A Dark Path - Prt 08

Ursa Blacksong - 103rd of Autumn YSTR 112

“ It pains me to admit but often enough one finds that they are not the hero of the story. Sometimes I am reminded that I am just a bit player in the tales of others greatness. ”

...

Ursa only just had enough time to cast a defensive barrier using the magic contained within her sword to fortify the spell just before the dark magics being employed by the High Priest slammed into her like some unearthly weight driving her to her knees. A bone numbing cold sinking into her hands even through the thick leather of her gloves.

“Fucking Necromancer!” Ursa hissed sharply as she focused her energies into the barrier to reinforce it as the High Priest let loose the spell a second and third time.

“Iterum atque iterum!!!” The High Priest screamed once and then again. “Iterum atque iterum!!!”

A scream escaped her lips this time as the spell slammed into the barrier again and again and again. The defensive barrier finally collapsing as Ursa’s magical blade shattered to pieces in her hands as the dark magics overwhelmed it.

Her hands moved to her belt pulling free two pairs of throwing blades from their sheaths as she cast her own spell channeling her energies into the four small blades before she threw them at her foe. “Quaerite Cor!!!”

Once in the air the small blades gained speed as they spiraled through the air at their target. The High priests defensive magics knocked the first two blades away with ease while the third and four struck home with unnatural precision. A sharp cry of pain escaping the man as he was knocked from his feet into the snow.

“Oh, you fucking whore!” The High priest screamed as he rolled onto his belly in the snow and forced himself to his knees coughing black blood into the snow before him.” I’ll fucking kill you!”

Ursa hissed her annoyance as she stepped back trying to collect her energy for her next attack, more than a little surprised that the bastard even had the energy to move given how much magic he had channeled into his first set of attacks.

Taking a deep breath the High Priest dug his hand into the snow pushing himself to his feet channeling his remaining energy into his next spell. “Multiplex missilium!!!”

There was a sound not all that unlike an arrows passing by her ears on either side of her when suddenly a loud ringing filled her ears just before she collapsed to her knees in the snow.

…

“Son of a bitch…” Her voice came suddenly.

“What?” A softer more feminine voice answered.

“ Don’t tell me this bastard just fucking killed me…” Ursa cursed her own stupidity.

“No, not even close …” Orla spoke softly before shaking her head in disbelief “ You’re just in shock from the pain of your injury. You just need a moment for the healing magics to kick in and repair the damage is all.”

“ Shit…” Ursa sighed softly. “ I’ve slipped into the dreaming again.”

Orla nodded. “ You’ve never left, there will always be a party of you here just like there will always be a part of me here with you.”

“I thought…. I thought you had escaped this place?” Ursa questioned softly.

“Orla for her part simply shrugged her shoulders. “ The answer is both yes and no. It’s a little more complicated than me simply being here or being there. A part of me remains trapped within the prison of your grandsire’s making while another part of me is more or less alive and well in Zatar doing whatever it is I’m doing there. ”

“What about you being here and now.” Ursa asked.

The fey smiled resting her hand on Ursa’s breast. “ Another small part of me resides here within you as well.”

Ursa smiled warmly at her friend. “ And where in Zatar are you, I shall come and …”

“ I’ll be long gone from that place by the time you arrive.” Orla spoke softly, pressing her finger to Ursa’s lips to silence her. “ Listen now and understand, there are enemies there of whom you are not yet aware awaiting your coming even now within the borders of nations. It is better that you keep your distance from those places and do not seek me out.

“Wait, I don’t understand … “ Ursa questioned.

“Wait for me and in time I will find you.” Orla spoke firmly. “ Promise me. ”

“I... I promise.” Ursa spoke the words as the dreaming faded.

…

Ursa drew a deep shuddering breath as her senses returned to her. The pain of her injuries nearly overwhelming as her magic worked to restore her.

“Dare you question my power, witch…. ” The High priest grumbled to himself as he stumbled through the snow towards her. A sharp gasp escaping him as he pulled free one of the throwing blades from his chest. “ … fucking slut, I’ll slit that throat ear to ear as payment for your folly and then...”

‘And then what?” Ursa coughed, spitting her own blood into the snow as she balling her hand into a fist feeling the dark silver ring on her finger that the Ancient elder of her bloodline had gifted her. “ Animate my dead corpse to amuse yourself with when your in the mood perhaps?”

“You...” The High Priest spoke seemingly taken aback by her sudden announcement. Surprised perhaps because she was not quite as dead as he thought she should be.

“Me indeed…” She hissed channeling her power through the ring. “Contritio Canite!!!”

The force of her magics gathered in an instance coming from above like some great weight crushing him into the frozen earth breaking bone and crushing limbs in a sudden powerful motion. An agonizing scream escaping him as he lay in a broken heap where he had once stood.

“Iterum!!!” Ursa commanded again her magics once more gathering in the air above the man slamming downwards against the hard earth a second time.

“Iterum!!!” She commanded a third time just for good measure.

...