to raise their defenses. Arkin activated the wards. As he did he saw flickers of purple and green around them. On the enemy’s horses he saw orange, yellow, and blue flickers. There were at least three Venefica with them.
As the gap between the two racing groups closed, Legon sent Keither a message to lead the group. All he had to do was keep them going in their current direction. Off in the distance, the peaks of the Cornis mountains were coming into view, their best hope for safety. The gap between the forces was closing rapidly and soon their pursuers would be in range. Legon faded back, placing himself at the rear of the group. Undoubtedly they knew more magic than him, but he was stronger and he had the assistance of Arkin, Sasha, and Sara, so not all was lost—just mostly lost.
Arkin had instructed them in the basics of magical combat, so it was no surprise when Legon saw a bolt of blue fly from the horsemen. It was a large ball of energy. It hit a wall of purple about five feet away from him with a deafening crack. This spell was not attacking them directly; it was designed to hit wards and weaken them.
Legon felt a small tug on his energy at this, and countered with a spell of his own. He only knew of a few breaking spells, as they were called, but he sent one their way. It smacked into a wall of yellow, causing a crack like thunder to rent the air, and at once a flash of orange came at him, this time hitting him directly. He felt his fire ward activate, stopping the flame curse. He knew what they were doing now. The Venefica with the yellow magic was protecting the group as a whole. There would be wards by the others as well, but this person would take the brunt of the attack, then the blue would try and take out their shield and the orange would take shots at holes in their armor. As if to enforce this point he saw another bolt of blue collide with his wards, and this time he felt the mind and energy behind it. The first had been a test. Now the Venefica was attempting to break the wards. He pushed with magic and his mind, reinforcing the shield. Legon felt it begin to buckle and he poured more into it, but he couldn’t hold them too long. He wasn’t good with wards yet and, powerful or not, it didn’t matter.
He sent commands to Sasha and Sara, telling them to attack only when he ordered. He wasn’t about to have them waste what little energy they had. He sent another breaking spell their way, and this time when it made contact he held it, changing it, working it around as if he were trying to extract a splinter. He felt a hole open in their shield and sent the command to Sara and Sasha.
They sent simple spells at the enemy. Red and silver bolts shot by, hitting their intended targets, one hitting blue, the other orange. He told them to focus on the blue, and again he hit the yellow ward and again they sent spells at one of the men covered by the blue Venefica. The man looked terrified, and as the two spells hit, the ward around him failed and his head wrenched back, breaking his neck.
There was now magic flying back and forth between the groups at an incredible speed, but they were winning, Legon was too strong, and even when the blue Venefica broke his initial wards the orange spells were stopped by Arkin’s and his others.
“Help is on the way,” Arkin said across the network.
“Good, you take command.”
Arkin acknowledged this with commands. “Legon, attack with everything you have. Don’t worry about their wards, simply overpower them. Sasha, go for random people but don’t use much power. Sara, use yours sparingly and only target those whose wards flicker and fade. Legon, when I tell you, hit their lead horse’s brain.”
Legon started to send spell after spell at them. With every hit one or two men went down; his attacks were too strong for the other Venefica to counter. He sent a fire spell at a rider in the lead, causing the man’s head to burst into flames. The rider immediately rolled on his horse, disrupting the others. Sasha took advantage of the situation by sending a burst of pure light