The aura of flames formed a soaring bird, rushing over Saffron and then following his pointed hand toward us.
Keras stepped in the way. His aura shifted in the same way I’d seen it move a hundred times before, forming a blade of energy around his right hand.
He cut the spell in half.
The remaining streams of white fire flew to either side of him, impacting against the back wall of the house and burning a pair of holes straight through it.
I stared in disbelief.
Keras tilted his head downward. “Saffron.”
“Keras.” Saffron spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor. “This is a surprise.”
The swordsman put a hand on the hilt of his sword. “I’ll give you a fair opportunity to leave.”
Derek swung his sword in an arc, dispatching the last of the simulacra. “Are you kidding? This guy wrecked my house, Keras. Also, less importantly, he may have killed Elora.”
Keras took a step toward Saffron, drawing his sword just an inch out of the scabbard. “Leave.”
Saffron’s eyes scanned across the room. Elora. Derek. Keras. Me.
“I’ll remember this. I’ll remember all of you.”
Then he snapped his fingers and vanished.
Derek glanced from side to side. “I seriously think I’m going to need a new house.”
Then he collapsed, senseless, to the mansion floor.
There’s something absolutely terrifying about not being able to move.
Saffron’s magic had forced me to remain sitting. Now, I had to force myself to lie still. Not as bad, but still far from my favorite activity.
Keras stood up from checking on me. “Good news is that I don’t think any of your ribs punctured a lung. Bad news is that I am not a medical professional.”
I nodded, then coughed. I was lying down on the floor. He’d insisted that I remain still until I got proper treatment. “You going to go get help?”
He shook his head. “Not until someone else gets here to watch over you, or more likely when Derek wakes up. There’s too much of a chance that Saffron will come back.”
I winced. “Could you beat him, if he does?”
Keras shrugged. “Maybe. In the state when he fled, most likely. From what it sounds like, you wore him down pretty badly. I’m proud of you. But if he comes back any time soon, he won’t do it by himself. And two Children of the Tyrant?” He shook his head. “Not good odds. Even for me.”
I didn’t like the sound of that in the slightest. “…Is there anything we can do right now to make sure that if he does come back it’s, you know, less likely to be fatal for us?”
“Don’t think so. As I’m sure you saw, there aren’t a lot of people who can stand up to one of the Tyrant’s children. I don’t know anyone local who can fight as well as Derek. Maybe I could grab his equipment for him? It looks like he just got out of bed, and he doesn’t have all his Soulblade items on him.” Keras shook his head. “Frankly, he probably did better than I would have without a weapon.”
I nodded at his logic. As a Soulblade, Derek was almost as reliant on his equipment as I was. I didn’t know if he could have beaten Saffron if he had all of his items on him, but it probably would have been a closer match.
I considered telling Keras to go get the items, but I hesitated. I didn’t want to take the chance that Saffron would return in the few minutes Keras left me all alone.
Before I had a chance to reply, a burning figure flew in through the back wall. I reached for my sword on my hip, only to realize that it wasn’t there, and belatedly, that the figure was just Delsys coming back.
Delsys had reverted to his humanoid form — a red-skinned man with blazing wings and a tornado of flame surrounding him. He hovered just a few inches above the floor.
He moved toward Derek’s fallen body, tilting his head down, then turned his head toward Keras. “This is unacceptable.”
“I hear you.” Keras sounded exasperated. “Sorry, I couldn’t get here in time.”
Delsys let out a low growl. “When I find the creature that did this, I will burn it until nothing but ash remains.”
“Delsys,” I managed, before breaking into a coughing fit. The blazing figure turned its head toward me.
“Young Cadence,” he replied.
“Derek and Elora need a healer. Do you know any nearby?”
“I am not well-versed in the skills of mortals.”
I pondered that. “Sheridan Theas. Can you find them?”
“I am aware of the home of Sheridan Theas. If they are present, I will retrieve them.” Delsys nodded, then changed into the shape of a blazing bird, and flew back out.
…Leaving another hole in the wall.
“Well, at least now help is probably on the way,” Keras remarked.
I sighed. “…Yeah.” I managed to lift a hand to my forehead, wiping away sweat. “How did you get powerful enough to fight people like that, Keras? It’s…the gap in our strength seems impossible to bridge. As you said, Derek is about as strong as humans get. And even he was at a disadvantage against Saffron.”
“I wouldn’t completely agree with you there. Derek might have been weaker than Saffron, but if he had all his equipment, I think he could have forced Saffron to retreat like I did. Immortal beings like Saffron don’t generally like to risk fighting anyone who stands any chance at causing them lasting harm.”
“Maybe.” I didn’t get the impression Saffron considered any of us a serious threat. “But what if we wanted to win, rather than just force a stalemate? Is it even possible for a human to achieve the power necessary to do that?”
Keras shrugged a shoulder. “I have met a few humans with as much raw power as Saffron…but they’re people who have found ways to extend their life span beyond normal human limits.”
He’s probably talking about people like Wrynn Jaden, I realized.
“So, if I wanted an equivalent amount of magical power to someone like Saffron, I’d need more than a human lifetime to get it?”
“Not necessarily, although that would be the most plausible route. You saw what Saffron could do, yes? The Children of the Tyrant are all like that — they can absorb magic. Not just for a short time, either. They can steal power from items, or from people, in ways that make themselves permanently stronger.”
He shook his head. “Many of them have had hundreds of years of practice doing just that. Imagine not having to train in the slightest, just putting your hand on some hapless victim and taking all their strength.”
“And there’s no downside to that? No limit to the amount they can absorb?”
Keras shook his head. “Not that I’ve seen. They tend to specialize in a few types of magic, so maybe they have difficulty absorbing opposing magic types. It probably causes conflicts in their body if they have too much of two opposing types. But while that is a limit, it’s not one that’s particularly exploitable, when they’re practically invincible and still have several types of magic to work with.”
“How would you beat one, then? You said you thought you might be able to.”
“I have something of an unfair advantage.” He patted the sword on his hip. “I can hurt them in ways they can’t regenerate from. That doesn’t mean I’d be guaranteed a victory, though. Many of them, especially the stronger ones, would have tactics that would allow them to wear me down without ever getting into my swinging range. Saffron isn’t the most strategic of the bunch, which is why I’d stand a reasonable chance.”
I gestured at the sword on his hip. “Is that the reason you’re so dangerous? I don’t see you draw the sword very often. One of the Six Sacred Swords, I’m guessing?”