The Witch's Retribution

Chapter 30

Lily gasped before she felt any real pain, her hands falling to her stomach as she dropped her sword, but there was no blade or any wound. She patted herself to make certain she was uninjured, her eyes widening when she took notice of the faint pink magic weaving around her. Enya seemed just as surprised, but she snapped from her stupor quickly enough as her fiery magic shot around the floor. It bathed Lily in both shadow and light, the fire washing over her like a warm breeze.

None of Lily's silver magic shone through her new shield, and she bent to retrieve her sword. "It doesn't matter!" Enya screamed in frustration, startling Lily. She glanced up, but the fiery sorceress was staring at the entrance to the room, her eyes firmly fixed on an unmovable shadow. "The rest of your family is already being taken care of! Railark will fall next. Then Mercuri. Every kingdom will crumble under my feet. That's what he's promised me!"

The floor shook, nearly throwing Lily to the ground. She rushed towards Enya again, intent on running the other sorceress through, but her sword met empty air. Enya was gone, vanished, and Lily had to wonder if she had been there at all or if the fiery magic had created an illusion of some sorts. Behind her, she heard the clang of battle, but only turned when a shadow fell across her. She spun, raising her sword to block the enemy's. The pale knight pushed forward, his superior strength giving him an advantage. Lily stepped back, letting the pale knight push more of his weight forward before she stepped to the side. The sword narrowly missed her shoulder, and she hit the hilt of her sword against the knight's armored back, causing him to tumble to the ground.

Lily hissed, jerking her hand back as she sliced her finger on the pale armor in her carelessness. Half of her thumbnail was nothing more than a jagged, bloody mess now, adding to the thin cut running down the side of her thumb. It was hardly the worst injury she had ever been dealt, but it hurt just the same.

"Ow." She murmured, sticking the injured digit into her mouth and kicking at the pale knight to make sure he stayed down. The metallic taste of blood exploded in her mouth, but she ignored it in favor of the knight running up the steps towards her.

"You alright?" Owen panted.

"I'm a bit injured." Lily showed him her thumb, expecting and receiving a laugh.

"Oh, that's just like you women. Crying over every little thing."

Lily grinned. "That would make a better insult if I weren't the better knight."

"That hasn't been proven!"

"Oh, I believe it has considering how our sparring matches end."

Owen didn't dignify that with a response; instead, he glanced down at the pale knight at their feet. "I know that didn't kill him."

"No, it couldn't have." Lily agreed, frowning. "Perhaps the magic keeping him alive has faded."

"Perhaps? You're not going to check?"

"No way. Let's count it as a win, and get out of here before this entire place comes down around us."

Owen gave the pale knight one last glance before nodding. "Alright. Works for me. Oh, and give me that." He snatched the sword from Lily's hand and replaced it with a different one, the one she had dropped before. She raised her eyebrows as if to say 'was that really necessary,' and Owen shrugged, giving the sword a fond look. "It's lucky, alright?"

"Uh-huh." Lily said, giving him an odd look before muttering, "not lucky enough."

The ground trembled beneath their feet as they ran across the floor, only pausing to push the pale knights away from them. They fell away as if losing the will to fight, as if their purpose was complete. It worried Lily. If their purpose was not to kill them, then that made them a distraction--a diversion--and their real target was someone else entirely. It wasn't until they were out in the corridor that Lily looked around and noticed one knight missing.