Sen's eyes locked with August's for a moment. Green. Her eyes were green. He memorized that fact.
Suddenly, Sen dropped her sixth rank spell and darted back.
She raised her sword. A red triangle appeared at its tip.
Fei raised her guard, recognizing an incoming spell.
August raised his hand and cast a protective barrier in front of Fei.
An instant later, Sen crashed into the glowing silver wall. An explosion burst from her sword.
August lost his view of Sen in the smoke. "Pull back," August shouted.
He reached for the binding stone and pulled a chunk of magic from it.
He didn't plan to use it, but Sen was a much more talented sorceress than he had expected to fight.
And he refused to kill her.
Fei glanced back at August in confusion for a moment. His message got through a moment later and she leaped backward.
Drawing on the magical power he had just gathered, August began to cast a fourth rank spell, and a square appeared around his hand.
He raised his hand, palm upright, toward where Sen had been moments later.
The moment the dust from the explosion cleared, he looked for Sen.
'Found her,' he thought. He clenched his fist.
Sen's eyes widened. She immediately stabbed her sword into the ground. Magical power poured off her, but no magical shapes appeared around her.
She was trying to brute force her way out of his spell.
The earth exploded upward around her. Like a fist of hardened earth closing over her, August captured her in his prison.
Dust filled the clearing. All August smelled was dirt. The bandits cursed and shouted, trying to run away.
The bandit leader was close, shouting Sen's name. That confirmed that August was right, as if he needed the confirmation.
"Derek, get everybody out," Sen shouted. "Please!"
August blinked. 'She'd escaped?'
An enormous hole had been blown in the enclosed fist of hardened earth.
August saw no signs of fire or charring. The only answer was a raw blast of wind.
But Sen could only use fire magic in his timeline.
No. Again—like with his memory of her eyes—that was wrong.
August shook his head. Sen wasn't restricted to fire magic yet.
He cursed his faulty memory and assumptions.
"There's just the two of 'em, girl," the bandit leader, Derek, shouted back.
"Do you want to die?" Sen screamed. "He's a Bastion! And a better sorcerer than me. Run!"
Those words had the bandits running for the hills. Sen had instantly realized what August was, and probably what Fei was as well.
But the bandits hadn't.
Many people reckoned they could take a sorcerer down if they had the numbers.
There were plenty of stories of brave knights and soldiers overcoming evil sorcerers and the like.
The army even recruited less capable sorcerers, and there were plenty of people who thought they were a sorcerer because they could heal a scratch or help crops grow.
But everybody knew the legends of the Bastions.
There weren't any stories of a brave group of bandits defeating a man with the power to hold off legions of demons.
Sen never turned her back on August as she retreated. She kept her sword raised. Her eyes were wild. Terrified.
August grimaced as he watched her withdraw. He could stop her, he knew.
He didn't know if he could stop her without hurting her. Or killing her.
"Is it alright to let them run?" Fei asked. "They seemed a lot stronger than you said they were. Or she was, at least."
"She's a spellblade, so that's to be expected," August said.
The barrier over the town winked out. He heard noises from behind the gate.
Presumably, the guards were checking that the bandits were gone and that it was safe to come out. August walked toward the gate.
"Spellblade? What's that?" Fei asked.
"A sorcerer talented with both sorcery and weapons.
Many Champions can take out a normal sorcerer by getting up close, because sorcerers don't fight in melee. Instead, they bombard you from afar.
But a spellblade is dangerous at all distances, and often more dangerous up close." August waved a hand at the burning ruin of the bandit camp.
"Think of them like the sorcerer equivalent to a Champion. I'm a spellblade, for reference."
"Oh. I was going to ask. I knew you could use magic, but didn't realize you were a proper sorcerer," Fei said, grinning stupidly.
"You were so cool. Nobody told me that Bastions used sorcery like that."
"Most can't.
All Bastions need to understand sorcery, or else they won't be able to use the binding stones, but most don't have the talent to be sorcerers."
August shrugged. "I'm not an especially good sorcerer, but I know a lot about the theory, and I have more raw power than most sorcerers thanks to the binding stones."
"Not good at it?" Fei said.
She looked at the nearby crater and the house-sized fist of hardened earth.
She raised an eyebrow but changed the subject. "Um. And when do you use your sword? You said you're a spellblade, like that woman from earlier."
The gate creaked open. Close to a hundred soldiers trooped out through the doors. Each wore the same uniform as the rider who had come to Gharrick Pass.
"I'll use my sword when we fight an enemy who needs me to," August said.
Fei blinked and tilted her head. He sensed she had more to ask, but the arrival of the town guards kept her inquisitiveness as bay.
A single officer stepped out in front of the assembled soldiers.
He licked his lips and looked around the destroyed clearing. Sweat formed on his brow, visible beneath his helmet.
After several attempts to speak, he finally said, "On behalf of Lady von Clair, I thank you, Lord…"
"Bastion," August corrected. The officer's eyes widened.
"Bastion August Straub. I believe Lady von Clair left a message with my Champion before I arrived."
August gestured to Fei, who blushed and bowed. "If she's in, I'd be happy to meet Lady von Clair now."
The officer stared at August. Once again, he looked around the clearing that had been full of bandits only minutes ago.
"Of course, Bastion," the officer said after several seconds of silence.
"Allow me to guide you to milady's manor."