Both sides clashed in an explosive, cacophonous symphony of steel and magic. Elementals swarmed the skies. Volleys of loosed arrows only brought down a handful of them at a time. Elusis soldiers slammed into the meatcake wall of beastmen empowered by Bond.

Though severely outnumbered, their sheer strength evened the playing field. A bonded minotaur picked up one soldier, using him as a club to swat others away. Another, a beastman with the head of a rhino and body built like a brick wall, stampeded through the enemy forces and gored anyone who tried to stop his charge.

Meanwhile, Saint Priest Camilla battled the lightning-infused Praijya to a standstill. The harpy grew frustrated. Every single attack of hers was getting parried and deflected. She couldn't land a hit with all of Camilla's pirouettes, twirls, and evasions.

Kanae was so entranced by their duel that she didn't realize an approaching fire elemental until his heat was upon her. However, Red stopped him cold, grabbing his wrist and throat. Her skin sizzled from the natural flames of his body.

"Just because I can't cast spells, doesn't mean I can't fight!" Red lifted the elemental into the air and slammed him into the ground. "Amethyst, I'll create an opening into Trombay for you to find your friend!"

"What about the rest of you?" Kanae asked worriedly.

"We'll hold them here. Camilla's strong, but she won't hold her own for long," the harpy explained.

When Kanae glanced back at her modest force, a pang of guilt tugged at her chest just thinking of leaving them here.

"If it comes down to it, use these to cover your retreat. Mass Charm!" Kanae expended nearly all of her mana to seize control of a hundred elementals. A bout of dizziness assailed her. But doing so, they now fought on her side, sowing chaos among Praijya's ranks.

Red nodded. Both of them flew up and were immediately mobbed by Elusis harpy soldiers. Praijya saw what they were doing. She unfurled her wings and disengaged from Camilla.

"Shit! Amethyst, Red!" Camilla warned.

"Fuck you, Praijya!" Red torpedoed into her, and they crashed back into the ground. "Go, Amethyst!"

Since the nature of the Blade of the First Temptress didn't hurt people, Kanae bludgeoned her way through with Cockcalibur instead. She clobbered a harpy after shifting it into Titan's dick, then spun around to smack an uncharmed wind elemental out of the sky.

Trombay looked like an old western town. Small railway tracks for minecarts carved through the village like an unfinished spiderweb. Modest wooden buildings arranged into rows. They comprised bar saloons and dormitories for the laborers, many of whom cowered behind boarded up doors. What few glimpses Kanae saw of the citizens appeared grim. Sunken faces and eyes, emaciated, and weary. Just what was Praijya and Sol doing that could have worked hardy miners into deathly exhaustion?

Kanae made it to the mining pits, where the rails originate from. Miners, with the help of ronoas, pulled carts full of ore out of the tunnel. They weren't just any ore though.

"Stop!" Kanae landed in front of a weary group of miners.

Spooked, they ran away screaming. The ronoas, however, cocked their heads in confusion now that they were no longer pulling the carts. Kanae checked inside and pulled a chunk of rock out. Deep red striations ran along its rough body. Felmetal.

An explosion rocked the tunnels. Some rubble and dust shook loose. Miners raced out in a hurry.

"What's going on inside?" Kanae confronted them.

"Eeek! A s-succubus?" One stood there petrified.

"There's fighting inside, and we're not going to be in there if the tunnels collapse," a human explained.

If a battle was going on, that could only mean one thing. Kanae pushed past them and rushed in. Torches dimly lit the interior. Smoke permeated the air and ran along the ceiling. Countless winding paths stretched into the depths, but the smoke was only coming from one direction. Farther within, a group of a dozen Elusis harpies had backed two figures against a dead end. Thedia and Renya.

Snickering, Praijya's soldiers watched from behind a wall of fire that separated them from the other two. Oil, likely the same substance they used to fill the lanterns with, had drenched the ground. Thedia tried to keep Renya steady while holding a pickaxe as a weapon in her other hand.

"Not much longer before you're roasted over there!"

"Why don't you try coming out?"

They erupted into laughter.

"Hey!" Kanae shouted down the tunnel. Everyone spun around just as she casted Hailstorm. Ice rained down on them, knocking the soldiers out cold and snuffing the fires.

"Kanae, thank goodness!" Thedia smiled.

"How's Renya?" She ran up to them and got the answer herself.

The dark elf looked miserable. Her red longcoat and hat were gone. Renya only had on her tattered white undershirt and leather pants. She wasn't even wearing the boots that granted her the short-ranged teleport Blink spell. Calloused and blistered hands ended with grinded down nails. Once, she had beautiful platinum hair, but their locks were a tangled mess and matted with dirt.

