Chapter 51.2
Vee took one last look at her altered appearance while she had the time. Despite being able to conjure weapons and healing magic with the literal light of Creation, she had a hard time mentally adjusting to being cloaked in one of Amara’s illusions. In her head, she knew that she was wearing light, athletic clothes meant to give her maximum flexibility in the upcoming fight, yet when she looked down at herself, she saw only an illusory copy of Miss Bishop’s elegant, flowing dress. Long, brown hair lazily cascaded down the side of her face, yet the only hair she actually felt was her own.
In front of her, lying on the ground while slathered with illusory blood and injuries, was Amara. She’d done an immaculate job disguising herself as someone horribly injured, and Vee needed to remind herself that Amara wasn’t actually on death’s door.
Alright, Vee, this only works if you sell the illusion. How does Miss Bishop talk? She’s a tad formal, but also rather quiet in the presence of Headmistress Davenport. She moves with grace, but she hides a fury that she’s scared to reveal in the face of her superiors. We know she’s upset about the siphoning plan, so how would she confront Davenport? Would she be calm about it? How angry would she be? Ugh, I should have double checked with her before we parted ways.
Around her, a thin blanket of snow covered the field, heavily disturbed and partially melted to sell the illusion that a fight had recently ended. They’d chosen this field for its relative lack of manmade features in the hope of keeping collateral damage to a minimum; Palesa’s magic could heal trees and plant life, but not gazebos or parking lots.
A strong river cut through the clearing roughly a dozen feet away from Amara and Vee, the sound of running water one of many instruments that contributed to the score of the natural world. Despite the heavy cold that permeated the area, it shared a connection to some of Demali’s hot springs, and the warm water prevented the river from freezing over. The water softly shimmered and rippled as it raced through the riverbed, skipping and dancing over the various stones and footholds.
One edge of their clearing was completely blocked by a large, sheer cliff several dozen feet tall. The cliff itself was made of white sandstone, with hundreds of small ledges and outcroppings that would have made for a fantastic rock climbing experience had such activities not been banned for safety and environmental reasons. Droplets of water scattered across the sandstone as, in the center of this cliff, a large waterfall crested over the rocks and fell to the ground below, feeding the very river that lazily ran beside the girls as they waited for the guests to arrive. This particular clearing was immensely popular when the weather was nice, but given the recent snowfall, few had been interested in walking this deep into the preserve.
The banks on either side of the river were relatively empty, consisting of thin white sand that gradually gave way to grassy plains that extended out for at least a hundred feet, likely more. These fields were part of the appeal of this clearing, as they made the perfect spots for picnics, recreational games, and dates. The park district had long ago set up a small collection of picnic tables, around a dozen, purely because of how popular this field proved to be with the local students.
The edge of the clearing was marked quite clearly by a thick collection of large trees, each of them connected to their siblings by interconnected webs of thick vines hanging from the treetops. Many of them had lost their leaves due to the frigid winter, but not all of them. Another unusual feature of the Demali Forest Preserve was the unnatural resilience of much of its plant life.
Vee’s thoughts were interrupted when she spotted movement at the edge of the field. Two figures, both wearing dark clothes, held themselves with an air of superiority as they walked out of the tree line, headed straight for Vee and Amara.
Headmistress Davenport looked as rigid as ever. Her black clothes were flawless to the point of appearing unnatural, and her eyes darted across the scene just above her thin reading glasses as she walked closer. Miss Gautier seemed less concerned with surveilling the area, and instead looked eagerly at the seemingly unconscious body of Amara lying on the ground in front of them.
Vee took a deep breath, tried to get into character, and spoke up as soon as the two elder women were close enough. “Headmistress Davenport, thank you for coming,” Vee said, nodding her head in respect.
“This is the demon?” Davenport asked, gesturing to Amara. “What happened here?”
“As you can see, we’ve managed to neutralize her. Miss Tsopnang is nearby, attempting to locate the students colluding with her.”
“And Blackwood?” Miss Gautier asked, her predatory eyes glistening in anticipation.
“We’ll find her soon,” Vee said. “In the meantime, however… I’m afraid I must pose a difficult question, Headmistress.”
Miss Davenport narrowed her eyes, then gestured for Vee to speak.
“In the process of confronting this demon, I learned of several unsettling ideas. At first, I thought she was merely trying to distract me, but… now I’m not sure.” Vee swallowed nervously, trying to sell the illusion. “Is it true you are attempting to modify the circles in order to siphon magic away from the planes connected here?”
“Who told you this?” Miss Davenport asked, momentarily glaring down at Amara.
