Elven Legacy

Chapter 118

Dharkan

It was particularly unsettling and dreamlike to stand in the center of a fancy invisible dome, enemies snarling, battering, slamming and shouting out their frustrations as they tried to reach in but couldn't get through that convenient unseen wall.

Where Dharkan was concerned – and after that initial flare of fear as the dark mages charged them and the road beneath his boots shook with earthquake-like tremors – he supposed it was actually kind of fun.

Gods' honest truth, it was even becoming unfair! Dharkan watched as Jaden's arrows flew casually past Noah's magical wall when nothing else could, taking down warriors and demons with a quiet efficiency that impressed even the jaded ex-assassin.

Wait a second, wasn't Jaden short a magical stone in his chest? Dharkan wasn't too clear on the rules of the game anymore. Not that he was complaining, though.

Especially not when Noah, on Jaden's command, peeled off two little slits in his invisible barricade, just in front of Dharkan and Fenek, graciously letting them share some of the fun.

Dharkan grinned like a skull as the first enemy warrior, looking all proud of himself, attempted to wriggle his way in.

Steelrose whipped forward in a flash and sliced into this first guy, who choked out in shock as he fell back, red spraying down his white uniform. The second man to try his luck met a similar fate – so did the third. Dharkan's saber was freshly sharpened and polished from last night; call it a hunch, but he'd figured he might need it soon enough. Well, that, plus he'd had little else to do as he sat by the campfire.

He jerked his blade free from the third dark mage's belly, and its curving tip dripped blood on the packed-dirt road. Dharkan absently adjusted his grip on the black hilt, worn smooth from years of use, and turned to face the others.

"Too easy, Jaden! Let's give them a bit more wiggle room, yeah? I want to fight!"

"A little bit more," Jaden conceded. "But be ready to close them on my command," he added for Noah's sake.

Dharkan raised his blade so he could kiss it near the hilt guard, where the steel was still pristine. They were both ready for more.

The dark mage with the stomach wound fell through the widening crack and hit the ground with a grunt.

"Keep pressure on that," Dharkan advised in good humor. "You might yet survive."

A familiar raspy voice said, "We don't speak Felleran, asshole." She spoke in Laethi. Dharkan's head snapped up – then slightly down; she was on the short side.

He smiled. She was the one who'd been doing all that fancy talk with Jaden earlier. From her accent and her looks, he'd figured she was from the north-eastern, slave-ridden shit show of a country, same as him.

She stepped unceremoniously in, all clad in that tight silver and white get-up they made them wear. Though hers was a sleeveless bustier at the top with silver arm bracers. She was skinny but she owned it, just like she did her piercings and marks. They formed this elegant, sinuous interconnected pattern that would've looked off on any other woman but suited her perfectly. Plus, she had those large hazel eyes . . . From a distance, she'd looked hot. Up close, she was downright gorgeous. And she hefted her sharply curving blade like she knew full well how to use it.

"Now that's more like it," he said in Laethi, the language of his youth and teenage years, as his feet glided to a close-range fighter's position.

Jaden was having an altogether different reaction to the female warrior crashing into Noah's cozy magical bubble.

"Close it! Close it, now!"