"I'm going to butcher that fucker, marinade his cuts, and sear him to a rare finish…" Renya muttered in a trance.

Kanae waved a hand in her face. "Snap out of it. We have to get out of here. We're outnumbered and losing this battle in Trombay. Camilla and Red are fighting Praijya outside. I'm not sure how much longer they can keep it up." ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel✦fire.net

"No!" she snapped. "We have to get to the north side of Trombay. That's where Sol is loading up all the felmetal. I'm going to wring my hands around the fucker if it's the last thing I do. He also has my guns!"

They got as far as the entrance when Renya noticed a crate of dynamites. She shoved some into a discarded burlap bag, shoved it into Thedia's hands, and grabbed a torch off the wall.

The three made a mad dash to the north end of Trombay. Sol and a large crew of Rown men were just finishing loading up the last two wagons. Most had already disembarked into the distance. Two flintlocks hung from his belt, dangling like trophies.

"Sol!" Renya shouted.

"Renya? And the succubus, too. I don't have time for either of you. The Harpy King wants Avanesse next, and these ore will help us conquer it. I'll come back and deal with you once Savir has a Grand Sultan!" Sol guffawed.

"You're not going anywhere. Rown Company, bag this fucker and bring him to his knees!" she ordered the crew.

None of them listened. Some stopped riding away just to laugh.

"What are you all waiting for? I'm the Chairman of Rown Company!" Renya roared.

Sol climbed onto the front of a wagon and sneered. "They side with me because they know you're no true Rown. I am. All you are is a dark elf in over her head, who my old man picked up in No Man's Land because he felt like being charitable. But you do have my thanks, Renya, for keeping the chairman's seat warm. You can rest easy knowing that I'll lead Rown Company to a better future, while your bones feed the carrions out here."

"Do you all not have any shame? Renya Rown has taken care of us for years, and this is how you repay her?" Thedia asked.

"I was never a Rown man. I was running with the outsiders when Renya came in and ruined a good thing!"

"You can take your loyalty and shove it up your own ass, bitch!"

Countless 'Rown' deserters lobbed insults and vitriol.

"Kanae, charm them! Make them slit their own throats!" The desperation in Renya's voice grew increasingly unhinged.

"I can't! I can only charm so many people, and right now, the elementals I have charmed are the only things keeping Camilla, Red, and my soldiers from being swamped!" Kanae explained.

Renya cursed under her breath. She reached into the bag of dynamite, lit the fuse with her torch, and hurled it across the way. The stick landed just behind the second wagon. Passengers dove off, and the driver tried to kick the ronoas into moving faster.

The explosion sent sand and ore flying. They poured out from the back, spilling to the ground.

"You stupid cunt!" Sol created a spear of ice and flung it right for Renya, who was reaching for another dynamite.

"Lady Renya!" Thedia shoved Renya out of the way, and the icicle plunged into her abdomen instead.

Using the Blade, Kanae casted Magic Hand and conjured a giant fist that dropped in front of them. Sol's ice spears sank harmlessly into the hand but not through.

"No! Thedia? Don't you go dying on me!" Renya shook her subordinate.

"I would never abandon you, my lady. But… Would you please stop shaking me… I'm losing enough blood as it is," Thedia muttered weakly.

"Shit, sorry! Kanae, hurry and heal her!" she cried.

"My spell isn't anywhere strong enough to heal this wound! But… I have an idea." When Kanae whipped out Cockcalibur, Renya and Thedia stared at her in disbelief. "I know how this looks! Just trust me, alright?"

While they waited, and Thedia was groaning in agony, Kanae willed Cockcalibur to transform into William Bellevue's erect human penis. After all, the most powerful heal possible could only come from two classes. One of them being a Paladin's.

Kanae shoved Will's dick into her pussy. She trembled a little. Pleasure rippled through her body.

[Skill Drain has temporarily acquired the skill Lay on Hands.

Lay on Hands: Restore the health of one person to full even if they are near death. Charges = 1/100 levels. Current charges (2). Regain charges after a long rest.]

"Kanae, hurry!" Renya pleaded.

Thedia looked a lot paler than before. But they had one more obstacle before Kanae could heal. The icicle was in the way, and Renya realized right away.

"I'll pull it out. You get ready with the healing spell. Thedia?" Renya's voice quivered.

"Do it," Thedia said.

Renya cloned herself. Three dark elves wrapped their hands on the icicle and pulled. Thedia screamed at the top of her lungs. The pain was too much to bear, and she passed out. However, the icicle gave way. Blood poured from the beastman's chest.

"Lay on Hands!" Kanae casted.

Thedia's gaping wound closed immediately, leaving behind a hole in her embroidered tunic and bare skin. Renya put a finger underneath her nose for a few seconds, then breathed a sigh of relief.

