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I confess, I may have played a little bit longer than I planned. Playing with the pixies was too much fun, you see. And harassing our opponents could only help, after all, so I saw no reason to stop.
In truth, it was a valuable opportunity. Although I should have Tiana’s affinity for all elements, my real talent was the one element I apparently possessed in my own lifetime, Water. I never knew about it while I was alive, but Fan Li had trained me how to use it. Her latest lessons had been using it in conjunction with the Will techniques from her world, and I found playing with the pixies a brilliant opportunity to try it out in the real world.
<I wonder if you aren’t perhaps making up a justification after the fact?> Sen mused, but I ignored her.
<You’re back?> I wondered. <What about Fan Li?>
<She decided she’s accumulated the data she needs for her work, and turned the back seat back over to me.>
The Nanas were merciless with their pixie tricks, causing the plants to spring out and snare passing fairy limbs or making the surroundings suddenly warp and change mysteriously, a magic that reminded Sen of the [Great Maze] spell that Oberon cast across the country of Relador. Fan Li believed his magic to be a combination of Aether, Darkness and Light magics, somehow working in concert to create truly advanced illusions that even confuse fairy senses. Yet, even though his grand enchantment borders on divine power, these little creatures could pull it off, at least within a limited area.
Naturally, I couldn’t. I didn’t understand the magic one bit. But in the damp air of this relatively moist forest, I could use Will to cause ambient Water mana to harden in front of the fairies, causing them to face-plant in midair on nothing at all, and I could make the ground water deep beneath the forest suddenly geyser up beneath them. As a member of our little quartet of pixies, I think I did the nation of pixies proud.
“What is going on with these things?!” a gossamer-winged fairy warrioress shrieked as we flitted away once again, our laughter filling the woods. “Did somebody on their side figure out a way to train pixies?”
That’s considered an impossible achievement amongst creature trainers, it seems.
Dragonfly Nana suddenly appeared, barely out of arm’s reach, wondering, oh so innocently, “Pretty fairy angry?”
Butterfly Nana and Bee Nana appeared behind her, echoing her.
“Fairy angry?”
“Angry fairy?”
“Dammit!” the fairy raged, and lunged after Dragonfly Nana. The other two flittered away in other directions. The fairy could only chase one, so she stuck with her original target.
Giggling like a delighted child, Dragonfly Nana fled while staying just barely out of her reach as shee zigzagged through the forest. Of course, the rest of us paralleled her. But the gossamer-winged fairy was especially agile even for a fairy and seemed to be closing in on her, so I grew worried. Having the vampire skillset available to me through the [Blood Effigy], I used the immaterial form to relocate instantly to her position and cover her with [Vampire Cloak]. On our next zigzag turn, the paths of pixies and fairy diverged.
I stayed with Dragonfly Nana as our laughter continued. But right at the moment the other two joined us, we quite suddenly broke into the clearing where the main group, who had rejoined the ‘delousing crew’ while we were goofing around, were gathered around the captive fairies.
Before anyone noticed the extra pixie, I blinked back into immaterial form and chose a spot away from the clearing to relocate, so I could revert to Stage Two form, becoming Miss Hiléa once more.
Dragonfly Nana appeared by my side in an instant. “Fun fun, yes?”
Bee Nana piled into my hair and echoed, “Fun fun, yes?”
Butterfly Nana perched on my shoulder and also asked, “Auntie have fun, yes?”
I let out a happy, short laugh and nodded. “Yes.”
Now that the whole expedition, reinforced with Diur, Pasrue and the additional fairies like Somono that Alwain lent us, faced only half of Domerà’s force, the remainder of the battle was a foregone conclusion. Half, of course, because the other half were already our captives. The fairies and I would surround one or two of our opponents, sometimes with help from the pixies, and drive them into the clearing, where the mortal soldiers and mages could block their path long enough for us to force their surrender. If they tried fleeing into the air, Serera, Elhàn and Diur were waiting to force them back to the ground.
