She glanced around the room and prepared their escape plan, which would take place before the portal opened.
Knowing that the mages will take fifteen minutes to complete the creation of the portal and another five minutes to properly calibrate it with the coordinates the mercenaries gave them, I should have time to get everyone out while preventing the mages from acting. If I had been more powerful, I could have gone after the guards as well as the mages, but I'll have to make do... Come on, girl! You only get one chance!
Crouching down, she placed a hand on the ground and cast a spell:
- Solock, goddess of earth and nature, lend me your strength and allow me to perform this spell with your powers: Muddy Swamp.
The magical energy spread to the mages in front of the preparatory circle and the ground sucked them in, trapping them in the earth and solidifying it around their chests.
Seeing their carriers suddenly disappear, the mercenaries became agitated, activated their weapons and moved closer to their hostages to better see what was going on because of the darkness that engulfed the room. It was then that Talemilia deployed a new, less complex spell.
- Various metals, spread them over me and activate your powers! Metal magic: magnetism!
All the weapons of the mercenaries around them landed in Talemilia's hand, they yelled at her to give her back their weapons, but she had no reason to be intimidated by them and thus had no intention to give them back. She compacted them into a ball of metallic mass and sensing that these energy weapons were failing threw them against the doors that held them in that basement, the blast shattered the doors and the exit opened their arms.
- Go away! I'm holding them back!" Talemilia shouted.
None of them felt the strength to move, their spirits chained to despair seemed to perceive that they could finally get out and that they would not have to suffer their miserable luck this time. Exasperated by their inactivity, Talemilia shook the ground with her foot to push them to flee. This obviously worked.
The little fairy who had called out to her turned to see if the instigator of this escape was following them, but, with a simple gesture of her index and middle fingers, she ordered her to keep running to the exit.
- How could we have known that another lightning fairy as good as the queen of this place resided in the Nether?" one of the mercenaries shouted, "otherwise we would have brought our guns with hard plastic bullets.
- Make no mistake, it is not lightning that is my personal magic but the earth. And I can tell you that in this place made of rocks, stone, dust and wood, you are doomed.
She was bluffing.
Completely.
Not that her personal magic wasn't earth, but that she could easily defeat them with it. Although the magical essence of the lands of Sylvania - including the Turtle World - was indeed present in great quantities, in the Nether it was difficult for the inhabitants to absorb, as if it was being absorbed by something.
The spell that Talemilia had performed on the mages was not cheap. She wouldn't have needed to incant it to perform it if the magical essence was as abundant as it was at the Sanctuary or in Upper Town. And if these mages were indeed from the upper reaches of the realm, they must have come equipped with magical crystals to help them make the portal, compensating for the lack of magical energy in the Nether.
- It's a good thing it wasn't an order, but an initiative taken by our group, otherwise we'd be in deep shit," said Zajo.
- Chief?
- Don't worry," Zajo reassured them, "we still have the most important prize in this pile of filthy rubbish: our princess.
- No need to introduce me, I see," said Talemilia, feigning arrogance.
It's at times like this that I understand Lelelitio saying that she was far too honest.
- So I'll give you two warnings: under no circumstances should you underestimate me, and most importantly, I'll be you and I won't insult my people under my nose because I'll make you pay a hundredfold.
- Or la la la! The noblewoman of the dustbins shows her fangs," he mocked loudly, "what can a lone girl like you do against us who have experience in the field?" taunted Zajo.
- Are you that keen to see what a lone girl like me can do to protect her people?
With a simple kick, she shattered the floor, shaking the whole room. A bluff consisting of a simple incantation that she recited in her mind to make people believe that she was overpowered. Although she had uncommon strength, she was not of the same nature as the queen, hers was just out of reach. But she was strong enough not to be messed with by impertinent people like those around her now.
Two of the mercenaries tried to run away from the "phenomenal power" the princess had just unleashed, but as she raised her index and middle fingers, she raised a block of stone that blocked their path, causing them to crash into it.
- Do not plan to run away and capture Fairy folk again to sell them, the princess warned them, none of the citizens of Sylvania will leave these lands without their consent. You are now locked up with me.
