Sisters of the Mists Ch. 03

The woman smiled and walked over toward a cactus. She knelt down next to it to pluck blossoms from the plant, depositing them in a bag and whistling. Ashley made the decision to shield the other woman from the demons for now, and then decide what to do about her.

Concentrating for a moment, she summoned up the words of the spell in her mind and whispered them to the wind.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

Danica deposited another blossom into her bag. This one cactus had several dozen blooms sprouting from it, and so she wouldn't need to seek out another. It was also right next to the oasis, just out of the range of the scrying spell Harkhuf had used to show the location to her earlier.

Danica would soon have more than enough of the blossoms to cast the spell many times, and have a few to spare for experimentation as well. Glancing about, she saw several more of the cactuses, all in bloom. She could return here at any time to gather more, as well.

That thought in mind, Danica sealed the silken bag, deciding she had enough of the blossoms for now. Withdrawing a cloth sack, she scooped sand into it as Harkhuf had suggested. She could always come back later and look for the glass he had mentioned. Right now, she wanted to get out of the heat and back home.

The hair on the back of Danica's neck stood up, and she dropped the bag to the ground. She knew the sensation all too well, someone summoning up magical power -- close by. Slipping into the second sight, she initially saw nothing. Concentrating harder, she caught the faint edges of something swirling around her.

Focusing on the half-seen strands of power, Danica found that they solidified in her vision. It looked like some sort of bubble being formed around her, and didn't give a sense of hostility, although she could determine nothing more than that. A tendril of power led away from the bubble, off toward the other side of the oasis.

Following the line of power, Danica saw a similar bubble not far away. After another moment, she could see something within it. Steadily, she came to realize it was a woman, crouching down within the bubble.

Danica slipped out of the second sight, and she could then see the other woman with her normal vision. "I don't really like people spinning spells around me unasked."

Ashley started, and quietly asked, "You can see me?"

Walking toward the woman, Danica immediately noticed the odd color of her hair. It was a red so deep that it almost looked black. The hair framed a face that was narrow, beautiful, and had very attractive cheekbones, which Danica thought would likely stand out even more if the woman smiled. Expressive eyes, now opened wide in surprise, drew Danica's gaze deep within the long-lashed orbs. Danica guessed that the woman was in her twenties, and didn't have to guess that she was attractive. The dress and skirt the woman wore showed off a toned, shapely body.

Raising her eyebrows, Danica said, "I can see you now, after tracing this little magical bubble of yours." Danica gestured, tracing the edges of the magical shell surrounding her.

"I wasn't trying to hurt you, I just sought to hide you," Ashley said, standing up.

Danica stopped a few feet away, and asked, "From what?" At the same time, she reached out with her mind, sifting through the other woman's surface thoughts. While the woman debated about what she should reveal to Danica, she was actually already revealing everything. The woman was hiding from demons, who were stalking elves, and planned to destroy one of them with a potion.

Think, Ashley. You need to figure out what to do in a hurry. You may never get this good of a chance to destroy Rexxus again. She's not a demon, and she doesn't appear to be dangerous. Maybe I should just tell her everything, and tell her she should get far away from here, quickly.

Withdrawing from Ashley's mind, Danica said, "Demons, huh?" Holding up a hand to cut off whatever the stunned woman was about to say, Danica continued. "I have my ways, and I believe you aren't trying to hurt me. I'm not going to hurt you either, Ashley. I'm not really fond of demons either -- especially ones that are skulking around an elf village." Crossing the final few steps between them, Danica said, "My name is Danica. Maybe I can give you a hand. I've faced demons and devils before, and I've been working on magic to combat them."

Ashley absorbed the stunning revelations, wondering how this Danica had found out everything, but having her suspicions. "I can't risk another. These demons are dangerous. They're minions of a powerful devil, named Meckataur. You should just go -- now -- before it's too late."

Upon the mention of Meckataur, Danica's eyes narrowed. "I've run afoul of Meckataur before, and I've heard some very disturbing things about him lately. No, I think I'm in just the right place. I'm not going anywhere." Turning around, Danica concentrated on her bag, closing it and bringing it to her hand with her telekinetic powers. "Where are the demons?"

Danica's calm demeanor and the demonstration of power started Ashley thinking. She might be able to do more damage to Meckataur's schemes if she had some help. "Come here, I can show you," she said, holding up the crystal sphere.

Danica took another step closer, and Ashley said, "Just look into it. It's focused on one demon in particular, known as Rexxus."

Danica gazed into the sphere, catching a whiff of sweet perfume coming from Ashley. Smiling, she thought that she should get to know this beautiful woman a little better. Pushing the thoughts aside, she concentrated on the sphere until she could see the image within it.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

The crystal thumped into the map, and Andrea clapped her hands. "Well, we sort of knew where Danica would be, anyway, but I guess this proves it's working."

Moving the crystal off to the side, Celes moved the map as well, spreading out another one. This map showed the area the crystal had indicated in closer detail. "Let's see if we can't narrow it down a bit more. This could be useful, because I doubt there are many scrying detection spells that would pick it up."

