Lilieth, Sibeiya, and Albus formed a perimeter around Tethys, hacking and slashing away at the wyverns as they made their way to the gates. Sibeiya and Albus skillfully handled two or three of them at a time, using their extremely sharp reflexes to essentially fight multiple battles at once. Lilieth, on the other hand, struggled with just two. She constantly had to use her Sculpt spells to obstruct one wyvern so she could focus on the other.

  “You’re all so fast!” Tethys exclaimed in awe.

  “Ha! Guillem’s way more annoying to fight than ten of these lizards!” Albus said, laughing joyfully as he fought.

  “You’ve got that right,” Sibeiya added while sounding out of breath ... and looking a bit pale.

  “Sibeiya, you still good?” Albus asked between stances. “Need a break?”

  “I’m fine!” It was a hasty reply.

  “What’s this about?” Lilieth asked as she stabbed one of the wyverns in the face. “She doesn’t look good!”

  “I’m not surprised you’ve noticed!”

  “Albus, shut up! Don’t tell her!”

  Ignoring Sibeiya, the gray-haired man continued, “She’s scared of wyverns, see? She’s gotten better at fighting them in recent years, but if she fights one for too long, her nerves start getting to her!”

  “Albus!”

  Lilieth noticed that whenever Sibeiya fought anything other than their fellow trainees, her hands and shoulders would start shaking after some time. She’d speculated the fear of wyverns from their first encounter with one, but she didn’t have enough to go off of to be sure considering wyverns were all she’d even seen her fight.

  “Look—let’s focus on not dying, yeah?” Sibeiya said with a sternness in her words and annoyance in her voice.

  “Watch out!”

  At Tethys’ warning, both Sibeiya and Lilieth dodged out of the way—a wyvern swung its tail, missing them by a hair’s breadth. The two attacked simultaneously, Lilieth forcing the beast’s maw open with her sword and Sibeiya thrusting her spear straight through its throat. Blood pooled in the wyvern’s jaw, and a disgusting stench emanated from its spillage. It was hard to describe the scent of a wyvern’s breath with mere words, but suffice to say, it was yet another thing Lilieth could curse her memory for.

  Sibeiya smiled to herself, looking proud. Well, at least one of us is having fun ...

  Lilieth continued her forward advance, locking blade to talons with a blue wyvern—a bit stronger physically than a green but not by much, it seemed. She was confident she could—

  The blue wyvern’s scales began to sizzle a radiating heat. It was gradually glowing brighter and brighter ...

  Albus grabbed Lilieth’s collar and pulled her back just as the wyvern erupted into flames. The creature roared at her, its own breath catching fire.

  “Keep your wits about you!” Albus said. “Blue wyverns can set themselves alight!”

  Right, Lilieth thought. Wyverns were considered spellbeasts, too. She let her guard down because red and green wyverns were too weak to use magic.

  A wyvern setting itself on fire was a problem though. It would be hard to get close enough to land a clean hit without burning her own skin off.

  “[Caliga]!” the young mage chanted.

  The earth rose beneath the burning wyvern, flowing upward around its forelimbs and feet like rushing water before solidifying back into hard rock. The wyvern struggled, roaring all the while.

  “No need to take it down!” Lilieth yelled out, running around the beast. “We slip past it!”

  “Don’t tell me what to do!”

  Despite Sibeiya’s prickly response, she followed Lilieth. Albus ran alongside them while keeping close to Tethys, watching her back. The two women at the front hacked away at the wyverns, making sure to make a safe path for her.

  “Purple incoming!”

  Albus’ warning came just marginally faster than the purple wyvern’s claw, and Lilieth was able to duck out of the way, the talon grazing her and cutting off a few strands of her hair.

  So fast! Lilieth thought. She prepared her sword and—

  The wyvern screamed at her—more a piercing shriek than a roar. A powerful wave of force slammed into the young mage, knocking her several feet back. She slid across the ground, feeling her own ribs break in several places.