- Or rather, you're locked up with us," said the mercenary leader, "so don't play hard to get when you're all shook up. As competent as you are, I bet you never really fought, always protected by that elf kid who goes everywhere with you. I, Zajo, can guarantee you that you won't be hurt if you let yourself be hurt, take it or leave it.
- You can always run," she spat at him.
- Fine. You guys take care of her, I'll take care of removing our means of locomotion from the ground.
All nodded and threw themselves at the fairy. Ready to fight, she easily dodged their charge by levitating before turning her arms into iron and fighting them.
Although she was not as strong as the version that met the Hero, she was still a seasoned fighter thanks to the training Malalalivia had given her since she was ten years old. Although she had been Talemilia's mother's servant, she had received a Spartan upbringing from her own parents and uncles who had been part of the regular army of Sylvania, and given her current strength, she was in no way a disgrace to her ancestors. Malalalivia had also been part of this regular army, and it was there that she met her future husband, Goliasim, another elf of the same ethnicity as her, which was rather rare.
And this training that Malalalivia had undergone, it was the same training that she had made Talemilia undergo as a girl, and maybe that would allow her to get out of this terrible situation... Besides, because of her numerous travels, Talemilia mother had never received any training from Malalalivia.
Flying without using her wings gave her a considerable advantage over her opponents who took time to reach her as they were running on the ground, and her great agility allowed her to move at leisure despite the very low ceiling of the room and to dodge the knife blows that her assailants were trying to throw at her. It is by simple attacks in piqué that she succeeded in fighting them, a few blows here and there, before going down on the ground and throwing them on the ground with hooks. Talemilia's stress was immense, she didn't know if she would succeed in defeating them.
That Zajo is right. I'm the one who locked myself in with them like a fool. My blows are not strong enough to knock them out... What can I do?
And as she was thinking of running away, a shot rang out in the room and a spurt of blood came out of Talemilia's arm. She collapsed to the floor and screamed in pain, spontaneously holding her arm to ease the pain.
- You're incompetent and I'm amazed," Zajo vomited, "you're so full of shit that she would have been shot with lead or lasers if you'd had your weapons, and I explicitly told you that she had to be whole.
- But we didn't hurt her," protested one of the mercenaries.
- I'm just guessing, based on your current exploits, that she would be dead because you're not able to capture her. Luckily I had my plastic gun to prevent her from luring him with her magnetism. Anyway, congratulations to you, Princess Avelilinélia, for being able to resist them.
The pain was so great that Talemilia was unable to utter any sound except for the bellowing that prevented her insults from coming out. Zajo walked past her to the two mercenaries who had caught the stone that prevented their escape and executed them with two shots to the head each.
- Why?" she coughed.
- Daring to flee in the face of danger without your comrades is not worthy of the men I hired. However, you should worry about yourself.
- I don't care what happens to me," she said through gritted teeth, "I saved those girls you were going to use to make money and they're going to call the guards to come and save me.
- And you think the guards are going to come and help a leper like you who is the dregs of Sylvania's society?" the poacher asked her with a sly smile, "Princess or not, you were abandoned because of your lineage. So your best hope is to hope that your buyer is a good man...
- If it's not the guards who save me, it'll be Lelelitio.
- And if not this "Lelelitio", then who?
- If not Lelelitio, it will be... it will be the hero of the legend himself!
Displaying hallucinated eyes, he chuckled before bursting out laughing, followed by his companions who threw themselves on the ground, hilarious. Even the mages who had to be concentrated to activate the portal were giggling in their corner.
- I thought you were a mature girl, but in the end you're just a silly girl who still believes in "fairy tales" as these denigrating humans say. A vulgar legend that is not there to give hope to the dumbest people on this planet and you think that this imaginary being will come and save you.
- I'm convinced of it!
Zajo shook his head, dazed, and pulled her by the hair to the magic circle.
- I'm sure a lot of people will appreciate a little idiot like you telling them stories after coitus, unlike Princess Scheherazade," he chuckled, "so they won't have to go to the Universal Library to sleep. Well, that's not the main reason I was sleeping there...
And suddenly, an incredible and intense blue light burst out of the magic circle, it was blinding, so much so that they had to hide their eyes with their arms.
Will I really disappear to this unknown place?" the princess asked herself, "without ever seeing my family again, neither Mama Malali, nor Leli, nor the children...
