29 The Queen's Journey, pt. 9

Theresa's POV

"Elven whore!" The Griffin commander yelled as they backed away from each other, both trying to gather up some stamina for the next clash.

"How very original," Theresa replied, "the foundations of my reality have truly been broken."

The wolfman gave a loud roar and charged towards Theresa.

She had forgotten how draining fighting a talented Griffin was. She had the speed advantage on him, sure, but one clean hit from these enemies felt like a kick from a horse.

She raised her shortsword and deflected an incoming attack, flipping to the left to keep herself moving. She backstepped away from a quick slash and quickly slide beside the Griffin Commander's ankles, slicing just above where she wanted to hit.

The Commander cried out in pain, but Theresa was still disappointed. How did I miss that!? She thought. I guess I'm getting a bit too old for the physical stuff.

She quickly rolled into a crouch, but her eyes widened when she saw a half-moon blade coming down on her head.

She narrowly dodged the fatal blow, but she could not avoid the savage kick that followed it. She was sent flying through the air, rolling to a halt as she coughed up some blood.

Lose focus for one second, one second and this happens. Theresa shook her head.

She looked inside of herself, feeling out her magic reserves. She was still almost out. That was the only reason she was bothering with this barbaric form of combat.

The Griffin Commander laughed.

"I thought an elf would give me more of a challenge." He rasped out. "I guess this makes you lot bad at magic AND fighting. Tough shit."

"Oh, careful, you might hurt my feelings." Theresa rolled her eyes.

The Griffin Commander scowled.

"You dare not take me seriously?"

"You have yet to give me reason to." Theresa replied with a calmer, more threatening tone.

With a beastly yell, the Griffin Commander stomped his way towards Theresa. Fueled by anger and rage, he unleashed a barrage of attacks on Theresa, who didn't even bother trying to parry this time, forced to move away or be overwhelmed by the Commander's sheer brute strength.

But she couldn't dodge all of them.

Theresa cried out as the Commander pulled her leg out from under her with his sword. She fell back and the wolfman's large visage blocked out the sun, sending a chill down her spine.

Move. She thought. Move!

As his foot descended on her head, she rolled to the side and pushed herself into a handspring.

Landing on her feet gracefully, she looked back at the Commander.

"Is this all you've got?" She asked with a smirk, trying to hide how tired she felt.

Again, the Commander charged like a man possessed.

Theresa looked inside of herself. Almost.

They danced for a moment, Theresa dodged several swipes and managed to land a cut on his thick thigh. However, it was becoming clear to the both that she could not keep this pace up for much longer. A note that caused the Commander to grow more and more confident with each exchange.

Suddenly, Theresa managed to disarm him. She caught the Commander's sword from the inside of the half-circle, twirled her shortsword and threw it away, ripping it right out of his hands.

She wasn't allowed the luxury of celebrating her small victory, as he took her by the hand and flipped her onto the ground.

She tried to bring her shortsword up, but with his right hand, he kept that arm down. With his left, he started choking her.

Theresa's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when she felt the pressure exerted on her throat.

With her free hand, she clutched at his wrist, trying to get his hand off, but the wolf's grip was too strong.

"Any last words, elf?" The Commander whispered with fatal intentions.

Theresa smiled at him. She started mouthing something, the Commander tilted his head, releasing the slightest bit of pressure from her throat, his curiosity peaked.

"I don't need a sword."

As she spoke, she had brought her hand up to the man's head. From her palm, a surge of white flame emerged.

He screamed, immediately releasing Theresa.

She stopped her spell as her lungs clawed for air, gasping and coughing/. The wolfman got off her, and started pawing away at his head, trying to somehow turn the fire off.

Theresa stood.

"How disappointing." She stated, and raised her hand up once more, casting another stream of divine flame in the Commander's direction.

His screams reached the ends of the battlefield, until slowly, they died, bringing silence where desperate cries had once filled the air.

Theresa fell to her knees.

She wanted to smile, to laugh at yet another victory. But she knew she wasn't done yet.

She looked around, trying to find the Enlisted, so she could help them if she had to.

Scanning the field, her heart nearly stopped.

The yargoth had begun attacking.

To the north, Decena was fighting one single-handedly, though Theresa couldn't tell who was winning.

To her right, the Saviors were intertwined with the other two yargoth, in a violent, but strangely elegant duel.

Jin, the queen, Floren and Ker'Tallen were busy mopping up the remainders of the Griffin forces, those who hadn't yet been caught by either the Enlisted, or the chaos brought by the yargoth.

A thought came to Theresa.

Where's Eliara? We need her healing!

She was ready to run over, scold the girl, get her moving. She was probably scared to death hiding behind one of the carts.

She looked from side to side, her anger spiking with every second.

Until she found the girl and it all went away.

Somewhere in the middle of the field, Eliara lied next to Mariana, both drenched in blood.

Her heart sunk. Visions of her past apprentice whisked by her eyes.

The realization struck. She had failed once again. A tear threatened to spill from her right eye.

No. She halted herself. No, no. They could still be alive!

She ran over to them and sure enough, Mariana was wearily shifting on the ground. She checked her, turning over. But, strangely, she found no injuries on the girl, despite a large slash on her shirt that clearly, had come from some kind of sword.

Looking towards the princess, Eliara was not moving.

She immediately went to check Eliara's pulse. She was still alive, still breathing.

Trying not to waste time, she didn't even bother to check on the girl's injuries, and quickly cast [Burst Heal] on her.

The spell didn't seem to have an effect though. Eliara didn't respond.

She shook her head when she heard Decena cry out as she was bashed back by her opponent. She'd check on the princess later.

