XVII

Dantera landed on her hands, her left palm outspread, her right fist clenched over the hilt of her rapier, Ito Farralia.

Pushing off, she did a summersault in the air, her dress catching the cold outside wind and impeding her ability, but only slightly. Her boots hit the tiles and she slid backward toward the roof’s edge just as two spells came her way. Because of her top-tier adventurer’s status, she didn’t have to see them. She could sense them.

As her knees hit the tiles to slow her death slide she deflected both of the spells and then used her legs to kick off of the roof. When she came back down, Dantera angled Ito Farralia, her indestructible sword, downward, slamming it through the roof tiles with both of her arms and bodyweight. The sudden anchor stopped her momentum toward the edge.

And then, through the yellow light of the windows above—where hundreds of visitors to the castle enjoyed the eve of the Age Readventue festival, a blur shot through the air.

Still holding onto her sword hilt, Dantera angled her shoulders, dodging the blow only to have a second come at her, hitting her in her right shoulder. She heard it pass through her flesh, the wet sound of her blood shooting out into the open air.

And then the pain hit her.

Dantera slid across the roof toward the edge where, if she fell, she would surely die.

“DANTERA!”

And then she jumped, landed back down on the roof where she sunk her sword into the tiles. She then moved her shoulders as if she were evading something.

Blood shot out the back of her right shoulder.

Climbing through the window, Yoreno screamed again. “Dantera!”

As soon as his feet hit the tiled roof he ran to the left of the window where he knew the killer must be due to his luminescent trail. Screaming, he raised his sword to strike the man down, but he flicked a spell at Yoreno.

“Yoreno!” Dantera called.

Angling the flat of his sword into its trajectory, he deflected the spell and then lunged for the killing strike.

But his opponent thrust his wrist forward, his thin stiletto blocking Yoreno’s thrust aside. The killer snarled something, the point of his stiletto coming into Yoreno’s space near his eyes. He back-stepped, and then the killer turned and ran up the gable, his boots sliding about.

Yoreno pursued him over the tiles, using them to haul himself up where he needed the assistance so he wouldn’t slip upon the thin layer of snow.

Mai was out of the window now and she made to go to Dantera, but she pointed toward the direction Yoreno had run and commanded, “Help him!”

Glancing to her left, Mai spotted Yoreno slipping on the roof as he made his way up after the killer. She was surprised when it came to her to use a certain spell on the bottom of Yoreno’s boots. Making the correct hand gestures, she called out, “Garati groose!” and the charm, otherwise known as “gnarled growth,” materialized in an orb of green energy and enveloped by golden magic.

Mai pushed her palms forward launching forth the magic. It hit the bottom of Yoreno’s leather soles.

“Yes!” Mai called out in triumph.

Missing a spell’s intended mark was a common occurrence.

Yoreno had no idea what had happened, but as he climbed, his feet suddenly got hit with a mild jolt and then he had very little difficulty climbing up the roof.

Something had happened to his boots!