At this thought she began to flail about, struggling with all her might, shouting "I don't want to!", "Let me go!", "Stop!". Zajo crushed her wounded arm to silence her, but this amplified her screams. Then suddenly they heard a muffled voice through the blocked passage.
- Talemilia, is that you? Are you here?
It was Lelelitio! He had found her. She screamed for help with all her might, calling out his name, begging him to help her as quickly as possible.
Behind the rock face was Lelelitio with the knight. The elf was banging with all his might against the stone wall, hoping to do something about it.
- Move over, boy," the royal knight ordered him, "even up the stairs so you don't get in my way. When you hear a big boom, come down hard, is that clear?
He nodded and climbed the stairs at full speed.
The fairy knight raised her right arm perpendicular to her sword, which was pointing at the wall, closed her eyes and channelled all her strength into her arm, then concentrated it in her wrist, gritted her teeth. He had to get it right the first time, otherwise how could he live up to his illustrious father's name by failing to save a Sylvanian?
Concentrate... concentrate... concentrate... Now!
- Technique of the School of Sonic Blade Art: First arcane of the whirring blade: vibrating blade! Final impact!
A hole was created in the stone and the attack continued beyond the stone reaching the portal without any effect. As agreed, Lelelitio came down at the sound of the explosion.
- Damn it! Zajo, it wasn't planned for a royal knight to meddle in our affairs," commented Yarwuik.
- Wasn't it? You think so?" he ironically asked, "Let's all go into the portal and get a mage to close it on the other side.
The hole wasn't big enough for the knight to get through with his wings and armor despite all his attempts.
Damn! Even at my best, I couldn't turn that stone to dust!
The mercenaries began to flee through the portal, Lelelitio pulled the fairy out of the hole thanking him for what he had done and threw himself inside the cellar in pursuit of his princess's captors. He was ten metres away from her, not very tough, not very athletic, he could hardly run, but at that precise moment, at that key moment, he knew he had to do his utmost to save her or he would never see her again.
Ten metres.
Nine metres.
Eight metres.
Seven metres.
Six metres.
Five metres.
Only a few more metres and I'll reach you Avelilinélia!
Four metres.
Three metres.
Two metres.
He stretched out his arm to her, shouting her name at the top of his lungs, she tried to grab his hand, tears in her eyes. As her fingers reached for his, as her gaze met his, as their voices traveled the same distance to their ears, the portal closed, smashing Lelelitio's hand against the wall. Still, nothing could compare to the frustration of seeing his "cousin" taken from him. It far outweighed the pain that ran through his twisted hand.
He slammed both hands furiously into the ground, aggravating the wound in his right hand, tearing his hair out at the futility of his act.
How could he look his mother straight in the eye and tell her that he had been unable to protect the life of the princess's daughter whom she cherished so much? If he was the worthy heir to her family of servants, what a disgrace he was casting on her ancestors and descendants.
But to say this to oneself was to deny it.
It was not out of duty that he tortured his mind like this, but because he cared for her fiercely, although he never showed it to her. Always wondering if she was angry with him for hitting her while she was grieving for her mother, for blaming him for her existence and for hogging her mother like a selfish jerk.
- What a wretched being I am..., he sobbed.
The knight walked over to him and lifted him off the ground, grabbing his collar.
- Get back on your feet, the fight goes on.
- What are you talking about? What are you talking about? She's gone for good, and those fools aren't going to help us. Speaking of you...
He was about to throw himself at them but the fairy knight caught him in the air and put him back in front of the magic circle.
- This is no time to let off steam, there is still a slim hope of catching them.
- Which one?" said Lelelitio, beginning to feel the pain of his broken hand.
- You there!" the knight scolded, turning to the mages, "if you want your sentence reduced, heal this boy. And no tricks! You know very well that in one action, I can bring hell down on you. I will open the portal.
- That's impossible," said one of the mages, "you'd need the coordinates leading to the place where they left and, above all, a certain level of magic, and you don't have that level, even though you're the leader of the Queen's Saints.
Lelelitio turned to his benefactor, his eyes wide with shock, not expecting this kind of revelation.
- You... you... you are Sawyer... Sawyer Stelenincia Vanguard, son of Torn Stelenincia Vanguard, the great hero of Sylvania...
- Don't worry, I know my illustrious father's record well. I don't need a reminder.
