Chương 61: 60 – A Candle in the Wind

I'd seen fire magic in Denarla. The place was practically brimming with fire mages, and the army was no exception. Officers could enter the military straight out of the magic schools which was why Tacuria was famous for its fire magic. It was the most prominent, it was fast, it was destructive, and it made a point. It was common, yes, but it was also effective. It was also quite useless against aerial opponents.

Traditional fire magic was generated near the body and then thrown outward as either a ball of condensed flame that exploded on impact or a flow of rushing fire that could act as a wall or deterrent. Particularly skilled mages could hone that flow into a straight line that was useful both in detailed craftsmanship and blowing little holes in rift monsters. To my endless irritation, fire mages were also responsible for making fire hot enough to craft glass with.

In the presence of fire mages, whatever mundane route April's world had taken to get flames hot enough had never been pursued here. Pyromancers meant better forges, which meant better weaponry and armor, too. That… might've all been propaganda bullshit, but I'd been raised to believe it.

"Tacurians liked it hot" was a longstanding joke. I'd seen fire magic used plenty of times. Visiting soldiers used it to entertain their families, and the occasional traveler would use it to light pipes. It was… common. Mom's magic did not look like regular fire magic. The wind mage didn't hesitate to rain attacks down on the woman who'd interrupted her poison.

Wind was everywhere, and the woman seemed capable of turning it into blades that cut and sliced in an area far away from her, but Mom's tiny candles lit up in defense. Before her, the two candles of flame seemed to expand in an instant, turning into floating shields of forged flame. They didn't block the wind attack, so much as they burned it out of existence.

The candles seemed to float lazily before exploding into horse-sized bubbles of boiling haze, like the distortion in the air just above the flames of a campfire. Each time they burst, ashes fell to the ground, and I heard the sound like the crackles after a firework.

"—, get out—!" Mom called, turning to face me. I could barely hear a word she said, with my ears bleeding, but I got the message.

"She can attack with sound!" I called back, words garbled and uneven in my own ears, before turning to find Reid. He was no longer behind the boulder I'd seen him go to before, and I assumed he'd used the distraction to find a place to hide. I took off running toward the boulder anyway. I'd be able to find him from there… all I had to do was follow the blood. I grimaced at the thought. Despite hundreds of little cuts all over his body, Reid had still been moving like he was mostly okay.

In fact, I was pretty sure the pepper paste was disabling him more than the cuts. I just hoped none of them had nicked an artery. I had no idea what Mom could do about the sonic attacks. Hell, I had no idea how she'd even gotten here, but I had to assume she didn't know about them. Unlike everyone else, her ears weren't bleeding. I took cover behind the boulder Reid had just vacated, and immediately spotted him moving a few rocks away, limping towards the beach. There were more rocks and places to hide there.

The woman above us was growing irritated. The dragon had recovered enough to do another dive, but it was much less successful this time. The soldiers were prepared for the dragon and without its rider it was no longer rising into the clouds to attack from unexpected angles. Arrows were pelting it from all sides, and some of them were even getting through its armor. The wind witch was drifting closer to us, her spells clearly too far away to be effective against Mom's defense.

When I turned back to take in the fight once more, I saw Mom lift the sword. The woman screamed in shock and pain. Air around her ignited like tiny grenades. Only distance saved the woman's life as the wind picked up, lifting her higher and further away from the burning embers Mom had made out of thin air. If only I could do something to help, too! Reid and Mom's bubbles were both still greyed out, their old needs to kill war trolls in place.

They could fight this woman because of them, but that still wasn't what they were needed for. To my growing frustration, there was no one else here that I was close enough with to build for! Traditional wisdom held that, amazing as a talent was, the free points it earned would eventually begin to outweigh the talent itself. That seemed like it would be a long time coming for me. It was only thanks to my talent and dumb luck that I wasn't a blubbering idiot on the ground right now.

This woman had enough free points to challenge a small army, and while she wasn't winning, she certainly wasn't losing either. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. She had burn marks on her face and an arrow sticking out of her left leg that must hurt like hell. She wore loose-fitting green pants and a white blouse. Her blouse was covered in dirt and sweat, but the woman wasn't backing down.

Unfortunately for her, she'd given Reid time to set up again. Another crack of thunder echoed across the battlefield. I felt the impact more than I heard it. Reid had fired again, but this time he targeted the dragon, I didn't blame him. The woman was terrifying. Without its scales for protection, the dragon's vulnerable flesh was exposed. To Reid's talent that would've been like a neon target, and he'd taken the shot, right for the dragon's throat.

I watched in fascination as one moment the dragon was descending for another burning attack run, and the next moment a geyser of blood and fire erupted from its neck. The scales were able to prevent the impact damage from bursting out of the inside, but the dragon's throat was destroyed. A controlled flight morphed into a dead plummet, and I watched the dragon crash skull-first into the ground with a sickening crunch, and an explosion of molten fire"Yes!"

I screamed, and other soldiers mirrored me as they watched the inspiring scene. The wind witch was singed, bleeding from one leg, and staring down toward the rocks where Reid was hiding. She hadn't seen his final shot, and Mom had distracted her enough to let her lose track of him, but she hadn't missed her mount's death. Part of me hoped that was enough. That she might finally leave. I was confused and lost, and unsure if we were winning or losing beyond our fight with the wind witch.

