recent years Will had observed incredible scenes of destruction on several occasions, but even so, he was impressed. Elthas had quite literally achieved the seldom-seen state of matter that some called being blown to smithereens. Will had always wondered what a ‘smithereen’ looked like, but he was confident now that he knew.
Madrok’s body was still identifiable, crushed into the ground. Impossibly, the demon-lord still lived. The demon’s body was slowly beginning to restore itself even as he watched.
There were still combatants left who were capable of fighting, though. Elthas’ attendants were battered but still largely whole, and being fae, they were already healing. Tailtiu and Aislinn were slowly trying to pick themselves up from where they had been blown, though the broken bones in their arms and legs made it a difficult proposition.
The trolls were already getting back to their feet, as was Gan, but Selene lay still upon the ground. Whether she was dead or unconscious Will didn’t know, and he couldn’t spare even a moment to check. Summoning his falchion from the limnthal, he cast a silver-sword spell on the blade before heading toward the fae soldiers. As he moved, he spent a brief second to turn and put a force-lance through Aislinn’s head. It wouldn’t kill her, but it might buy him time.
In troll he shouted, “Now we kill!”
The fae soldiers had no hope of defending themselves against the trolls physically, and naturally they fell back on wild magic to overpower their foes, but they were unprepared for Will’s presence.
Vines started to grow and withered away just as quickly when his will smothered their magic. Unlike Aislinn, none of the other fae were wizards, and they utterly lacked the ability to resist his strength. Before they even realized what had happened, the trolls fell on them, along with a few well-placed force-lances. The trolls ripped them limb from limb, tossing arms and legs in every direction as they tore the fae soldiers into pieces. Will did his part, hacking into any that managed to reach him with more than two limbs still intact.
The fight was quick and brutal, and as soon as the trolls laid hands on the last fae soldier, Will turned his attention back to Aislinn. His grandmother’s head had already regained its shape, healing faster than he’d expected. Summoning a handful of kitchen knives from the limnthal, Will marched quickly over and began stabbing the steel blades into his fae grandmother’s body.
“One for the left arm, one for the right, now the leg, now the other, next some steel for your belly and some for your chest…” He chanted to himself as he methodically pushed the iron implements into her flesh. “Throat, head, heart…” Aislinn’s body smoked as she writhed in pain, but most importantly, her healing stopped.
“Will, stop,” said Tailtiu, strangely uncomfortable with the sight of her mother’s torture.
He glanced up. “I won’t kill her, but I have to keep her helpless until I can deal with all the rest.” Getting back to his feet, Will studied the field around him. It was a bloody mess. In troll, he yelled a new command, “Find the pieces. Don’t eat. Bring them here.” He pointed at the depression in the ground where Elthas had transcended physicality and become a smithereen.
Killing an immortal fae was tricky business. Even Elthas would probably recover, if enough of him was found and returned to Faerie before his flesh withered away from lack of turyn. His people could regenerate serious wounds even while in the human realm, but it exhausted their reserves. In their home plane they could heal without limit, but not here. The best way to make sure one of them died was to ensure that their body couldn’t be returned before their flesh withered away. Will didn’t know how long that would take, but he knew a great way to speed up the process—a method as old as time itself, and one that worked on fae, demon, and troll alike.
Fire.
Madrok’s form was already regaining cohesion once more, so Will spent a short, joyous period of time using his sword to hack and burn the demon-lord’s body into the small separate pieces that he felt were most appropriate form for such an incredibly nasty being.
While trolls gathered bits of gore, Will finally took a moment and ran over to check on Selene. Rolling her over, he felt his throat tighten for a moment. A large bloody bruise marked her forehead, but his tension eased a moment later when