  Sibeiya moved to distract the wyvern while Lilieth tried to recover. It was maddening how her regeneration didn’t activate unless she died. If she had more of a stomach, she’d take her own life and force her body to regenerate from her wounds, but that introduced its own menagerie of problems.

  For one, she still didn’t know how long it would take before she’d revive. She might stay dead for hours. She hadn’t died once since reaching Artemest, and there was no guarantee that she would still come back to life if she did.

  Now was too big a risk to test things out. All she could do in the moment was fight her hardest while she took breath.

  She reassessed the situation. With the three of them, there was a good chance of taking down a purple wyvern, but it would take some time, and during that time, Tethys would be unprotected. If they kept an eye on her while fighting, it would make the battle much harder and longer. Other wyverns would likely join in at some point, too.

  The knights had yet to fully mobilize. Could they hold out until they arrived?

  No. Every second that ticked was a second Tethys remained in danger. They couldn’t afford to draw out this fight. They needed some way around the wyvern.

  “[Caliga]!”

  The ground rose, trying to capture the wyvern’s claws. The beast flapped its wings, rising up and escaping the earth’s grasp—no good. The soil here was too soft; a purple could break through it easily.

  Albus swung his blades, but they couldn’t pierce through the purple wyvern’s scales. Behind them, the blue had escaped from Caliga and was now crawling towards the group, its entire body burning.

  Lilieth grimaced. No other options left.

  She cast Caliga at the blue wyvern once more, this time, only managing to get three of its limbs—one of its hind legs slipped free at the last second. It wouldn’t hold for long.

  Then, she rushed at the purple wyvern, grabbing hold of its neck as hard as she could. She cast Caliga on herself. The earth locked her in place. With Enhance Strength I still active, she would immobilize the beast, at least for a few seconds.

  “Sibeiya! Albus!” Lilieth shouted. “Take Tethys and go!”

  “The hell are you saying?” Sibeiya yelled back. “There’s no way you can take that thing alone!”

  “Just go! You know I’ll come back anyway!”

  There was a hesitation in Sibeiya’s eyes. Then, determination.

  “Albus, carry Tethys! We’ll sprint! I’ll handle defense!”

  Without missing a beat, Albus scooped up Tethys in his arms, and the two ran. Tethys screamed something out—likely a plea to not leave Lilieth behind. She was always such a kind-hearted woman.

  The purple wyvern roared, repeatedly releasing bursts of force from its maw. Lilieth was able to hold on because she wasn’t in its direct line of fire, but each burst loosened her grip.

  The ground holding her feet eventually crumbled, and with one swing, the wyvern was able to throw Lilieth to the air. It immediately followed up with a scream in her direction. With no way to dodge, the blast hit her head on. Her ears rang, and the world spun around.

  Lilieth slammed into the ground, managing to soften it a bit with a last-second casting of Sculpta. Still, it barely helped to dampen the crash. Her entire body screamed at her, pain surging at just about every inch. If she didn’t have Enhance Strength I active, she’d likely be dead by now.

  She managed to recover her senses fast enough to roll out of the way of the purple’s claws slamming down. Behind her, the blue wyvern broke free and charged. The purple opened its maw and lunged to bite.

  Attacks from two fronts—she was in no position to dodge.

  The young mage grabbed her blade and cast Murus in front of her. The purple wyvern bit into the stone wall, which cracked immediately from the sheer force. Lilieth turned, facing the blue wyvern. No time to cast another spell.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  She parried the blue wyvern’s claw attacks, her skin sharply feeling the heat from the fire that surrounded its body.

  Behind her, she heard the low grumble of the purple wyvern—a sound she already associated with an incoming sonic scream.

  She jumped to the side just as the blast hit, but a piece of the stone wall flew past her arm, cutting a deep wound into it. The blue wyvern, on the other hand, was hit square on the head and stumbled back, the flames dissipating as it tried to get its bearings.

  Lilieth raised her sword, turning to face the beast behind her. But it was too fast, and she barely blocked its tail swipe. Her sword flew out of her own hands, breaking into two upon impact. Before she could process it, the purple wyvern lunged, and—

  A spear came flying. It struck the side of the beast’s torso, deflected by its iron-like scales. Still, it was enough to push the beast sideways, and its maw narrowly missed Lilieth. In a blink, Sibeiya appeared and landed a kick to the beast’s head, forcing it back.

