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Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

A ndre whistled loud and raised his hand. “All lines forward!” He shot bright green sparks into the air to summon the advance. At the same time, Lennox would begin his plan.

The fog altered into clouds of smoke while the firebombs and other bomb style attacks continued. Water mages fought back against any fires that whipped up around them. Steam and smoke added to the chaos on the field.

Especially when the lines moved forward into a full attack.

Ignoring the pleas to remain behind and concentrate on the Prime Justicar, Solomon couldn’t let his friends leap into the fray without him. He unleashed his lightning and white flames against the Carmine.

Preserving some of his energy, he pulled his rapier and dagger and clashed against Carmine blades. Spinning into an offensive mood, he faced an attacker. His rapier flashed and angled against the broader blade the Carmine preferred. With a burst of power behind him, he lunged, attacked, and knocked aside the blades. Then he struck true against their flesh with a magical hit to keep them down.

Losing sight of his friends, he drove deeper into the fray and lines with his blades and lightning.

Spinning and flaring, a new dark-haired fighter came within reach. Before he could turn and attack, Solomon heard the words.

“White light opens the blind eye.”

At that rare Guild saying, Solomon held up his blades.

“You must be the arcane mage, Solomon. Thanks for not slicing me open. I didn’t quite anticipate all of this or how I was going to get out of the situation that was building inside the Liontooth,” the fighter said. He rolled his shoulders and a glamour dissipated to reveal an altered appearance. One of hazel eyes, golden brown hair chopped short, and pale golden skin of a Northern bloodline.

“And you must be the undercover RASI agent Lennox told me about,” Solomon said.

“That would be me. Finlay Medline, RASI Consortium, and I am so done being an undercover. Oops…” Finlay held up a finger and leaned his head to the side. “Hold on a moment.” He stepped and swirled to the right. Flaring his blades and shooting several ice spikes, he attacked someone who tried to get behind Solomon’s blind spot.

Solomon glanced over to watch the Carmine member drop to the ground. Sending a magical ‘smack’ to knock the soldier out, he lifted an eyebrow. “Thank you.”

“Nice ‘smack,’ must remember that move.” Finlay tipped his sword with a wild grin. He bounced on his toes and studied the battlefield. “What’s the plan?”

“End this as soon as possible.” Solomon flipped his dagger in a few controlled moves, even caught the blade at the tip.

“Any idea how?”

“Where is the Prime Justicar?”

“Just inside the doors. Like he’s waiting for something.” Finlay tipped his head and studied Solomon. “Or someone.”

Solomon stopped flipping the dagger. “He’s waiting for me.”

“Do you know him?”

“Not since I was a child.” With energy buzzing through him, Solomon spun his rapier. Then he studied his new ally. “Can you guide me through this mess to the doors?”

Looking around their potential options, Finlay gave a sharp nod. “We can do this together.”

“I apologize for sending you back through the fray.”

“It’s why I’m here.”

“How long where you in?”

“Over two annuals. Takes a while for them to get used to your presence and allow you in like you’re walking through a spiral to get to the center. To get to here where everything starts for the Carmine. This is where you learn all the dark stuff and there’s a lot of dark stuff. More than anyone expected. Some really immoral and disgusting things,” Finlay said with a visible shudder. “If we’re doing this then there are a few goons we need to take out along the way.”

“Take out? Kill or knock them out to hold for a trial?”

“Kill them now or have them spend the rest of their lives in an underground prison and stripped of any magic.” Finlay toggled his head like he was actually considering the options. “I like the second option. Can we do that?”

Thinking of how the vines could help with knocking out their opponents, Solomon nodded. “Know how to do an arcane tag?”

“Send a small burst of energy to who you want and have it stick in an inconspicuous area?”

“Right. Can you do that with the goons you want stopped?”

“Yes.” Finlay studied the constantly moving battle. “Got one right now. Harsh nasty, piece of…” He grumbled out the expletive. Then he moved his hand and shot a tiny spark of white fire to hit the goon on his lower boot.

“Hold on a moment…” Solomon reached out to the vines. /Gloriosa? Meltosse? Fozlane?/

::We are here.::

/Can one of you sense the arcane marker that we left on the lower limb of an opponent?/

::Yes, we can sense that one opponent separate from the others.::

/Wonderful. We need to tag some opponents and make sure they do not escape justice. Could you send up vines to wrap them up and knock them out? Until the battle is over. Not death. Yet./

::We can do that. Sending vines now.::

“Watch,” Solomon said.

Parrying with a different attacker, Finlay finished him off with a slice of his rapier and magical ‘smack’ to keep him down. He looked down where Solomon pointed.

Vines broke through the ground and wrapped tight around the opponent that Finlay marked. With ease, they pulled him to the ground and poked him with a spike.

“What the?—”

“Welcome to a realm with sentient protector vines. Once you connect to them, you can have a full mental conversation. They come with a little punch in the form of different spikes or thorns that have a combination of different elixirs. We mark the ones you want. The vines will handle the knockdown and hold them in place,” Solomon said.

“That is…” Finlay shook his head. “Insane! Love it!”

Snickering, Solomon parried off another goon who attempted to attack their blind side. Taking a few steps forward while he used both his blades to finish the attack and ‘smack’ him out.

Finlay shot off a few more tags. Each man howled when vines wrapped around them and yanked them into the ground.

“Love that! Now we can do this. Hold on…” Finlay spun and stepped into a series of steps with his rapier. In a daring move, he stepped in closed, knocked the blade from his opponent, and struck him down. Twisting on another foot, he bent backward to avoid another goon’s blade. Then he fought him off after he tried to take advantage of their stillness until another slice killed that man. “Those two deserve their place among The Grim Empire for what they did to acolytes and children. Children!”

Solomon didn’t bother to stop Finlay from sending some goons to the realms’ underworld known as The Grim Empire. He was sure there were far more to the Carmine than they never knew. Lost within that darkness for over two annuals, Solomon knew Finlay had a lot to fight past and overcome while he returned to the light.

“We need to top off our energy while we’re in a pocket,” Solomon said. He sheathed the dagger, pulled out two gemstones, and tossed one to Finlay. “Hold it and let the energy flow to you. Slow.”

Sighing, Finlay clutched the gemstone close.

Solomon did the same with his gemstone. Once it was drained, he dropped it to the ground and motioned for Finlay to do the same. He sent the stones deep underneath. “The vines will take care of them.” He tugged out two of the special Cadogan nutrition bars. Taking one, he held the other out. “Eat this. Get some nutrition.”

Taking the bar, Finlay sniffed at it and carefully took a bite. “Where do you get all of this?” His eyes widened at the punch of flavor and magic. “I definitely want more of these.”

“From a powerful family who are close friends.” Solomon finished the bar and brushed off his hands. Then he pulled out his dagger and adjusted his grips on the dagger and rapier.

“Delicious. Now I’m ready to dive into this horde,” Finlay said. He flicked around his rapier. “Time to move.”

Blowing out a breath, Solomon nodded. “Take the lead.”

Pivoting on his foot, Finlay sent a wave of ice spikes ahead of them to open a path. Then he took off with Solomon on his heels.

Together, they became a whirlwind of blades, ice, and lightning.

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