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Ch. 22: Plans
🕑 Added 2025-09-18 22:00:05 +0000 UTCHer command echoed in her ears as she fought the rhynselks already inside the walls. She’d done it.
It hadn’t been an accident. It hadn’t been a mistake.
She’d meant to override his will. She’d intended to force him to act against his wishes.
Did it make a difference that it would save everyone else? Did it matter that her command put him in relatively little danger?
Maybe.
But why did she get to decide?
Her Tempest Blade went through the knee of a rhynselk. She dodged to the side as the beast crumpled to the gravelly ground in a howling squeal of pain. It tossed its head, its horn slashing through the edge of her cloak as she ran past.
Salos ran his claws along the beast’s side, leaving a set of bleeding gashes in the fallen creature.
Regret and resignation warred in her gut. A hundred questions of how she could have handled it differently. A hundred ways she might have convinced him without the Command.
There wasn’t time to debate the decision already made. Just like there hadn’t been time to debate him. She left the wall to him. Already, the flow of new rhynselks slowed.
Already, the defenders were turning this fight in their favor.
She threw a Tempest Blade at the spine of a rhynselk fighting a pair of swordsmen. The beast snarled as the blade of lightning sliced into its meaty bones, the electricity dancing down its central nervous system. One of the swordsmen took the opportunity, jabbing his sword into an eye. The other stabbed behind a foreleg.
Across the defensive zone, another rhynselk reared at a group of noncombatants. They screamed, their hands going up to cover their faces. Cass Stormstride Sprinted. She wasn’t going to make it. Not even by Stepping onto the Wind.
She tried it anyway.
The beast’s hooves careened down. Cass still wasn’t close enough.
A blue force field appeared between the noncombatant and the beast. Its hooves struck the shield.
Cass materialized from the wind midair behind it, a Tempest Blade along her staff stabbing for the creature’s body. Her momentum carried her blade through rhynselk flesh. The creature fell forward. She twisted her staff, willing the lightning to burrow deeper.
Muscle spasmed beneath her and then stopped.
The noncombatants’ terror turned to shock as they processed they hadn’t been crushed beneath the monster’s hooves.
There wasn’t time to check on them in more detail than that. Cass leapt off the corpse and ran to the next monster.
There were only a few left. A few and the Queen.
It was covered in wounds, but so were the defenders.
Captain Jont lay against the far wall, covered in blood. Sir Kaiz leaned against his spear. Kelstor had ice crystals jutting from his flanks, a mist of condensation effervescing around them.
Only Alyx still stood tall, though she too was covered in cuts. Her armor glowed amber, her crown shining in the afternoon sun, bright and furious against the air’s chill.
Alyx darted around the queen, her sword trailing glowing embers behind her. Kelstor lunged, his jaws snapping shut around the queen’s neck. It threw its head back, its horns gouging Kelstor in return.
Alyx sunk her blade into its flank, slicing a long gash through its hide and spilling more of its blood.
The queen stomped its hooves, ice spreading around them in a wave of spikes.
Alyx darted back, her armor turning aside a spike that got too close. It did nothing to stop the ice from creeping up her legs.
Cass took down another lesser.
Another fell to one of Captain Jont’s soldiers.
Alyx drove her sword into the ice. Her blade pulsed with golden light, shattering the ice. Free, she burst toward the queen, her sword digging into the creature’s flesh.
Kelstor’s claws ripped into the queen’s side. Its horn gouged his shoulder.
A storm of ice shards grew over the queen’s head. They dropped on the combatants.
Marco lunged forward, his shield raised. It glowed with his aura, expanding and rising above the heads of Captain Jont and Sir Kaiz. But it didn’t quite cover Alyx.
Alyx and Kelstor were going to take the brunt of the ice storm.
Cass Sprinted in. She raised her staff.
Ice was just water. Water was an element.
If she didn’t want it to fall, all she needed was Elemental Manipulation and the Will to make it so.
Elemental Manipulation grabbed the ice above them. Cass had been prepared for a battle of Wills with the queen, but found nothing but gravity pulling the shards down.
Cass grinned and turned their trajectories toward the queen’s gigantic form. With another burst of Will, the shards shot into the queen’s flesh, burying themselves in its hide.
Kelstor ripped out a section of the creature’s neck.
Alyx’s sword tore out of its body with a spray of blood.
