Chapter One Hundred And Forty Six - Turning Of Tides

One would think that it would be a simple task for three experienced assassins to invade the city unnoticed, despite the numerous soldiers guarding the entrance and patrolling the outer walls and it would have been, if not for the two magi and one Witch that tagged along.  In the end, they relied upon Saewulf, who was still in his child like state and guided, unknown to most of the others, by a small black viper.  They followed the boy, who had wandered off to one side of the city and 'discovered' a boulder covered tunnel.  This tunnel had been formed decades ago by an enterprising smuggler and was now used to sneak paying commoners and merchants out of the war torn city by those who dabbled in the darker market of things.

Naturally, it lead to the hidden caverns nestled between the two slums, where thieves and murderers took to do business.  The assassins had not been that involved with the underground side of things for although some of their handlers were once a part of these people, their clients generally were not.  As if not being actually linked made their business more legal or above board.

The unsavoury members of the underground naturally knew when the group of six entered their territory, the smarter ones observed from the shadows, while prostitutes and drug dealers attempted to lure them into doing business, but there were those who insisted on challenging them immediately.  The dealers in flesh and poisonous euphoria fled as the gang sought to recklessly show their superiority over these newcomers and possibly steal anything of value upon their bodies, money, treasures even that beautiful boy innocently smiling at them.  However, these people were not the soft persimmons that they had assumed, they had thought only the large muscular being amongst them would give them trouble, but he actually stood back as the others swiftly dealt with the gang's challenge.

The boy that they had admired was possibly the most vicious amongst them.  One had simply burst into flames to intimidate them, one had thrown seeds at their feet which had instantly grown into vines and entrapped them, but the boy had danced among them with tiny knives, cutting flesh and tendons, slicing key arteries to cause them to bleed profusely and even letting the snake hidden in his robes bite and poison them.  They had thought that they had safety in numbers, but as bodies piled around them, the deaths caused by this boy and a silent young man whose blades were only merciless in their swift disposal, they saw their error and the survivors turned to flee.

Those in the shadows melted into them, they simply informed their masters, who snorted in laughter.  They had let the gang alone, feeling sorry for the group of rejects, but they had grown in the recent months of the war thanks to the growing number of displaced orphans and deserting soldiers that were too useless to join the lowest of their own ranks.  These hidden masters were satisfied that the problem had been dealt with and told their subordinates to advise them if this deadly group caused issues to their own or tipped the always precarious balance within their dark world.  They did not try to recruit them, knowing if anyone did, it would be like declaring war upon the others and during already unknown times, that would be a fatal play right now.

And so the six wandered through and out of the shadowed underworld without further challenges to enter quietly the city that was otherwise preoccupied.

*****

The building shook, the mortar that held it together crumbled a tad with the remnant force that the magic shields could not withstand.  They were weakening.  It would not be long now until the Council's pet magi finally succeeding in bringing them down.  But then, it had been close to two months since the siege had begun and only paused as the magi attacking them ceased to regain their magic.

In the beginning, the magi and school were naturally the stronger side with their numbers and varying talents. The children all knew the magic transfer technique that could keep their Teachers able to continuously pump magic into the key crystal that sustained the barrier. The barrier was originally meant to keep the children's potentially explosive energy from destroying parts of the school and fellow students. It was the true reason why children with magical abilities were brought to the school in the first place, to prevent such accidents like the one that had occurred in the lost village. Had this been explained to the commoners, they might not have come to this, but at the same time they had not wanted the commoners to fear their own infants and babes in arms, when most would not have the potential to lose control so spectacularly. Now the barriers's function had been reversed and was keeping the magi and soldiers from the little ones it protected.

However, such a prolonged siege would naturally have consequences. The defenders were exhausted, having grabbed pitiful amounts of sleep in between barrages and now lacking food to sustain their weary bodies. The tides had already turned.

Philip opened his heavy lids to survey the room in which he sheltered. As one of the older and more advanced students, he had taken it upon himself to keep calm the smallest children, many of whom had been snatched from their parents just before the war began in earnest. Lucil was with him, the boy once filled with sunshine and smiles was a natural with the little ones, but there were signs of fatigue on his round ashen face now. He and Philip had grown close in these past couple of months, though they had been on friendly terms since the day that they had met during one of the last expeditions he had set forth on. Lucil was curled up against his side now, so exhausted that not even the explosions could rouse him. The little ones all lay close by, most with a tiny pudgy hand clinging to him, Lucil or their closest neighbour.

