Part 51: Capture the Crest

"Which way?" I asked."I will fly up and try to find it. Just a moment." Two said and with a few flaps he was airborne. He went pretty high up, over a hundred feet at least, then came back down and landed on my armor again. That direction," he said with a gesture of his wing. I cast the enhancement spell Suma taught me and started running towards the enemy camp. I felt like I was running pretty fast, but two seemed unimpressed. "Is this as fast as you can go?""At the moment, yeah." I answered. "But if I dropped my armor, I could pick up speed. That would mean you wouldn't have a perch though.""We need to get there as quickly as possible, do what you need to do; I will fly beside you." He spread his wings and began to glide alongside me."Alright," I said then sent Jericho away. Once it was gone, I started to move much faster, now that I wasn't being weighed down."A bit better, but it will still take us time at this speed.""What about mana wrapping? Couldn't you just carry me or something?""Certainly not, you're far too large. Anyway, that is a mana intensive skill, it would not be a good idea to use it before combat."Suddenly a bit of movement in the distance caught my eye. "What's that?" I asked.Two looked to where I pointed, "It's a member of the opposing team." He said."How can you be sure?""I can see them.""From this distance?""Can you not?""Not in detail; they look more like a speck to me.""I do not recognize them. They most likely are not a healing mage.""An attack mage?" I asked."Or a support mage." I thought about asking what a support mage did, but now wasn't the time."Will they attack us?""They are not flying at us; they are probably heading to our crest.""I'll warn Suma and Lauric.""You cannot turn back now!""I'm not going to. Suma and I can talk to each other no matter how far apart we are.""I see, then that is a clever idea.""Suma, Two and I just spotted someone heading to you and Lauric, be careful.""Thank you Jake, we will be." She said.------------------------------------------------------------------------Suma's POV"Lauric, Jake just told me that he and Two spotted a mage flying this way." Lauric was perched on top of our crest, watching the sky."I cannot see them yet, we still have some time. We should prepare." He cast a spell that raised a large cylindrical column of rock around the crest, so that it was only visible from the top. "This will be our last line of defense.""Lauric, you asked me to let you handle the close-range fighting, but what did you want me to do?""I suppose I should have been clearer; I want you to support me from afar. You have flame spells, right?""Yes.""I do as well, but as I said, Nature-Magic is my specialty. Nature-Magic cannot be used effectively at long-range, but it is nearly unstoppable close-range. Please use your fire spells to attack the enemy from a distance and cover me if I get overwhelmed.""Okay, I understand, but we need a plan." I said."There… in the distance! I see them!" Lauric announced. "We do not have time, Lady Suma, please find a perch that will best allow you to see the area, but that is not too far." Lauric then landed on the ground. "I summon you, Loyalty!" His Black Serpent appeared, and they both readied themselves while I found a perch at the top of a nearby hill. The serpent hid itself in one of the patches of tall grass on the hill with the crest. The tension in the air was thick, I could feel my feathers standing on end, but Lauric seemed unphased by any of it. He returned to his perch on the column surrounding the crest, and waited. It was only a single mage who arrived, but it was soon clear why. Without a word, he launched three attacks, Lauric intercepted two of them with his magic, but the third hit the column directly. Fire spells, powerful ones; he was an attack mage. "Lady Suma," Lauric called out without looking away from the enemy, "it seems this mage is a distance attacker, the plan is not going to work! You will need to attack him from a distance instead of providing me cover! I will protect the crest, but I am unable to do distance attacks in any-" The enemy launched three more attacks, but in an instant Lauric intercepted them all with several large pillars of vines. The vines burned down to the ground, he would not be able to use that technique again. "Now would be preferable!" He insisted."R-right!" I called out and began my own spell. "Flames, gather in my presence. Form and shape into a bolt to pierce my enemies… fly Crimson Bo-""Dodge!" Lauric yelled.I launched myself upwards, cutting off the spell, as one of the mage's attacks blew the vines I was perched on to splinters.