Chapter 13

Luchs awoke from her sleep in the cramped tent, with her chestplate and sheathed greatsword kept next to her for safe keeping. A cursory glance showed both Levin and Aria were missing from their bedrolls; Karios had taken the last watch of the night. Roark dozed on peacefully as the knight carefully rose and made to leave the tent.

In the space before her, Levin and Aria sat across from each other on a mat with three different items floating between them. A large stone, a dark metal vambrace, and her own dagger were held aloft in the telltale golden aura of her Light. When they had left off last night, Aria had gotten used to grabbing and controlling small objects near her at will, to the point where she was able to split her focus among two different items in her grasp. To see her advance so quickly, Luchs could feel the pride well up in her chest, even if she wished it were under better circumstances.

“She woke up before Levin, bothered Karios to practice more.”” Roark’s voice was quiet, but it still startled Luchs. “It’s cool, isn’t it?”

“Are you a Blessed, Roark?” Luchs asked. He wasn’t present during Aria’s lessons the night before. The green-eyed, short-haired twin looked on at the princess and his brother, shaking his head.

“Just Levin,” Roark answered, though his smile told the knight he wasn’t upset by the fact. “And I’m glad he is. I wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t.”

Luch looked on as Levin was egging Aria on to do something that made the princess grin mischievously. Slowly, the vambrace began to split off from the other hovering items, before a flick of a finger sent it shooting off at the crouching figure of Karios as he stirred a small pot over the campfire. Without warning, the blue-eyed swordsman tilted his body away slightly and extended his arm to catch the wayward armor piece. The two youths groaned in disappointment.

“Interesting choice,” Karios smirked, looking up at them as he easily slid his vambrace onto his left forearm. “The rock would’ve been quieter than a chunk of metal flying through the air, though.”

It wasn’t long until the group was properly awake, and the older man served them small bowls of bland gruel, aged wheat rations with some water. It wasn’t much, but better than nothing while on the move. Breakfast was a quick affair as the twins dismantled the tent and collected the bedrolls and mat into convenient packs. Luchs was back in her armor and held her greatsword aloft as she led the group this time as Aria urged them due south.

“We should be close to the border of the kingdom,” Luchs nodded. “I believe the cliffs marking where Carnissia and Ormain are less than a day away at our pace.”

“Walk fast, then,” Karios nodded. “Let’s make sure we have water before we cross over. It’s a desert, right?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The sun was high in the sky when the sounds of the forest and steps meeting the underbrush were interrupted by a horn Aria did not recognize. It sounded like a hunting horn from her father’s collection, when he would go with other nobles to hunt bears and birds in the area just outside the castle town and return with game animals to be butchered for dinner. The looks on both Luchs and Karios’s eyes told her this was no such event.

“Forgerosi war horn,” Luchs identified it with certainty. “Aimed our way.”

“Fight?” Roark asked, his gaze searching theirs and seeing only panic. Karios shook his head.

“That horn means there’s at least thirty knights,” he answered, dropping his pack of rations. “Drop everything and run!”

The twins’ packs hit the ground, and Aria found herself running alongside them. Luchs’s armor clanged as they sped through the forest, tree limbs and bushes flying past them in their desperate dash for the border. True to Luch’s words, she could hear the horn again, louder this time, with the accompanying sound of many metal boots rapidly approaching them.

“We’re almost there!” Luchs yelled from the front. “Keep pushing!”

“Grah!” It was Roark, in his panic to keep up with his brother, that tripped on a root, causing Aria to fall down after him, skidding along the ground. Karios and Levin were immediately at their side. Roark managed to get up easily and get back into his stride, but Aria’s head was swimming from the impact with the forest floor again.

FWOOM! The brush mere steps behind them exploded in familiar purple smoke. Karios cursed as he bodily lifted Aria into Levin’s arms in a bridal carry. “Damn it!” the swordsman cursed, looking behind them as the yells from Forgerosi soldiers grew closer. “Levin, get her out of here, now!”

From her dazed view in Levin’s hold, she watched as his eyes flashed green before he took another step and the world around them became wrapped in green waves of his Wind. We’re so fast, Aria said, watching the green aura mix into the blurry forest around her as Levin sped through the forest. A glance back showed Karios lagging behind, and before Aria could tell Levin to wait, she heard that peculiar sound again.

