That night, the exodus began, and, as Moira had hoped, Dawn was more than agreeable with her plan. Nurses were appointed to look after the triplets and, one by one, they were spirited away under cover of darkness. But Mordred's skills extended to more than just using night to hide the escapees; he also created illusions of sound and light that caused the surrounding hostile forces to jump and start at nothing, and the steely discipline Navi had instilled in his recruits quickly unravelled as they jumped at shadows. Blind attacks more often than not collided with each other, and Navi's angrily shouted commands did little to restore order, and it wasn't until well after midnight that he could finally wrench his disparate troops back under control. Even then, it took several hours before he could get them to go into the forest, but there awaited spring traps, pits, and other deadly arrays that harrowed his ranks even more. To make matters worse, animals snarled, roared, or growled in the distance, their echoes splitting a hundredfold, confusing the dear and causing more spooked elves to fire off attacks that either hit traps and triggered them, or each other.
Navi was spitting curses by the time he reached the encampment (protected by a charm that negated his banishment and death curse), and his temper didn't improve when he saw it was completely empty. Unseed arches compounded his frustration even more, and no matter how many attacks his troops launched, they couldn't get a lock on their targets, and the buildings were soon ablaze in a mismatch of misfired magic. Navi cursed fate again and again as he was forced to order the retreat, but as he led his decimated ranks out of the forest, he vowed revenge. Pretty parlour tricks would not avail Moira and her pitiful clans. One way or another, he would find where they were hidden, and he would bring them to heel. And Dawn's brats, he vowed, would be the very first to die. He was no longer interested in what they could do for him, and if he couldn't raise them to add to his growing (though now sadly depleted after tonight's events) genepool, then neither would Dawn. "You won't enjoy this victory for long," he swore. "I will get my way!"
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Removed a half step ahead in time thanks to some quick thinking on Gwydion's part, Mordred rolled his eyes as he flexed his hands. "Pompous ass," he said crossly. "I've heard enough. Let's finish this and be done with this farce."
Gwydion nodded and snapped off a spell that seemed to cleave time itself in two. "It won't stay open forever," he warned his brother. "Do what you have to do and do it quickly; I won't suffer our parents to be put through more hell. We can't do anything about our siblings, but we can at least stop Mother from being forced to continue her constant baby making."
Mordred nodded and stepped into the fissure his brother had created. He returned a scant few moments later, his face pale and tinged slightly green. "We're too late," he said, his voice hoarse as if he'd spent that bare fraction of a second screaming. "Navi was wise to us all along. Mother is dead, and Father is nowhere to be found. I wasn't able to find aunt Nimue, so she's probably somewhere where no one can find her."
"Damn it," Gwydion swore, putting a hand on his distraught brother's shoulder. "Then we'd best get out of here, and quickly. Our trick won't fool Navi forever, and the more captives he breeds, the quicker he'll have his gifted children to create the perfect army."122Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUdiKtbSEn3
Mordred swallowed distaste and nodded. "Let's go," he said.
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The brothers turned, stunned, and their eyes widened when Navi stepped out of the darkness. "I don't know what you two have done," he said, his voice cracking with barely held-back anger, "but I will see to it you two don't get to lend further efforts to my enemies."
He raised his hands, but the brothers were ready; a barrage of light and darkness collided with Navi's venegful spells, and for a breathless few moments, the very air seemed to shatter into a million pieces as the elemental attacks collided with one another. When time resumed its shattered course and sight was restored, the glade in which the three combatants stood was now razed to the ground, a smoking ruin that stank of charred wood and burnt flesh. None of the three elves had come off unscathed; Navi's face was red and blistered from burns, while the brothers looked mangled and torn, their clothes burnt to rags, their hair mostly scorched and their skin blistered just as badly as Navi's. But their faces were grim as they faced down their enemy, and Navi had to laugh at their determination. "I'm very pleased at the display," he said. "You've mastered your opposing arts quite well, it would seem! But are you prepared to face down all the elements?"
He snapped his fingers, and six elves stepped out to join him. "I have succeeded," he told the shocked brothers. "They all carry the six elements that comprise the elven races' total sum of magic. I have used acceleration spells to bring them up to the ages I need to breed more skyfire elves until I have a whole race, dedicated to the destruction of all who oppose me!"
Never had the brothers felt more out of their depth as they finally realised the scope of their peril. The six elves - the new skyfire elves - flexed their hands, grim as they prepared to take down the two young men who stood to cause ruin to their leader. Gwydion and Mordred shared a look and nodded. No matter what the cost to themselves, they had to protect their family. "Bring it on," Gwydion said, flexing his own hands as he prepared to unleash the full might of his two gifts. Mordred said nothing, his face baleful as he too got ready to do battle.
The skyfire elves looked uncertain for a moment, but their faces hardened, and Navi chuckled. "Prepare to die," he said simply. "And then your entire miserable tribe will follow."
The brothers chose not to dignify that last statement with a response. Defiant to the end, they instead gathered the full might of their powers and threw all they had at their enemies, knowing it would be their last act this side of the wheel, but determined to take at least a few enemies with them.
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