- But shouldn't you stay with the Queen?
- Yes. But no. I think there are more important things right now than dealing with my queen's tantrums. And the more questions you ask, the less chance we have of me reopening the portal.
Reopen?" the young elf wondered, "he must be mistaken, it's impossible to do that.
- Technique of the School of Sonic Blade Art: Secret Arcanum...
A storm of magic surrounded the knight in plate armour, it was so strong that the magical essence was visible to the naked eye, absorbing the life of the plants in that cellar and perhaps even beyond.
- What are you doing?" asked Lelelitio.
- Instead of begging for the magical essence like anyone who has ever practiced magic or learned it, he forces the magic into him, and forces it to give more than it can offer like... some humans do," one of the mages explained, "that's why everything dies around us. He's extorting their life energy and if he keeps it up, it could well affect us magical beings.
- And if it's the technique I think it is," another mage intervened, "it will prove that this man is not like us.
- But if he fails... the backlash may be far too great.
Sawyer breathed out all the air he had in his lungs before inhaling deeply, closed his eyes and pictured the action he was going to perform as his father had explained it to him. This time if he failed, he would lose his life and fail as the guardian of the lives of the citizens of Sylvania - not a great one at the moment. He placed his sword in front of him, put his right hand on the back of the hilt and his left hand on the top of the hilt, concentrating all the magic he had accumulated in his hands. The energy he had between them was so fabulous that it revived the fairy.
- Now! Technique of the School of Sonic Blade Art: Secret Arcanum: Magic Reversal!
Without trembling, with surgical precision, he thrust his sword into the middle of the magic circle and managed to reactivate the portal, but it would take a few more seconds to open it completely.
- It's... it's just not possible!" all the mages cried, "this is sorcery! It's unnatural!
- As if your opinion matters," retorted the son of Torn, "let me concentrate. Get ready, boy, as soon as it's open we're going in, the rest is up to the future.
Behind the gate, in the middle of a forest, in front of an old runic gate, the mercenaries were still with their merchandise, thinking they had got away with it, they allowed themselves to rest.
The princess was still suffering from her bullet wound, the pain paralysed her whole body making her unable to run, and they knew it.
- Did you see that knight come in?" said Yarwuik breathlessly, his look was too scary.
- I can tell you that if he had caught up with you, he would have made mincemeat of brigands like you," said the fairy.
The robbers grumbled but could do nothing: they could not afford to damage their goods.
Talemilia turned to Zajo and looked him in the eye.
- And finally Zajo, now do you think?
In cold blood, he kicked her in the stomach to shut her up.
- I don't think I gave you a say, pariah!
Spitting out her lungs from Zajo's blow, she began to drool as her breath was cut off and her vision blurred. Zajo went on to crush her arm where he had fired, making her scream in pain. She kicked her boot to get it off but he insisted violently on it.
- Stop it! Her arm is in danger of becoming infected," warned one of the mercenaries.
- What do I care? We have two mages to heal her.
And without realizing it, the portal behind Zajo reopened. Well, it was more of a spatial rift than an actual portal.
All were shocked by the possibility that their pursuers could catch up to them so quickly, the mages fell to the ground as they realised that they were going to be executed for their felony.
- This can't be... It can't be!" cried one of the two mages, desperately scratching the ground.
- Then the truth about the son of Torn's abilities was not unfounded," said his companion.
Yarwuik took his leader by the arm and pulled him towards him so that they could escape together.
- Ah, because you think that a man who defies the laws of magic by creating a portal without any coordination is not able to catch you?
- Shut up, you!" he spat at her, "we have to go, chief, we failed, we'll try again next time.
- No, we won't. I'm not leaving without any booty... Give me the vampire knife that the other fat man gave us! he ordered the faun.
- What are you going to do?
- Take his wings.
Sacrilege! What an offence! What a disgrace this brigand was going to commit!
The faun gave the brigand Aberios what he had asked for. The mages, noticing the affront that was about to be committed against one of their race, wanted to intervene - no matter the cultural, social or hierarchical differences, a fairy will never let another fairy have her wings torn off by anyone. Zajo shot one of them with his hardened plastic bullet pistol and pointed his weapon at the second.
- Intervene and you end up like your colleague.
