Enflamed (Book 2) (17 page)

Sigmund huffed. “Slayers are
very much real. They are driven by cruelty and a blind faith heavily influenced
by their dark god, Tydus. They have sinned beyond redemption and must die.”

Nester gulped and nodded
quickly.
“A–aye!
Of course!”
He backed away slowly,
then
rushed off to join Omari,
who was striking one of the enemy mages’ ankles with his quarterstaff, sweeping
her to the ground.

Miele followed the brownie.

The enemy mage’s hands emitted
a purple light as she tumbled backward, and she managed to utter the last
phrase of her spell and unleash a fury of small hailstones at Omari.

Omari held his staff in front
of him, hands shaking as he summoned small lightning bolts to block some of the
hailstones. He fell hard on his back, knocking the wind out of him.

“’Old on,
Omari!”
Nester called. He dashed
at the woman as she rose shakily to her feet.

The woman eyed him and
frowned.

Nester mirrored her expression
as he sheathed one of his daggers and slid his fingers into his belt pouch. “I
ain’t never ’it a lady before, an’ I ain’t about to do so now—no matter ’ow
evil she might be.” He pulled out a round, pea-sized object.

The woman glared.
“
Evil
?
How dare you!” She plucked a component from
her pouch and grasped it in her fist. Her hand began to glow again as she
readied another spell.

Nester tossed the object at
her. It exploded in her face in a small cloud of white powder. Coughing, she
waved off the cloud, but moments later, she went into convulsions. The spell
fizzled in her hands, and she gagged and collapsed. Her body continued
twitching for a few moments and then lay still.

Omari gawked. “Nester, what in
Malik’s name was that?”

When the remnants of the white
cloud dissipated, Nester approached the woman. He prodded her body with his
foot. When she didn’t move, he replied to Omari, “Datura. ’Ighly potent, it
is.”

“Datura?”
Omari asked. “Those flowers grow wild in my home
country. I did not realize they could be used like that.”

“Aye.
Poisons can be made from many types of flowers.”

“How many more of those things
do you have?”

“That was my last one. Need to
make some more soon, I do. Ankhram traders are usually th’ only ones who carry
it, unless you’re lucky to find some in
th
’ black
market, and they sell like ’otcakes. Ankhram traders are sneaky ’ustlin’ types,
they are, chargin’ an arm, a leg—and sometimes a few fingers an’ toes—for small
amounts!”

Omari bristled. “Do
not
speak about my people in that manner.”

Nester raised his nose at him.
“It’s th’ truth, and everyone an’ their mum
knows
it.”

Omari swore under his breath
and crawled over to the woman. He examined her corpse a moment, and then held
his hand out to Nester. “Let me borrow your knife.”

Nester’s eyebrow rose.
“For what?”

“There is something I must
do.”

“An’ ’ow do I know you’re not
just gonna stab me with it?”

Omari scowled. “I am a mage,
not an assassin.”

“Don’t it mean th’ same thing,
these days?”

“Enough,
Nester.
Give it to me!”

Frowning, Nester reluctantly
handed him a dagger, then took a large step backward. Omari took the tiny
weapon, cut off one of the woman’s ring fingers, tore off a piece of cloth from
her sleeve, and wrapped the finger inside.

He placed the wrapped finger
in his bag. Looking at the woman again, he pursed his lips and repeatedly drove
the blade into her throat.

“Death to all renegades,”
Omari muttered, staring at the bloodied blade. His eyes momentarily went white
and pupilless, crackling with electricity, before returning to normal. “May you
forever burn in the
Abyss.
” He snarled and tossed the
dagger at Nester’s feet.

Nester grimaced, and retrieved
the weapon. “Now what in
th
’ soddin’ ’ells did you do
that for?” He wiped the blade on the woman’s robe.

“I have my reasons....”
Omari’s eyelids fluttered, and his body swayed. He sank to his knees and rubbed
his temples.

Nester sheathed the dagger and
rushed to Omari’s side.
“Oy!
You don’t look so ’
ot
, mate. Are you all right?”

“I am fine,” Omari grumbled,
waving the brownie away. “I exerted more energy than I should have. Go help the
others.”

Miele scanned the
battleground. Only two raiders remained, and they both closed in on Aidan, who
remained helpless and bleeding. Zarya uttered a prayer, and a shield of bright
light formed around her and Aidan, momentarily blinding the raiders.

Sephiya approached the men
slowly, her hand extended as she concentrated on something. “Leave him alone.”

Two glowing yellow ropes
appeared and bound the men. Her frown of concentration deepened as the men
struggled.

Sigmund, Evan, and Nester
surrounded the two raiders.

“Keep them restrained for as
long as you can, Sephiya!” Evan shouted, aiming his bow.

Sigmund charged at the men,
his sword poised to slice through them. Nester approached cautiously, his gaze
darting nervously at the two men.

Sephiya trembled, and the
ropes began to fade. “They are ... strong—too strong.... These men have been
enchanted somehow ... Kill them quickly, before—”

One of the men broke free of
the bonds and met Sigmund, force for force. Iron clanged on steel, and the
raider managed to successfully deflect Sigmund’s weapon and kneed him in the
gut. Sigmund groaned and stumbled backward.

Sephiya’s spell flickered and
dissipated.

Evan launched his arrow at the
other raider, but it plinked off the man’s armor. The uninjured raider lunged
at Sephiya, who still looked groggy from the loss of her spell. As he raised
his sword, a throwing knife struck him in the underarm.

Amazingly, he barely faltered.

“Sephiya!”
Evan yelled. He dropped his bow, pulled a dagger from
a sheath hidden in his leathers, and rushed at the raider.

