– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 214, Season of the Setting Moon, Day 46 –
“Run or jog?” asked Miguel.
Terry looked to Siling.
“No need to worry about me. I got Furball.” Siling climbed on the back of the soul bear spirit. “I will keep an eye out for bandits entering our tunnel.”
“Then you and I should take point,” said Terry. “Keep our barrier items close and ready, just in case.”
The group ran through the tunnel to reach the area where it joined with the western tunnel. Siling and Terry indicated the remaining distance via hand signals at regular intervals.
When they could hear the sounds of fighting, they stopped and switched formation – Terry and Calam at the front, Furball in the middle, Siling and Miguel at the back. They readied themselves for battle. Everyone prepared their equipment and Siling cast one round of Banish Fatigue. Afterwards, they moved forward.
“Shit, there are more. New cockroaches! Send the BIG ONE!” The shout of a bandit echoed from the tunnel walls.
Calam cleared the path using a Kinetic Push. They hoped to advance far enough to get a clear view into the other tunnel.
“I don’t get it,” murmured Siling. “Is Elena now doing shadow-boxing?” With her life sense, Siling could perceive what she assumed to be Elena engaged in battle. However, Siling could not discover any other life signatures close to their blood-aspected ally.
Siling looked worriedly at Terry and Calam in the front. The two had stepped into the area where the tunnels had joined. Unfortunately, the tunnel leading towards the cavern was too wide to be blocked by one of Terry’s metal slabs.
Instead, Calam moved there with a primed Kinetic Push.
Something rushed at Calam from the shadowy tunnel. His spell was already primed and ready, but what he saw made his heart skip a beat. That thing rushing at him was clearly not normal folk – it had four legs, two arms, and four eyes. There were strange markings glowing everywhere on its body, and a haze was rising from its joints.
“CALAM!”
Calam had frozen up and his spell ended in spell failure.
“ROAR!” The soul bear spirit frenziedly charged into the assailant with all its might. It saved Calam, but was drawn into a fierce fight as a result.
“Wastes, a battle construct,” exclaimed Terry. He wanted to turn around and support Calam, but there was already something rushing at him from the western tunnel. He quickly set up the tertium slab in order to block it.
Miguel tried to take aim at the construct. Unfortunately, the battle with the soul bear was too chaotic. Taking the shot would risk hitting the soul bear.
“Calam!” Siling ran forward to pull the blonde elf back into the northern tunnel from which they had arrived. “AAAHHHHHHHHH.” An ear-piercing scream rang out suddenly.
To Terry’s horror, he recognized the voice as Siling’s. He turned around and saw her crouching in pain on the floor with blood flowing from her eyes. Furball laid motionless behind her and slowly turned into dust. The battle construct was still looming over the dead soul spirit and pounded the floor.
Another silhouette appeared from the shadows. Terry dashed towards Siling, but before he could reach her, a pair of hands had already grabbed her. One hand was pressing a knife to her throat. “Everyone, drop your weapons and stop your spells. If I catch so much as the hint of a spell structure, the elf will lose much more than a strange pet.”
Siling was still dazed from the shock and pain of losing a soul spirit. Instinctively, she grabbed the hand holding the knife.
“Let her go or you will eat the coldfire from my arrow!” Miguel glared at the bandit with his arrow nocked. “A painful death to die.”
“Heh, I’ll take my chances, boy. I wager you care more about your companion’s life than I care about life in prison or wherever you would bring me. Now drop the tough act and your weapons.”
“Take the other one as an example.” The bandit pointed to Calam, who still appeared paralyzed. “That is how I want you to act.”
“Oh, and if you could get that berserker woman to calm down, that would be swell. It was quite the pain to take control of these constructs, and the bitch has already damaged some of them.”
Terry was gripping his barrier spear tightly.
“Are you deaf? Or do you care less about your companion than I had thought?” The bandit grinned repulsively.
“T-Terry.” Siling’s pained voice made Terry’s stomach twist into a knot. Her bloody eyes were looking directly into his.
