Terror Forty-Eight - Fight

“This kinda sucks,” I say.

Lily huffs from the other side of the table. “Yeah. You still haven’t gone down.”

I grin. She’s got a way with words, I guess. I don’t usually want to hurt people, but I’m considering it with Lily here. She’s a pain in the butt. I can’t help but feel like I recognize her. It’s not her magic, I don’t think, that’s foreign and strange--not that I have all that many magics to compare it to.

It’s something else, something that I can’t put my finger on.

Lily and I both start to walk around the table at the same time, going in opposite directions to keep the stacks of books between us as we size each other up.

My magic’s fine. I could use more disgust, but the wonderful thing about disgust is that it feeds into itself. Most emotions are like that. The longer this fight drags on, the stronger I’ll be.

I have another advantage too. Lily used wind magic before. So that means that she’s got a bit of Joy mage in her... actually.

Squinting, I take her in properly, assessing her for the first time. I should have done this sooner, but I was preoccupied.

[Lily Schild – Defender of Humanity – The Implacable]
Novice Firestorm Fighter
Initiate Beacon of Hope

What kind of classes are those? The Firestorm Fighter isn’t too hard to guess at. She’s a close-range martial-artist that uses fire and wind magic. It sounds like an uncommon class--two types of magic would do that--but not something insanely rare. The Beacon of Hope class though, that sounds special.

“How the heck did a monster become a Bookworm?” Lily asks.

“By reading lots, duh,” I say. “Oh, do you even know how to read?”

I hope Felix didn’t hear that, I want to hurt Lily’s feelings, not Felix’s. Actually, I should probably not taunt the fire mage.

“I like books,” Lily said. “They make for good kindling.”

She flings her arm back then forwards, a long rope-like tendril of burning, spinning magic forming above her a moment before it snaps out towards me with a whipcrack.

I raise my arms and with a heavy whum, like a dictionary being dropped into a barrel full of flour, a black disk materializes before me.

The fire whip smashes into the shields and splashes apart.

Lily tsks and flicks her whip again. I move the shield to intercept, but she’s not aiming for me.

A column of books to my side bursts apart, the whip slicing a tome along its spine and sending pages fluttering around. Pages that are distinctly on fire.

“Uh,” I say. “You know, this place is dusty and filled with flammable materials, right?”

“I was counting on it,” she says.

Oh, shoot.

I fling my shield to the side with a mental command, blocking her from lighting more books on fire.

Lily grins and a small fireball zips my way. I only barely manage to dodge it, which means that it rams into the side of an unlit lamp, one of those with a big glass bottom and a long chute at the top. The glass cracks and oil spills out across a deck covered in paper and inkwells. It takes all of a second for it to be burning bright behind me.

“Are you nuts?” I scream.

“I’m not mad, I just won’t lose. Not again,” she says.

I duck under another flurry of fireballs, aware that they’re spreading more fire around, and not really caring. This girl’s insane.

I pull my shield up before me, protecting my core while my free hand wiggles through a few gestures. They’re not needed, but I find that somatic gestures can help me cast, especially when I need to focus on other things.

Lily’s eyes widen as I shift the shield to the side and reveal a whole flurry of dark bolts, primed to fire.

“Oh, shoot!” she says before jumping to the side. She tips over a table just as the bolts take off. They rattle against the wood, as if someone just dropped a bagful of hammers onto the table.

I glance back to my friends. The cart’s full! Esme is tying a knot on one end, the tarp... not-exactly securely fastened, but it’s holding itself in place. Felix is at the door, shoving it open with obvious effort.

“Move out! I’ll be with you in a second,” I call out.

“Oh no you won’t!” Lily shouts.

The table flops down onto the ground and Lily runs out towards me.

I barely have time to gasp. She rams me in the chest, shoulder-first, and we both go spilling onto the floor.

I don’t want this to be a repeat of our last tumble.

My shield comes around and bonks Lily aside. She screams, frustration mixed with feral anger. Her arms burst to flame and her hair blows out around her, a writhing crown above her glaring visage.

“You’re the monster here,” I say.

Then I plant a boot in her nose.

Lily grabs my ankle and tugs it to her.

It hurts!

Not the tug, but the grip around my leg. It’s way, way too hot!

Lily laughs, and the wind around her shifts, spinning even as licks of flame twirl about. The wind feeds the flames which feed the wind. I kick out, heel first against her shin, but she just grunts and tries to pull me closer still.

“Fine then!” I shout.

My little friends join the fight.

If she wants to play dirty, then I’ll show her what a villain-in-training can do!

Little monsters zip out from in my cloak and under my clothes, and I hear Felix squeaking from the other end of the room as the friends hiding on her rush over to help.

Lily lets go of me as a bumblebutt latches onto her face and takes a nibble at her cheek.

She screams, and I take the opportunity to scramble back.

My ankle hurts a lot. The skin is red and shiny and bruised and somehow wet. It lances, and even the dark magic making my skin tougher isn’t helping against the pain.

Lily’s screams change pitch, and the wind around her flags a little. I guess she’s not enjoying my little friends.

The fire picks up, growing stronger and spinning around her, hot tongues fill the air and scattered pages are set alight whenever they’re pulled in too close to her burning vortex.

It’s impressive magic.

Not one spell, but about four smaller, simple spells working in concert.

I climb to my feet, testing my weight with a hiss. It’ll do, but I’m going to want some ice for that later.

“Miss Valeria!”

Felix is next to the open doorway, arm waving above her. The cart is halfway out already, Esme pulling it ahead with slow, careful steps.

I glance at Lily, but she’s preoccupied.

I guess running is an option.

Every step sends a twinge up my ankle, but I ignore it for now as I run down to the loading level, then sprint over to my friends. “Push it out,” I say.

“Trying, it’s heavy!” Esme grunts.

I slide to a stop next to her and put my weight into the push. The cart picks up some speed, Felix at the front tugging at it with all of her might. “Where do we go?” Felix asks.

“Uh, left? Towards the courtyard.”

“That’s out in the open,” Esme says.

“Yeah, exactly.”

She turns and presses in with her other shoulder. “Everyone will be able to see us,” she huffs.

I nod. “I know. It’s fine. We just need to be out near the centre of the courtyard. Trust me?”

She stares at me for a moment, and I can see the calculation in her eyes. “Fine, I’ll trust you,” she says.

I grin. “Awesome! Thanks.”

With momentum comes ease of movement, and the cart feels lighter as it picks up speed. The big wooden wheels on its side clatter across the cobbles and Felix whoops as we burst out of the building and into the open sunlit outdoors.

“Hey, where are you going?” An adult asks as we roll past.

“Nowhere!” I shout back.

He just stares at us as we take a turn a bit too wide and trample over some of the flowers growing next to the roadway.

Then I hear an explosion behind me and I feel the pit of my tummy dropping. A glance back reveals Lily, running out of the back of the building with the hem of her robes on fire and the air around her boiling.

“Hey, what are you doing?” the same clueless adult asks.

“Shut up!” Lily snaps back. “You!”

We’re a good fifty metres away, and gaining.

Lily is faster.

“Oh shoot,” I say. “Push! Push harder!”

***