"I'm just happy to see it work. I like knowing that I can do something like this. I was always a little jealous of all of you that could work magic, and now I can too!"

Celes chuckled, happy to see Andrea so excited. "You'll probably learn all sorts of magic as you study. I know my book is full of interesting things."

With that, Andrea set the crystal to spinning over the new map.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

Ashley stiffened and let out a worried little gasp.

Looking away from the sphere, Danica asked, "What's wrong?"

Ashley narrowed her eyes, concentrating on the sensation. "Someone is scrying. I can feel it -- they're very clumsy and inexperienced. It has to be another witch, but they obviously don't know much about what they're doing. The demons may sense it too."

Looking back into the sphere, Danica saw the demons within the vision shifting, looking around them and sniffing the air. "Not good," she muttered.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

The crystal thudded down on the map, and then started to vibrate, creating an audible hum. A bright point of red light shone from the tip of the crystal as well.

"Oh, no," Andrea gasped.

"What is it?" Celes asked, having a bad feeling as well.

"I read about this in my book. That means there are demons somewhere near the person we were scrying for."

Standing up, Celes said, "And that means Danica could be in trouble. Hold on to your breakfast." With that, she grasped Andrea's hand and they vanished in a flash of light.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

Marlena lay atop Brandon, sighing contentedly. She felt a little guilty about staying to make love to him again, rather than returning to help with the girls, but decided it was worth it. She could still feel the warm afterglow of her orgasms permeating her, and the even hotter sensation of his cream within her.

Brandon groaned, "I'm never going to be able to get up," and then chuckled.

"That was wonderful," Marlena sighed. "I don't want to move either, but I really should get cleaned up and get back."

"You could always take me back with you," Brandon chuckled.

The door burst open, and Marlena rolled off Brandon with a yelp of surprise. She grabbed for a blanket to cover herself and overbalanced, tumbling off the bed.

"Marlena, Danica may be in trouble," Celes burst out in a rush.

Sitting up, Marlena saw Celes and Andrea quickly walking in to the room, heading toward her. "What's wrong?"

"No time to explain. We've got to go -- now," Celes said, reaching for Marlena's hand.

Taking Celes' hand and standing, Marlena asked, "What about the girls?"

"They're just going to have to be okay on their own. There's no time to do anything else," Celes said impatiently, and then started speaking the words of a spell as Andrea took her other hand.

Recognizing the words of the spell, Marlena glanced about quickly, just snatching up her dress in time. A moment later, all three women vanished.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

"The sensation is gone. Whoever was scrying has stopped," Ashley remarked.

Still peering into the crystal sphere, Danica said, "It may be too late."

Looking into the sphere, Ashley gasped, and dashed it out of Danica's hands. "Sorry, but I think they were homing in on its magic, now that they realize something is amiss."

"Maybe I should just teleport us out of here," Danica said, staring off into the distance, trying to see if she could see anything happening across the sands, where Ashley had explained the demons were.

"I can't leave, I may never have this chance again," Ashley said with obvious agitation and worry in her voice.

"All the same, we..." Danica stopped, spun around, and raised her hands, prepared to bring the power of her offensive runes to bear when a flash of light nearby caught her eye.

She dropped her hands when she realized who it was. Celes blurted out, "Danica, there are demons somewhere nearby."

"We know," Danica responded, raising her eyebrows at Marlena, who was trying to pull on her dress -- and had a conspicuous dribble of cum running down her right thigh.

"Were you the one scrying? Are you a witch?" Ashley asked.

"This is Ashley," Danica told her friends. "Yes, Celes and Andrea are witches."

"Aye, it was us scrying," Celes answered.

Turning to look across the sand in the direction of the elven village for a moment, Ashley turned back to the newcomers, asking, "Do you have powers? We may be up to our necks in demons in a few minutes."

Marlena screamed when that few minutes proved to be much shorter than anyone anticipated. Still trying to pull on her dress with her other hand, she pointed at the blue-skinned demon that had hurtled across the sand at impossible speed, and now stood within a few feet of the assembled women.

Andrea yelped and lashed out instinctively with her ice power. The demon froze in mid-leap, having turned to attack Ashley. It fell to the earth and exploded, spraying them all with blue-green ichor.

Wiping a bit of goo off her nose, Celes chuckled, "Good shot, Andrea."

"The rest of them will know what the speed demon knows. They'll be coming after us now," Ashley interjected, staring once again at the horizon. This time, she saw winged forms streaking toward them. "They're coming," she added, pointing at the rapidly approaching hellspawn.

"Get ready. Use cold spells," Danica said.

"That won't work, even on all of the minor demons, so be careful. If a tall one with red skin and ram's horns appears, leave him to me. I have a vanquishing potion that will destroy him."

Marlena finished pulling on her dress, and said, "I'm going to cast the mirror image spell. That should confuse them."

Ashley turned, shaking her head. "I know of that spell, it will confuse us as well."

"Not when Marlena casts it," Danica said.

Marlena finished the spell, having no obvious effect to the women. Concentrating in the second sight, she could see the outlines of the images -- six for each of them. "It's in place."

"I don't see anything," Ashley said in confusion.

