We talked at first of lighting torches. Cadoc could make sticks, and I could light them - but we decided against it. First of all because although we had a near infinite supply of wood and fire, we had no way to keep the torches lit for long, and we would end up spending a lot of time swapping out new sticks. Besides that, the night was bright enough to walk by, as the moon shone full overhead, and holding torches would likely only adjust our vision such that we would see our surroundings worse, not better. Best to rely on our dark vision.
We kept close to the river, walking on the very edge of the forest, the interior of which now lay in darkness beneath the treetops as if they were stone and the forest a cavern. Perhaps before we had been worried about being spotted by monsters up or down river, but at night this concern was considerably lessened, as even in the moonlight we could not see any great distance, and we imagined monsters would be no more capable - not to mention that we now believed the threat of monsters to be vastly overstated. We passed along atop the hard clay bank, thereby avoiding both the risk of running ourselves into trees, and also staying in what was the most illuminated area, the river reflecting the rays of the moon like the moon reflected the sun.
Zinthur’s Blood looked a deeper red at night. Despite being so close to the river, we could still hear each other fine - the Blood did not pump quickly as if inside veins, but poured out slowly like the spilled blood of a giant. That thought made me pause for a moment. There probably are giants out there, somewhere.
My anger had cooled - had begun to cool even during our conversation, in fact - but it was by no means gone. Only mixed, now, with sadness, and also the underlying current of drive, coming from having a clear and definite goal. Our surroundings, in many ways so serene, helped to also add in bits of calm, and one single drop of contentedness, like the yin-yang symbol, with its drop of black inside the white, and drop of white inside the black. I knew nothing about what that symbol actually implied, not really, but it seemed a good analogy.
“Before our coward fled,” Cadoc said, his voice coming from behind my shoulder, “I had been about to announce some good news.”
“Really?” I asked. “Well, lay it on us. We could use some good news.”
“Then hear me, friends, and rejoice.” His voice was loud enough to make obvious to all that he didn’t fear the night. “I have reached the precipice of greater power. I can feel the mana tingling beneath my skin, and I know as if by instinct that the next monster I slay will propel me into greater glory!”
“You’re about to get into the Second Ring?” I asked. “How did you get enough mana?”
“You underestimate, perhaps, my friend, how many dragons I slew while we were all separated.”
“Worms, you mean,” Amaia said. She was up ahead - for whatever reason, she had insisted on taking point.
“I thought we had decided on worm-drakes,” I said.
“Details!” Cadoc yelled. “They were monsters, and I slew many of them in my quest to ride atop one’s back. The battle earlier was all I needed to reach the edge.”
I imagined Cadoc killing dozens of worm-drakes, jumping onto the backs of them, driving his sword into the pinkish flesh of their backs, trying to steer them with his wooden boards but accidentally killing them before he got far.
“That’s honestly pretty impressive,” I said. “We almost died fighting them, before.”
“Once I knew the secret of steering them,” Cadoc said. “It was not nearly so difficult.”
I chuckled. “Well, congratulations, Cadoc. Well done. Any idea what you’re going for?Are you going to wait for a certain monster, try and get a certain power? I tried to get shooting from Olsgolon, but it didn’t seem to work.”
“How could I delay the onset of my greater powers?” Cadoc answered. “I will take whatever life next comes my way. I only hope I improve my abilities as much as you have seemed to improve yours, friend.”
I laughed. “It is pretty nice, but it’s still a lot worse than I had hoped. Knowing my luck, I’m sure yours will be much better.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Better be careful,” Amaia said. “At least focus on something useful from what you kill. The wrong choice can ruin a mage.”
“It has to be better than staying in the First Ring, though, right?” I asked. Then I shook my head in disbelief. “I can’t imagine how Naomi is still there. It took me all of a couple months to get to the Second Ring. She must really run away from every single battle she can.”
Cadoc laughed. “Not everyone adventures as seriously as we do, friend.”
I joined in his laughter. Amaia, however, didn’t laugh.
“She could enter the Second Ring at any time,” she said. “She is waiting for the right monster. Been waiting for years.”
“Really?” I asked. “How do you know that?”
“She told me.”
I thought about this for awhile. I had waited before getting into the Second Ring, so it wasn’t particularly surprising in that way. What was surprising is that she had been waiting for years.
“If it really that important?” I asked, half-afraid I had made a mistake.
“Some believe so,” Amaia said.
“Ah,” I said. “There’s the Amaia I remember - giving short, useless, and infuriating answers. I was afraid for a little bit there you had been swapped with someone who knew how to keep a conversation going.”
Amaia stopped suddenly at this, and I nearly ran into her before skidding to a stop myself. I thought she was going to turn and yell at me, or make some snide remark, or maybe just laugh - but she didn’t. She didn’t do anything. A moment later, she was walking again. After a second or two, I hurried to catch back up. Cadoc was just behind me.
