The moment the words left Umbra’s mouth everyone went on guard. His own men perked up at the mention of impending battle. The only one who looked against this was the woman Umbra had called Zilha.

  “Umbra, stop this at once. You will only push her away.”

  Umbra tore his eyes away from Kael for long enough to look at her and snort.

  “Can’t do it.” he mocked. “Plus she’ll come around when she realizes what we’re offering.”

  Zilha’s eyes bulged as she growled at him.

  “Well, we refuse to take part in this. My Mages, we leave now.”

  Emily could see that Umbra had complete control over most of the fighters here. She had expected the Mages to listen to Zilha, but they remained motionless.

  Zilha saw this and scowled.

  “What has gotten into all of you?!” she hissed.

  “Ah, well boss man knew you wouldn't be able to cut it, so he gave their command to me. And I’d say the diplomatic path has dried up, wouldn’t you?”

  “Umbra! I won’t be ignored like this!” Zilha started, but she was cut short when Umbra threw a dagger at her face.

  Emily had to give it to her, her reactions were impressive. A vibrant screen of ruby red enveloped her in a half dome, and she deflected the dagger with ease. However, in her haste to defend, she didn’t notice one of the fighters arrive next to her, plunging a dagger through her back and into her heart.

  Zilha screamed and Umbra smiled.

  “Take a nap. This will all be done when you wake up.”

  The woman dropping into the sand was like a starting pistol. Both groups turned on one another and attacked. It was clear everyone had been picking out their targets before because a hail of projectiles and skills were suddenly let loose on both sides.

  Ashe slammed her hands together and pulled a sheet of sandstone out from below them. The sounds of arrows plinking against it were drowned out but the battle cries, but Ashe wasn’t done there. Lifting her other arm she pulled a secondary wall up to chest height and thickened it. The Wandering Fangs took refuge behind the makeshift barriers as Umbra’s fighters closed in.

  “Form a line, Anyone with ranged weapons in the middle. I’ll take care of the leader,” Kael shouted.

  Emily did not like their odds, but she wasn’t going to waste time questioning them now. She lowered her gown over her body and concentrated on Tested flesh. The interesting thing about this skill is that it was always working in the background. She wasn’t able to pierce her hand with the blunt knives they had in their mess kits anymore, but when she concentrated, her skin thickened like leather.

  Confident in her own defence she layer Alex in a Vital Shell.

  She only just managed to get this off before a massive ball of water crashed into the wall Ashe had put up.

  Its force sent over a dozen people flying including Emily, Alex, Ashe, and even Cupcake. As she crashed on the ground she found she was not even dazed thanks to her new defence. Hopping to her feet she search for the source of the attack.

  As it turned out the six Blood Mages in the center of the enemy ranks were working together. Near the front was a man who was creating another ball of water. He pricked his finger on his dagger and a tiny drop of blood mixed in with the spell causing it to double in size.

  As it was shot at them Emily absentminded thought. ‘So that's what normal blood magic looks like.’

  “Emily, get down!” Ashe screamed as she created another wall.

  Only this one was not nearly as thick and the water crunched through it with ease. The wave washed over them with crushing force, and Emily found it almost absurd—they were in the middle of a desert, yet here she was, being swept away as if caught in a sudden flood.

  The difference this time was that she managed to hang onto Ashe's wall and the moment there was an opening she retaliated with a spear at them.

  They spotted the attack and responded in unison. When the deadly spear reached them it hit an invisible hand and liquified harmlessly. It floated around them in a ring and Emily could feel her connection to her blood severed in that instant.

  “Well, shit…” Emily muttered before her own blood was shaped into dozens of needles and shot out in all directions.

  Emily scowled and held out her arm in an attempt to stop them but she couldn’t regain control and a ten-centimeter projectile bit into her palm.

  The moment it did, however, she found an opening and regained control but only of those that stabbed into her. The rest scattered into Ashe’s wall or their frontline.

