Page 69 of Pawns of Salistya

‘Mazyr, Amire, do you think you can combine your magic to create a shield to hold back these waves? Mer needs to work on bringing the water level down,’ I said.

‘On it,’ Mazyr nodded before grabbing Amire’s hand. The spark of their twin magic started as a small ball in their joined hands before growing bigger. The twins worked in sync with one another, raising their free hands to frame a rectangular shape before pushing their magic out and across the length of the strip of beach. We watched as the fifty-metre-high shield shimmered into place, effectively stopping the waves from crashing onto the shore.

As Mer started to work on the water levels, I started to see more of the massive beast. I had never seen anything like it. It was the biggest I had ever seen. It had at least twenty thick tentacles crashing against the waves as it made its way closer to the shield. The dwindling water levels did nothing to stop its pursuit.

I turned to Slaviya, kissing my middle fingers and placing them on my chest, ‘For the Goddess Wystia, God Merlot and the continent of Fyriane.’ I wasn’t ready to throw in the True Infinite part yet. Not until we sorted out our shit.

Her eyes flashed, noting my change of wording. But she didn’t do anything other than kiss her own fingers and placed them on her third eye. ‘Protect our family.’

With a nod, I latched onto her hand and shot us into the air, flying towards the beast. I reached out my free hand, counteracting the twins magic to create a hole in the shield for us to fly through. As we approached, the purple, scaly creature let out a shriek of rage. Its wide mouth opened to reveal an endlessly dark pit framed by hundreds of sharp teeth. One of its tentacles flicked out in an attempt to strike me just as Slaviya pulled and directed Rynelle’s fire to weaken the beast. The hit landed, bringing another shriek as the tentacle burned.

I concentrated on the beast’s physical presence, lifting its heavy body out of the water. While Slaviya continued to work with the fire to slow the tentacles down, I grabbed a long dagger sheathed on my thigh. I imbued fire and air into the weapon, creating my own green fire dagger, and flung it at the tentacles. In one clean cut, tentacles started to drop into the water one-by-one. I commanded my weapon back into my hand only to repeat the process again and again.

As predicted, the lack of water was making it increasingly harder for it to breathe, slowing the beast down. Between Slaviya’s fire and my dagger, we made quick work of the tentacles until there was only one left on its body.

A sudden yell to my left pulled my attention. One of the stray tentacles had re-formed to create smaller versions of the beast and it had latched onto Slaviya’s leg, pulling us down into its awaiting mouth. I saw more beasts appearing from the tentacles, those on shore moving to intercept them. Shit. I’d never encountered this before.

I ceased using my magic on the larger beast, letting it drop into the water as I called upon my dagger to make quick work of the beast holding onto Slaviya. Whatever was on the tentacles had stopped Slaviya’s ability to use her magic. She plummeted towardsthe crashing waves. I lashed out with my magic to gain a firmer grip on her body as I hauled us higher, creating some distance from the beast before teleporting back to the shore.

‘Rynelle, get Lyzia. She needs a healer,’ I screamed. I turned back to the beast and readied myself to finish it off. But a thought struck my mind when I saw the Marlysts and Nyarelleans shimmering with gold.

I turned to Xylan. ‘Do you think you’d be able to help by controlling the beasts mind? Do you have that kind of power?’

‘I’ve never tried with a beast but it’s worth a shot. How many are there now?’

‘There’s the main creature and the smaller ones from the tentacles.’

‘Should be doable, but I’ll need to come with you through the shield.’

I nodded, grabbing his hand before he could protest. I ignored the warmth under my ear.

‘Don’t let go of my hand. If you focus on the main creature, I can take care of the rest,’ I shouted, not bothering to pay attention to his response as I flew us over the ocean, back to the beasts.

I threw up my other hand, calling the green fire to my palm as I got to work attacking the smaller tentacles as they rose out of the water. The creatures now were significantly easier to dispose of. I presumed it had something to do with them not being attached to the main creature. That, and my green fireballs were effective.

After making quick work of the regenerated beasts, I turned my attention to their source to come up short. It was laying on the surface in a blissful state, purring its little heart out. I couldn’t help but laugh as I turned to Xylan with an inquiring look.

‘Turns out it quite enjoys belly rubs. So, I made it think it was in the great depths of the ocean getting them,’ he smirked.

I allowed my chuckle to linger before concentrating on the task at hand. I reached for my dagger again and aimed for the middle of its body. Poised for the killing shot, a gold shimmer fell around us, a head bobbing out of the water shocked me into not releasing the weapon.

The creature looked human with long white hair, and the same nose and lips, but that’s where the similarities ended. Its ears were covered in purple scales and shaped like pectoral fins. Its smile revealed two elongated fangs curving downwards to his chin. But the most startling feature were the eyes – they were crystal clear, like a quartz stone. The pupils were a dark blue slit, mimicking that of a reptile. All in all, the creature was freaky.

‘Well, it’s not nice to treat my pet like this. Do you Fyrianeans not know how to be hospitable?’ the creature, clearly male, taunted, moving towards the beast before laying his human-like torso over its body. A purple, scaly tail flicked behind the creature, curling up on the last tentacle of the beast.

‘It’s okay baby,’ he crooned at the beast, running his hand up and down its belly. ‘We’ll be gone soon.’

What. The. Fuck.

‘Who are you?Whatare you?’ I demanded.

‘I am Lars. I am a merman,’ the creature stated matter-of-factly, like I should already know this.

‘Give me one good reason, Lars, that I shouldn’t destroy you and that beast right this sec –’ I started.

‘Now, now, mage. Intruding on someone’s mind isn’t a great start to building a working relationship, is it?’ He cut me off, eyes narrowed in accusation towards Xylan.

My gaze swung to Xylan. His fuchsia eyes flashed in determination as his lips twisted into a sneer. ‘Working relationship? I’m thinking I should ruin your mind from the inside out, while my partner ruins you physically. Don’t need a working relationship for that.’

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