"Remus, there is a mage here to see you," Lyon said.

Rush lifted his eyes to his family's lycanthrope. Determination shined in the lycan's bronze eyes. The man was prepared to fight and die if need be for his house, though that didn't mean much aesthetically for Lyon. Once he shifted it would tear apart any attire, so if anything, Lyon was dressed more poorly with his small tail of hair untied. A loose collared shirt ruffled on his chest and he'd never be caught dead in those slacks formally.

"One of Neil's, I assume?" Rush asked, standing and running his hand through his hair.

It had been some time since he'd seen real battle, not since before the peace treaty. That was back in Darc Aurion's days, but he'd always been fighting against mages to protect his house. Now he had to fight against his own kind, ones who were stronger and outnumbered his. Things had calmed in the last few decades, and with the treaty with the east and Meredith, he worried he'd gotten soft.

This was really the last moment of quiet before they dove feet first into a sea of blood and death. All at his command. No wonder Darius had been so prudent all these years. Knowing the fate of his men was on him was daunting, though he'd commanded soldiers on the field before. They had just been fights Darius had chosen.

"A Copse, Sir, so I would assume so. He was a bit... jittery." Lyon frowned and so did Rush. Just what they needed, allies without the constitution to fight.

"I will meet with him." Rush didn't have a choice. Everyone was fighting, and they were awaiting on the Shades for the rear flank. Without them, the frontline would collapse under the weight of their enemies, and that meant Meredith would perish. He wouldn't let that happen.

This mage better get his act together.

As he marched to the greeting room, Lyon followed, as did his father. Darius' hair was up and braided for war, and the man was every bit as threatening as Rush. Both of them dressed in formalwear for fighting that was mere aesthetic. There was no armor that would protect from vampire claws and magic, yet fighting with pride was essential for morale.

It was likely he would die tonight. Even with Neil's plans and calculations, the leaders fought in the front, backed by their men sure, but Talamayas Sol wasn't going to forget the slights from before, and Rush expected the man front and center. Darius and he together might be able to stall him, but if it was drawn out, they would lose against him alone.

Rush had already invested a third of his most experienced generals to fight with Damien and keep Meredith safe. That was the only way he'd been able to bear letting her go, knowing his best would protect her along with her father. It was safer for her in the frontline with the mages, as backwards as that sounded. They had formation there as well as the brunt of their power. While he was circling around the largest armies of the north with the same numbers perhaps, half were mages. It was a lost fight if their allies couldn't push forward and meet them on the other side.

It was too much chaos to protect Meredith.

Completely alone, a mage stood in his greeting room, gripping a gnarled wooden staff as his mage weapon. The fear on him was palpable and Rush ground his teeth. Every one of his men could feel it, and they were supposed to trust the mages to fight at their backs, to protect them at the cost of their lives, as allies. How could he expect them to do that when this one could barely stand?

"Remus Shade," the man greeted him, straightening up but still clutching his staff as if it would somehow save him. Within the man's blue eyes, there was a conviction to fight, but the trembling wasn't doing much for him. This one was fair haired and he was sure he knew him from the incident within Angelus.

"You're Alpine Copse." Remus recalled his name, and the man smiled awkwardly.

"General Alpine Copse now. Last I saw of you was the eastern training complex, I believe." Alpine said, and Rush could hear the change in his voice. It was deeper than he remembered and the man was powerful if nothing else. The strength of his light magic was strong despite the muting presence of the anti-light magic spells littered throughout his domain. With the weight of the man's fear, Rush hadn't been focusing on it.

Now that he was, it made him uneasy. Light magic shouldn't feel that strong within his castle, yet it was flaring up under Alpine's skin and eating away at the darkness around him. This man had grown from the boy he'd met in the eastern complex, exponentially. How had he advanced so rapidly? Especially in a peaceful territory like the Copse's.

"It is imperative that we leave immediately, Remus Shade. The fight isn't going too well with the three largest vampire houses against the mages and the Fleurs. We need to support them or they'll be crushed."

"Why did they send a single mage?" Rush asked pointedly, and despite his strength, Alpine took a nervous step back from him.

"I am not alone. All of the Cascades are just outside your borders. We felt it safer to not venture into your territory while we waited. You will need us to ferry you into Levisca, and we are ready to fight."

"Are you?" Rush said with grunt of displeasure.

