Evergreen’s eyes widened and she raised her arms before her a moment before a flash of Sunder’s black power carved through the air. Instead of cutting through Evergreen, it cut through her domain. A wave of pink smoke poured out of the Formation, the majority of it evaporating the instant it grew near Evergreen. But, in that brief instant of surprise, through that tiny crack, a miniscule amount of the smoke managed to make it to her. Evergreen snapped out of her surprise and thrust her hands away from her. A wave of pure magic erupted from her body, ripping the smoke apart and destroying Noah’s formation.

It was too late. A tiny portion of Evergreen’s armor bubbled. The wood darkened and parts of it cracked, turning a dry, yellowish black. A small portion of it at her chest rotted away – nowhere near enough to actually hurt her or even significantly weaken her defenses, but enough to surprise her for just a moment.

And, for the duration of that single instant of shock, Evergreen’s guard fell. A flash of green leapt from the darkness at the corner of the room, plunging straight through her armor and into her chest. Evergreen drew a shocked breath and stumbled, her hand clutching at the huge spike protruding from her.

A middled aged woman with silver hair stepped out from the darkness, a cold smile on her features. “Magus Evergreen. What a shame.”

“Rinella,” Evergreen wheezed. “You traitorous fool.”

“Me? No. You were killed by the machinations of a mere Rank 3 that smuggled an Archdemon under your nose.” Rinella replied with sad shake of her head. “It’s fortunate that I arrived in time to dispatch her and save the rest of the Torrin family. Who knows what would have happened had I not been present.”

Noah struggled with everything in his power to remain in place, but Sunder would be denied no longer. The call of his gourd ripped him away from Evergreen’s Estate and the world faded to black.

***

Evergreen was dying. Moxie could tell it, and Evergreen could too. The spike had gone straight into her heart and there was no chance that Rinella would let her leave and get a healing potion.

“You drive the Torrin family to ruin.” Evergreen’s words were pushed from her lips. Her armor sloughed off her in sheets, rotted to the core.

“Perhaps you should have made less enemies,” Rinella countered, watching from a safe distance. Even though she’d won the fight, Evergreen wasn’t dead yet – and as long as she still drew breath, she was a threat.

Even the slightest slipup could give Evergreen a chance to take Rinella down with her, and Rinella clearly didn’t plan to offer that opportunity up.

The bindings of Moxie’s Rune Oaths tightened around her soul. She’d been riding the line of what they permitted her to do for the entire fight – blocking Evergreen’s attacks was already pushing the limits. Her own attacks were so weak that they barely counted, and the only reason her Oaths hadn’t already shattered was because – for some reason – Evergreen had never told her to stand down.

She let me keep my Runes purely to make sure I knew how thoroughly I had lost.

Moxie tugged at her hand discreetly, trying to free herself from the spike of wood that she was impaled on. Evergreen’s time was running out, and she’d doubtlessly figured out that Rinella planned to just stand around and watch her die.

That means that any moment now–

Evergreen burst into motion. She slammed her staff to the ground and a wave of foliage ripped across the floor, accompanied by the massive cacophony of crunching wood. A wave of destructive energy rolled across the ground with terrifying speed, picking up like a violent storm.

Rinella crossed her hands before herself defensively. Vines erupted all around her, twisting up to form a thick barrier moments before Evergreen’s attack slammed into her with the force of a vengeful hurricane.

The Rank 5 mage’s shield shattered in an instant and Rinella vanished beneath the devastating attack. Moxie’s face went pale at the torrent of destruction that carved through the room as the storm of leaves and wood ripped Evergreen’s estate to shreds, passing through the wall of the house and bursting out into the city, leaving a furrow of destruction in its wake.

That’s the real force of a Rank 6 mage, and Evergreen only has a single Rank 6 Rune. She was holding back through this entire fight to avoid destroying her house… and now she’s weakened. What could she have done if she’d been taking us seriously?

