Rivnear oversaw the ongoing battle and knew it wasn’t going his way. He had no more armoured guards, no more weapons from the tower and worst of all he had no more men who would leave the city. They came to the now barely standing gates and immediately turned around. As he looked around looking for a way to win, he noticed them. Artamis, Ashera and Hayami heading directly towards him through the battlefield. They were wading through his men like they weren’t more than a nuisance. Rivnear was furious, these thorns in his side, these people who had ruined his plan to take advantage of new prisoners last year. These people he thought were dead. Now they were screwing everything up for him again.

  Cyrth could hear the commotion going on outside, it sounded like utter chaos. Some guards were yelling for people to go join the battle. Others were saying Rivnear had led their people to the slaughter. Calling for everyone to take refuge in the towers. Cyrth knew the time was now. There was only one guard left in the room with him. It was a shame, Cyrth was looking forward to more of a challenge. He had already slipped his bonds and was just waiting.

  The guard was more curious about the commotion outside than his surroundings. Before he could even make a sound Cyrth had slit his throat. Cyrth made good use of the commotion outside to slip away. He would rally those who didn’t want to be used as pawns by Rivnear and attack from the rear. He grabbed the first guard he saw that was yelling retreat commands to the others.

  “Rivnear is out of control, we need to take back the city,” Cyrth said. “Grab as many men as you can. We will regroup in the towers and then retake the city.”

  The guard was surprised to see Cyrth. He was glad to see Cyrth but wanted to know how he had gotten free. There would be time to ask about that later, for now he was the leadership they needed. The guard's tone immediately changed. He had hope again, he would rally his fellow guards.

  Ashera was quickly growing tired of fighting with Rivnears men. They were sloppy, disorganized and leaderless yet they kept getting in her way. The city, what was left of it anyway, was basically theirs. All they needed to do was get to the gates and kill Rivnear she thought. Once he was dead the guards would stop fighting back. Little did she know how wrong she was. They grew closer to Rivnear at the gate, she could see him trying to look for a way out. He wouldn’t find one, she wouldn’t let him.

  Rivnear was close to panicking. He felt Ashera’s gaze on him and knew what she had planned. He turned to look at the chaos in the city. It was quelling, perhaps he could send more guards out now. After all, a group was headed in his direction. If you could see Rivnears skin through his fur, you would have noted how white it had gone. The group of guards were striking down those who were trying to force others to the gates. As he stared at the group he noticed a familiar figure at the front. It was Cyrth. Damn it, Rivnear thought. He wondered if everything was going to be against him.

  “Fuck you,” Rivnear screamed, at Ahsera and then again at Cyrth. “You want me? Come and get me.”

  Rivnear drew his two swords, one wreathed in fire and the other swirling in cold. Ashera recognized the blades immediately. They were the blades of her commanding officer Jo-Jo. She found her mind momentarily wandering. She wondered if Jo-Jo had been among the many who had died not more than a year ago. Ashera shook her head, there would be time enough to think about this later. For now, Rivnear was her target.

  Cyrth not having any idea what was going on with the weapons Rivnear was using stopped his advance. If he put more guards' lives in danger, they would likely turn on him as well. The guards around him seemed confused. They were making easy work of those still loyal to Rivnear and more were joining their march as they stood there.

  “What’s going on Cyrth,” one guard asked. “Why aren’t we going after him? It’s one man.”

  “I don’t like walking into situations I know nothing about,” Cyrth said, “and those weapons are giving me reason to pause.”

  “What those things,” the guard replied. “He found them in the tower along with all the armour and weapons he gave the guards outside.”

  So, these were some of the things being stored in the basement, Cyrth thought to himself. Cyrth wondered what had been taking Ashera and the others so long. Now it made sense if Rivnear had the same magical weapons as Ashera’s group it would be a bit more of a stalemate. Cyrth still didn’t like the idea of going up against magic without any of his own.

  “Are there more of those weapons that Rivnear gave out around here,” Cyrth asked.

  the guard shook his head, “as far as I know he gave them all out.”

  “Then we wait to see what happens. I’m not putting us at risk of losing more guards,” Cyrth said firmly.

  Ashera stood at the path to the gate with the others. They could see Rivnear standing sideways in the entry like he was fighting on both sides. Ashera wondered if this was Cyrths doing. This made her smile now Rivnear truly had nowhere to run. She started making her way towards him when a large hand stopped her. Ashera turned to see Artemis standing there.

  “What? Going to tell me not to kill him as well,” She asked in a frustrated tone.

  “No,” Artemis said, with his gaze fixed on Rivnear. “I want him.”

