Fire of Magic (Soul of Magic Book 4)

EIGHTEEN

"Well, it makes sense now how they're all still alive," Freya said as she looked at each of the guards. "They're immortals."

"No, they're not immortals,” Isidora replied, “at least not in the strictest sense of the word." The dark witch conjured up a purple energy ball in her palm and began to use it to feel the aura around her. "An intricate spell has been cast on this place,” she said after a few seconds; confirming what she had suspected all along. “The caster used the five pillars of magic to create a very strong and almost unbreakable bond between everything; the Conqueror's flames for fire, the soil for earth, the incending creek for water, the wind around for air, and these guards' lives for spirit. None of them can be affected while still in connection with the others."

The spell actually made sense of the reason why the incending creek had never affected by the Barren lands' crazy weather conditions over the years too; the magic in the spell had kept it strong, unchangeable, and tethered to its boundaries.

"Good explanation of the cause, witch," Morgan said from her side, "but how about you give a solution to go with that explanation of yours?"

"We have to look for the weakest of the pillars and break the bond from there," Kyra replied before Isidora could, knowing fully well what the dark witch might do to the boy if she allowed her to initiate her response. The Soul of magic looked around in search of that point and not long after, her eyes settled directly on it. "The Conqueror's flames," she said, pointing at the staff still buried in the ground. "It's the only one that we can wholly handle. We remove it from its resting place and I'm fairly sure that the bond, and in turn the spell, will be broken."

"Well, whatever we're going to do, let's do it fast," Lucian informed them as he put his sword at the ready when the guards began to move into positions. "I think our opponents are just about done with us being ready."

Richard took charge of the second battle about to come their way; his instructions short and simple. "Ariel, at my signal, you go for the flames. Freya, you'll protect her. The rest of us, we keep the guards at bay while she works." Everyone nodded in agreement; they were all clear on the plan.

All of a sudden, as if sensing that a plan had been finalised, one of the wolves jumped from the top of the slope and over everyone's head to land between them and the Conqueror's flames. But it didn't get to stand for very long; Freya putting it down once again with an arrow between the eyes.

"Now!" Richard signalled and the group broke to the tasks designated.

The guards on seeing that the group was coming at them returned the favour with a battle cry of their own; needing no second invitation as they rushed into battle too.

Kyra was the first to reach her opponent, the latter already waiting with his spear poised for her heart. But she was fully aware of the attack; going down on her knees to slide past him before he could adjust to her new position. With quick and practiced strokes, she slashed his thigh from behind, bringing one of her legs up to spring herself back into a standing position and putting a quick end to the guard with a stab through the heart from behind before he could even scream in pain from the first strike.

"Great technique, Kyra," Lucian commended as he came to stand next to her after taking the heads of two guards, an impressed smile on his face even in the heat of battle.

"Well, I had a good teacher," she replied, winking at him before going for her next opponent.

Freya, on her own side too, was doing a good job; quickly and expertly putting down each and every of her attackers, which were mostly wolves, before they could take a step towards Ariel.

But as valiantly as the group fought, the fiery red energy always flowed through the ground to revive their fallen opponents; bringing the fight back to a full circle. They were starting to realise that perhaps the reason why the Conqueror's flames was so hard to find wasn’t because of its hidden location but the magically enhanced strength of its guardians.

"I think it's about time you pulled out that damn staff!" Morgan shouted at Ariel as he narrowly dodged a spear swung at his head by a guard he was pretty sure he was fighting for the fourth time. The weapon had only missed his head by a few inches.

"Almost there!" the seer returned, panting within an inch of her life as she ran towards the centre of ground which was a really long way off.

As Ariel got to the staff, she pulled it as instructed. But to her unending surprise, the staff didn't remove; it was as if it had being somehow fused to the mountain itself. "This is not good!" she whispered as she pulled the staff even harder but it still didn't budge. "This is so not good!"

"What's taking so long?" Freya shouted at her, but the rest of the conversation was broken as a guard suddenly rammed into her; bringing the both of them to the ground.

The guard tried to pin the pale blonde archer to the ground but she resisted vehemently; fighting back with everything within her. Feeling around her as she kept the guard off with her bow, her hand found a discarded arrow which she immediately grabbed and plunged into the guard's neck, pushing him off her before ending him with another plunge in the neck.

Unfortunately, during the time that it took Freya to fight off her attackers two guards had gotten past her and were now headed straight for Ariel. "Not on my watch, you annoyingly undead idiots," she said, nocking two arrows which she shot at the two's back. The first dropped immediately but she had to add another to the second's back before he fell right in front of the seer.

Seeing the fatigued looks on the others’ faces, Ariel realised that they would soon get overwhelmed by the never tired forces of the guards and their wolves. And so, as quickly as she could, she felt around the staff, looking for what might be of help in her quest to remove it from the earth, and that was when she saw it.

"It has one of its crystals missing," the seer realized just then, an idea immediately coming to her in that moment. Working as fast as she could under pressure, she removed the glowing crystal from within her cloak and placed it in the missing position, all the while praying to any saint available that her plan should work.

As the glowing crystal was set, it immediately began to hum in the same rhythm as the entire staff, giving in immediately to the seer when she pulled at it again and it came out of the ground with no resistance at all.

The moment the Conqueror's flames fell into Ariel's hands, the guards and wolves howled together as if in great pain before falling onto their knees and they all crumbled to dust. "Good work, seer," Morgan commended her, smiling when he turned to see that she was the one who had ended the assault. "Really, you did great."

"I know," she replied, closing her eyes as she raised the staff up. "I've been dreaming of this moment for very, very a long time."

"Ariel," Kyra called, a feeling of apprehension suddenly rising up within her at the girl's words.

Just then, Ariel opened her eyes, their formerly black colour turning red as if they had been set ablaze. The runes became active too as they turned a red-hot colour and the crystals burst into real flames, burning as bright as the eyes of its wielder.

"Ariel!" Richard shouted her name this time around, unsure of exactly what was going on. "Drop the Conqueror's flames now!"

"I'm sorry your Majesty but I can't," she replied, the formerly innocent look in the seer’s eyes suddenly turning all sinister. "You see, there’s been a change in plans."