CHAPTER 42: THE ASHANTIS [1]

Varek’s breathing was heavy now and his movements were slowing. The men in red cloaks cut at him from every side as they were very fast, and the movements of their swords were faster. He blocked one slash to his head but took another deep cut to his ribs. His knees buckled.

Another strike cut his arm. Another sliced his back. His sword shook in his hand.

Aeron could see it, Varek was going down.

Then... the forest shook with a sound that made everyone stop..

A deep roar.

Aeron looked up at the trees. His heart jumped, and a small smile crossed his face.

"Good boy," he whispered.

From the clouds above, Draco appeared. With his wide wings and his shining scales, he flew down towards them.

One of the men tilted his head upward, saw Draco, and said. "It’s here."

The three moved at once in a motion. They dropped their swords to the ground and, in unison, placed their left arms across their chests, with two fingers pointing straight up. Their right arms extended outward, with their palms open, and five fingers raised toward Draco.

Aeron looked confused at that. "What are they..."

Draco roared again, opened its mouth wide, and unleashed fire at them. The fire rushed toward them but the red-cloaked men didn’t move.

The flames reached and struck what felt like an invisible wall in front of them as they still maintained the position of their arms... and then, it bent backward.

The fire reversed. It hit Draco in the chest and threw him backward into the air.

Draco recovered, beat his wings hard, and came again, faster this time, and much angrier. He blasted another fire toward the three.

Again... it backfired.

Aeron’s eyes widened. "What... what is this?"

The flame crashed against the same unseen force, curled, and fired back into Draco with brutal force. But the dragon didn’t scream in pain, he was fire himself, after all, yet Aeron could see the confusion in him.

He looked down at the men... and then he did something Aeron had never seen before.

With one last roar, he turned back and flew away.

Aeron stood frozen with his mouth wide open. He didn’t believe what had happened. "They... sent back Draco’s fire?"

The men turned toward Varek. He still lay on the forest floor, breathing hard. He was badly wounded as he had cuts all over him. His sword was still in his hand, but barely.

One man stepped forward and, with a quick strike, knocked the weapon away. Another lifted his blade high and aimed for Varek’s neck.

"No!" Aeron shouted.

The air seemed to change. The burnt leaves and faint fire from Draco’s attack earlier... suddenly started coming to life.

[INFERNAL CORE: Fire Affinity +10%]

The fire started growing taller and brighter, and suddenly moved together in a heat wave towards the men.

The men in red cloaks quickly charged in that same strange position again, raised their arms, and their palms out, with fingers spread toward the fire. But the fire didn’t go to them. It went to Aeron.

They were pushing it at him.

Aeron didn’t run. He stood his ground just then, and he felt something strange inside him, like a string pulling from his chest into the heart of the fire. He saw that he was pushing with his mind.

The fire coming to him stopped... then shifted back toward the men.

The fire came at Aeron again, and he pushed back with everything he had, as he gritted his teeth and sweat poured down his face.

He was succeeding as the fire kept moving back and forth between them and him. But little by little, they started to push through.

He tried to pull something deeper from inside him, but to no avail. The Ashanti were stronger. The fire was coming closer and closer until....

BOOM!

But before it erupted and burnt Aeron, someone dived at him and pulled him down, dodging the fire...

A voice came from beside him, it was that of the person who saved him.

"Even if you want to die, don’t do it now."

He blinked as his ears were ringing. But then, he turned to look at the person, and it was Nyella.

"You came." He said.

She didn’t answer, but kept looking at the men.

One of them rushed at Aeron, who was still lying down with his sword. But before Aeron or Nyella could even move, someone else cut in, defended the sword, and slashed the person in one strike.

The enemy didn’t fall, but staggered back, bleeding, and the person who made the strike was Ser Devic, who had come with Nyella.

Nyella moved to stand back-to-back with him. They both charged at the enemy, raising their swords.

The other two men came forward to attack them and the fight began.

Nyella was quick with her sword darting in and out, which made the enemy block left and right without catching her. Devic fought heavy and strong, with each swing forcing his opponent backward.

Clang... clang...

The forest echoed with the sounds of blades. The Ashanti were fast, faster than normal men, but they weren’t winning.

Nyella cut one across the arm. He staggered back in pain. Devic shoved another away and sliced him across the chest. Blood splattered the leaves.

The men stopped, looked at each other, and started going back a little. Then one pulled something from his cloak and tossed it to the ground.

CRACK!

The black smoke appeared again and they went into it. When the smoke cleared, they were gone.

Just then, only Aeron, Varek, Nyella, and Devic remained at the arena.

Varek was on one knee, breathing hard, and had blood dripping onto the dirt. He was very tired and had lost some blood.

"Varek!" Aeron ran to him, holding him up.

"I’m fine," Varek muttered, but his voice was weak.

Then Nyella and Devic were walking close to them. Getting closer Devic said. "Looks like you’re getting too old to take care of three Ashanti alone, Ser Varek Drenn."

"..."

"..."