Cam's Justice

Cassia waved at me and the tunnel entrance, and the three ladies moved forward.

My gut tightened, but I pushed that down, I was overprotective, how hard would it be to take down two fucking humans, naked and weaponless. Literally, fucking humans, I didn't mean that disparagingly.

I dove out of the mine entrance, and I flapped my wings hard once which allowed me to spiral back up to the top of the ravine. As soon as I landed, both Siora and Faith ran to my side and conformed themselves against me as their arms went around my body. It was probably a good thing Faith took care of me earlier, or it would have been way too distracting, just like Lysa and Cassia would've been.

It was something we'd have to manage, no going into battle or on missions without sating the demonic libido.

I jumped into the air again, and dove and then glided into the ravine, another tight half circle and a few seconds later we landed at the mine entrance. The ladies weren't back, and I frowned but didn't say anything. It was part of the plan, they'd probably just gone deeper inside the tunnel to grab the three witches in the infirmary. We didn't have a lot of time, but I thought we had enough unless the shift change was early. I let my wings and horns shrink, fade, and fall away.

I had plenty of magic, but that didn't mean I should waste it, plus I hadn't wanted the witches panicking when they saw a demon standing there. Better just to avoid that whole scenario.

A few moments later my thoughts were born out, as three very confused and frightened looking witches were herded out into the entrance room. One was male, two were female, and they were all in their twenties. The two dirty blonde haired women with brown eyes looked like sisters a year or two apart, and the male had light brown hair and hazel eyes. They were all a little thin, looked malnourished, and exhausted.

I felt the anger grow in me, and my heart started to pound, that kind of thing was something the king and the royal family was supposed to stop. Sure, the bigotry was real and some of the humans, a small amount, held violent tendencies toward the magical races. Magical races also tended receive to harsher sentences for breaking the same laws, but the mine was different. Those people had just been taken off the street, enslaved, and sent to this dangerous place.

To be fair, the king probably hadn't known about it.

They all looked at me, and I nodded slightly. No doubt they'd felt I was a witch too. We moved silently for the left-hand tunnel, the few torches burning were far apart which led to a gloomy barely lit passage. Perhaps they were just conserving oil, because it was night, there were several unlit torches as well.

I stopped and backed up, and then held up four fingers. There were four mercenaries posted outside of the slave barracks. We were also close enough that the sounds of several mercenaries getting ready to start their day reached our ears from farther down the mine tunnel.

I nodded at Siora and pointed at the witches, she returned my nod, she'd take up the rear and protect them until we got them into the barracks.

I drew my sword, as did Irze. Faith growled so low I could barely hear it, as she shifted into her beast form and pulled a dagger from her belt. Cassia nodded that she was ready, as did Lysa while she grew her hands into claws, dropped her eye teeth, and her eyes glowed red.

Me, Faith, Irze, and Lysa rounded the bend at a run, while Cassia merely stepped out and started to cast.

The four mercenaries all went for their swords, and one of them cried out the alarm. The mercenary on the end drew his sword just in time to parry mine, but completely missed my left hand's strike, and the dagger that sunk into the side of his throat.

Lysa moved like liquid grace, the mercenary lunged and tried to stab her, seeing her unarmed, but she twisted her body as if it was made of water and the sword missed her stomach by less than an inch as her claw came around and ripped out his throat.

Faith growled menacingly as she charged, only to stop at the last second and launch the dagger in her hand. The mercenary's sword whipped up and there was a ringing sound of steel on steel as he batted it away, but Faith had continued her lunge a split-second later, and went low. Her claw dug into the mercenary's thigh by the large vein there, as his sword was high and out of position.

He gasped, and fell back on his ass, as his lifeblood flowed out.

Cassia spoke the last word of her spell, and the fourth mercenary clutched at his chest mid-parry and collapsed to the ground. Irze glared backwards at my Cassia, as if accusing her of stealing my bloodthirsty drow's kill.

Faith retrieved her dagger, as Siora herded the three witches into the large carved out barracks, and then raised her hand. The entire mine rumbled, as a wall of stone grew in the entrance. Her magic was not subtle at all, and I could feel the wrongness of it, the lack of balance, as the elements did her will. I also hoped she knew what she was doing, because it felt like the whole mine might collapse under the vibrations.

