A DRINK BEFORE BATTLE (MxM)

A quick survey of the field showed Sevei that a few dozen of the Brinnish soldiers were now attacking both Valeskans and their own countrymen alike, breaking the formations on this side of the garden and sending the ranks into chaos.

“Does that bastard have any bottom line?” Sevei snarled.

“Apparently not,” Yeresym answered. He grabbed at another Brinnish soldier taking a swing at a comrade and sent a short burst of energy into his back, knocking him out.

Sevei’s eyes narrowed on him. Although Yeresym was taking it easy on these men, that bit of magic hadn’t seemed as easy as Yeresym usually made it look.

“Hey,” he said. “How are you holding up? If you get yourself drained again, we won’t have Meira to heal you this time.”

“I’m fine,” Yeresym said coolly, throwing the sleeping man in his hands to another soldier to drag him away.

Sevei and the Brinnish General began barking orders to the surrounding troops, setting everyone the task of pushing the controlled soldiers towards Martial Alchemists, who would then stun them into unconsciousness. Sevei sheathed his sword and drew the small axe from his belt, using its blunt edge to beat Ghed’s puppets back.

The Martials were still doing battle with the remaining Loranarian Alchemists, slowing the process, and fighting to subdue these soldiers took a lot more effort than just killing them would. Tempers were flaring amongst the troops. The struggle was wearing everyone thin, and the Valeskan soldiers inevitably began to look upon any of the Brins with suspicion.

Just as it seemed the entire joint army might turn against itself, a shaft of sparkling golden light arose from behind the lines, near the municipal house, and alighted on Balan Ghed.

With most of the controlled soldiers now immobilized, the troops looked up at the strange light in wonder. Ghed struck at it with a bolt of energy, but it passed through the light with no effect on it, blasting the chimney off a nearby house instead. He glared with malevolence down the swirling beam.

He coughed lightly, then abruptly dropped to the rooftop he’d been hovering over, stumbling as his feet struck the slate shingles and sent a few skittering over the eaves. He raised his hands and sent a steady stream of energy down into that beam of light, but it lacked the strength he’d had while demolishing the surrounding buildings.

Behind the back line, Meira and Thelan had successfully joined their talents to drain Master Ghed of his ethereal energy.

Sevei gave Yeresym a triumphant smile.

“It’s working!” he said, barely containing his excitement. “Let’s go!”

He began to pull Yeresym through the crowd toward the front line, but didn’t make it far when a murmur went through the troops as a figure rose into the air and began to ascend through the brilliant golden light.

It was Meira. Her body floated limply, offering no resistance to whatever pulled her along. Her dark hair had come loose and it streamed behind her, tangling in her fluttering cloak, as she rose higher into the air.

“What... what is this?” Yeresym asked, his voice stricken with panic.

“I don’t know,” Sevei answered, equally bewildered. “This wasn’t...”

As they looked on in disbelief, the green tint of Ghed’s energy reached Meira through the golden light and twined around her. The light brightened, and Meira’s form suddenly became transparent, seemingly made up of countless flecks of twinkling gold and silver that began to flow apart and disintegrate. The shaft of light faded away, leaving only a nebulous cloud of stardust that drifted away on the breeze.

“She... evaporated...” said a soldier beside them.

Sevei stared, stunned senseless, at the place Meira had been.

“No...” he muttered.

A wracking cough came from above, and all attention flew to Ghed as a stream of blood erupted from his mouth to pour down the front of his white robes. He toppled off of the roof, landing hard on the ground below. The few Loranarian Alchemists left at his side froze, watching him uncertainly, then their figures flickered out of view one by one.

A cheer went through the army, but the noise of it buzzed mutely in Sevei’s ears, as if he were hearing it through water.

He only snapped out of it when Yeresym let loose a brutal, enraged howl and took off across the garden toward Ghed.

Through the crowd, Sevei could see Ghed across the street, staggering to his feet as his blood-soaked white hair brushed a macabre painting over his draping sleeves. He glared at Yeresym with veins of energy crackling around his eyes, and smiled viciously.

A chill went through Sevei. Ghed may be weakened, but none of them really knew what tricks he may have up his sleeve. Sevei caught up to Yeresym at the edge of the garden just as Yeresym threw an orb of magic at Ghed, which almost fizzled out before it reached him, but still managed to knock him back down to his knees.

“Wait!” Sevei called out, grabbing at Yeresym to pull him back.

Yeresym rounded on Sevei and shoved him hard, pushing him to the ground.

“You!” he bellowed. “This was your plan! You said she’d be safe!”

Sevei looked up at him helplessly, his eyes pricking with tears. He shook his head.

“I don’t know what happened...”

At that moment, the enemy Alchemists who had fled before returned with those who had chased after Prince Rendrick, and the fight began anew. The troops on the field regrouped their formation as best they could, archers and Martials frantically pressing on despite their flagging strength.

