Sisters of the Mists Ch. 12

With all the speed and grace she exhibited in battle, Janelle caught up Marlena in her arms. "We all understand."

"I..." Marlena began, her voice cracking as a sob threatened to well up from inside her.

"Shh," Janelle admonished and hugged the illusionist even tighter. "Let the past be the past."

After offering a final smile, the archer informed everyone else of the situation. "Mache is currently stationed as an advance scout for his training company. He's well out of sight of his company and the grounds here. His company will move even farther in just a short while. I've convinced his teachers to give us some time alone with him, partly because they owe me favors, and partly because they're not fond of the arrogant ass anyway. There shouldn't be anyone nearby when you confront him."

"Where are the others?" Danica asked, surprised to find only Janelle awaiting them.

"They're all in the village," Janelle revealed, the inflection of her voice indicating that she meant the mock village used for training. "They're waiting for us there, and we'll be close enough to help if you need it."

"If we can't handle this demon, you'd be better off sounding the alarm than trying to help us," Ashley warned. "We're as ready as anyone could possibly be for it."

"We'll make sure that happens, but we're not letting you go out there without backup," Janelle declared in tones that indicated she wouldn't accept any alternative.

Celes cut off any further discussion. "Fair enough. Now, let's get to it."

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

Mache leaned against the tree he'd chosen as his watchpost, bored and irritated. He utilized his powers as much as his senses to keep track of his surroundings, and thus felt the touch of magic long before he saw the source.

Danica and Celes led the group, their Art creating an invisible shield before them. A normal person would not have noticed the shield, but Mache was no normal person. He was unconcerned, however, and concentrated instead upon the women the shield protected. Five attractive females evoked the natural response in the lusty demon. "I hope you're not part of some training exercise," he chuckled when they approached within hearing range.

"No, we want to have a little chat with you there, Mache," Celes said, staring him down.

The disguised demon spread his hands wide at his side and said, "I am at your disposal then, Milady."

"Some questions have arisen about how you came to seek training here." Danica followed the script they'd prepared earlier, giving Ashley time to quietly speak the verses that would summon up her magic.

"You need but to ask. I was referred here by..." Mache stopped and snarled as he felt the touch of witchcraft.

"He's a demon," Ashley declared, and almost immediately lashed out with her power over time.

Danica saw Mache slow as Ashley's power wrapped around the demon. She also saw that he was fighting his way free. Ashley had warned them all not to trust her power over time against such a strong, unknown demon. Thus, Danica had not paused before concentrating her mental energy to invade his mind. Unfortunately, the demon didn't provide her with even those precious few moments.

Mache let out a great roar and tore free of the temporal bonds attempting to incapacitate him. His features twisted as he called upon the power of his demonic side to foil Ashley's attack. Fangs and claws emerged, along with smoldering red points in his eyes. Danica had just enough time to register the change before the fireball erupted.

The shields Danica and Celes had erected held — but just barely. While the magic held back the heat, it failed to shield against the shockwave of the fireball's explosion. All five women flew backwards, scattering away from each other as they struggled to regain their footing and balance.

Danica blinked her eyes to clear the afterimage of the conflagration Mache had unleashed. The first thing she saw was the demon leaping toward Andrea, who appeared to have taken a bad tumble. Even as Danica tried to focus, she saw one of Mache's shoulders shoot backward. A glimpse of Celes with her palm facing the demon revealed the source of the attack. Mache recovered quickly, and continued toward the still-groggy blond witch.

Danica summoned up her mental strength again and lashed out at the demon. Mache flinched, but appeared otherwise unperturbed by the lance of mental energy trying to stab into his brain. A potion exploded against Mache's chest, but had no more effect than Celes' power. Danica heard Ashley curse — not a good sign — as she tried a different approach. Concentrating on the demon, Danica did her best to pound her will against his in a gambit to invade his mind.

The demon slowed and snarled, his skin darkening to a deep red and horns pushing through his scalp as he called upon more of his inner power. Mache's hand stabbed downward, his intent to grab Andrea to use her as a shield and bait for the other women. Before he could touch her, he felt a powerful jolt of energy that caused him to jerk his hand away. Various charms of witchcraft and her holy medallion had repelled him. A moment later, she simply vanished.

