Chapter 15 - Ice Blue
North of Penrith, Vanstead Dukedom of Augustein Year 995
Amara cursed and barely managed to roll out of the way as a sharp something stabbed into the spot she’d just been standing. The earth cracked, and the object drew back with the same speed. Amara felt her bag dig into her shoulders and threw it aside without a second thought. She pulled her legs into a crouch, knife raised in front of her, and immediately looked up.
There, just below the canopy, was an Aberration. It was about the size of a bear, and it had a spider-like body with sharp, jerking legs that stretched and retracted in mechanical motions. Two appendages sprouted from the top of the creature’s head, stabbing into the surrounding trees and keeping it suspended in the air. Visible rib bones wrapped around its body and head like a cage, and its face was perfectly smooth save for a single red slitted eyeball that roved down at them.
The sound of cracking bark resounded around them as, from the back of the creature, a ninth limb sprouted outwards and stabbed into another tree. Amara braced herself, readying to move, as those ribs peeled apart and another limb grew from the Aberrations stomach.
Amara dove to the side as the blade-like leg shot towards her, sinking deep into the ground. Her eyes widened as a second limb grew from the current one, and she barely had time to raise her knife to deflect that blow as a thinner, but no less fast appendage zipped past her head. She stumbled from the force of the blow, nearly losing her grip on the knife, but she didn’t feel any of her magic draining, which meant the Aberration hadn’t managed to touch her.
Dirt sprayed as the creature yanked its leg out from the earth. Amara’s eyes scanned its body rapidly. From the external rib cage and the way it remained suspended far away, using its hard limbs exclusively to attack, she guessed the main body and head were much more vulnerable than the legs. She wouldn’t even need magic to pierce through it.
Her gaze darted over to the neighboring trees, then back at the Aberration, which had gone still after the attack. Its body undulated, as though waves were pulsing beneath its skin, but no new limbs had appeared yet. Amara’s eyes narrowed. It seemed like there was a gap in time before the creature could shoot out another one of its limbs. If she dodged a few more attacks, she could count how much time she had. Then—
A hand shot out from behind the tree beside her, and before Amara had a chance to react, she was yanked backwards.
Amara landed on her side, and she shoved herself back up and brought her blade up, ready to swing the knife down. She paused, just barely managing to stop herself at the sight of familiar dark hair.
Isolde was crouched behind the thick tree trunk, and she was watching Amara—or more specifically, her weapon—closely. Her own bag had been discarded a few feet away and rested behind a small shrub. The woman looked unscathed.
Slowly, Amara lowered her hand again, and Isolde released her grip on her arm.
“You could give me a warning next time,” she said.
“Forgive me, but the circumstances were rather urgent.”
As if to prove her point, the sound of cracking bark and snapping branches made Amara spin around again. She narrowed her eyes. “That thing’s probably moving,” she muttered. Its ability to adjust its position while staying in the air was going to be annoying to deal with.
Isolde nodded, her own shoulders tense. “I believe it has poor perception, so if we stay hidden, it shouldn’t notice us.”
“Until it gets closer.”
Isolde smiled thinly. “Indeed.” She turned to Amara, eyes sharp. “Did you see it use any magic?”
Amara shook her head. “No.” The legs had been fast, but they lacked the distinct glow that magic had.
Isolde hummed thoughtfully. “Rank E, then.”
Amara nodded in agreement. She adjusted her grip on her knife, keeping her ears peeled to listen for the creature. Aberration ranks covered a fairly wide spectrum, and the one mere feet away was undoubtedly much more dangerous than the one she’d fought in Winrow despite neither having the ability to use magic.
“There’s some kind of cooldown before it can grow another limb,” Amara said. She spoke quickly, but her words remained clear. “Its legs move fast, but I don’t think they can change direction after they’ve been shot out.” She paused, racking her brain. “It can grow limbs from other ones too,” she added. “They don’t have to come from the main body.”
“I see.” Isolde turned to Amara, an eyebrow raised. “That’s an impressive amount of information you’ve managed to glean.”
Amara met her gaze, noting how unfazed the other looked. There was still some tension in her shoulders, caution undoubtedly, but the way her eye scanned the surroundings wasn’t with fear, but with experience. Her eyes darted over to the woman’s black gloves, then back.
“Sounds like you figured out the same stuff.”
“Only some of it. I wasn’t aware that the limbs couldn’t change directions, that’s certainly useful to know.”
Before Amara could respond, the sound of cracking wood, loud and sharp, barely alerted her in time. She jumped away as the tree they were hiding behind was split open. The limb, sharp and solid, gleamed in the light like black metal.
Amara and Isolde exchanged a look, and without a word, the two of them ran, weaving around the trees and circling the suspended creature.
Amara glanced back, barely able to make out the Aberration’s form between the trees. As she’d thought, it was motionless for a moment, ramping up for its next attack. She counted under her breath, the steady rhythm of her voice a sharp contrast to her rapid heartbeat. Still counting, Amara turned back to Isolde, who was deceptively fast. She didn’t look remotely out of breath, and Amara got the impression that the woman was purposely running a little slower so that she’d be able to keep up.
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…8…9…10
A second flash of black whizzed past, but thankfully it was a fair foot away from hitting either of them. Amara smiled to herself as her heart continued to race and adrenaline pumped through her veins.
“Ten seconds!” Amara called over to Isolde. The other woman nodded. Knowing the Aberration wouldn’t be attacking for a while, Amara slowed her pace slightly, giving herself a chance to breathe and to look back at the creature.
The Aberration had moved slightly, and it was currently holding itself with three different limbs. It was even higher up than before, and there was a fairly large gap between the creature and the nearest tree. Amara squinted, eyeballing the distance, then her knife.