  Emily cursed again before she glanced back at Ashe.

  Nox had appeared from nowhere and he was glancing over at Emily. She shot him a scowl as another jet of water crashed into the wall.

  Nox however was busy he started to make gestures and sent his palms out in all directions, creating a large plume of air that sent sand spitting in all directions.

  It couldn’t do much more than blind people but it was enough. Ashe then stepped in, she finished a series of gestures, and thirty pebble-sized rocks gathered in the air and began raining down on people. The nearest fighters yelped in pain and backed off.

  The attack was far from lethal, but Emily noticed Ashe gripped a coin tightly, though she still refused to let it loose on their enemies.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Emily however was not as kind, pulling source in from her bridge, she pulled her scepter out and charged it.

  The orb collected at the tip and she fired it off, and then another, and another. The breaks between the blasts became shorter and shorter as Emily pushed more energy into the artifact.

  Every shot sent people flying in all directions as they crashed into either hard stone or soft pockets of sand.

  In the meantime, Kael had moved to block the opening just as Umbra arrived. Vapour protected him from any stray projectils and when the dagger arrived his spear rose to meet it. The two exchanged several blows in less than a second. Out of the corner of her eye, Emily could tell Umbra was faster but Kael had the reach and flexibility to contend with him.

  Turning back to the Blood mages Emily’s eyes widened as a blackened cloud began gathinging over their heads.

  “Oh, you have got to be kidding me” Emily yelped when thunder echoed across the open plains.

  Arcs of lightning began building up in the cloud and then shot out as a targeted bolt of plasma.

  It was heading towards the center of their formation, but Ashe stabbed a pillar of sandstone into its path, which pulled it off target and into the earth.

  The Blood mages weren’t dissuaded though, they continued to grow the cloud above their heads until it was almost entirely covering the battlefield.

  Emily stared up at the spell in awe, so this was what high-level Mages could do.

  Suddenly a bolt of lightning struck down at her and she cursed raising an umbrella of blood, connecting it to the surrounding stone and sand.

  The heat cooked the blood in a flash but diverted the attack. Whatever lighting managed to get through was barely enough to singe her new skin.

  “You fools, don’t kill her!” Umbra shouted from the front. Kael capitalized on the distraction but Emily had other things to worry about, namely Alex.

  Alex had been moving closer to Kael and Umbra's fight by cutting his way through their enemies. On more than one occasion they had attempted to stop Alex but the man had activated his artifact and cut right through their weapons and then them.

  The fighter that had found him didn’t use any weapon and instead fought with her hands and feet. She danced in and out of Alex's range to deliver powerful pouches, a few of which Emily flinched at the impact.

  Seeing he was on the backfoot Emily used the ‘lift’ spell to send the woman to the ground, after which Alex descended on her.

  There were not too many casualties yet as it seemed their fighters were just a hair better, but number-wise things weren't looking good. They had worked through just under half of Umbra fighters but they were all exhausted.

  Then came the rain and with it more lightning. Ashe and Nox tried to stop what they could but when the attack could come for anyone it was difficult to adjust.

  Emily realized she had to go in. If Umbra was serious then that couldn’t attack her, right? At least not with lightning.

  So dashing out from Ashe's wall Emily made a beeline for the group of Blood Mages. She ran across the battlefield, hearing Ashe scream her name, but ignored the woman.

  Emily closed the distance and leveled her scepter at them, but when the orb of force shot out at them, one of the Mages backhanded the sphere and sent flying off in another direction.

  Seeing it would not be effective she put the relic away and shot a crescent of blood at the frontmost Mage. During her last attack, she’d realized that they could not control her blood as long as she remained in contact with it. So she’d kept a chain of blood connected to her deadly projectile, sadly they had prepared for this already as a glowing red shield sprang up to block the attack.

