Desecration Chapter110: Why Is My Path Filled With Tragedy?

There was clapping.

That was the noise that registered in my brain as I stared at a corpse. I blinked. It was still there. I blinked again. There it was. I could see it so clearly. The glass was a perfect spike, lodged into a skull that used to belong to a woman nad Aira.

There was blood. Wasn't that a funny detail to pick out in that mont?

Not much, but it did stain the grass with crimson.

Rhode said sothing.

I didn't hear it. I Didn't care to hear it.

I was listening to the whispers.

Death and the dead were distinct in how they sang to the world. The first was like a lullaby, smooth and soft to the tune of mourning. The other took a few minutes to overpower the first and could be best described as a warning.

Instinct. Caution.

I could hear the first song coming from my ntor's corpse.

It was so quiet. It was so loud.

I could feel my heart beating against my ribs.

Then a woman said sothing to Rhode. An admonishnt. Rhode laughed it off like it was all in good fun. I looked up at her.

Next to her was a familiar man with a familiar pipe. Together with Rhode they surrounded us.

Sothing that should've registered in my mind perhaps. This was clearly an ambush. I needed to get in the right headspace if I wanted to live. Rhode was a mage, as was pipe man, but neither controlled glass.

That honour belonged to the woman.

She was holding a glaive whose blade was made of the clear material.

She looked bored, flicking her gaze to for a mont before turning her attention back to Rhode. Loklan wasn't talking. No one from our group was. They had drawn their weapons and entered a kind of formation.

Should I have done that too? Probably.

Glass.

In her grasp.

I didn't scream or cry or bellow or question.

I dropped my bag. Gripped my sword. And charged.

What?

I stared at my slasher.

A little to the right, taking the place of half her eye, was a spike of glass. Noise escaped her mouth, resembling nothing intelligible. She stepped forward like her body was confused. It was a surprisingly steady step. She looked with her eye. She blinked. She fell with a thump onto the dirt.

A corpse.

None of us said a word, drawing out weapons and looking beyond into the forest. Except for Yir, she was staring at the body of her ntor. Killed with magic that had no business being aid at her.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

What happened to the plan?

Didn't matter.

Focus.

Find the enemy, make a new plan, get as many as I could out alive.

One confird mage. If Rhode was here then that'd be two. The only option was a fighting retreat. We could scatter but I knew who they'd focus their attention on if we did that.

Or.

Act as a decoy.

How long would I last against two mages? maybe a minute? Two?

Not enough ti to matter.

Laughter, familiar and grating. I turned my gaze to the left and found Rhode in his pompous outfit striding from between the trees and towards us. He gave a condescending smile and started clapping.

"Loklan! What a pleasant surprise it is to find you here. How've you been? We haven't gotten the chance to catch up since I returned and isn't that just a sha?"

I didn't speak. I was running too many scenarios through my mind to matter. I knew a handful of his spells, would that be enough to predict him? The problem with mages was how they applied their magic. Couldn't anticipate it like a weapon.

There wasn't any indication on what they were planning, and if they were confident enough to chant then you were as good as dead.

My mana sense was only enough to catch the true death dealers. Anything subtler and I'd be blind.

"Don't act like a dramatic villain, you dimwit. They won't be alive enough to care."

Rhode chuckled and I turned to glance at the speaker.

Thea stood there radiating a mix of bordom and annoyance. Next to her was another.

Kogan.

Fuck.

Three mages? To deal with us? This was way beyond overkill.

"Oh co now, don't tell I struck you dumb with all this? I'm honestly impressed that you'd dare to make a plan like you did, and that you knew so much! Did father share my dirty little secret hoping that you'd take care of before I sared his na? Tsk, tsk."

I turned back to Rhode, my executioner blade at the ready. I could feel the gazes of my team. It was intense.

I said nothing.

Rhode chuckled.

Then I heard a burst of dirt being kicked up and glanced over to find Yir charging at Thea.

I didn't know much about how to fight a mage. Yir didn't count because she hadn't entered the circles yet.

First and second circle mages could be matched with adepts and experts of my clan, but anything beyond needed a warrior-mage or one of the masters. Or the Matriarch. Only a handful could've matched an archmage when I left and I doubted any more rose to that station.

Charging with wild abandon was certainly a strategy of all ti.

Not the dumbest she could have chosen, but pretty high up there. Sure, putting the mage on the backfoot would give you the advantage, but that assud you were good enough to do that.

She wasn't.

The glass mage let out a sigh and stepped to the side, creating a glass barrier on her forearm to have Yir's weapon slide off ineffectually. That didn't perturb the girl, she just turned and kept on swinging.

The mage looked bored.

A hand landed on my shoulder. I turned to find Loklan beside , keeping his gaze levelled at Rhode. "Xae, grab Yir and run."

There was no explanation, no question, and no protest from the others.

It was a command.

I didn't argue. There wasn't any ti for that, instead I dashed towards the rampaging elf girl. The man with a pipe snickered and stomped his foot to the ground.

Ro Kan shouted a warning.

I barely managed to avoid being impaled by a spike of stone.

The stone mage raised a brow but didn't seem particularly impressed.

I heard a scream behind as well as the crackling of fire.

I ignored the part of that recognized the voice and kept going. The glass mage was clearly playing with Yir, which was confusing. They seed all for slaughtering the rest of us, so why not her?

Think about it later.

Another stone spike, then another.

They stopped once I reached Yir and grabbed her arm. The girl was eerily silent, and surprisingly didn't fight as I pulled her away from the mage and into the forest.

Then we were running.

The glass mage had broken off from the group to chase us, which was fortunate. That ant Loklan had a greater chance at survival. It also ant we were fucked, but that was a forgone conclusion.

For once Ro Kan didn't push to take control. He knew as well as I that beating this one mage wouldn't guarantee safety. Fuck. What to do, what to do?

I got another warning from my passenger, letting a javelin fly where my head was just a mont before.

I looked over my shoulder to find that what was a sprint for us might as well have been a light jog for our pursuer. She seed amused if anything.

This wasn't working.

Well, the simplest answer was often the right one.

I slid to a stop. Yir did the sa in perfect synchronization, which was creepy but whatever. The girl didn't look all there at the mont, but at least she could fight! The glass mage slowed to a stop and chuckled.

"Giving up already?" she said with a lilt.

I gave her as feral a smile as I could manage, a lot of people said I was quite good at that. "Not nearly, bitch biscuit."

I pointed my blade at her, and Yir did the sa.

"Funny," the woman chortled. "Rats always seem to think they've got a chance when cornered. It's endearing really. Co on then kids, let's see what you got."