Domerà had gambled on sending all her remaining forces to get behind the main force and rescue the captives, while she did as I had guessed, using stealth and illusions to pretend to be an army all on her own. It was a bold move, and I could feel Sen’s admiration as a fairy knight in the back of my mind, but Domerà had not expected to end up facing Alwain and her army on her own as a result.
Possibly, she hadn’t expected the level of commitment that Alwain and her people threw into the battle. In other words, perhaps she had simply failed to realize that Alwain, once she learned exactly what Domerà’s group had been doing in her territory, would be mad enough to fight with all her strength.
More of Alwain’s many scouts reported in with every hour, recounting more and more vanished subjects. She knew now just how many of her people had gone missing while under her protection. Lady Domerà, as impressive a fairy knight as she might be, was not the opponent of an ancient apsara whom she had truly enraged. Alwain at full strength enabled our entire force to return, thwarting Domerà’s strategy.
Once we rounded up all of the opponents, and Serera, Diur and two of the apsara’s fairies went to scout the forest for any more hidden enemies, Ryuu voiced his concern for Alwain. I couldn’t blame him. Domerà was still a fairy knight, and apparently a highborn fairy aristocrat.
“Are we sure Lady Alwain hasn’t sent too much of her strength our way? She didn’t keep a single fairy with her. It’s just her, a few other magic types, and a rag-tag bunch of monsters.”
Somono was annoyed at his question. “Are you doubting our lady? All she’s facing is one fairy knight!”
<There’s a phrase that no mortal ever wants to hear), Sen responded with a chuckle. <In mortal wars, having a fairy knight is like having an extra battalion. If not a division.>
I understood Ryuu’s concern though, so I backed him up. “No, he’s right to worry. She’s driving Domerà toward Fiore, right? Once Domerà reaches civilization, she’ll have reinforcements from the rebel side.”
Alwain’s fairy warrioress snorted her opinion of mortal reinforcements without dignifying my concern with a response, but Dilorè gave us a better answer.
“Alwain is clearly strong enough on her own to handle Domerà. The people she kept with her weren’t useful to us against a squad of fairy warriors and knights, but they are eminently the match of those mortal reinforcements.”
“Well, yes, but…” Ryuu scowled.
“And I have my ‘friends’ keeping an eye on that side,” she told him. “You should know about them, right?”
“Your Wind spirits?” he asked.
She nodded. “Ever since I watched how Sirth employs large groups of Wind spirits, I’ve cultivated a whole team of them. It’s expensive in mana payments, but very useful. I keep a few here with me to give me reports. There is indeed a mighty battle going, but it is strictly an advance to the rear for Domerà. The fairy knight has already crossed the boundary of the wilderness and entered Fiore.”
“That would be quite a distance, frankly,” Kosto stated as he joined us. “Is Lady Alwain’s army still with her after such a rapid pursuit?”
“The ones who could keep up are,” she confirmed. “Or they were, until the border. She ordered them to halt there with orders for the stragglers to join and form a defensive line.”
Princess Amana was now with us. She confirmed, “I insisted on it. She agreed not to let her people enter Fiorene territory, but she refused to stop there herself. She wants to push Domerà all the way back to populated land, and properly remonstrate her and Fiore’s lord in front of witnesses.”
She grinned at Kosto’s scowling reaction and Ryuu’s pursed lips. Yeah, that would be rubbing salt in the wound.
“You gentlemen are still underestimating Lady Alwain. She wants to put the fear of the unknown back into the hearts of the mortals of Fiore, who have clearly forgotten it. That’s how Alwain and the other local leaders keep them out of territory that is, frankly, unsafe for them to colonize in the first place.”
Kosto glanced at me. “Some mortals live here, though?”
