Smoke soared into the sky above the Galespring. Light lit the inn from within and out. Music, slow and sweet, entwined with the hum of chatter and laughter. Like the tavern, there were guards outside. Three Stone Sniffers sat on the steps of the inn, playing a game over the flickering tongue of a hooked torch. They looked up from their game a little too late. Hanna’s whip whistled and its tip sliced open the farthest man’s throat. Zoey pounced on the man to the left and Jo’s dagger found the last.
“Chloe, stay out here,” David whispered. Jo made to join her but David pushed him forward. His eyes were wild with the ecstasy and power the dust of essence provided. He growled at David and then pushed through the door of the inn. Hanna and Zoey walked on either side of him. They stood just after the threshold, watching bald men drink and gossip. Some were in leather armor, but most of them were piss drunk.
“Jo!” Someone yelled from the table closest to the door. The man stood up. He was large, with a thick beard. His sword hissed out of its sheath as he staggered forward. “You treacherous wimp!”
The music stopped and David heard the thump of his heart.
“I will carve you up and serve your damn balls to Bal—” his voice vanished and his hand snapped up to hold his weeping throat. Elisha walked out of his shadow behind the man, startling David who hadn’t even sensed his brother moved. Elisha’s dagger gleamed, catching the light of torches on the wet, dark blade.
The sniffers moved like a crowd of scared commoners. The music stopped and was replaced by battle cries–slurred mostly. David stepped down to the echoing wooden floor of the common room. He could use Dragon’s Will again, but that would affect everyone, even his siblings.
He swerved right, away from the drunken scarred face of a sniffer. He saw the man’s eyes darken and slashed his belly open before he could lunge forward. Blood splattered on the floor, David stepped out of the way of another attack and watched the sniffer slide on the bloody floor. David’s sword thrust through his chest before he could stand up.
This isn’t a fight, David thought as he crouched under the blow of a large, stout man. His fists were like bricks and he wasn’t as drunk as the others. David stepped back, elbowed the sniffer he knocked into, weaved left and tore the bigger man’s arm open. The gash bled, but the sniffer attacked, groaning like a bear. David dodged left, slid out of a grapple attempt and brought his sword down on the man’s back. He watched the man stagger forward for a moment before moving on to the next sniffer. They fought like children–slow and without skill.
Jo searched for Bas. He wondered if the Hollow was in the crowd. He caught sight of Elisha’s shadow whooshing in and out of sight. Zoey’s movements were fast. She didn’t use her bow, keeping to her fists and a dagger she borrowed from Hanna.
“There,” Jo screamed, pointing to the bar where a woman sat with a vial to her nose. She was turned to Jo and then to David and then moved her head back. David pushed through the battle. He ignored the others, dodging instead of fighting back. He kept his eyes on the woman. She stood up, watched the fight for a moment and then walked out through the door behind the bar. David groaned, hoping he wasn’t late. If Bas warned Balran, he would be ready for them. He ran past the bar, catching a whiff of spilt wine.
The door led to a small space where barrels were stacked up high. David took the open door and came to a quick halt when he found the woman there. Bas. Behind her was the stables, empty except for two men snoring.
The woman was bald, except for a long braid that ran from a small patch of hair down to her black. Her armor blended with the night; steel armor covered her left shoulder and arm. Her eyes were like glowing pools of blood. She held two curved short swords.
“You prayed I fled, didn’t you?” Bas asked. She bared clean teeth in a grin and hit both swords together, making sparks dance briefly before her eyes.
“I hoped you didn’t,” David said. His sword felt good in his grip. Bas opened her mouth to say something else, but David wasn’t interested. He swung his sword fast and high. Bas’s left sword caught his blade easily and quickly slashed at David with the other. David stepped back and leapt forward immediately his foot touched the ground. Bas growled, parrying David’s sword. David slipped left, away from her sword’s reach. She grinned, poised and lethal. David drove forward again, this time he feinted a high swing that quickly changed into a slant slash. Bas caught his sword and David felt his arm tremble. She groaned, shoving David back.
He slid back, and before he could catch his breath, Bas was on him. Her swords flashed in the night like silver lights, whipping down on David with ferocity and excitement.
David dodged and parried. The more blows he took on his sword, the harder the swings became. Sweat beaded on his forehead, sliding down his face. There was something strange about the woman. A web of red veins stretched up her neck and temple. Spittle flew as she fought, chopping like an animal. Her blows were both animalistic and random.
