Chapter 20 - Fight For Your Right

Taia stepped into the clearing with an unhurried stride.

When the soldier running point had spotted something he’d yelled to his companions and all three had raced ahead.

Boys…

Taia was used to this. She was well aware her presence seemed to push young men to try extra hard when she was around. She found it charming.

She could hear the sound of steel on steel and the occasional yell. Whatever was happening just out of her sight sounded like quite the melee. Still, the lack of dying screams meant that whatever the soldiers had found must have been a match for her forces’ strength so far, but no more than that.

Which made it all the stranger when Taia stepped out of the wooded path and into the clearing to see only a single man facing off against the three soldiers.

Odder still, the man was unarmed and wreathed in a fiery aura.

A mage!

Her fascination with her find was momentarily set aside as she wondered how the single unarmed man had been holding off the soldiers so far.

When she had first stepped into the open space she had thought there was a black shadow of some kind there. But in the span of a single blink there was nothing there any longer and she assumed it must have been smoke or a trick of the light.

The soldiers all raised the weapons and charged at the glowing man. Taia was very familiar with how long magic needed to charge and it was clear to her the man would not finish his spell in time. Magic could be incredibly powerful but was wildly impractical for short ranged conflicts.

The three swords all swung down in unison.

“Hold!”

Taia’s voice called across the battlefield and all three blades stopped at once. She calmly walked towards the group.

These boys are well trained. They don’t know why I told them to hold off but they immediately stopped anyway. I’ll have to commend Xorn on his training regiment.

“But Mam!” The middle soldier, the platoon’s sergeant, turned and looked at her with surprise on his blue face. “He’s charging a spell. We need to dispose of him.”

The glowing man in question grunted as he forced himself to charge more energy. Taia could tell he was nearly ready to unleash his magic.

Nearly, but not yet.

“Fall back.” She ordered her soldiers. Her tone far too cavalier and sing-song for the situation.

Still, they were soldiers and they followed their orders.

“Take this you demon bitch!” Kaelen screamed as he thrust out his hand towards the woman walking up to him. The aura of flames surrounding him condensed and vanished within him as his hand began to glow instead.

“Shards of Aver…”

“Aergia.” Taia lazily spoke as she flicked her finger in the man’s direction like she was cutting the strings of a puppet with her long fingernails.

The man just stopped.

No flash. No spell. In an instant the spell he was about to cast simply ceased to be. No more glow.

Instead, he just stood there. His arms fell to his sides and his back hunched slightly like a great burden had been placed on him.

His eyelids slowly closed and opened and his vision became unfocused.

The soldiers stared, stunned at the change in his behaviour.

The man they had just been fighting stood there looking more like someone who had just woken up from an overlong nap. He slowly raised his arm to scratch at the side of his head like he was trying to remember why he was there. What he was doing.

“Uh…Mam? What happened?” The sergeant looks at her confused.

“Oh, nothing fancy. He just decided he didn’t care about fighting any more.”

“Just like that? How?”

“Nothing you need concern yourselves about. Take him into custody and be very careful to make sure he doesn’t get hurt. I’ll need to check later if he’s…useful.”

She assessed the listless man, her eyes narrowing as she wondered if this was the mage she’s been looking for.

“Should we question him now about his friends Mam?”

“What’s that?” She responded absently, her mind obviously somewhere else. “Don’t bother. He won’t talk for a day or two like that. He just can’t be bothered.”

“Can’t be bothered?” It was clear her words confused the sergeant.

“Don’t worry. You should be able to have him stumble his way back to the castle.”

She put her hand to her chin as she thought.

“In fact, he’s a potentially valuable captive. Sergeant, take one of your men and escort the prisoner back to the castle jail immediately. We can’t risk anyone coming back to rescue him.” She turned towards the forward scout of the group. “You’ll stay with me and investigate whatever happened here.”

The sergeant saluted and stepped towards the former foe. Like Taia had said, when the sergeant took the prisoner’s hand the man began to stumble after him as he walked. It would be slow going, but should be straightforward.

“Are you sure we should leave you with just one guard Mam?” The sergeant looked back at her as he prepared to leave.

Taia laughed, the sound soft and pleasant to the man’s ears.

“I’ll be just fine my dear sergeant. I’m sure I’ll be safe with only one of you big strong men to protect me.” She spoke casually, but the mocking tone was unmistakable.

“Right! Sorry Mam!” The sergeant quickly backtracked. He was well aware that he was no match for her. Thinking about it even a little more he came to the realization that he and his men would be nothing but fodder for anything that could best the white haired greater demon.

He saluted again and along with his compatriot began to lead the captive back towards the castle.

Taia surveyed the scene before her. Too caught up in the battle when she first arrived, she now saw the burnt wreckage of a carriage and other signs of what might have happened before she got there.

An intrigued grin came to her lips.

“Now then, what do we have here?”