“Your methods are…odd, but I can’t argue with your results.” Krithaan said, her eyes flicking between a still-blushing Isla and the ice elemental that settled on Eli’s shoulder.

  Eli shrugged in response as he replaced the drained mana crystal in his hammer before resetting it. “How much farther do we have to walk?”

  “Not far. Likely only another 5 minutes.”

  “What if we meet more ratkin?” Eli pressed.

  “Then it’ll be longer, but… I don’t anticipate we will, at least until we reach the main chamber.”

  “Why?” Zee asked.

  “They’re cowards.” Krithaan answered. “The rank-and-file troops will only attack if they think they have overwhelming numbers. Even then, if you kill enough of them they might flee. And they will definitely flee if you can kill their leaders, or their strongest warriors – like those mutated ratkin giants.”

  Eli recalled the way the ratkin retreated after killing the spellcasters back on the surface, then nodded. “So we should be aiming to do that first.”

  “If you get the chance, yes.” Krithaan said. “But most of the time they keep their spellcasters and more powerful troops in reserve until they’ve worn us down first.”

  “What other spells can they cast?” Zee asked.

  “Most can throw globes of magical poison at you. The poison isn’t lethal, but it will slow your reactions down enough that they’ll be able to mob you. Fewer can throw bolts of lightning from their fingers – that is lethal. Fewer still can open a portal to bring in more of their kin from one of their realms. There have been scattered stories of other powers as well, but those are the only ones I’ve seen personally.”

  “What about Titans?” Eli questioned. “What happens if one of them shows up?”

  She stopped suddenly and stared at him with her wide bug eyes. “They very rarely show themselves on a world that isn’t already under their complete control.”

  “Sure, but what if they do?” Eli pressed.

  “Then we run.”

  A silence hung in the air for a moment before Krithaan began to walk again. Eli mulled over her words as he fell in behind her, parsing them as best he could. Given her robotic voice and lack of facial expressions it was difficult to tell how the Acridari captain was feeling, but the way she stopped suddenly when he mentioned Titans seemed to indicate ‘abject terror’.

  Eli broke the silence as another thought occurred to him. “Naz.” He said softly, turning his head to her.

  “Yes?”

  “You went full blood rage there.”

  She shrugged. “It happens sometimes, you know that.”

  “Yeah, that’s not my point though. You went full blood rage, but I didn’t.”

  She looked at him for a moment before nodding. “Yeah. I guess you didn’t. That’s…odd.”

  His response was interrupted when he saw the tunnel begin to widen up ahead. With a series of quick hand signals he organized the group, putting himself and Naz on the front line with the Acridari soldiers behind them. He placed Isla and Zee at the rear of the group to act as dedicated spellcasters who could control the battlefield with fireballs and quicksand.

  Despite having visited an underground city before, the sight which greeted Eli when they exited the tunnel still caught him by surprise. This was partly due to the differences in building philosophy – where Aratessa’s dark elves chose to dig out a number of relatively small connected caverns which formed their homes, the Acridari apparently preferred to excavate a sizable chunk of the mountain into one large cavern filled with grey stone buildings. Magical lights twinkled overhead in a mimicry of daylight, illuminating the winding roads, tall towers, and squat houses that made up the city. The tunnel they’d emerged from gave them a breathtaking view of the colony in all its glory, the scale of which rivaled a mid-sized human city.

  Unfortunately for him, there was no time for sight-seeing. Hundreds of ratkin were gathered in a semicircle around the entrance, salivating at the chance to charge them. Among their number were more of the giant ratkin they saw earlier, and placed strategically on the flat roofs of nearby buildings there were ratkin holding slingshots, bows, crossbows, and other ranged weapons.

  “Ah, fuck.” Eli swore.

  At his words, the ratkin troops on the roofs unleashed a flurry of ranged fire while the front rank charged in. Eli’s ice wall flared to life once more, easily deflecting the fusillade of weak attacks. He felt his mana reserves drop slightly again as his golden shield protected Naz as well, ensuring she was unharmed when the first wave of ratkin soldiers hit them.

