“What are you talking about?” Jay demanded. “What Demons? How can Demons be attacking Cold Brook? We’re in the middle of the fucking empire!”
“How did you even get here?” Syd continued as she stepped towards the Dryad. “We’re dozens of miles away!”
“I ran,” Meli replied shortly as soon as she skidded to a stop in front of Jadis and the wagon. “As fast as I could.”
The Dryad certainly looked like she had been running for hours. She was obviously exhausted by the way she doubled over panting as soon as she stopped moving. Her willow-leaf like hair looked wilted, and she was covered in small cuts and scrapes that were leaking an amber-colored blood, staining her torn toga. She had the look of someone who had pushed their way through miles of thorns and brambles without taking a moment’s rest.
“I don’t know how,” Meli gasped out after she took in a gulp of air. “But there was a caravan. They pretended to be a caravan. Then they attacked. Demons poured out of the wagons. Dozens of them. Too many. And a mage. She empowered them somehow. Tegwyn and I tried to fight, but there were too many. He told me to run and get help, so I came to find you.”
Halfway through Meli’s explanation, Jadis moved. The Dryad was forced to start running again as Jadis carried the wagon towards the town of Brightstone.
“Where are we going?” Aila called out.
“The Behemoth!” Syd shouted before scooping up the tired Dryad under one arm. “Hold on!”
With that one warning, Jadis let loose and sprinted at her full speed. Even wearing heavy armor and carrying a wagonload of people, that was no slow pace. Jadis’ Agility stat had reached four hundred and thirty-five, a number that was impossible for most people to even dream of attaining. When she ran, she ran with the speed of the wind, but the force of a flying boulder.
What would have been a fifteen or twenty-minute walk under most circumstances was over in barely a minute as Jadis sprinted past Brightstone to get to the field where the airship was parked. She heard the shouts and complaints that came from her lovers in the wagon, but so long as no one fell off, she wasn’t going to slow down.
Once they had dashed past a quartet of city guards who nearly jumped out of their armor at their sudden appearance, Jadis set the wagon down so everyone could get out.
“How long is it going to take to get the behemoth in the air?” Jay asked Sabina as she helped the woman out of the wagon.
“Ah, maybe, half an hour?” Sabina replied as she wasted no time and sprinted over to the airship. “Maybe less! We need to pull the anchors, start the motor, heat the air, pack everyone in, get up and into the air—”
“That’s too slow,” Dys shook her head as she pulled open the side of the wagon. “I’m running straight there. Follow behind me as soon as you can.”
“Wait, we should stick together,” Aila said as she rushed up next to Dys. “We’ll all get there fast if we ride the Behemoth as a group.”
“Not fast enough,” Dys shook her head. “The Behemoth is faster than any wagon, but it’s slower than I can go if I just run there. I can’t carry you all with me, but if I go alone, I can get there as fast as possible.”
As she spoke, Dys pulled one of the crates that had been secured inside of the cabin and opened it to check the contents. It was full of basic poultices and healing potions, some of which had been sourced from Sorcha’s greenhouse, others of which had been bought as emergency supplies. Dys tucked the box under one shoulder and dearly hoped that they would be of use once she got to the village.
“Then take me with you,” Aila said as she put a hand on Dys’ arm.
“No,” Dys refused with another shake of her head. “You need to pilot the Behemoth. Get everyone on board and follow as fast as you can. Don’t argue with me on this, Aila. We don’t have time to waste.”
Aila opened her mouth, then she shook her head.
“You’re right. We don’t have the time to argue. Go.”
“You can carry me with you, though,” Eir called out as she rushed up with everyone else. “I don’t weigh much and—”
“I don’t know what we’re walking into, Eir,” Jay said as she stepped past Dys and set her massive maul down inside the cabin of the airship. To replace the oversized weapon, she withdrew two large axes that would have been huge for most people but were just handaxes to her. “I don’t want to have to worry about protecting you. Stay with everyone else. I have my Licentious Regeneration; I’ll be fine if I get hurt.”
While Eir looked like she wanted to argue, she seemed to take her cue from Aila and didn’t argue with Jadis’ decision. While the elf moved to help Aila and Sabina with the wagon cockpit, Thea stepped up to Jay.
“I’m coming.”
Jadis had never heard her quiet lover speak with firmer conviction in her normally timid voice. She didn’t even bother trying to convince her to stay with the group. She knew it would have been a pointless discussion. Besides, it was Thea’s mother who was in danger. Jadis knew she couldn’t have waited if she were in her shoes, either.
“Come on,” Jay said as she lifted Thea onto her back. “Make sure you hold on as tight as you can. I’ll be sprinting as fast as possible for as long as possible.”
“Let me help with that,” Sorcha said with a calm face but a stressed voice. “Won’t be any use to anyone at all if you’re too tired to fight when you get there.”
Sorcha opened up the leather coat that Jadis had had custom tailored for the small goblin. When closed up, the coat looked almost like a robe since it went all the way down to Sorcha’s ankles and had a heavy hood attached. However, when the witch unbuttoned the front, she revealed the fifteen or so wands that were secured by straps to the inner lining of the coat. There was room for a lot more wands, too, since Sorcha hadn’t even hit her current limit and was sure to be able to make more as both she and Jadis continued to level.