“I didn’t mean anything by it,” I said apologetically. “It’s fine, really. I mean, it is infuriating sometimes. But I didn’t mean it like- I’m sorry, alright?”
“It’s fine,” Amaia said. “I am not offended.”
“Good,” I said. “Good.”
“Women,” Cadoc whispered at my side. “The greatest of all dangers, the most difficult of all opponents. And yet, what monster’s horde compares to a woman’s treasures?” I elbowed him away, and he laughed. I couldn’t tell how serious or not he was being, whether he was only teasing me or not, but certainly he was in a great mood.
“Well then,” I said, loudly, pretending I hadn’t heard Cadoc. “Maybe you should consider it more, Cadoc. Your magic is already less than spectacular. Wouldn’t want to mess up your second chance.”
“Perhaps,” he said. There was silence for a minute while he thought it over. “Or perhaps not. If some believe that it is so important, that implies that some do not believe it, yes?”
“True,” said Amaia.
“Do some think it is completely unimportant?”
“Some,” said Amaia. “They think it does not matter at all - that whatever you are meant to get, you will get.”
“Then I will be one of those!” Cadoc shouted. “One of those who believes it does not matter at all, that whatever I ought to get, I shall.”
“That’s one way to answer that question, I guess,” I said.
“Besides,” Cadoc said in a lower voice. “If the coward has waited all that time, that is all the more reason to act in the opposite fashion. She fears her future - I will charge valiantly towards mine.”
The thought of Naomi - the rich girl - turning her nose up at every potential power that came her way stoked my fire a bit, but I kept myself under control, this time. I didn’t want to dampen Cadoc’s spirits. I really did feel happy for him.
And, selfishly, I needed him to continue believing that sticking around with me was the best way for him to grow more powerful, if I wanted him to stick around. And he had saved us all, just recently, more than proving his worth.
“How does it feel, Amaia?” I asked. “No longer being the strongest one in the team? And having another Second Ring-er snapping at your heels?”
“I am still the strongest,” she said flatly.
“Oh yeah?” I said.
“Yes.”
She clearly meant to leave the topic there. Considering the jovial mood - one that felt bipolar, considering what had just preceded - I would have challenged her to a friendly sparring session, if it had been daylight, and if we hadn’t been hunting down our one-time ally.
That thought brought another to mind, and then another. While I regretted to ask something so serious and bring the mood down again, the question I came to wouldn’t leave me alone, otherwise.
“How long are you going to stay with us, Amaia?”
“Until I feel like leaving,” she said dismissively. Then her voice grew more heavy and serious, almost accusatory. “Why? Do you have a problem with that? Are you going to chase after me when I leave?”
“What?” I said, taken back. “No. Of course not. You don’t owe us anything. We’re just happy to have you. I am, at least. Most of the time.”
“I am as well,” Cadoc said. “You are a boon companion, as I’ve said before.”
“Do you feel like leaving now?” I asked. “Or, soon?”
Amaia stopped again. I stopped in turn, and so did Cadoc. She turned back to look at us.
She smiled, and opened her mouth to say something.
But the words were swallowed up by noise, and though her lips mouthed some answer, I didn’t hear it.
Actually, that is inaccurate. I realized quickly that it wasn’t that the noise I heard was too loud, drowning out Amaia’s words, but that it rather swallowed up my attention, and that my brain, in an act of survival, filtered out all sounds except that short piercing sound.
It sounded somewhere between the crashing of a cymbal and a banshee’s scream, but it was short, not wailing, a sudden break in the natural order of the night.
Some primordial part of my brain reacted without my conscious decision. Every inch of me froze, and waited, listening. Where did that come from? What the hell was it?
No one else moved, either. We had all heard it.
I don’t know which would have been worse: if the sound hadn’t repeated itself, an unexplained blast of terror, or if it did repeat, confirming the sounds existence, and the existence of whatever had made it. Whatever the case, it did repeat. Another short yell, or crash, or call. I shuddered. It came from the direction of the forest.
“What the hell is that?” I whispered, though I regretted the sound immediately, should have stayed quiet, should have stayed frozen.
“Monster,” Amaia whispered, drawing her sword slowly, quietly, and turning her back towards the water to face the direction of the noise.
“I thought there weren’t supposed to be any monsters out here,” I said.
“I never said that,” Amaia answered. “That was your guess, not mine.”
“It’s perfect,” Cadoc said. His sword was somehow already in his hand - I hadn’t noticed him draw it. “I shall not even need to wait an hour to enter the Second Ring.”
“Are you crazy?” I asked. “Did you hear that noise? I don’t want any part of whatever the hell that thing is.”
“No choice,” Amaia said. “The second sound was closer than the first. It’s coming this way.”
I could see that Amaia was uneasy - the sound had effected her as well. Cadoc was harder to read, but he wasn’t shouting, and maybe that told me something, too.
I wished I could have disagreed with what Amaia said, but she was right. And when the noise rang out the third time, it sounded like it was just in front of us.