Darkness of Magic (Soul of Magic Book 2)

FIFTEEN

Kyra hid behind a large rock alongside Richard, Lucian and Isidora as they looked down at the camp of the Anti-magicians below. It had taken them two days but they finally had their quarries in their sights.

In truth, they had actually arrived in the Mountains region the previous night and despite whatever advantage the cover of darkness would have afforded them, they decided not to head straight into attacking; well, all of them agreed except Isidora. All the dark witch wanted to do was get her revenge on against the Anti-magicians and in whatever way possible too. They had had to calm her down and explain to her that the wise thing would be to rest, survey the area and find out the best way to deal with the Anti-magicians without causing unnecessary damage to themselves. That took almost forever to get through to the insistent dark witch and Kyra was more than mentally exhausted to deal with her or her attitude that morning again.

"How many do you think are down there?" the Soul of magic asked from beside Richard; she and the king were hiding behind a large boulder portion of the rock while Lucian and Isidora hid behind another.

"I don't know, but I'm guessing at thirteen," he replied, taking another quick glance around the area to ensure his guess. "But there's no need to worry. Thirteen isn't that much of a number for us to take on."

Truth be told, it wasn't the number of the Anti-magicians that Kyra was worried about; not even the Anti-magicians themselves. What actually worried her was Isidora. The dark witch had managed to convince them all to walk down the road of vengeance with her and she couldn’t help feel like they were a sheep going to the s*******r.

The woman was up to something; Kyra could stake her life on it. But even as she tried to learn whatever it was on their way to the Mountains region, she found nothing. Now, any other person would probably have accepted that perhaps there was actually nothing to find. But if there was something the Soul of magic was as certain of as the power coursing through her veins, it was that when it came to the Dark Hearts Coven, just because you couldn't see something didn't mean it wasn't there.

"Is there a problem?" Isidora asked, quirking an eyebrow when Kyra had begun to stare at her for far too long than was necessary. It wasn't the first time that the dark witch had noticed that kind of thing happening and it was starting to become quite curious to her.

"It's time," Richard said just then and both women turned their attentions back to the present."Kyra, do you mind finding a way to keep them occupied while Lucian and I go in for the attack?" asked the king.

"Please, allow me," Isidora offered before Kyra could respond, even giving the latter what could be termed as a convincing smile to help her case. And although the Soul of magic made no attempt to hide the fact that she didn’t trust the dark witch within an inch of her life, she still allowed her forward. "Thank you,” said Isidora as she took point.

The dark witch closed her eyes, stretched forth her hands and began to mutter some words under her breath. Immediately, a whirlwind formed on the edge of camp, starting first as a gentle breeze before suddenly proceeding into its full violent nature. The Anti-magicians were very surprised at the abrupt change in weather and before they understood what was going on, the whirlwind was tearing through their camp and knocking them down left and right.

Using the commotion that broke out to their advantage, Richard and Lucian charged into the camp, cutting down the Anti-magicians before they even had the chance to see them come. But four Anti-magicians did recover and attacked back. The first to reach Richard went for his stomach; a very bad mistake as he soon realised when the latter easily moved out of his way and slashed him across the back as he rushed past. The second wanted to use Richard's imbalance against him but he parried the incoming strike, punched his opponent in the face and hit him on the head with the base of his sword.

Lucian's opponent, on the other hand, came at him with a club but he met the weapon expertly and parried the strike, jumping out of the way of the return strike. Using all of his might, he struck his sword against the club, effectively sending it spinning out of the Anti-magician's grip. Just as the Anti-magician was still recoiling in pain, Lucian grabbed him the collar and threw him headfirst into the second Anti-magician charging in, the first smacking roughly right into the second’s face. As they hit the ground, Lucian removed his dagger from his boot and threw at the one on top, lodging it right in his chest and the second was easily dispatched of with a single sword strike.

"Impressive," Richard commended Lucian's skill after he was done. But the blonde-haired warrior didn't have the chance to respond as another Anti-magician suddenly came charging at them from behind.

Just as he was about to reach them, a root came shooting out of the ground all of a sudden, tripping him in his run before a white ball of energy hit and sent him flying back to where he had run out of. Two more came again but they were soon flying in opposite directions as they were hit by a powerful gust of wind that rose right in front of them.

The Anti-magicians still didn't relent as archers took charge but just as the arrows were about to be fired, they suddenly caught on fire, forcing the archers to put them down after which Richard and Lucian effectively dealt with them all.

"I think that's the last of them," Richard said as he bashed an Anti-magician against a nearby rock, knocking him out for good. Kyra and Isidora came down to join them and they all surveyed what remained of the camp.

"Is anyone thinking that this fight was a little too easy?" Lucian asked as he looked around. "I mean, I know that we’re great and all but the Anti-magicians should have fought back with a little more ferocity. They didn't."

"I'm just glad it's over", Kyra replied as she turned to check out a tent. Suddenly, a Bloodstone-tipped arrow flew out of nowhere and hit her in the thigh, forcing to go down on one of her knees as she let out a cry in pain.

"Kyra!" Richard shouted as he saw her go down, running to help her but no sooner had he moved that another arrow suddenly whizzed past him and hit Isidora in the shoulder, the dark witch screaming more in surprise than pain.

Just then, battle cries rose from everywhere as countless Anti-magicians came charging out in all directions and pinning them in a circle.

"No!" Lucian gasped as he finally realised why they had been granted such an easy victory. The fight was a trap, and they had walked themselves right into it.