There were more and more individual battles between soldiers and rift monsters nearby and I didn't think that was a good sign. If the witch decided to cut her losses then we might be able to turn the tide against the goblins and trolls. Of course, she doubled down. Rather than flee, the woman began a dive of her own. Trusting that the damn archer wouldn't be able to hit her when she was engaged in close-range combat, the woman flew straight toward my Mom.

Mom — whom I'd never seen so much as strike a mosquito — reared back and let loose a burst of flame the size of a volcano that engulfed the woman entirely. The Wind Witch blasted right through, fire diverting off her as she entered the funnel. A burst of wind buffeted the inferno from the inside, and it blasted away while she landed on the ground, unharmed. Mom was buffeted away and she choked as she landed hard on her back.

"Mom!" I screamed. Enraged, I began searching for a path. She was on the ground now, and as long as that was true, I did have a way to attack her. Fortunately, we weren't the only ones on the battlefield. Suddenly given a target close enough to actually attack, other mages and soldiers began pelting the woman with magic and arrows of their own.

Fire streamed in from angry soldiers who'd been trapped here between the wind witch and the battle lines of the trolls and goblins, but the wind blocked fire as if it wasn't there. Arrows bounced away like they were toys and no magic seemed strong enough to penetrate the wind barrier. So how had Mom managed to hurt her? Blades of wind slipped out from the woman at a flick of her fingers, and sliced gouts of flame in two before continuing on to butcher their casters.

One ambitious soldier tried to run at the woman with a sword, only to burst into three pieces in a spray of blood. The wind magic was terrifyingly effective at close range. Mom caught her breath and reached out, lighting the air on fire in the area around the woman. Somehow, Mom's magic was slipping past her defense, but not enough to stop her. Another wind blade rushed at Mom, only to be burnt to a crisp by her floating fire candles. One of them burnt away in the effort, evaporating into steam and mist.

Mom struggled to rise but fell back as the woman approached. I was getting closer myself, skulking slowly behind her. Something suddenly smashed into my foot. I screamed and tumbled, rolling to the ground five feet away from Mom. I felt a sudden slice just above my hair. A blade. A goblin's sword had almost cut straight into my throat. The pain set in moments later. I screamed as I stared down at my ankle. My foot was… twisted. Not the right way. Broken. Viscerally horrifying.

Something had smashed into it from the side with enough force to twist it backward, and it was all I could do to stifle a scream. That said, I hadn't been cut to ribbons by a goblin's blade. A few paces away I saw an arrow with the head removed, and moments later, I jumped as a thunderclap echoed beside me. The goblin's upper half exploded in a shower of gore. Reid…? The woman was still walking toward my mother. Mom's fire magic was amazing, but she'd only been working on it for a few weeks.

Even if she'd pumped a year's worth of free points into it, I didn't know if she could stand up to this woman. Suddenly, a large rock smashed through the woman's wind barrier and slammed into her stomach. It only knocked her back a few paces but it distracted her yet again.

"The Gods curse your little weapons!" the woman hissed, turning to glare at the offending soldier. To my surprise, Mandek Shepard stood hundreds of paces away, far out of even the witch's range, the rock from his sling having punched through a barrier hundreds of arrows hadn't been able to penetrate. She turned around and glared straight at me. Suddenly, I floated into the air. I screamed as the wind lifting me cared nothing for my broken ankle.

I floated near her, and found myself between her and the rocks where Reid had last been. She was using me as a human shield, but her attention had already left me. I didn't matter to her. Mom did.

"You have been a surprisingly good opponent. I might have to keep you," she said, staring down at my mother.

"You might provide interesting learning opportunities."

"L-Leave this army. Stop attacking us and I'll go with you," Mom said, eyeing me, terrified.

"F-fuck that," I hissed. The woman's bonds of wind had left my hands free, and ironically, pulled me right where I wanted to be. I removed my pouch of pepper spray and squeezed it directly into the woman's face as she turned to me. The wind barrier sent the spray spinning everywhere, but some of it got through! Success! She'd be… The women didn't even flinch. Idly she reached up to her cheek and inspected the dark liquid.

"Amusing. You would use chemicals? Against me?"

"Wh-what are you?" I asked, horrified. The woman grinned.

"I am Freyna. Queen of Eschal." Queen of Eschal…? But Eschal didn't have a queen. Everyone knew that! Before I could say anything, Mom made her move. Showing surprising agility and stealth, she lunged at me, wrapping her arms around me in a tight embrace. I only had half a moment to see Freyna's shocked expression before vertigo overtook me. The world spun. Every color seemed to invert for just a moment and without warning, I was yanked away. My pain temporarily abated as overwhelming confusion took its place.

In moments, it was over. I blinked, and the world righted itself. Color seeped back in. Sound came. I heard muffled bird calls. The sound of water boiling over a pot. The world rematerialized on a scene that was achingly familiar and simultaneously impossible. Gravity suddenly reasserted itself and I screamed as I toppled off my broken ankle onto my bed back in Pemolar's Hill, Mom sprawled unceremoniously on top of me.