This one was different from the others.
Kitaya didn't take her eyes off the masked assailant as she slid from Chaga's back. This one had one bold, red line painted across their mask, instead of the usual three vertical lines on each cheek. Her clothes were more form-fitting, hugging her bosom and hips, and accented by a ruby cloak that flapped in the breeze. I one hand she held a sickle, in the other was the chain attached to it.
"Jetei, take Chaga and get Jayer out of here." She didn't look back to see if he listened, not wanting to take her eyes off the masked woman. "I'll call the flyers to escort you to the field medics. Aldeheid, you go, too."
"No, I'm not leaving you," Aldeheid said from behind her.
She bit her tongue before she could start arguing with him. "Fine. Just watch my back." She channeled her magic and sent two gold ribbons snaking into the sky. They twisted and twirled into the air, the sign of a flyer in distress. "Krudi."
The Behemoth flew to her gauntleted hand, and she pointed it towards the masked woman. Silently, she sent up a prayer thanking the gods for Jayer. The woman should be thanking the gods for him too. Had she killed Aldeheid, Kitaya would've ensured she felt the sting of the Behemoth well into the afterlife.
A chorus of roars sounded overhead as three flyers circled overhead. They didn't need any orders. No doubt from their vantage point they could see what was going on and knew what was needed.
At Kitaya's command, Chaga bounded off to the west, following the lead of the escorts. That meant her only worry was making sure Aldeheid got out of this alive. He was already in bad shape on top of being infuriatingly stubborn.
The masked woman tilted her head at them and flicked Jayer's blood from her sickle before pointing it at them. Back-dropped by the raging battle and swathed in her red cloak, she was menacing sight to behold. But no more so than any adversary – monolith or immortal – Kitaya had ever faced.
"Be careful, kitten," Aldeheid said from behind her. "She's not to be trifled with."
Kitaya poised the Behemoth in front of her. "Neither am I." The world shrank around her, the battle fading away like a dream forgotten upon waking. It was only her, and the masked abomination that had the audacity to threaten her homeland.
The masked woman shot towards Kitaya, her cloak streaking behind her like a crimson wind. Their weapons clashed, and Kitaya gazed into the shadowy holes of the mask, letting her disdain known to eyes the lied beyond.
They separated and clashed again, over and over, circling each other in a deadly dance. The light from the spells winked off of their blades, and the resulting explosions shook the air around them.
The masked woman whipped out her chain, and it snaked over the grass towards Kitaya's legs. Kitaya dodged away and the sickle flashed before her face. Cheap distraction tactics, how unoriginal. She charged ahead, waiting until the weapon was inches from her face raising the Behemoth.
She hooked her spear into the crook of the sickle and yanked hard. The masked woman flew forward, face first into the blunt end of her spear. A crack rang out and the woman skidded across the grass.
Kitaya made a show of flourishing her spear. Not to be trifled with, hm? This degenerate would know the wrath of a royal-blooded Konian.
The woman staggered to her feet, holding her mask with one hand and her chained sickle in the other. Even over the cacophony of battle her incantation rang clear through the air. A familiar, golden light spilled from her hand, filling the cracks of the mask knitting it back together. Then she extended her hand skyward. Balls of fire materialized over her head, casting their orange light over the grass like tiny suns.
YOU ARE READING
The Wielder and the Source
Random[Magika Book II] Aldeheid knows better than anyone that a man could not run from his past transgressions. So when given the opportunity to atone for his sins, he seizes it without hesitation. Fighting to preserve the human realm had become his life'...
