Ascending sheer cliff walls would have been an incredibly simple task for Celeste on her own. For the rest of the wizards, however, it was more difficult. Impatience ate at her as she crouched on a small outcrop of rock, watching the others climb up the ropes she'd knocked into the cliff wall.
Cut the ropes. Let them fall. You can do this alone.
“Okay, now it just seems like you want me to die. You know that I couldn't do it.”
With this many, you will have to go in loud. On your own, you could kill every man up there before they knew what hit them.
Celeste considered its argument for a moment before shaking her head. She wasn't exactly stealthy, not in the closer quarters she would be fighting in up there. And regardless, she wasn't going to just kill her allies. She'd already taken out the men on watch above her, she didn't want to do much more herself tonight.
The wizard leading the climb was nearly at her level, so she hopped off to keep going. She was able to easily scramble along the side of the cliff, hanging in the air next to it with little threat from gravity. As well as her weapons, she had climbing hooks, ropes, and a large mallet hanging off her belt. On the back was a lantern that slapped painfully into her thighs as she climbed and provided little illumination. As she went up, she hammered in hooks and attached her ropes, giving the wizards below her a safe passage.
She was creating a path up to a small wooded area at the top of the cliff. They could gather up there and prepare to rush the enemy guns. They had to get ready to move before the enemy changed their guards again. Once they did, they would notice the previous guards were dead, slumped up by Celeste to leave them looking like they were on duty. And then any chance at surprise would be lost. Still, sneaking a dozen elite wizard soldiers up the cliff didn't feel all that stealthy a plan anyway.
Celeste knew she had to follow her commander's orders, but it didn't mean she wasn't going to tell Tosetti when she thought his plans were stupid. Not that he had led them astray so far. And this was a position they needed to take. So important that the Field Marshall had allowed them to bring in so many extra wizards to help. Twice as many as they suspected the enemy had.
Audutain Pass was one of the few easy passages through the foothills of southern Ofprovia. It was also an incredibly strong defensive position. The sheer wall on one side of the pass left a perfect position to place guns to rain fire onto an incoming enemy. On the other side, the rocky terrain and tree cover left the perfect place to ambush any troops attempting a surprise attack.
So, the Ofprovians had set up their forces at the northern side of the pass and placed guns and wizards on the cliff. There were also likely hiding men in the trees. With Celeste's powers, they would get the wizards up the cliff and take out the Ofprovian wizards. An extra wizard was also going to set fire to the trees on the other side of the pass. When that happened, their men would charge the pass and overrun the enemy position. At least, that was Tosetti's plan.
Celeste lightly pulled herself up onto the top of the cliff. She ducked behind a low bush and looked out at the assembled enemy forces. Though it was well past midnight, they kept their fires burning, though barricades stopped the light from spilling down below. As though the Laocienans didn't already know the cliff was bristling with guns. She could see the powerful artillery guns aimed nearly directly into the sky.
It reminded her of her classes. Basic physics for military applications. That had been years ago now, but she'd been in the school months ago. It felt far longer. For a moment the weight of time hung on her. She felt so tired. Those carefree days had been such bliss and she'd never really appreciated it then.
You can lament later.
“You could feel that?” She muttered.
I am not going to stop being bonded to your very soul any time soon now, am I?
She was about to respond when she heard boots crunching on loose stones. She reached behind her and snuffed out the lantern, watching as an Ofprovian soldier came sauntering towards the woods. She pressed herself into the bush and peered through the leaves as best she could watch from cover.
The man whistled a quiet tune to himself that she didn't recognise. It sounded off-key anyway. He approached a tree and she realised he was going to urinate. She turned away and waited for him to finish. He took a step away, before stopping. In the darkness, she could just about see that he was looking towards the cliff edge. Where the guards she'd killed were.
He called out something in Ofprovian. It sounded like a greeting. She dived through the bush and grabbed the man by his collar. Her sword was out in a flash and she plunged it through his neck to silence him. He let out a gurgle as she pulled him back and left his body behind the foliage. With him gone they probably only had minutes before someone noticed the other dead guards. But it was that or let them be alerted immediately.
She hurried back to the cliff edge to find the other wizards finally reaching the top. She pulled Gabriele up, helping the large man to his feet before motioning for him to keep low. He went to take cover behind a tree.
