They watched, dumbfounded, as Kenemen rode away. He didn’t look back, seemingly unconcerned as he sped away, circling wide around the village.

Now what were they going to do? Kenemen was meant to be in charge.

Silas’ shoulders fell as he watched the Questor disappear. He’d never wanted to be in command, that meant following the rules and being responsible. Lariss was too inexperienced though, and Yoto… well, he didn’t talk much at the best of times.

With an air of resignation, Silas turned to the others. “Let’s keep it simple then. I’ll lead, Katai and Lariss you two follow me in arrowhead formation. Yoto, you do your thing behind us, just yell if anything comes at us from the rear.”

Lariss looked at Yoto, with a slightly incredulous expression. Now it was Silas’ turn to be annoyed — yes, he was not as experienced as the Sharpshooter, but he was the next best choice after Katai. His feelings were spared further damage by Yoto, who gave a small shrug and nodded, happy enough with the plan.

With nothing to add, Katai moved behind him, waiting for Lariss to do the same. They all quickly checked their gear and mounts, making sure nothing had been damaged in their brief encounter. Finally, they were ready.

They faced the battlefield, ready to go at Silas’ command. Katai winced when he thought back — he’d completely ignored any orders and simply charged at the enemy. Mentally berating himself at the lapse of control, he breathed in deeply and envisioned the toxic feelings leaving his body as he breathed out. He couldn’t let anger dictate his actions like that. He wouldn’t let himself die here when Salah was still out there — or the thing that was controlling her body.

At Silas’ call, Katai shook the distracting thoughts from his head. The group started their charge, aiming for the thick mass of troops that now surrounded the largest building in the village, the communal hall. A few villagers could be seen, holding off the larger group at the doors to the hall, while archers fired from the second floor, shooting through open windows opportunistically.

Yoto shot over their heads, aiming for one of the bandit archers that were scattered around the area. Even on horseback, his shot was accurate, hitting a tall, barely-armoured man in the back. The bandits were smarter than they looked, with a handful of archers spread out and taking pot-shots from behind make-shift barricades. They’d have to be taken down, or they’d all be exposed as they charged in.

“Watch the archers!” Katai yelled over the thumping of hooves.

Silas acknowledged him with a raised hand, and then adjusted their course. Before they reached their first targets however, a ball of fire shot out of a building close to the one under attack. It splashed against the second story of the hall and immediately a chorus of screams rang out. Hopefully the defending archers had survived, but Katai didn’t hold out much hope. At the very least, some of them were out of the fight.

Katai immediately realised that taking out the Fire Mage had to be his highest priority. Yoto and the others could take out the archers, but against a Mage, they had a fairly small chance of surviving the encounter. At the very least, his high vitality and regeneration would help him recover. Their best chance, of course, would be a surprise attack. But since the Mage seemed to be sheltered inside someone’s home — they’d have to rush in and take him out. If he were out in the open, Yoto could take some shots at him while dodging his fireballs, or they could charge at him from different directions. If only the fight were so ‘easy’, thought Katai sardonically, I guess if anyone’s going to take a risky chance, it’s going to be me. The one with the Forbidden Class.

Silas swiped at a surprised archer as they thundered past, the man turning when he heard the approaching horses, only to be viciously cut down. The continued on, Lariss and Katai peeling away to make their own attacks on the scattered ranged attackers, most of them too intent on the main battle to see or hear them coming until it was too late.

You have defeated Warrior (level 19).

You have defeated Warrior (level 24).

They slowed once their targets were dead, the ease of the kills surprising Katai. They were low-level, but surprisingly unaware of the battle-field. He guessed bandits weren’t exactly the smartest of people.

Flushed with energy, the sounds and rush of the battle kept Katai’s blood pumping furiously. He needed to keep himself under control, but this was only his second pitched battle and he could feel the influence it had over him.

He breathed deeply, trying to calm the jackrabbit that was his heart. There was no time for that however, as Katai watched another fireball strike the building, this time setting parts of the wall alight. Embers sparked over the roof and feel down amidst the attackers, who paid them no mind. Undoubtedly, they were used to the Fire Mage’s antics by now.

“I’m going after the Mage!” yelled Katai, looking at Silas.

Silas, for his part, seemed to seriously consider it before he shook his head.

“We’ll all go, safety in numbers.” He called back, staring challengingly at Katai.

Katai was momentarily taken aback. He’d never seen this side of Silas before. Was he being responsible?

“He’s in a building, it’ll be too cramped for more than one or two of us to fight.” Katai said, trying to keep his voice level, when all he wanted to do was yell with frustration. “Besides, one fireball and we’d all be toast. At least if I go in alone, you’ll have a second chance at killing him. And I have the best chance of surviving a blast.”

