Valor and Violence

Ferez plummeted towards the docks, the wind screaming in his ears as the ground rushed towards him. He adjusted his trajectory, angling his fall towards a large cluster of pirates battling someone in their midst. Whoever was in there was horribly outnumbered, the cluster of pirates completely obscuring them from view. Luckily for them, though, a fiery angel was descending from the heavens.

This is going to look incredible!

He flipped his body at the last second, falling feet first as he unleashed a storm of fire, the conflagration incinerating a dozen men as he slammed into the ground. Like a pebble sending ripples through water, his arrival launched a surging wave of fire in all directions, engulfing even more pirates in the carnage. Those who weren’t immediately slain screamed as they burned and Ferez charged through the chaos, sword glinting in the fire’s light. A burning slaver stumbled across his path and Ferez cleaved through his neck, kicking the headless body into another as they rushed him. His attacker shouldered the corpse aside, stumbling a little from the weight, then turned back to Ferez, right as the fire mage ran him through. The high mage hoisted the slaver in the air and ran, using the impaled corpse as a shield, smashing his way towards the centre of the crowd.

He was so used to the steady thunk thunk thunk as burning pirates bounced off his shield that he stumbled when the resistance abruptly disappeared. His arms extended, his body still forcing the corpse shield against the now non-existent current, and the shifting of the weight dragged him off balance. First, he dropped the pirate. Then he tripped over the body. Last, he tumbled along the ground, head over heels, until sliding to a rest on his back.

I had been doing so well, too, he thought as he raised his head to look around.

He found Leanne and Asim standing back to back, their blades dripping blood onto the pile of broken bodies at their feet, the rest of the pirates forming a wary ring around the pair. They both bore obnoxiously amused expressions.

“Ah, hello there, High Mage,” Asim said, giving Ferez a cheery wave.

“No offense, big guy, but aren’t you meant to rescue him?” Leanne asked, nudging the guardsman in the ribs. “Not the other way around?”

“This isn’t a rescue, though. He is simply providing unnecessary assistance in resolving this conflict. Though he might need to stand up first.”

Ferez scrambled to his feet, doing his best to tug his sword free from its improvised scabbard. The damned thing must have been caught on a rib or something, and the steel stubbornly refused to come free.

“Blasted… stupid…” Ferez grunted until Asim strolled over and held out his hand. With a pout on his face, Ferez handed the sword and attached body over. The guardsman slid the blade free in a single effortless motion and handed it back.

“You might need that too, High Mage.”

“No one likes a smart arse, Asim. I’ve half a mind to turn around and go fight somewhere else, with soldiers that actually appreciate me.”

“By all means, sir. Though if you wouldn’t mind, could you take Leanne here with you?”

“What?” they both asked at the same time. Asim chuckled and twirled his halberd, planting the butt by his feet.

“You’re wound so tight I’m surprised you haven’t burst a blood vessel, Leanne. Your Patriarch is out there somewhere without you to watch his back.”

She grimaced but didn’t argue. Ferez decided to take up the torch himself, though.

“Asim, I’m not leaving you here to fight by yourself. Not even you can take this many men at once.”

His bodyguard gave him a rare smile.

“Back in Skjar, you asked me to trust you before the duel.”

“I know, but this is-”

“Please, sir. Trust me too.”

Ferez clenched his jaw, but nodded.

“Very well. If you’re going to insist on charging off, however, be useful, will you? Head back towards the boats and rally our forces, then drive back towards the Wail. We need the dock clear to land reinforcements. Once we reach Leo, we’ll work to keep pirate reinforcements at bay as much as possible.”

“It will be done, High Mage. Before you go, however,” Asim said, extending the head of his polearm towards the mage. “May I?”

Ferez placed his hand against the Resonance alloy blade and pushed Talent into the metal. When he felt resistance to the flow, he cut off the stream and stepped back.

“Val’Pyria guide your blows, Asim.”

The halberd burst into flames, prompting shrieks from the surrounding pirates as they scrambled to get back.

“That won’t be necessary.”

The guardsman leapt at the crowd, swinging his weapon in wide arcs with bone crushing force. The slow were ripped apart while the survivors scattered like a flock of pigeons. Asim pressed on into the melee and disappeared from view as Leanne seized Ferez by the arm.

“Did you see the Patriarch on your way down?”

Ferez nodded. “He’s by the fortress entrance, battling the Crimson Blade. By himself.”

“That fool!” she spat. “We had almost made it inside when the pirates counter-attacked. He gave the order to fall back toward the ships, but evidently decided to remain behind. It’s just like him not to follow his own orders!”

Without waiting for a reply, she sprinted towards the Wail’s entrance. A pirate stepped forward with a shout, brandishing a double-headed battle-axe. Leanne didn’t so much as slow down as she charged, swinging her bastard sword overhead with a bloodcurdling shriek on her lips. The sword crashed down, splitting the axe haft first, and then the pirate, parting him from the crown of his head to just below his rib cage.

“Which one of you bastards is next?” she screamed as she shoved the body aside and wrenched her blade free, resuming her frenzied charge as the axeman’s corpse ragdolled to the ground in a horrific flurry of limbs and flaps of torso.

A few idiots charged, a few of the smart ones fled, and most froze, unsure of whether to commit or flee. The indecision cost them as Leanne crashed through their ranks at full tilt, spinning and pirouetting, maintaining the momentum of her giant sword as it scythed through them. A small group tried to edge around the blade’s arc to assault her from the rear, only for Ferez to blow through their midst in a blaze of fire and steel. Their corpses hit the ground almost simultaneously, in various stages of disassembly, and he pressed on in the bodyguard’s wake.

