Ashes and the Lady of Ice

Steel screamed as Sebastian continued his frantic defense, relying on raw muscle power to lash out wildly and drive the handful of men back.

He could not, in fact, do that.

The ground, muddy and bloodsoaked before he had even gotten here, littered with corpses like a fantasy film set. It made his footing slick and his stride unsteady, unable to dig his heels in. A pillar of ice blocked the far side, and he could see the young woman crawling towards it, slowly, while he fought for his life.

“If she isn’t quitting, I can’t either.” He thought, even as he kept pulling back, swinging the axe around, sweeping to the side to ward off a probing approach from one, only for another to dart in and cause him to scramble back, nearly slipping as he avoided his side being opened up by a hacking axeblade that looked a lot more wieldy than the heavy thing he was hauling around.

If he could just get that burning ash thing to work again, he’d be able to handle this. Face-melting destruction waves made of hot glass or whatever ash was would be pretty welcome.

“Come on, come on now, doing that again would be nice!” Came his frantic thoughts as a sword screamed off the haft of the axe in his hands. He tried to conjure it up through will, cajoling, imagination…But the mark on his hand stubbornly refused to do anything as the five men, armed to the teeth, continued to press him. Only not surrounding him because he continued to step back.

It was an unstable equilibrium that would last precisely as long as his flailing about with a metal blade on a stick would continue, or he could keep retreating, and then it would fall apart.

“Bastard…where’s that smoke you were bringing, eh?!” One of them snarled as he pressed again with his two swords, clearly making the connection that Sebastian had no idea what he’d done or how to do it.

He manhandled his axe around to swing it towards him, staggering back as the man parried with one blade and spun himself close. On instinct, Sebastian twisted around to bring the haft of the axe up, just in time to catch his blade.

“Plenty of smoke right here!” He told the man, fronting with the remains of his rapidly dwindling confidence as he lashed out with a kick, striking the man in the gut and sending him back with a hacking cough.

“He can’t! Boy is just a neophyte.” The one in gray, lingering at the back with his scarred lips, “Any could see the signs. A Blessing, newly awoken. Like giving an ape a match and expecting him to know how to make fire.”

“You want to do something then? He turned the boss into fucking jerky!” One swore at him over his shoulder, and the robed man sneered, clenching a hand that flashed briefly.

“He’s a flailing oaf with some kind of magic counter Blessing he doesn’t know how to use. It explains why it saved him, how it did, and why he hasn’t used anything else. Likely it just awoke.” he said, which at least gave Sebastian a name for whatever the fuck it was that he’d done, “So long as I don’t strike him with a spell, that should remain the case. So stop acting like cowards and kill him.” he ordered

“So apparently I’m not getting any more help! Fantastic. Karma is so generous for good deeds, isn't she.” Sebastian thought, processing what he’d heard. “I thought the guy with the spear was in charge, but that guy sure seems to have his shit together.”

Indeed, as Sebastian struggled, the hooded figure seemed to just be watching. There’d been other cloaked bodies among the field, less numerous than either the silver ones or the brigands. He didn’t seem to have a weapon, though who knew while he was covered head to toe in that gray robe, only his calloused hands and scarred face partially exposed.

The brigands seemed emboldened at his words, but it didn’t entirely change the nature of their little dance. They would attack or try to flank him, and he would flail about wildly to deter them. Continue this little dance until he made a mistake. A real losing combination.

“I need to change this.” He thought, mind scrambling to come up with some kind of a plan. But he didn’t have one.

“Story of my life right there!”

He was coasting through all of this insanity by the skin of his teeth. Lost, confused, and biting off more than he can chew. All because he’d tried to save someone’s life. Twice.

A wordless shout filled the air from his right, and his head whipped around on instinct as the situation decided to change.

“Yuuu!” Came the slurring shout of the man he’d first tackled, blood pouring from the crushed nose on his dirt-caked face as he threw himself at Sebastian, and his reflexes kicked in again as the man literally jumped at him.

He spun on his heel, swinging the axe wildly with all of his might. The heavy blades of the head crashing into the man mid-flight with a horrible, wet sound as it carved into his side.

