Spark of War (Progression Fantasy)

Laze twisted in the air, jerking hard left then right as rain fell all around. Javelins of solid dark water shot past, each close enough she was half-surprised her flame armor didn't ignite to defend her. A third dodge, and she rolled in the air while cutting hard again to the side. Just in time, too, as a fourth javelin shot past her towards the ground only a few feet below her. Paying no attention to the stone chips bursting out behind her, she released her hold on the eight arrows burning bright on her bow.

The clicker trailing hot on her tail barely had time to widen its eyes in surprise before the cluster of streaking flames slammed into it head on. The clickers were fast – in a straight line. Get them moving though, focused on the chase, and they lost sight of the benefits of mobility. And Laze took advantage of that.

All eight arrows exploded with a bloom of flame that would've made El proud, but Laze didn't slow to confirm the kill. If that didn't outright end the monster, it would at least injure it enough to take it out of the fight, and right now, that was enough.

"Status?" Laze asked into her communications magic to Dayne, Nidina, and Sol.

"Holding," Laze said. "Ground convoy is continuing forward, but the clickers go after them hard every time we break off to catch up. They seem content to try and pick us off. We've had casualties."

"Doesn't make sense," Laze said.

"Our Sparks are stronger," Nidina replied. "More value capturing us than a few groundies. And it's not like they're defenseless with their numbers, and the Ashes."

"No, there's something else going on," Laze said. "Scout group," she changed communication channels with a thought, "what's the situation with the Depths waiting for the ships to arrive?"

There was a second of silence where Laze had to dodge stray blasts of dark water before the scouts replied. "Depths are holding at the same position."

"How can you tell?" Laze asked, something about that itching at the back of her mind.

"The water is practically churning with them. Hundreds of hangnails and seawyrms frolicking like they're having a party in the rain."

"Frolicking?" Laze asked, though not into the communications. Why would they be doing that? In fact, why would they even be at the surface? They could hide dozens – hundreds – of feet underwater until the ships arrived. Playing at the surface, the like scouts said, would only warn the ships of where they were…

Laze almost choked when she realized what it meant.

"The Depths waiting for the ships… they're a feint as much as the ships are," she said into the command channel. "They aren't really there. Scouts ahead seeing anything? In front of the groundie forces?"

Negative responses came over the channel quickly in reply. It was still mostly clear between them and the central city on the island. In fact, the outskirts of the city were almost within sight.

"The engagements to the north?" Cannon asked. "We've got six wings up there dealing with any Depths that show their faces."

Laze was already shaking her head. "Another feint. A distraction. What's south of us? South of the road?"

"Nothing," a scout said. "Barely a few hundred feet of barren land, then enough heavy rock to make a mountain proud."

"Barren land?" Laze asked. "Does anybody remember a map of the area? Does the terrain match?"

"What are you getting at?" General Cannon asked.

"Back near Fort Bedrock, the Depths burst out of what looked like normal ground. They'd… I don't know… either tunneled in or somehow covered up an existing river. What if we're looking at the same thing here?"

"If that's the case, why haven't they attacked yet?" another commander asked through the communication magic. "The terrain's been the same for miles."

"I don't know…" Laze started, only to get interrupted as if on queue.

"Contact, south side!" one of the scouts said, panic lacing the man's voice. "They're coming out of the ground next to the groundies. Right out of the burning ground!"

"Burn it," Cannon cursed. "All Firestorm, move to engage the enemy forces closer to the groundies. The clickers will try to use the distraction to pick us off, so watch each other's backs."

With the command in place, the hundreds of flaming wings circling the sky jetted ahead to catch up with the convoy. The clickers had seemed content to battle behind the groundie lines, preventing collateral damage to those on the ground, but apparently it had been a distraction. One Laze – and the other leaders – should've seen right through.

"How did I not take the ambush from before into account?" Laze asked on a secure channel to Nidina and Dayne. "I should've seen it."

Even as she asked, she dodged another watery lance and shot higher into the air. Eight arrows left her bow to slam into the back of a clicker focused on chasing another member of the Firestorm, and she turned her attention to the unfolding ambush.

Hundreds of hangnails came out in a swarm towards the convoy's south flank. Thankfully, despite the surprise of the attack – and the close proximity – the groundie force was no amateur force. Veteran soldiers barely blinked as they shifted position to level their weapons – flaming bows and PICs – towards the rushing horde. Then they fired as one, and a volley of fiery ordnance slammed into the front line of the ambushing forces.

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The carnage was monumental, with the Ashes and Pilish soldiers joining in for the second, coordinated volley even as the convoy kept moving. Hangnails fell in droves, only for more to rush out of the spreading holes in the ground. Rushing water became visible underneath the surface that seemed no more than a few inches thick – almost like dried mud – and then the seawyrms began clamoring out. Razor-sharp claws like swords tore at the ground as the monsters pulled themselves from the water, sapphire scales glistening in the falling rain and reflecting the light of the flashing lightning.

"Firestorm wings three through six, prioritize those wyrms!" Cannon roared. "Their breath attacks are too dangerous to the troops. Laze, going to need your units filling the gaps."

"Understood," Laze said, then relayed the orders, adding the reminder to keep Sol safe at all costs.

"No," Sol said simply, and then there was a snap from the center of the Firestorm formation. Sol shot ahead of the others, trailing a tail of frozen rain as he streaked toward and into the rush of the Depths from the hidden river.