Silas frowned thoughtfully, clearly not liking the suggestion. Lariss and Yoto had formed up into a circle, protecting them as they had their quick discussion, Yoto firing off arrows at a blistering pace. Lariss didn’t even seem to be listening, her focus on any threats around them in the clear space between buildings.

Silas grit his teeth, his emotions warring with the logical choice. Finally, after a second of dithering, he seemed to come to a decision. “Fine! But you better kill the bastard.” He snarled at Katai.

Katai could appreciate the difficulty his friend had faced with that decision. Letting him go off on his own into a deadly situation was hardly offset by the fact that they were all heading towards battle and their own life-or-death situation. At least the others could look out for each other. When it came down to it, Silas really just wanted to be with his friend, rather than leading the charge.

Katai watched for a second as Silas angrily wheeled his horse around, setting off for the last clump of enemy Warriors who weren’t attacking the main building. Realising that he was wasting time, Katai dismounted and tied his horse up in a gap between buildings. Hopefully the bandits wouldn’t spot her there.

Keeping his profile low, he darted between buildings, working his way towards the building he had spotted the fireballs coming from.

A Warrior came screaming out of nowhere, forcing him to hurriedly activate Parry. The man’s sword deflected off of his own, the skill speeding his movements up to an unnatural level, bringing his blade up into contact with his attackers. He tried to counterattack, but the sudden lack of energy made him too slow to force more than an easy block from the bandit. Parry cost a lot of stamina.

The bandit grinned and launched another attack, his speed and aggression giving him the upper hand. Katai could only grimace and bear the brunt of the attacks, moving as quickly as he could to get his sword in the way. It wasn’t pretty fighting, but it was keeping him alive for now.

Timing his counter, Katai waited until the gleeful man drew his sword back, preparing for another attack, when he activated two of his skills in quick succession. A line of blood appeared on the man’s face, seeping from a long cut that appeared out of nowhere. Distracted by the sudden pain, the man didn’t get his blade into position quickly enough to stop the quickfire Lunge from Katai.

The man gurgled his rage as Katai’s sword slipped from his ravaged chest. Blood foamed from the man’s mouth, before he lapsed into silence.

You have defeated Warrior (level 32).

Congratulations! You have gained 1 Blood Mage level.

Lacerate has reached level 6.

Katai didn’t hang around to celebrate. He continued on, reaching his target without any more delays. Crouching behind the wooden building where he’d seen the fireballs coming from, he considered his options, the noise of battle fading as he concentrated on his Blood senses.

He could sense two bodies inside. He was fairly certain that one of them would be the Fire Mage. The other could possibly be the Stone Mage, which would make his mission much more difficult, if not downright impossible. Unless they were both very low level, which wasn’t likely. Especially given the size of those fireballs — surely a low-level Fire Mage wouldn’t be creating them at that size.

If the second body was only a common Warrior however, he had a decent chance of taking them out. The question was, how to do that. They were in a building with only one entrance and a handful of small, shuttered windows.

None of his Warriors skills would give him an advantage here. Not unless it was a protracted fight and he could use Battle Cry to regain stamina and wear them out. No, that wasn’t really an option. He wasn’t going to be able to dodge fireballs for very long.

His Blood Mage skills were all short range or useless in this situation. Sense Blood was letting him see the two of them moving around inside, but wasn’t going to help in a direct confrontation. Bond of Blood also wasn’t going to help, as it just reduced the cost of his skills and was still completely untested. Lacerate was the only damaging skill he had and it was a short-range attack, with a reach of about a meter or two.

Wait, that’s it! Katai thought excitedly. I can target them through the walls. I just to need to either wait for them to get close enough, or lure them over.

There was no certainty that the skill would work without line-of-sight, but Katai was only too happy to try it out. The alternative was to just barge through the door. That would definitely get messy for him, and not in a ‘I’m still alive, just wounded’ kind of way.

He crept around the side of the house, ducking beneath the loosely shuttered windows, until he was close to one of the figures inside. He tensed up, mentally preparing for the drain that was about to occur. Lacerate took its toll on his body; he needed to be ready to deal with that and be ready to fight in case they realised what was going on.

He breathed in and activated Lacerate, keeping his focus on the haze of red that represented the closest body. The skill took hold and he felt a part of his lifeforce leaving him as it cut into his target. A cry rang out from within the building, but he forced himself to stay focused and proceeded to chain as many activations as he could together.

