(Resumed) Solstice

 

[Ansel]

Ne'er had I thought I would be waving behind Grace Gardner like a war banner, latched only by my hand to hers as she glided across grass and dirt alike.

Just a little longer, and we can debrief on what happened, her voice echoed in my mind. The wind whirled far too stark for plain speech. Can you dig a trench underneath Stormfront?

While that is an excellent question, the one that took hold in my heart is far greater in severity, and that is: why would Grace commit a High Crime just to help me? Duels are a matter of honour and integrity. They are cruel and harsh, but the rules and codes governing them shepherd fairness and integrity. The existence of the second is one such mechanism: for the trust and respect afforded to them, seconds must abide by strict expectations.

Very specifically, seconds are not to interfere once the duel has formally commenced. In particular, they are not to debilitate the opposing duelist!

My second had frozen my opponent solid right when he targeted the back of my neck, and we were now running for our freedoms and, potentially, lives.

Well? Grace's voice echoed in my mind.

Tempest Gate. Right. I've never tried, but I reckon we don't have much choice!

I can support! We need only make it to House Fayt! They'll give me an audience if we can live to tell the tale!

I willed a nodding notion through my thoughts before turning them to the subject of erecting a tunnel belowground with my newfound Attunement. I could grip the soil and stone, but how would I shift it when everywhere else was already filled? I could excavate, but not only would that leave an obvious sign, but I wasn't sure I could prevent a cave-in. Maybe Grace could augment my efforts with her Water Magick to freeze the tunnel upright?

Whatever. My lack of experience sure as dirt didn't change the mission parameters.

[Patrick]

Our band of four, two men and two women, rushed out the Outer Eastern Gate, with matching blue and orange robing.

Layla, the one graduate student among us, took charge and presented herself as our impromptu Squad Leader. She might be mistaken as hell about the nature of Emmett as a man's man, but saving Grace came first, and anyone was better than Sammy.

We maintained a tight triangular formation with Layla on point, Selene back and to the left, and myself covering the right. Emmy was smack in the centre, and we all kept him there as we banked westward to keep with the circular Outer Walls.

"Steady on Strengthening, all!" shouted Layla, "We're short on time, and keep pace with Emmalynn! She's strong as the sun but this may be a tad foreign to her!"

Selene raised her voice right when Emmett opened his mouth. "Em, we're shielding you, and that's final!" Yeah, this girl knows him.

After a grumble and some exchanged glances, we banked straight away from the North Outer Gate and kept a Western heading. I glanced toward Emmy, and sure enough, he was struggling a bit with keeping a steady speed. That wasn't what surprised me.

What did was that the two women seemed to maintain perfect synchrony with him, leaving only me as the straggler. I would have thought to use Æthervision to work out how they were doing that, but the Soul only had room for one spell at a time and mine was already busy with Strengthening.

Soon enough, a forest flanked us on the left. The leaves rustled as we rushed and left campus well behind.

Then four black robes jumped out.

Selene shrieked and snapped leftward.

I kicked off into a sprint.

But it was Layla who landed the first strike. With two flicks of her wrist, four compact lancets of flame took flight akin to arrows, skewering toward their targets with alarming precision. Heavens and Havens...

The Element of Fire is Passion Given Form. Fire starts from a spark, grows with kindling, and roars into an unstoppable blaze. For this reason, it is the second slowest of the Elements, leaving only Earth Magick behind. For me to throw a simple Flashfire, I must first pull raw Æther out of the air into my Ætheric Vessel, where I must Attune it to my Element by calling upon my unbridled emotion. Then I chambre a punch, willing my Magick to flow into my arm and spark in my fist. Then I punch, completing the spell to send the ball of fire outward, where it would expand until it either struck its mark or dissipated. The further I aim to strike, the more Magick I must summon into my fist, and the more forceful I must make my will. And that's not even counting what happens if I need to maintain, let alone change, the trajectory mid-flight.

And this woman just, in the flick of a wrist, produced four tight-beam rays of concentrated flames, two from each hand, locked them to their targets, and held perfect concentration without so much as blinking an eye.

Emmett snarled with crackling azure lightning, his legs primed for a sprint.

