Excerpts from “Zeyr” Part 4 - Emily

He straightened. “How close?”
“One hundred yards at most.”
Alex thought a moment, biting his lip. Then he smiled evilly, saying, “Hmm.... I think our arrows could reach that far.”
Everyone stood and the archers nocked their arrows to a ready position. Getting back on their dragons, the group flew low, trying to get a better starting point so the possible avalanche wouldn’t hit them so hard.
“Captain! Captain!” a Zikkanian shouted up ahead. Sissca’s heart began to thunder loudly and she hoped it wasn’t what was giving them away. “There! Over there!”
“Uh-oh,” Alex alleged.
Then the fighting began. Some Darthayslians and Kakálians fought their adversary in the air with arrows and magic, but most used swords on the ground. Both sides had stored some of their energy within their weapons, so everything was doubly deadly. This made Sissca’s job extremely difficult as this was something she really hadn’t counted on.
“Consentiay! Consentiay!” she shouted frantically, once accidentally misfiring and healing one particularly badly injured Zikkanian with a hernia. “Darn!”
“Don’t freak, Sissca!” Alex shouted, his sword magically fighting for him. “Darn, that was their caster, too….”
Most of the soldiers fighting for Kaká and Darthayslia used magic, especially the druids, though some knew that their skill lied in sword-fighting, and did so. Others, such as Alex, used magic to help with their weaponry, which several found to come in handy at good use. It was not quite so bloody as Sissca had expected, most using magic while they could. But after several minutes of keeping up with the other, the Zikkanians used what their group knew they would: Rocks. Large rocks.
“Oh, snap!” Alex shouted as one flew very close to his head. “Fight giant flying rocks with giant flying rocks, my homeys!”
Sissca wondered where that word came from at that point in time, but followed his instructions. “Sarmia[1]!” A boulder coming at her head was repelled by her, the enemy, her, the enemy….
Catch this! Fatani yelled telepathically and thrust a once-potentially dangerous-now-under discrimination of the law-boulder[2] at one of their opponents.
[1] Sarmia (sar-MEE-uh) : Kakálian - A Kakálian reflecting spell used to repel large objects back to whoever sent them by automatically firing the same spell backwards (Literal - “reverse”).
[2] A.k.a., “deadly”.It had been almost half an hour, and Sissca was about ready to give up. She was panting, tired, her brain had worked to its fullest, and she was still very nervous. Alex and Fatani along with Zixxi[1] seemed to be enjoying themselves
[1] Zixxi, a female Kakálian humanoid, is a cross between a black mare and a human. She is known best for her archery and magic, especially the combined two. She joined the group of rebels on Mount Thrista. Though the druid is rather nutty about nature, she is the proud owner of the Magacondra Mesinda, and is well appreciated for her help.however. Even Darkaî had flown in for some of the action, and suddenly, and somehow unsurprisingly, they found themselves winning.
“Keep it up!” Alex continued. “Pretend the boulder’s your sibling’s head!”
The group sped up the action at this thought and were abruptly confident that they would make it, defeating the Zikkanians.
A blow dealt to one the opposing captain’s heads was enough for Zikka.
“Yes! Yahoo!” Alex bellowed as one of their foes captains told to retreat.
“Back out, back out!” was heard in the distance, even over the loud cheering.
“Finish them!” Darkaî shouted, pointing to the group running away.
“Rawhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide!” Alex replied.
“Oh, for heavens sake….” Darkaî sighed, and the army followed their enemies out, whooping, until they disappeared on their dragons.

