An explosion rocked the ground, and the windows rattled, cracking from the pressure.
“Prepare for battle! Evacuate the people to the Volliare,” Nik ordered.
Faust sheathed his sword and tossed Mika his back. “There are at least seven Volant above us, and Lord Acker is with them. I sense fire magic on the southern gate, an unreasonable amount of it.”
“That would be Relan’s group,” Ignas offered.
Terrence groaned and blinked several times.
Nik held his breath.
Faust bent down by the guild master. “Terrence,” he called. “We have entered a battle with a Servant of Power. I need you to protect the people. You are the only one that can.”
Terrence rubbed his head, nodding. “It . . . will be done.”
Nik helped Terrence to his feet.
“Your Majesty, you should lie low,” Mika suggested.
Faust sighed. “I can assist without going into battle.”
“You shouldn’t be using magic still,” Mika countered.
“I need my king,” Aris interrupted. “He fights.”
“You must stay with me at all times, Your Majesty.”
Faust nodded. He called to the guards and gave orders despite his brother’s glare. The knights fell in line and gathered the people, and Terrence called for all guild members to escort the people to the airships still protected just outside the city. They didn’t have much time. If Terrence could produce a water veil for the airships, the people could get away. Panos Acker could only find them because he knew where the city was. He wouldn’t be able to do it again.
“I leave the rest to you, Nik,” Faust said. “The people should be safe in Roltan. I want you to get them there. We will follow.”
Nik shook his head. “Not even going to ask for my thoughts on the matter?”
Faust scoffed. “Nik, please.”
Nik sighed. “Stay safe.”
“You, too.” Faust gave his brother a brief hug.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Aris led Faust out into the open to survey the chaos.
Several Volliare were fighting with each other.
Green streaked down toward Faust, and he flung his hand to the side, sparking his sky stone. The wind whistled and blades of air sliced at the green, but the green avoided it.
Aris readied his blade, as did Mika, while Ignas stood behind Faust and fired.
Panos swooped down against Aris first and sent blades of green magic his way. Aris dodged and rolled to avoid them, but Panos used the wood of the buildings to attack next in spikes and twists of vines.
Faust focused hard on the earth magic and forced the vines back, sending the spikes at Panos instead. Faust ran a water veil over the knights moving the people and reached high for the Volliare in the sky with his earth magic. Faust raised one hand and gripped it closed. Several Volliare cracked and sunk into a ball, dropping like dead weights to the ground.
Faust heaved and made the same motion again, but only a few more fell. The others remained and only swayed in the wind.
“Windilum airships won’t fall that way. We only encase our airships with wooden facades. Metal lies beneath,” Ignas reminded as he fired at the incoming Volant. “My people are in the air too, Faust.”
Faust cursed. Volar swarmed from the remaining airships and swung down in formation toward the city. He poured his magic into his sky stone. It sparked, and the weather grew frigid. The wind howled, and the fighters struggled to maintain proper courses.
“You’re using too much magic,” Ignas said and aimed at an incoming fighter.
“I know,” Faust muttered. He looked to Aris and Mika again. They were fighting well as a team, but Panos held far more experience in battle. Mika was thrown toward him, and Faust grasped at his earth magic to create a net to catch Mika.
Panos pursued, sailing over Mika toward Faust. His Volant armor flared a bright green, and he sent blades of green magic ahead of him, his smile wild.
Faust ducked and rolled out of the way, but Ignas was forced several feet away from him. He stumbled to his feet, jumping to avoid a root. Faust looked forward.
Panos kicked Faust in the chest.
Faust slammed into the wall with a loud bang, the stone cracking beneath him. He coughed and lifted blurry vision to see Panos coming closer.
“Get away from my High King!” Aris shouted, jumping high behind Panos. His blade sparked a wild sky blue as he swung.
The Servant of Power flew backward with a growl. “He is not your High King. He is His Excellency’s!” Panos swooped down and snatched Mika off the ground with a wave of vines and threw him at Aris. The two collided, and Panos turned back to Faust only to have two guns aimed at him, radiating a bright ruby glow.
Ignas fired. Red engulfed the bullets and swirled with the sparks of flames.
Panos dodged, but one nicked his shoulder. He skidded to a halt, breaking the cobblestone beneath him in a loud clatter. “If you hand the king over, I will ensure that he lives,” Panos called and shifted his stance.
“Like we’ll believe that,” Aris spat as wind swirled around him.
“We need the High King,” Panos retorted. “He is wasted on those that do not understand his role.”
Faust tried to rise, his side burning. He would not go back there. He couldn’t go back to Limorous.
Mika raised a hand, his earth stone blazing a brilliant green. “Aris, assist me,” Mika said with a glance.
The ground rumbled beneath Panos and roots shot up at him. “You realize you can never beat me with earth magic. Mine far outmatches yours, Commander.” Panos flew up to avoid it, using his own magic to redirect them at Faust.
Ignas fired, but he couldn’t get them all. He turned to Faust, but the distance between them was too great.
Faust grasped for his magic in a rush.
“Your Majesty!” Footsteps clamored toward Faust and slid to a halt in front of him. The roots pierced through armor, and a garbled, wet cough followed.
The wind slowed around Mika, Aris’s cry of horror echoing from behind him.
Faust’s heart pounded in his chest, his body frozen in place as blood pooled under his arms. This wasn’t happening. By Alimphis, this couldn’t be real.
Mika coughed again. “I . . . told you not to . . . use magic.”
Faust struggled for words, disregarding the misconfigured wooden panels of the houses and the twisted plants around them from his chaotic grab for magic.
Panos ripped the vines from Mika’s body. “Honorable, Commander, but foolish.”
Mika fell to his knees.
Faust scrambled on his hands and knees, slipping through the blood to catch Mika. Blood soaked through his clothes and his heart thundered against his ribcage. “Commander . . .”
Mika let out a wet laugh. “This . . . was my duty.”
Faust’s sight clouded with tears. “You cannot die.” That dark purple aura was bright again and sparked out into small purple orbs around Mika. Faust grasped at his magic to figure out what it was, but it only felt like his own magic. “You cannot die!”
Swords clashed behind Faust as Aris and Panos continued to fight, wind bursting out in waves.
“You . . . must continue on,” Mika said with a weak smile. The commander’s magic was mixing with the natural magic of Alimphis. The purple orbs flickered around Mika and sank into Mika’s body, taking a mixture of Faust, Mika, and Alimphis’s magic with them, but Mika’s eyes grew darker and slid closed.