Flame of Cytherea 03

She was still angry, very angry, that those fuckers had invaded and killed her sisters. She had been a bit disappointed to find out she would be in the middle of the troops. She wanted to protect Justin; she would be devastated if he followed her sisters without her, or really, died at all. But she wanted to kill the invaders as well.

She would surely be sharp and ready for any of their troops that made it within range of her magic. She had been practicing when she found time alone. Justin had told her about a strange device on his world, called guns. That shot small metal things at high speeds. At first she had been unbelieving that such a small thing could kill when he held his thumb and forefinger much less than an inch apart.

In the past and in her training she had always compressed air into blades, as long and as sharp as a sword. But she gave the strange idea a try and formed highly compressed balls of air that were small. She was taken aback at how little magic it actually took. When she sent them at a tree as fast as she could, well, she was surprised at the devastating result.

She was really looking forward to seeing its effect on one of those Egerian fuck heads...

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Sally was staring at the tent top, listening to Kat's and Justin's poorly disguised fucking, deep in thought. She was actually a little turned on and wistful about it, wishing it was her that his strong arms held from behind as he... she cut off the thought.

She had been confused though, he clearly wanted her, she could see it in his eyes when they spent their daily time together, a time she always looked forward too. At first she was offended that he hadn't, but she thought she understood why.

When she had first come here, she had been obsessed with her dishonor, only to find out the dishonor was her mother's, and she had been under a horrifying spell that stripped her will and forced her to think in a specific way. She thought she understood why her mother did it, she must have been scared she would slip one day and bring the Uleni down on them. Understanding though, was not excusing, it was unforgivable.

Not only hadn't he accepted her absurd oath, he had freed her, saved her, and she had been instantly infatuated and smitten with him. He was a strong and good man, and his body was... she cut off that line of thought when her breathing picked up and she felt a tingle in her core.

She had also found herself bubbly and joking. She was the oldest of them at twenty four, although she still looked closer to twenty. She had never been a bubbly person before.

So she was pretty sure he was denying himself because he didn't want to take advantage of her. She hardly knew herself right now, that spell had completely altered her personality. Add to that her hero worship of him which made her amorous feelings suspect. She was almost sure that's why he hadn't ask her yet, despite the way he looked at her, and the clear signals she had been sending him.

What was so frustrating was she was sure time was the only fix for what was keeping them apart; she needed to ground herself as her own person first. As for her feelings for Justin, she doubted they would go away. They had only grown as they spent time together. But perhaps, they would mature.

When the scent of Kat's arousal reached her side of the tent she almost groaned out loud in frustration. How could they possibly believe it's a secret? With a small sigh she decided she shouldn't be distracted and frustrated today with the coming battle.

She needed relief.

She slowly slid her hands down her body, pinching her nipples on the way down as she constructed a screen around her with magic, to block both outgoing sound and scent. She knew how to keep things a secret... And be as loud as she wanted...

When her fingertips started teasing her core she fantasized about Justin's large fingers, and other things on his body...

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When Nicci woke up, all the others were already moving around and packing up. Unlike Sally, she had no idea why he hadn't approached her, and she had been getting irritable about it. She had taken her own advice and opened up to him, and to some extent the other women.

She was happy she did, as the world of companionship was opened to her. She really hadn't had that before. The people she dealt with in the castle were all nice enough, but she wasn't treated like a person there, they didn't see her, all they had seen was a princess, an ornament.

She could tell Justin was attracted to her. He was more subtle about it than most, keeping eye contact and actually looking at her face most of the time. But she had caught him more than once, out of the corner of her eye, with his eyes lingering over her body when he had thought she wasn't looking.

They had both also enjoyed their time together during the march. She noticed he had made a point to spend a few hours with each of them every day. So what was it that gave him pause? Was she just not good enough for him?

She pushed that thought aside as she got dressed and gathered her things. Today she would have another chance to prove herself. She thought she had done relatively well her first time, although, passing out on the road outside of a town probably wasn't the best ending to her debut battle.

She would prove she wasn't an ornament, maybe then he would take her...

Chapter 12

Justin finally got a glance of the hillock from the scouting reports. Although it was only two miles away, it had taken them close to a half hour to march the distance. It looked more like a ramp, then a small hill. There was only one approachable slope, and based on what he was seeing it would be costly to take.

The sides were extremely steep, and according to the reports, the opposite side was practically a sheer cliff. The enemy was dug in well too; they must have been here for a while. He was a little worried about it, from what he had read back on Earth, the defenders had the much easier time, and they only had six thousand soldiers with them. From what the scouts said, the enemy had about two thirds of that, more than enough to win as the defenders of a siege.

He wasn't sure how accurate it was, but he had heard defenders with fortifications if done right could face ten to one odds.

Of course, he wasn't on Earth, and magical talents would surely rewrite those rules. Still, he knew there was a rule about not letting the enemy pick the battle site, but they didn't really have a choice here. Actually, they did have a choice, the idea of encircling them and choking off their supplies had been considered when he brought it up. The idea being they would be forced eventually to come down and face them in the open, or starve, but too many were against the idea.