“Not humans, and not even most elves,” she answered, immediately picking up on what he was thinking. “Why do you think you’re taking that tonic all of you have been guzzling? The only mortals who can thrive in this country are the hard-to-kill types like halflings and dwarves, who are born with thick skin, heavy mana resistance and high magic aptitude.”
The general humphed, then conceded, “Well, Miss Hiléa does seem hard to kill.”
I scratched my nose, not sure whether to take that as a compliment or not. I suppose, coming from a soldier, it was one.
Matthias and a few others had already joined as well by this time. The sage mused, “The purpose of her troops on the border, and of her display, is probably also to make sure the Fiorene nobles know exactly whom Domerà angered. They may have begun thinking of Alwain as a myth.”
Arken agreed. “I imagine this is something she has to do from time to time. Unlike the Dorian side of their border, with its steep slopes, the Fiorene side is a gentle climb that’s easier for them to imagine they could conquer.”
Dilorè grew a wry smile as she looked around at the conference she had somehow accidentally convened, then wondered, “We never planned to have all eleven of Domerà’s fairies fall into our hands. Are we able to exorcise the rest of them?”
Kosto frowned. “Do we have the resources?”
I looked around and spotted the pixies absentmindedly nosing around again, and waved them over.
“Can you help us again?”
“Nana help?”
“More fairies?”
“More bad guys?”
I waved my hands in negation. “Not that. Do you remember how you took the Dark spirits out of the prisoners?”
“Yup yup!” Dragonfly Nana confirmed happily.
“Spirits stuck inside!” Butterfly Nana confirmed.
“Pull hard!” Bee Nana declared, miming pulling on a rope.
“Push to stone!” Dragonfly Nana stated, then added, “Keep safe!”
Nodding, I said, “Exactly. Can you help us with the rest of them?”
We had to have them hold back while the mages got ready with the capture stones. The trio that had been with us were too tired, but between Matthias, Arken, Amana and Pasrue, we had more than enough magic firepower to handle that part.
As it worked out, that was more than enough. Once Urritt had demonstrated imprisoning one spirit in a stone, our quartet of magical powerhouses handled the rest while the Nanas deftly captured spirits and brought them over.
I don’t know why they were being so helpful. I knew Kiki was somehow responsible, since they called her ‘Grandma’, but they never gave an explanation. It seemed they simply considered their ‘Auntie’ family, whom they should help.
With that done, we dragged the two fairies infested with gidim in front of the other nine and forced them to watch as Melione cast a heavy dose of [Purification] on them and the ghostly demons emerged. Of course, the demonic spirits attempted to flee, but the mages, now rested and reinforced with [Restoration] potions and mana enhancement potions, employed their anti-demonic traps to capture the creatures. We forced the formerly infected fairies to take a good look at what had come out of their two comrades.
“These implanted those Dark spirits inside you all,” Serera told them coldly. “And those spirits blinded all of you to demonic mana. Look closely after we send you back. You shall see how many of the supposed humans you’re allied with are demons in hiding!”
The rebel-contracted fairies glared at her. Although they couldn’t speak thanks to the magic sealing their lips, it was clear they still wanted to deny it. No fairy would be prepared to easily admit that they had been possessed by something as disgusting as a demon.
Serera could see it as well. It didn’t really matter to her if they believed it or not, so she just shrugged.
“Just make sure one of these things doesn’t catch you off-guard and implant another spirit inside you. We have no idea how many of these are running around. They’ll be difficult to spot inside their fairy host, but she’ll try to have a duel with you or distract you in some other way in order make sure you don’t notice the Dark spirit being implanted in you.”
I remembered Shindzha talking about the demon lord being in ‘the mortal palace’ of the rebels and about demonic monster tamers disguised as humans, so I spoke up as well.
“Pay special attention to the mortal monster tamers. Many of them are disguised demons. And if you ever see the rebel leaders, those at the very top, such as at their leader’s palace, watch for demons among them as well.”
The narrowed eyes glared at me, but I could at least see some weakening of their confidence. That’s all could hope for.
