The Hunters' Quest

Chapter Eleven: Hell's Floodgates

Zadione looks at everyone around her, slowly spinning in a circle. Her eyes stop on me when she finishes looking around. I'm afraid she'll think I'm the weakest if I avert my gaze. The last thing I want is to be her victim. I stand my ground and stare her down. She smiles, pulling her cheeks as far as it can go. Her brows come low into her eyes. The face of a demon is enough to raise my heart rate and make my stomach turn. A golden sword poofs in her right hand in a cloud of white sparkling smoke. She flies straight at me. I conjure my sword to parry her blows before I can react; fortunately, Coreatha's quick speed saves my life. Coreath's entire arm is glowing yellow with Zadione's blade on top of it.

"Almost," Zadione says with a grimacing smile. "Coreatha, do you know what you've done?" Coreatha grips Zadione's sword to push it away from me slowly. "You have broken Xanlos's most valuable rule."

"I've broken many," Coreatha says, then shoves Zadione away. "I do not care anymore. You must be stopped now."

"Okay," she says nonchalantly. "Kill'em." Her cultists begin to attack everyone. Mages on both sides cast all kinds of different magic. I witness streams of fire, projectile ice, a gust of air, and even earth-bending magic.

"Gods," I gasp in horror. "Here we go again."

Another battle is underway, and I'm stuck in the middle. I don't think I'll ever get used to fighting in mass. This experience is Ulrika's expertise, not mine. The best I can do is stay close to a veteran of warfare.

Ulrika swings into action against a surprise attack from a cultist, coming from a crowd of fairies. None of her strikes break the cultist's guard. He can't seem to find an opening either. The visualization of him finding an opening makes me into action. I attack him, double-teaming with her to better our chances of winning.

The cultist evades and blocks everything we throw at him. It is not until she makes him break his guard by, blasting air into his eyes, that he has to cover them. I go for a sideways slash down his left shoulder for a killing blow. Somehow in the nick of time, he steps back to avoid my entire blade.

"Kaio, try conjuring it," Ulrika suggests while continually pursuing the cultist. One idea comes to mind that might win this fight. I conjure a sequence I never use. It makes my sword spin in a circle at an incredible speed.

"Ulrika, step back!" I yell.

"Holy cow!" She screams, staring at my sword with wide open, bulging eyes.

She falls on her butt to let my sword pass over her. My sword goes through his stomach like a hot knife cutting butter and returns to my hand. Some of his blood splashes on my face once I catch my sword. His body separates into two when he falls forward.

"Gods," I gasp. "That was brutal of me."

"Don't pay attention to what you did, Kaio," Ulrika says, then slaps my arm. I can't stop looking at what I did. "Hey! It's going to get worse."

"I know." She steps in front of me to use her body to block my view of him.

"Do not break on me," she through her teeth an inch from my face. "I need you to focus." My gaze moves away from the body to her eyes. Her attention is only partially on me. Every other second she looks around to watch the fighting around her. But for me, I'm locked on her for some odd reason. "Are you okay?"

"I'm good," I say, stepping behind her. A cultist off to my left kills two fairies in one swing. Another cultist slays a Paladin I don't recognize near Rhyndac's vicinity. She notices immediately and snaps the cultist's neck with an invisible force. Their neck bends halfway to the right. "This is madness. Absolute madness!"

"That's right!" Ivaran says before ramming into me. I tumble several feet down the road and bash into a wooden sign. It stops me from rolling on but knocks the breath out of me. I feel like I'm dying, gasping for air. "Come here, boy!" He sprints down the street with Ulrika hot on his tail. "My lord wants you dead!"