Miguel gritted his teeth. He reluctantly lowered his bow and arrow, but he continued to keep the arrow nocked.
The bandit emitted a wicked laugh and prodded his hostage. “Good, plead with your companions. We would not want them to be stubborn.”
“Terry, I’m sorry,” muttered Siling.
“It’s not your fault Sil—”
“No, I will make it up to you.” Siling stared at him intently. Her tone of voice was weird.
Terry was confused. He noticed Siling’s gaze move repeatedly between him and her hand that was placed at the bandit’s wrist – the wrist on the bandit’s knife hand.
“I’ll let you pet Sniffles later,” continued Siling while staring at him without a single blink.
Terry finally understood, or was at least reasonably sure that he did. He gave a slight nod and mentally prepared himself for a full mana burst.
“Now, I will count down from five and I sure hope for the elf that your weapons are on the floor when I am done. 5… 4… 3… 2…”
Siling released the strongest instant lightning charge that her cloud badger soul spirit allowed her to wield. The bandit’s hand and wrist went numb and lost all feeling. The knife fell to the floor.
Siling rapidly ducked and jumped low towards the area between Terry and Miguel. Simultaneously, she turned so that she could block potential attacks with her shield.
As soon as Terry saw the knife fall, he burst with as much mana as he could muster and leaped forward. He went above Siling, activated the spear’s barrier imprint and rammed the spear into the bandit.
“Y-you little.” The bandit spat blood and began bursting his own mana to support his recovery. The battle construct moved again, but the bandit had not given it a clear command yet.
Terry detected with his mana sense that Siling had taken cover behind Miguel. He pulled back his spear and retreated. While doing so, Terry dragged Calam along with him.
As soon as Terry had distanced himself, Miguel shot an aspected arrow, and the bandit let out a blood-curdling scream under the torture of coldfire. Without pause, the dwarven archer summoned another aspected arrow from his storage bracelet and hit the bandit again.
Afterwards, Miguel took aim at the construct’s leg joints and then its body. In a matter of seconds, he had loosened more than half a dozen aspected arrows into the tunnel leading to the cavern. “Terry, we could use a coldfire-proof shield in case that thing decides to attack us again.”
Terry was about to summon another tertium slab when his first one suddenly came flying at him from the other entrance. Apparently, his spell had worn off.
Terry dodged, and he saw a frenzied Elena charging after the tertium slab. She stopped for a moment when she reached the area where the two tunnels joined. Her knuckled gloves were very bloody. So was the dueling shield Elena was gripping with one hand.
For a moment, Terry thought Elena might attack them. She sure looked mad enough. The joints of the battle construct’s two left legs broke, and it keeled over with a loud crash. The noise made Elena look towards the cavern. When she saw the battle construct, she gave another battle cry and sprang forward.
“NO!” “Elena, WAIT!”
The coldfire was still burning on the construct. Terry went into full burst and grabbed Elena’s arm to hold her back. In response, Elena turned and swung at Terry with the dueling shield in her right hand. Terry had to duck, and this allowed Elena to rip free her left arm. She held the dueling shield’s grip with both her hands. It looked as if she was about to charge and ram her shield into Terry.
“Elena!” Lori and Jorg were running towards them. “That wasted lunatic!”
Elena turned when she heard Lori’s voice. “He…” She was panting. “He attacked me.”
“Like Wastes he did, you pus for brains,” shouted Miguel angrily. He addressed Jorg. “That mad woman was about to throw herself onto coldfire.”
Jorg gave a low growl. “Next time, let her.” He glowered at Elena. “It may serve as a good reminder to not turn berserk and pull too far ahead of formation.”
“Jorg!” gasped Lori and glared at her brother.
“What?!” barked Jorg. “If she is so intent on getting herself killed, then she can do it on her own.” He turned towards Elena. “Do you enjoy getting surrounded? Do you get a kick out of others having to run after you and break formation?”
“Jorg!” protested Lori.
“I don’t remember asking you to follow me,” retorted Elena coldly.
“Oh, trust me, if it was not for my sister, I might not have bothered,” hissed Jorg.