  For the third time that morning, Eli’s world became a whirlwind of carnage. He began to combine hammer strikes with underpowered spells, tossing knife-sized javelins of ice at close range to punch through ratkin faces in one direction as he swept his hammer across the field in another. At one point he pulled a teeming mass of them into the air, coalescing them into a tight ball before blasting them away with his enchanted weapon. All the while walls of ice appeared and disappeared around him, frustrating potential attackers both near and far.

  Just as he felt his mana reserves starting to run low, the Acridari blademasters stepped in and proved their worth. Krithaan glowed purple as her hand scythes shot out from her grasp, darting between Eli and Naz to decapitate ratkin heads before returning just as quickly. At the same time shields of light began to supplement his walls of ice and golden barriers, reflecting the steady stream of projectiles back into the crowd.

  Grateful for the support, Eli pushed forward. His body never seemed to tire from the exertion of swinging his hammer – instead, it seemed to speed up as he aggressively plowed through the ratkin forces. By the time he reached one of the giant, mutated ratkin he felt a renewed strength pumping through his orcish veins.

  The blood rage. Eli’s mind finally clicked as he annihilated the ugly giant’s head with a swift hammer strike. This is what it feels like when orcs are enraged. But I don’t feel the mind-numbing anger that I usually do.

  Deciding it was a puzzle to be solved at another time, Eli leapt backwards from the fray and signalled the soldiers behind him. “Krithaan! Tag in and cover me!”

  The Acridari woman moved without hesitation, leaping athletically into the fray. She quickly showed that her skills in melee were just as effective as her magic, using her hand scythes to cut down ratkin all around her with quick, efficient strikes. Her soldiers quickly joined her as Eli backed off, triggering his transformation into his desert-elven form as he looked at Isla.

  She looked for a moment at his new form, confused by the transformation. Where there was bulging green muscles just a moment before, now there was dusty skin and lithe, corded muscles. He’d lost the extra height he’d gained in the transformation, as well as the adrenaline-like substance that kept him going long after he should have tired.

  “I’m going to get in there and force them to clump up around me. When they do, fireball the shit out of them. Got it?” Eli asked as he dismissed his ice elemental spell.

  Isla grinned but Zee shook her head. “You’re sure as shit not going in there alone!”

  “You’re damn right! That’s why you’re coming with me!” Eli replied.

  With a grin to match Isla’s, Zee nodded. Together the two desert elves waded back into the battle, relying on their experience fighting side-by-side rather than magic to work in tandem. They moved aggressively deeper into the ratkin ranks, something the ratkin were only too happy to let them do under the assumption that they’d be able to surround the two elves and attack them from all sides.

  For a few fleeting moments it looked like they might be right. Hundreds of ratkin – including most of the giant ones – surrounded the two elves, throwing themselves at them with reckless abandon. Zee’s twin short swords severed necks and Eli’s hammer crushed bone, but it quickly became apparent that they couldn’t kill their foes fast enough to prevent themselves from being drowned under the weight of bodies. When Eli saw the golden shield around Zee flare to life to protect her from a cleaver-strike by a ratkin giant, he felt his mana drop precipitously low.

  It was at that moment that Isla chose to unleash her attack. Both Zee and Eli had to close their eyes as a trio of fireballs landed around them, incinerating easily a hundred closely-packed ratkin with each strike. The waves of heat washed over them and scorched their clothes, but left their otherwise heat-resistant forms unharmed. When Eli opened his eyes a moment later he saw that the rest of the ratkin were retreating once more, obviously terrified by the awesome display of power by their dragoness.

  After taking a moment to kiss and calm Naz to prevent her from giving chase to the retreating forces, Eli jogged back to the Acridari soldiers who were still milling around the tunnel entrance. Seeing that they were all far away enough from the blasts to have escaped injury he returned to his human form before moving next to Isla, leaning in to kiss her as well.

  “You did fantastic. Thank you.”

  “Anything for you, my mate.” She replied with a genuine smile.

  Reminding himself to do something nice for Isla when they got back to Irandell, Eli turned to Krithaan. “How far are we from your civilians?”

