Touch of Fate

Chapter 247: The Price of Victory

"You got all that?" The mage asked. Tal wasn't completely sure of his name, but Mike treated him with deference, so she decided to listen to him.

"Method is dangerous. May not work." She pointed out. What he wanted her to do could very well leave her permanently damaged, or even kill her if she wasn't careful. That wasn't even considering the danger of the Furies themselves, who would be desperate to harm her if the method succeeded.

"It will. I promise. I've seen it work many times in the past." The man replied with far more confidence than she felt. "I know it seems frightening, but if you don't do this, we will be soon overwhelmed. Not everyone will die, of course, but those that remain will be easy pickings for the army that is approaching our walls as we speak. An army that will soon move to crush the rest of the country. Forgive me the hyperbole, but the fate of the continent is resting in your hands."

Tal recalled a conversation she'd had with Mike on this very kind of issue, when he was wrestling with conflicting motivations. How, when things were getting tough, he always had this plan in the back of his head. A plan where, should he fail in defending the country, he would simply gather those people who were most important to him, and escape to another continent. He'd explained his thoughts with an embarrassed expression, as if he found the idea cowardly, but she could only see it as wise. After all, where was the sense in dying along with this country?

She glanced over to where he was standing, arm stretched above him to maintain the shield. Clearly, he hadn't given up hope yet. She'd known him long enough to recognize his expression as one of determination to fight against the enemy seeking to destroy them. Looking at him, she felt her own resolve harden.

"What are you looking at?" The mage asked. "We don't have much time. Mike's got a lot of mana, but I can't imagine him holding that shield up for more than a few minutes."

Taking one last glance around the camp in the hopes of spotting Sera, she sighed and turned towards him. "Very well. Shall begin."

"Excellent. Just give us the signal when you are ready, and I'll have Mike take the shield down."

Nodding, Tal focused her thoughts inwards. The method the mage had described was more or less known to her, thanks to training she'd received from an old master. However, the process was complicated and dangerous. Clearly, the previous generation of Pact Mages that developed this procedure to eliminate Furies were desperate to find any solution, regardless of the cost.

Her spirit realm was calm, and she could feel the comforting presence of the entities she'd contracted with. In her mind, it took the form of a well tended garden lit by twinkling starlight. Each of her bonded partners had their own distinct area to shape and tend as they willed, which had created a complex and eclectic display that nevertheless soothed her soul. She stole a moment to savor the sensation of peace, knowing full well that it would never again be the same.

Then, she began to tear it asunder.

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"Alright, as soon as she gives the signal, you'll need to drop the shield and we'll hit them with everything we got. I've already spread the word among the other mages, so it should be taken care of, but be ready to add whatever you can to the barrage." Johnathan explained while taking a seat, knees cracking in protest. "Its a good thing you brought a solid Pact Mage with you. The only faculty member we have from that discipline is too weak to handle the Furies."

"Its kinda difficult to maintain this thing, you know." Mike commented dryly. "How much longer is it going to be?"

"That depends on your comrade over there. The method of dealing with Furies takes time, and she'll need to be careful lest it backfire and cause her injury, so be patient. We both know you are far from your limits." His teacher commented grimly.

Feeling a sinking sensation in his stomach, Mike glanced over at Tal and thought he detected a hint of pain in her otherwise emotionless expression. Although he didn't intend to do so, his next question came out as an angry growl, "Injury? What exactly did you tell her to do?"

Johnathan shot him a look out of the corner of his eye, face stony. "I explained to her what needs to be done."

Mike had to fight to control his spell, as a wave of anger surged through him. "No, seriously, what did you tell her to do?"

His words echoed with a cold fury that caused his teacher to stiffen slightly, before sighing. "I don't want you to misunderstand. I take no pleasure in relying on a slip of a girl to save us, especially since it puts her at risk, but it is the only way we can stop this attack."

The air shield wavered, and the cries of the Furies became audible once more, causing Johnathan to wince with the sudden burst of pain. Seeing that Mike was about to lose his temper, he quickly explained. "She's making herself bait. By tearing down the defenses of their spiritual realm, Pact Mages can become an incredibly tantalizing target for creatures like wraiths. So much so, that their instinctual need to rend and destroy will overwhelm any kind of control the Lacotians are able to maintain over them. They will manifest to attack her, and in that instant they will be vulnerable."

Mike opened his mouth to yell something, he hadn't quite figured what yet, but a change in the omnipresent screams forestalled any attempt to do so. The piercing sound suddenly abated, and in its place emerged a low-pitched rumbling, which he soon deduced as hungry growling.

In the air above the encampment, creatures began to fade into existence. Reminiscent of the wraith he'd seen back in the warehouse, they were vaguely humanoid beings wrapped in tattered cloaks with emaciated limbs extended in desperate grasping claws to rake the other side of his air shield. However, that was were the similarities ended.

The eponymous hoods, which had given the other wraith such a sinister air, had been thrown back to reveal their true faces. Wizened visages, twisted by rage and hatred, strained against his shield. Sharp, rotten teeth framed their mouths, which were pulled open in a continuous shriek of fury. Wisps of transparent hair clung to otherwise unadorned scalps, wreathing their heads in the mockery of a divine halo.

