The Escape
Fiction Friday #4
If you’ve not read Chapter 1, begin by clicking here.
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The wizard grabbed the two men by the backs of their neck and began to run through the carnage.
His hands were warm and seemed to cradle their entire bodies as they moved through the crowd at break-neck speeds, miraculously without their own necks breaking.
The team moved through the crowd like a pulse of light, the wizards feet a blur, while the two men hung in the air around him.
In a moment they existed in the blur, then minutes later it was over.
The wizard stopped in his tracks and the two men fell to the ground, they scrambled to their feet and looked out at the view in front of them.
Hundreds of soldiers, wizards and Ceyx filled the landscape below them. Everywhere they looked they saw underprepared soldiers being mowed down by a far stronger enemy.
Jerry looked at Aaron with dismay. His face was caked with mud and riddled with worry.
“This waste of life is the fault of the idiot king.”
The two men turned to look at the wizard who was staring forward with eyes of fire.
“Thank you for saving us”
Jerry said meekly,
“Whats you’re name?”
The wizard turned slowly, learning on his staff
“My name is Tyche, and I..”
The wizards voice was cut off my a rush of wind and a SNAP in the atmosphere.
Suddenly a ferocious Ceyx was standing between them, tall and bent at the waste.
This was a female Ceyx, she held a long staff that bent at the top and sharpened into a blade.
A purple cloak hung across her back and wrapped around her staff. A bright blue bead adorned the tip of the blade, and she cackled as she lowered it towards Tyche.
The bead glowed red for a moment before firing a bolt of fire at the wizard.
Tyche jumped to the side, avoiding the blast; but landing on his side barefoot. His shoes had stayed firmly on the ground where he had stood.
His shoes had been melted to the ground through some magic, and now that he lay on his side, his cloaks were also melting into the earth.
The wizard tried to stand, but was unable. For the first time a expression of terror crossed his face.
The Ceyx cackled again before turning her staff and firing another bolt at the wizard.
Tyche rolled to the side, narrowly missing the fire. He left a trail of melted cloaks in his wake, his bare skin now showing in the daylight.
The wizard sat up, now naked and sitting in a pool of molten cotten. He reached into the pool and pulled out a glass ball.
The ball was entirely see-through, except for a tiny point of shining light hung in the centre.
A moment later, Tyche threw the ball at the ground where it exploded into a thousand tiny shards of glass.
A loud roar filled the air as Tyche’s body grew difficult to see, as if looking at him through an eye-full of tears.
In a moment Tyche was there, then in the next he was gone. He left behind only his staff and a pool of white cloth-like liquid.
The Ceyx growled merrily to herself as she scampered over to the staff. She picked it up with her left hand and immediately turned to face the men.
“Hold still you little AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”
She screamed as the wizards staff caught fire.
A defence mechanism had been activated within the staff, and it was now on fire and had burned through her hand and fallen back onto the ground.
The magical fire leapt up the Ceyx’ arm and within an instant covered her entire body.
Her screams filled the air until seconds later she fell down into a smouldering purple pile on the ground. Her staff spun once in the air before falling beside her.
Staying Alive
The two men had been crouching in fear the entire time. They hadn’t dared say a word, a strategy that’d seemingly worked in keeping them alive so far.
But it wasn’t over yet.
The Ceyx’ cries had attracted the attention of others, and as the men helped each other up, all they could hear were the thunderous footsteps of an army coming their way.
“Hand me the thing!”
Aaron shouted at Jerry while indicating to the Ceyx’ staff.
“Hell no you idiot, you saw what Tyches staff did to that other thing!”
Aaron marched over to Jerry and pulled him off the ground,
“Do you hear that? That’s the sound of an army of blue things coming this way to kill us. Do you see any other weapons around here?”
Jerry looked around, but he knew there was nothing.
“Then we‘re kinda out of options.”
Aaron let go of Jerry and stepped over him, walking briskly to the purple staff.
“Don’t do it man.”
Jerry shivvered.
Aaron reached down and picked up the staff with his right hand.
The staff was heavy, and felt difficult to balance. He practiced holding it at different places along the staff until he found a spot that worked for him, then he swung it around for practice.
“How does it work?”
Jerry shouted.
“I don’t know”
Aaron looked down at the staff, looking for any signs that would help him understand the weapon better.
Suddenly the dust around them exploded as the Ceyx army surrounded them. They formed a tight circle and closed in on the two men.
The staff came alive in Aarons hand, the gem glowed a bright pink.
The two men felt their skin crawl with a strange sensation, they didn’t know what it was, but they knew some kind of magic was pouring out of the staff and was enveloping their skin.
The leader of the Ceyx army approached them, his weapon sheathed.
He was looking to talk.
