Headed by a Snake

Selvia opened her mouth to speak.

Eventually... and seemingly with great difficulty, she managed to force out two words.

"Was... attacked," she said.

Her voice was so small, Coraline Heartsong almost questioned her identity. That charming East-Stateswoman drawl was unmistakably her, though.

Illusion-type magic tended to be one-dimensional, usually focusing on vision-- so Coraline ruled that out (mostly.)

But she still needed more information...

Gilchrist said Selvia was hurt?

...At first glance, she didn't have any obvious injuries. A scar remained on her exposed shoulder from where she was hit by a magic bolt, even after being magically treated.

The scar...?

Coraline furrowed her brows.

The scar was exposed...

Earlier that sun, Selvia said the injury was still sore. She bandaged it up, so the pressure would keep the swelling and subsequent pain in check.

"Who attacked you, Selvia?" Gilchrist said. She knelt down and gently shook the Whisperwind, "Hey, focus on me. I'm here. You're safe now..."

Gilchrist was, by all accounts, the better woman. While Coraline was busy looking for flaws and inaccuracies that logically shouldn't have existed, 'Dessi' was merely concerned.

That girl tended to make a mockery out of anything and everything she came across... but in the worst moments, she could only be kind.

...Selvia's eyes were unfocused. She was slouching and both her arms hung limply at her side.

...Her voice was quiet.

Then, there was the fact that... earlier, the footsteps of a wind-blessed elf were almost as loud as Gilchrist's.

"Selvie," Coraline whispered.

Selvia slowly turned towards her, her glassy eyes still unable to focus.

"C... oraline."

Coraline quickly walked forward, forcefully grabbing Gilchrist's arm. The taller and stronger woman stood up and let herself be pulled away-- likely due to the surprise.

Selvia stayed where she was, sitting on the cobblestones, staring into her lap.

"What the-- Heartsong, what's going on?" Gilchrist asked.

She didn't sound upset, at least. She sounded confused... and tired. So basically, she sounded like Coraline felt-- most all the time.

Coraline took another step back, pushing her senior behind her.

"Selvie... where are your earrings?"

"Oh, you've got to be joking," Gilchrist growled. "What's so special about an earring or two?"

"Took... 'em off," Selvia muttered.

Coraline grit her teeth.

She was mentally prepared for a whole host of things to go wrong in Making... death by Divine Armor, blasted by lizard-fire, or even put down by the classics: sword, shot, or smashy thing.

But the current situation...

"Gilchrist," She said. "Withdraw to camp. Tell everyone we're under attack-- Zash, too."

"Wait, wait--" Gilchrist said, shaking her head, "What? Why?"

"Just go!" Coraline shouted.

"I am *not* leaving you, newbie!" Gilchrist growled back, "Whatever's going on, it'll be safer if we stick together."

That... woman... was the most frustrating woman Coraline had ever met.

When something obscenely out-of-the-ordinary was going on, getting reinforcements made *sense*!

Still, Gilchrist wasn't completely in the wrong. Standard operating procedure dictated they stick together-- to protect each other.

--to better ensure at least one of them made it back.

Coraline took two careful steps to the side, taking care to not let Selvia escape her view-- and making sure she could quick-draw her wand if she needed.

"Why did you take off the earrings, Selvie?!"

"Heh... heh... They's... were humie-made," Selvia sighed. "Ugly... pieces... o' junk."

"What's... wrong with her?" Gilchrist whispered.

It took until 'creepy laugh' for that woman to figure out there was a problem. Coraline was still upset, but was at least glad she and Gilchrist were finally on the same page.

"Selvie!" Coraline shouted... but, because it was suddenly harder to breathe, she softened her voice to above a whisper...

"Selvie... you know, don't you? --that you're under the effect of a Domination Spell?"

Selvia's body trembled, shivering like someone hit her with a bucket of ice water.

Then... she nodded.

She was crying-- or at least tears were running down her face. It might have been from the mental strain, her suppressed fighting against the magic controlling her body. It might have been out of regret, for falling into the enemy's trap.

...Or it might have been from fear, knowing that now that the enemy took hold of her mind... they would never give it back.

"You... you've gotta be f*cking kidding me," Gilchrist said.

Considering Selvia's state, it was highly possible that the pottery shop had been compromised. In the worst-case scenario, the enemy also knew the contents of their mission.

The likelihood of Zeta Squad's success and survival was growing slimmer with each passing moment...

Coraline closed her eyes and took a deep breath. There was one last question-- one that she didn't want to ask, but one she very much needed to.

"Selvie... how many are coming?"

A weak, breathless giggle emanated from Selvia's throat... "All of them."

