“Two seconds, Princess,” Skalr said with a smirk. “There’s no need to have them rush in yet. Let me take care of our opening move.”
Ania studied Skalr’s expression for a moment. Something about it felt familiar, almost reassuring. Then, it clicked. ‘He feels similar to Exile in ways. Did Exile create another hero to help us? But why wouldn’t he tell us about it?’
Skalr took several runestones in his hand before tossing them at the sphere. Bjorn watched with a curious expression as they crawled over the image, which had moved back to the barricade. He noticed the runes move to focus on a central individual of each group moving around inside the outpost.
“What are you doing?” Bjorn asked with a deep frown. Eager to learn more about the uses of runestones. “Hm, I’m marking them.” Skalr chuckled as another fistful of runestones appeared in his hand. “You should pay attention to what happens next.”
Skalr moved to place one of each of the new runestones atop the marking ones. Suddenly, the air around Skalr felt thick, like trying to push through mud. Bjorn cocked an eyebrow at the phenomenon as Skalr quickly clapped his hands together.
The new runes burst with mana as they were activated by Skalr’s gesture. Small fiery arrows exploded from the new runestones and shot into the air, quickly expanding into lances. Ania and the others watched in awe as they traced an arc through the sky to come down behind the barricade. Their eyes snapped to the sphere, where several small magical circles appeared above the elves.
Skalr cocked an eyebrow as half of his rune spells were blocked, but the rest found gaps in the protection and exploded on impact with the ground. A number of the elves were directly killed by the blast, while others clawed at their throats. The temperature had risen, scalding their throats as they breathed in.
“Now would be a good time to attack,” Skalr said as he continued to analyse the effectiveness of his spell.
“R-right,” Ania replied as she gathered her wits after watching Skalr’s display of power. “Everyone, charge!”
The ground rumbled as men, women and horses surged forward. A raucous warcry echoed through the air like thunder. Bjorn swiftly took the lead as he cracked the reins of his steed. His steely eyes studied the situation around him before focusing his gaze ahead. Something prickled at the back of his mind as the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. ‘Something’s wrong.’ Bjorn thought as he found himself gripping his reins tighter than he intended. He heard the screech of metal before a searing pain clouded his thoughts!
“Bjorn!” Fjora screamed furiously as she watched him topple from his steed. She veered her mount toward him, but many arrows barred her way. She hissed through her teeth as she turned away from the deadly projectiles as the Skardian charge descended into chaos.
“Fjora! Take the outpost!” Ania yelled above the neighing of horses and dying screams. “You lot, with me! We’ll rescue Bjorn and cut off their archers in the forest!”
Skalr cursed as he crushed a runestone, and a golden dome covered Bjorn’s body. ‘He isn’t moving.’ Skalr sighed as his rune spell fed him information. ‘Someone shot him through the eye slits in his helm. Hm, it’s poisoned. His pulse is already weakening.’
Skalr thought it was a stroke of luck that the arrow had become wedged in the slit, preventing it from doing any damage beyond Bjorn’s eye. The poison would be an issue, but it appeared to Skalr it at least had paralytic properties. He urged his horse to draw level with Ania’s as she led the charge.
“Leave Bjorn to me. You deal with those archers.” Skalr growled in a low voice as he activated another runestone. Before Ania could reply, sparks danced across Skalr’s horse’s mane and hooves. The air rumbled like a storm as Skalr suddenly shot forward faster than any horse should be able to move. Skalr reappeared beside Bjorn in the snow in the blink of an eye, leaving Ania in awe again.
‘He better save him, damned old man!’ Ania thought as she gritted her teeth and pushed her horse harder. She lunged with her spear as lightning shot from its tip. It cracked and created a web as it shot between the projectiles, blowing them into splinters.
Her eyes scanned the branches for their unseen enemies as the trees loomed overhead. The forest was thick around them, and the footing treacherous for their mounts. The charge slowed to a crawl as the trees prevented them from charging ahead.
“Aghh!” Someone screamed from over Ania’s right shoulder as arrows flew.