The air blasted from Celes' lungs as Andrea reappeared to fall on top of her. Celes hadn't thought, she had simply reacted and used her power in a way she'd never tried before. It had removed Andrea to safety, but had briefly taken them both out of the fight.

Though Mache held the upper hand, he realized the danger of this battle. He had tasted witch magic, and not one of the females had fallen to his fire. He swept his claws before him in a tearing motion, having no intention of facing all five females alone.

The resulting sheet of flame roiled, and Mache reached into it without flinching. When he withdrew his black-clawed hands, he pulled forth several man-shaped beings of flame. Bent to the will of the demon, the fire elementals attacked.

Danica tore her mind away from her attempts to attack the demon with her psionic powers. The creature's mind was so shrouded in hate and evil that she couldn't make a dent in it. She spit out a curse when she recognized the fire elementals coalescing, and called upon the power of the runes decorating her skin.

As the runes on Danica's skin flared to brilliant blue life, she saw Mache hesitate. The fire elementals froze in apparent confusion. A momentary glimpse in the second sight let Danica see the vast illusion Marlena had crafted. The landscape had altered, causing trees and hills to appear from nowhere, while some of the natural terrain features faded into invisibility. Marlena's skill with the magic allowed her and her friends to see reality, but it appeared that their foes were not so lucky.

Although Mache could see through the illusion in a hazy fashion, he could tell that his elementals could not. He let out a snarl of irritation and leapt toward Ashley — now his closest target.

Danica released her runic magic, sending forth a frozen cloud toward the demon and elementals he commanded. Two of the denizens from the plane of fire swirled in the cloud and vanished, but Mache passed through without pause. Danica lashed out with her telekinetic power as the demon landed, pushing Mache aside.

Ashley turned her power on herself as the Demon attacked, speeding up time around her to instantly vanish. Once a safe distance away, she spun on the elementals and unleashed her other power. The elementals all froze in place, save for one that had passed out of her range of vision.

Andrea shook her head to try to clear it, only to find her vision filled with a rapidly approaching being of flame. At the same moment, she realized the cold sensation in one of her feet came from immersion in water. She released her power with no semblance of control, magically grabbing every drop of water she could. As had happened in the tub, the small creek seemingly exploded for twenty feet on either side of her.

Celes managed to catch her breath and let a sigh of relief when she saw that everyone was okay. The blast of water from behind startled her, but brought a smile to her lips when it extinguished not only the fire elemental flying toward her, but also another that appeared frozen in place. A water elemental that appeared from nowhere extinguished another.

Ashley's pause to deal with the elementals cost her, as Mache vanished in a crackle of flame to appear right next to her. Before she could call upon her power to escape again, the demon's clawed hand snapped out. Though Mache roared in pain from the charms and magic items protecting the redheaded witch, the backhanded blow struck true. Ashley screamed as she flew through the air, feeling the acute pain of a broken bone in her arm.

Danica poured all her worry and anger into her voice when she unleashed her next runic attack, a cone of cold that forced Mache to retreat. The demon flinched as it stumbled backward, reacting to a telekinetic blast from Celes and a blast of lightning from Andrea. A water elemental that Danica assumed must be another one of Marlena's creations dispatched the remaining fire elmementals.

Danica left part of her mind concentrating on her runic attack while speaking the words of a spell. At this point, she was willing to accept even a temporary banishment of the demon, if the spell worked. She let her icy runic blast wane just as she released the spell.

Mache roared as the banishment spell assaulted him. Though the quick, weaker form of the spell had no chance of removing him from this plane, it certainly caused him pain. He stretched his hand toward Danica, summoning up a crackling ball of flame behind her.

Danica felt the heat just in time to shield her eyes and call upon her runic defenses. The fireball exploded, leaving her enveloped in flame for a few moments. When she could see again, she saw Andrea hurrying toward Ashley. Unfortunately, the demon also saw the blonde-haired witch.