The drain increased, both on his body and his mind. The strain of directing the skill and staying focused became surprisingly difficult after the fourth straight casting. His body felt sluggish as waves of tiredness washed over him. Losing vitality usually came with the pain of a wound, but this was something different. Like he was losing something vitally important. Which, in a very literal sense, he was.

The person inside collapsed, Katai’s sense of their body showing they had fallen to the floor. The other figure however, had backed away, and was standing near the far wall now. Katai could only imagine their surprise and fear at the sudden attack. It must seem like they were getting attacked by invisible blades. Or maybe they thought it was a vengeful spirit? They certainly deserve to be haunted, he thought. They deserve far worse — but this will have to do. I can’t exactly wait for Kenemen to arrest them and have ‘em sent to some dungeon for the rest of their lives.

You have defeated Warrior (level 23).

Congratulations! You have gained 1 Warrior level.

Lacerate has reached level 7.

Lacerate has reached level 8.

A bodyguard perhaps? Not a very high-level one, but a Mage didn’t really need much protection. More like a distraction or a meat-shield until the Mage could unleash one of their attacks. Everyone knew how powerful and devastating a Mage was. Something that Katai had yet to experience. Where were his powerful elemental attacks?

He crept around the side of the building once more, stealthily approaching the last figure that stood out in his Blood Sense. This one had to be the Fire Mage. He’d seen the fireballs coming from this building, it had to be him.

There was only one way to find out. He hunkered down, preparing once more for a quick series of Lacerates. His health was starting to dip, but his high regeneration and constitution should let him recover relatively quickly. The Fire Mage had done massive damage in the attack so far; if he could take him out quickly, it’d do wonders for the village’s defence. It was worth the risk of lowering his health even further.

Vitality gushed from him as he activated his skill. But he only managed three hits in quick succession, before the man inside sprang away from his position with a cry of fear. In fact, as Katai watched through his Blood Sense, the Mage had clearly had enough and ran from the building entirely. Surprised, he tried to jump up and give chase, but the sudden movement made his head spin and he almost collapsed.

Waiting until the earth stopped spinning, Katai then took off at a much slower pace, hoping the Mage was slowed from his wounds. Otherwise he might actually get away. He rounded the building and saw the distinct figure of the Fire Mage running towards the gulley from which the bandits had originally sprung from. Was he running away, or getting reinforcements?

Sense Blood has reached level 3.

Katai didn’t stop to consider the possibilities, gritting his teeth and jogging along behind the man disappearing into the distance. He still felt sluggish, and nausea sloshed around inside his stomach. If he ran any faster, he’d throw up. That, or pass out.

He wouldn’t let the man get away though. He was one of the main culprits behind the attack — without the two Mages, the bandit group might never have succeeded. They might not have even attempted it.

Trying to keep his focus, Katai kept his eyes on the robed figure. The expensive fabric he wore was easy to spot, with its bright red colouring and gold trimmings. It flew in the air behind the man as he ran, leaving his dirty, patchwork undergarments in full view. The bandit life had clearly not taken well to the cheap clothing, but the expensive-looking robe was somehow still spotless.

Katai huffed, breathing heavily, his lungs on fire. The fatigue was starting to get to him, the effects of over-using Lacerate and the last couple of days of stress, near-death experiences and enslavement had taken their toll. He simply did not have the energy he needed.

But he wouldn’t give in. He wouldn’t stop until that scrawny Mage was dead at his feet.

He practically fell down the bank and into the gulley, his tired body not responding quickly enough to account for the drop. He slid into a tree and got back to his feet, wobbling as he fought to keep his balance. Spotting his target’s bright robe as it moved through the thin trees ahead of him, he continued on, the babbling brook that ran through the gulley masking his heavy footsteps and gasping breath. Thankfully, it looked as if the Mage had slowed down when he entered the gulley.

“Trevor! Wake up Jorgen and get the horses ready. We need to leave, now.”

Katai's Status

Katai D’Castro

1st Class: Warrior – level 31 (+1)

2nd Class: Blood Mage – level 17 (+1)

Skills

Lunge (Expert) – level 5

Parry (Expert) – level 3

Bash (Proficient) – level 3

Battle Cry (Novice) – level 4

Sense Blood (Proficient) – level 3 (+1)

Lacerate (Novice) – Level 8 (+3)

Bond of Blood (Novice) – Level 1

Attributes (+1)

Strength: 18

Dexterity: 19

Constitution: 28

Intelligence: 15

Wisdom: 16

Charisma: 17

Magical Aptitude

Blood (Life): 62%

Water: 9%

Resistances

Spirit: -16%

Void: 31%

Blood (Life): 62%

Wither (Life): -16%