“Ooh, everyone’s already here, nice,” interjected Alrik with a satisfied voice and a grin. “We are ahead of schedule.” He beamed at his blood-aspected companion. “Do tell Elena, have you left a few bandits for the B-team or have you already mopped them all up?”
“Everyone alright?” asked Gellath nervously. As soon as he noticed Siling’s bloody face, he gasped with a horrified expression. “What happened?! I can cast Curing Waters!”
Siling was still half-lying on the floor. She weakly shook her head and answered with a shaky voice. “Thank you, but soul wounds cannot be mended using variants of the Cure Wounds spell. You can only support the healing process with Heal and its variants.”
“Soul wound?” Jorg and the others now noticed Siling’s state, too.
Terry hurried to Siling and held out his hand to help her up. “Nice idea. Glad it worked. That was risky.”
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Siling grabbed Terry’s hand and pulled herself up. “Glad you caught on.”
“For the record,” started Miguel, “I’m glad, too, but what exactly was that? I didn’t detect any spell structure.”
“There was none. My bad, but in my defense, you were so enamored with the bloody frogmouth.” Siling smiled with tired eyes. “That was a mana ability of my cloud badger soul.”
“Neat,” mumbled Miguel.
“What happened?” asked Jorg.
“We sensed that something was off in your tunnel,” explained Terry, and he glanced at Elena. “Two battle clusters. One more than there should be.”
“We quickened our pace in order to join the battle and when we arrived here, we got ambushed by that huge battle construct over there,” said Miguel. “It killed Siling’s soul bear spirit.”
“Wastes,” cursed Jorg and shot the berserker another glare, which was again greeted with Elena’s defiant unrepentant eyes, which only incensed him further. He had to take deep breaths to calm himself.
“Could have been worse,” said Siling wryly and sighed. “There are still some bandits hiding in the cavern. I would prefer to finish this sooner rather than later.”
“Most of the coldfire has burned out, but be careful to avoid the remaining embers,” warned Miguel.
“Yeah yeah.” Alrik strutted forward.
“Haah…” Jorg sighed and groaned impatiently. “Alrik, you’re a mage, remember? Versatile mage proper even?” He sounded tired. “One of our best healers? With long-range spells? Maybe the frontline isn’t the best position for you?” He could not help but let a patronizing tone enters his voice. “What do you think?”
Miguel snorted.
Alrik only rolled his eyes. “Elena, would you be so kind?”
Miguel’s amused expression was instantly replaced by a scowl. “So that she can run ahead again? How about no?”
Alrik gave another eye-roll and Elena uttered a low growl.
“Siling, does your life sense still work?” asked Terry.
“Uh-huh,” replied Siling. “I can hang back with Gellath and give you directions.” Gellath nodded and stepped next to Siling with his shield raised higher than normal to protect the taller elf. He checked his mace to be doubly sure that it was ready for battle.
“Lori, Jorg, how about we go first?” proposed Terry. “Barriers activated.”
“Once we have reached the cavern, I can provide covering fire from higher ground,” said Miguel.
“Finally some sense,” said Jorg.
“I-I don’t know.” Florine looked to Alrik.
“Unbelievable,” exclaimed Jorg in exasperation.
“Whatever gets this over with sooner,” said Alrik impatiently.
This time, it was Jorg that rolled his eyes. He silently stepped to the front, where he was joined by Terry and Lori. They pushed forward into the tunnel.
Fortunately, they did not meet any further resistance until they reached the cavern.
“Does not look as if there is much fight left in them,” remarked Miguel. “Do you figure that battle construct was their main fighting force?”
They reached the cavern at a high platform from which a passage led down.
“Alright, I have found my spot,” declared Miguel. “From here, the whole cavern is in my sight.”
“It seems they are trying to hide themselves,” said Siling. “One group is over there.”
“Y-you sure?” asked Calam. It was the first time that he had spoken in a while. “That looks like a wall to me.”
“I’m sure.” Siling did not look at Calam.
