A dull whomp, way more powerful than Pax expected smashed into the fort outside. He felt his Ice Mirror hold for the briefest of moments before it exploded from the power of the tremendous explosion.
Aaaaa— Whisk’s voice rang out, a continuous shriek of pain in Pax’s mind as the walls shuddered.
Cracks shot out in a starburst pattern, and big chunks of the earthen wall shattered, falling to the ground. A wave of pressure followed immediately, coming through the open top of the fort and reflecting off the walls. Pax’s ears popped painfully, and the air was suddenly hot and hard to breathe.
A Wave of water dumped over all of them a moment later, bringing instant relief and a handful of grateful nods to Rin.
I doused Whisk, too. Don’t worry.
It was exactly what Pax needed to hear.
Talpa, get Whisk to safety.
I already do that.
Pax nodded and pushed everything aside. He focused on what his Sphere showed him. Talpa and Whisk disappeared into the ground while the two monsters in front of the battered fort spasmed in pain and confusion.
Thankfully, both were still alive, considering they hadn’t expected the explosion to be so powerful. The howler had rolled onto its back, the myriad of legs curled in so tightly, it looked half its previous size. The serpent, being flame based, was doing better, but still twitched in stunned pain.
“Dahni, drop the front wall,” Pax yelled out. “Time for trapping. Hurry.”
As the cross wall in front of Dahni dropped, the warriors shook off their disorientation and fought their way out of the fort. Onyx and Warden let out joyous cries at finally being allowed to take part in the battle.
Rin had already Levitated back up to the firing platform and sent a new set of specialty arrows arcing out into a flight just past the serpent. One of Tyrodon’s confining nets trailed through the air behind it. A second set followed immediately afterward, heading toward the howler.
Pax hoped Talpa could get Whisk to safety quickly enough and return to add his valuable help popping in and out of the ground to secure the ropes and tangle up the beasts as much as possible.
Pax triggered his armor’s Wind Walker ability, cast Windscale Shroud as an extra layer under his armor, and raced after the others.
He stepped and missed a beat when he saw the devastation from the explosion. The ground in front of the fort had been blasted clean, leaving behind a cleared rocky layer, like a giant had come along and done some vigorous sweeping.
An acrid smoke stung the back of his nose, wafting off the skin of both monsters. The warriors tossed more trapping ropes over the bodies. Pax kept his distance, ready to intervene with Bulwarks to keep a thrashing limb from hitting one of his friends.
Rin, Dahni and Tyrodon joined him, looking to him for guidance.
“The warriors and stonepaws have this handled. Let’s get the cages ready.” He took his own advice, moving a few more steps away and pulling out cage parts. “Glad you insisted we bring three cages, Tyrodon. Did you know this was going to happen?”
Tyrodon dropped a set of cage walls and shot him a grin. “Nope. My dad just always said it’s better to have something you don’t need, than need something you don’t have.”
“Good advice,” Rin said as she helped wrangle the cage walls into place.
It didn’t take them long, though everyone kept a cautious eye on the struggles winding down behind them.
There was a moment of excitement when they heard Finrick cry out in pain and leap back, hand clasped to one arm where bright blood dripped to the ground.
“Don’t grab at your injury, fool. That’s for after the battle. Unless it’s killing you right now, use your Bandage skill and keep fighting.”
Finrick gave her an embarrassed look before taking hold of another weighted rope and rejoining the fight to restrain the howler. It didn’t take long before they had the heavily injured beasts tied with strong nets and cords so they could barely move.
“Cages are ready,” Pax motioned for Dahni to join him. “Serpent first.”
With judicious uses of his Bulwark, Dahni’s Barriers and the warriors Strength, they manhandled the squirming package into the cage and shut the door with a satisfying clang.
“I think I need to change the doors so they slam shut from above, not lift from the ground,” Tyrodon said, eyes narrowed as he looked over the cage design. “It’s great to have the ramp, but if we get a stronger beast that's struggling, we’ll want a fast way that one person can shut the door instead of needing two people to lift the side and fasten it into place.”
Pax nodded, happy to let Tyrodon redesign anything he wanted. It had been his ideas that led to the effective fort they had just used so handily.