They wanted the enemy gone now, out of their kingdom.

He thought it was foolish, a decision based on their emotions and anger, but he wasn't in charge so let it go. They would be attacking. He put his hand on Kat's flank feeling better for her presence. Nora and Sally were close to him too and Nicci was circling above, high enough to take in everything and out of range of any enemy magic, but low enough to respond quickly.

They stopped fairly close to the hill and as they formed the first group of soldiers who would charge what he was sure was a corridor of death, the ground below them rumbled. Sharp spears of rock burst from the ground all around him, impaling the unlucky soldiers to be standing in the wrong place.

Without waiting for the order he put out a short flash that calmed the ground beneath their feet, canceling the magic that had been lying in wait, but the damage had been done. He shook his head as the initial assault group yelled angrily and charged.

He healed those that were still alive, but many, perhaps two hundred of the soldiers were dead. He watched the charge and felt his stomach drop, as he waited for some other trick. To his surprise they advanced quite a bit, meeting minimal resistance and mowing over it. A second assault group was sent, followed by a third.

The better the charge went, the more nervous he got, it didn't make sense. From what he could see of the front lines, it was absolutely chaotic. Fire was thrown around, blades of air, attacks from the ground, weapons flying through the air, walls of stone exploded, trenches were collapsed. It seemed clear they were still advancing, somehow keeping the upper hand in this fight. Their forces were taking out both the enemy and their fortifications while taking negligible losses.

The Egerians were caught up with evil, but they weren't stupid and the enemy commander had proven intelligent so far. He thought it possible that they just had better talents, but thought it far more likely there was a trap just waiting for them to be in position for.

He heard Prince Anton order the middle to advance, and he hoped whatever trick was waiting wouldn't be set off before he was in position. It didn't take long for him to reach the position they had gone over during planning, and he waited for the order. He now had the whole hillock in the range of his magic. Something though, still felt very wrong.

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Arnath watched the enemy army advancing quickly, he could hardly believe how well his plan was going. He turned to the earth talent next to him and ordered, "Wait five more minutes, then start the collapse.

A month ago he may have felt a twinge of guilt at the fifteen hundred men he was intentionally sacrificing, but his soul was so damaged now he felt nothing as he dropped into the trap door and made his way down the tunnel. He had his earth talents working on this for a while, and in a few minutes almost the entire hillock would collapse in on itself.

Almost all six thousand of the enemy troops were already on the slope. He thought most would be killed and buried by the event. But none would get away, he had three thousand more troops, and they were fresh and waiting for the collapse before acting on the order he had given to spring the second stage of the trap.

Sadly, he felt no accomplishment, or really anything about it. He was just following his orders. He would gain this kingdom for his king, and for his new god.

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Nora gasped as she felt the ground shake beneath her. She heard Anton's order and felt flames refresh and protect her as they all lit up in white fire. But the shaking didn't stop and like a wave from the top, the hillock started to collapse in on itself. Whatever had been done with magic, the magic part was done, this was now nothing but a natural collapse and his magic couldn't stop it.

Desperately she reached out with her magic and launched them all backwards, high in the sky. She was having trouble cushioning them all properly for the landing. She sighed in relief when she felt Sally's magic reach out and take over for herself, and Katrina in her large and very heavy tiger form. It was easy to direct the landing toward the base of the disappearing hillock with only herself and Justin to control.

She watched in horror as all but the air, telekinesis, shape shifting birds, and earth talents were swallowed up by the collapsing mountain. Only the thousand or so soldiers near the bottom were unaffected. The talents had managed to save a handful of others as they escaped, but not nearly enough. Outside of Justin and the three women, maybe fifty others made it off the collapsing hillock. She was horrified.

Close to five thousand men dead in just a few seconds.

At the sound of crashing behind her she turned and saw the ground open up and so many soldiers came up out of the ground it wasn't convenient to count. It was a trap that she never could have even thought of much less anticipated. She felt guilty, wishing they had listened more to Justin's ideas. So many dead, and now wasn't the time to deal with it.

She was still surrounded by white fire, and this was their only chance, the odds were stacked against them, at least three to one. She just hoped their initial and limited advantage would be enough. She started using those air... bullets she thought he called them. She felt a surge of satisfaction as a soldier's head practically exploded. She needed to concentrate if they were to have any chance, and she got to work...

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Kat roared and took off another head, her powerful claw tearing it right off the enemy soldier. She watched peripherally as Nora took out a frightening amount of enemies but she was focused on those that got by Nora's hail of air magic. She swore to herself she would not let anything get to Justin. He was on fire and his body was still, using all his concentration to maintain his magic.

She just hoped he could hold on long enough to at least even the odds, if not put them in their favor. The just over a thousand soldiers that were left started to form a line around them which made her feel a little safer, but she didn't let down her guard any. She would die before she let anything happen to him...

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Sally was going to call a storm and lightning, but at seeing the way Nora was using her air magic, so little power with such devastating results, she copied it, and started shooting little balls of air at every enemy soldier she could see. Some things took her a while to learn, but what Nora was doing was simple.