* * * * *

“I hate Zikkanians, I hate Zikkanians, I hate Zikkanians….”
“Aw, cheer up, Sissca! We won!”
“Yeah, but it was still rather bloody….”
“And nothing in comparison to what you will be witnessing in the days to come. Trust me.”
Yeah right, Sissca thought. Trust Darkaî after that? Instead of repeating this aloud, she said a bit fast, “What will I be seeing, then?”
“Nothing pretty. I have been in several wars, none short of terrible,” Darkaî replied stoutly.
“Bet you Zarrok that Darkaî was looking in a mirror during all the fighting,” Alex whispered to Sissca jokingly.
“What comes now?” Sissca asked, pretending she hadn’t heard that oddly suspicious statement.
“Now? Dunno, pizza?”
Darkaî sighed. “No, not quite, schlemiel. They will send back reinforcements in a few moments, I expect.”
“Get ready. They’re bound to send in reinforcements,” Alex replied, pretending he had known this all along.
Sitting under the face of the cliff again, the group waited patiently for someone from the opposing to come at them once more.
“How do we even know they’ll come?” Vercka asked realistically.
6 Excerpts from “Zeyr”

“They will,” Darkaî replied solemnly to her skeptics. “Viscroy will yell at them and then tell them to return here for a second round and, more than likely, a failure.”
“True, true….” Alex nodded as if he knew what he was talking about.“You think they’ll send in the psychics[1]?” Zixxi inquired of Darkaî, a note of fear in her voice.
“Indubitably.”
Sissca, Alex, and Zixxi swallowed hard at this grim thought.

* * * * *

“The red bloods are coming, the red bloods are coming!”
Everyone suddenly woke fully to see what the ruckus was about.
“Get ready, they’re fully loaded,” Alex whispered.
The assembly of humanoids gathered themselves to full attention. They were more aware now that Darkaî had left them about their own wits, and archers nocked arrows far before necessary out of nervousness.
Sissca ran through all the spells she had ever been taught, preparing for the worst from her rivals. Zikka normally had very strong lines, but maybe this was a bad day for them…. Nonetheless, and with that seed of hope, Sissca was going to make the most of this battle.
“On my signal,” Alex whispered. “One, two, three….Go!”
Once the battle had begun, Sissca came out to help a little after everyone else, wondering for her position. Alex was using his sword again, but this time, Sissca got on the back of Fatani. “I’m going to look from above instead,” she explained, really not wanting to see much of the blood after the Zikkanians began their physical dirty work.
Do you think we’ll make it? Fatani asked incredulously of their success so far.
Sissca didn’t answer, being too busy healing someone far below. “Consentiay, consentiay….”
Flying higher, the air became relatively thin, but Sissca had a clear view of the cliff side below. She winced at every hit to one of the Darthayslians and Kakálians, feeling sick at the stomach as the differently colored blood splattered form their gashes and sword-made wounds. In a desperate situation that Sissca was unfortunately subjected to watch, a Kakálian used an extremely tiring spell that split open the front of her enemy. Sissca quickly turned away, already having watched the effects of this spell twice, both very gory.... She stopped watching below for a moment, but realized it impossible to cast without knowing who you’re casting on, so she reluctantly turned her gaze back to the ground,
[1] The psychics are humanoids highly practiced in telekinesis, the movement of objects through the mind, and telepathy, speaking with the national language of the mind. They are normally made a threat because good psychics can communicate plans to each other and carry them out completely secretly and thus in a deadly fashion.continuing her work from this height until another flying Zikkanian came towards her on a large blue dragon. Not quite as fast as Fatani, Sissca and her dragon managed to pull away from the oncoming soldier and cast from behind. Panicking a bit the last second, she missed a simple pressure spell. Fatani turned to the ground and flew downward instead as if in practice. Comprehending this mistake, she turned up once more with an unsatisfied expression. Sissca continued to try to hit the opposing’s dragon, but missed reiteratively.
Alex pulled up on his borrowed dragon and helped Sissca to take this one down by slashing him from the back. “You okay?” he asked shortly as this one fell.
“Yeah,” Sissca answered, out of breath.
Alex flew back downwards to help with the real action and Sissca was left to heal alone again. She sighed and tried to think of a spell to conjure up lost blood for a nasty situation beneath her.
Zixxi must’ve reckoned something had gone very wrong as she’d blown the Lunar Conch[1] to call her Magacondra[2], Mesinda. That, or she just wanted to show the Zikkanians her stuff before they fled again. Mesinda was very visible below on the green mountainside, being bleach white, sectioned by her bones, and enormous at that. Even from this height, Sissca recognized the spinning magnet inside of her otherwise empty head, the polar magnets keeping her moving. And though she normally, and under command correctly, thrashed about to destroy her competitors, she could be seen drinking in the souls hungrily of those found dead underneath her. Sissca thought Zixxi had kept a secret for a while after the incident last time, but now she hoped that the Magacondra would be a help more than a hurt.
Sissca laughed a little bit somehow at this sight.
“You can eat the souls of the dead later, Mesinda! Kill them now!” Zixxi said commandingly, and Mesinda reluctantly followed these strict orders from her struggling master.
Darkaî had returned to continue helping this otherwise faltering group. He went through the Zikkanians very easily as if simply cutting grass. Sissca calmed down a bit after seeing this. With Darkaî around, what could go wrong?
Viscroy[3].
8 Excerpts from “Zeyr”