“Where the fuck are they?” Ania yelled as her eyes failed to find her target. Doubt filled her mind as she wondered whether they should retreat. She had led her warriors into terrain that favoured their opponents. ‘Dammit!’ She hissed as an arrow bounced off her armour. ‘If we stay here, they’ll take us out before we can find them!’
“It’s too late for you.” A voice whispered in Ania’s ear, startling her as she felt the cold bite of steel.
Ania gasped as she felt the dagger slide between her ribs. ‘How?’ Her elbow swung back but failed to find her assailant. They were already gone.
“Retreat!” Ania gasped, barely loud enough for those close to her to hear. “Retreat!”
She struggled to turn her horse as the others relayed her command. ‘Thank Exile, they left the blade.’ Ania groaned as pain wracked her body where her wound was. ‘It’ll keep my blood from flowing out too quickly.’
Ania gasped as her warriors moved to shield her from the arrows as they attempted to guide her out of the forest. However, something felt… wrong. ‘My legs! I can’t feel them!’ Panic shot through her mind as she felt her balance shift.
“Princess!” A warrior called out as he caught her before she could fall. “What’s wrong?”
“My legs. I can’t.” She gasped as numbness spread across her face. Her muscles relaxed as her skin drooped, slurring her speech.
“Quick! Something’s wrong with the princess!”
The warrior failed to notice the soft, golden glow beneath Ania’s armour as her pendant activated. Sending a message to the divine realm. [Your Oracle, Ania Eraldsen, is in critical condition.]
Exile turned his gaze away from the Deep Stalkers assaulting the mountain. His expression seemed far away to those around him as he considered the notification. ‘Hm, the situation is worse than I thought. I guess Skalr isn’t up to the task.’ Exile sighed.
‘I can’t leave, and I can’t let Ania die. I’ve got no choice.’ Exile let out a mental groan as he took a runestone from his inventory. ‘It’s a shame to use this so soon.’
The rune released a golden light as Exile pumped it full of DP. There appeared to be no end to its thirst as it drank it up greedily. Exile grinned as it suddenly stopped and crumbled to dust. ‘That’ll have to be enough.’
Meanwhile, Skalr suddenly spasmed as golden light filled his veins. The dome protected Bjorn and Skalr while the latter struggled with the power flowing through him. ‘Damn! Why now?’ Skalr groaned loudly as he focused on keeping his own runes active to save Bjorn’s life. Skalr received the message hidden in the divine power as the surge faded. ‘Ania’s in trouble.’ Skalr sighed. ‘That explains it.’ The whites of Skalr’s eyes had turned golden as he slowly stood up. His hands traced lines in the air, carving runes on the fabric of the world itself.
The Skardians that were watching him gasped as they felt pressure and fear at what Skalr was doing. Part of them wanted to flee, while the other wanted to worship him. The air cracked like broken glass as golden light leaked from Skalr’s body. The air surrounding him turned blurry as his body appeared to split in two.
“Wait. Do I see that right? That’s really happening?” A warrior asked his companion as he blinked several times. “Yeah, I see it too.” The latter replied with a gulp. “This is wrong.”
Skalr blinked as he glanced at his double standing next to him. “Save Ania. I’ll remain with Bjorn. When we’re done, we’ll wipe the elves from the face of Skardia.”
The doppelganger dipped its head slightly before several ethereal runes burst from its body. When Skalr blinked, his double was already gone. ‘I’ll have to end this quickly.’ The old runelord sighed as he fed more mana to his rune to stabilise Bjorn. At the same time, his hands moved gracefully as rune after rune appeared in the air around him.
Fjora yelled as she burst down the wall of the outpost with a mighty swing of her weapon. Her fury was unchained as she ignored the calls of the warriors behind her. An elf rushed at her with his sword swinging a graceful arc through the air.
However, Fjora raised her club to block the blow as her left hand shot out and grabbed the elf by his face. A cruel chuckle escaped her mouth as fear flashed in the elf’s eyes. Bones cracked as his skull caved under her monstrous strength!
Before his body could hit the ground, Fjora swung her club at an awkward angle. Turning the area before her into a gory wasteland as the corpse splattered from the force. She cocked her head to the left as she regarded the elves gathering before her.
“Who’s next?”