Sol – no, the Stormbearer – slammed into the ground at the side of the monstrous rush, his impact with the ground obliterating any Depths within a dozen feet. Those outside of the immediate ring of death didn't fare much better, with a wave of cold rippling outward and freezing blue blood as surely as an ice age. Then, as if that wasn't enough, the Stormbearer hefted his massive, ice-coated sword above his head.

There was a beat of power, like a tremendous heart rumbling to life, and every single monsters' head turned in his direction. Then Sol hauled his weapon down in a single slash.

The ground shook from the force of his sword striking the earth directly in front of him, a crater spreading in an instant to swallow the nearest monsters. And that wasn't even the scariest part, with spikes of ice rushing forward like a raging bull to carve into the line of the Depths. Grey flesh, sapphire scales, or dark water, none of the mattered. None of it slowed the piercing shards of ice that jutted from the ground to reap lives.

Within the blink of an eye, the line of ice extended more than a hundred feet, the bodies of the Depths hanging bloody and broken from the twenty-foot-long spikes. Still, despite the carnage of the attack, it didn't dissuade the attacking monsters.

More of the mud-like ground that hid the river fell away to reveal a veritable army of the monsters flanking the convoy. Seawyrms surged forth, some heading straight for Sol and the obvious threat he posed, while others swarmed to crush the convoy.

Firestorm swept in from above, raining fiery death on the hordes, while a near constant stream of suppressing flame shot horizontally from the still-moving convoy.

"Support Sol," Laze ordered her wings, though she really didn't need to, the trained soldiers already moving to cover their charge. For her part, Laze readied another barrage of eight arrows and then released it on the back of the Depths' lines. Letting this salvo spread to cover the most area – instead of focusing on one target – she sought to sow chaos and buy the front lines some time.

However, despite the plan, the monsters were still too spread out to cause major damage, even as more of the cover of the hidden river ahead of them fell away. The initial rush of concentrated monsters had tailed off, turning to more of a trickle. One the Pycrin forces were absolutely smashing.

Looking ahead at the moving troops, Laze charged and released one volley of arrows after another. That nagging voice at the back of her mind was still there. The ambush from the hidden river had seemed like a good plan from the Depths, but… this? Troops trickling out only to get slaughtered? If the monsters had poured out like they did when Laze and Nidina had been ambushed back by Fort Bedrock, the battle would've been a desperate one.

But they didn't. Was it actually poor planning on the clickers' part…?

Laze released another volley, then followed the length of the growing river. It extended well in front of the convoy now, but monsters were only coming out right beside the ground troops. Was there a reason for that? Did the joint coalition do something that forced that Depths to launch their ambush early? No, that didn't add up. If anything, the Firestorm had been reactive to sightings of the Depths. Sure, they'd completely wiped out any forces they went up against, and maybe that was it? They'd cut through the Depths' numbers too quickly for the monsters to mount a true offensive…

Her eyes traveled to the north where they still had half-a-dozen wings slaughtering the small groups showing up. She then looked ahead to where another four wings directly focused on the seawyrms, and the rest of the air support battled in the sky above the convoy. By all accounts the battle right in front of her was firmly in Pycrin's favor. They were going to win this battle, and cut straight through to the ring. It was… right in front of her…

A rising sense of dread curled up Laze's gut as she realized she was now near the back of the force, with just a few of her wingmates hovering at her side. Even the clickers who'd been chasing her before had moved to join in the main battle. The main battle ahead.

Almost as if in slow motion – like she couldn't force her body to turn any faster – Laze rotated in the air, eyes tracing the line of the hidden river. The collapsing mud layer that'd kept the Depths hidden didn't just extend far in front of the convoy, but also behind them as well. The road they'd followed curved through the large forest, the river obscured underneath the bushy canopy, then around and virtually out of sight.

Virtually.

Thunder boomed and lightning flashed across the island nation, and that rising dread firmly crystalized to a mass of alarm.

If she'd been any further forward, even a few hundred feet, she wouldn't have been able to see where the now-exposed river stretched. And where the monstrous horde of the Depths rushed out of it. If the beasts ahead of the convoy were coming in waves, the forces behind were a flood.

Thousands of hangnails coated the ground grey like a writhing, fleshy mass under the flashes of lightning painting the sky monochromatic. Seawyrms streamed between them, sapphire scales shimmering with every bolt above, their roars hidden within the rolling thunder. Even the forest top shook from the pounding of thousands of feet hidden within its trees, the first of the monsters only now rushing out.

The Depths had played them. Lured them ahead and kept them focused on the north and west, while the monsters waited to cut them off from their only avenue of escape – the gateway. Instead of having hours more of a lead on the horde she'd believed was waiting for the fleet of ships – enough time to destroy the ring – the enemy had been right beside them the whole time.

Even in the distance, Laze just barely spotted flashes of orange and red as the few guardians left at the gateway held off the monsters long enough to get the Salidians to safety.

That was it. They were cut off, with thousands – tens of thousands – of the Depths closing in from behind.

"Contact west!" one of the scout voices cut through. "Depths rushing out of the city. They must've been hiding in the buildings! Thousands of them. I… I've never seen so many!"

"Then you probably shouldn't look behind us," Laze couldn't stop herself from saying.