Gabriele was Celeste's assigned partner for this mission. When the extra wizards arrived, Celeste almost missed them, if they hadn't had the trademark weirdness all wizards had. They wore their uniforms like real soldiers, like they were made for the uniform. They stood to attention when Tosetti addressed them. It drove home how out of place she was here. She hadn't even undergone basic training. Just given a uniform and shoved into the fight. In the logistics corps, that hasn't been so much of a concern. But on the frontlines, it was starting to make her more worried.
Despite a tough appearance, Gabriele was quite a friendly man. Tosetti had allowed the others to work out partners based on their own knowledge, but had paired him with Celeste personally. The other soldiers had years of experience working together in the field, their uniforms adorned with medals from prior wars. Celeste had needed someone with plenty of understanding to work with her.
Preparation had reminded her of school again. Gabriele had shown her his powers and she had shown him hers. Then they sparred, learning how each of them could utilise their powers. His spirit was a statue of an old god, carved into the side of a valley. His skin looked as if it had broken out in spots that wouldn't die down. The spots, however, were chunks of stone. They looked painful, but although he scratched them a lot, he claimed it was more soothing than painful. She didn't fully believe him.
“Were you spotted?” He asked softly, as Celeste came to hide behind a tree behind him.
“No. But I took out a nosey man who was coming towards the edge. They'll be expecting him back soon.”
Gabriele nodded and looked thoughtful for a moment. He turned to face the others as they moved into formation behind them. With a few motions of his hand, they dropped their climbing gear and readied their weapons. Celeste did the same, checking her pistols were loaded before drawing her swords.
She looked to Gabriele, not able to understand his hand motions. He knew this and gave her a nod instead. She returned it, and the battle commenced.
They kept low, running as fast as they could. The more soldiers they could take out before raising the alarm the better. They all used swords or quiet magic for now. Celeste leapt into the air and surveyed the battlefield before them. Several dozen colossal guns were lined up near the cliff edge, each several times bigger than Gabriele. Between the guns, soldiers stood around fires or lay in makeshift tents. Their wizards were easy to pick out. Even in the low light, their peculiarities stood out.
The winds this high up were quick to start buffeting her, so she dropped back down.
“How many?” Gabriele asked.
“A few hundred, I'd estimate. I could only pick out a half dozen wizards, like Tosetti said,” She whispered back.
“He has an uncanny ability for knowing what we're gonna face.” The other wizard snorted softly. “What have they got for munitions?”
“Lots of shells. I don't know how they got so many up here. Might be enough for days of bombardment.”
Gabriele smiled softly. “How easy do you think it would be to set some of that off?”
Celeste shook her head. “It's too close together. If you set off one load, I would bet on it starting a chain reaction. Everyone on this cliff would be incinerated.”
“Right,” He said with a nod. “Well, the soldiers are no issue. We need to focus on taking out their wizards first. Watch my back.” He locked eyes with Celeste briefly.
“And you watch mine,” She shot back. Her grip tightened on her swords before Gabriele gave the signal.
They all rounded the gun they'd been hidden behind and descended on the group of soldiers. These ones were far more alert, already swinging rifles off their back and aiming them at the approaching wizards. Celeste leapt forward, engaging two of them. One fired at her and she narrowly dodged the ball, feeling it tear at her jacket.
Vacuum. Her spirit said. It had been talking to her more recently, always goading her to use her magic. She tried not to when fighting soldiers. Her wizard's strength and speed was already enough.
She raised one sword and knocked the second soldier's rifle aside. He fired accidentally, the flash blinding him for a moment. She turned to the other soldier who swiped at her with his bayonet.
“Sorry,” She muttered in Ofprovian, ducking under the rifle and surging up, killing the soldier. She spun and cut down the other just as he began to recover from flash.
They kept going. The next group of soldiers, already in formation around a campfire, fired a volley of shots at the wizards as they rounded the guns. They largely dodged out of the way, or avoided being shot fatally. From amidst their ranks, an officer strode out. A wizard. His skin was crisscrossed with lines of deep orange, like lava bubbling under his skin.
This didn't surprise Celeste. Tosetti had warned them of a high likelihood of some kind of fire wizard. There were plenty of active volcanos and lava fields in the northern Ofprovian kingdoms which led to plenty of fire-based spirits.