"Marlena is really good at illusion spells. We can't see anything, and thus can't be thrown off by the images, but the demons will see them, and won't know where to attack," Danica explained.

"They're almost here," Andrea said, her voice full of nervous tension.

"Just freeze them like you did that first one, and you'll be fine," Celes encouraged her.

The demons swooped in, and Danica called upon her runes and released the magical cone of cold. Unfortunately, she'd chosen her target poorly, and the demon was one of those resistant to cold magic. It shrieked and dived toward her -- or rather several feet to her right, where one of the images of Danica only it could see stood.

A moment later, it slammed into an invisible wall, and then hurtled backwards. Celes' power shoved it into the path of another approaching demon, and they collided. Both demons erupted in an explosion, raining slime down over the sand.

Another of the hellish creatures shimmered into view some distance out into the desert, nearest to Andrea. Once again, she lashed out with her cold power. As with Danica before, she was unlucky in her target. The demon shrugged off the blast with a pained scream and turned toward her, staring in confusion at the multiple images of the blonde. That made Andrea mad, and released another of her powers. The orange-scaled demon tumbled across the sand, blasted away by Andrea's lightning stroke.

Danica was in mid-spell when all the creatures nearby suddenly froze in place, unmoving -- including the one tumbling head over heels from Andrea's blast of electricity. Ashley dropped her hands and said, "The rest should be vulnerable to cold, except for the orange one, and the green one with wings. Those should be hurt by lightning, and they'll all be hurt by witch powers, at least somewhat." With that, she hurled one of her vials of potion, vanquishing a brown-scaled demon overhead.

Danica finished her spell, aiming at one of the demons, which screamed and fell from the sky when the iceball spell exploded around it. Ashley followed up by tossing another vial of her vanquishing potion at it, destroying the demon.

Celes concentrated, bringing her hands together in a clapping motion. Two of the highest flying demons hurtled toward each other, exploding on contact. She heard a roar of flame, and saw another demon consumed by a blazing tongue of fire.

"Yes!" Andrea sang out, overjoyed that she'd managed to use her troublesome fire power, and quickly sought another target.

Danica turned toward the green winged demon, and started the words of the lightning bolt spell. Before she managed to get out half the words, a forked bolt of electrical fury hit the demon, dropping it twitching to the ground. She finished her spell, sending her bolt into it as well. Turning, she saw Marlena holding an amber rod, and knew the woman had cast the lightning bolt.

Ashley moved with impossible speed, appearing as little more than a blur, and tossed a vial of potion at the weakly twitching demon Marlena and Danica had blasted. Danica turned to see Andrea freeze another demon solid, and covered her face just in time to avoid getting an eye full of demon slime when the creature exploded.

A screech overhead caused all the women to look up, seeing a straggler that had been outside the reach of Ashley's power diving toward them. Celes gestured, and the creature vanished, only to reappear inches above the ground, several hundred feet away. It hit the ground at terminal velocity, exploding in a spray of sand and ichor.

"Nice trick, freezing them all like that. It made this a lot easier," Danica chuckled.

Pulling the red vial from her pouch, Ashley warned, "That was only the minor demons. There are four greater demons there as well."

The four creatures appeared in shimmers of light and bursts of flame, as if her words had summoned them. The demons were some distance out in the desert, and they ignored the mirror images, staring defiantly at the women -- stalking toward them.

Celes lashed out with her power, and a grossly fat demon froze for a moment, snarling. It didn't, however, vanish to reappear far out in the desert, as Celes had intended. "Uh oh," she muttered.

Andrea's flash of cold barely gave the same creature a moment's pause, but did leave its skin a pale, frost-rimed color. A stooped demon with a hunchback quickly shrugged off Danica's lightning bolt, and only appeared to move in slow motion for a fraction of a second when Ashley attempted to freeze the hellspawn in place with her power.

Ashley cursed and gripped the red vial in her hand. She prepared to rush toward Rexxus, using her power to speed up time around her so she could reach him in less time than the blink of an eye.

Rexxus recognized her, and could feel the danger in the vial she carried. Vanishing, he appeared next to her and lashed out with a clawed hand. Ashley crumpled, hurtling toward Danica, the vial sailing from her hand.

Diving on the unconscious Ashley, Danica shouted, "Get out of here!" She concentrated, using her telekinetic powers to snatch up the vial of red liquid from beneath the kneeling ram-horned demon's hand, and then teleported away with Ashley.

Celes grabbed Andrea and Marlena's hands, vanishing with them as well.

Rexxus screamed in rage, pounding the earth with his hands. The other three demons were destroying the warding charms around the oasis, which had been placed there by Ashley upon her arrival to prevent the demons from attacking with long-range powers. The same wards had prevented them from shimmering into the protective circle, until Rexxus had shattered that barrier.

"So close," Rexxus growled.

{*****~~o~~0~~o~~*****}

I hope you're enjoying Book II in Danica's trilogy. Please take a moment to vote/comment, as that is the bread and butter of a free author — it's what keeps us writing! You can vote on every chapter. You certainly won't hear me complaining!

Big thanks to Roust Writer for his editing. I don't know how I got along without his keen eye, quick wit, and insight.