I wondered if Cassia felt that same wrongness with my demon magic, I didn't but couldn't deny it wasn't natural to this world, and I decided she probably did and just hadn't ever said anything about it.

Point being though, I doubted anyone in the mine was unaware it was under siege at that point, and there were over fifty of the mercenaries left, a great number of them just down the hallway in the next carved out barracks. There were yells, foot falls, and the sounds of panicked dressing from that direction. There also should've been another fourteen mercenaries on nightshift, that were elsewhere in the mine, but I had no idea where.

Unless her intelligence had been wrong, and the night shift is lighter.

Nope, I heard the sounds of many stamping feet coming up behind us, as Siora finished up some crude fortifications facing both ways in the hallway. It wasn't much, partial walls that would both give the charging enemy a bottleneck so that they could only come through one at a time in either direction, and also for us to take cover behind against arrows or crossbow bolts.

There were two new walls on each side of the tunnel, farther in and toward the entrance. Each wall was about two thirds of the corridor, and one on the left and one growing from the wall on the right. In essence, a charging mercenary would have to go around one wall, turn in the limited space between the walls, and then move around the other.

It was a simple thing, a zigzag bottleneck, and it also made the threat of bolts or arrows from a distance impossible. Which meant those defending in the other direction didn't have to fear a bolt in the back, unless it was shot from extremely close range.

In truth, I wasn't all that worried at that point. Siora had needed us to get to this point, she couldn't have infiltrated the mine quietly like we had, and gotten the slaves out relatively safely, without us. I truly didn't think the six of us together would have trouble with human mercenaries, now that they couldn't collapse the slave barracks or start slitting throats.

That said, I stayed focused, battle was dangerous, and full of random senseless death.

Siora, Irze, and Lysa set up to defend from behind, while Cassia, Faith and I took up positions behind the fortifications leading deeper into the mines and the soldiers' barracks.

The battle behind us started first, as they'd been dressed in armor, and on duty... somewhere. Possibly the mess hall and just waiting for an alarm to be called.

Regardless, Irze and Lysa worked flawlessly together, as the first soldier came through, and went for Irze because she had the sword. Irze parried just one of the attacks, and that was long enough for Lysa to dart in and slash deeply into the side of his leg with her claw.

He cried out and stumbled, which had Irze's sword whipping out and parting his head from his shoulders. The second mercenary came through before they could reset the ambush, but Siora's magic spiked in my senses, and I winced as the man's mail coat constricted and I heard several ribs and other bones snap under the pressure. He stood long enough to spit up some blood, and then collapsed dead.

The third of what I presumed was just fourteen came through, but by then Irze and Lysa was back in position for another double ambush, except the man had a sword in his right hand, and crossbow in his left.

Irze's sword blurred as she knocked the sword aside, and her wickedly curved dagger struck out and took him in the throat, even as Lysa slashed his inner leg. The crossbow went off as he died, and the bolt shot out. I was confused for a moment, it didn't seem real as Siora fell back with a cry, and blood flew.

Cassia gasped and moved quickly, presumably to heal her, but that's when our side of the battle started, and Faith and I turned to defend our side of the little room Siora had created in the corridor.

The first soldier swung his sword as he came around the blind corner of the second wall, and I just waited for his sword to pass, then lunged in and ran him through the throat. I twisted my sword viciously as I pulled it to the side, and his head was barely attached as he gurgled and fell to the ground.

Anger and satisfaction pounded in my chest with my racing heart, and ran through my bloodstream as the asshole died.

Faith was silent as the next one came through, and I swung at him, which he parried, but he didn't even notice Faith as she lunged at him from the side, and then clawed the bastard across the neck.

I wanted to check on Siora, but the third one was coming through and we got to work. I was angry Siora was hurt, perhaps even dying, and I wanted to burn them all, but despite being chock full of power I was only going to use it if I needed to, which felt extremely unsatisfying.

I wanted to hear their screams.