  Ashera was surprised by the look on his face. Suntiana had told her how blood thirsty he had been at times, but Ashera never believed her. Ashera had only seen a passivistic side of Artemis. He normally talked about not killing unless it was necessary, and avoiding violence as words could solve problems. This was not the look Ashera saw in Artemis’s eyes right now. He looked like a predator ready to strike at its prey. His look scared her. It made Ashera feel as though standing between him and Rivnear might get her killed.

  “Alright he’s all yours,” Ashera said, stepping aside.

  Artemis drew a set of daggers from his belt. He had not wasted his time in the past year. He had learned enchanting, smithing and other skills. This would be the first time he would get to see the culmination of those skills. Artemis had forged these blades from other weapons he found in their base. They were made from a form of carbon fibre and diamond. Artemis had become fascinated with the potential of carbon fibre. He had been adapting the already incredible armour in the base to have carbon fibre forged plates. The carbon fibre was interwoven with rods of tungsten. It made the armour extremely durable but also heavy. The plate armour was only worn by Rothar and Lyna’s troops.

  Artemis was thinking now it would have been better to have woven trizamar metal into the plates. Trizamar was a highly magic resistant metal. The armour the guards were wearing was made from it. At least Artemis assumed that to be the case. With the way they had been deflecting magic so efficiently. Artemis’s own armour was made from a hybrid of his design and the ancient human armour. He had manipulated the nano armour to react the same way as strong leather armour would and stitched on pure carbon fibre plates. Mostly because he liked the way it looked. Looking at it now, he was pretty sure it wouldn’t be helpful in this fight.

  Artemis’s daggers were his real pride and joy though. He had found a way to make a light almost non-existent frame from it to house the diamond blades. The blades had been super-heated to the point of melting the diamond before making the blades. Artemis then used his enchanting skills to infuse the blades making them unbreakable to anything less than a weapon of the same caliber. At least that was his theory. The blades had created a hard casing that worked much like a shark's tooth. If it ever chipped or wore away it would release that part of the edge and regrow it from the molten diamond still encased inside.

  He had also enchanted the completed blades with some more advanced spells. One being a spell that inflicted dreamweaver venom. Dreamweavers were a type of magical spider from the mainland. Their bites had the potential of putting their victims to sleep or worse case causing complete paralysis. The other he had enchanted to produce a neurotoxin that would slow down an enemy's reflexes. The two effectively either stopped his target or made them enfeebled enough that they would no longer be a threat.

  “Just be careful those sword’s he’s wielding belonged to a commander of mine. They accel at doing big damage up front,” Ashera warned Artemis.

  Ashera couldn’t even tell if Artemis had understood her warning. He hadn’t even acknowledged her standing there. Ashera noticed Artemis hadn’t taken his eyes off Rivnear. She was beginning to wonder why Artemis was so obsessed with Rivnear.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Artemis began to walk towards Rivnear. He knew Ashera was speaking to him about something important. He didn’t care. All his focus was on Rivnear. This beast had been having his way with those members of Suntiana’s group who couldn’t defend themselves. In the short time he had been with Suntiana’s group Rivnear had used Suntiana’s people as leverage. Attempted to intercept those who wanted to join and had sided with the guards. All so he could have as many unwilling servants as he wanted.

  Artemis was beyond furious at this point. It didn’t matter to Artemis if he lived or not. All he wanted to do was take Rivnear down. Artemis started up the slope towards Rivnear. Artemis noticed Rivnear screaming something out. He didn’t care what it was. As he grew closer to Rivnear he started to move quicker and quicker. Artemis was almost upon Rivnear before he noticed the smell coming from Rivnear. It was pure fear and panic. Rivnears eyes darted around trying to lock onto Artemis. Before Rivnear could figure out where Artemis was going Artemis lashed out with a quick succession of strikes.

  Artemis’s blows landed squarely on the elven armour as Rivnear pulled his arms in to protect his joints instinctively. Rivnear looked to where the blows had come from to find nothing there. Artemis had used another spell he had perfected in his time training. It was called light step. It allowed the user to seamlessly move from one lit spot to another. The catch being there could be no shadow where you moved to. Artemis came out over behind the rubble of the gate. Farther away than he wanted to be from Rivnear. This didn’t stop him. He dove into the shadow of the rubble beside him and came out from the shadow of the gate behind Rivnear.

  As Rivnear was frantically looking for where Artemis had gone, he felt the prick of a blade against his neck. Reflexively Rivnear struck out against the spot he thought Artemis was. Rivnears sword connected with Artemis’s arm. An explosive wave of flame came from Rivnears sword. It engulfed Artemis in flames. Artemis’s armour absorbed most of the damage. The air was filled with the sickly smell of fresh burnt fur. Artemis’s ears and half his face was still on fire. As if nothing was wrong Artemis grabbed a pouch from his belt, popped the cork and dumped the contents over his head. The fire went out and very slowly the fur started to regrow as the singed skin started to heal around it.