  “Sibeiya?!” Lilieth coughed out. “What are—”

  Without saying a word, the orange-haired girl lifted Lilieth in her arms and ran to the gates. She dodged lesser wyverns, weaving past them even as they swiped at her, decorating her skin with deep cuts and scars. Sibeiya kept running. She ran until they finally passed the wall’s boundary where guards and knights rushed out to intercept the pursuing wyverns.

  The Shebauno ran a bit deeper into the city before stopping at the side of a street where Albus and Tethys were waiting.

  “Why did you come back for me?” Lilieth said incredulously. “You’re bleeding!”

  “You’re one to talk,” Sibeiya retorted out of breath. “You look worse than I do. Seriously, how many times are you gonna have me save your ass?”

  Lilieth furrowed her brow at that, especially since it was true.

  “I didn’t ask you to ...” she sighed. “Whatever. Thank you. You can put me down now.”

  Sibeiya huffed and let her stand up. It was difficult, on account of her injuries, but manageable. Lilieth could still fight, albeit not as well as before.

  Lilieth noticed that Albus was still carrying Tethys in his arms and realized that her leg had blood crawling down it. The wound itself was already wrapped in a makeshift bandage ripped from Albus’ own clothes, but the amount of red was alarming.

  “Oh, yeah,” Albus said, following the young mage’s gaze. “One jumped down on us from the air, and it got her leg. I’m sorry about that; I couldn’t dodge in time.”

  “Don’t apologize,” Tethys said. “It wasn’t your fault.”

  “She’s right. I was handling defense,” Sibeiya added. “If anything, it should be my fault.”

  “Still, you surprised me!” Albus said. “The moment we arrived here, you immediately dashed back for—”

  “Hey, we’re still not in the clear,” Sibeiya interrupted.

  Shadows flew overhead as wyverns poured into the city, flying past the ballistas mounted by the knights and adventurers on the walls.

  “Right,” Lilieth said. “It’s not safe here. And we still need to get Teth—Madame Tethys’ injury patched up.”

  The Shebauno nodded. “Yeah. And, you know ... yours.”

  “Where’s the nearest shelter?” Albus asked.

  Lilieth focused, checking for a map among the books she read in the library. “Herald Street. Not far from here.”

  Before long, the group was running with Lilieth leading the way. Her entire body ached, but she forced herself to ignore it and keep going.

  Just as the entrance to the shelter was in sight, however, a group of wyverns landed in front of them. The gates to the shelter immediately closed shut. With Lilieth as injured as she was and Albus preoccupied with carrying Tethys, confronting the wyverns was nothing short of suicide.

  “Bloody hells!” Lilieth looked around frantically. “Over there!”

  The party turned and ran into one of the alleyways—the wyverns would have trouble following them through. It wasn’t over just yet, but it would slow them down significantly.

  “Where now?!” Sibeiya asked as they ran through tight corridors, the light from above occasionally blotted out by a passing shadow.

  They wouldn’t be able to sneak past the wyverns near the shelter gates. Lilieth consulted the map in her head again. “Drakonyra district. There’s another shelter there!”

  Lilieth led the way again, turning corners all while looking at the highly detailed map that she memorized. It was somewhat of an outdated map, and she ran them into a few dead ends here and there, but for the most part, it led them closer and closer to the shelter.

  Eventually, they emerged onto a wide street. Drakonyra had far fewer wyverns breaking into its main city for some reason. Perhaps they mounted a better defense here?

  Lilieth’s eyes focused and saw a familiar figure in the distance—a small girl wearing an oversized hat, with two people at her sides.

  “Lady Cynth?” She seemed to have overheard, as she turned and ran to them.

  “Library Lady! And Albus and Sibei!” she said.

  At the same time, Lilieth heard someone else calling Cynth’s name. In the distance, she could see another familiar face running towards them—Phaedon, a man her readings recently taught her was the heir to the Drakonyra district.

