Who or what is she talking to? And why did she say my name?
As Shina glanced up at the pixie, she looked just as childlike as she had when she was a little girl and Suhn had sent her off to Magia. Her eyes were filled with pure wonder, and she pointed at the cheerful little thing. “Did…did you save my life?” Shina asked.
Upon hearing the question, it—or she, rather—began to dance midair, shaking her hips and pointing in random directions as if to the sway of some inaudible tune. “Yep-yep-mhmm!” Then, tucking her thumb into her hand, she swatted down on the air as though it were a cutting board, and immediately afterwards, three more of the mysterious robed men popped into existence mere feet away from the Archmage.
“So, you’re the one summoning these things after all,” Duncan said. With a broad sweep of his staff, he decapitated all three.
“Nope, not me. I’m just channeling them, ‘
cause
my master is still on his way here and I can fly really, really fast, yep-yep I can!”
“Your master, you say?” Duncan moved a few steps closer. Something about what Estelle had told him put the Archmage on edge. He quickly shifted his eyes back and forth between Ammecia and Tomas, and then the two of them stood just a bit straighter, appearing more alert.
A grumble came from Shina, and through the corner of her eyes, Cah’lia saw Kellar grab her and pull her away despite her complaints. This was good. Whatever this pixie thing was, it would serve as the perfect distraction while she escaped with the others.
“You’re a greater summon, aren’t you?” Duncan asked her.
“Yep-yep-mhmm!
The bestest
one, too!”
“Then if you are just a greater summon…where is your master?”
“Ahhhmm…” Estelle placed her thumb against her chin. “He said he had to go get a flying thing with the others so I came here to help everyone, ‘
cause
I’m a good pixie and I did a
good
job, yeah! Oh, and he’s
really
mad at you. You’re in big trouble.”
When the Archmage again spoke, something was off about his voice. There was a quality to it that was almost unrecognizable, and if not for the way he continued to dart his eyes around as if in search of some invisible enemy, Cah’lia would not have detected it at all. But now, however, she was certain of it: the Archmage was
nervous
. And it was a paranoia that only seemed to grow when, miraculously, the sound of someone groaning came from off behind him. To Cah’lia’s amazement, Orellia was slowly returning to her feet.
“I’m…alive?” she whispered.
If the way she ran her hand over her bloody but somehow unscarred, undamaged throat was of any indication, she was just as surprised to be alive as Shina and Kellar were; the two of them ogled her a moment, and then together, they shouted her name and ran across the stage towards her. Cah’lia flared with annoyance at the sight of them blatantly disregarding the inherent danger they faced in just passing the Archmage. Thankfully, Duncan either did not care or did not notice them as they bolted straight by him and to Orellia’s side.
“Mistress Orellia!” Shina took her hand, then buried her head against her chest. “How are you alive?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I think that magical creature there”—weakly, she lifted her arm and pointed to Estelle—“is what saved me. But I don’t know why.”
“That’s ‘
cause
I’m a good person!” Estelle announced. Then, pursing her lips, she huffed and said, “Nope-nope! I’m not gonna do that.
Hmph
! I don’t care. I’m
not
calling her a b-word, a-word, f-wording, coward-fool who f-wording, f-word, f-word, f-word, f-word, f-word, f-word, f-word, f-word, f-word, f-word! I’m not gonna say that. You can’t make me, nope-nope.”
Cah’lia had the sense she was speaking to someone else—someone they couldn’t see. Even still, she had a
very
strong idea of who it was, and although she didn’t know how or why, the realization alone was enough to make her fill her lungs with a fresh breath of air. Once more, her spirits lifted with a renewed sense of purpose and determination.
Halfway before she’d completed her exhale, several big, round shadows whipped across the city square, prompting everyone—including Duncan and those in the crowd—to lift their heads and then point in unison as over a dozen gryphons now circled the skies above them.
“No,” Duncan whispered, shaking his head. The paranoia within him no longer presented itself subtly but was now plain on display. Backing away, his knees visibly trembled. “No,” he whispered again. “
No
!”
Sixteen men leapt off the backs of the gryphon, each wearing the robes of a mage. Despite the fact that a fall from this height would kill a normal person, each of them landed with just a slight click on every corner of the stage that was still intact. But it was the last of them to land who drew the most attention. He was an older, brown-haired man wearing a golden pendant and an extravagant ruby ring on the middle finger of his right hand; the moment his feet touched down on the stage, the reaction from those watching behind the barricades was immediate and immense.
Up until this moment, Cah’lia would not have believed that they could be any louder, wilder, or more unified than they’d already been. But as this man landed gracefully on his feet, then spun around to face them, the Magians exploded into a round of applause and cheering that was loud enough to make the stage vibrate as though the power of their voices alone was enough to rival magic.
“
Issius!
” they roared. “
He lives! The Holy Magus lives!
”
Cah’lia had no idea what was happening. Assuming what Iona and Benjamin had told her was more than just a lie intended to lure her here, then this man, who the crowd called Issius, should have been trapped in another world along with Sehn, the other Archmages, and the remaining High-Mages. But clearly, as she had slowly come to figure out, this was no longer the case. The only question was how: how had they gotten out? Clearly, it was a question the Archmage also wanted to know, likely even more than Cah’lia or any of the others did.
“Issius!” Duncan shouted, pointing his staff the man’s way. “I don’t know how you escaped, but you will die for it. All of you—
all of you will die for it
.”
“I don’t think so,” Issius said. He opened his mouth, and in a voice that must surely have been amplified by magic, he spoke four words loudly enough so that they rose even above the combined volume of the uproarious crowd. “
La’saala
Vi
Nara MAHR!