Fire needs air. The spirit repeated to her. She was quite possibly best suited to fight this wizard. She nodded at Gabriele who nodded back. They began to advance on the wizard.
With a sweep of his arms, the wizard pulled two blazing columns from a nearby fire. He swished them through the air, his fluid motions reminding her more of water than fire. If he was pulling from the fire, then either he couldn't make fire himself, or it was costly. Celeste cringed thinking of how much he reminded her of Melanie.
She threw a hand towards the fire he'd drawn from and put it out with a large vacuum. The fire wizard shot a glance at the extinguished fire before he lunged at her, swinging the fire at her in huge arcs. They were predictable and she dodged between them before hurtling into the attack. She needed to extinguish his fires but he moved them in long streaks that were too big for a vacuum to consume.
She leapt high into the air to get out of the reach of his fire for a moment, to let Gabriele take the focus. The fire wizard didn't desist though. He let one rope of fire go for a moment and pointed his palm towards the ground. A jet of steam shot out, flinging him into the air. He took hold of his fire again just before it dissipated. He was more skilled than Celeste had anticipated. However, using only one hand meant he hadn't been able to stabilise his ascent. By the time he righted himself and prepared to attack Celeste, she had hurtled towards him and kicked him square in the face.
He managed to hold onto his fire as he hurtled to the ground. However, being hit with a huge disk of rock managed to loosen his grip.
“You alright?” Gabriele called up to her as he pulled another chunk of rock from the ground. The two disks floated by his hands as they usually did in a fight. His style was sturdy and powerful, while Celeste was fast. They complimented each other well, and limited the fire wizard's options here.
“I'm fine,” Celeste called as she plummeted back to the ground. They now had the wizard trapped between them.
He looked between them for a moment, assessing his options. He then placed a hand flat against the ground and the earth started to shake. It was a slight rumble at first. Then it felt as if the ground were about to tear open and swallow them whole. Gabriele planted his feet and stood firm. His powers included becoming immoveable when both feet were on the ground. Celeste meanwhile leapt into the sky, above the danger.
Chaos grew around them. The soldiers, already panicking as wizards swept through their midst, were now physically thrown off. Most of the wizards were holding on to things to keep themselves being thrown to the ground. The stacks of shells behind the guns clanked and rolled out of their stacks while the guns looked like they might be about to fall off the cliff.
This was powerful magic, Celeste realised, but likely to burn him up. It only lasted a few seconds more before he raised his hands and blasted himself into the air. The fire wizard drew his sword and launched himself at Celeste. She just about managed to parry his attack but he was relentless.
The fire wizard didn't have as good mobility as Celeste. His movement was limited by how often he could produce steam. She watched carefully. He seemed to need at least a second between each blast from his hand. But he was flexible in his fighting to make up for it. He switched the sword between his hands and kept attacking without any hesitation, keeping his offensive up. His rapid movements left him immune to Gabriele's slower attacks. Celeste had difficulty counter-attacking, when she swung at him he effortlessly parried her.
She dropped to the ground, trying to assess how to deal with him. The sun was just peaking over the horizon, the summer nights not as long as they once had been. Tosetti would be watching for their signal. Expecting results. She glanced over to Gabriele, giving him a nod.
The fire wizard landed too, lunging forward and blasting steam at Celeste. She jumped back, feeling the heat scolding her arm. She would survive something that small. She was a wizard after all. Gabriele charged in, swinging his rock disks at the wizard. They worked effectively to block the blasts of steam and the sword in equal measure.
Celeste reached her goal, a stack of artillery shells. Setting off the pile might cause a chain reaction, but one on its own would be safe. She lifted the thing up. It was nearly the size of her chest. But she could hold it with ease, even if it took both of her hands. She threw it in the air and punched it, sending it hurtling towards the fire wizard.
He turned in time to see it and blasted himself into the air, narrowly avoiding the engulfing flames. He spun through the air, hanging slightly for a moment as he gazed over the battlefield. He then pivoted in the air, launching himself towards Celeste.
