Ariane

Khala rushed to the hooded mage, daggers drawn and ready to strike. He was concentrating on forming the earth spell and could not pay attention to both his enemies at once. The half-elf closed the distance quickly with her swift steps and lunged her daggers at him. He noticed her in the last moment, in panic his concentration faltered and he held up his hands to shield himself from her attack, the ball of hard earth fell to the ground and crumbled. Khala hit his lower arms as he shielded himself, a loud cry of pain escaped his lips as the steel cut his flesh. He stepped back but Khala didn’t let him get away, driving him backward with precise strikes of her daggers.

It gave Ariane the opportunity she needed, she got up to her feet and started chanting her spell. “Khala, get down!” Ariane shouted at her friend.

Khala did not hesitate a second, throwing herself down in the mud to avoid whatever spell the elf had conjured for their enemy.

A jet of magical flames shot out form Khala’s palm, arcing towards the mage over Khala’s prone form. The half-elf could feel the heat of the spell rushing past her.

Luckily for the mage, Ariane’s warning to her friend gave him a moment to dodge. He barely got out of the way of the flames, the edge searing past him set his hood in flame. The mage cursed and tried to free himself of the burning hood as fast as he could. As he threw it off, there was **** in his eyes and he started to chant a spell again.

Khala tried to get back to her feet but the mud had suddenly become solid, trapping her to the ground, “Aah! What’s going on?! Help me, I can’t move!”

Ariane readied another spell, as the enemy mage held her friend captive. Her dark hair stood up and away from her head as a dark cloud gathered overhead and the bright sunlight was dimmed for a moment. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning streaked down from the sky.

The mage had not time to dodge, the bolt hit his head and passed through him to the ground. Not even a scream was heard as he was electrocuted and his body fell to the ground.

“Nice fireworks,” Mira said to Ariane.

The sorceress looked to her companion. She was covered in mud and behind her she saw Karl lying on the ground lifelessly, with an axe sticking out of his chest, “You’ve been busy too, I see.”

“I didn’t expect to go mud-wrestling today but life is full of surprises,” Mira laughed.

“I really loathe to interrupt your heart-warming banter, but… GET ME OUT OF THE DAMN GROUND!” Khala shouted at them.

“Oh, sorry,” Mira said, “How’d that happen?” She walked to the corpse of Karl and yanked the axe from his chest. Using it as a makeshift shovel, she started digging up the ground around Khala.

“Don’t ask,” Khala shook her head.

After a while, Khala was free and stood up, brushing earth from her dirty tunic, “Thank you… and thanks for helping with the mage, Ariane.”

Ariane smirked, “Too bad really, he was really handsome.”

Both Mira and Khala rolled their eyes at the same time.