“At first it was just the demon, but I’ve heard the same from Miss Blackwood as well. And now I’ve heard it from you, Miss Davenport.” Vee let her facade of professionalism break for a moment, trying to pretend that Miss Bishop was genuinely disturbed by this. “Why? Doesn’t this stand contrary to everything we believe?”
Miss Gautier scoffed, rolling her eyes. “You never understood the big picture, did you, Elizabeth?”
“Power corrupts, Miss Gautier,” Vee hissed, “and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Are you so daft to believe that you’re exempt from this?”
“Power is necessary to run the world, Miss Bishop!” Headmistress Davenport said. “No matter what we do, no matter who is in charge, power is absolute, and therefore so is corruption. With that in mind, isn’t it best for us to wield that power? Even if we stray somewhat from our stated ideals, can you honestly say the world is better off with our current leaders? Imagine what good we could do if we could stand up to them!”
“The ends cannot justify the means, Miss Davenport!” Vee shouted. “If we pursue power just as fervently as they do, are we not falling to their level? They are just as confident in their cause as we are in ours!”
A brief moment of silence fell across the clearing as Vee tried to match the intensity of Miss Davenport’s glare. The Headmistress seemed frustrated that “Miss Bishop” was questioning her, and Vee wondered if she had successfully sold the illusion. Before she or Miss Davenport had a chance to speak again, however, Miss Gautier broke the tension.
“You’re in awfully good shape for someone who just fought a demon, Miss Bishop,” she said, suspiciously narrowing her eyes.
“I’m a master of illusion, Miss Gautier. Don’t insult me with your frivolous accusations,” Vee responded.
“No, Miss Gautier raises a good point,” Miss Davenport said, stepping forward. As she did, her eyes once again broke from Vee’s in an attempt to analyze the clearing. “Tell me, in exact detail, what happened with Alaric.”
Vee froze.
Who the fuck is Alaric? Shit!
Before she thought of something to say, an intense burst of magic suddenly encompassed Miss Gautier. Vee hoped beyond hope that her diversion had worked, that Tessa had managed to get the jump on the Coven Head, but as soon as she saw Miss Gautier smirking in glee, she knew they’d failed.
“There you are, you little whelp!” Miss Gautier spun on the ball of her foot, revealing Tessa frozen in place behind her. She held her newest switchblade, blade down, and had gotten within inches of striking Miss Gautier.
“I’m disappointed in you, Miss Blackwood,” Miss Davenport said. “Stabbing a superior in the back? You should be ashamed of yourself. Perhaps it’s time to finally put you in your place.”
Well, we tried.
No longer worried about selling the illusion, Vee summoned her angelic blade and leapt at Davenport. Before her blade could find its mark, however, a disorienting burst of magic appeared in front of her, and she nearly lost her balance. Spinning around, she now found herself nearly ten feet away from Miss Davenport, and watched as the portal that had transported her closed.
“Ah, the angel,” Headmistress Davenport said, another portal appearing behind her. “Then that would mean—”
As if on cue, Amara sprang up from the ground. In a flash of hellfire, her faux injuries vanished entirely, and she lashed out at Miss Gautier with her bladed tail. Before she closed the distance, however, Miss Gautier slid out of the way, her movement incredibly quick and unnatural. With a guttural laugh, she rose into the sky, the telekinetic magic surrounding her so intense that even Vee could sense it.
“You think you can stop us?!” Miss Gautier yelled, flying higher into the sky, nearing the top of the looming cliff. “We’ve already started! We are slaves to your kind no more!”
Amara collected herself for a moment before charging Miss Gautier. Her chitinous gauntlets wreathed in hellfire, she threw a punch in the hopes of knocking the Coven Head to the ground, but it wasn’t to be. At the last second, Miss Gautier raised a hand and caught Amara’s fist. She didn’t do so with her own body, however: instead, she used the intense telekinetic force that surrounded her. With her first attack repelled, Amara lashed out with her tail, but that too was deflected.
Vee pulled her attention away from that fight, however, as she had her own part to play. After confirming that Tessa had once again vanished, she turned towards Miss Davenport, who’d retreated to the other side of the river. Her angelic blade buzzed in her hand as she spun it around, and she grabbed her Enochian Texts that had previously been secured to her back. The illusory facade of Coven Head Bishop faded, taking with it the distracting presence of foreign hair and clothing. With nothing else left to say, Vee crouched low to the ground and charged at Headmistress Davenport.
Alright, Vee. The siphons are in effect, so we just need to buy time. Keep them busy, but stay safe and don’t overexert yourself.