The corpse fell to the forest floor in two pieces…and Sebastian, shocked and overbalanced, slipped, heels skidding before his back impacted the ground.

He barely had a chance to turn his head, swinging up his left arm as the other brigands descended like jackals. His eyes wide, he tried to bring the axe up and around again, get to his feet, something.

For a moment, his eyes went to the girl. A part of him was just hoping he wouldn’t see her, that she’d managed to get some strength back and slip away unnoticed.

She hadn’t. She was looking right at him, having reached the massive hunk of ice and used it to support her weight, the once elegant, frilled white coat and skirt she wore stained with mud and blood. And she raised a hand towards him, as if reaching for his face for some reason.

She spoke as the blades arced for him.

“White Knife!”

A pale lavender glow flashed to life around her hand, cold haze spilling from her fingers, and a blade of pure ice, so crystal clear that it caught the light and seemed to glow, flashed through the air like a bullet from her palm.

Right for his face. It traveled so quickly he hadn’t even had a chance to blink.

“You Bitch!” The gray-robed man swore, throwing up his own hand, glowing green even as he whirled on her.

It almost felt like Sebastian could feel the tip of the blade kiss the end of his nose…and the symbol on his hand burned again…and smoke and ash burst from his body in a dome of searing, shearing force.

The men lunging barely had a chance to scream as it ripped through them, reducing them to shredded, charred meat, obscuring his vision.

“No-no-no, not now. Come on Seb.” He told himself, still in shock, but scrambling to get back to his face.

He waved an arm and rushed into the smoke, seeing it burst and billow apart at his motion to see the gray-robed man, bunkered behind a slab of what appeared to be living wood, coated in bark.

Sebastian moved, gripping the axe tightly in both hands as he raced around it, and swung at the robed man.

“You insignificant little rat! You’ve ruined everything!” The man snarled, bringing up his gnarled hands, glowing again as Sebastian brought the blade around.

“Bark Barrier!” The man snapped, another wooden wall bursting from the earth, the blade sinking deep into it, causing it to splinter and ooze sap before he wrenched the blade back and rushed to get around it for another go.

“Wretched, arrogant neophyte! Do you think I cannot hurt you? Let’s test that! No defense is without flaw!” The man said, lashing out an arm as he ducked Sebastian’s clumsy swing, scrambling back like a rat as he went, arm glowing, more brightly now and with greater power, spectral branches clinging to his arm.

“Lance of the Green Knight!” The man snarled, before in a flash, a literal tree, big enough to total a semi-truck, erupted from his palm as fast as said semi-truck with the brakes cut on a downhill sprint, straight for Sebastian.

Sebastian, in what he was finding to be a pattern, didn’t think. He just moved, his arm almost coming up on its own to meet the oncoming foliage.

The burning in his left hand came back, this time with a snarled hissing sound in the back of his head, and a wave blazing ash ripped from his palm again.

This time, there was a boom, as it met the magical attack and he was thrown back bodily, crashing hard against the mass of ice.

With a wave of his hand, the gray-robed man emerged, sprouting tree roots holding his feet in place.

“Oh delightful. You suffer backlash if the spell is strong enough. And you’re both right in one place.” The robed man said, tone almost quaint.

Sebastian wanted to say something pithy in return…but in all honesty, he was tired. His body was screaming from behind thrown around, his arms shaking from the strain of hauling a giant piece of metal on a stick around at high speed. The simple fact was he only had so much in the tank and it was running on empty.

He looked to the girl, still relying on the ice to support her weight, a faint tremor in her legs and arms. Her violet eyes met his, and there was something like acceptance there.

“Sorry.” He told her, not knowing what else to say as he pressed his palm against the ice to straighten himself up. He wanted to tell her to run, be the big hero making a last stand or something in this insane storybook mess it was in, but he doubted she was in any condition for it.

“Maybe I’ll wake up back home in the street after this?” he wondered to himself.

“You…have nothing to apologize for…I give my thanks.” She told him. Her voice was hoarse, but clear now that he was close. Refined, that was how he would call it. Delicate not in the sense that it was fragile, but that it was extremely….precise, for lack of any better way to put it. An accent he’d never heard before, almost Slavic, almost German, but not quite either.