She rolled forwards to evade his sword. Darting up, she spun to face him with her swords raised. She lowered them as she watched him pulling another shell out. He fired it at her with a powerful jet of steam. It whizzed past her as she easily dodged it. It crashed heavily into the ground, but that alone didn't set it off. The metal bulged as the explosive materials were set off by the applied heat. Celeste quickly raised her hands, as though that might shield her from the explosion.
It went off with little fanfare and she realised Gabriele had thrown a rock disk over it to cushion the explosion. She turned back to the fire wizard and was stopped in her tracks as she saw what he was doing. Steam poured from around him. The crates of munitions jangled as they prepared to unleash their contents.
Celeste broke into a run away from him, towards the edge of the cliff. The blast might still get her even down below, but her chances were better down there, she felt.
“Run!” She cried out to anyone who might be able to hear, desperate to keep them all safe. Gabriele looked stunned, pulling up a disk to shield himself. Would that be enough? Fire needs air. She changed course, sprinting towards him.
What are you doing? We need to escape!
“Saving someone.” That's what she was trying to do, right? That was why she was here. “Get down!” She called at Gabriele. She couldn't create a very big vacuum, not enough to even keep herself safe. He got the idea though.
She threw herself into his arms and they crouched close together. With his feet planted, they would be safe where they were, if they could survive the fire.
The explosion was nearly deafening. The warmth was so intense on its own that Celeste thought it might cook them alone. But the fire itself barely licked them. Celeste pointed a finger in between them and created as large a vacuum as she could.
Surviving the fire was one thing, but surviving her own powers was another challenge. Before she created it, Celeste took a deep breath, trying to hold the air in her lungs. But it didn't work that way. All the air was destroyed, including what was in her. With her lungs empty, she didn't have long with just the oxygen that was already in her blood. Maybe being a wizard gave her a little more resistance, but a lack of oxygen was pretty devastating whatever you were.
Finally, though, the roar of the flames died away. She blinked rapidly as she released the vacuum and stumbled to her feet. She quickly fell back. It took a few moments for the spots to clear from her vision and the sound to return to her ears. She looked around, trying to see what was left.
Fire still clung on in places, burning up the remains of plant life. The earth below them was scorched black. The smell hit her and she started to notice the charred bodies scattered around. She felt stick, clutching her stomach.
Keep it together. Your work isn't done.
“The munitions are destroyed. The guns are useless, if they even still work. And everyone's dead.” She said, dejectedly. Gabriele still sat there, catching his own breath. But how could anyone else have survived?
Pay more attention. Her spirit spoke urgently.
She looked up, trying to focus her eyes. There was just enough time for her to duck as the huge rope of fire swung at her. As she righted herself, Celeste's eyes traced the fire back to its source. His hair seemed to be on fire, and his skin was singed, and his clothes were burned off, but he was very much alive. And a smile was plastered across the fire wizard's face.
Did he have a fourth power? Or was this just a natural change to his body, like Tesni's uncanny ability to hide? It didn't really matter now, Celeste supposed. He must have gone far beyond his own limits. And she felt like she was pushing up against her own. She didn't have long to end this.
“Why did you do that?” She called in Ofprovian. Her voice still sounded weird in her ears. The explosion did more damage than she'd expected. “You killed your own people in the blast.”
He shrugged. “We had lost the fight. Most of us were dead already. I just ensured your loses would be greater than ours.”
“That's suicidal.”
“That's war.” He breathed heavily, tightening his grip around his ropes of fire. “Not that there's much you can learn from this. It is going to be your last battle.”
He pulled back his arms, ready to strike her down. She did the same, drawing her swords then throwing her arms back and feeling her own fire erupt behind her. She didn't need to use it for long, just the sight of it caused shock to spread across the other wizard's face. With a single lunge, she reached him, her fiery sword slicing right through his neck. The heat left a bloodless wound.
The air was still warm, even with her fire gone. Something that powerful lasted a long time. The heat and sound still echoed around them, as the legacy of a fallen empire shaped whole countries. Celeste tried not to ponder this too much. Her brain was a mess. The oxygen starvation was perhaps a little too much on top of everything else. It was like walking through a dream, the next couple of minutes, then hours.