------------------------------------------------------------------------Jake's POV"Sir Sentinel, we are approaching the opposing team's crest." Two said."Finally," I said. We, or I guess I, had been running for a while now, and was getting tired. "What's around the area?""What do you mean?" Two asked."Is there any cover we can use? We don't want to give them a chance to see us.""That… may be a moot point.""Why?""Because I am looking one of them in the eyes now.""Oh…" I sighed and started slowing down."Why are you stopping?" Two asked confused."To come up with a new plan. I was going to try to use the element of surprise, but that's out of the question now.""Okay, what do you have in mind?" I thought for a moment, racking my brain for an idea."Two, you have illusion magic right?""Yes, you know that already." He said."Could you make a double of us? Or maybe some kind of illusion to hide our movements so we can get closer to their crest/flag thing?" I asked.Two thought quietly for a moment, "Perhaps, but for a spell of that size… I could only do one, not both.""Which one do you think would be best?"Again, he was quiet, "The doubles would be easier to maintain, but they would immediately know which one was which. They would be able to see them appear when I cast the spell.""What if I gave us some cover?""It would need to shield us from all sides." Two said. "Like some kind of dome or covered tunnel.""No problem." I said confidently. I looked around for a nearby hill to create a tunnel in; there were several. I went to the closest one and began to use magic to carve out a hole large enough for us both to enter and for him to cast a spell, then we went inside. I cast a small fireball for some light, then collapsed the entrance of the tunnel."I'll need a moment," Two said and landed on the ground. He began his spell with a chant and by forming a magic circle. "Nothing is as it seems, light and shadow dance, mingle and form at my command. Create what I desire to see, what I wish to feel, and what I long to hear. Real Double." He finished his chant and slowly, through the faded light of the fireball, I saw smoke-like magic shape itself into vaguely human and bird forms. The smoke changed colors in some areas, the started to solidify. By the end of it, I was looking myself in the eyes. There he... I... was. Illuminated by the flickering violet glow of my spell. On his shoulder was perched the identical copy of Two as well. Both perfect down to the freckle, metaphorically speaking in Two's case."Good work," I said examining them."Let's… hope they… do the job," Two panted out."Was it that hard?" I asked."Yes, but the real question is: will it be worth it?""Only one way to find out." I said and picked Two up, putting him on my shoulder just like our copies. "Ready?""I believe so, but these copies will not last long, so we need to be quick." He instructed. "I will control them and make them run in the opposite direction of us, but that is still no guarantee of success.""Let's make them run out of the cave at the same time as us, that way they won't know which is which and will have to split up to chase us." I suggested."Agreed." I started casting the spell to unseal the cave, but I needed to let the fire spell go out first, so we stood in darkness for just a moment before we all shot out of the tunnel."I'm making the copies mimic our movements." Two said as he clung tightly to my shoulder, causing a bit of pain actually as his claws dug in. "It seems to be working, their team is splitting up." I glanced over my shoulder and saw the copies running away from us quickly, already a quarter mile away in the twenty or so seconds since we left the cave."Can you see the crest?" I asked."Yes, if we continue to move at this pace, we will be there soo… why are they doing that?" Two said confused."What are they doing?" I asked."They are reforming, going back to the crest." He told me."Is something wrong with the spell?" I asked worried."No, the spell is fine. I have no answer for this." He sounded as worried as I was."Okay, we might need to change the plan.""Why?""If I'm right, they probably figured out our plan and decided to just wait for us to either run out of mana maintaining the spell, or figured that since both us and the copies are heading for them, they could just wait for us to come to them." I explained."A wise strategy," Two remarked."Yeah, so let's give them a reason to meet us." I said. "Two, will the copies automatically do what I do, or do you have to control them?""I can give them specific commands, but otherwise they will mimic us.""Good, change of plan, we're going to smoke them out.""I do not understand, how?""Have them mimic us okay," I said. Two disbanded the copy's earlier commands and made them mimic us again, and I slowed down to a stop."Sir Sentinel, what are we doing?""Can Neame sense mana or spells from this far? Suma mentioned once that you guys could, but she didn't say from how far that worked.""From this distance? I should think not. What spell do you… oh." Two said as I pulled out several steel ball-bearings from my pouch. I started the spell, and since we weren't in a rush, I did it the slow but strong way. I wanted to make sure it hit its target, and when I use the new way of picturing spells, sometimes it misses the mark a bit. Never by more than an inch, but from this distance, that would be bad. I started casting the spell, and Two confirmed that the copies were doing the same, then he looked over to the other team's crest. "They are raising a barrier of some kind around their crest, one made of interlocked vines and large stones.""It won't help them," I said picturing the last of the