Andrea dived to the ground just in time, allowing the fireball to pass over her — but not harmlessly. She felt the heat when the fireball exploded, and smelled the acrid stench of burning hair. She also saw Ashley flinching as the fire retreated.

Celes' heart leapt in her chest as she watched the fireball engulf her two sister witches. She didn't hesitate when she saw them both alive after the fireball vanished. She called upon her powers and teleported to their side, fortunately without incident.

Marlena sent her water elemental hurtling toward Mache, but the demon swept a black-clawed hand at the phantasm, tearing it asunder in a single strike. The illusionist felt the jolt of her illusion's destruction as her vision swam and her knees grew weak. With a pained gasp, she leaned against a tree and cradled her forehead in her hand. The phantasmal terrain confusing the demon wavered.

A sense of overwhelming danger enveloped Mache as the three witches gathered close together to make physical contact. Realizing that they would have more power when joined, he once again exploded into a conflagration that enveloped the entire area in a rapidly expanding sphere of hellish flame.

Danica didn't even have time to lament the annihilation of her iceball attack with a single curse before Mache's hellfire dissolved the iceball and slammed into her. With her runic defenses already in place, she held her ground against the shockwave, but the flames still obscured her view of the battlefield for long, agonizing seconds.

Ashley cried out in fresh pain from her broken arm as she rolled to a stop. Though the charms protecting her and her sister witches were stronger when together, the blast had nevertheless pulled them apart. Celes had already regained her feet and unleashed an anger fueled slam of her telekinetic power. Mache actually stumbled, his face showing a flash of both surprise and worry. She nearly jumped out of her skin when someone grabbed her arm.

Andrea immediately bowed her head in prayer, calling upon the goddess to heal Ashley's wounds.

Danica saw Marlena slump, a combination of her phantasmal elemental's destruction and the following fireball. Though the illusionary changes to the terrain wavered, they suddenly strengthened. Danica could feel the waves of determination rolling from Marlena as the illusionist called upon reserves of energy to keep her spell in place. She also felt something else.

Jumping on the opportunity, Danica thrust out with her powers of the mind. She penetrated the demon's momentarily weakened defenses for only a second, but it was long enough for her to learn a few bits of crucial information. Mache's instinctive retaliation against her psionic attack stunned Danica immediately thereafter.

Celes whipped a rod out of a special pocket in her robe, aiming it at the demon. The magic weapon, enchanted by Danica, packed several powerful attack spells, including a frigid ray. The beginnings of a satisfied smile tugged at the raven-haired witch's lips as the demon flinched. Not content with that, Celes slammed him with her telekinetic power as well, followed by another blast from the wand. She kept up the furious attack, forcing the demon back a pair of steps.

Mache vanished in a crackle of flame to appear near Marlena, who struggled to stand by bracing her back against a tree. Once again, he tore a gash in the fabric of space to pull forth more elementals. As soon as the living beings of flame swarmed on his foes, he turned on Marlena.

Danica regained her wits just in time, but she had only a fraction of a second to react. She cast the first spell that came to mind, a minor cantrip that even a child with little magic ability could manage.

While possessing powerful protection against most forms of magic, Mache had no defense against the layer of slimy mud that suddenly coated the ground beneath his feet, thanks to Danica's spell. His forward momentum caused his feet to slip, depositing him unceremoniously in the muck below.

Knowing that the charms her friends wore would easily protect against it, Danica chanted the ice storm spell. A powerful magic, it would cover a wide area and certainly give the fire-loving demon pause. It would also devastate the elementals now swarming the battlefield and trying to discern their way through Marlena's illusionary trees. She thrust her hands toward the sky as she finished the spell, unleashing the bitter cold deluge of huge, freezing raindrops and icy pellets.

Mache jammed his black nails into the earth below, searching for something. A moment later, he found it. Summoning up all his strength, he called upon the molten lifeblood of the planet, bringing it toward the surface.

All five women felt the earth tremble and knew something was horribly wrong. As the ground swelled upward, Danica's eyes widened with realization. The earth erupted, spewing forth lava in a fountain up to the tree canopy.