The Etsy furthest to the right now bore a hole through his chest while the other three cowered behind a dome shield of Water. One held the shield aloft while another placed their hand on the ground, infusing it with amber light.

Selene gathered a whirling scythe of power about her.

Emmett howled a crazed battle cry.

Layla converged her four rays into one to boil through the shield just in time for the ground beneath her to erupt and throw her into the air.

The Water Etsy staggered as their spell collapsed.

Selene whipped her scythes forth toward the mob ahead.

The cloak in the middle infused their body with Magick and leapt to catch the blades.

I raised my fist-

"FREEZE," an all-too-familiar voice in my head commanded in the space of my mind. A ghostly chill swept through the air.

Everyone stood still for a fraction of a moment save Emmett. At that moment, a fifth Etsy swooped in from behind at a pace defying logic, sprinting dead into Emmett.

Selene was the first of us to break out of the momentary lull. "NO-"

The new arrival kicked off and blurred away, spiriting Emmy with.

For a moment, I had lost battlefield awareness. All I could recall was that Selene had screamed bloody murder, and Layla resumed laying the swiftest suppressive Fire Magick that I had ever seen over the three survivors.

But all I could focus on was, chillingly, whose voice it was.

And. It. Stung.

[Em]

Tears pulled out of my eyes.

Regret bore straight into my core.

I couldn't do a single thing to protect anyone the one time it mattered. And when I could finally bring myself to act, it was too late. A reinforcement had arrived, and now I found myself thrust further and further away.

I didn't know how long I had flown, nor did I care. All that mattered was my Squad- no, my friends, were in danger, and once again, I was deadweight.

I flew and I flew and my back knocked against a tree. Then my skull slammed the trunk. Pain throbbed through me immediately, but it did one good thing.

My feet hit the ground and I staggered. I steeled my resolve to beat this Emissary and return to Selene, Layla, and Patrick.

I took up my stance. "You shouldn't have done that."

My opponent chuckled.

I froze.

No.

NO.

Barbara, the only woman in all of Charade Gin who ever treated me as more than a pile of shite, lowered her hood. Her complexion was only a few shades lighter than the pitch-black robe. The white trim served as an excellent highlight, but the light of hope was gone. "Hey Em. It's been a while."

[Grace]

I took a moment to catch my breath in a makeshift cave just now several tens of metres under the surface of Can Vahs soil.

Beside me lay Ansel on his back, ensconced in brief respite after solidifying the dirt above us into firm rock so as not to cave us in. For someone who hadn't even held his Element for four days, he performed with an ease that made me look almost like a novice.

I took a seat next to him, seeing as we were most assuredly past the Front and a good fifth of the way to the House of Fayt. At this point, Neither Samael nor Jackson, his second, could reach me.

Not that that saved me the discomfort of a revolting shiver: Neil- Chancellor Breckenbale was still here, after all. If that happened, I was, well and truly, fucked.

Bile retched to my mouth. I swallowed it back down. Still yourself, Grace. You're not that helpless coward anymore.

Unfortunately, I had insufficient will to both stave off my fear and worry about the others. Samael must be beyond incensed at this point. He had challenged Ansel to a formal Duel, to Second Blood no less, and the fool had accepted. Then...

He managed a solid gouge into Ansel's abdomen and leapt behind him while he staggered to decapitate him from behind.

Ansel likely wouldn't have known this, but in a duel beyond First Blood, Duelists owed their opponents a recess for a bloodied party to stagger and regain their footing.

Samael defaulted this obligation. And if he wasn't going to honour the rules of his Duel that he issued, then neither was I. So I'd frozen him solid and assailed his Second with the memory of my helpless impalement. The poor lad might have gone mad from that, but he agreed to aid a murderer.

Madam Fayt was going to kill me. But more importantly, Emmett and-

My lungs froze. Patrick was still there.

I leapt up and moved to carve a path back-

"They'll be fine."

Ansel's coughing returned me to my senses. Patrick and Em would be okay. They have each other and the Doyle girl. Probably Scion Stahl as well. And they wouldn't forgive me if I left Ansel to die. "H..how did-"

"Winter snow ensconces spring seed."

I huffed but didn't push it. "Get your rest. We'll make it the rest of the way soon, then swing back to the Colleges with an army."