Sir Kaiz lunged into the break in the queen’s attacks, his spear burying into its chest.
And yet the queen was still standing. Its blood froze along its skin, sealing the wounds, and created a frozen pool under its feet.
How is it still alive? Cass asked.
It’s a bulky creature. We probably haven’t reached a critical organ, and it probably has Vitality—and therefore Health—far beyond what is reasonable, Salos said. I mentioned I hate fighting Vitality specialists, didn’t I?
So what do we do? Cass asked.
Hit it harder, Salos said.
Cass scowled. That wasn’t helpful.
Bleed it dry or destroy something vital. That’s how you kill things, Salos said. This is no exception.
Sir Kaiz leapt back as the queen thrashed again, leaving his spear in its body. Ice encased the weapon in place.
"Abyss," he cursed. "Not deep enough."
Three quarters of his spear was buried in the queen's body. Cass wasn't sure how much deeper it could get.
Cass drew a lightning Tempest Blade along her staff and slashed it across the queen's chest. The lightning burned through its hide and jolted through the fat beneath. It snorted and swept its head at Cass and Alyx.
Alyx met its horn with her sword, skidding back as the queen's immense size and Str pushed her back, while Cass darted out of range.
Lightning hadn’t been enough. What about her favorite trick?
Salos, Fairy Fire, please, Cass said.
You want it on you? No, that’s crazy.
Where else?
He shook his head, regret rumbling across their bond. Yet purple flames erupted along her skin.
Cass pulled at the stone beneath her as the queen’s bloody eyes turned on her. Cass grinned at the creature as it pawed the ground. As it charged, horn first.
Elemental Manipulation yanked up more and more stone, creating a towering spear. Cass angled it lower. She reinforced it.
The queen charged toward her. Ice accumulated along its horn.
“Cass!” Alyx screamed, her Perception and Alacrity finally catching what Cass was doing.
This isn’t going to work, Salos said. You need to move.
It’ll work, Cass said, adjusting the stone spear again.
Cass, move! Salos yelled.
Ice met stone.
Ice shattered. Stone cracked.
Cass’s spear exploded into shards as the queen barreled through it.
Alacrity slowed her perception of time.
The queen’s horn shone in the afternoon sun, sharp and level with Cass’s stomach.
She couldn’t take that attack. Liminal Dodge warned her she didn’t have the Stamina to mitigate this attack down to something survivable.
Dodge attempted to twist her body out of the way anyway. It would not be enough.
Run, whispered the wind.
The queen’s body barreling toward her certainly displaced enough. Cass Stepped onto it, dissolving into the wind as the horn crashed through the space she had just occupied.
“CASS!” Alyx screamed, her sword slashing across the queen’s exposed back.
Cass rematerialized on the ground a dozen yards away. Her heart pounded in her chest. Air refused to fill her lungs.
She’d nearly died. Anyone else would have died.
She wasn’t strong enough to kill this creature.
Are you crazy! Salos demanded, materializing in her face. I told you to move!
I thought I could do it, Cass said, her breath still coming up short. That’s worked before.
Not against a level 39 opponent!
The Thunderback Boar was 31, and I was only level 15, Cass said. Her heart pounded in her ears. That had been bad, but it could have worked.
And that nearly killed you too! Salos shouted back. Something flared on his side on their bond. Hot and frantic. It burned at her.
This isn’t the time for this! Cass turned away from him. They still had to kill the queen.
Lightning was out. Stone Spears were out.
What did she have left? Her hands tightened around her staff.
Kelstor unleashed a wave of flames over the rhynselk queen. It squealed as the flames washed over its exposed side. Its horns glistened and ice exploded around her. Flames and ice collided, vaporizing into steam.
Leave this to Alyx and the others, Salos said.
Cass glowered. There was sense to that. She could see it.
Kohen’s skill was keeping the rest of the rhynselk out. She and the other combatants had killed the lesser rhynselk that had gotten in.
There was only the queen remaining. Marco could keep stray attacks from hurting the noncombatants behind them.
There was no reason to rush.
As long as someone eventually killed the queen, all was well.
Alyx’s sword slashed across the queen’s snout. Kelstor’s jaws tore open another gash in her shoulder.
Blood oozed and froze, resealing the wounds.
It wasn’t enough. None of it was enough.