  “There you are!” Phaedon said. “Why in the hells did you run off all of a sudden?!”

  “I, um ...” Cynth’s voice weakened. “Grits ... he was ... he told me to run to the shelter.”

  “Grits? He’s here?” Phaedon said. “Where is he?”

  Cynth was quiet for a moment, and Lilieth noticed the redness in her eyes. “He went to go fight.”

  “And left you alone? Isn’t he supposed to be your brother?”

  The young lady shuffled uncomfortably. “N-no. He said that I should stop calling him that, so ...”

  Sibeiya sucked in a breath. “Shit, he went there?”

  Lilieth knew the gist of the relationship between Grits and the Kastrionis family. Archon Hektor rescued him when he was young and took him into his household as a retainer, growing up with the Kastrionis siblings yet not formally adopted in. It seemed Grits and Cynth had differing views on how the half-highlander slotted into their family situation.

  Phaedon clicked his tongue, his expression growing cold. “That stupid fucking idiot ...”

  Another shadow passed by above them. “We don’t have time to lounge around here,” Lilieth said. “Come on; we need to head to the shelter!”

  “No, not there!” Cynth said. “It’s too far away. There’s a closer shelter nearby!”

  “What?” Lilieth said, referencing the maps. “No there isn’t.”

  “It’s a secret shelter, for the Kastrionis family’s personal use,” Cynth said. One of the people following her flinched and let out a quick sigh. She was dressed in civilian clothing, but it probably made more sense that she was a bodyguard.

  “Great! Let’s go there then!” Albus said.

  “If it’s a secret shelter, then I doubt commoners are allowed in,” Phaedon said.

  Lilieth surveyed the skies. More and more wyverns were pouring in. The main shelter was a fair distance away, and there were plenty of chances for wyverns to ambush them en route.

  “Tethys’ leg wound needs proper treatment,” the young mage said. “Bring her with you, Cynth.”

  The bodyguard stepped forward. “I’m afraid I can’t—”

  “Please, Sela!” Cynth grabbed onto the woman’s clothes. “Let them come with us! All of them!”

  “But, My Lady ...”

  “It’s a big shelter, right? Big enough for all of us here. Valery took me to see it before when we were young. A-ah, don’t tell father.”

  The bodyguard’s eyes softened. “... As you wish, My Lady. Everyone, follow close.”

  Lilieth mouthed a thank you to Cynth who smiled in response—though there was still a sadness evident in her eyes.

  Eventually, they reached a small, seemingly abandoned house by the side of the road. One of the bodyguards unlocked it and led them all in. Inside was much of what Lilieth expected: a small space in a state of disuse. Cobwebs hung from the corners, and the air was crowded with motes of dust.

  The bodyguards continued on, opening a hatch on the ground and revealing a staircase that led down into a dark cellar. Though it was hard to see anything without the lights on, Lilieth could already tell that the space was well-maintained. Just the scent alone was miles cleaner than the room above.

  “It’s so dark here!” Albus complained. “Can someone turn on the lights?”

  “Give us a minute!” one of the bodyguards, the one named Sela, said. Footsteps shuffled in the darkness, and it sounded like they were having trouble finding where the lamps were. The room seemed spacious, given how their voices were echoing.

  “Wait, I think I have a light on me,” Lilieth said, reaching into her pocket.

  She pulled out the resonance compass that the Salcaelite lady, Sandrine Isabeau Artois, gave her as compensation for almost running her over. Since it was a magic item, it was likely powered by a moonsilver core. Moonsilver was dense, compressed mana, and it usually had a strong blue glow. Sure enough, as she took out the compass, it faintly glowed at the little gaps in the metal—although, the glow was too faint to be of any use. The young mage shrugged. Her eyes were starting to get used to the darkness anyway, and she was able to determine where everyone was standing. Though they looked to her as indistinct shadows, she could tell who was who based on their voices.

