Kari’s breath caught in her throat when the silver werewolf turned its attention toward her and Sharyn. Its ears angled back sharply, and Kari turned her right leg to the side, preparing to dodge and counterstrike should the creature pounce. She wasn’t sure how effective she would be when fighting something so large; if it weren’t for the creatures’ bent legs and digitigrade feet, Kari would’ve almost believed she was looking at an erestram. And the werewolves were close enough that Kari knew it was no optical illusion or trick of her eyes trying to determine detail in the darkness. The creatures were easily nine or ten feet tall and powerfully built, particularly from the waist up. While she had defeated an erestram in single combat, she was in no hurry to try her luck against one of these werewolves.
Kari sprang and rolled to her right when the creature finally pounced. Rather than land on or near Kari or Sharyn, though, it landed on top of the crypts and then bounded down into the graveyard’s center. Kari came up on her feet and hustled to the cemetery wall. The other werewolves jumped over her position in powerful but graceful arcs, either landing on top of the center row of crypts to jump down into the fray, or else landing on top of a shambling undead to shred it with their wicked claws. Kari looked across to Sharyn, who hadn’t moved from her position, and the ranger seemed satisfied that the werewolves would concentrate on the undead and the demons first.
Kari turned back to the center of the graveyard.
The werewolves were thrashing about in a grand melee with the undead. The silver-furred one made for Emma. The mallasti girl seemed neither surprised by the werewolves’ presence nor alarmed by the charging mass of fur, fangs, and claws. Emma raised her hand casually, and a thunderclap rocked the graveyard with a deafening crack that rebounded off the stone structures. A lightning bolt tore through the silver-furred werewolf, continued through it, and jumped from undead to undead, crossing the northeastern half of the graveyard until it had hit everything…
…including Kari and Sharyn.
Kari felt her legs go numb, and she collapsed to her knees, holding herself up on her arms only by force of will. She’d been shocked many times before in combat with demons or other spell-casters, but never quite like this. This lightning bolt felt different, almost as though a whip had struck her directly in the heart. Though it sapped the strength from her body, it didn’t cause the muscle spasms a normal shock spell would’ve, and it didn’t even make her hair stand on end. Kari was in pain and she felt weak, but even so, she realized it could’ve been much worse. She glanced to Sharyn and saw the ranger woman forcing herself back to her feet.
I guess it may have felt different because it hit so many of us? she thought.
All the undead on Kari’s and Sharyn’s side of the graveyard were down, reduced to dust or burnt to an immobile crisp by the lightning bolt. Why would Emma destroy her own minions in the face of a werewolf assault? Did Emma just not care if she killed her own pawns? Kari got back to her feet and started to pace along the wall, trying to get to a point where she could see both Emma and Turillia.
Again, the silver werewolf dashed at Emma, but this time the mallasti simply waved her clawed hand. The werewolf was sent rolling across the cemetery lawn as though slapped by a giant, disembodied hand. The mallasti girl then turned and shocked several of the other werewolves with another burst of chain lightning, destroying more of her pawns and Turillia’s, and incapacitating some of the lycanthropes.
“You bitch!” Sharyn yelled through gritted teeth as she charged the mallasti.
Kari didn’t have time to yell a warning, and instead ran as fast as her shaky legs could take her along the wall. She wished she had her backpack with her; she suspected her folding bow would be more useful here than trying to engage either spell-caster in melee.
The silver werewolf regained its feet and bounded sideways to knock Sharyn from her charge. It then changed direction and took a swipe at Emma. Its claws bounced off of some arcane shielding around the mallasti with a flash of sparks. Emma threw it backward into one of the broken crypts with another gesture. The silver werewolf didn’t get back up.
The mallasti girl fired off another lightning bolt that tore through the nearest group of werewolves, and they howled and yipped in pain as they ran for cover. Turillia stalked around the far row of crypts, and Kari realized Emma had lost track of the succubus while fending off the werewolves. Nearly all of the undead had been destroyed, but Emma’s attention was focused fully on the werewolves.
Kari started forward to intercept the succubus before she could get close enough to assassinate the mallasti. It felt weird to defend the life of a demon, but Kari wanted answers from Emma more than she wanted to see the mallasti girl dead. She realized as she stumbled along gingerly, however, that she wouldn’t be in time to stop Turillia from backstabbing the mallasti.
Do I shout a warning or not?
“You must think this one a terrible fool,” Emma said, whirling on the succubus. Turillia balked for a moment, and Emma threw up both hands and unleashed a torrent of flame that rivaled the ones Kari had seen Triela use during the battle on Tsalbrin. It lit up the entire graveyard, and Kari had to partially shield her eyes from the glare of the cone of fire. The grass singed and vaporized, and there was a loud crackling as the ground dried and shattered under the intense heat of the hellish cone of fire.
After the display was done, the succubus straightened out and laughed. “If you think arcane power is all I have been stealing from these men, then you are a terrible fool.”
Emma snorted, her expression unchanged. “This one has turned your own trap against you. Consider who the fool is in this situation,” she returned. It was incredible how impassive the mallasti girl was, even in the midst of a battle. “Enjoy the rest of your night with the werewolves. You will find they are less hurt than angry.”
And then Emma was gone. There was a moment of calm silence, and Turillia’s face set into a scowl. She bounded gingerly to the side to get away from the hot ground. Soon the growling of more than half a dozen angry werewolves echoed off the stones as they emerged from cover and began to stalk toward the succubus.
Turillia concentrated for a moment. The remaining undead fell under her sway and picked up weapons to renew the fight against the werewolves. The succubus glanced at Kari and flashed that wicked fanged grin again, and then she made her way toward Sharyn.
The ranger was still wobbly from the lightning bolt and being slammed by the girth of a massive werewolf, but she brought her blade up before her defensively. She had another advantage as well: she’d kept tabs on the werewolves for years, and it seemed they knew her. A couple of them moved to intercept the succubus’ charge. Sharyn backed up a couple of paces, but then circled around, looking for some way to triangulate an attack and aid the werewolves in dispatching the succubus.
Kari moved over to finally give her aid as well. Turillia claimed a clawed hand from one of the attacking werewolves, and stabbed another repeatedly, all while ducking and weaving just as she’d done when she’d fought Kari on prior occasions. The succubus was an incredibly difficult target to hit, utilizing that dexterity to attack and dodge in concert. She left one of the werewolves curled in a ball, bleeding profusely from nearly a dozen stab wounds, and she turned without pause and left several deep grooves in Sharyn’s leather armor. It was as effective a fighting style as Kari had ever seen, at least as delicate and graceful as the one she’d learned from Tumureldi. It was also combined with the deadly accuracy and unrelenting force of a trained assassin.