Suddenly, a deafening boom rolled across the city streets. The cobblestone road cracked in several places, as well as various walls of the nearby buildings.

Though her ears hurt like crazy, Coraline was relieved by the fact that the rest of the squad would be put on high alert because of it.

People were screaming in the distance.

They were dying screams-- the sound of men and women burning to death.

Coraline was glad she wasn't there to witness the activation of her and Beatrice's ⌈Fire Pillar⌋ Formations. She was confident in the work-- confident enough that she shuddered to think of the efficacy.

⊰ trap path? ⊱

⊰ trap path~ ⊱

There were only so many traps, though, which were definitely not enough for 'all of them.'

Coraline would have loved to begin sprinting like crazy back toward camp... if it weren't for Gilchrist.

"Why'd you do it?! Spit it out, B*tchwhisper!!!"

It was... almost surreal. If Selvia hadn't been mind-controlled... or even if Selvia had allowed the mind-control to influence her completely, Gilchrist would have been on the ground with one broken limb and two stab wounds, minimum.

Instead, Coraline watched as the very human Decemberleigh Gilchrist landed two solid punches on the sharp cheekbones of a defenseless Elven woman.

Selvia didn't even flinch each time she was hit. She stared blankly, though the tears continued to flow.

Coraline nearly lost her balance as another series of ground-shaking magical blasts rumbled beneath her feet.

That wasn't her magic, though.

Those sounds, the mana wafting through the air, even at a distance- she'd experienced them before, during training. It was the Sapphire Tower's defensive emplacements,

She had a bad feeling... that those heavy-duty evocation Spells might have been targeting something that no longer deserved to exist.

Coraline dashed over to Gilchrist, grabbing at her wrist, "We gotta go. Now. Stop it-- or so help me~"

"Grrr! No! We stay!" Gilchrist shouted as she snatched her wrist back, "We'll hold the line here."

"Um, sorry?" Coraline squeaked in ab-so-lute disbelief, "What? Why??!"

"Think about it," Gilchrist explained-- oddly calm, "Zash needs time. Our defenses will hold alright-- especially if we, the stealth specialist and the girl from Evocs, engage in hit-and-run tactics."

Coraline rolled her eyes, "You're making all this up-- right now. Also, this sounds like a Lane plan, NNnnot a Gilchrist plan!"

"No, seriously!" Gilchrist argued, "Selvia said *all of them!* That means we should do everything we can to support the others. And *you* work way better as an active defense than a defensive-defense! AND, like I said earlier, my magic can--"

"It's a dumb idea!" Coraline barked.

"You're a dumb idea!" Gilchrist shot back.

"Stars and suspenders, Dessi," Coraline screamed, "would you just-- DODGE!!"

The *thunk* of a crossbow rang out as she pushed Gilchrist away. Coraline had barely seen the glint of chain armor, right before the shot-- it wasn't enough time.

"⌈Fire Bolt: Gamma Pattern⌋"

⊰ righteous fire ⊱

Without wasting any *more* time, Coraline grabbed her senior's wrist and thus began the sprinting.

There were at least three enemies in the nearby alleyway-- Making's soldiers, armed and unfortunate.

The first crossbowman was the target of Coraline's Spell.

She could tell it was a man by his screams. And she could tell how effective her Spell was by the volume and perceived level of agony.

But the reason Coraline had to run her senior so hard and so fast was Gamma Pattern's secondary effect... signified by a fiery *praufff* sound.

The explosion was designed to spread out thick fire mana, its consistency like... molten jelly. It stuck to walls and clothing. It burned, real bad.

If there were more than 3 people in that alleyway... they were no longer a threat to Zeta Squad.

But there were more alleyways... and, if logic followed, even more enemies.

Neither Coraline's ⌈Fire Bolt⌋ nor the fireteam of men and women quickly burning to death were quiet occurrences.

Those enemies would come-- and quickly.

It was then that Coraline heard a piercing shriek cut through the air.

It was... a low, gutwrenching roar, yet a chilling, high-pitched scream that stuck to the upper-inside of her ears.

If she didn't know any better... she would have identified it as... a Dragonroar.

Coraline thought she saw a flash of purple in the hazy clouds over her squad's position.

The first emplacement stopped firing.

They had another one-- but Coraline wasn't confident in that fact being accurate for much longer.

Coraline turned to her senior Witch, "Dessi, are you hurt?"

"Y-yeah," She groaned. "It hurts like-- hells."

Gilchrist was shaken and her face had paled. It wasn't because of the run-- the woman's long legs made her one of the better runners in the whole Tower.

It was then that Coraline realized that Gilchrist had one hand pressed against her ribcage.

...and that hand was stained in blood.

",