Sephiya made a desperate attempt
to summon a spell to shield against the raider’s incoming blow, but the man
sliced through the spell with ease, and through the side of her neck. Sephiya
collapsed.

Two more throwing knives
pierced through the raider’s neck, but he didn’t slow. He spun around to face
Evan.

Nester appeared behind the
raider and stabbed behind his kneecap with a dagger dripping in a thick,
greenish substance.
“Soddin’ ’ells!
Why won’t you
die!
” He drove the dagger down the leg, widening the wound.

The man went into
a frenzy
, then fell forward, the blade coming down on Evan.
The blade skewered his chest, and the raider collapsed atop him, pushing the
sword in until only the pommel was visible. Nester, with all his might, heaved
the raider off of Evan.

“’Ey, wake up, mate,” the
brownie said, slapping Evan’s cheek a few times. “We’re not done yet.”

Evan gurgled. His face was
paling. “Sigmund ...” he whispered. “Help him ... please...”

Nester turned to the fight
between Sigmund and the last raider standing. Sigmund swung low and struck the
back of the raider’s legs, but the man kept his feet.

“Defiler!
Return to the Abyss from whence you came!” Sigmund’s
sword glowed white. The raider attacked again, and Sigmund struck his glowing
blade underneath his arm, driving the raider to the ground. He placed his foot
on his foe and stabbed again.

At first, the raider fought
back, kicking and struggling, but his efforts quickly waned as blood oozed from
the wound. Sigmund yanked his sword out, and the blade’s glow faded.

Omari hobbled over to Nester
and Sigmund. “I sense magic about him.” He pointed. “There.
His
hand.”

Nester, one hand pressing a
small injury in his side, plucked a silver ring from the raider’s finger. “This
must be what made that bloke stronger than an ox.”

Omari leaned most of his
weight on his staff as he eyed the accessory. “It has been enchanted with a
strength spell, which enhances the bearer’s strength and resilience.”

“Aye?”
Nester looked at Omari.

Sigmund frowned.
“Enchanted items.
I should have known. They’re nothing but
useless junk now.” As he spoke, the ring blackened and disintegrated in
Nester’s hand.

Nester blinked in surprise.
“Aww.
What a waste of good jewelry!”

Ignoring the brownie, Sigmund
laid hands on himself and healed his injuries with a prayer, then went to
Sephiya and Evan.

Omari scanned the sea of
bodies and said coldly, “So, it seems that we have won.”

Sigmund fell to his knees.
“Sephiya ... no ...” He covered his face with his hand, and his body shuddered.
Tears streamed down his cheek, and he quickly wiped them away.

Zarya dismissed the protective
ward around her and Aidan and got up. Sweat poured down her cheeks. “You should
be okay now, Aidan. I finally managed to mend the last portion of the wound.”

Aidan turned to face her. He gingerly
worked his back muscles,
then
flexed them more
vigorously. A wide smile parted his lips. “You ... you saved Aidan again!”

Zarya nodded slowly but said
nothing. Her attention went to the corpses. She got up and approached Evan and
Sephiya. “By the goddess,” she whispered, her eyes widening. She clapped her
hand over her mouth.

Nester stood beside her. “A
little ’elp, beautiful?” he mumbled, showing her his wound.

Zarya faced Nester,
then
laid her hands over his injury. She prayed, and the
small wound mended.

When she finished, Nester
rubbed his ribs, stretched his side, and then smiled. “Much appreciated!”

“That is why Aidan does not
like violence. Someone always gets hurt,” Aidan said darkly, going to stand
beside Nester.

Nester’s brow wrinkled.
“Aye?
Well if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were
ready to chew off that one bloke’s ’ead, th’ way you were goin’ on like a mad
beast!”

Aidan looked shocked and then
rubbed the side of his head. “A–Aidan does not know what came over him.
Something ... made him very angry.”

“You can say that again!”

“Aidan hopes it does not
happen again.”

Zarya knelt before Sephiya and
Evan and examined them. “Maybe we’re not too late. Maybe—”

Sigmund placed his hand on the
priestess’s shoulder, and she jumped. “No, there is nothing more that can be
done. May the goddess take
them.
”

Zarya looked at the guardian,
eyes widening in horror. “But we cannot be so certain!”

Sigmund raised an eyebrow.
“Once a Celestial dies, they cannot be returned to the mortal realm. Their
bodies turn to dust. Surely you are aware of this, Zarya.”

Zarya lowered her head. “It
has been a long time since I’ve been around others of my kind. I have been told
what happens, but I have never seen it for myself.”

“A shame
that you have been sheltered for so long, then.”
Sigmund pointed. “Witness it and embrace it, for they
now return to the goddess, Celestra, our creator.”

Nester shook his head. “I
still can’t believe you never told us about yourself, beautiful. Why
th
’ big secret?”

Zarya bit her bottom lip. “I’m
sorry, Nester, but as I said before, I have my reasons. Please know that I
meant no ill intent by deceiving you like that.”

“What are you gonna tell
Kaijin when ’e wakes up?”

“
If
he wakes up, you
mean,” Omari interjected.

Zarya didn’t respond.

Nester scowled at Omari. “’E
ain’t dead, I tell you!”

Omari crossed his arms. “How
much longer are we going to wait for him to ‘awaken’, then, hm?
Until we can smell his rotting corpse?”

Miele soared into the middle
of the group, startling them a moment. She screeched and looked at each of them
in turn.

“’Ey!
Miele!”
Nester said,
beaming. “What’re you doin’ ’ere?”

“She looks healthy now,” Aidan
said. “Could it be that—
”

“Aye!
Kaijin must be awake. I ain’t seen ’er this peppy in
days.”

Omari eyed Miele and huffed.
“If that is true, then we should see him ... or perhaps Miele is really Kaijin
looking at us at this very moment.”