They gain maximum strength, David realized. But in exchange, they lose all sense of themselves. Before the essence she sniffed took effect, she fought reasonably. Now she was just a beast, overwhelmed by the high of what intoxicated her.
David grunted, taking the force of Bas’s swing. He saw the surprise on her face just before he pushed with all his strength. Bas stumbled back and David let her gain ground before he charged at her. Essence wove through him, invigorating him. His first attack pushed the Hollow a few steps back.
“Stone Sniffer,” Bas whispered with surprise in her eyes. David snorted and moved left quickly, swung his sword for the woman's torso, then turned it into a feint by changing the direction, taking it a little bit higher. The flat of his sword smacked Bas’s neck. She staggered back, trying to create distance between them, but David saw through that. His heart raced as he closed the distance, swayed left, and twisted as if in a spin to get away from her blind thrust.
He slammed the hilt of his sword into the back of her head so hard he thought he felt something give. She swayed on her feet for a moment, and then her swords fell. Before she fell, David pushed the tip of his sword through her back. A stunned gasp escaped her lips.
“I…” she moaned, biting down as much of the pain as she could when David pulled his sword out. “...should…have fled.”
The body hit the ground and her armor clanged ridiculously. David stared at her body for a few seconds, waiting for the rush to come, but nothing did. She had thought she had power but the powder she took gave her nothing to survive an onslaught from David. These were not skilled fighters. They were nothing like Nurend. They swung and swung like puppets pushed by an invisible master. There was no skill to the battle.
He thought about taking her armor and thought better of it. An armor like that would only slow him down.
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David turned away and walked back to the common room of the inn. A few people were hiding in the barrel room. David found no sniffer amongst them and walked past them to meet the end of the battle.
Jo was stabbing a corpse muttering curses in a language David couldn’t understand. A few of the Stone Sniffers knelt by the bar, their essence high fading fast as they faced certain death.
“What do you want to do with them?” David asked Hanna. The Mad Whip shrugged. Her face was stained with blood. David doubted any of it was hers, but he didn’t ask.
“Jo said we can use them.”
David turned to look at Jo. He had worn himself from stabbing the dead. He staggered up, his clothes drenched in blood. He grinned, obviously still clinging to the wave of bliss and power from his essence dust. David wondered if it was wise to follow the ideas such a man could cook up. He made for the door, but Zoey was already bringing Chloe in.
“Jo, where next?” Hanna asked.
“Balran,” Jo said. “Velar stays by the Mad Boar.”
Mad Boar, David thought. He couldn’t wait to meet this Balran, but most of all, he felt disappointed.
Chloe helped with a buff tune, removing their exhaustion. When she was done, Jo cut one of the kneeling sniffers'; a small gash along the side of the face. Then he freed them, telling them to call Balran for he had seized one of his holds. The bald men doubted their freedom, but when they realized Jo was serious, they ran out like mad devils.
“Explain,” Hanna said.
“Balran is not a wet mouse, but he is cautious. He keeps most of the other low-mind sniffers with him. And add that to Velar’s gang, and that is way too many Stone Sniffers than we can take on by ourselves. We were lucky here because they were drunk.”
“You want him to split his forces?” David asked, finally seeing the brilliance in Jo’s plan. Jo grinned and David immediately disliked him again. They walked out of the tavern, following Jo’s reliable lead. The night was dragging along to be a fine one. Those who hid behind their doors now peered out, curiously searching for the source of the noise they’d heard.
David wondered how they’d feel when they realized they were free the next day. Will they be free or they’d be taken over by another group of bandits with a smudge of power? He decided that was not his problem to take care of. He wanted to get out of Uthzar. He couldn’t waste any more time on the second floor of the tower.
Jo made them stop and hide in the shadows, against the rough wall of a dark house.
Thuds of footsteps grew close until a small army of sniffers ran past. Most of them had swords and makeshift weapons. Jo was right. They would have been overwhelmed if they attacked Balran immediately.
The last of the sniffers vanished into a bend in the road before they came out of the shadows.
“Was Velar among them?” David asked, still watching where they’d disappeared into.
“No,” Jo said. “Velar wouldn’t leave Balran’s side. And unlike the Hollows, there is something about Balran you should know.” He made sure he had their attention before he continued, “Balran can use the stone dust. Unlike us, he doesn’t need to sniff it. I have seen him make axes of burning blue flames.”