The queen threw herself at Kelstor, its horns slamming into his scales. Flames licked along them. Ice frosted along its skin. Steam sizzled away where the two met.
But Cass didn’t have the power to change that. She didn't have remotely enough stats to cut through the queen's. That was just the reality of a level gap of this size, even with all the bonuses of being a Slyphid. Monsters just had even more stats per level than she did.
So, what? She couldn’t kill it, so she should leave it to Alyx?
Yes. Obviously.
But could Alyx handle this?
The queen bucked suddenly, jerking away from Kelstor and into the air above Alyx.
Alyx rolled to the side as the queen’s hooves slammed into the ground, ice exploding around them. Shards of ice and stone few everywhere. Bits pelted Alyx and Kelstor, puncturing armor and scale. Alyx was barely holding on too.
If Alyx couldn’t, what then?
No, this was wrong. This wasn’t a one-on-one fight. They were in this together. There had to be more that she could contribute. There must be some other combination of skills that they could use.
Something that could penetrate through the rhynselk queen’s defenses.
Could you Hidden Blade Alyx’s attack? Cass asked Salos.
Yes, but that won’t make it stab deeper than her sword is long.
But it would do more damage? Cass confirmed. She was still fuzzy about what that meant practically.
Yes.
So it’s an option, Cass said.
Maybe once or twice, Salos said. His head bobbed back and forth in thought. Against a monster like this, maybe a few more times than that.
It was a possibility. Did they have other big attacks?
Alyx has her Aura Blade, Cass said. That would probably go deeper.
Salos made a noncommittal noise.
Not a ringing endorsement. What else did they have?
Pellen had already said she couldn’t use her squeezing spell on the queen, but she could hold her in place. That might free up Kelstor to do more than grapple with the monster. He had a big laser breath attack, didn’t he?
Salos, can you sneak up and ask Kelstor some questions for me? Cass asked.
Sure, Salos said with a shake of his head. He disappeared into a shadow. What exactly am I asking?
Can you ask him about his laser breath attack?
<<Yes, I have two breath attacks,>> Kelstor responded directly via his draconic telepathy. <<I have both Dragon Fire and Scorching Lance.>>
Could he use Scorching Lance on the queen? Cass asked. Salos passed the question on.
<<It needs a moment to charge. And I would need to create distance between myself and the target. If I back off to prepare it, I do not know what the monster will do. It nearly killed you a moment ago when I let go.>>
We can restrain it in other ways, Cass said.
I’m not telling him that, Salos said. Not without an actual plan.
I have a plan, Cass said. Her eyes swept across the defenses, landing on Pellen. The little mage was huddled against a wagon beside a group of noncombatants.
Cass Sprinted across the gap to her.
“Ready to catch the queen?” Cass asked.
Pellen jumped. “Are you sure? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Cass said. “And yes. I have a plan. How long can you hold her?”
Pellen shook her head. “A few seconds? I don’t have much left.”
“That should be enough,” Cass said. It wasn’t much, but a few seconds was an eternity amid the heat of battle. “Be ready on my signal.”
Pellen nodded, flipping her tome to the proper page.
See, I have a plan, Cass said.
You have the idea of a plan, Salos muttered. It will take more than a few seconds for the dragon to create the distance he needs and charge his attack.
Kelstor, in the meantime, had torn off another chunk of the queen’s shoulder muscle. Alyx had added new gashes along the sides of its face and flanks of its body. In return, Kelstor had a new gouge in his chest.
How long, exactly, does he need?
<<Ten,>> Kelstor answered.
Cass inhaled sharply. But no. That’s fine. We just need to keep the queen from killing any of the non-combatants—
Or you, Salos interjected.
—Or any of us, Cass amended, for those ten seconds. We don’t need to lock her down in one place.
Salos grunted.
Cass darted across the field to Marco’s side. The guardsman was breathing heavily, his shield held far lower than he usually did. Blood trickled down his forehead, and he favored his right leg.
“How are you holding up?” Cass asked him.
“I’ll live.” His eyes remained on the fight before them. Alyx ducked under the queen’s horn as the monster swept its head across the field. Ice filled the air.
Marco lifted his shield a little higher, aura gathering on its face.
“Think you can block one of her strikes?” Cass asked.
He grimaced but nodded.
“Be ready.”
He nodded again.
We’ve got this, Cass said to Salos. This is how it’s going to work…