Gabriele tossed her the signal flare and went to search for any survivors. She couldn't imagine Tosetti not having seen that explosion, but he needed to know that they had won the fight, if anyone could be said to have won. She held the gun up and let the smoke snake into the air. The stone felt warm below her as she sat on the cliff edge. After briefly examining the scorched marks, she discarded her jacket and felt the cool, high morning air running over her. It began to soothe her, just a little. The morning was illuminated more as the forest across from her began to burn. Tosetti's plans were going perfectly, she supposed.
Celeste may have sat on that cliff for hours, or maybe it was only minutes. As the forest burned, a plume of smoke grew bigger. It did nothing to affect visibility in the valley below, there was little wind down there, but up here it was much stronger. It rolled in from the west. She wondered if it was coming all the way from the ocean. If there was salt on the air, she couldn't smell it over the smoke. Woody and rich. Yet putrid. For a while, she watched to see the enemy soldiers fleeing the inferno, until it made her sick. Not physically. But her heart ached as she saw their terror. She wasn't soothing nearly fast enough.
“What are you trying to tell me?” She asked as another gust of wind battered her.
I didn't say anything.
“Not you,” She snapped.
“Your spirit giving you problems?” Gabriele's voice was soft as he sat beside her.
“It likes to be irritating.”
“I get that,” He laughed weakly. “I couldn't find any survivors. It's possible some people jumped before the fire got them. I've seen wizards survive falls like this. But most uniforms are too burnt to be identifiable at this point.”
Celeste nodded, struggling for words in response. What was there to say to that. They had lost too much for this to feel like a victory. Tosetti would be pleased, no doubt.
“Why are you here?” She asked quietly. “Why did you come to fight?”
Gabriele was silent for a long moment before shrugging. “I've fought before. I didn't see why I would sit this war out.”
“And the first time? Why would you choose any of this?”
“I figure it's my duty to fight. I'm a wizard, we're gifted with incredible power. And protecting our country with that power...It seems right to me.”
Celeste leant back on her hands, looking at him now. “What do you do normally?”
“You're young, aren't you? Looking for career advice?” He said with a smile.
“Nothing that practical.”
“I'm a village wizard. Laugh at me, if you want. I don't know many who went to a school as impressive as you who would choose work like that.”
“It's not like I applied or anything. Tricapon takes in everyone.” She said, a little confused.
“Yeah, they talk about being egalitarian. But there is some selection. I don't know what they base things on, but they don't take in every random kid who gets bound. Just the ones they feel like.”
There was a sense of resentment in his voice, but Celeste didn't want to probe any further. She looked back down at the valley. The sun wouldn't spill into it for a while yet. It looked almost peaceful in the half-light. But she knew that if she looked hard enough she would see the trenches dug into it, the soldiers preparing for a terrible battle.
“I think it sounds nice. I grew up in a village, maybe when this is over, I will go back there to see what good I can do.”
“You're a highland girl, right?” She nodded, self-consciously running a hand along her braid. “I can imagine your powers would be appreciated up there. I can't imagine what it must be like if you drop something off a cliff by mistake.”
Celeste laughed and shook her head. “Yeah, that's why most people don't do that.”
“I meant accidentally,” He said, laughing back. He paused. “I can't wait to go back. When we're done here, when we know the nation is safe, that journey home is going to feel amazing.”
He spoke at some length about his home, his village, until the guns started up. Shells arched along the valley. Laociena fired first, beginning to destroy the enemy trenches.
Celeste hadn't noticed until now how many trenches crisscrossed the valley. She wondered if there had once been farmland, or pastures, or anything productive here. That was all lost, the earth churned up into mud by digging and boots. And now by artillery fire and bullets.
She slipped out her spyglass to see if she could make out the battle. It was a bloody struggle for them. The enemy's artillery didn't seem to be set up properly yet and many of their shells hit the backlines or their own soldiers. But the volleys of musket fire was dangerous. They were forced to run, exposed, between the trenches. The Ofprovians were smart enough to dig the trenches as separate features. No doubt they'd realised the effectiveness of wizards like Melanie.
Was she here? Had she been killed in the explosion? No, she was too good for that to happen. Nothing could kill her.
Something caught her eye. At this distance it was difficult to make out more than a flash of green uniform, yet how it moved reminded her of something. She trained her eyeglass on the men and war horrified by what she saw. Uberto, Teo, Julius, Felipe.