After the tenth death cry, there was a pause in the attack, no doubt the mercenary leader was rethinking their strategy of fighting on our terms. I risked a quick gaze behind us. Besides a pile of fourteen dead mercenaries, and the fact Irze and Lysa were faced our way and ready to back us up, I saw that Siora was up against the wall breathing, but unconscious, and Cassia hovered protectively over her.

A voice yelled, "Nothing is happening captain!"

Oh, fuck. I guessed from those words, that they'd decided to bury the slaves under tons of stone, the trigger to do so must've been in their barracks.

Another voice yelled, "Bring the picks!" which was presumably the captain.

I had a bad feeling about that order, which was born out when I heard them attacking the first wall. It wouldn't take them long to knock it down, then they could start flooding the room with bolts and arrows, to keep us pinned down, while they took down the second wall. Once that was down, we'd be facing a rain of arrows and bolts.

I was beyond grateful and relieved my Siora was alive, but I didn't think she'd be able to help keep those walls up when she was unconscious, obviously. Point was, things were about to get bad, and wielding my sword wasn't going to do the job anymore. I had no doubt I could take them all one on one, easily, but rushed by many with backup distance weapons, we'd all be put down.

"Cassia?"

She shook her head, "There might be a spell to harden the walls, or rebuild them, but I haven't seen or learned one yet. I also don't have a mass death spell."

Irze smiled, "Don't look at me. Outside of you, my magic is helpful, not harmful."

I laughed, that was true enough, damn demons.

I knew Siora could probably flood the whole tunnel with fire to finish it, but she was out. Which left me. It wasn't that I minded handling it, I was just stubbornly making sure I had to handle it. It'd be a waste of harvested magic otherwise. I was flush with the power I'd been harvesting the last three and a half weeks, just last night my coterie had gone up to five ladies, that was a lot of power, not to mention the two times with my Tammy.

There was also the matter of my sudden bloodthirst, I longed to burn them, to hear their cries of despair and their screams of pain. How dare they hurt what was mine, my Siora. That... was freaking me out a bit, and I'd wanted to make sure it was truly necessary.

Of course, I still needed to be careful, my flames only burned flesh, and if I just walked out there I could be filled with arrows. I imagined the mercenaries had their side of the walls well covered. They were evil, slavers, but they weren't stupid.

Rock dust filtered into the room, and there were a few small holes in the second wall, and I knew the time to act had come, I couldn't afford to wait any longer.

I brought up the flames in my left hand, and carefully walked in between the walls with my sword ready, but they had no ambush set up there. I took one more step, put my hand over one of the fist sized holes the picks had made, and blasted my shadowy hellfire through it, while imagining the fire billowing out, filling the width of the mine tunnel, and then sweeping forward.

The screams of the two men with the pick axes were rather loud, just on the other side of the wall, but more screams soon joined theirs, along with cursing and far enough away, the sounds of running. I put all my anger into it, as my magic blasted out of me, but a few seconds later and with an act of will, I pulled it all back and cut off the stream.

I'd probably blown half my magic doing that, but I was still good and ready for surprises if need be, half my magic meant I was still about as powerful as I'd been on the night it'd all started, back when I'd drained the coven through their spells. Still, I wondered if I'd overdone it, probably, I'd been very angry, still was angry, but I also felt a deep sense of satisfaction at their deaths, and absolutely no guilt at all.

I told myself I wasn't evil, wasn't a monster, and to cut that shit out. The guilt kicked in finally, and I honestly felt a little relieved by that. Not guilt that they were dead, they'd earned it and needed to be put down, but guilt at the fact I'd enjoyed it a little too much. I even had half a chubby, how fucked up was that?

Faith's hand touched my shoulder, "Battle madness and lust, we all feel it at times, the joy of survival, of taking down our enemies. We must struggle with the emotional aftermath later."

I nodded, "I think it's more than that. I feel powerful with what magic I have left, but different, more myself. I have a suspicion, but now isn't the time to talk about it."

She smiled, which looked fierce in her beast form.

"Let's go finish it, a few must've made it back inside their barracks cavern."

I nodded, "Lysa, will you stay with Cassia and guard Siora."

Lysa replied, "For you I will."