He gave the weapon to Yarwuik and bent down over the fairy's body, placing the special knife on the root of Talemilia's wings.
As expected, it worked: her wings had become tangible.
Fairy wings were semi-magical, semi-tangible. It was difficult for someone who was not a fairy to touch them, but not impossible and in time people understood the method, but it was much easier to have special materials than to use this method which was time consuming when one did not possess the touch.
The moment the blade touched the fairy's wings, she let out a cry of pain much more frightening than the one she had made when her arm was crushed by the mercenary leader. The magic that covered the princess's huge wings began to be absorbed by the blade, she struggled like hell but Zajo was able to hold her back with vigour. Once the contact between the blade and the wings was well established, he started to cut them in one go.
The pain was similar to an amputation, far too long, far too painful... It was like sawing off his arm, except that a fairy's wings were far more sensitive than any of their body parts.
The fairy's expression made all the witnesses here look away, the mage vomited all he had in his guts; this spectacle was far too unbearable for him. Talemilia's suffering was beyond anything she had ever experienced in her life, nothing could compare.
As the blood from her wings trickled down her back, her tears spilled down her delicate face as she writhed in pain. No plea, no request could come from her mouth, only incessant screams that never ended, she could only beg for release from this terrible ordeal.
I implore You to save me... Whoever You are... This is unbearable! I am going to die! Please save me! I beg you, hero of the legend, come and save me as you have saved so many others!
On the other side of the portal, Talemilia's pleading cries echoed throughout the room. Lelelitio's limbs tensed at his cousin's cries for help, a pain beyond measure piercing the heart of the man who had sworn to always protect her because of his remorse. Unable to bear to hear Talemilia's cries, he threw himself on the knight's arm at the end of the mages' treatment, begging him to hurry.
- I'm doing the best I can..., Sawyer said, his voice cut off by the effort, if you want to... help me... strengthen your hands with magic and open the rift in your hands.
- Are you crazy?" one of the mages snapped, "If he does it wrong, he could lose limbs. Or even end up in another dimension!
- We wouldn't be in this situation if you were faithful to your kingdom!
- We... we... had no choice...
- I don't care... about your confession... right now, if you want to ease your pain, go and help him!
And the two of them rushed to the spatial rift leading to the location of the fairy's position, and both of them covered their hands with magic and inserted their hands into it to pull it apart, using all their strength to open it. Sawyer forced his way through with his sword and poured more and more magic into it to make a real portal.
I'm way too out of practice. Mother would have done this trick without even a sword. Father would have managed to save that girl without difficulty. I can't afford not to be able to protect the kingdom they loved so much!
Observing that the portal started to open, Zajo didn't waste any more time to cut Talemilia's wings with the vampire knife and decided to tear them off like a butcher. He seized them with full hands and pulled on them like a relentless, tearing the back of the princess who underwent an unimaginable torture, a suffering beyond any describable emotion! It was as if this pain was being inflicted on her, equally, in every pore of her skin, every cell of her body. This torment was far too great for her body to accept to faint, so she had to endure this butcher's amputation, only begging, with all the pain in the world, that it would stop, praying with all her heart, with all her soul, that someone would come and save her.
In the cellar, Lelelitio was on the verge of insulting the Queen's Holy Knight when he heard his cousin's cries and tears.
- I'm doing what... I can...
I have to do it! I cannot confine myself to watching Audiselia. I must go beyond my meagre limits... now!
This feeling of guilt pushed him to inject all his magical power into his sword and made it explode in the portal, opening it completely but it was totally unstable, someone had to hold it while they got in, the young elf and him. He sheathed his sword while ordering the two mages to hold the portal.
- Kid, let's go now.
The two of them ran through the portal and into the forest where the mercenaries had fled. Catching them in the act, they watched helplessly as Talemilia's back was bloody, her skin and flesh torn off, threads of light were protruding from the fairy's body and hanging down the wings that had been stolen by Zajo, and little dusty scales from the fairy's wings were spilling over the fairy's bruised body. The latter, seeing her saviours arrive, held out a feverish hand, a relieved look on her face, bruised by pain, misted with tears and a painful smile of relief to see them finally arrive to save her from her torturer.
With a trembling voice she could only say, in an almost non-existent voice:
- You... are finally... here... Leleli...
Then she fainted.