“There is a mana signature and a thin layer of mana in that place,” declared Terry.
“I don’t sense anything,” commented Alrik.
“Could be any number of camouflage or illusion spells,” continued Terry.
“Second group is over there.” Siling pointed to a different place.
“No active mana layer there. They could have used a spell like Raise Wall.”
“Illusion option sounds more problematic,” said Miguel. “For all we know, they are taking aim at us with long-range weapons. A wall is less trouble since it impairs them as much as us.”
“I think I’ll stay here,” muttered Siling.
“I assume I should stay, too. Long-range spells, barriers, and all,” snarked Alrik.
The others approached the first hidden group of bandits with activated barriers.
“Damn! They have a tracker! Fight!” a shout echoed through the cavern.
A projectile resembling a down-sized ballista bolt was propelled out of the illusionary wall. It crashed into Lori’s barrier. The barrier broke, but the angled impact deflected the projectile away from the group.
“Incoming!” warned Miguel. Terry and the others dispersed to the sides.
Miguel shot several aspected arrows into the illusionary wall. The following screams told him that some of them had found their mark.
“Five more in that place,” said Siling. “Movement at the second hiding spot.”
“I got it,” declared Alrik. A group of bandits broke through the flimsy earthen wall and was about to charge into the cavern. Unfortunately for them, they ran right into the center of Alrik’s Raise Icicles spell.
The illusionary wall at the first hiding spot had disappeared and the remaining bandits besieged by coldfire were revealed. They tried to dodge the coldfire and make their way into the cavern.
Calam had primed a Kinetic Push to throw them back into the coldfire.
“I yield! I surrender!” The bandit dropped his weapon and held his hands in front before moving them behind his head.
Calam stopped his spell. “Uhm, okay?”
The bandit walked closer. The corner of his mouth curled up. In the blink of an eye, the bandit had summoned a throwing knife from his storage bracelet and threw it at Calam.
Jorg jumped in from the side and deflected the knife with his spear. Since he did not have the time to activate the barrier imprint, his hand was grazed by the weapon and a thin, bloody line appeared.
Before the blood from Jorg’s wound could gather into a droplet, the offending bandit was already skewered by several spears.
***
“Well…” Mirabilia stepped out of the shadows. “That was…” She frowned while looking around. “…messy.”
Next to her, Isille also became visible. She clenched her teeth and wore a grave expression.
“How are you feeling, Siling?” asked Mirabilia.
“It’s alright,” assured Siling. “I can manage. I only require time to fully recuperate.”
“Good to hear. Hmm.” Mirabilia clicked her tongue a few times. “Anyway, first things first. Khaled?”
Khaled stepped out from the shadows and he was frowning just as much as Mirabilia.
“Please take charge of the targets,” asked Mirabilia. “The examination has ended.”
“Understood. I’ll pick up the live capture outside and then I’ll hand him and the bodies over to the city guard.” Khaled walked over to the bandit corpses and then they all vanished into the shadows.
“Thank you Khaled.” Mirabilia looked at her examinees. “Now, what to do with you?” She shook her head. “Given your mana levels, mission records, and theoretical exam results, this bandit group should have been a walk in the park for you, but that sure didn’t look like it.”
Mirabilia took a deep breath. “Leaving aside all the issues below moderate, there was at least one major incident with the risk of crossing into catastrophic territory.” She frowned. “To be frank, I already considered interfering right then and there.” She shook her head. “You were able to resolve the incident on your own, but it could have gone either way.”
Mirabilia took another deep breath. “Near the end, there was another incident that could have manifested in at least moderate consequences. At least moderate. You again resolved it on your own.”
Mirabilia’s head movement was fluctuating between nodding and shaking. Eventually, she turned to Isille. “I don’t know. It’s right on the edge. It could barely—”
“They failed,” judged Isille with a scowl to frighten a terror grizzly.
Mirabilia nodded with no objection. “They failed. Unanimous.”
“What?!” roared Alrik incredulously.
“What do you mean ‘failed’?” yelled a flabbergasted Florine.