There were uglier things to hear before you died for the second time, he imagined, as her eyes traced the back of his hand and seemed to widen slightly.

“I’ll just…well, I hate to waste the mana, but yes, that should do. A spell big enough to ensure that your backlash kills you both. Technically she was supposed to live for a while, but needs must. I won’t be rewarded, but I at least won’t be punished.” The robed man said, and Sebastian tried to right himself, gripping the haft of the axe.

“Wait…if you please...” She said, just as he was preparing himself for one last stupid decision. He turned to her, about to ask what she meant, only to see her face moving towards him own.

His eyes widened, and he tried to step back, only for her to grip his shirt with surprising strength and press her bloodied lips to his own.

He felt something cold on his lips, and then in his mouth as what felt like icicles pushed past his lips to meet his tongue. It was freezing, and immediately his head exploded in pain, the mother of all ice-cream headaches…which was soon followed by that hissing sound building up to a snarled roar as smoke burst off of him, throwing her to the ground, ashes smoldering and being met with a blast of steam as the ice next to him melted in an instant.

“What? No, no, that’s, what is this?” The robed man cried out as a voice thundered in his skull. He didn’t understand it, but it seemed angry, confused? It felt tired, no, groggy. Like someone just rolled out of bed.

“A girl just kissed me with a tongue made of icicles and that’s what I’m trying to figure out.” was the thought that went numbly through his skull as she pulled away from the kiss and grabbed his arm, a wave of ashes pluming off of him as she swung it out and around towards the robed man.

“Once more. You can feel it now.” She said simply, imperious despite her clear exhaustion. No question in her tone. She somehow knew that whatever she had just done was responsible for the hissing, rumbling engine sensation that had bloomed to life in his veins.

“It should be simple enough. Feel it. Command it. Do not even imagine failure. Will it, and it will be so. You have power, that and your Blessing will compensate for a lack of skill.” She said curtly as the robed man erupted from the ash, arms and legs glowing, spectral leaves falling around him even as branches of green energy wrapped around his body.

“You! I have no idea…you’ve ruined everything. No more toying boy!” He snarled, throwing his hands forward, glowing with more power than he had before.

“BUTCHER’S BLOOM!” The man roared visibly sweating with strain, foaming at the edges of his mouth with exertion, and four immense, thorny trunks erupted from the ground, black bark shot through with throbbing veins full of amber sap as they twisted together like a drill, screaming towards him.

He gripped that feeling, that hissing, burning heat, and tried, no, made it move, listening to what she said.

“Command it. Like a name and an idea or something? Good enough. Not supposed to think about it failing.”

And with that thought, he took in everything he’d seen in this short, insane period of his life, all this impossible everything, and put it to use, pulling free from her touch to grip the axe and swing it around with a roar as he shot towards the drilling tendrils on what had to be the most insane and terrible impulsive idea he’d had all day.

“ASH FALL!”

Ash bloomed around him, choking the air with burning cinders and black obsidian clung to his arms, smoldering with heat as the ash in his hands seemed to drink in the light around it, obsidian and ash building up over it before it met the tip of the drilling trees edge on with explosive force.

It split, wood scorching to ash that only fed the unleashed wave, a screaming blade of ash-glass and roaring smoke driving forward. Sap boiled and burst, and the man in gray barely had a chance to scream before he was erased, a smoldering furrow carved out where he once stood, continuing on to and through the forest road a short distance away and disappearing amid trees that began to collapse, their thumping falls like a judge’s gavel, declaring things over and done.

“Oh…fuck..” Sebastian swore, as the contents of his stomach tried to escape, causing him to stagger, the haft of the axe finding no purchase in the absolute ruin of ashes and mud that he’d created as he fell to his knees.

Adrenaline ran out, now that there was no longer a threat, and the events of the last…

“I don’t even know how long its been.” He thought, the broad teen’s eyes widening as he struggled to figure it out, everything hitting him at once.

He’d killed eight people. He’d used magic, or a Blessing, or….