Panicked footfalls rushed over to them, and Renya pulled out a second dynamite stick. Three elven men, whose skin was too fair to be a Saviran native, skidded to a halt.

"Don't come any closer!" Renya yelled.

"Wait, we're with Rown! We were the ones Ms. Thedia had sent here to feed information back to her. Is… Is that… her?" The elf gasped.

Kanae glanced back in Sol's direction. He had already taken off, too far to catch up now.

"It's time to retreat. We need to get out of here," Kanae explained.

"We've procured a carriage near the mines. If we escape now while the fighting is still going on, we may be able to slip away unnoticed," the other said.

"Take Renya and Thedia there and escape. I'm going to rejoin the rest of my army," she insisted.

One of Renya's men took over to carry Thedia, and another offered her a shoulder to lean on. They limped their way to the mines as quickly as able.

As Kanae returned to the battle south of Trombay, many of her soldiers were strewn across the battlefield. Half her force were driven back from the village, with Camilla and Red covering their retreat. She compelled the elementals under her control to impede Praijya's forces.

The Left Talon of the Harpy King herself was badly hurt, but not beaten. She didn't give chase, too injured and currently licking her wounds from the duel with Camilla. Instead, she met Kanae's gaze and glowered.

Channeling every ounce of magic into the Blade of the First Temptress, Kanae summoned a blizzard from Hailstorm that stopped the Elusis forces in their tracks. They gave up their pursuit, and others who tried slipped on the icy sleet.

Defeated, Kanae's troops marched back to the camp on the border between Bravost and the Arkesian Waste. The sun was beginning to rise by the time they arrived. But for whatever reason, the grounds outside the camp were littered with mounds of broken bones like an undead army had fallen apart here.

"Kanae!" Arenade ran over, awash with relief. "I thought something happened to you guys!"

"What do you mean? What happened here?" Kanae asked.

"Last night, we had to defend ourselves against the largest undead army I'd ever seen! Edina said it was an elf named Riben Crow. If she, Petyr, and Archbishop Patrice weren't here, I'm not sure we could've survived. And you? Any luck with Renya?" She looked behind Kanae to see the defeated force reduced to only half its original number.

"See for yourself." She thumbed over her shoulder.

The carriage rolled up, and Renya emerged carrying Thedia on her back.

"It's gonna take a lot more than that to kill Renya Rown!" Renya puffed out her chest and grinned.

"Yeah, yeah. I don't care about you. Is that Thedia? Is she okay?" Arenade gasped.

"She will be. I transformed Cockcalibur into Will's dick, penetrated myself with it, and gained the Paladin's Lay on Hands to heal her," Kanae explained.

Arenade stared at Kanae with her jaw hanging open.

"After 'She will be', nopart of the next sentence made a lick of sense! What?!" Arenade threw her hands up.

"I'll explain later! Can we get some physicians to look after Thedia!" Kanae shouted into the camp.

Delayn and Archbishop Patrice came out to escort the injured to a newly-raised medical tent. Since Thedia didn't require healing anymore, they assigned a physician to her instead.

Kanae checked in with the wounded. She owed them that much for fighting for her. Renya was all the way in the back, sitting by Thedia's bedside and drinking from a bottle of wine. The beastman was still unconscious.

"Doc said Thedia lost a lot of blood. She might be out for a while. This wouldn't have happened if I didn't go charging in to look for Sol back in Elusis. Stupid, stupid me… I lost my guns, and I almost lost my closest confidante." Renya took a swig from a bottle of wine in her hand.

"Thedia told me that she owes you a lot for what you did for her. What's the story behind that?" Kanae asked, trying to take the dark elf's mind somewhere better.

"Heh. Back when Port Kandis was a lot more lawless, there were pickpockets everywhere dressed as dockhands. Thedia was one of them. Pinched the gold pouch from my waist with the deftest hands ever. I was smarter though. All it contained was rocks. Had my real money inside my tunic. Can you believe the bitch came back to confront me about it? Threw the rocks in my face and everything. We scrapped. I won. The rest was history. All I knew was that I needed a feisty cat like that in my life. Yeah. Things were easier back then. I don't know how I could've faced Thedia's siblings if we lost her."

Kanae pulled up a chair to sit next to Renya. The sun was beginning to rise. Its light peered through the holes in the tent. The dark elf drank from the bottle again, only to find that it had gone empty.

"Huu~ Out already? On my ass, Kanae. We're headed to my carriage. Thish time, we're breaking out the good shtuff…" Renya stood up, teetered from side to side, and fell face first into the ground.

Out like a rock.

Kanae lifted the dark elf up and put her in an empty cot adjacent to Thedia.

"Better yet, save that bottle for after we win this war." Kanae chuckled.