  “Only a few minutes, that way.” She pointed. “We should hurry though. Their retreat is temporary. They will be back soon, in greater numbers. And they will keep coming back in greater numbers until either they are all dead, or we are.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  He nodded before looking at the soldiers, then his women. “Everyone good to move?”

  When he saw a chorus of nods, he indicated to Krithaan that she should lead the way. He fell into step behind her, with the rest of the party just behind him. As they moved through burning streets and half-destroyed buildings the Acridari captain pulled a bottle from her bandolier and offered it to him.

  “Mana potion?”

  “I’d better not.” Eli said, shaking his head. “I have no idea whether the ingredients are okay for me to drink – in any of my forms. You’d better top off your reserves if you need it though.”

  “Here.” Zee said from behind him, handing him one of her potions from a hidden pocket in her armour. “Take one of mine.”

  “Thanks babe.” He replied before uncorking the bottle and downing it in a few quick gulps, grimacing at the terrible flavor.

  He looked back at Krithaan just in time to see her finishing the same motion, her mandibles clicking as she finished hers. “You don’t like the taste either?” She asked, seeing the look on his face.

  “Absolutely not.” Eli chuckled, seeing that some things transcended species.

  The sounds of thousands of footsteps growing steadily closer cut their conversation short. Grim looks of determination crossed each of their faces and by some unspoken agreement they broke into an outright run, with Krithaan leading the way. Through the buildings Eli caught sight of black-clad and furred bodies moving along the streets that ran parallel, and had to resist the urge to slow down and begin launching spells at them from range.

  For a few fleeting moments, Eli dared to hope that they’d be able to outpace the tidal wave of vermin. He could hear the ratkin footsteps start to fade further and further back – something that only seemed to spur their feet to move faster. His hopes were dashed when they rounded a corner and Kirthaan slowed suddenly.

  “Shit. That’s where we need to go.”

  The 4 non-Acridari looked at where she was pointing and immediately echoed her sentiments – not only was the enemy already there, they were there in force. Ranks of ratkin 50 deep surrounded a stone building pockmarked with scorch marks from spells, projectiles, and flying debris. The front door was flung open and even from this distance Eli could see the distinctive flashes of purple light from a blademaster’s magic, each strike rippling through the crowd.

  To make matters worse, a good chunk of the street next to the building had been replaced by an enormous circle that crackled with green electricity. The bolts sparked between carefully-arranged crystals laid on the ground, arcing and flashing ominously. Ratkin poured out of the center, clawing their way onto solid ground before standing and joining the waiting ranks. Every so often one of the giants joined them, pushing its way through the group towards the beleaguered tower. The sight of it triggered something familiar in Eli’s brain, but he didn’t have time to think too deeply about it.

  “We can’t stay here!” Zee said, glancing behind her.

  Eli glanced back long enough to see the ratkin army they’d been evading start to round the corner and gain on them. Based on their distance and speed, he knew he had about 30 seconds to come up with a plan that would keep them alive. His eyes darted between Isla, Zee, Naz, and the Acridari soldiers as he felt the pressure quickly ratcheting up on him.

  “Isla. Dragon form, now.” He commanded.

  She triggered her transformation as Eli turned to Krithaan. “We’re going to fly right over them and land on the roof. Stay close to Isla and-”

  “We can’t!” She interrupted.

  “What?”

  “Not all of us can fly! Wing strength is cultivated with years of specialized training and-”

  It was Eli’s turn to interrupt. “What if you weighed a lot less?”

  “What?”

  “What if you weighed a lot less?!” Eli repeated as Isla finished her transformation into her dragon form.

  “I…maybe?” Krithaan answered hesitantly.

  “Good enough!” Eli said before turning to Naz and Zee. “Get on Isla!”

  The two women scrambled to obey as the front rank of oncoming ratkin closed to within 50 feet of them. The Acridari soldiers turned to face them, keeping Isla’s bulky draconic form to their backs as they readied their spells. Eli clambered onto Isla before summoning his mana and waving his hands in a complex pattern, doing his best to keep an eye on all 6 soldiers at the same time.

  “Snámh Objet!”

