Blood Oath (Book 2 of Alfireán age)

Fight for Life

Alf jumped to his left and watched with relief as the four giant ice spikes flew harmlessly past Zaphaniea.

"Okay, now," Olivia gasped. Her entire body glowed and the muscles in her face twitched with concentration as she knelt beside him.

Alf's heart reached out to her as he watched her trembling from exertion; casting a low-level spell using another person's body as a conduit was insanely strenuous and difficult, yet here she was doing it with a master-level spell.

He pushed his concern for her aside, knowing his bemoaning her pain would not help, and instead, kept his eyes on the grand champion in case he'd have to dodge another attack for her.

As Zaphaniea raised her arms towards the advancing army, the air crackled around her wrists, and light erupted from her palms. In a blinding flash of white, a beam careened down in front of the leading blood oath, vaporizing two of his soldiers and narrowly missing him.

Drake tensed and clenched his fists. "Correct your aim!"

At that exact moment, over a dozen enormous fireballs appeared out of nowhere and slammed into the blood oaths and their army.

Alf's mouth dropped open as explosion after explosion sent sweltering waves of hot air blasting into him, and a sea of fire engulfed the area the blood oaths had stood mere seconds ago. "Wha..."

"The people in the arena killed the blood oaths!" the shortest of the maids exclaimed in ecstatic joy.

"Don't count on it," Drake spat then looked up towards Zaphaniea. "Keep the spell leveled on them until we're absolutely certain they are dead."

Zaphaniea gave no reply, but she continued to channel energy into the small, growing ball of light hovering in the midst of the fire.

The sky filled with black smoke, and soot slowly drifted through the atmosphere. A brief moment of silence lingered as they watched with baited breath, hoping for the best, but as the smoke cleared away, Alf glimpsed the red glow of a shield underneath the fading blaze. "Look," he said pointing.

"I knew it," Drake hissed. "Get ready to run."

Alf turned around and crouched into a running position.

Glancing back over his shoulder, he saw the outline of the shield now appeared fully visible amidst the sea of dying flames. Smoldering ruby red in the dim light, the barrier stretched from one end of the clearing all the way to the other end, covering and protecting the entire attacking army.

"How could such a hastily formed shield withstand such an attack?" the eldest sister wondered as she eyed the blood oaths' shield warily.

"We don't have time to think about it now. They're coming this way! Alf, run!" the prince barked.

Alf took off running as fast as he could. The buildings blurred around him, and the wind whistled in his ears. He had been planning on running straight for the Eastern city gate, however, the road teemed with fleeing citizens, and he had no desire to lead the blood oaths anywhere near them, so instead he dashed down a side alley.

"Are they all following us?" Olivia asked, her eyes squeezed shut, and sweat pouring from her brow.

Alf twisted his head as far as he could to his left, but against the brightness of Zaphaniea's and Olivia's holy spell, all he could make out was the blur of a channeled shield. He could, however, see that his pursuers had followed him in spite of his hasty turn and were actually gaining on him.