Symphonic Odyssey
: Vol. Two: Beneath the Hawthorn Tree: Verse Ninety-Eight

As Cypher was facing his toughest challenge yet, Alvin and Glenda stood with their backs to the entrance of the gorge. In front of them stood two Conductors on their same level, and behind them were the sounds of spells crashing against the boulders that blocked their only escape route.

Initially, it had been dubious. They faced twelve Conductors all in various levels of the third rank and of course the Golem in the upper tier of the first rank. The Golem was less than a threat at their level, they had no reason not to trust Cypher to be able to face it and win, the Conductors, on the other hand, were another thing altogether.

Conductors could use various tactics and countless spells to attack with, while a mere Golem was only a mindless beast only able to lash out at anything in its vicinity. Still, that situation had worked itself out finely enough, and most of the enemies Alvin and Glenda had fought with were still new in their power.

They couldn’t hope to stand against seasoned Conductors even if they had been troublesome opponents. Then Cypher had won against his foe, and with the explosion of the Golem and the subsequent escape by their young pupil, they had managed to not only foil but survive the ambush.

Only the enemy forces had suffered any losses up until now. But, what concerned Alvin and Glenda now was the two unknown Conductors trying to blast their way in from behind. The two Conductors of the Academy could tell that these newcomers were around the same level as the ones in front of them and against four opponents like that, Alvin and Glenda were unsure of victory.

Alvin thought that it might be the members of Silent Night, but there was no guarantee since each of them was a sensory expert and knew how to conceal themselves almost completely. To make matters worse, they were all around the same level as Alvin, and only someone of higher rank would be able to determine their identity.

Alvin turned to Glenda and saw only glee etched on her face. She was crazy when it came to combat and testing herself. Now that she was able to let loose, she wasn’t holding anything back. Her sword was a deadly instrument of destruction and there were very few things at their rank that could stop it effectively.

Unfortunately for her, her opponent just so happened to be using a Mace. The thick bludgeoning part of the mace was too sturdy for her constantly whirring blades to pierce it or leave any lasting damage.

Each time they would clash, a rain of sparks would explode from the impact as they each tried to overpower the other. Alvin could see that Glenda was giving her all, and her efforts were paying off against her foe. Alvin, however, couldn’t focus on that at this moment since his own opponent had just stabbed his dagger toward Alvin’s heart.

Alvin released a flourish of his robes and deflected the incoming blade, which drove deep into the cliff beside him. The Conductor holding the knife looked shocked and tried to pull his weapon free, but after realizing that it was stuck in too deeply they simply jumped back and pulled another from within their dark robes.

Alvin and Glenda began to press the two Order members back, causing those opponents to stumble over loose rocks and chunks of debris that had filled the area. It was narrow, but the two Conductors from the Academy knew each other’s attack patterns and were able to form a perfect harmony of attack and defense.

The members of the Order were unable to even coordinate their own offensive half as well as Alvin and Glenda. Just as they thought their options had run out and they would fail to kill the academy scum, the boulders at the entrance of the gorge exploded as a flare of orange light filled the area.

The Order members smiled in triumph as two figures appeared in the cloud of dust, and Alvin and Glenda even paused in their assault to stare at those two. The Order members yelled as they renewed their attack, but their eyes grew wide and their hope vanished as they realized that the two newcomers were not in fact members of their Order, but more of the academy scum.

The Order members grew wary then and backed away from the four Academy Conductors who had clustered together in order to maximize their defenses. Glenda was wary at first, but after seeing how Alvin had relaxed at their arrival, she quickly picked up on the fact that they were here to help. The two Order Conductors looked at one another and nodded, each knew what the plan was now.

They turned to run away, disregarding every ounce of common sense when it came to combat, but they were fast in their retreat, and Alvin and his group couldn’t react in time to stop them.

As it turned out, however, they didn’t need to. Two more members of Silent Night appeared just then and cut off their only escape route. “Mells! Victoria!” Exclaimed Tate as he caught sight of his companions, “It’s about time you two got here! We almost started the party without you!”

Mells smiled and replied as she held a drawn bow right at the two Order members, “Oh I wouldn’t miss this for the world!” The two Order members grimaced and looked at one another again, this time they leaped to the sides of the gorge and ran along the walls, faint purple light rippling out from each step they took.

Mells fired her arrow to try and hit the one to her left but narrowly missed him, and Victoria pulled her greatsword out and cleaved the other one in half in a single movement. As his body hit the ground it began to radiate a dark light and red-tinged vines began to erupt from his body.

The vines reached for the clustered group of Academy Conductors but it was handled quickly by gouts of flames from Burke. The remaining Order member almost got hit by another arrow from Mells, but it once again missed and the man dropped several tightly wrapped orbs of cloth which exploded in a cloud of smoke.

As the Academy members struggled to breathe and regain their bearings the Order member managed to escape and Alvin spat as the last of the smoke cleared away.

“Damn! Looks like the fucker got away! Is everyone alright?” Asked Alvin, as Glenda ended the spell on her sword and sheathed it.

“It seems like we’re all alright, but what now? Also, who are these people Alvin?” Glenda asked, glancing around at the newcomers.

“These are members of Silent Night, headmaster Sequinnen sent them to help escort us to Seven City and it’s a good thing he did,” replied Alvin.

Glenda scowled and looked a bit hurt by his words, “And you didn’t think to inform me of this? Things might have gone differently if I had known they were tailing us!”

Alvin shot her an apologetic look and held out his hands, “I’m sorry Glenda, I was under orders not to mention it. The headmaster thought something like this might happen, but we didn’t expect that the Order would send so many Conductors at the third rank. We didn’t know how many resources they had at their disposal but clearly, they have more manpower than we first assumed.”

Glenda was still angry but Alvin’s explanation seemed to calm her down a bit and she only marched off to inspect the remaining bodies that hadn’t been destroyed or crushed.

“I suggest we all head for Seven City,” began Mells, “our orders are clear and said that if we were to get separated we should head to the original destination. Our leader should have already caught up to the boy, Cypher, and if he has he’ll head straight to the city. We also have a few other members who ran ahead and so the five of them should have already regrouped by now.”

Alvin nodded and looked towards Glenda who was searching through the belongings of the Order members. “They don’t have anything that could help us figure out what their next move was. They might have been shit fighters, but at least they weren’t completely stupid. Let’s just go, I don’t want to be ambushed here again and who knows what that remaining Order member is up to,” Glenda said, as she walked away from their small group.

“I can’t believe one of them got away when we had them so heavily outnumbered,” Burke added, and the others simply looked at him with expressions of annoyed agreement.

“This place was perfect for just such a strategy. It’s narrow and our attacks were limited, we couldn’t have stopped both of them without injuring one of our own. For now, we’ll regroup and cut our losses, if we hurry we might even catch up to Ulric and the others,” Victoria said, following after Glenda. The others nodded in agreement and together, headed towards Seven City.