Teacher Exalos opened the door to their room, large circles beneath his weary eyes. He ran his hands through his silvery hair. "Philip, I need you."

Philip nodded and strained to get to his feet, carefully arranging Lucil upon the floor and extracting himself from the small paws. He carefully made his way over the resting bodies and gripped Exalos' hand in his own and began to transfer of his fairly drained supply of magic. He fell to his knees in minutes. "Sorry, Teacher," he apologised. "I can't..."

"It's alright, Philip," the Teacher gave him a small, half smile. "I understand." He sighed. "When this is over, promise me that you will care for the children and watch over them, come what may."

"Of course," Philip agreed. He and Lucil had made many plans, hoping to be able to escape with the little ones to one of the rebel villages. None of the plans seemed as if they might work, but they would break if they considered any alternative. The Teacher gave him a slight nod before leaving the room.

Philip returned to Lucil's side and placed a kiss upon his temple, his heart saddened. The boy had been his ray of light in the shadows of the siege, he had never considered that he would find his heart trapped by another before all of this and now he could not imagine things any other way. If the war and not happened, if he had not shared his time and his space with Lucil, would he have simply been married off to his fiancée and never experienced this emotion? Was it worse to have loved and be aware that you might lose it than to have never loved at all? He could not answer this and peered out of the window at the pearly barrier, which flickered as it weakened further.

The room shook further and there were startled cries as some of the children woke. Lucil groaned as he too was disturbed from his sleep. He felt Philip place his lips over his own in a chaste greeting and blushed before turning his attention to the crying children. "So, today..." the boy whispered and glanced at Philip, who nodded reluctantly in answer to his words.

"No matter what happens..." Philip told him.

*****

The barrier fell apart not long after and there were cries as the backlash felled the Teachers still vainly attempting to hold it. Philip and Lucil could do nothing but wait, ushering the children to stand behind them as they gripped each other's hand struggling to find strength in the other. Scores of other students were huddled in the library or in other rooms, some caring for other small students, some simply caring about themselves. All were beyond exhausted and hungry and that is how the soldiers would find them.

They were rounded up and forced to move outside of the building, but kept separate from the Teachers who had given their all to protect them. Those adults had been declared traitors. Only exile and most likely death awaited them now. The smallest children sobbed, earning them scoldings from uncaring soldiers and magi. Lucil knelt to comfort more than one, who rushed into his small arms. That seemed to anger one irritable soldier more than the wails and he grabbed the boy and tore him from the children's embrace.

"What are you doing?" Teacher Exalos yelled out as he saw this, only to earn himself a backhanded first from a Council pet, a woman who happened to have been spurned by the man once upon a time. She sneered at the wind mage now, savouring her power over him. In the meantime, Philip was torn between helping Lucil and stopping the soldier's comrades from threatening the children. He felt the storm of his powers churn within him and had he not been recently stripped of much of his power, he doubted he would be able to control his abilities.

The soldier threw Lucil at a nearby comrade. "We should have some fun," he grinned, cruelly.

"Stop it!" Snapped the female mage, disgusted by the brutes. The soldiers glared at her and the first crossed his arms about his chest.

"Oh and what's the little you going to do about it," the soldier questioned.

"You forget," she said, snidely, "I might look weak, but I am no where near that." Their swords and knives flew from the sheathes and hovered in front of them, the blades pointed towards their chests and hearts. The soldiers tossed the boy mage back into the group of students, where Philip gathered him into his arms.

"You magi think too highly of yourselves," the soldier grumbled as he walked away.  The blades fell to the floor, forcing their owners to collect them.

"We are more powerful than you," came the voice of another Council mage in retailiation. "And we always will be!"

"Not sure that is entirely true," came a cold voice atop a roof. Both soldiers and magi turned to see a man with a chilling stare glance down at them. He was not alone. "I'm sure I could defeat a mage."

"Pfft," laughed a dark-skinned man as his legs swung over the walls. "You have magic too, albeit small, so that's hardly a far evaluation."

"Okay, Saewulf verses that person," the white haired man retorted as he pointed at one of the Council pets.

The other man seemed to consider this for a moment, before replying; "Touché."

"Who are you?" The Council mage yelled at them.

"Oh don't mind us," the dark man waved dismissively. "We were just looking to see if a certain person was here. He is not."

"However," the first man tilted his head as he spoke. "I don't like the way that you are treating the children."

"Yeah? And what are you going to do about that?" Oswyn did not reply, only stretched his thin lips into a smile that did not reach his eyes.