Behind Yeresym, Ghed began to laugh, the blood gurgling in his throat and spraying through his red-stained teeth. Sevei saw his hands fill with ethereal energy, and reached up to pull Yeresym down, tumbling him over and pulling his shield over them both. He was met with a blast that knocked the wind out of him, and a searing pain in his shoulder as some of the magic missed the shield. He’d have screamed if he could breathe.

“Fucking idiot!” Yeresym shouted beneath him.

Sevei hurriedly pulled himself and Yeresym up onto their knees, trying to keep his shield over the both of them. A half dozen shieldsmen broke ranks and stepped around them, giving them more cover.

“I told you...” Sevei wheezed through a series of coughs, “I won’t let you fight him alone.”

Yeresym glared at him, then pressed his mouth into a hard line and shook his head.

“I can’t fight him at all,” he said defeatedly. He raised his hand, and a faint spark of energy danced over his fingers before crackling out again. “Maybe the others can...”

Sevei opened his mouth soundlessly. He peered up at the battle raging overhead, then peeked over his shoulder to see Ghed gathering his energy again. He was clearly struggling with it, and Sevei smirked as he turned back to Yeresym.

“Then I will,” he said.

He rose to his feet, taking care to keep his shield front, and pulled the axe from his belt. Gritting against the pain in his shoulder, he lifted the axe overhead and wound his arm back, only to feel the weapon plucked out of his grasp. He watched it fly forward, turning end over end, blazing a trail of blue ethereal energy in its wake, until it embedded with a nauseating crunch through Balan Ghed’s collar bone.

More blood poured from Ghed’s mouth, joining the new stream spouting from his neck. He bared his bloody teeth in a furious sneer, then crumpled to the ground.

All of his subordinates disappeared once more, and a flock of Valeskan and Brinnish Martials ran across the street to set upon Ghed, making certain he was finished this time.

Sevei turned around to find Yeresym staring blankly up into the sky where Meira had disappeared. Then his eyes narrowed, and his jaw clenched.

“Thelan...” he hissed. He turned his back to Sevei, drawing his sword while storming away toward the municipal house.

Shit! Sevei thought. Now fearing that Yeresym might kill Thelan in his grief, Sevei ran after him.

At the back line, the Sekkha now stood huddled into a mass of fluttering scarlet fabric, obscuring Thelan from view. Sevei caught up to Yeresym and got ahead of him, trying to hold him back.

“Let me talk to Thelan first,” he begged. “You have to calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Yeresym screamed, turning abruptly and shoving him backwards.

Sevei dropped his shield and blocked Yeresym’s next assault, catching his wrists as he raised his hands to push Sevei again, knocking the sword out of his hand.

Yeresym howled, then dropped to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably.

Sevei just stared down at him, searching his shattered heart for anything he could possibly say just now, and the tears he’d been holding began to flow freely. He looked across the yard to see the Sekkha parting, and Thelan came into view... along with the Sekkha warrior in her arms.

They were both clinging to each other tightly, Thelan’s face buried in the scarlet veil around the woman’s head.

Sevei’s mouth dropped open. Then he began to laugh.

“That wasn’t her,” he said weakly.

Yeresym looked up at him, his face twisted with grief and anger.

“Yeresym, that wasn’t Meira. She’s alright. Look! She’s there!”

Yeresym whipped around just in time to see Thelan move the woman’s veil aside and then kiss her passionately.

The other Sekkha warriors pulled her away after a moment. As she turned, adjusting the veil over her face, her eyes locked with Yeresym’s across the yard. She hesitated, but only gave him a nod of her head before breaking into a run with the others, rushing to the side of the municipal house where horses waited for them. They all mounted quickly, then sped away into the city in a storm of hooves and hieing cries.

Sevei and Yeresym both stared dumbly after them until they couldn’t be seen any longer, and even the sounds of their departure faded into the distance.

“Illusion?” Yeresym muttered, turning his attention back to Thelan, who stood likewise staring after Meira with a dazed and forlorn face. As Yeresym stood up, though, his anger seemed to return, so Sevei rushed ahead to give Thelan a congratulatory clap on the shoulder.

“You did it!” Sevei cheered.

Thelan turned her vacant gaze to the two Generals. A trickle of blood was running from one nostril.

“Mm...” she grunted. With no warning, that trickle of blood gushed down her chin, and she pitched toward Sevei.

[author] Well, what can I say but thank the Gods that this part is done. And I did after all intentionally write this story to practice battle scenes, so I can’t say I didn’t know what I signed up for. Someday I will rewrite these past three chapters to perhaps make them better, and probably reorganize how they’re divided. Today is not that day.

I hope you found them at least somewhat exciting, and hopefully reading them is more enjoyable than writing them was. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, especially if I’ve left anything confusing or unanswered.

Thank you so much for reading. We’ll get back to some smutty times soon. That should be more fun! ❤[/author]