”
With a loud pop, three tremendous hands appeared in the air just above Ammecia, Tomas, and Archmage Duncan. There was no arm attached to these hands nor a wrist or anything else of the sort. Cah’lia had never seen anything like it, though that very same sentiment could also be applied to most of what she’d encountered today. Each of the three hands were around twice as large as the size of an average human body, and all three made as if to wrap around Duncan and his two High-Mages, one per each of them.
As the fingers closed in on Ammecia and Tomas, a yellow-orange barrier popped into existence around each of them. For just three or four seconds, the two magically summoned hands struggled against their two barriers. Then, with an audible crack, both barriers broke and shattered at the same time, and both hands squeezed shut around Ammecia and Tomas. Blood spurted out from both above and below the now-closed fists, killing them both before they even had a chance to scream. All things considered, it was a far more merciful and quick death than either of the two deserved.
Archmage Duncan, however, merely narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms as if unimpressed. The hand struggling to wrap around him continued to do so without success, fighting against a barrier of crimson-colored sand that refused to relent. After half a minute had come and gone, the hand loosened, fell over, and slapped palm-down against the stage, vanishing into a purple puff of smoke.
Duncan laughed. “And the point of that was…?”
“The point is that now you stand alone,” Issius said.
His words were followed by more screams of adoration from the Magian people, who for all intents and purposes might as well also be called his biggest fans. Cah’lia was particularly surprised to see two young human women make as if to remove their undergarments and throw them at the stage, but they were interrupted by a morbidly obese man who angrily pushed them over so that he could throw
his
underwear at the stage, though he nearly lost his breath peeling it off his sweaty body.
Issius let out a nervous, embarrassed-sounding chuckle and weakly waved to the man without looking over his shoulder at him. “I appreciate your support,” he said. In a much lower murmur that only those nearest him could hear, he added, “That was…awkward.”
Then his expression turned serious as he locked eyes with Duncan. “I’m afraid there’s no way out of this for you. Your treachery ends today.”
Archmage Duncan lifted his jaw at Issius, and the two of them stared at one another for nearly a minute before Duncan, releasing a chuckle, beckoned Issius and all those with him. “Very well. Come at me, then. No matter how many of you there are, I will pick each one of you apart.”
“Actually,” Issius said, “I have no intention of fighting you. In fact, I’ve come with an offer you will likely find very interesting. How about we place the fate of Magia in the hands of another?”
“What do you mean? What other?”
“There is one who wishes to challenge you, Archmage Duncan. If you are capable of defeating this warrior, then I will submit to your rule without question. We
all
will.”
At this, some of the anger in Duncan’s voice lessened, but only slightly. “You mean to tell me you would pit me against one of your own, and if I should emerge the victor…?”
“Yes,” Issius said. “We will all submit to your will and bend our knee to your rule.”
Duncan barked a laugh, one that rang out loudly enough so that even those in the crowd could hear it. Many stopped their chanting and quieted, clearly wondering what the Archmage found so funny, but most continued on howling out their cheers that the Holy Magus of Magia had returned to save them all.
Issius once more turned to face the crowd, then held his hand out to them while he began pacing up and down the edge of the stage. Immediately, all voices fell silent, and Cah’lia was stunned at the obedience these people showed him. In less time than it took the light to fade after extinguishing a candle’s flame, the joyous crowd went from screaming to an abrupt, uncompromising silence.
“Hear me, people of Magia,” he announced. “I have decided to put the fate of Magia in the hands of a single warrior. Today ends the reign of terror that Archmage Duncan has held over your heads. For today, a champion will emerge and free you all. A warrior who fights for Magia!”
Fists were raised, cheers were bellowed, and the noise picked up yet again. From beside her, Cah’lia felt Patrick stir uneasily as his elbow brushed against her own. “What’s wrong?” she said, now having to speak loudly to be heard.
Whispering into her ear, he asked, “What’s happening here, Cah’lia? What warrior is he talking about?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered back. “I also don’t understand why they’d be willing to leave the fate of Magia to a single warrior when most of the ruling council is here now and capable of dealing with him.”
“Strange indeed, though either way, this is no longer our problem. You must realize it too, Cah’lia.”
She nodded. “You’re right. If Issius and his court are free, then I guess that means Sehn and the children must also be free. And since they’re clearly not here with Issius, they must be somewhere else on Magia. But where could they—”
Cah’lia closed her mouth as a terrifying thought dawned on her. She wet her lips, grabbed Patrick’s shoulders, and asked, “This warrior, you don’t think he means…?”
Patrick gave her a sidelong glance, then shook his head. “No, of course he couldn’t mean that, because that would just be…”
“…insane,” Cah’lia agreed, finishing the thought. “But I don’t think that’s what they’re talking about. It wouldn’t make sense.”
“You’re right. We should assume, at least for now, that he is elsewhere. But where do we even begin looking?”
“I don’t know. I think for now we should use this chance to grab Shina and Kellar—and maybe Orellia if she’s willing to come along. We can steal a few gryphons back on the landing pads where we first arrived. Maybe our gryphons will still be there. Then we can all go searching for him together.”
“How will we find him? There are so many island platforms.”
Cah’lia shook her head. “As hard as it is to believe, I don’t think he’ll be all that difficult to find at all. In fact, I doubt it very much. Eventually, something will explode somewhere, and we’ll know it’s him.”
Patrick sighed. “On second thought, I suppose you make a good point.”
As bad as she felt for planning to abandon these people in their time of need, Cah’lia realized there was nothing she or the others could do for them anymore. If their own Holy Magus could not stand up to Duncan then what good could she or Patrick hope to accomplish here?
Looks like it’s about to get bloody
,
too. Better start making my way over to Shina and Kellar
.