly glaring at them from overhead. Their progress was slow, however, far slower than the first time. This was all because there was a maiden at the helm of their forces, one decked in the same light-blue murisium armor but wielding a staff that glowed every time she swung it. The details weren’t exactly easy to make out even with Rick’s hand-held telescope, but it was easy enough to connect the dots.

“That’s their Sorceress,” he recognized the first of their champions to step out front and center. “What is she doing?”

“I can’t recognize the spell. I’m assuming it’s to check her surroundings for explosives.”

Rick grew a little concerned. How far ahead and how deep could that spell see? The question gnawed at him as the Darktons kept getting closer and closer. But it wasn’t as if he could just take advantage of their slow progress—the cavalry and flyers were out in full force and would be upon them the instant they stepped out of the trenches.

“We should’ve made trebuchets.”

“A static siege weapon like that would’ve gotten destroyed by the flyers.”

“Yeah… yeah…”

The Sorceress came to a halt where the earth had been upturned from the explosions of the first assault, barely a kilometer from the camp. There, the knights around her spread into a circular formation. “A ritual, then.”

Somehow, Eva bristled at the claim. “Unlike Vampires, Sorceresses aren’t powerful ritualists.” Was that some jealousy he caught in her voice? “She’s going to attack us.”

“Well, she can try,” he straightened up. “Prepare to intercept!” He called out, feeling more than seeing the movement across the trenches.

The Sorceress’ staff began to take on a powerful blue glow, the air shimmering around her with heat. For a moment, Rick wondered how long she’d charge up, but after a minute she unleashed the attack, a singular arching sphere of shimmering blue. Its arch across the air was elegant and precise, but its trajectory was slower than the Orc-zookas by a fair margin.

It wasn’t aimed at him, either because he was too far or because he was never the target. Instead, it curved towards the spikes and ditches that cut the trenches off from the kill-zone.

Out of the trenches emerged a dozen Dark Elves, all of them pointing at the sphere. Their bodies shimmered a faint gray and then… the Sorceress’ attack was gone. The space it had occupied was flooded with brilliant blue a second later, spreading outwards like a shockwave.

The air tingled and felt humid against Rick’s skin.

And that was it.

Roars of laughter erupted from the tribe, voices echoing across the trenches.

“Somehow, I feel that was intentionally anticlimactic.”

Eva was tense. “That’s because they were testing for a response,” she muttered. “They’re going to deploy their Witches now, they’re preparing for long-range bombardment.”

Rick gazed up at the flying knights that kept themselves over the middle ground between the trenches and the Darkton army. They weren’t making any moves, but they were scattering, keeping lazy, wide circles. Were they trying to test whether he’d focus on them or the spellslingers?

True to Eva’s words, about forty or so maidens stepped out, joining the circle with the Sorceress. Each of them wielded a staff of their own, and they huddled into groups of four and five.

“Send the order to shoot four missiles at them. Make one of them a thermite missile.”

“Just four?” Eva asked in confusion.

“I doubt they’d have put their spellcasters front and center without a way to protect them. I don’t want to waste ammunition,” he commanded, and the Vampire left his shadow in a whisper.

As much as Rick would’ve preferred using the Tigermice to transmit orders, the telepathic nature of the bond was more about “feelings” than “words.” Thus, it had been deemed easier to focus on positive and negative feelings to indicate whether to push forward or pull back. There was the prospect of using Morse code or something similar, but for now, this was as far as they could get within the given timeframe.

Right as the Sorceress was preparing the next attack, the Orc-wood covers in several parts of the trench network were lifted, and four Orc-zookas took aim. Both sides launched their attacks simultaneously. Four missiles screamed onward from Rick’s end, while eleven arching spheres of power arched from the Darktons.

On the Darkton side, one of the knights in the protective formation stepped forward. In a flash, the armor-covered maiden was replaced by a massive stone bird. It was a creature with a wingspan of at least thirty meters, shaped like a condor.

A Mikilia, the leader of the knights of Aubria and another of the champions.

The rockets exploded against the stone-like feathers, one becoming a rain of fire that enveloped the maiden’s left flank. It let out an ear-splitting screech as it beat its wings, throwing away the thermite-covered feathers to the ground. It didn’t remove them all, however, and other knights rushed to help remove the intensely burning substance from their comrade.