spell, "RAILGUN!" That thunderous crack rattled out and I saw an explosion in the distance."By the dragons!" Two shouted and flapped about trying to regain his lost balance. "A bit of warning would have been appreciated, Sir Sentinel!""Sorry," I yelled with the ringing from the spell still filling my ears. "Did it work?""Yes, I believe so. Correction, definitely so. Two of them are leaving their crest, one is staying behind. One of the two that left are heading towards us." There was a moment of silence before he continued. "Sir Sentinel, it seems you have done some serious damage to their crest, but it was not destroyed. Do you have the ability to cast that spell again?""You saw how long it takes; do you think we have the time?" There was another moment of silence."No, never mind, the mage will be here before you are ready to execute that spell again.""Alright then," I said and resumed running towards their crest's location."If we can get within range though," I said picking up speed to meet the mage heading towards us, "I can perform a smaller version of it.""Sir Sentinel, I will distract the mage, you focus on getting within your spell's range." Two said and spread his wings to catch air and fly up."Jericho!" I said and summoned my armor. Speed is good, not getting hit in the back by a spell I didn't see coming is better.------------------------------------------------------------------------Suma's POV"Dodge!" Lauric yelled. I launched myself upwards, cutting off the spell, as one of the mage's attacks blew the vines I was perched on to splinters. "Lady Suma, you must-" Lauric was interrupted by an attack aimed at the crest. Once again, he blocked it, but the rock columns were still severely fractured; they probably could not withstand many more hits, then our crest would be exposed. "You must attack!""I am trying!" I yelled back. "Flames, gather in my presence. Form and shape into a bolt to pierce my enemies… fly Crimson Bolt!" I finally was able to cast a spell, and launched an attack of my own… which the enemy promptly dodged without much effort. "Fly, Crimson Bolt!" I yelled again and launched a second attack. This one was closer, but he still evaded it. Suddenly, a sound like thunder echoed in the distance; our team had begun its own attack. "Lauric," I shouted, "I think that was Jake's attack! We do not need to win!""What are you talking ab-" Another interception, but not a perfect one, two of the attacks got through this time; Lauric could not catch as many now that he was nearly out of vines. Ever one of that mage's attacks burns scores of them, and once destroyed... Lauric cannot use them again. "Talking about? Why do we not we need to win?" Lauric finished, never breaking his gaze away from the mage."We just need to wait for Jake to finish, then I can summon him back and we can defeat this mage!""I do not believe we will be able to do that Lady Suma! At the very least, we will not have a crest long enough to try it.""Fly, Crimson Bolt!" I launched another attack; this one clipped his wings. He was singed, but still flying. "I did it!" I called out excitedly."Lady Suma, you rely too much on your familiar, we can do this without him!" Just as he said that, the mage began a dive. He was aiming straight at the crest's columns!"Fly Crimson-" Before I could finish, Lauric's familiar suddenly appeared and attacked the mage with some kind of liquid from its mouth. It was camouflaged in a patch of grass, waiting for its moment."Agh!" The mage cried out and started flapping wildly, quickly losing altitude. He landed on the ground, still flapping and yelling."What was that spray?" I asked, landing beside Lauric."A powerful liquid that causes those affected by it to see strange visions." He said as we watched the mage flap around on the ground."Get away, GET AWAY!" He yelled."Will he be okay?" I asked concerned."Yes, the visions will stop soon, and if we heal him, they will be over even sooner. But we should restrain him first somehow." Lauric stated."I will do it; you should try to replace the vines you lost." I suggested. Lauric agreed, and flew to the nearest bundle of them. I went over to the mage and restrained him with nature magic by engulfing his body in soil, then doing my best to solidify it. After that I healed him, and he stopped screaming."What… happened?" The mage asked, finally settling down."You lost," Lauric answered as he landed, having finished replacing his vines.The mage sighed, "oh well, perhaps once my mind has fully cleared, I will be able to try again." Truthfully, he did not seem as upset as I assumed he was going to be."You were a fierce opponent," Lauric said."Thank you, but if that's what you think, I fear I may not get my chance to try again.""And why is that?" I asked."Because I am the only member of my team who wanted to attack. All of the others decided the best way to win was to guard the crest.""So, your whole team is still at your crest's location?" I asked."Indeed, your other teammate and Sentinel have no-" He was cut off by another crack of thunder in the distance, this time even louder. I flew up to try and get a better view, and what I saw made no sense.