  One of the first spells Eli ever learned proved invaluable in that moment. All 6 soldiers gently floated into the air as if being pulled by a string from above. They instinctively flicked their wings out and began to flutter them, the momentum carrying them above the reach of the oncoming horde. With a single flap of her enormous wings Isla joined them, easily escaping the verminous crowd as they flew towards the besieged building despite the stones and arrows which were suddenly being launched at them.

  It took all the concentration Eli had to keep the Acridari aloft throughout the flight while holding tightly to Isla’s back. From experience, he knew that the spell was all about balance – too much mana and they’d shoot up into the air, not enough mana and they’d crash into the ground. The fact that they had their own wings helped immensely though, as it meant that he didn’t have to push them through the air – only keep them floating.

  Still, he breathed a sigh of relief as they passed the building, the soldiers flying right behind them in an orderly line. As they skimmed only a foot above the 5-story tower’s flat roof he let go of his spell, causing them to fall onto its surface. Isla’s momentum carried them past the roof itself but when Eli looked back he saw that each of the soldiers were already standing, clearly unhurt.

  Isla banked her wings to bring them around, but as they did another thought occurred to him. “Change of plans!” He shouted, patting her on her side.

  She turned her head slightly to indicate she was listening before he spoke again. “Strafe the street with your fire! Let’s burn these fuckers down!”

  “Just don’t burn the building too!” Zee hurriedly added from her seat behind him.

  Eli had watched Isla launch fireballs from her back before, but what happened next was different. Her back arched slightly as they neared the teeming masses before unleashing a steady stream of fire that would put most incendiary explosives to shame. With how tightly packed together the ratkin were, the attack was enough to kill droves of them in the first pass.

  As Isla swooped by and banked to make another pass, Naz whooped and cheered. “That was amazing! Do it again!”

  “Hit the ones keeping the portal open next!” Zee shouted.

  Before she could make another pass though, a golden meteor impacted the remaining horde of ratkin. It threw them into even greater disarray, especially when the golden meteor turned out to be a man holding a mace and a shield – both of which he put to great effect. Somehow he managed to terrorize the ratkin even more than the giant, flying, fire-breathing reptile, throwing them into a hasty retreat back towards the portal only to be cut down in droves by golden beams of mana.

  Would have been nice for Ares to show up before now. Eli thought to himself before shouting a new instruction to Isla. “Put us down near him, and give him some cover!”

  She quickly complied, using her bulk to smother almost a dozen ratkin as she made her landing. Eli, Naz, and Zee hopped off her back smoothly and jogged through the field of broken bodies Ares left behind, catching him as he neared the portal. By the time Eli was within earshot the ratkin were in full, panicked retreat and Ares was glowing gold with mana as he cast a spell on the portal – one that surrounded the green lightning with a golden aura, freezing it in place.

  Deciding to swallow his pride for the moment, Eli opened with a decidedly friendlier approach than the one he would have preferred. “Thanks for the assist!”

  Ares finished his spell a moment later before fixing Eli with a gaze that burned with anger. “What are you doing on my battlefield?!”

  “Saving people!” Eli said, pointing to the building full of Acridari behind him.

  “Saving…” Ares started. “They weren’t supposed to be saved!”

  “What the fuck did you just say?” Eli replied, incredulous.

  “They were bait, to get the ratkin to open a portal! You almost just wasted months of planning! Not to mention all the lives which were spent setting this up!”

  “You used civilians as bait, you fucking sociopath?!” Eli shouted at him, a golden glow surrounding him.

  “Yes! And I’d do it again if it means we’ll win this war!” Ares replied angrily.

  “Did they know that?” Eli said, pointing to the Acridari.

  “Of course not! If the ratkin suspected a trap, they wouldn’t have fallen for it! We had to make it believable!”

  The two men stood nose-to-nose for a moment, neither of them backing off. They only stopped when the golden aura around the portal started to noticeably fade, causing the green lightning to start crackling again. The circumference of the portal began to shrink rapidly, causing Ares to roar with anger before leaping into the air and diving feet-first into the portal.

  Seconds later, the portal closed leaving only broken bodies, burning flames, and more questions than answers.