They weren't supposed to be out there, she had ordered them to stay put until she returned. They weren't reckless enough to do this. Had Tosetti ordered them out? She didn't expect him to overturn her orders, not unless he thought she was dead.
She stood, pocketing her eyeglass and stretching a little, getting ready to jump.
“What are you doing?” Gabriele asked.
“I've got to get down there, my men are in danger,” She called back, leaning over the edge to examine the drop.
“You haven't had time to soothe, or properly rest even. Going down there will only get you killed.”
“I'm a wizard, I can take a few bullets.” Celeste didn't look back at him before leaping off the cliff.
She fell for a way, feeling the wind rushing over her, before slowing herself and grabbing to the side of the cliff. Her men were on the far side of the valley from her. She couldn't get to them in a single bound. But she could get closer. She didn't bare pulling herself along with vacuums, out of fear for consuming herself.
The battlefield was a dangerous thing to fling yourself across. She felt shells whizzing through the air around her. Guns shots were far below her, but she could smell the acrid gunpowder still. And the stench of blood.
The ground was soft as she landed. Tosetti had been worried about this. As summer drew on, the hills of Ofprovia would warm and their snowy peaks melt. Mud would make the valleys on their way to the capital impassable. It wasn't too bad just yet.
She started running, ignoring the trenches of men either side of her. Bullets didn't move fast enough to catch her. She saw an Ofprovian soldier ahead of her attempting to cross into the Laocienan trench with his sword drawn. She saw the men he was going for, reloading their guns in a panic. In a smooth motion, she drew one of her pistols and fired at the man. Useless now, she chucked it aside into the friendly trench, and kept moving.
With a little magic, she kept herself moving supernaturally fast, leaping over possible conflict. Had the Ofprovians not put any wizards on their front lines? Tosetti had called in a large force for the attack, but even so, this few wizards at such a key point struck Celeste as weird. She wasn't trained in tactics though. Maybe there was more going on above her head.
She reached her men just in time, hurtling out of the sky towards them. Uberto was peaking his head out of the shell hole that they had ended up sheltered in. The bullet rushing towards his head seemed to be moving in slow motion. She didn't have the chance to make a mistake. With an outstretched finger, she summoned a vacuum and redirected the bullet. It impacted into the ground harmlessly.
“Captain!” Teo called, moving to stand before hearing an explosion and keeping ducked. “Sorry we can salute,” He said with a small laugh.
Uberto was scrambling back into the hole, mud rubbing on his uniform, as Celeste crouched beside them.
“What are you doing out here?” She said sharply. “I gave clear orders, did I not?”
“The General was quite clear,” Felipe said. “Every man was the join the assault. And well...”
“Well what?”
“We didn't know if you were alive,” Teo said bluntly. “We saw the explosion and just kinda guessed you didn't make it.”
“You are looking worse for wear to be fair,” Julius added.
Celeste looked down at herself. The edges of her uniform were singed from the fire. Her hair too. She didn't feel that too amazing either. But she had enough energy left for whatever else the day might hold, or at least she thought so.
“There's no getting you lot out of here now, is there?” She said with a sigh, drawing a sword and a pistol.
“That's the spirit,” Teo said, pulling out a handful of improvised explosives.
Julius grinned, grabbing his rifle up and cocking the flint. “With our wizard, we can't lose this.”
“I'm only one wizard, but I'm not letting anything happen to any of you,” She said, standing and climbing up to the lip of the hole to survey the battlefield ahead of them. “I think we keep low and try to make it to that encampment.” She said, pointing with the tip of her sword.
“Right you are-” Julius was cut off by the short of the gunpowder and the bullet crashing into his chest.
Leave him.
“Julius!” She cried, diving forwards to catch him as he fell. She collapsed into the dirt, cradling him in her arms. How had she let her guard down? She knew they weren't safe. She allowed this to happen all the same.
She pressed her hand to his chest, trying to stop the blood. It was hot, as though fire was pouring out of him. Fire burning its way through him.
“Not again,” She whispered to herself, holding him tighter now. She took in all of him, his face as he gasped for his final breaths, his braid so like Alfonso's.
You have a job to do. The spirit sounded urgent but she didn't care what it had to say.
“I'm not leaving him.”
And she didn't, even as his struggling breaths stopped.