Evergreen let out a croaking laugh, her lips twisted in vengeful fury. She turned toward Moxie and stumbled, falling to her knees. Hatred burned in her eyes as she lifted a hand, calling the wood around Moxie to her command – and froze in place as a loud thunk rang out. Evergreen’s eyes glazed and she pitched forward, crashing to the ground. A thorn the size of a forearm protruded from the back of Evergreen’s head.

Rinella dragged herself out of the ruined pit that Evergreen had formed. Her clothes and body were shredded to pieces, the shield bracelets on her wrist both cracked. Blood poured down her face and matted her hair, but a savage grin was plastered across her face.

“I win,” Rinella breathed, a chortle slipping from between her lips. The laughter grew hysterical and she wiped the blood away from her face with the back of her hands. “I win, Evergreen.”

The laughter ended as abruptly as it had started. Rinella turned her gaze toward Moxie. She didn’t say anything – she didn’t have to. Her fingers curled and a thorn whipped out from a vine at her side.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Moxie’s body didn’t have the strength to move anymore. She slumped, one arm still suspended painfully in the air by the spike of wood running through it.

A blur flashed through the air and the thorn slammed home – into an armor-clad guard that appeared before her. An instant later, the wall exploded. Dozens of guards poured into the room, their weapons drawn. At their head was Idan, his eyes wide in disbelief.

“Rinella,” Idan breathed, blinking as if he didn’t believe his own brain. “Where’s Ever–”

Idan froze, his eyes landing Evergreen’s body. It laid at Rinella’s feet, thorn still protruding from the back of her skull.

Rinella’s mouth worked. If Moxie hadn’t been in so much pain, she might have had to try to hide a smirk. The mage was doubtlessly wondering how the entirety of the guard had managed to show up so quickly.

Several guards dashed over to Evergreen while the rest surrounded Rinella and Moxie. One of them knelt beside the dead family head, pressing a hand to her neck.

“She’s gone, captain.”

“You traitor,” Idan whispered. The fury in his voice was so intense that the air felt like it trembled. “What have you done? How could you turn on your family like this?”

“This isn’t what it appears to be,” Rinella said urgently, her eyes darting around the room. “It’s been a trick, Captain. Moxie betrayed our entire family. She brought an Archdemon to kill Evergreen and–”

“What Archdemon?” Idan asked. “Where is it?”

Rinella thrust a finger toward Noah’s corpse. “Right there. It died in the fight.”

A strained cough rang out, interrupting Idan before he could respond. Noah stumbled into the room, one of his eyes squinted in pain. His gourd swayed at his side, attached to his belt.

“That’s her,” Noah rasped, thrusting a finger in Rinella’s direction. “She’s the one I overheard.”

Rinella froze. Noah’s brutalized corpse laid on the ground, yet he somehow stood right before her, not a single wound on his body.

“I – that’s not possible. This is a trick. The creature beside you is no human. That’s an Archdemon, and he’s somehow managed to–”

“Silence,” Idan snarled. “What trick, Rinella? Evergreen’s body lies dead at your feet, slain by one of your own spells. The Linwick you accuse of being the mastermind is the very one that warned us that you were trying to kill Evergreen. Pray tell why he would do that?”

“He came to kill her! He’s a Linwick!” Rinella spat. “You can’t trust him.”

“Actually, I came to give her a gift. One you tried to steal from me.” Noah winced in pain, then staggered over to his body, grabbing his bag from a pool of blood and reaching into it to reveal a scroll. “I never wanted anything but peace. I’m not the rest of my family. I retrieved this from Dayton and brought it to Evergreen as a peace offering. At least, that was my plan before you attacked me.”

“Bullshit,” Rinella growled. “You can’t believe this fool. Use your brain, Idan. The Archdemon is manipulative, but–”

One of the guards – the very one that had blocked Rinella’s spike from impaling Moxie – brought the hilt of his sword down for Rinella’s head. She spun, avoiding the blow. There was a loud crunch and the guard flew back, tumbling through the opening in the wall.