“So he is a mage,” Zoey said.
“No,” Jo said. “Mages are known in Girath and Carlyn, cities on the other side of the River of Sand. He is just gifted.” After a moment of silence, he shrugged and added, “Be careful.”
They sped up, running to reach Balran before the group of sniffers could return. David carried Chloe and Zoey’s Vjognir flew above her. The beast had been largely useless so far, but David didn’t want to bring it up. Not yet at least.
Balran’s home was heavily guarded. Which meant the bandit leader was scared. Stone Sniffers patrolled the outer walls, but those were easily taken out by Hanna and Elisha. But Balran was waiting outside. He stood in front of his home, light burning behind him. Twenty Stone Sniffers stood between David and their leader.
Zoey stepped forward, but David pulled her back. Fighting the stone-sniffers would be a waste of time.
You have used Dragon’s Will.
The force of his Dragon’s Will spread like a mist swallowing a mountain. The Stone Sniffers fell in heavy thuds. Zoey jumped back, startled. David watched the oppressive might of Ignis's power crush them like twigs until he felt a sturdy force crashing against his will.
Balran grinned, his hand held out palm open. A coin-size stone pulsed with essence, pushing his spell back. It worked, but David saw the strain it put on Balran. Velar’s veil rustled as if picked by wind, but when it fell, she had disappeared.
David let the spell go and pulled his sword quickly, but not fast enough. A dagger almost dug into his left side, but Elisha's shadow swirled into form, blocking the blow from Velar. She grinned, her face gaunt, with eyes blood red.
“I will take—” Hanna’s whip lashed out, biting into Velar, but the woman vanished, recalled to Balran’s side and suddenly Balran was there, swinging a heavy axe. David blocked, but there was so much power behind the blow. He stumbled back, rolling a few times before he stopped himself by digging his sword into the ground.
Zoey leapt for Balran, but a blue axe was flung at her. It shot out of Balran’s hand as if it had always been there.
David groaned, standing up with some difficulty. He had been careless, but many of Balran’s soldiers were unconscious.
“You think you can come into my home, my town, and act like cursed bastards?” Balran asked. He was a tall man, a large man. All muscles and beard. His head was shaved, but his beard was silver-white against the dark texture of the night. His every footfall was felt.
Two axes appeared in his hands, roaring with blue flames. David edged away from him and his burning axes. He could feel the heat from them, and yet, Balran held them like they were only wood.
Zoey’s form came into sight. Balran turned swiftly and slammed one axe into her. David’s heart stopped for a second until he saw the Vjognir between Zoey and the axe. The force tossed Zoey away, slamming her into a tree.
David’s heart raced, panic filling him with dread. At that moment he was paralyzed by the thought of Zoey’s death, Ignis pulled him in and took control.
Learn, Ignis thought to him. Watch and see what you can become. What you are.
Balran grinned at David, not seeing the wild beast behind David’s eyes.
Spell: Sword Storm
Sword Storm compresses wind into spinning swords. Your present lack of insight limits the spell’s potency. You can only create two swords. It cancels low to mid-level defenses.
Essence consumption is not regulated.
The lances shot off David’s raised hand and plunged into Balran. Balran’s eyes widened, but Ignis wasn’t done.
Spell: Emperor’s Swords
Emperor Swords mold swords from the earth, gathering potent essence in the blades. Your present lack of insight limits the spell’s potency. You can create two swords.
Essence consumption is not regulated.
A broadsword shot out from underneath Balran, splitting the bald man in two. Velar screamed, lunging for David. Ignis turned on her and the second sword swung at her. She tried to avoid it, but it was too large and too fast. It sank into her, pinning her to the ground. She coughed and screamed, but from the darkness Ignis had pulled him into, David saw that it was over. He shuddered once he was back in control. His eyes were losing vision and his legs trembled under him.
He fell back, but Elisha caught him.
“What was that, David?” Elisha asked, but David could barely hear him over the thundering of his heart in his chest. What happened had taught him two things, Ignis was too strong to leave unchecked. And he had been narrow-minded. He could control more than just fire.
You have dominated the second floor.
Will you cross the way-gate into the third floor of Amareth’s Tower or will you rule Uthzar?
David stared at the question, his breath still a little bit ragged.
Of course, we will be leaving this damn place, He thought.