He could make out the commotion of an intense mage battle nearing up ahead when a ball of flame weaved through the crowd and slammed into Leanne’s chest. The force slammed her back into the ground, her sword skidding away across the planks. Ferez jumped over her still form, blasting a pair of pirates that tried to attack the bodyguard while she was down.

“Leanne! You still with me?” he called over his shoulder.

There was a pained groan from the ground behind him.

“Bastard sucker punched me with magic,” she said as she clambered back to her feet. “Where’s my sword? I’m going to split his skull in half.”

“It flew off over there somewhere,” Ferez said, waving a hand in the rough direction he had seen it last, all the while keeping his focus on the group of pirates growing around them. They had been reeling from the ferocity and speed of the pair’s assault, but now that momentum was disrupted, they were quickly reordering their ranks. “Might I suggest you hurry and retrieve it?”

“That would be a waste of time, if I’m being honest,” someone said.

The crowd parted to reveal a young man with a mop of flaming red hair. His hands were held out to his sides, elbows bent and tucked near his hips. A small flame sat in each palm.

“Whether or not you sport a blade matters little when faced by a mage.”

Ferez rolled his eyes.

“Excellent. Another amateur to waste my time.”

“Amateur? I think you’ll find I’m a far cry from that. If you only knew the number of people I had killed, why, you’d probably wet yourself in fear. See, I’ve had a long career. Young, old, men, women, when it comes down to it, everyone is just so much kindling. That goes for you, and your little friend behind you.”

“Alright, so we’ve had a crazy Umbrian, a greedy Terran, and now a serial killer Pyrian. Where did Nezir find you lot? Flyers in the town square?”

The rogue mage chuckled, his eyes scrunching up a little as he stared at Ferez. Looking closer, it was clear in the glassy expression and the way his tongue kept subconsciously darting out to wet his lips; this man was certifiably insane.

“Jokes! That’s lovely. I do like it when the meat squeals before I cook it. I will make your-”

A streak of black and red shot past and the fire mage split in half at the waist, his brain firing just long enough to fix a look of surprise on its face before his top half thudded to the planks. There was an explosion of body parts from the crowd nearby, and then Ingrid skidded to a halt beside Ferez. Her face was streaked with sweat, but she looked unharmed, her eyes wild and her mouth fixed into a toothy grin.

“That’s three of The Blade’s battlemages down,” she said, breathlessly.

“I got two earlier as well,” Ferez replied. “Lovely to see you, by the way.”

“Is this where you ask what a girl like me is doing in a place like this?” she asked, her smile changing from bloodthirsty to something altogether more alluring.

“Mon Cherie,” Ferez said in a mock Aderathian accent, “but there will be plenty of time for that after the battle.”

“I’ll bind you to that promise,” she said, sidling up to him until her face was barely an inch from his own. She leaned up on her tippy toes until her lips brushed against his ear. “And maybe I’ll bind you while I’m at it.”

Gods stay focussed. Stay focussed. Stay focussed!

He hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her tight against him. She laughed and put a hand on his chest, holding him back.

“As you said, High Mage. There will be time later. I just came to see what you were up to. The rest of your forces are back that way,” she said, nodding toward the ships. Ferez shrugged and reluctantly released his hold on her.

“Going to rescue Leo,” he said.

“Of course you are,” she sighed. “That his pet I see behind you?”

“Hello, Jarlessa,” Leanne said, raising a hand in greeting while the other cradled her ribs. She bent over and collected her sword off the ground, holding it loose in one hand as she stalked toward the pirates, the tip dragging along the planks behind her.

“What’s broken?” Ingrid asked.

“Collarbone. But that’s a problem for later. The Patriarch needs me.”

“I don’t think you’ll be mounting a rescue in your condition, girl.”

“If I can’t save him, then I’ll damn well die in the attempt!” Leanne snarled. “I’m his sworn protector, if anything happened to him-”

“You’d what? Die from shame? Fall on your sword? The damn thing is so long, I doubt you’d be able to get the angles right.”

“I’m going to his side, whether you like it or not.”

“Leanne,” Ferez said, his voice low and placating.

“Don’t you start too.”

“What about Leo if you die? Hmm? How do you think he would handle that?”

“I’m just a bodyguard.”

“So, he wouldn’t care about your life?”

“He shouldn’t.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

Leanne went quiet, her shoulders shaking as she worked through the tangled knot of guilt, fear, rage and, finally, acceptance. She looked up at Ferez, the pain and exhaustion from the battle and her wounds plain on her face.

“What else can I do? I don’t think my prospects going back are much better.”

“Ingrid?”

“Yeah- wait.”

She turned and, with a wave of her hand, bisected a pirate sneaking up on them, then blasted his two halves into the crowd. “What?”

“Can you take Leanne back to the docks? See to it she gets on an outgoing boat with the rest of the wounded.”

“And leave you and that idiot by yourselves? Last time I left you alone you both nearly died!”

“One of us needs to take Leanne back or she’ll be dead within the minute. You can get there and back faster.”

Ingrid looked set to argue, but a quick glance at the bodyguard took the wind out of her belligerence sails.

“Fine,” she said, grabbing Ferez by the collar and pulling him in for a kiss, then shoving him away. “If you die, I’ll beat your corpse to a pulp. Come, girl. No arguing, no crying. Let’s get this over with as fast as we can.”

Leanne clambered onto Ingrid’s back with the occasional wince despite the incredible pain she must have been in, and the women launched into the sky, streaking over the melee towards the boats. No sooner had they departed than the crowd pressed in around Ferez again, buoyed by the scary lady’s sudden departure. Ferez sighed.

“Alright, which one of you fools is first?”