A second later, there was a loud crunch. Rinella’s eyes went wide. “Wait. I–”

“Traitor!” Idan thrust his sword. The ground beneath Rinella ripped open and she stumbled, grasping for a shield that was no longer there. A pointed wooden growth shot up from beneath her, running through one of her eyes and bursting out the back of her skull.

Rinella’s body went still. She’d already been severely weakened by her fight with Evergreen, and Idan wasn’t the captain of the guard for no reason. Blood dripped from her skull, pooling at the ruined ground of Evergreen’s estate.

Several guards ran to the edge of the hole to check on the one that had fallen, but the injured man had already started to climb back up. His armor was heavily damaged, but he’d survived the blow.

“I can’t believe it. A plot of this magnitude, right under my nose,” Idan breathed, staring down at Rinella. His knuckles tightened around the hilt of his sword and he slammed it into his sheath, snarling out a curse. He thrust a finger toward Moxie. “Tell me what happened. Now. Do not leave anything out.”

“You saw most of it, Captain. I came with Vermil to speak with Evergreen.” Moxie winced as a jolt of pain ran down her hand, which was still impaled on the wooden spike. “I don’t know what happened, but Vermil attacked her out of nowhere. Rinella started calling out commands and Vermil was following them. Then Evergreen killed him and Rinella killed Evergreen, but now Vermil is right beside you. I–”

Moxie choked and sniffled, tears dripping down her face. “I don’t know what’s going on.”

Idan brought his foot down on the wood, shattering the spike. Moxie’s hand dropped to her side and she bit back a pained yelp.

A guard approached them, holding out a plain gourd. Idan took it, popping the top off and yanking the remainder of the spike out of Moxie’s hand. She nearly convulsed at the violent agony that tore into her and greedily took the potion from Idan, downing it in one go.

Her wounds immediately started to stitch themselves back together. She sank back, breath still coming in terrified, ragged gasps.

“Calm yourself,” Idan growled. “Count yourself lucky. I never thought I’d say it, but your Linwick friend did well. He was kidnapped, likely by some form of shadow magic. These incompetent fools failed to kill him and he reported everything to me.”

Idan’s eyes flicked to Noah. “And you – you were meant to remain in the guardhouse. I suppose it hardly matters now.”

“So… Rinella really betrayed all of us?” Moxie asked.

“It must have been more than her.” Idan’s features were stormy. “This is a dark day. We will need to speak further, but the city must be locked down. Where are your lodgings?”

“I don’t have any right now. We were only visiting because Evergreen summoned us to speak about Emily.”

Idan’s features softened for an instant. “She isn’t here, then?”

“No. She’s on vacation.”

“Good. I’d hate for her to have to see this.” Idan shook his head and heaved the exhausted sigh of a man that knew he had many sleepless nights of work coming up for him. “You’ll report to the guest housing, then. Tell them I sent you. You are not to leave until I come for you. Is that understood?”

“What about–”

“The Linwick goes with you. You’re still responsible for him. If it wasn’t for him, Rinella may have been able to do considerably more damage before we stopped her. This is a disaster, but it could have been a catastrophe,” Idan said. He didn’t spit the word Linwick with quite as much hatred as he once had. There was something else there – the faintest note of grudging respect for an enemy that could have done nothing and watched the chaos unfold, but instead acted for the greater good of all.

Moxie gave Idan a jerky nod. She drew a deep breath, flexing her injured hand. The wound on her palm had mostly sealed up, but it still stung something fierce. She pushed herself upright and a guard stepped forward, helping her up.

“Gerald, escort them,” Idan ordered. “All else, fan out. Lock the city down. Nobody leaves – I don’t care who they are. Gather every branch leader. We get to the bottom of this corruption and carve it free.”

The guard slung one of Moxie’s arms over his shoulder and helped her limp over to Noah. He gave Noah a slight nod, then led the two of them out of the ravaged, blood-splattered remains of the Evergreen estate.