All color drained from Sissca’s face when the red Darkalinite appeared for the Zikkanians aid. Several below must’ve also noticed as most of the fighting had stopped. Viscroy, of course, went straight for Darkaî. There must have been a few
[1] Lunar Conch (LOO-nur COHN-kk) : Kakálian - A Kakálian instrument that is extremely rare and made out of a Magacondra’s horn, called the Lunar Conch because people once thought that Magacondras could only be found on the moons of Volataelia. They can call the lethal animal the Magacondra to aid them or use the conch to imitate their deadly cry (Literal - “moon caller’s instrument”).
[2] Magacondras are dead Darkalinites whose souls are condemned to the Earth. They are made of completely of bones of other dead animals, all looking different but with the same horns, and drain the souls of their enemies to help sustain their own. Their cries can kill anyone who hears for too long.
[3] The red Darkalinite Viscroy is Darkaî’s worst enemy. He took Darkaî’s position in the Empire before Darkaî was shunned as an outcast, and Darkaî intends to make the rest of his long life (continues below) miserable while ruling the Empire in his spare time. Viscroy is terribly powerful in especially melee, and being eighteen feet tall, he is menacing and strict. His only match in combat is Darkaî.brave and warlord-like phrases being said before any real fighting began, but Sissca was too high up to catch any of it. Instead, she and Fatani watched in wonderment as Darkaî started slashing at Viscroy, and everything was resumed. Trying to keep up with who was winning, Sissca knew that whoever managed to get out of this one would be rather lucky.
Uh-oh, Fatani thought quietly. Should we call off? What if Viscroy can beat Darkaî?
This hit her as possible, and Sissca replied in a whisper even though there was no one else around to hear them, “Maybe…”
Fatani obediently flew down to Alex, who was currently trying to mend a broken sword with magic.
“Travita! Travita, I say!” he shouted angrily, accidentally coming closer to a curse than an actual fixing spell.
“It’s traivitia[1],” Sissca answered in a cynical tone and opening her hand gently in the flower motion as the sword came back together.
“I knew that,” Alex replied.
“Should we call it off?” Sissca pointed in Darkaî and Viscroy’s direction and looked worriedly back at Alex.
Alex clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth in thought. “I don’t know. Let’s see how they do.”
Sissca nodded, glad Alex considered this rather random and unexpected viewpoint.
Going back into the air, Sissca and Fatani managed to get a pretty good overview of what was going on below. The Zikkanians seemed to be getting more and more powerful and confident because of their leader showing up. The Darthayslian-Kakálian combo was trying their best to counteract their advancements, but it wasn’t working well. Zikkanians thrusting their weaponry with sudden power and accuracy was pulling the others back. They were falling behind….
[1] Travitia (trah-vit-TEE-uh) : Kakálian - A Kakálian spell meaning to mend, normally used when speaking of objects that have recently broken by anything but curses (Literal - “un-break”).