Careful not to bring any attention to herself, she dragged the two girls over to the caravan, lifting them one by one and placing them inside, hopefully out of harms way.

"Stay here." She said to Mariana, who hadn't even opened her eyes yet.

Turning back towards the field, she saw how this yargoth who resembled an elven man, had brought Decena to her knees.

Immediately, she launched a [White Fireball] towards the monster.

He staggered back, caught off guard, which gave Theresa the time to run towards the redhead.

She held her palm out, stopping the yargoth from rushing her, as it looked at her tentatively.

"Thank you." Decena whispered. Theresa looked at her with the corner of her eye. The girl had clearly been pushed to her limits.

"You're not out of the woods yet." Theresa replied honestly.

"You're right." Decena said, stabbing her sword into the ground and slowly rising. "But I needed that."

"Another insect joins the fray?" Theresa heard a guttural voice say from in front of her. "I am pleased. I had thought my kin would steal today's entertainment from me as they had begun fighting the Saviors and I was stuck with this mutt. I am glad to see that is not the case."

"Pal," Theresa replied, "I've had a long day. Can we just get this over with?" She smirked at it.

Immediately, it scowled. Its glowing red eyes seemed to intensify their brightness.

It charged.

It moved so fast, Theresa almost couldn't react to it.

She took a step back, but that movement was not enough. Luckily, Decena got between the two of them, and deflected its attack.

As it staggered back, Decena placed her sword in front of her, almost looking like she was still fresh.

That yargoth is surely stronger than the Commander I defeated. I would have been obliterated by a single attack from it. And, yet, Decena has not only been fighting it in a head-on battle, but she can deflect its strikes like it was just another soldier. Theresa tilted her eyes, looking at the heavily breathing redhead.

She had known Decena was powerful, of course. She'd heard the stories from the court mage of Nova, about how she had helped the girl grow in strength through... Creative means, though she never explained.

How powerful is she? Theresa wondered.

"Are you just going to stand there?" Decena whispered through gritted teeth, reminding Theresa of the present situation.

"Right. Here." Instantly, she cast [Assist] onto Decena, a green stream of light connecting the two of them.

"Ohhh..." Decena nearly moaned. "Now, that feels good."

"Oh, no you don't!" The yargoth yelled.

It flew towards them, raising its black, sharply curved sword and swinging it at Decena's head with no flair or elegance to its form.

She raised her sword, clashing with it.

The two of them traded blows, all the while, Theresa made sure to keep Decena energized.

"How are you..." The yargoth muttered. Then, it turned its red eyes towards Theresa. "I... I see. What an interesting spell." It said with a smirk.

Immediately, it spun and ran towards Theresa.

Instinctively, she boosted herself with magic and narrowly dodged a decapitating blow.

The yargoth clicked its black tongue, before hopping back to avoid a strike from Decena.

Again, they were at a stalemate.

If I were any older, I'd be dead right now. Theresa almost laughed. I pity the old man who has to face these things.

"I appreciate the help, but I'm alright now." Decena said. "I think this would go better for us if you help me on the attack."

Theresa nodded.

The yargoth didn't miss how the elf's posture suddenly switched, where here hands were raised in the air, aiming at Decena, now, they lay by her side.

"Planning something, are you?" It spoke. "Good. Make this fun for me!"

Theresa spun, moving away from Decena as the yargoth pounced on her.

They began a sort of, pincer attack. As Decena slashed away, Theresa threw one [White Fireball] after another.

However, where earlier, she'd hit it, this time, it dodged every projectile now that it was aware of her casting them.

After another unsuccessful exchange from both parties, Theresa had an idea.

She carefully positioned herself beside Decena.

"Listen, do you remember the time we went to investigate that town?" Theresa asked. Decena's eyebrows crunched together, but she nodded slowly. "Remember how we fought that yargoth from before? Well, why fix what isn't broken?"

Decena remained silent for a moment, taking in Theresa's suggestion, until again, she slowly nodded.

"Alright."

Decena breathed in, and raised her sword, aiming it at the monster's chest.

"Oh? Now, this looks interesting." The yargoth said.

She stepped towards it once, then again, and again, until she was full-on running at the yargoth.

Its eyes went open, wide like a giddy child.

All the while, Theresa began casting one of the strongest spells she knew. She was aware that it would leave her with no magic left for the remainder of the battle, but she trusted Decena to finish this. She trusted Jin, Floren and the queen to avoid any unnecessary risk. She trusted the Saviors to defeat this enemy that seemed weirdly familiar with them.

She trusted them all, and so, she charged up one of her best abilities, [Stormfire].

As Decena approached it, she pushed off one foot and jumped into the air.

Seeing this, for the first time in the fight, Theresa witnessed it harden its head, like the other, more primal yargoth had.

She nodded to herself and cast the spell.

From her palms, a dance of white lightning and white flame surged. It spun, twirling around itself as it lunged forwards with one target in mind.

"... Do you take me for one of my lesser kin?" The yargoth said grimly.

Theresa shuddered when she saw it harden its entire body.

With this, it completely tanked Decena's slash, and turned towards Theresa's incoming spell.

As the spell hit it, it screamed. A mixture of ecstasy and pain could be heard in its voice.

Theresa, so shocked, finished her spell prematurely, closing her palms and letting it go.

The last of the stream hit it, and Theresa gasped when she saw that the yargoth, though not unfazed, was certainly still in condition to fight.

"That was good, I'll admit." The monster declared. "But not good enough."

Then, a scream rang out. Decena and Theresa both looked to the right.

Then, Theresa fell to her knees when the view of Olyneces being stabbed through the gut by one of the yargoth appeared in her vision.

W... What? She thought, as a black blade appeared in the corner of her eye, ready to decapitate her.