Staring up at these horrors, who were trying to claw their way through his shield, Mike almost didn't see Tal give the signal. The elf was on her knees, gasping for breath, but she'd managed to raise one hand shakily into the air.

For a moment, he was overcome with the need to simply go to her and do what he could to help, but Johnathan's yell brought his attention back to the wider picture. "Drop the shield! Now!"

Gritting his teeth, he released his hold on the air shield, causing the vibrating wall of air to quickly disperse. In less than a second, the Furies were surge towards the ground in a frenzied wave, every one of their hollow eye sockets fixed on Tal's stricken form. At lest until the allied mages fought back.

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Subject to an attack they could neither defend against, nor avoid. The members of the coalition army had been forced to wait in impotence as the Dragonknight once again forestalled their deaths with his magical might. Then came the word, that the enemy would soon become vulnerable, and that every mage should be prepared to unleash their own counter attacks once the shield fell.

Suddenly, the mood changed. The prospect of getting revenge, no matter how minor, energized the flagging, desperate soldiers. For the first time since the arrival of that horrible bird swarm, they felt like they had some say in their own destines. That they contribute to the destruction of the hated Lacotians and their abominable minions.

So, when the Furies manifested and the shield fell, the allied mages unleashed the pent up helpless and rage that had been building over the weeks, as their lives and livelihoods were repeatedly threatened with destruction by a series of hostile invaders.

In that brief moment, unified in purpose if not in effect, the hundreds of mages of the coalition army channeled that anger and directed it skywards in a wave of magical destruction.

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Mike was forced to avert his eyes as the sky seemingly exploded in a dizzying of array of magical attacks. He stumbled, half blinded, over to Tal while trying his best to keep an eye out for any Fury which managed to survive the barrage.

Thankfully, it seemed like the coalition mages had pulled out all the stops, so he was able to reach his companion without difficulty.

By this point, Tal had collapsed onto her side, and was breathing shallowly. Even her normally emotionless expression did little to disguise the agony she was clearly experiencing. He fell down beside her, and tried to use his Healing Magic to help, but found himself unable to do much more than treat her basic symptoms. The underlying cause of her distress seemed to arise from somewhere he couldn't effectively reach.

"Are you alright?" He asked dumbly, distress making his voice shake slightly. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Tal looked up at him, and placed a hand on the side of his face. She whispered in a voice that was just barely audible over the sounds of the magical storm of energy taking place above them. "Don't worry. Just need rest."

Perhaps sensing that her part in this fight was now over, she relaxed and slipped into unconsciousness. Carefully, he gathered her up in his arms and carried her towards the keep, where they had set up the infirmary. He pointedly ignored Johnathan's apologetic gaze as he walked past his teacher, and only dimly noted the cheers and cries of celebration that rose from the troops who were no longer subjected to the esoteric threat of the Furies.

Once in the keep, he placed Tal in an open bed, and sent a mental message to Red. He instructed him to track down Sera and get her to come here. Something that would have normally earned him a sniff of mental indifference, but the dragon was strangely accommodating, promising to see to it quickly.

Sitting in a nearby chair, he took a moment to evaluate the situation. His anger had cooled for the most part, but it lingered just below the surface of his mind, waiting to erupt at the right moment.

Intellectually, he could understand Johnathan's methods. If he looked at it objectively, his teacher had succeeded in dealing with the threat with the fewest possible casualties. Indeed, this could be considered a great victory over a foe that had the potential to destroy them all. Yet, he couldn't help but feel a little betrayed.

[It would have been one thing if Johnathan had used me to do this. I could forgive him for that, but to make Tal sacrifice herself like this...I don't know.]

This wasn't the first time one of his 'allies' had put him or his friends into a position of danger for their own benefit, and he could be fairly certain that, so long as he remained in this country, it wouldn't be the last. Indeed, he'd often gone along with it. Only this time Tal had been the one to pay the price.

[I had been thinking about doing some traveling once this war was over, assuming it came to a satisfactory end. Now, however, I think I'll be leaving regardless of the circumstances. I've become too entangled in things here, and its causing problems for those closest to me.]

Although Mike knew that he probably couldn't run away from these sorts of situations forever, since his luck seemed bound and determined to have him intermingle with powerful people and important events, he figured he could at least take a break from all of this nonsense for a while.

[Tal said her master was in the River Kingdoms. I don't know much about the area, but it seems like a good place to start.]

Sera burst into the room, breathless from the run. "I came as soon as I could. What's the emergency?"

Mike stood and walked over to her. "I need you to stay here and watch over Tal."

He stopped when he reached her, and pulled Audra out of his pocket.

"Now that I think about it, do me a favor and keep an eye on this one too. It will be dangerous for her to come along with me." He asked while handing the squirming and squawking dragon over.

Sera struggled to hold onto the familiar, who was protesting the separation vehemently, but had the presence of mind to look back at him and ask, "Wait, where are you going?"

As he passed through the door, he simply stated. "I think its time we put an end to this war."