A DRINK BEFORE BATTLE (MxM)

The two Generals Sevei and Urskatha, followed by Thelan and Kahan, stepped through the broad front doors of the municipal house and out onto the colonnaded portico to survey the scene. Under cloudy gray skies, the combined troops of Valesk and Brinland stood in formation, covering the front gardens. Rows of shieldsmen alternated with rows of archers, with more than a hundred Martial Alchemists scattered throughout the field, and a group of Sekkha warriors clustered in the center near a marble fountain.

Across the streets surrounding the garden, enemy Alchemists perched on the rooftops of nearby buildings like a flock of crows. There were only about fifty of them. Normally, Sevei would have liked those odds, except for one person who stood on a high rooftop and drew the eye like a magnet. Master Balan Ghed.

He was very tall, with a surprisingly young and delicately featured face, but he was sickly thin, with long chalk-white hair undulating in the cool breeze. His white robes, lined with red, likewise fluttered about and contrasted starkly with the black-clad Alchemists at his feet. The red-haired woman stood in front of him, and he seemed to tower over her and the few others on that roof with them.

“So that’s him,” Sevei said.

He peered at Yeresym through the grated faceplate of his helm, and a chill went down his spine at the look of sheer venomous hatred on Yeresym’s face. He turned his attention back to Ghed, and startled as he realized that the man’s height over the others beside him wasn’t right. He raised his faceplate and squinted.

“Is he floating?” he asked, looking at Yeresym again. “Can you float?”

Yeresym scoffed. “If I want to waste my energy,” he said coldly.

“It’s just a show of power,” Thelan said in a scornful tone. “He’s only doing half our work for us.”

“Are you good, General Urskatha?” Sevei asked.

Yeresym’s gaze slid sideways, still full of poison. He jerked his head up, then strode out onto the field. Sevei and the others followed, two Brinnish generals falling in alongside them. Soldiers stepped aside to form an aisle down the center of their ranks. The command party stopped upon reaching the front line and looked defiantly up at the intruders.

“This is an act of war!” one of the Brinnish generals called out. “Can Loranar afford to fight two fronts against three countries? You should all retreat! We’ll just count this as a misstep”

The Loranarian general laughed. “You chose this when you sided with Valesk!” she called back. “We don’t want war with you. Bring out Prince Rendrick to talk and we’ll settle this now.”

“Why doesn’t your King send an ambassador to the capital?” Sevei asked. “Has Loranar completely abandoned proper procedure?”

The woman leaned out over the edge of the roof and peered down at Sevei.

“Didn’t I kill you?” she said contemptuously.

Sevei laughed. “Oh, you certainly did your best,” he retorted.

The woman shook her head with a tsk. “You Valeskans are like rats, aren’t you?” she jeered. “You think you’ve drowned them but they just get up and continue pestering.”

Sevei nodded. “I’ve been told I’m persistent,” he chuckled, knocking his elbow into the rim of Yeresym’s shield.

The corner of Yeresym’s lips quirked even as he gave a long-suffering sigh, but then he turned around as a commotion arose behind them.

Gendaran Urskatha stormed down the line of soldiers, his face red and sweating. His brocade robe caught on the fountain as he passed, and he ripped it away as he continued his advance, his beady eyes darting furiously between Yeresym and Meira. Sevei swore under his breath and moved to step in front of Meira, but Thelan got there first.

“Yeresym!” Gendaran shouted. “What do you mean by bringing her out here? This is no place for her!”

“This is no place for you, Gendaran,” Yeresym returned frostily. “Are you out of your mind? Go back inside immediately!”

“That’s my property you’re endangering!” Gendaran said, pointing at Meira. Then he turned his hand and beckoned her. “Come, Meira. Come with me.”

“Sergeant Kahan has a mission today,” Yeresym informed him. “Stop interfering.”

As Gendaran turned his angrily pointing finger to Yeresym, the woman on the roof above them cackled.

“Who is this little dumpling?” she called, peering curiously down at Gendaran, eyeing his luxurious robes.

“No one of importance to you!” Yeresym said dismissively as they all turned to look at her again.

“Ah!” she smiled. “When people say that it makes me think it might be quite important.”