Violent blue light erupted from the swordsman’s right arm, and the sounds of a vicious wasp’s nest and a thousand crying birds echoed the chaotic nature of the Lightning that shot from Karios’s arm as he ran. The bolts struck back aimlessly, hitting and knocking down trees to impede their progress. Aria watched on in awe; Lightning Blessed were a myth. Veteran knights told of the fallen kingdom of Korsin, a small city comprised entirely of Lightning BLessed directly descended from the Star-Blessed Korr and his followers. It was a spoken fact that the entire population of Korsin fell at the hands of the first waves of Forgerosi’s wars of conquest against Carnissia. And yet, Karios existed, using his Star-given ability to help them escape.

“Princess, hold on!” Levin’s warning came in time as Aria looked forward to the end of the forest, and the end of the path! The cliffs Luchs were talking about was a steep drop off to an arid landscape of sand dunes and sparse earthen structures. Luchs was already of them, allowing Roark to climb onto her back and hold on for dear life before the knight jumped. Levin and Aria watched as the two before Luchs grabbed her sword with both hands and stabbed into the cliff face. The combined weight of the armored soldier and the short-haired twin caused the greatsword to cut through the stone like butter before gradually slowing them down. They stopped low enough that the two of them were able to jump and land safely with a roll to avoid much damage. Levin looked around to see if there were any other option before cursing under his breath. “Aria, you trust me?”

“K-Karios!” Aria shouted the name, looking back for the man she now knew as a Lightning Blessed, but he was nowhere to be found. Explosions continued to rock the forest, and the sounds of Karios’s Lightning buzzed beyond her line of sight, but she could not see a sign that he was close. Did Karios stay behind? Was he fighting alone? “We need to go back!”

“No!” Levin roared over the Forgerosi’s Darkness bombing the terrain that grew ever closer. He grit his teeth, looking back in the direction of his mentor. “He’ll be fine. We need to go, now! Do you trust me?” Aria barely nodded, still cradled in his arms, and watched his emerald eyes flash once more as he took a running start and jumped off the cliff.

“Ahhhhh!” Aria’s screams rose in volume the moment she felt the peculiar feeling of falling from such a great height. Looking down was a mistake, watching the desert floor rapidly rise to meet them, only making her scream more. Levin’s eyes struggled to stay open, the wind hurtling around them in their chaotic descent.

“Aria!” Luchs screamed from the floor, watching the pair freefall. Levin’s Wind-boosted running start made it so he had no chance of using his axe against the cliff face like Luchs had, which he still couldn’t use with the princess occupying his arms. “What the hell is he thinking?”

“C’mon bro,” Roark pleaded to the air like a prayer. “You got this!”

Aria continued to scream in Levin’s ear as the ground came closer and closer. The axe-wielder focused on the sandy floor rapidly approaching and poured all his might into focusing his Wind in one hand. With a yell, he pushed his hand down toward the floor and released his aura. Wave after wave after wave of his green Wind energy blasted at the space beneath them, sending sand flying in a miniature cloud that threatened to choke Luchs and Roark if they got any closer. Aria’s screams let up as she opened her eyes to see their controlled descent come to an end with Levin cutting off his Wind with a clenched fist.

Aria immediately jumped out of his arms and ran to Luchs, the nearest sign of stability. Just in time, as Levin lurched forward, exhaustion evident in his eyes. Roark managed to catch his brother in time, letting him lean on his shoulder to recover.

“Damn good job,” Roark nodded, patting his twin on the back.

“Well said,” Luchs nodded, confirming Aria was unharmed with a quick glance. “Where is Karios?”

The question was answered with a crash of steel meeting steel from the top of the cliff, where they only see swords flying about in combat. Lightning bolts shot out from the cliff, Karios’s doing, Aria understood. How is he supposed to come down? The princess wondered.

FWOOM! The edge exploded in violet despair, and a single shape was sent flying off the cliff, blue sparks surrounding the body as it began to fall, the telltale long jacket confirming who was sent flying. Roark cried out, but couldn’t move and risk letting Levin collapse. Luchs cursed as she ran toward the cliff, below where Karios was falling.

Fire enveloped her fists and her boots as she squatted low. Aria and the twins watched as the knight launched herself upwards, the flames pushing her higher and higher as she urged on with grit teeth. It wasn’t as controlled or as long-lasting as Levin’s Wind was on their landing, no. Luchs’s flames sputtered out about a third of the way up the cliff, just in time to catch the falling Karios and send them both hurtling back down to the earth at a speed still too fast for Aria’s comfort. The crash of Luch’s armor into the desert floor was loud in her ears.

“No!” Aria’s cries were unanswered as she ran towards the two veteran warriors, where they lay unmoving.