“Don’t worry about this one. I’ve got her.” Eldan appeared out of nowhere and had the howler floating up in the air with a spell.
Everyone took a step back. Even tied up, the myriad of razor-sharp claws were dangerous, as evidenced by the multiple sheared pieces of rope and netting hanging down from the thing.
It didn’t take long for Eldan to get her prize in the cage. She shut the door and then brushed off her hands, a pleased expression on her face as she took a step back.
“You’re sure you want to tame that thing?” Pax had to ask.
“Are you joking?” She looked back at him with the biggest smile Pax had ever seen on her face. “Just imagine her in battle next to me. We’ll be a storm of terror that’ll make the empire troops crap their pants.”
Pax’s eyebrows shot up, and he heard someone snort a laugh behind him. Pax looked at the howler with fresh eyes and decided he wasn’t one to judge. People rarely reacted well to Talpa’s looks with his sensing tentacles, either. And Eldan was right. The scarier the beast, the better against their enemies.
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“See? You understand now, right?”
Pax nodded.
“Then, let’s get this beautiful babe Tamed. What’s the first step?”
***
It turned out that the first step was to help everyone recover from the battle, followed by reconnaissance by Eldan and Eris to make sure nothing else would sneak up on them. Finally, Bryn set up a decent guard formation around the two cages, and Pax and Mage Eldan could finally drag out chairs and set them up next to the caged howler.
Finrick wasn’t the happiest about leaving his digger alone and vulnerable caged at the site of the first battle, but even Eldan agreed it wasn’t prudent to split their group, even though the sun had finally come up and the worst danger should be over.
That also meant that Sergeant Ironfist was up to tame the inferno serpent while Finrick had to wait and be last. Neither seemed pleased about the fact. But Finrick already felt attached to the digger. Ironfist agreed that if Pax’s Taming for Eldan went off without mishaps, it would reassure her enough to attempt one herself.
This worked out fine with Pax, because he wanted to start with a mage Taming, anyway. They were easier than warrior Tamings, and he had a lot more experience with them.
He was full of confidence until he connected with Mage Eldan and took a quick peek at her internal mana.
“Vitur!” He jerked back in instinctive shock and stared at her.
“What?” She looked worried and then sad. “Is there something wrong? I can’t Tame her?”
“No. Nothing’s wrong.” Pax hurried to reassure her. “I’ve just never seen that much mana inside someone before.”
She immediately relaxed and looked smug. “Impressive, isn’t it?”
He nodded and shook his head to clear it. He took a moment to adjust his chair and give himself time to settle back down. The air mana inside Eldan was a powerful storm that felt like it would fill the entire sky above them if she let it out. It made him both impressed and jealous. He vowed that would be him someday soon.
Eldan settled back into the chair beside him, her eyes fastened on the still squirming form of the howler who didn’t like the Taming pole Pax had shoved between its legs where it couldn’t wiggle away.
“So, with all my power, the Taming should be easy, right? And these two beauties will help somehow?” She nodded at Eris and Horrid, who sat with Pax, close enough to connect with the Taming pole.
“Not exactly.” Pax shook his head, thinking it through. “What works best is for you to match the power of the beast. I originally learned to Tame while working with baby beasts, so it was important for mages to only let the tiniest fraction of their mana into the Taming stick so they didn’t overwhelm and kill the beast. But now, we’ll need to figure out how powerful the howler is and have you send an amount of mana through the Taming stick that matches its power as closely as possible.”
Eldan nodded, giving him a curious look, like she was surprised but interested in learning something important from a mage so much her junior.
“Eris and Horrid here will send their mana along for the ride. What they’re good at is convincing the wild beast of the benefits of submitting. Think of them like ambassadors. But the mana control is still going to be mostly up to you, so remember, as soon as you can sense the howler’s mana, try to match the power as closely as possible.”
When Eldan nodded her understanding, Pax went over the rest of the process, gratified by how well she paid attention and needed nothing repeated. When he got to the part about mana control, she gave him a mysterious smile.
“You don’t need to worry about my mana skills. I’ve been honing them for years. The only surprise is that they’re coming in handy for something unexpected like this.”
Remembering what the Inquisitor had said about mana skills, Pax really wanted to ask for specifics, but now was not the time.