Danica breathed a shuddering sigh of relief when the liquid rock flowed around spheres of protection surrounding each of her friends. The shields did little to help in light of the violent lurching of the earth, however. Danica planted her feet wide and focused her attention on the rising demon, concentrating the power of her ice storm spell on Mache now that the fire elementals had disintegrated.

Mache glanced with irritation at a stinging arrow protruding from his chest. Then, a crossbow bolt thudded into his forehead. At the same time, he felt someone assault his mind, and dozens of icy bolts of magical energy sizzling into his flesh. Battle cries directed his attention to several more mortals approaching the area.

"No," Danica whispered, seeing her old friends approaching. They had protection against magic, but nothing that would stand long against the powerful demon. Reaching out with her mind, she spoke to Celes, Get Ashley, Marlena, and Andrea out of here. I have to save the others. We can't risk them, and nothing seems to be stopping Mache. I learned something important.

I don't like it, but I trust you, Celes replied.

Danica saw Celes touch her sister witches, and all three vanished. They reappeared next to Marlena a few seconds later to join her in the circle. Danica called upon her own magic as the flow of lava boiling forth from the core of the world doubled in height.

"Take my hands, we can't win this fight!" Danica cried as she appeared before Bear and — a surprise to Danica — Brandon leading the charge on the demon.

Just as trusting as Danica's already vanished friends, Brandon and Bear put away their weapons and took Danica's hand. The other Companions likewise added to the chain as they approached. As soon as Terran and Mara clasped hands with the chain, Danica teleported them all away.

Left in the field alone, Mache roared in frustration and relaxed his control over the burning lifeblood of the world. He cocked his head as a little mental voice encouraged him to return to his sire. Knowing that his charade here was ended, and his goal here accomplished by his measure, the demon followed that instinct and vanished in a roar of flame.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

A smug grin of satisfaction decorated Zoraster's face as he watched first Danica and her friends, and then Mache vanish from the scorched, smoldering field of battle. The demon had accepted his subtle mental direction without question, returning to the lair of Meckataur. The magic he had cast many months ago held firm within all of Meckataur's spawn.

"So, you are not invincible, my little rose," Zoraster purred as he rose from his chair. The demon had held his own alone against Danica and her friends, even with the arrival of reinforcements. Mache still lacked experience, and would only prove more effective in battle the next time he faced such dangerous foes.

The Archmage darkened every mirror in the room save one, and sent the magic of the mirror seeking Ebonar.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

"Thank you, Andrea," Ashley said as she experimentally flexed her previously broken arm and touched the spots that had burned from the touch of the demon's fire.

"What in the hells were you all thinking?" Celes snapped at Brandon, her eyes then darting over the rest of the gathered Companions of the Forge.

"It looked like you needed help," Brandon replied sheepishly with a shrug of his shoulders.

"We ill needed the damn distraction. You don't have the Art about you that we do and..." Celes paused and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I'm more than a little riled up right now, and the lot of you scared me to death walking into that nightmare without having all the magic we do protecting us."

Mara stepped forward and said, "We meant only to distract the demon long enough to teleport all of you away, so that you could regroup and better coordinate your attack."

"What's done is done, and we're all alive," Danica interjected and then lifted a singed curl in front of her face, "If not unscathed." She looked at her four friends in turn, each of whom had similar locks of damaged hair, the one thing Andrea hadn't been able to heal with her prayers.

"It gives us an excuse to do something new with our hair," Andrea said as she ran her fingers through her blonde locks.

Danica let out a little chuckle. "I hope we get the chance."

Terran said, "The demon has left the site of the battle, and I do not see him anywhere nearby."

"At least he's not coming here to wreak havoc, then," Celes said with a sigh, and then sat down heavily in a chair.

"If anyone has a map, I'll scry for him. I know enough about him now to pinpoint him, and it doesn't really matter if he knows we're scrying or where we're scrying from," Ashley suggested.

Danica rifled through her bag of holding and located a map of the continent. It didn't have much detail, but should allow Ashley to discern Mache's general location.