Technomancer: Genesis Chapter 31: Burning Tides

Aerwyna stared loathingly at the woman who had kidnapped her son. The two of them did not move a muscle as they stared at each other. She wanted to tear the former wet-nurse to shreds but she restrained her self with every ounce of her willpower. The abduction of Ezra puzzled her deeply. Who would gain from kidnapping a child? Was it for a ransom? This was completely unexpected. Catalyna was also hand-picked by Aerwyna herself to be Ezra's wet nurse. She checked up on Catalyna prior to her employment.

She worked three years in Castle Blackfyre before she was picked by Aerwyna to be one of the candidates for caring for Ezra. When she was working, she did not stand out nor did impressive duties. She was simply tasked to take care mainly of the cooking, she also helped around the castle with other mundane chores. It truly baffled her how this relatively regular servant turned out into a capable noble ranked mole.

Catalyna should have a son as well and her husband was supposed to be a farmer, as wet nurses should be lactating so that they would feed the baby in the stead of their blood mother. The least likely spy would be the wet nurse because she was both a mother of a local child and also had familial bonds in the territory.

Aerwyna was hesitant on battling because her unconscious son was in her arms right now. She noticed that Catalyna's aura had grown significantly stronger. After taking off her outer black cloth, it was seen that she was wearing light leather clothing along with what seemed to be chain mail.

"Why did you abduct my son?" inquired Aerwyna with an unwavering death stare.

Catalyna did not reply.

"Answer me! Knave. How did you hide your aura for so long? Who are you working for?" Aerwyna's face was boiling with fury. It was evident that she was restraining herself both because of Ezra and because she had to know who was behind the kidnapping.

"Why should I answer that?" replied Catalyna calmly, "I don't need to explain anything to you. You should just hand me Ezra and nobody will get hurt."

"You dare threaten me? Lowborn scum, on what grounds do you base your threats on? You are out of your mind having the audacity to even ask me to hand Ezra to you. In this world martial might is supreme! You would not even last three seconds fighting me. It's just because of Ezra that you are alive right now speaking such insults."

Catalyna was not listening to Aerwyna's speech, instead, she was looking at the surroundings. There were around one hundred soldiers that gathered to stop her advance and block routes. She deduced that there were around ten knights already including the ones that were chasing her before Aerwyna blocked her. She sensed five more knights coming from the direction that Aerwyna arrived. Figures emerged wearing different clothing from the Blackfyre Guard, they had visors that were shaped like the mouth of a fish and donned different emblems. Their aura was fiercer and stronger than the ones chasing her. They came to a halt when they were two steps behind Aerwyna.

"Is this all the forces you could muster? It's pretty quaint considering your territory," she was clearly provoking Aerwyna.

Aerwyna paid no heed to the goading of Catalyna and instead handed Ezra to Sir Evan.

"Take Ezra away from here, I will deal with the wench myself," said as Aerwyna gave her son off to Sir Evan.

"But Madame, I think we are enough to deal with the wench, you need not dirty your hands" replied Evan as he carried the slumbering Ezra with his right arm. He tried to reason with Aerwyna, in his mind they were enough to dispose of the former wet nurse.

"Ezra Is the top priority. Escort him back to the castle and guard him there. Make sure no one gets near him. I will tear the whore limb from limb. I do not want to repeat myself, " Aerwyna commanded.

She was itching to dismember Catalyna by herself. Her former worry for Ezra, that was irritating her had now vanished and only bloodlust remained in its stead.

She returned her furious gaze to a tranquil Catalyna. There was no trace of worry at all on her face. It was as if she was strolling along a park in midday; she did not mind soldiers that were surrounding her.

"Answer my questions and you will die a swift death. If you do not I will torture you till you die."

Catalyna wore a dull gaze that was unperturbed at the threats of Aerwyna.

"Are you done? Or are we going to start this? Your babbling sounds like a drunk whore in a tavern," replied Catalyna cooly.

Aerwyna noticed that her magic aura though becoming more powerful over time, which perplexed her, it appeared that she was condensing it. Her aura was pulsating like it was about to burst but it was evident that she was forcibly suppressing it.

Aerwyna had started condensing her own magic. The knights did not command the archers to open fire because they were afraid that they would accidentally shoot Aerwyna.

The frontline of the formed platoons closed in on Catalyna's location. Their objective was to support the high ranking powerhouse Aerwyna. In a battle between high ranked mages, troops were used to weather down the enemy and find openings so that non-magical attacks would connect. The main combatants of these battles were the nobles themselves. Medieval warfare in this world was different from Earth's.

As this was taking place Aerwyna started chanting.

[The waters covereth the sea and in the oceans, the azure life giver robes the bodies in abundance. alloweth the waves that crash upon the land envelop this fleshly vessel that it may endow the bearer jutty from all ill.]

Water had suddenly cloaked the body of Aerwyna. The inch-thick coating of water gleamed in the sun. She activated her chantless magic and froze the water that covered her; it solidified into armour resembling plate mail.

"Wench! You shall die here, today!" thundered Aerwyna.

Suddenly Catalyna made her move.

[The Brightness of ten thousand dying stars, SUPERNOVA!]

Chapter end