She saw the sky turn cloudy, and felt the magic at work. There was another mage on the battle field and outside the range of Justin's power, as were the clouds above them. She regretfully stopped her assault and concentrated on dispersing the clouds, she was afraid her power would be caught up in simply stopping the other mage. Still, that was better than allowing an attack. She concentrated on the magic in the area, trying to identify where the mage was... Failing that, she concentrated on identifying the next attack.

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Arnath growled in frustration. A damn Flame of the goddess? His trap worked perfectly, but his three to one odds were slowly dwindling as his men were slaughtered, unable to respond with their talents as the gods be damned Flame supported his enemies.

He had tried to create a storm and attack with lightning. He wasn't sure if a Flame's magic could stop that, both he and the clouds would be out of range, and the lightning would actually be a natural force. But there was another mage choking off his efforts. He cursed bitterly as he watched, impatiently waiting for the Flame to tire himself out...

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Nicci was circling after the collapse of the hillock. She saw with relief that Justin and the others were okay, not safe exactly, but had escaped the trap. But she couldn't see her brother Anton anywhere. His form was a wyvern, he should be in the air, he couldn't have been caught...

She cawed loudly in denial, then dove. She needed to kill some enemy soldiers while the white flames were still burning. She passed between the lines flying low, not wanting to get to far from her responsibility. She needed to stay near Justin. She concentrated on her oath, and the grisly job at hand, trying to ignore the tight ball in her stomach and the instincts telling her that her brother was gone.

She needed to be careful though, magic or not they still had crossbows and swords. She tried to conserve her use of magic, but all too soon she was close to out. She had taken out at least two hundred soldiers in quick succession with her fire magic as she flew over and she needed to rest.

She soared back up in the air and couldn't help looking around again. Her eyesight was sharp, and from this height she could see every face clearly below her. She did not see her brother at all.

She had an epiphany at that point, and it was a bitter one. She had been obsessed with proving herself. But she realized the only one that had doubted her, had been herself. She had wanted to prove herself to her brother so badly, but now that he was missing, it was painfully obvious to her that he already did respect her. The others along with Justin treated her like an equal, and listened to her.

She had nothing to prove at all, she wasn't an ornament. She was a powerful woman who had the trust and faith of her friends and family. Thinking back to how often she had talked to Justin about proving herself to be more than a title and fluff, it became clear exactly what he was waiting for before inviting her to his bed...

He was waiting for her to grow up. She had been acting like a self absorbed little girl.

She felt restored, mostly thanks to Justin's white flames, and dove back down to take out more of them...

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Justin stood there, with his eyes closed, imagining sitting around a table with Kat, Nora, Nicci and Sally. He focused on them, and what love he had for each, as he pushed out his power the best he could. He dare not move or distract himself.

He had felt the anger rising a few times, but had pushed it down, focusing on keeping his loved ones safe and healthy, rather than what had just happened.

He had a lot to be angry about. He was angry he hadn't pushed harder to make a better plan than to charge in where the enemy waited. He was angry that Anton didn't listen to his reasoning. They had been so confident of success, especially with his help, that he had let his concerns fall.

He had made a dreadful mistake, he knew it wasn't his responsibility, but he surely had a partial claim to it. All this fought for his attention in his mind as he focused on the women around him, fighting to keep him safe as he fought to keep them safe.

That was all that mattered, if they lived through this, they could deal with the rest of it then.

He felt his energy dwindling and risked opening his eyes. His women and the other fifty talents had managed to kill around a thousand of them, maybe a little more, but they were still looking at close to two to one odds, and he simply didn't have anything left. Maybe they should have run?

He mumbled, trying to keep his concentration, "I'm about out, maybe we should retreat?"

Then he felt a rumbling below in the earth and he heard Anton's voice scream out, "ATTACK!" as close to a thousand men emerged in the field from the same holes the Egerian soldiers had used just fifteen minutes ago. He started laughing in hysterical relief as the thousand men with him surged ahead and a general melee started. The odds had been cut back to about even, but the moral of the enemy troops wasn't all that high and they were off balance from being taken by surprise.

The Abelawethan soldiers quickly routed the enemy, very few escaped...

He was grinning with relief when Anton walked over and explained, "When the hillock collapsed, about ten of the earth mages decided to just fall in while controlling it. They managed to save a thousand of us and led us to those tunnels," he frowned, "Still, today's victory feels like a defeat, we lost four thousand good men to that trap, I should have listened to you. I failed those men with my arrogance. I was a fool on top of that, for not heeding the wise words of a Flame of Cytherea."

With a feeling of dread, he watched Anton fall to his knees and make an oath, "The strength of Abelaweth is yours in this troubled time, I Prince Anton will take orders from you in regards to this war only, for the duration of it, and pledge the support of the crown behind your decisions. Do you accept this oath?"

From what he could understand, Anton was putting him in charge of the war effort. If he accepted, it would be all his responsibility. Well he had been angry they didn't listen to him, but he wasn't sure he wanted the full responsibility for it either. He suppressed a sigh, time to put his money where his mouth was so to speak.

"I accept."