Entwined Realms Volume One(93)

Laire began to say more, but a large orc came behind her. Fallon grabbed a long dagger from her waist and threw it, piercing the orc in the eye. The dead creature would have crashed into the mage if Fallon hadn’t pushed her to the side.

Undaunted, Laire looked at the dead orc and shivered. “That would have been ugly.”

“That’s why mages stay at a safe distance. How are you on spells?”

“Medium.”

There were still large groups of enemies. Fallon hefted Tenro. “Stay back and save power for the big stuff. Tell us what happened while I’m kicking some ass here.” And with that, Fallon charged back into the melee and dragged a goblin away from a young female healer who was being pulled out of a nearby room. “How the fuck did they get past the barrier?”

Laire crossed her arms and leaned against the wall as Shadow vivisected a particularly ugly specimen ten feet in front of her. “Suicide onslaught. There were so many who hit at once the barrier was overwhelmed.”

Aislynn frowned before she let loose an arrow that brought down a hanging screen, killing several things that were under it. “It would have taken hundreds to do that, perhaps thousands.”

Laire’s expression was uncharacteristically somber. “Yeah.”

Aislynn shook her head in disbelief, risking a glance away from the battle toward the mage. “What are they after? What can they expect from this?”

A fresh batch appeared in the doorway, and Laire groaned. “Gods, how many are there? Can’t they stop coming? Hang on. Fallon, at the entrance!”

At Laire’s scream, all eyes turned toward the gathering across the room, to see Larissa Miller in the middle of the pack of enemies. Fallon yelled, “Time to use magic. Laire, get her.”

Laire created another ball in her hands that looked like an overgrown soap bubble. She aimed it and threw it at Larissa, hitting the woman dead center of her torso.

Nothing happened.

Laire stared at her hands, then at Larissa. Laire’s mouth moved, though no sound came out. Then her eyes widened, and all color fled to leave nothing but a chalky residue behind. “Oh gods.” Laire voice was low and terrified.

“Laire?” Aislynn’s voice held uncertainty, seeing their normally unflappable mage become this upset.

“She’s a null. That’s why they are after her. She’s a null!”

Fallon got knocked over and fell to the ground. Before the orc could land another blow, she flipped over in a handstand and brought Tenro up to slice the orc between his legs, from crotch to brainpan. Without pausing she pivoted to bring the sword down and cleave another orc in two.

Aislynn let loose several more arrows to take down the creatures around Larissa. The arrows struck true, but as soon as one orc fell, another took his place. Whatever Larissa was involved in was their primary goal. “Laire, what do we do about Larissa? What the hell is a null?”

Backing into a corner, Laire muttered to herself before crying out, “The vault! They’re using her to get into the vault!”

Aislynn could see it wasn’t orcs and goblins that surrounded Larissa. A necromancer and his acolyte were behind her. They made their way to the elevator that led to the vault, unconcerned with the battle that raged around them.

Laire darted across the battle scene, her focus on Larissa and the necromancer.

“Laire, wait!” Aislynn cried out. The mage didn’t stop, so Aislynn followed. An orc appeared in front of her. Aislynn jumped onto its shoulder, aiming an arrow and firing into his forehead before catapulting over him.

A troll tore across the floor and headed straight for Laire. She turned and cast a quick barrier in front of her, but the troll threw himself against it and hurtled the mage across the floor.

Wulver jumped on him, his claws tearing a hole into the troll’s chest. While the creature was trying to throw Wulver off, Aislynn drew back and shot an arrow into that hole. The troll howled in pain, and Aislynn fired off several more.

Suddenly, as one, the orcs and goblins lifted their heads. The next moment they disappeared, magic letting them escape the building faster than the speed of thought, leaving blood and chaos and the bodies of their dead behind.

Wulver turned back into his human form, blood-drenched and eyes blazing as he came to stand before Laire. “What the fuck happened?”

Aislynn helped a shaky Laire onto her feet. “Laire, what were you saying before?”

“The vault.” Laire brought her hand up to her bleeding head and winced. “They wanted the vault.”

Wulver and Fallon took off, while Aislynn helped Laire before they went down to the vault as well. The mage and the elf entered the vault area in time to hear Wulver yell, “Gods damn, how could they have done this?”