“Sister! Soldiers from Aldoran! Our defenses must have been breached long ago!” Seraphis called, dashing back to the queen’s side. She stood between Haedria and the soldiers, ready to die protecting the queen if need be.
“How did this happen?” Haedria demanded. She threw a hand out towards the soldiers, fingers splayed and markings flaring. A solid column of flame erupted just before the soldiers, spiraling towards the high ceiling. Tendrils of flame split from the column, arcing and snaking towards the armored men. The tendrils reeled back and shot forward, forcing themselves into the helms and gaps of the armor. Their screams were cut abruptly as the air in their lungs burned and exploded, the heat cooking the soldiers inside their steel.
“I heard nothing from our scouts!” Seraphis answered. She lashed forward, blades whirling about her in a wicked dance. “I saw Hamilcar personally to the gates!” Her gaze fell on Kae, glaring with betrayal. She had let her and Cassendir in to retake Loren, and that was it. They had said nothing about a siege.
The huntress could only stare back, confusion and terror written all over her face. She scrambled to the base of a firestone pillar, her arms held up to protect her head from the wrath of Haedria’s magic. She was just as surprised as the warrior princess was, Seraphis realized. Kae screamed as more of the armored men fell to the ground. She screamed for her wolf over the sound of roaring flames.
A flash of tan fur charged from behind the line, dodging and weaving between the soldiers. Kaiten barked an order, and a soldier from Aldoran raised his shield above his head. The young Beastman king leapt, used the shield as a spring board, and catapulted himself over the line and past the column of fire. He roared and held a heavy battleaxe high above his head, gripping it with two hands. Kaiten brought it down onto Seraphis, who twisted and brought her swords in a crossed lock before her, catching the battleaxe’s blade between them.
“Kaiten!” Loren called. “You came for us?”
“Of course! I always said your plan was stupid, Loren!” the young king called back. He and Seraphis traded vicious blows, hacking and slashing, dodging out of each other’s reach in the firelight. He grunted as Seraphis’s blade caught him in the side, cutting a shallow gash. “Didn’t bother going to Rhodia! I went straight for Aldoran!”
Seraphis screamed back a challenge to Kaiten that would have turned lesser Beastmen into cowards. She struck viciously at the young lion, her swords slicing tufts of his short mane clear from his head. As she readied another blow, the warrior princess’s arm was jostled. Kaiten’s aim was thrown off as well, as a battalion of soldiers clad in more angular armor rushed into the throne room. They wore the black and red twin lionesses of Sagna on their chests, and fought with their queen well behind them.
The melee within the Sagnian throne room raged, bringing chaos in its wake. Braziers were knocked over, sending coals and burning wood scattering around on the floor. Seraphis’s white hound charged into the crowd, his powerful jaws snapping shut around arms and legs, twisting his big head to snap bone. A pack of hounds ran in from the kennels, loosed from their cages by the Houndmaster Kerza to help their queen and princess.
A streak of black fur in a suit of armor tailored to a lithe body cut through the line of Sagnian soldiers with swift, confident blows with a sword. Beside him, a cloaked figure threw daggers that whistled through the air, their blades striking men in the thin gaps of their visors. Warmaster Sairus and Spymaster Isran of Aldoran, brothers bonded by their past and their loyalty to the throne, fought back to back. Sairus would snarl, shield raised and sword poised, and strike at his enemies. Isran would parry blows with his own sword, throwing out a flurry of blades to cut down enemies that attempted to strike Sairus while his back was turned.
The Warmaster broke through the line and found Loren by the feet of the queen.
“My lady!” He called over the commotion. “Can you stand? We must leave this place at once!”
Loren’s mouth fell open to reply, but her face contorted into a scream before she could speak. Behind her, Haedria’s eyes were blazing with rage.
“Beastmen in my castle.” The queen seethed. “How dare you set your filthy hides within my walls. How dare you come into my home, attack me and my sister, and attempt to take what is mine? Your end will not be as swift and merciful as what has become of your men.”
The queen stepped forward, her footsteps leaving flame burning on the stones where she stepped. Sagnian guards stepped into the path of the Warmaster and Spymaster to shield their queen, but they were cut down just as quickly by the panther’s sure strikes and Isran’s nimble knives. The two were a whirlwind in the midst of the battle, and they steadily approached the flame incarnate.
Haedria’s hands bore balls of fire that crackled and raged, the magic reflecting their bearer. She hurled them at the Warmaster and Spymaster, the flame sailing over the heads of the queen’s guards. Warmaster Sairus dodged the fire by diving to the side, aided by his feline reflexes. Isran, a human, was not as lucky. The Spymaster twirled out of the path of the flames, but misjudged their arc. The ball of fire caught the edge of his cloak, the fire catching and spreading far faster across the dry fabric than a normal flame would. Spymaster Isran yelped, and whipped his cloak off his shoulders as fast as he could.
Not wasting a beat, the Spymaster swung his arm in a circle above his head, wrapping the burning cloak around his hand. He threw the
