Sons of Ironstorm: Book 5 - Griffon's War

Strategic Repositioning

Shiana grunted as she took yet another abysslord black lightning blast directly onto her fading shield.

"Banik!" she shouted.

<<Almost, Shiana!>> a bloodied Banik shouted back as he stumbled towards a stealth gate, its borders shifting uneasily with the Ironstorm princess's failing strength. Over his shoulder he carried one of his bleeding and unconscious Redeemed, with two more under his arms.

She grit her teeth as a thought quickly spun runes into a whirling wheel in time to knock aside a bubble of ice that threatened to form around her and trap her. At the same time, she could see the abysslord, now completely free of the gate he had formed, pull his arm back in preparation to hurl yet another bolt of black lightning right at her.

A quick evaluation of her shield told her it wouldn't take another hit. She dropped to a knee and sent another pair of spinning rune wheels around her to knock back yet another ice bubble.

"Fool of a mortal!" the abysslord roared. "There is no escape! Only oblivion."

"Is that so?" she hissed even as the rune wheels shifted uneasily, destabilized by the strange malaise that struck down her twin. Then a thought was sending them hurling at the charging giant like oversized glaives, the wheels twisting in space to come at the abysslord from two different directions.

Then the giant was snarling in surprise and pain as the wheels bit deep into his magical protection to slice at his robes of black abyss stuff and into his pale flesh. In the same moment Shiana began to collapse, the last of her strength spent in sending the rune wheels on the offensive.

Only to find strong arms catching her before she hit the ground.

<<I've got you,>> Draneen said through grit teeth. Then she was going over the lithosin woman's shoulder before the Tiger clan elf was twisting towards the failing gate.

Two long running strides and they were through, Shiana willing the gate closed behind them. Then a worried-looking Banik was beside them, along with two Redeemed healers, who were already covered in their comrades's blood in their efforts to keep everybody alive.

<<A bit too close there, Daughter of Ironstorm,>> he said, taking her from Draneen to carefully lower the Ironstorm princess to the ground.

Once she saw Shiana was secure, the Covenant sister nodded to Banik in thanks then immediately ran towards where the rest of the Covenant were gathered around a downed Shawn, healers also visibly working on him.

<<If you kevans were just a hair less stout ...>>

<<Being stout didn't help the strongest among us,>> Shiana growled back, struggling to sit up. She looked in the direction of her brother.

<<How is he??>>

Banik frowned from where he knelt beside her.

<<You can't tell over the blood bond?>> he asked, obviously confused and not a little dismayed.

Shiana looked back at him and shook her head before letting her qi armor drop. It was then that the Redeemed commander could see the naked concern on her face.

<<There's something else there,>> she confessed before looking in Shawn's direction. <<I can feel it with the Wielder powers my brother shared with me. Like a knot of cosmic energies formed by a twisting in the fabric of reality.>>

She looked back at a concerned Banik.

<< Does that make any sense?>>

<<Not a single word, quite frankly,>> it was Banik's turn to confess. <<Your brother, the twins, and Dezi were the ones that excelled at magical theory in warfare at the academy. Not this big lug.>>