202 Redcap (1/2)
”Ambush!” Luca yelled.
”We know!” I answered. ”Back-to-back formation!”
At my command, Luca, Aura, Edo, Thom, and Thor pulled pack toward me, and with our backs against each other, we formed a tight circle formation that gave us a clear three-hundred-sixty view of our immediate surroundings.
The fairies that had jumped out of the sand were short, thickset creatures with skinny limbs armed with talons and grisly hair streaming down their shoulders. They had wide murderous-looking faces with bulbous red eyes and mouths filled with rows of fangs.
”They're redcaps!” Edo warned. ”I hate redcaps!”
Edo called them redcaps on account of the pointed red caps on their heads that was the signature mark for an organization of highly-proficient goblin assassins known to work exclusively with the northern clans.
There were twenty of them, all armed to the teeth with sharp-edged shadowblades to supplement their other signature mark, the scythe-and-chain weapons they were now twirling in the air.
”Ah, I haven't seen a kusarigama in a very long time,” Thom noted as he pointed toward the chain weapons. ”These redcaps mean business.”
Somehow, I didn't get a sense of danger from his tone, almost as if he wasn't at all worried that we were outnumbered and in a really bad position at that moment.
”Dodge the iron weight at the end of their chains or it'll be hard to remove if you get entangled,” Edo recommended. ”Now!”
More than a dozen heavy iron weights were launched from one end of the attackers' chains, all of them headed toward our collective heads. Luckily, we all heeded Edo's call and ducked at the same time to avoid them
The sound of metal slamming against metal above us reached our ears but it was quickly replaced by the rattling of chains that were being dragged back through the air.
”What's the plan, Dean?” Luca asked as our heads came up once more.
Even with Fool's Insight activating almost instantly, seconds were all I had to take everything in and then translate all that visual information into a viable plan that hopefully wouldn't get us all killed. But at this point, I'd become a master of on-the-fly tactics.
”Aura, prepare your Heat Mirage and let's give these guys something to think about,” I ordered. ”Edo, you watch her back until her spell's finished.”
I raised my falchion forward and adopted the high-guard stance.
”Luca, go Primal and bleed these bastards with your reckless attacks,” I ordered. ”Thor, you watch his back…”
Ordering my brother to activate the new power of his fairy gift, Foolish Strength, was basically asking him to hulk out on the battlefield. It was a double-edged sword, one I loathed to use, but times were desperate.
”Thom, cover our backs with your bow,” I said lastly.
However, none of us dodged. We didn't need to as we'd switched mindsets from prey to predator. Edo blocked several of the heavy iron weights with a sweep of his glaive. I parried five on my own. Luca and Thor dealt with the remainder.
We took extra care to only divert the attacks out of our way so our own shadowblades wouldn't get entangled by the enemy's chains. But we also had to watch out for the chains jerking our way as the enemy manipulated their weapons while in flight.
”Spirits of the sacred flame, let hear scorch my enemy's vision and bring to life what I envision,” Aura chanted. ”Heat Mirage!”
The last of Aura's newest spells was more of a utility spell rather than one that caused damage. However, if used in the right circumstances then it becomes far more useful than summoning an efreet and going overkill.
With a final snapping of fingers, Aura's spell was cast, and it was a doozy to watch.
Suddenly, there were two of me and two of Luca and two of Edo and two of — well, you guys get the picture.
Aura had created doppelgangers of us, and although these were nothing more than mere illusions, I bet they were more than enough to confuse the enemy — which is exactly what happened, and if things weren't so dire, I'd have laughed out loud at this interesting spell.
That said, I and my doppelganger charged, and just like a certain orange-jacket-wearing ninja from my favorite anime, I used the other me to distract the two redcaps who went ahead and attacked him.
And even after their shadowblades went right through the illusion, they still kept hacking at it.
This got me thinking — for celebrated assassins these guys were sort of dumb. Not that I was complaining as their lack of awareness made it so much easier to dispatch the two redcaps in two swings of my falchion.