“You got good aim?” she called over at Isolde. A branch grazed her arm, and she was vaguely aware of a faint stinging sensation, but she ignored it.
“Fairly good, yes,” Isolde said.
Amara grinned. “Then this shouldn’t be too hard.”
As a second appendage pierced the spot behind her, Amara ducked behind one of the bushes. Isolde followed suit. A large tree provided some cover, though considering what had happened last time, Amara knew better than to think it would last long.
“Here.” Amara held the knife over to Isolde, who stared at it with faint amusement. She shook her head.
“I have my own weapon,” she said. Amara stared pointedly at her empty hands, but the woman just smiled. Amara shrugged and drew her arm back. The sound of wood snapping alerted her to another attack, but their current spot still seemed safe for now.
“You think you can make the shot?”
“I know I’ll be able to,” Isolde said simply. She frowned, glancing behind them briefly. “Those strange ribs may prove a problem, though.”
“They open when it shoots out another limb,” Amara said. She held her knife up again, readying to leap out at a moment’s notice. “I’ll distract it, and then you hit it when it attacks.”
“Seems simple enough.”
The tree in front of them exploded in a spray of splinters that the two leapt away from. Across the gleaming limb stabbed into the spot where they’d just been sitting, the two exchanged a nod. As the leg retracted, Amara jumped out into the clearing without looking back.
Slowly, she circled the trees, noting the single eye following her movements with uncanny precision. From what she’d seen, the ribs only opened at the exact spot the limb grew from. She came to a stop a little ways away from where she assumed Isolde was hidden, far away enough to not endanger the other woman and at what she estimated was the right angle for the Aberration to be hit.
Inhaling, Amara got in a ready stance. She hadn’t realized how heavy her breaths had gotten. All she needed to do now was wait and dodge. She held the knife up in case it created one of those branching limbs like earlier.
Amara narrowed her eyes, eyeing the creature. Any second now.
A flash of movement was the only signal she needed.
Amara jumped to the side, feeling the ground shake beneath her as the blade-like appendage carved into the earth. She kept herself facing it, and she was glad she did when, as predicted, a second, smaller limb sprouted out from the first one. This time, however, she was prepared for it.
Amara dove, rolling back onto her feet and coughing up some dirt. Her eyes jumped back to the limbs, but they were still. Two was the maximum number of branches, then.
In the corner of her eye, she caught a hint of movement. Stepping out from one of the trees, Isolde appeared. Her arm was reeled back, and in her hands she held a long spear that shone in the light. Amara barely had time to wonder how she’d managed to hide it when the woman lunged, heaving the weapon forward.
The spear flew at the Aberration, aimed directly at the small opening in its defense. It was going to hit.
Amara’s eyes widened.
When the spear was mere feet away, the Aberration slid down one of its supporting limbs, shifting its body to the side as easily as a ring sliding down a piece of string. Amara cursed under her breath and readied herself to dodge again.
A flash of light stopped her in her tracks.
An icy, pale blue light wrapped around the spear, and in the next instance the weapon turned around in mid air, sharply changing its trajectory and barrelling straight into the creature. Motion magic, Amara thought.
The spear pierced the Aberration’s body with a squelch, and a shrill whistling sound made Amara wince. She kept her eyes open, not looking away until, after shaking and jerking around, body thrashing in a motion that was uncomfortably familiar, the Aberration finally fell still.
Amara released a long breath and looked back over at Isolde. One of the woman’s gloved hands was wrapped around one of her earrings. When she dropped her hand again, she just managed to catch a fading glow around the stone, which shone that same icy color before fading. Magic ore, Amara noted to herself. She walked closer, and Isolde nodded at her.
“That went well,” she said.
Amara raised an eyebrow. “You gonna explain where that spear came from?”
Isolde smiled. Before she could respond, however, Amara’s eyes widened. She hadn’t felt any dust falling from the dead Aberration. Her head snapped up. Isolde seemed to come to the same realization a second too late.
Hanging above them, the pierced body of the Aberration twitched, and a thick, sharp leg shot downwards—straight at Isolde.
Amara didn’t think. She felt her body move forward on instinct and a familiar burning sensation as she drew from her magic reserves. Planting herself in front of the other woman, red-orange markings climbed down her arms as she raised a hand. Just before the attack could reach them, a blast of energy exploded outwards, flinging it back.
ENERGY | MAJOR
Magic Reserves: 62,644 → 62,623 / 110,876
Maximum Output: 21
Variability: 1
Amara grit her teeth as a wave of heat hit her face. Her arm burned, and she nearly fell backwards, but two gloved hands caught her and held her in place. The glowing light faded and the markings began to fade from her arms. Amara exhaled.
The grass in front of where she’d stood had been scorched black, dust raining down. When she looked up, the Aberration was disintegrating, a hole blasted through its body. She could see the forest trees straight through it.
Isolde’s spear fell down and landed on the ground, but the woman in question didn’t seem particularly concerned with her weapon. Instead, Isolde’s eyes hadn’t left the back of Amara’s hands.
Amara felt a slight tingling sensation on her skin and looked down. For a brief second, the vanishing markings flashed again.
Magic Reserves: 62,623 / 110,876
Maximum Output: 21 → 22
Variability: 1
Amara couldn’t help but smile to herself as the markings finally faded and the numbers disappeared as well. It had been a while since her output had last increased.
She straightened and wiped some of the fallen dust away from her clothes. Her arm was still sore from the recoil of the blast, but she could still move her fingers, albeit clumsily. She bent down and picked up her fallen knife, which was thankfully unscathed, and placed it back in its sheath.
She turned to face Isolde, whose gaze had sharpened, a wry smile on her face.
“That went well.”