  It had been a healing concoction Suntiana had made up for him just in case things got hairy. Artemis would have to thank her for it. Artemis had more of them, but he didn’t want to use them if he could avoid it.

  As the flames and smoke dissipated Rivnears face turned to that of pure horror. Artemis had taken the full blast of the flames and the only thing Rivnear could see wrong was a crack in his armour. Rivnear stumbled back. Rivnear wondered to himself just what is this thing in front of him, he took no damage from magic and was unstoppable when he was injured.

  “What the hell are you?” Rivnear screamed, his voice full of panic. “How are you still standing! You should be writhing in pain.”

  Artemis smiled and laughed. He didn’t owe Rivnear an explanation and he knew this would throw the already panicked Rivnear further off balance. He started calmly walking after the retreating Rivnear. Rivnear bumped into the gate, he knew there was nowhere else to go.

  “Fine, come and get me you mongrel monster” Rivnear said, clutching his swords tightly.

  Rivnear knew he wasn’t a good person. Nothing he had done had ever been to help anyone but himself. He didn’t care, on this island the only person you needed to be accountable to was yourself. Everyone else was disposable. He had always been confident, manipulative and strong. Now facing down Artemis he felt his inadequacies. He thought to himself maybe he should have befriended Suntiana’s group instead of trying to take them all for himself. It was too late now though; this was going to play out only one way and Rivnear knew it. He was going to go down fighting. Rivnear’s face changed from one of panic to one of determination. If he was going to die, he would take Artemis and the others with him.

  Rivnear pulled a communication device from his belt. Turned it on and blasted one command though it. A command that would change the pace of the battle again.

  “Detonate the stockpile!” Rivnear yelled.

  “Are you sure boss?” a concerned and timid voice came through the speaker.

  “Don’t question me! Just do it,” Rivnear ordered again. “It’s too la...”

  Rivnear had been so distracted issuing his last order and staring at his communication device that he hadn’t noticed Artemis. Artemis was on top of Rivnear who was ignoring him. Artemis thought what a comical way for this pathetic being to die. Artemis raised both his daggers and in one motion stabbed both sides of his neck. As he removed his blades blood flowed from him like a river flowed to the sea. Rivnear fell to his knees, dropping both his swords he grabbed at his neck trying to stop the bleeding. As rivnear toppled over, Artemis stood over him. Expecting Rivnear to beg for help he waited. Instead, a gurgling sound came from Rivnear, it was almost like he was laughing at him.

  That’s when they all heard it, the first explosion. It came from the back of the city, where Venthal had kept the explosives. Rivnear choked out a few more laughs before dying with a smile on his face. Rivnear knew the explosions were just the beginning. Artemis looked around as another explosion went off this one under the Berricks in the city.

  The men following Cyrth panicked and ran through the gate pushing past Artemis who managed to shadow step away before the herd of men and women pushed past him and down the path. As they made their way down, they trampled on Rivnear like he had never been there at all. Cyrth who had managed to press himself up against a wall could hear it. The sound of a timer coming from the other side. Cyrth pushed himself out of the gate.

  “The whole place is going to blow! Get everyone away from the city,” Cyrth yelled, using magic to enhance his voice, so everyone could hear him.

  The fighting had stopped the moment the first explosion went off. After everyone heard Cyrths warning both sides looked nervously at one another. Neither wanting to make the first move to get away. As if they were being controlled the heavily armoured guards started attacking again. The occupants of the armour screaming trying to make the attack stop.

  Lyna’s forces had to re-engage with the guards to keep themselves from being overrun. The magic weapons the other guards were using started to explode. Magical force pushing out along with fire or lightning causing maximum damage to those around it. Screams once again rang out over the city as the battle resumed whether people wanted it to or not.

  Ashera came up to stand beside Cyrth and Artemis with a look of concern on her face. The others looked just as concerned. The guards standing around them drew their weapons.

  “What’s going on Cyrth? Why are you making nice with these prisoners?” one of the guards asked.

  Cyrth looked at the guards and smiled, “these are my companions. Or rather I’m theirs. I was a prisoner just like them, but that’s not important right now. What is important is these prisoners, as you call them will help us save others.”

  Cyrth gestured out to the battlefield where guards were crying out to be spared.

  “We need to focus on getting them out of this situation first,” Cyrth said. “Now why don’t we work with them.”

  The guards looked back and forth between one another and Cyrth. They seemed to come to an understanding and lowered their weapons.

  “Alright boss, what do you want us to do?” one of the guards asked.