“I died.” He thought, numb, before he felt a hand on his shoulder, the girl, somewhat shaking still, but righting herself as the ashes in the air finished settling down.

Lit by the moonlight, her silver hair glowed underneath the filth that clung to it in places, much like her dress.

“On behalf of the Ducal House of Von Hagelkrone, This Lady Oktavia bestows her thanks upon her savior.” She said, tone iron clad, or perhaps ice clad, as she managed a curtsey, only the faintest tremor in her shapely legs and elegant fingers revealing that she was at all perturbed, her face like a perfect mask. Utterly unperturbed.

“I…..you’re welcome.” He said, focusing on her as he struggled to his feet.

“I’m….Sebastian. Sebastian Blackwell.” He told her, trying to think of what to do.

“What do I say? Thanks for kissing me and I guess pissing off my magic enough to wake it up? For throwing an icicle at my face and saving my life? I….fuck…” He thought, before settling on offering her his left hand in a shake, trying to not lean too hard on his stolen axe.

She rose, looking at him curiously, her eyes taking a calculating bent, or so it seemed to Sebastian, as she saw the mark on his hand again.

He took his hand in her own, and shook it lightly, only maintaining contact for as long as she needed to.

“Yes…well…you’ve my thanks. Sebastian Blackwell.” She said, seemingly slowly regaining some of her surety, before looking over the glade.

“The House Von Hagelkrone’s gratitude is vast. You will find the opportunity, should you endeavor to aid me further, to enjoy it. I….”

She trailed for a moment, eyes resting on one of the bodies. Half buried in ash and splintered wood, with its silver armor still barely recognizable.

“I would be most grateful personally, as well, if you could escort me to my familial seat.” She said, tone turning quiet as she stepped towards the body, taking a moment to kneel down and brush the ash off of of the corpse’s face, examining it for a moment, as if committing it to memory, before rising again.

“I…I’d love’ta help you…there.” Sebastian said, still breathing heavily. “but…Well…I’m kind of lost? And…well I’d have died without you waking up my magical…what Blessing?” He noted, “You could call us even…no need to-” He said, trying to figure out where even to begin.

“Where the hell am I, what the hell is this? What the hell is going on. Don’t even know where to start.” Was the thought, even as she cut him off.

“Please…do not speak of it.” She said, jaw tightening. “I did what was required, nothing more. It would be…” She began, before dismissing it.

“You came to my aid. I can tell you are foreign, by your name and manner. You thrust yourself into danger on my behalf without obligation. That accrues a debt I have not yet repaid.” She said firmly.

“And…I see you are of common stock by your confusion. Your Blessing…a Blessing is a kind of magical gift. If they are not common where you hail from, then it is difficult to explain. But simply placed, they grant an increased reservoir of power, and certain alterations to the way one shapes magic.” She told him, “If you truly feel yourself in any debt to me…a Blessing such as yours is of great utility. Even untrained and….extravagant as your expenditures were, it ensured victory. I merely…roused it.” She said, tone pensive. “Your services in returning me to my home would be appreciated. My own power is…expended utterly. I can guide us, but your further aid would be of immense help.”

“Roused…Ain’t that a way to put it.” he thought, the feeling of her bitter cold lips coming back to him, now that he wasn’t overwhelmed.

“So…this Blessing’s special, and she’s got a place to go and needs my help….alright then.”

“Okay. I’m your man then.” He told her, giving a smile and thumping his chest with a fist, wincing slightly at the tenderness of his muscles. She seemed taken back at his words, for some reason, startling slightly and biting her lower lip ever so slightly, before it vanished and her cool, flat expression returned untouched.

“Yes…well…quite.” She said, turning on a heel.

“I…will secure supplies from my carriage…I…recommend you prevail yourself of any equipment from the dead you may require promptly, Sebastian Blackwell!” She told him, tone strengthening and turning steely at the end, making him jump.

“Ah…alright then. Right away.” He said, before lumbering over to do just that. He took a look at the burning symbol on the back of his hand for a moment as he did.

“What even is happening in my life right now?”

As he would find out, it was a good thing he’d made no plans for the future. It was entirely out of his hands now.