The goblin witch pulled out a foot long wand that had many expensive dried herb leaves wrapped around the shaft and secured with yellow and green string. Without flourish, Sorcha pointed the magical tool at Jay. The wand glowed a greenish yellow for just a moment, then Jadis felt a surge of energy rush through her.
“You too,” Sorcha pointed the wand at Thea, performing the same spell. “And you.”
“What is that?” Meli asked with some concern in her voice.
Syd hadn’t actually set the Dryad down yet, not since she had swept the tired woman up to run faster. Meli had been hanging limply, perhaps too exhausted from her long run to struggle against her less than dignified position, but when Sorcha pointed the wand at her, she did try to wiggle out of the goblin’s line of sight.
“It’s a stamina regeneration spell,” Sorcha explained as she cast the magic on the Dryad. “It’ll double your stamina regen for an hour. It even works while you’re active.”
“Can you cast any more of those?” Severina asked.
“No, I’m tapped,” Sorcha huffed as she staggered a little from the mental effects of exhausting her magic pool. “I can cast that three times if I’m at full magic. But that’s it, I’m out until I can regenerate some power.”
“Thank you,” Meli mumbled as she flexed her hands in front of her, clearly feeling the buzzing effect of the witch’s energizing spell. “Would you set me down now? I can stand on my own—”
“You’re coming with,” Syd said as she shifted the Dryad so that she was holding her more comfortably under the arm. “I’m going to need you to guide me.”
“I can run myself then—”
“Not as fast as me,” Syd cut Meli off a second time.
The Dryad didn’t look happy about being treated so brusquely, but Jadis didn’t have the time to be anything but blunt. With her weapons, passengers, and package secured, Jadis took a moment to get her helmets on before turning her Jay self to look over her lovers one last time.
Aila and Eir were already in the cockpit of the Behemoth, pouring magic into the controls. Kerr and Alex were pulling the stakes from the ropes that secured the aircraft to the ground, while Sorcha was pulling the blocks from the wheels. Sabina had thrown herself into the wagon cabin and was rummaging around in the boxes she had packed for the trip. Bridget was talking to her grandfather, but Jadis could already see that the old man was stoically waving her off as he pushed her towards the Behemoth. The only one who wasn’t doing anything was Severina, who had stepped up close to Jay in the midst of all the activity.
“We’ll be on your tail as soon as possible,” Severina said in stern, even tones. “You won’t have any backup, so don’t take unnecessary risks until we arrive.”
“Define unnecessary,” Jay said as she closed the visor on her helm.
Severina paused for a moment, then shrugged her wing.
“Just don’t die.”
“Did that once already. Not doing it again.”
“What does that—” the Seraphim started to ask, but before she could finish her sentence Jadis was already out of earshot.
The ground under Jadis’ feet churned as she charged in the direction she knew Cold Brook lay. For a brief few seconds, she ran across the cobblestone road that stretched from the east and west of Brightstone, but only those few seconds. Jadis had no intention of following the roads to Thea’s village. She was going to run in the straightest line possible, and damn anything that got in her way.
Meli let out a scream of panic as Jadis charged headlong into a copse of small trees that lined the edge of a farmer’s field. Rather than going around them, Jadis simply ran straight through, using her tremendous speed and strength to crush several trees in her path. While she didn’t bother worrying about her own safety while sprinting through various destructible objects in her path, Jadis did at least make sure to keep both Meli and Thea safe by having Dys take point and clear the way, more or less.
“You’re fucking insane!” Meli screamed as Jadis’ trio of bodies plowed through a vast tangle of thorny undergrowth without perceptibly slowing. “Just go around!”
“No time,” Syd panted in reply. “Get on my back and just point the way!”
Syd shifted the Dryad around so that she was clutching onto her from behind, freeing up her arm so she could more easily run and keep up the pace her other selves were setting. Fortunately, most of the landscape in front of them consisted of large swaths of grazing meadows and farmlands, so Jadis didn’t have to break through too many barriers, but she still felt like they weren’t moving anywhere near fast enough.
Jadis wasn’t sure how long Meli had taken to run to Brightstone, but she knew that the distance from Cold Brook to Bridget’s hometown had taken a little more than an hour to traverse while flying in the airship. That meant the distance was roughly forty to fifty miles as the crow flies, based on how fast she figured they had been going. Jadis wasn’t sure how fast she was running now, but she guessed that she would be putting most cheetahs to shame. Even though she wasn’t able to run in quite as straight a line as she might have been able to fly in the Behemoth, she knew she was probably going to be getting to Cold Brook in less than an hour.
Less than an hour. Still far too long. Even assuming the best case scenario and Meli had been able to run as fast as Jadis for as long as she could, which Jadis knew couldn’t be true, the math told her that Tegwyn had likely been alone, fighting who knew how many Demons and cultists, for hours. She trusted Teg. He was strong, well past CLR sixty, and had years of experience. But if the attack on Cold Brook was anything like the attack on Eldingholt…
Jadis feared the worst.
“There, up that hill!” Meli shouted in Syd’s ear over the noise of armored boots and wind. “Past that and we will be in sight of Cold Brook!”
The sun had started to dip its lowest edge against the horizon as Jadis crested the hill that the Dryad woman had pointed out. There were clusters of trees on the rocky promontory, but it was more stone than earth so the view wasn’t totally obscured. Reaching the top, Jadis didn’t stop, but she did slow slightly as she caught sight of a dark cloud rising above the forest.
There, in the distance, Jadis could see the walls of Cold Brook. And they were burning.
264