“Ready?” Holding his grip tight on the Taming pole, he motioned where she needed to place her hand.
Eldan nodded and, for the first time since he’d met her the day after his Awakening, he saw a flash of nerves. She saw him notice and shook her head with a soft laugh. “Faced down my share of scary situations, but I haven’t faced something new like this in a while.” She placed her calloused hand next to his and gave him a firm nod. “Let’s do this Mage Vipersworn. Help me Tame this beautiful beast.”
He glanced at the squirming howler. “Its appearance is growing on me.”
“Her.”
Pax gave Eldan a surprised glance. “How do you know?”
“Just a feeling.” She shrugged. “The females are usually the most dangerous you know, among both beasts and people.” Something flickered in her eyes, and Pax suddenly felt a flare of the edgy danger he’d always associated with the woman.
He nodded quickly before motioning that it was time to Meditate and get started.
The Taming went surprisingly well once Eldan was able to drop her barriers enough to let him in. She had fierce defenses that felt stronger than Salman’s walls. That part took the longest. Once Pax got the process started, shepherding her mana down the Taming stick to the howler, things sped up a lot.
The biggest surprise was how quickly Eris and Horrid swayed the howler to accept Eldan’s air mana. It turned out its injuries put it in a desperate state. Once it got a small taste of Pax’s light mana, it really just wanted more of any power that would help it recover.
When the Taming finally took, Pax opened his eyes, and watched with rapt fascination to see that the process had healed many of the howler’s injuries. A final check told him Eldan might be down as much as a third of her large mana pool from the process. They’d need to keep better track of how beast injuries affected the Taming process.
Mage Eldan lost all of her aloofness when she opened her eyes and looked at her new companion. She didn’t bother asking for help. With a flick of her hand, a gust of wind popped the side of the cage open, changing to an ephemeral Blade that slid carefully under the ropes and nets to cut her howler free.
Tyrodon yelped, moving forward and protesting as Eldan cut his hard work to pieces. His shoulders sagged, and he looked to Pax for help.
“I guess we need to rethink our process?” Pax shrugged, looking over to where the serpent still struggled against its own bonds. “Maybe try to salvage as many ropes and nets as possible before we Tame the next one?”
Tyrodon’s eyes went wide, and he grabbed Dahni’s arm and pulled him along to help.
Pax turned back to Eldan, who was just as enamored with her new companion as most were. She was cooing and carefully feeding big chunks of beast meat between the host of dangerous limbs to an almost hidden mouth, with seemingly no concern for getting hurt. An empty healing potion sat next to her, and her new companion seemed to be in much better shape, other than the ravenous hunger.
Pax moved to get a better look and had to shudder when he saw the oddly circular mouth that popped open and closed. Sharp chitin protrusions around it tore at the meat, looking almost like a bird’s beak as they retracted, pulling the meat into its maw. Maybe it would take a little more time for him to get used to Eldan’s new companion.
His motion attracted Eldan’s attention, and she looked back at him with a serious expression that made Pax tense. “Her name is Whisper, and I owe you for this, Pax Vipersworn. Know that you have a friend in me you can trust and call on at any time.”
Pax’s eyes widened, but before he could respond, she had turned back to her new companion, her hard edges all soft again.
“Wow.” Rin’s voice was soft.
When Pax turned to see her standing beside him, he lifted a brow in question.
“First, having someone like her owing you a favor is a good thing.” She gave him a shrug and shook her head. “And then, I was just imagining the rebel army with beasts like that, beside every mage and warrior.”
He nodded. The vision she described had already been growing in his mind. “We put in all the work Taming so many baby beasts in the capital. Now we’re finally here, able to give our people truly powerful companions.”
“You mean you are.” Rin snorted. “The rest of us still need more practice to get to that level.”
“Well, I think this will escalate pretty quickly once everyone sees the results, and we’ll find plenty of water beasts for you to work with.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” She poked his shoulder. “Especially since it’s Amil’s turn with the serpent now and then Dahni with the digger. At least Eris got to help with Whisper and gain a boost from that. Now go get busy. I want to get back and have some breakfast.”
Pax nodded and did exactly that.