I hid behind a pillar. Heard a scream. Definitely one of the young witches. It sounded so horrible...like that of a flower nipped in the bud. My blood boiled but there was hardly anything I could do. Both the gates had fallen and I needed to get to the secret passages soon. Else die fighting. Why die fighting a lost battle when victory will seek you out later? To an icy hell with glorious death, I needed to survive.
I carefully peeked out. No foe in sight. Another blood curdling scream, another poor child dead. How could they slay someone so young? Monsters! I summoned a blade of ice. Not that it would do much good against the invaders. They hit us with what would hurt the most: fire spells. I was in the middle of the corridor. Right or left?
A yell and another dying scream. At least she had hurt her attacker. Some day she would be avenged. But definitely not left. The screams had come that way. I took the right exit. And hoped I would meet no foe. Why hope for the impossible? There stood another mage in front of me, flames dancing on his fingertips, a terrified trainee not older than eleven staring at him.
He seemed to be laughing! Cruel beast! I needed to rescue her but there did not seem to be a way I could cast without him noticing me.
Only one way. I yelled "Hey!"
Got his attention. The child slowly sneaked away. At least she was safe. For now. Now, I needed to get to a passageway and one idiot stood in front of me. I summoned an ice dagger.
"An older one at last. But still not smarter than the rest. Why would you try to freeze the living flame?"
"Its called tactical diversion, honey", I replied.
A great ice spear burst from the ground beneath him, impaling his corpse to the ceiling. Too cocky for his own good.
I finally got to the secret passage. Or what used to be a secret passage. It was now a gate besieged. The defenders seemed to be holding out well enough. But there was no way I could get there. There was only one way to finish this off.