I grinned, "Alright, Faith, Irze, let's finish this."

We moved around the wall, and I took a quick count of the piles of clothes and weapons. We'd killed ten by the walls, and there were twenty-three piles in the tunnel, that meant seven had escaped deeper into the tunnel and into their barracks. Fortunately, I was fairly sure there was no entrance to the mine that way, to get to the mine they'd have to go through us and to the front, where it split off in three directions.

At least we had the bastards cornered in their barracks, but they were also probably quaking in their boots and had crossbows aimed at the entrance. We needed to be careful, and we moved forward silently down the tunnel. It went about another seventy feet, then turned sharply into the mercenary barracks.

I got down on my stomach, and I peeked from around the bottom of the wall. The seven were far back in the room, and I pulled back my head as they adjusted their aim down from chest height, and three bolts shot into the corridor and slammed into the stone wall where it met the floor. I let out a breath, they were all in the back of the room, and it was large enough where even my speed wouldn't be enough.

I lit a fire on my palm, and without looking and just imagining I stuck my hand out high instead of low, and I shot out a thin stream of fire. I still felt angry, but I was much more controlled, and the stream of fire that shot out of my hand was far more precise as I strafed the back wall. It took a lot less magic, than what I'd done back by the walls, I also felt a little satisfaction, but it was a satisfaction tempered by my humanity and a healthy guilt, and I didn't get wood.

Which... made me think my suspicions were right, I felt more like my old self, when I first took Cassia as mine.

Screams reached my ears, and we waited for them to be consumed.

I peeked again, and they were all dead, except for one female soldier. I lifted my palm and shot fire at her, which twisted and licked at her skin, and then went out.

She said, "Stop that," in a dulcet but slightly annoyed tone, and walked toward us.

I'll admit, that kind of freaked me out.

When she got closer, I noticed she had green hair, bright green and iridescent, and her eyes were a lovely bright blue green color. Her face had a severe beauty to it. She had dark creamy skin, and at five foot four she had an athletic hourglass body, in perfect proportions, and at least C cups, though not quite as generous as Faith's. She was quite attractive.

I didn't move to attack, but I held my sword in a warily guarded stance, but she stopped about five feet away.

She asked, "I am Mara, and you are?"

Without the annoyance her voice was very honey-toned, a lot like Cassia's just a little higher in pitch.

I replied, "Cam. Here to free the slaves, close the mine, and kill all the slaving bastards inside."

She thought about that for a second, and looked completely at ease, despite my sword being less than five feet from her neck. She was also unarmed, yet the situation was odd. I knew I should be killing her, and ending it, but she was not human, and the situation made very little sense to me.

"Then your task is complete."

I looked pointedly at her uniform and armor.

She shrugged, "I'm a spy, this place would have been closing soon anyway."

I frowned, "For the king?"

She smirked, "I suppose you could say that, although in truth I work directly for my queen."

I supposed she could've been lying, but she obviously wasn't human, and if my flames couldn't hurt her she was probably a sorceress. The only thing I was sure of was that she wasn't a witch, I'd have been able to feel that. At the same time, her sense of presence was significant, and I hadn't felt her use sorcery actively, so how did she resist my fire?

She asked, "Why did you do it, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Because my ally requested my help to free the elves and other non-human slaves here, but we wouldn't have done it if it wasn't justice as well."

She nodded thoughtfully after a moment, "I can respect that. Go in peace."

She turned around and went back into the barracks, presumably to find something, or proof to bring the queen. Perhaps she hoped to find something to implicate the nobles behind it all?

It was also an odd farewell, and my mind itched, but it wasn't yielding any answers.

The three of us headed back to the others, and we left Mara to her work.

Chapter Fourteen

The winch was even louder than I'd expected, a loud chock sound of wood grinding and slamming together again and again. What I was doing barely made sense to me, but my Siora was being mysterious, so I dutifully lowered the platform which was filled up with our six horses. When it was down, I summoned my wings again, and flew down leisurely.

I grabbed Cassia's mare, and the rest of the horses followed on their own, even if they looked a little nervous about going underground. At least there was plenty of light, after the battle we'd lit all the torches, and had taken down the temporary walls.