As she closed the distance on Davenport, leaping deftly over the wide river, Vee brandished her sword and struck out at the Coven Head. As predicted, a burst of magic materialized in front of her, and when she turned around, she found herself dozens of feet away, near the tree line.
Pulling magic from her book, her heavenly voice danced from her lips, and she summoned a small barrage of arrows. Once ready, she charged at Davenport once more, firing the arrows one at a time to keep her opponent busy while she readied her attack. Energy pulsed through her body with every shot fired, and this time, rather than creating a portal in front of Vee, Davenport summoned one behind herself and jumped backwards into it.
Spinning on her heel, Vee tried to look for the Headmistress once more. She was instead forced to throw up a protective barrier to block one of Davenport’s swords as it flew out of a nearby portal. The inherent magic of the witch’s steel weapon sizzled against the brilliant Enochian runes of Vee’s barrier, and she took advantage of the distraction to continue her search.
She soon found that Davenport had taken to the skies, just like Gautier, and Vee prepared to give chase. Darting out from behind her barrier, she found herself face to face with another portal and another sword, which she narrowly avoided with a second barrier. She angled this one down, giving herself a ramp to run up, then she leapt into the air before summoning a small series of platforms underneath her feet, veering towards the Headmistress to try and close the distance.
Launching another series of arrows as she ran, Vee was forced to split her focus as she saw her attacks disappearing into several small portals. Davenport was forcefully redirecting Vee’s attacks towards Amara, and Vee slowed her assault in order to dispel the attacks before they injured her demonic love.
Davenport teleported to a different spot in the sky long before Vee was able to close the distance. She repeated her efforts, this time launching her arrows in wide arcs to try and split the witch’s attention, but the portals redirecting her attacks were appearing faster and faster. No matter how many attacks she threw at Davenport, it was impossible to close the distance.
Attempting to chase down Davenport necessitated constantly blocking her flying swords, which were capable of attacking from any conceivable angle. Initially, Vee had found it easy to sense where the swords were coming from, but with each passing second, Davenport’s portals seemed to appear faster and more quietly. The faint buzz of their magic grew harder to detect, and she was forced to focus more and more of her attention on summoning protective barriers to prevent herself from being skewered.
After deflecting a sword coming in from her left, Vee suddenly felt a small pressure on her back, which meant she had Chloé’s assistance for the next few seconds. She immediately dropped her guard, summoned a new barrier to leap off of, and charged the Headmistress, who currently floated roughly a dozen feet over the river. What seemed like dozens of different weapons began flying out of nearby portals, and all of them passed harmlessly through Vee as she focused on narrowing the gap between her and Davenport. As she drew closer, she saw an escape portal appear behind the Headmistress, and Vee immediately summoned another Enochian barrier between the portal and the witch. Now blocked from escaping, Vee was finally able to strike out.
Her sword collided with the Headmistress’s arm, but just like Gautier, she seemed to have some kind of telekinetic protection around her. Swearing in frustration at her failed attempt, Vee immediately tried for a second attack, but before she could make contact, another burst of magic forced her far away from the Headmistress.
Vee summoned a platform behind her to break her fall, gasping from the impact. She recovered quickly, sliding off the angled barrier and jumping to the ground, landing at the edge of the river before turning her gaze to the skies once more. She’d now confirmed that trying to strike the Coven Head was useless in her current state, and decided to pivot to simply keeping her attention.
“I’ll be alright, Chloé,” Vee whispered. Though she heard nothing in return, she trusted that her friend had heard her.
On the ground, Vee began chanting once more and summoned several large volleys of arrows, which she immediately launched towards Davenport in repeated waves. She watched carefully as dozens of different portals appeared, attempting to redirect her attacks, and she cut off the energy to each arrow that strayed from its intended path. All the while, flashes of steel danced in her periphery, and she was starting to lose ground as swords inched closer and closer before she was able to deflect them.
One sword clipped her ankle, another her midriff, as she attempted to keep herself alive. Davenport’s portals now appeared at incredible speeds, and with each passing second, Vee stopped worrying about continuing her barrage of attacks. She summoned more and more barriers to keep herself safe, and soon found herself entirely pinned down as she fought to survive this fight.
Looking to her side, she saw Amara and Miss Gautier flying around the field at incredible speeds, the occasional burst of hellfire being scattered by powerful telekinesis. Gautier was grabbing everything and anything from the nearby environment to try and throw at Amara, and it seemed that Amara was having just as much trouble landing any serious hits of her own. While Amara had a few small injuries, she appeared to be fighting in a much more sustainable manner than she had in her last few fights, and that thought brought a hint of satisfaction to Vee’s thoughts.
Stay safe, Amara. We’ve got this.