The mage lowered his eyebrows in the first show of commitment to an emotion aside from fear.

"I will fight to my last alongside my family and our vampire allies. I just do not relish being burned alive, as I doubt your men will when faced with the Sols." Alpine had a point, and Rush nodded to concede. There were many among his ranks who were terrified of fighting Talamayas' men, himself included, so he couldn't fault him for that.

Humans showed fear more readily, but they were all feeling it.

They left the castle and descended out of the woods into a valley in the Charge territory, all of his men behind him, spread out. Rush hesitated with his people on the border of the mage territory, but a Charge was standing with a vampire just inside and ushered them forward. As they progressed into enemy territory, the Charges turned to walk with them. Rush stiffened as Tempest Charge fell in next to him. The man was their leader, but he advanced beside a vampire who Rush focused on and placed after a moment. Emil Charge, now Emil Arc, the boy Neil had changed in the mess that had ended Angelus.

As Alpine promised, the Cascades stood side by side with a handful of Charges. It was easy to pick out the fair skin and gold hair of the Charges against the sea of navy and black hair that shadowed skin tones ranging from olive to teak.

"The Zehirs held back their forces a ways from the conflict," Tide Cascade said, coming forward in his navy mage attire, mirroring his deep hair and eyes. "They are expecting us to circle around and come into the edge of the fight, so they can pin us between their allies. We will assault the Zehirs from behind, and push them forward into the fight where we will divide them from their allies with the Copses and the Arcs. Any questions?" Tide Cascade turned to Rush, and he lowered his eyebrows.

He had a lot of questions.

"How do you expect to push them?" Rush asked. The Zehirs wouldn't allow themselves to be corralled and there were more of them than Shades and Cascades combined. "And how did you get information on their current position."

Tide crossed his arms and let out a slow breath of frustration. The man had never liked working with vampires. That had been clear from the Angelus incident, so Rush wasn't sure why they'd chosen to pair the Cascades with the Shades. Both houses didn't work well with the other side.

"I'm going to blow real hard and hope they fall over, Remus Shade," Tide said, and a few mages snickered. "You needn't worry about the how. Follow our lead and it will all fall into place. All we need is your numbers to keep them from breaking through our lines. The Cascades will handle the pushing. As to our reconnaissance, we have a spy on the inside who excels at remaining unseen."

"We need the Shades to keep a formation in the battle," Alpine added. "Please split up into groups of no more than five Shades with a Cascade mage please. We must keep track of our allies and you will need us halfway through the fight. I know it's daunting, but if you let us lead, this will go... swimmingly." A few more mages chuckled again, though the sound was halfhearted. They were frightened but also following Tide and Alpine with confidence.

They formed up, and Rush remained with his father at Tide's side. Lyon went reluctantly with their men when Rush insisted upon it. Lycans were few but powerful, and Lyon for all intents and purposes was his first general. They needed his power and leadership in the battle, and he and Darius would be tied up with Talamayas, or Tanya, whomever they came upon first.

"Transport us far enough away that the Zehirs won't sense the light magic," Tide warned and the mages nodded as they formed the spells under the feet of their men. "Advance through the foliage in a wide arc so that they can't break through. You need only hold them for a short time. Again" –Tide turned to Rush– "Follow our lead. Don't scatter. Keep with the Cascade we assigned to you, and you'll be fine."

"My men know how to follow orders." Rush growled, and Tide let out a slow sigh.

"Let's hope," Tide muttered as the light magic spun around and whisked them to the battlefield.

They arrived in dense underbrush, surrounded by trees, but Rush could feel the beating hearts of the humans not far off in the city beyond the forests. It was strange fighting within society. Levisca was surrounded by homes and humans once they got close enough to it, but the complex itself had a fair amount of flat land in the form of a park, half of it made up of a huge marble and stone mural on the ground. There would be casualties of innocents in the skirmish, but clearing out the town would have given them away.

It was a slow crawl, his men surrounding the Cascades as they suppressed their power and blocked their heartbeats with infiltrator spells. No lights gave the Zehir camp away as they came upon it below a steep ledge that was at least a three story drop. The Shades took the hint and carried the Cascades as they slid down to the ground and spread out around them. It made Rush uneasy having a rock wall at his back, but they distanced from it by a good margin before they came upon the first vampire.

Or rather it came upon them.

Fuck.

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Word Count: 1901