Rick’s side did not fare much better. Embla and the Dark Elves emerged from their hiding spots within the trenches and began focusing their powers on the incoming spells. Out of the eleven, eight were dispelled harmlessly, but three still made it through.

Each blast was like artillery, but worse.

The ground exploded in a shower of dirt, followed by a pulse of power. All three unleashed some sort of localized floods, creating enough water to immediately inundate the whole area. There were screams, followed by bursts of pain that left Rick’s head reeling from the pain; his head swam with images of maidens getting thrown against walls and fellows followed by a fear of drowning that was quick to pass.

“Shit,” Eva cursed.

“What?” He spoke through gritted teeth.

There was no need for an answer, for he saw the next volley was underway. Each and every one of the incoming attacks had the distinct crackle of lightning. They traveled faster than the first volley, but not by much.

“BRACE!” He shouted the command even as the Dark Elves and Embla unleashed a barrage of gray light upon the spells.

One made it through, impacting directly upon one of the flooded areas.

The world went white.

Rick blinked away stars, realizing he was on the ground a moment later. His brain burned from the inside. “Shit,” he struggled against the throbbing stabbing pain. It was a fight to raise his mental barriers against the pain of dozens of maidens that were still trying to recover from getting magically electrocuted. “You lot, go help!” He ordered the Dark Elves stationed near him.

“But-”

“GO!” He roared, his whole body spasming as another attack made it through.

Wobbling to his feet, he found purchase by leaning against one of the Orcs currently keeping the shields in place. It wouldn’t do for others to have seen him collapse like that.

“Is phase two-?”

“Not ready,” Eva’s voice was thick. “We need to counterattack NOW.”

“That stupid bird’s going to get in the way.”

“Then use the thermite rockets, kill her!”

After a moment of consideration, he nodded. He doubted the thermite would be enough though, there were just not that many of the special rockets left. “Give the order, two concussions per thermite. Aim for the rest of the army as well.” His knees almost buckled as another attack landed. He couldn’t see it, but he damn well heard it. “Monica, I need your help.”

“Yes.”

No question, no hesitation.

Rick explained what he needed her to do.

It was time to put Rollo’s shipment to use.

Lord Claude Norwar stared at the devastation with some satisfaction from the safety of his steed. It had been a stroke of genius to have his own forces lag behind during the first assault; otherwise, he would have ended up like the Gregories, with their numbers reduced to barely a pittance of what they had once been.

The otherworlder's tricks were terrifying, and even Claude could readily admit they could have lost this had they not followed the Viscount's warning against rushing ahead. It was hard to believe this sort of power had been produced within barely the span of a few months.

What else would he make once he fell into their grasp? It was not hard to imagine that whoever could wield such fierce explosive devices would be able to take over a kingdom with ease!

“It appears they’re attempting to kill the knight captain,” the Centaur spoke up, her voice thick with concern.

Claude glanced at the spellcasters, and the Mikilia kept them safe from the barrage with her massive wings. “Not much we can do. That fire is a wicked thing; not even water could put it out,” he commented idly. If the Darkton household lost a few of their stronger knights, then all the better for his own household.

Perhaps then the balance of power within the Aubrian court would finally tip in the Norwars' favor. Claude could already taste the concessions and rewards he would be able to squeeze out of the Darktons once this endeavor was concluded.

“My Lord!”

The Centaur abruptly pulled back, and Claude reeled, grabbing hold of the reins out of instinct rather than actual need. The Centaur’s powers kept him firmly fixed to the saddle, even as she reeled and turned away. “What is the meaning of this!?” he demanded.

Explosions began breaking out all around him. Maidens cried out in shock and pain as the entire area was bombarded by an invisible assault. Claude’s mind reeled as the knights hurried to form a protective formation around him. They had checked the area! There shouldn’t be explosives here!

Something harmlessly thudded against his armor, falling almost gingerly upon the saddle between his thighs. Claude’s gaze lowered, what he’d initially thought to be a rock or clump of dirt was actually a metal sphere riddled with criss-crossing grooves and barely larger than an apple.

The noble grabbed it, frowning.

“What’s th-”

BANG