“Cerrys,” Master Ghed said to her, his voice deep but wispy, as if his throat were damaged.

All eyes, including hers, leapt to him as if he’d bewitched them all. He nodded to Cerrys, and she smiled as she turned again and disappeared. While everyone continued staring at Ghed, she suddenly appeared in front of Gendaran, who let out a high-pitched squeal when she reached out for him. A thunderous clatter sounded all around as soldiers broke formation to turn the points of swords and arrows toward them. Sevei drew his own sword, signaling Thelan to pull Meira back among the soldiers.

Before Cerrys could take hold of Gendaran, her hand was struck by a flash of energy.

“Ah!” she shouted, shaking her hand and whirling about to face Yeresym, who was readying another strike. When he lashed out again, she disappeared before it could reach her, and it almost hit Gendaran instead. His face twisted with malice.

“You son of a...!”

“Do you really want to finish that sentence?” Yeresym interrupted. He grasped Gendaran’s sleeve and pulled him aside. “Get behind me,” he ordered, raising his shield.

Sevei laughed heartily, but quickly fell silent as Cerrys reappeared on Gendaran’s other side, reaching for him again. Sevei brought his sword up, and would have severed her hand if she hadn’t evaporated into the ether just in time, leaving Sevei to dodge a sword another soldier had swung at her. Gendaran squealed again and clung to Yeresym’s tunic.

“Shields around Lord Urskatha!” Yeresym shouted.

Sevei crowded in close to them, overlapping his shield with Yeresym’s as a handful of other soldiers made up a circle, enclosing Gendaran within. Cerrys reappeared on the rooftop across the street and crouched at its edge, forearms resting on her knees, and she laughed merrily.

“Oh, I haven’t had this much fun in a while!” she exclaimed.

“Is she insane?” Sevei muttered.

“I suspect so,” Yeresym answered. “If she’s been using some of Ghed’s rumored techniques. They can’t be good for the mind.”

“What does she want with me?” Gendaran whimpered.

“Be quiet,” Yeresym snapped.

Sevei clicked his tongue. “Are you really sure he’s worth all this effort?”

Yeresym sighed. “He is my brother,” he said. “And if I let him die, I’ll never hear the end of it from my parents.”

“You...!” Gendaran shouted.

“Be quiet!”

Sevei snickered as he heard the squelch of a foot stamping in the wet ground.

A number of their own Martials had closed in now, and Yeresym called one of them over to take Gendaran. As the shield ring parted to hand him out, though, Cerrys materialized, hovering in the air above them, and sent a blast of ethereal energy right into Sevei’s shield. The shield held against it, but the impact sent him stumbling backwards to keep his footing, further widening the gap in the ring. Cerrys raised a throwing knife, aiming it for Gendaran, who screamed and hunched down close to the ground.

A Valeskan Martial shot Cerrys in the back, and she somersaulted in the air before landing, whirling around to return fire. Yeresym threw down his shield and caught her long braid of ginger hair in both hands. With a surge of energy in his grasp, he pulled her backwards and flung her with immense force toward Sevei.

Sevei braced himself and brought his sword up. Cerrys barreled into him, the blade running through her body to the hilt. Yeresym hit her with a bolt of energy, and Sevei’s hand tingled as it traveled through his sword. Cerrys looked at Sevei with a mixture of surprise and confusion. Her hands, grasping at his elbows, briefly crackled with weak ethereal energy, then both the energy and her life flickered out.

Supporting her weight, Sevei pulled his sword out of her and pushed her away. Her body slumped over the side of the fountain and landed face down in the pool of water. As the crowd around him cheered, he leaned down and gave her a nudge, just to be certain.

“If you want to make sure a rat is dead, try frying it on a skewer,” he hissed.

He looked up at Yeresym, drawing a deep, contented breath, just as another Alchemist grabbed Gendaran and disappeared with him.

“You know, you could have sent him away like that at the beginning,” Sevei pointed out.

Yeresym’s lips twitched. “Mhm.”

Sevei laughed until he started coughing.

His laughter was once again cut short, though, as a moment later the field around them erupted in a torrent of Alchemist fire.