COF 2: The Soul Spells

20 | Temple (IV)

They were losing. Reeca saw that clearly. Temple people weren't warriors. When Xanthy canceled all the spells, it just evened the fight. Kymalin strode into the battlefield, up the stairs astride her paulsare. The banshee was flanked with people dressed head to toe in heavy armor. Reeca gritted her teeth. The Necrom commanders.

Reeca should go up there instead of helping out the people defending the base of the Temple She should be out there battling Kymalin. Where in Umazure was June?

Her arm slowly became heavy as the battle showed no signs of stopping. Soldiers popped up faster than Reeca could scythe them. The sun had set, raining darkness over the battlefield. Reeca cursed. The night brought a veil that made it hard to see the opponents. The battle just got harder.

Reeca, together with a few serzhakis and precaris gathered near the Temple's base. From the corner of her eye, she watched some Temple people fight on the stairs while most of them kept the Temple's first level secure by forming a tight line around it. The banshees didn't seem to have a problem seeing in the dark. In fact, most of them fought with renewed energy when they glanced at the rising moons.

That meant the enemies were getting stronger too.

They worked to drive the enemy back to no avail because as soon as they cut down one, four seemed to take its place. Even with Jarim's faction helping them, there's still too many enemies.

Soon, the soldiers cut the Temple people down, leaving them bleeding critically or worse. Reeca wrenched her eyes off the bodies littering the field. Explosions rang from the western side of the Temple. June must be there. Reeca's knees shook. She was close to collapsing. Her sustained injuries throbbed in pain that she doubted Nyxis's medicine could help her now.

Then, she saw Xanthy carve a way towards the Temple's stairs, the brownies inside a shield trotting behind her. They disappeared to the First of the Upper to where Reeca couldn't see.

A scream brought her back into the present. A serzhak beside her was felled with two daggers into his stomach. Reeca didn't see the assailant until the last second he had her pressed into the ground, a hand around her neck.

Reeca flailed as the defenses fell one by one around her. The hand tightened, turning her vision black. She squirmed weakly, her mouth flapping open and close like a fish. She felt herself slipping away, slowly...

Suddenly, her airway cleared. Reeca gasped as the soldier toppled to the side, a dagger glinting on his forehead. Reeca whirled back to find a panting precar still frozen in a mid-throw stance. She gave the precar a solemn nod of thanks and raised her sword anew.

A sharp horn blew into the wind and the soldiers at the base of the Temple surrounding Reeca left them and moved to join Kymalin in the stairs. Dread gripped Reeca's throat. They were going to storm the altar. From her vantage at the stairs' base, Kymalin pointed her sword forward and the soldiers chanted summoning verses at the same time.