Alaron felt like his body was being torn apart. His broken insides were being shredded and knit together anew in order to rid the body of the cancerous magic that plagued his being. Each sinew and bone were being destroyed and remade. It was all more painful than Alaron could bear. He truly thought he would die before the process was complete. His only choice was to let his consciousness drift into the great unknown.Beside him, Brinn and Lukoss watched as the boy let out a blood curdling scream. The young man's back arched as his body began to glow with a light brighter than the sun. It shot upward into the sky, filling the entire night firmament with blinding brilliance. Bathed in its glow, Brinn expected to be burned, but only a feeling of warmth engulfed her as she shielded her eyes.Alaron's screams continued even as the light lessened. His body faded to the glow of a firefly, with strange sparks streaming across his skin at random intervals. Finally his cries quieted to little

The human army, led by Nurlan, did not have a clear view of the hill on which the Empress and gnome were meeting. He was on a different side of their triangular defense, and it left him blind to his leader. The general hated being in the dark. He paced up and down the ranks as he examined his men and silently counted the enemy to in order to pass the time and lessen his tension.Mairwen walked beside him in a helmet and a set of armor that covered her torso. While she would not be fighting with a sword, she needed protection if the enemy decided to return her arrows. Her flowing blue skirt matched the Imperial troops and hung loosely down to her ankles. With her bow slung across her back, the princess looked like some glorious ancient statue.Watching Nurlan sigh, she finally mustered up the courage and asked, "How bad is it?""Well, they have the numbers to overwhelm us." the general told her honestly when he tallied the totals. "At least three times over," he added not wanting to su

Dropping both his helmet and sound cone, Nurlan swatted at the leprechaun on his shoulder. Knocked to the ground, the small creature was dazed for a moment before disappearing from view.The General gripped his bloody ear. The bite marks were clearly visible."Oh!" Mairwen produced a cloth and hurried to dab at the blood. "Are you alright?""Blasted little devils!" Nurlan spat as he grimaced. He took the cloth from the princess and held it to stop the bleeding."Are leprechaun's bites poisonous?" the princess asked with an anxious expression.The thought had not occurred to him. After a flash of panic, the color returned to his face and he shook his head. "It does not seem so, but it sure is a blasted nuisance. They are worse than fleas!"Mairwen looked out at the army and her face fell. "It seems they are far more dangerous, too."————Timur was the first unlucky man to be attacked by the leprechauns. He felt the sting on his neck and, like Nurlan, reacted by slapping at the obnoxio

Having recovered from his near drowning, Devrim had no desire to put his head back below the water. He could still feel some of the water sloshing about in her ears no matter how hard he tried to empty them. It was frustrating, and he was unwilling to repeat the event.Fortunately, none of the dozen or so pirate ships seemed to have anyone bothering to look their way. Anyone keeping watch was looking at the shoreline. Even if some sailor had deigned to look their way, spotting the bobbing heads in the water would have been difficult among the shining waves.Their first goal was to make each boat unable to sail. The boat furthest from the shore and behind the rest of the fleet was their initial target. Riding over on the Selkies' backs, twenty men attached themselves to the side of the ship and began using their large screws to bore holes into the ship's hull. It would have been much easier to have the merfolk complete this task, but Darya had said she was there to engage pirates, not

"We have to get to the Merpearl!" the Emperor coaxed his troops."Sire! More Company!" Junayd called. His brow was furrowed as more boats came toward them with their crews rowing feverishly.Very soon, a fourth and fifth ship lashed onto the ends of the other three, making a long undulating battlefield. With extra pirates to fight, Devrim's soldiers were beginning to get overwhelmed. The Emperor, seeing his advantage slipping, was now leaving more pirates dropping to the deck instead of falling to the water. Junayd likewise was having to fight more fiercely against the increasingly bad odds.Two pirates, one with a wavy dagger and one with an ornate longsword, ganged up to finish off the Emperor. Having no shield or armor, the grey-eyed man had to use all his skill to keep the men back. The two men were far more used to brute force than the nuances of sword play, and when one opened up his body thinking he was safe to strike, Devrim cut into his side and sent him crumpling to the grou