  Lilieth noticed the needle of the compass pointing directly towards her, shaking violently. Right, the compass’ main function was to find duplicate mana signatures, but Sandrine also said it could point to the nearest source of mana—aside from itself, obviously. Right now, that was Lilieth herself, who still had her two Martial spells active.

  Out of curiosity, she disabled both spells. Instantly, her body began to ache even more than before, so that was probably a bad idea.

  Then, the needle immediately swung into the opposite direction, towards where Cynth was standing ...

  ... No. Behind her—where an unfamiliar shadow stood, arm raised, a dagger in hand.

  Lilieth didn’t hesitate. She ran forward, pushed Cynth with one arm, then used the other to block the dagger. The blade sunk deep into her arm, the warmth of her own blood dripped down, then—crimson.

  The moonsilver lamps finally came on, and Lilieth got a good look at the intruder: blonde hair tied into an intricate braid, wyvern fangs hung on her chest like a necklace.

  Lyanne, the Flockmother.

  “Lady Cynthia!” Sela called out in a panic and ran for the young lady.

  “Wait, stop!” Sibeiya shouted.

  A wyvern jumped out from the corner of the room, lunging at the bodyguard. Its scales were a bright yellow—one step stronger than purple wyverns.

  In a hurry, Phaedon pulled Sela back. The wyvern’s jaws snapped shut on his arm and growled as it tried to rip it from his body. Phaedon thrust his sword into the beast’s cheek. The blade ripped through, loosening the beast’s jaw just enough for him to pull out his arm, bloodied and in terrible shape but attached.

  The yellow wyvern immediately jumped back, creating distance between them.

  “[Enhance Strength I]!” Lilieth chanted. Power flowed through her body once more as she threw a punch at Lyanne’s stomach. The Flockmother blocked it as if she saw it coming, but it gave Lilieth enough time to dislodge her own arm from the dagger. She grabbed Cynth and dragged her back to where everyone else was.

  “Lilieth! Your arm!” Tethys cried out. Blood was pouring out of the dagger wound. Too much of it.

  The Flockmother laughed. “So close. I certainly didn’t expect other guests. Oh dear, I should’ve prepared tea.”

  Behind her, more wyverns appeared. Two more yellows; three in total now. From the floor above, Lilieth heard crashing.

  “Don’t bother running back upstairs,” Lyanne continued. “I’ve got more of my babies waiting there.”

  “How did you get in here?!” Sela asked.

  “Me? I just walked down the stairs. You should be asking how I got my babies down here. Now that was difficult.” The Flockmother groaned, a hand on her hip as she twirled the ends of her hair with the other. “They hate tight spaces, but you’d be surprised at what you can coax a wyvern into doing if you raise them right.”

  The yellow wyverns hissed in unison, their claws and wings scraping stone. The one Phaedon stabbed shook its head, blood splattering the floor as its pupils narrowed.

  Everyone tightened their formation.

  “You ... you sent them, didn’t you? The wyverns attacking the gates ...” Cynth whispered, her voice frail.

  Lyanne grimaced. “Don’t remind me. I hate using my children as a distraction. But it did work. Led you right to me, darling.”

  Phaedon raised his sword at her. “Who sent you? Is it a noble vying for the archon’s throne?”

  The woman shrugged. “Who’s to say? I never asked their name. Politics bore me. Coin, on the other hand, does not. And that child happens to be very expensive.”

  The Flockmother played with the dagger in her hands, clearly relaxed.

  “Tell me you’ve got some clever plan,” Sibeiya whispered to Lilieth.

  “Define clever,” Lilieth replied, “because all I have so far is ‘don’t die’.”

  The young mage’s mind churned. A Second tier Divinationmage and three yellow wyverns. More wyverns upstairs, cutting off their path of escape. Phaedon’s arm was horribly injured. Lilieth’s own body was in bad shape. Neither of them would last long with how much blood they were losing. Cynth and Tethys—two noncombatants they had to keep safe, one of them injured in the leg.

  No escape. No reinforcements. No time.

  Lilieth clenched her teeth. They didn’t have any options, save for one.

  Fight.

  Here. Now.