Ashborn Primordial-Chapter Ashborn 407: The Raid of Kartara (Two) (Maiya)

The rain of arrows was almost invisible against the dead of night. That didn’t mean it was silent, though. The twangs of their bows, the whistling of the arrows in flight…

A chill ran up Maiya’s spine.

“Find cover!” Maiya roared, mainly for the benefit of Riyan’s troops. The smarter among them had already hunkered down beneath their shields. It was only when Maiya gave the order that the others followed.

Some managed to get their shields up in time. Others weren’t so lucky. Maiya ground her teeth as they were mercilessly skewered.

War was no place for the slow. Or the ignorant.

Her handmaidens had survived without a scratch. Maiya knew this because her orbs told her. The B Grade Piercing Protection orbs she powered via her blood rods. The difference between grades was truly astonishing. With a C Grade, she would’ve thought about recharging them after another volley. With B? They were good for at least a half-dozen.

Needless to say, the same orb protected her, and while she had dodged what she could, a few still found her.

Maiya clucked in irritation, scanning her surroundings. The troops still alive desperately searched for cover… only to find none.

The Saians had razed the nearby buildings. Some were even still ablaze, while others smoldered, having been reduced to nothing more than soot and ash.

It was smart of them, depriving their attackers of meaningful cover. At least someone on their side knew what they were doing. Maiya began to wonder after encountering nothing but pockets of light resistance thus far.

“Fall back!” she shouted, her orb-amplified voice barely winning out over the crackling of B Grade Fireball spells and the cracking of Ice Affinity Hail Bursts—the only two prana affinities with enough range to reach them. The rebels who hadn’t been burned alive or skewered by balls of ice didn’t need to be asked twice. Maiya cringed when, instead of an organized retreat, the attackers nearly routed, running for the nearest building. Some even dropped their talwars.

The fools, Maiya cursed, before forcing herself to remember these troops were both poorly trained and inexperienced. The fear they felt was real, and unlike her, they lacked the benefit of protection orbs.

Sighing, Maiya addressed her handmaidens.

“Everybody, with me. We’ll take the ramparts.”

“Yes, milady,” came the immediate replies.

With her hands on her hips, Maiya smiled. It truly was such a blessing to command such competent warriors.

Which only made her next order harder. No matter Riyan’s orders, she couldn’t simply stand and hurl spells at the enemy. Not without cover. Even if she had no intent of vanquishing her foes, she couldn’t allow her handmaidens to remain here. Maiya’s defense orbs would eventually falter, and then they would all die.

Nor could she order her handmaidens to fall back. If the threat at the wall wasn’t great enough, she risked the enemy sending reinforcements to deal with Riyan on the other side.

No, the only option was to take the wall. And that meant risking her highly trained, elite operatives.

Maiya bit her lip and tasted blood. These were precious soldiers. Her soldiers. Each would die for her at a command, and yet, Maiya nearly threw up at the thought of losing even a single one.

How does Vir deal with this? She thought. How does he muster the courage to send his forces to their deaths?

As callous as it sounded, Maiya was more than fine asking Riyan’s rebels to die. This was their country. Their fight. Perhaps it was hypocritical of her, but she couldn’t bring herself to feel the same about her handmaidens.

“All of you,” Maiya said, her voice wavering. “Retreat and protect the rebels.”

“What will you do?” a handmaiden asked.

Maiya scowled. “I’m going to eviscerate them.”

Shruthi, the handmaiden nearest her, gave Maiya an exasperated look. “You can’t honestly expect us to retreat when you plan on attacking…”

“I can, and I do. This is an order, Shruthi,” Maiya said, trying and failing to keep the irritation out of her voice.

“Apologies, milady, but I must refuse that order.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Huh?” Maiya turned to the rebellious handmaiden, ready to admonish her.

“Princess Ira’s orders. We are to protect you at all cost.”

Maiya stopped in her tracks. She let out a long breath. “I see. Then follow me if you must, but I would much rather you all fled to safety.”

As if emphasizing her point, a Fireball spell landed not ten paces away, setting the rebel corpses that lay there ablaze.

“Then I suggest we get moving,” Shruthi said, unfazed at the lethal attack.

Maiya shook her head. “Everyone stupid enough to attempt a suicide mission, with me!”

Every one of her two-dozen handmaidens stepped forth.

Maiya didn’t know whether to feel enraged or proud. In the end, she decided on both.

Without another word, she leaped into the sky, her weight reduced by Lighten Load orbs. While she’d never match Vir and his fancy Balancer of Scales, she could, at least, fly for short distances. She so wished to see the look on his face when she showed him.

Maiya was most vulnerable in the air, but thankfully, her move had been so sudden that the mejai on the ramparts scarcely had the chance to attack. Those who did went wide, missing Maiya by paces.

Some of her handmaidens weren’t so lucky. One took a Fireball head-on. Her elemental protection orb failed, and the poor woman was burned alive, screaming as she fell.