  Ashera stepped forward and began to speak, “We need to know if Rivnear brought anything up out of the tower. It would have been small, and only usable by an elf. Someone who was probably close with the previous keeper of the island. They would need to be somewhere close to affect sthe armour like this.”

  Murmurs broke out amongst the guards. One name kept coming up, Gunthur.

  “It would be Gunthur, I saw him headed up the tower over there,” the guard said pointing at the last standing tower near the gate.

  “Show us,” Artemis said.

  The guards took off towards the entrance of the tower, followed closely by Artemis and Ashera. Cyrth remained behind ordering the other guards to intervene where possible. Ashera, Artemis and the guard ran onto the roof. Gunthur jumped as the door flung open. Gunthur jumped to his feet and took the device, the laptop, to the edge of the tower.

  “One more step and it goes over,” Gunthur stammered. “This is all for the sake of the island. We need to purge these blood thirsty killers and Elf God deniers.”

  Gunthur, thinking he had the upper hand, he relaxed for just a moment. At that moment Artemis made his move. Like a flash of lightning Artemis was across the roof. Startled, Gunthur let go of the laptop. Artemis redirected his focus from stopping Gunthur to catching the laptop. It slipped past the end of his fingers. Artemis threw himself off the tower after the laptop. He ran down the side of the tower falling faster, catching up to the laptop. He grabbed it in one hand and dug his claws into the tower trying to slow himself down. Artemis’s hand and feet were screaming in pain as he slowly came to a stop just above the ground. A screaming Gunthur followed.

  Ashera ran to the side of the tower pushing a still startled Gunthur over the edge. Ashera screamed out for Artemis as she looked over, expecting to see a broken laptop and worse. To her amazement Artemis was fine and had the laptop in hand. She turned on her heels and ran to the bottom of the tower.

  Lyna and her group were being pushed and driven into a group of guards that would literally explode at any time. Lyna’s group did their best to avoid the oncoming guards, but casualties were inevitable. Some of Lyna’s men were tackling the guards forcing them to the ground, trying to clear a path. For each guard knocked down another one would take their place. Causing more guards and more men to get caught in the explosions.

  As explosions continued to ring out around them Ashera grabbed the laptop from Artemis and began to type. Pulling up programs and terminals, searching for the one controlling the armour. She found it berried in another program that was giving the weapons their magical effects.

  “Damn,” Ashera exclaimed. “The program doesn’t have a termination command. What were those damn elves thinking? Suicidal bastards.”

  Artemis understood most of what she had said and knew it wasn’t good.

  “What are we going to do?” Artemis asked.

  “I’m trying to write something now so shut up,” Ashera snapped.

  Ashera’s fingers danced across the keyboard as she looked at the program's code along with seeing how its magical structures were implemented. Occasionally she would make a grunting noise indicating she was disgruntled or an ‘aha’ when she was having a breakthrough. She wrote and rewrote code, edited the magic and then changed it again. Ashera was there for an hour but to her it felt like several lifetimes. She lamented how long it had taken her as she listened to the screams.

  “Done!” She yelled as she hit the enter key one last time.

  The guards in the armour suddenly stopped moving on their own, the guards immediately started to remove the armour. Cheers grew over the battlefield as the guards hugged each other, just happy being alive. The cheers soon grew lower as Lyna’s remaining forces encircled the guards. No longer wanting to fight, the guards surrendered.

  Suntiana and her core of healers were hard at work trying to mend the wounded who had been pouring in over the last hour. Suntiana was personally working on Rothar. His arm hadn’t been brought back with him, so she was doing damage control.

  “Sorry, Rothar,” Suntiana whispered.

  Suntiana had been working on a spell, modified from one for growing crops where they shouldn’t be able to. It was designed to regrow missing limbs. Unfortunately, it wasn’t working and Rothar would have to learn to live without it. Suntiana had patched Rothar as best she could. More people started to pour in a mix of guards and her friends. Suntiana didn’t care who they were, if they were here, they were getting treated.

  “Treat them all. Start with the most hurt and move down from there. Even the guards,” Suntiana ordered to all the others.

  Suntiana was the only one capable of using most healing magic directly, but the tools and basic healing spells Ashera had given them over the past year were instrumental. The old-world medical techniques were showing their usefulness as her team stitched up both internal and external wounds. It wasn’t as sanitary as the labs back in their base, but Ashera had told them field treatment rarely was. The team worked tirelessly to treat all who came in. It wasn’t enough, the dead were starting to outnumber the living.

  Ashera and Artemis left Cyrth to help Suntiana with the wounded. Cyrth was calmly and quickly explaining what was going on to the guards. Those who agreed got to work helping the wounded and collecting the discarded armour. Those who didn’t surrendered unconditionally. They no longer wanted to fight but refused to go along with Cyrth and Ashera's plan.