Arik took his hand, and Dreiki gave a whistle. It was cramped on top of Ezo’s back, but the bat drake was strong enough to run at full speed with things far heavier weighing him down.
“So what’s the plan? We can’t exactly carry everyone on your drake’s back,” Arik asked.
“Work on actually seeing the Oskuutor first. If you have to rely on thermal vision, just remember the Malaki are extremely cold so they will appear to be black splotches. We need to find ways to hide and evade until we have a large enough group to start fighting back.”
“Got it.”
Dreiki spotted a blast of fire from the corner of his eye, steering Ezo towards it, “You know about the Oskuutor, so what do you know of how to kill them?”
Arik shook her head, “Nothing. I know that they absorb magic from their victims and utlize it, though. The fact that they’ve been using wind magic tells me they must have gotten it from one of the adults.”
“Then let’s try the conventional methods first.” As they got closer, Dreiki noticed there was a ring of fire around a group of children, each clutching their spears. Standing protectively over them was Tadios, his eyes scanning his surroundings.
“Tadios!” Dreiki called out as he used his magic to make an opening for Ezo to run through.
“Stand down! Stand down!” Tadios called out to the others “ Argo! Glad to see you. Arik too. We’ve got injured, but no healers.”
“I can go and bring one back. Arik, you stay here and help protect them,” Dreiki said.
“On it.”
“Tadios, you remember how to change your vision, right?”
“I do, it’s saved more than my own skin a couple times now.”
Dreiki nodded, “What’s this ring of fire for?”
“It’s to help the others see when the Oskuutors are approaching. When the flames break, they start stabbin’. Send up a flare next time you approach and we’ll let you in.”
Dreiki looked around the area. If they were defending themselves, then where were the Malaki?
“It seems you’ve driven them off, at least for now.”
“Yeah, I haven’t seen one either.”
“Have you managed to kill any?”
Tadios shook his head, “We’ve stabbed them a couple times, I even tried to incinerate one of ‘em, but they just regenerate and keep going. I think they got scared, though, and ended up running away.”
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“I see. I’m off then, be safe.”
“You too!”
Dreiki steered Ezo away. Even though he promised to bring back a healer, he did not have the slightest idea of how to do that. Everyone was scattered, and even though he could see in the dark, that vision only went so far. It was as if he was surrounded by black fog. An idea hit him, “Ezo, can you sniff out Luna?”
Ezo stopped in his tracks, sniffing the air. Once he caught her scent, he charged off in the other direction. This was perfect. With Ezo’s help, he could find the rest of his friends and regroup them with Tadios. If they could establish some sort of fortification, they could defend themselves until the sun rose.
No, something like that was not feasible. All they would do by gathering people together would be luring more Malaki to them. Even if they had earth magic users to erect stone walls, there was a high likelihood these monsters could use those walls against them. Dreiki was not certain if they could even kill the Oskuutor in the first place.
If the Osazi was anything to go off of, the Oskuutor also required some sort of condition to be met for them to be killed. Arik had not known it, which likely meant no other Tibur child knew how to kill them either. If what Tadios had said was true, then even burning them to ashes was not enough. Dreiki looked to the sky. Tonight was the longest night of the year. Staying in one place and defending their position for the next seven hours was out of the question.
He remembered what Savekio had said. “I will be located in the southwestern section of the Ingen forest near this cave. During the night of the Siren Ceremony, I want you all to lead the Malaki in that direction and bring them out as far as you can manage. Once you’ve hit your limit, send up a flare and I’ll come running.”
Had Savekio known this would happen? If so, then what was he planning to do? And how was Dreiki expected to lure the Malaki? If anything, the Malaki had been avoiding him. Dreiki recalled what he saw before the ceremony started. There had to have been hundreds of them, and yet he had only seen a few scattered about picking people off.
Malaki were intelligent, so they should have recognized they could not be killed by children like them. If that was the case, why separate them? With numbers like theirs, If they had simply surrounded their group they would have been able to slaughter them down to the last third of their numbers within less than an hour. Tadios said he had scared the Oskuutors off, but how? Was there a limit to how much they could regenerate? That was a possibility, but it did not fit. Was he supposed to believe these monsters had a sense of fear and self preservation? Not only did the Malaki outnumber them, they also had more survivability. The Oskuutors were faster, and far more lethal than they were. They could easily wipe them out if they wanted to. Were the Malaki playing with their food? If that was the case, then why run from Tadios and a group of injured xiozians?
Separating them made sense if they wanted to reduce casualties or spend time torturing their victims, but Tadios had managed to drive away whatever Oskuutor had attacked them.
Dreiki looked around. There was not a single Malaki in sight. They knew he could see them somehow, but would that not make him a target? Why wouldn’t they try to kill him first? Why would they not corner him and attack him?
Even the Malaki he and Arik had escaped did not bother to pursue them. With how fast the Oskuutor could move, it could have easily caught up to them. A revelation washed over Dreiki. It was not just that they were being avoided. No, the Oskuutor looked like they were searching for something. They were after something else.
Dreiki’s heart leaped into his throat, “They’re all after Kaara.” Ezo slowed to a stop, sniffing the snow and digging. He had found Luna.
Dreiki dismounted and helped him dig, “Luna, we’ve got to go. Once we’ve found the others, we’ll get Kaara and-”
His hand brushed the fur of Luna’s cloak, “Luna?”
She wasn’t moving. In a panic, Dreiki pulled her from the snow, “Luna!” He said, tugging her cloak away. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Lying motionless beneath Luna’s cloak was not Luna herself, but Sancta Xirxus.