Another took a B Grade Lightning Affinity Lightning Burst spell, killing her immediately.

Maiya’s heart cried out with every handmaiden that fell.

Her jump that took mere seconds felt like an eternity. Her heart pounded in her chest, desperately trying to break free.

And then she cleared the wall, landing softly on the ramparts. She took in the dozen terrified faces surrounding her.

There was no hesitation when she brought out her A Grade Blizzard orb with her right hand. No mercy when she brought out her A Grade Tempest orb with her left.

No, there was only the cold, calculating knowledge. That every single living being in her vicinity would die.

Maiya flared her prana and activated the twin spells.

Maiya walked among the corpses of the dead, her boots crunching on the sheet of ice that wrapped around the wall like a blanket. What was left of it, anyway. Most of the wall had cracked and crumbled, and the rest was soon to follow.

The frozen bodies would have shattered, too, given enough time. They were still alive when Tempest activated. Her A Grade wind orb had other plans for the entombed soldiers, however. Instead of allowing their frozen bodies to slowly break apart, the barrage of uncountable blades of wind slashed and sheared, sectioning the frozen soldiers into neat pieces.

The blades did not distinguish between matter and stone, however, and the wall beneath their feet suffered the same fate.

In mere moments, every single defender was dead, and the wall that protected the inner district was done.

Two spells. That was all it had taken to ensure the total and utter annihilation of the enemy. Maiya couldn’t even tell who had been a mejai, and who were soldiers. Despite their training and their protection, all had succumbed in the face of overwhelming force.

With a look that could have frozen the sun itself, Maiya jumped lightly off the remains of the wall, floating to the ground on the other side.

She was joined by her handmaidens, who had been far enough to withstand the torrent of destruction.

“Riyan’s rebels?” Shruthi asked.

“Round them up,” Maiya said with a grim smile. “Tell them we are reuniting with their friends.”

“As you wish, milady,” Shruthi said, bowing deeply. Though Maiya didn’t see it, the handmaiden's eyes blazed with awe. Awe… and more than a little fear.

For there were precious few mages in the realm capable of causing the sort of destruction Maiya had just wrought.

Yet what filled Maiya at that moment was not glee, or elation, but the cold, hard recognition. That this was war. That more of her handmaidens would die before this was over.

And this was only the first. The first of three rebellions Maiya had to orchestrate.

Maiya suddenly felt weary.

“Milady, are you well?” a handmaiden asked, rushing up to her.

“Fine,” Maiya muttered through gritted teeth. “Just feel like I aged a decade or ten.” ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

The handmaiden’s face softened. “That’s… I—”

“Where are Riyan’s troops?” Maiya asked, sparing the handmaiden from having to respond.

“On their way, milady. We managed to round them up. They were cooperative.”

Maiya grinned. “Were they?”

Maiya knew full well what her forces would’ve done to ‘motivate’ the routing soldiers. She didn’t care. She even approved. They had all volunteered to fight. The thing was, you only got to volunteer once. After that, you had to obey orders. Even if they got you killed.

Something Riyan’s troops would undoubtedly learn over the course of this rebellion. Perhaps they would be more useful when the time came to kill King Rayid.

If Maiya was honest, her heart wasn’t in this one. Sai was a land far from home. This was their war, not hers.

No, it was Hiranya that had her licking her lips. The very thought of breaking into the imperial palace got Maiya’s blood pumping. The chance to end the despot whose daughter had murdered her precious mother and her dear father… Now that was a rebellion Maiya could fully support. It had been years in the making, but Maiya had never forgotten. Had never allowed that flame of hate to die.

She’d hid it well from Vir, yes—and for that, she felt awful. Soon, she would no longer have to. Soon, Hiranya’s royalty and its Sawai nobility would burn, and Maiya would be there to watch it.

But before then, Sai had to fall. And fall it would.

Riyan’s forces marched up behind her through the rubble of what used to be the inner wall. Their expressions ranged from confused to afraid, but Maiya didn’t care.

“Onward!” Maiya roared, her amplified voice echoing through the burning remains of the city.

Her voice carried neither fire nor ice, but both at once. Riyan’s troops obeyed, their fear suppressed. And they followed, as Maiya led them through the streets of the inner district.

The stragglers who encountered them broke and ran. In that moment, Maiya was unstoppable.

Unstoppable, that was, until she reached the central square of the inner district.

For awaiting her were not Riyan’s forces, as she’d expected, but two tall, brightly robed figures.

“And where do you think you’re going, little one?” one of them, an older man, said.

Maiya froze in her tracks. Even in the dark, with the veil of night obscuring the details, Maiya knew exactly who they were.

Yet instead of cowering in fear as her opponents no doubt expected, Maiya smiled.

“It’s an honor to meet you,” Maiya said. “I’ve always wanted to fight mejai of the Altani.”

New novel chapters are published on fr(e)ew𝒆bnov(e)l.com