  Emily was much closer now, ready to stab them all to death with her gown. But before she could strike, one of the Mages suddenly stepped out from behind the shield, a chain of blood in his hands. He hurled it toward her, the links coiling around her right arm, small spikes digging into her hardened flesh. She barely registered what had happened when another chain wrapped around her left arm and leg.

  Two more ran from the shield but this time the change of direction pulled Emily's stance off balance as her left leg slid in the sand.

  Emily created a bolt and shot it at the Mage who had her left leg but it splattered against a red pane, and all at once her right leg was snared too. They continued running until they were on opposite sides of Emily and they planted their feet and yanked.

  Emily yelped, not from pain, but because she was now splayed out and unable to move anywhere.

  The fresh chains around her ribs and neck were the last straw. Emily called to her blood, ready to carpet bomb the area, but just like in the tower, it never responded. Or to be more accurate, it did, but the life force rushed down the chains and into the six Mages holding her down. Emily screamed and struggled but her physical strength was enough to beat six people. To make matters worse the Blood Mages were drawing off her greedily. Emily could see thier faces, first looks of surprise, and then, ecstasy, as they drank from her life source.

  Emily tried to use a ‘lift’ spell but her hand was suddenly trapped in blood and unable to make gestures. She tried to close herself off from them but their blood chains had created a direct connection to them.

  Emily called out to Cupcake in desperation and both felt and heard her roar echo out into the night.

  A flash of red lept over the fortifications and sped towards her. Emily saw a person clinging to her saddle and found herself hoping it was Alex.

  But as they nearer Emily’s eyes widened as Selia lept off Cupcake's back and brought her greatsword down on the nearest captor.

  The Mage saw it coming but they were too fast and cleaved through his side. He went down screaming. Selia turned to strike another Mage, but he fired a black projectile at her. She tried to dodge, but it veered toward her. When she raised her blade to block, it curled around her guard and stabbed just above her heart. Selia went down just as Cupcake lunged at the man who threw the attack but was sent flying in a powerful wave of blood-red light that consolidated into a huge barrier of crimson, sealing Emily inside with them.

  She could feel her vitality being used to fuel the spell.

  The Mages had drawn out over a hundred lives from Emily at this point and she was starting to feel light-headed. She could see Cupcake thrashing at the dome and Selia lying in the sand as black veins spread out over her skin.

  Emily was a strong woman, but she could admit when she felt trapped.

  Panic crept in, and tremors followed. The others were pinned by Umbra’s men, and though he had ordered them not to kill her, their faces were those of starving animals, drinking in more of her life. Surely they had taken enough by now. Where was Kael? Was Selia alive?

  Just when she thought she was going to lose it, her chaotic thoughts stilled, and Emily took a steadying breath. These Blood Mages were amazing at their craft, but that was it.

  Theirs was trained into them—Emily was different.

  This had always been a part of her.

  Emily clamped down on her power holding it in place as she opened her eyes. Blood wept from the corners of her eyes and she began to reverse the flow.

  Gradually at first, but it built up quickly. The Mages looks of excitement turned to sorrow and then despair as she wrestled her power back from them bit by bit.

  The first man who attempted to close the connection got a barb of blood through his stomach, his own chain turning on him.

  Emily tore her vitality away from their grubby hands and when she had collected every scrap, she began feeding on theirs. Their wails became more desperate as they tried to break the connection any way they could be she refused to let them.

  Emily sent a cord slithering toward the Mage Selia had injured, and stabbed it into the man. He was still alive but unable to resist, so she drained him too.

  One by one they went down until only the last man remained.

  They hadn’t spoken a word since the fight began but he squeaked one out now.

  “...Please…” he said with agony in his eyes

  Emily didn’t even flinch, she felt nothing for him as she ripped the last of his life away, swallowing it down too. The rush hit her like a wave, knocking her flat. Each of them had hoarded over twenty stolen lives—but now they were hers. And that’s when the ground began to tremble.

  Blood points: 486