Most of the group only added their sighs to the following silence.
“You have failed your bounty hunting examination,” repeated Mirabilia in a firm voice. “You may retake the examination at a later date.”
“Why in the Wastes would we fail?” demanded Alrik. “The mission was to hunt down the targets and we have done exactly that!”
“All targets are either dead or captured!” stressed Florine.
Mirabilia spoke with the practiced calm of an instructor and examiner used to rebellious students. “You have barely succeeded in this mission, but the exam is about more than this single mission.” She opened her eyes and slightly shook her head as if this should have been obvious. “The exam is an evaluation if you are prepared to take on such missions.” She shrugged. “You could not convince us that you are.”
“So let me get this straight.” Alrik stared at them with disbelief. “We were successful in the mission. However, despite that fact, you remain unconvinced that we can be successful in such missions?” He was gesturing wildly. “This is ridiculous! We were successful, so evidently we are ready for such missions!”
“If you successfully predict a coin toss, does it make you ‘ready’ to predict the next ten correctly?” Mirabilia’s voice developed a sharp tone. “You could barely make it through a single mission without casualties. We are supposed to evaluate if you are prepared to survive more than just a single mission.”
“Bah,” scoffed Alrik. “I was never in any real danger during this mission. Why do I have to fail just because that soul mage failed to protect herself?”
“Because you are a team!” interjected Isille with a bark.
“And you are judged as one,” added Mirabilia.
“You said it yourself. We resolved all incidents without interference,” retorted Elena.
“Right, and it was just a single incident,” added Florine. “That is not fair!”
“It was not just a single incident,” reminded Isille. “When you stopped and spared the bandits, the situation could have just as easily spiraled out of control again.”
“So what?” hissed Alrik with a sneer. “That force mage screwed up and everyone else gets punished for consequences that did not even happen?”
“You are a TEAM!” roared Isille. “All nine of you! If anyone among you has a lapse in judgement, then it is on everyone to catch the mistake before it becomes a problem. You are responsible for having each other’s backs. His mistake is yours as well. You could have objected, but you did not. You could have watched the bandits more closely, but you did not. You could have prepared a spell just in case, but you did not.”
“But Jorg did,” objected Florine. “Nothing happened!”
“Not nothing,” disagreed Mirabilia firmly. She pointed at Jorg. “He received a cut.”
“A cut?! That’s all?” Alrik could not believe his ears. “Absolutely ridiculous.”
“Yes, a cut,” repeated Isille sternly. “A cut from a hidden weapon. A cut that was completely avoidable if you had not shown misguided mercy.”
“Misguided mercy? What the…” Florine was at a loss for words. She could only shake her head. “So what? We are not allowed to be merciful during bounty hunts? Is that it?”
“Why do you think they go through the trouble to classify the bounties? Dead or alive,” retorted Isille. “There is a time and place for everything. The time for hesitation is before you enter the battle. The time for sentiment is before weapons are drawn. The time for mercy is when you have the overwhelming advantage and are in complete control of the situation.”
“Do you believe you had the overwhelming advantage? That you were in complete control of the situation?” questioned Mirabilia. “Because it sure did not look like it.”
“Isn’t that up to us?” demanded Florine. “Us showing mercy has nothing to do with our ability! Just because we choose not to kill the targets does not mean that we cannot!”
“You still don’t get it,” said Isille and took a deep breath. “If you value your own life that cheaply, then you can risk it on your own. Then you don’t belong on a team. Once you are on a team mission, you are risking more lives than yours alone.” She seemed desperate for them to understand. “If you fall, then the others in your team will have to face even more danger. You won’t be able to cover the back of your whaka when you are dead.”
“And if your team fails the hunt, then the targets will continue to inflict harm on others,” added Mirabilia. “Your judgement is part of your ability as well. Your judgement and coordination appeared lacking. Pure mana-wise, you should have done a lot better.”
Florine shook her head angrily. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Terry. “Terry, why aren’t you saying anything?! The Veilbinder believed in second chances as well!”
“In contrast to you, the Veilbinder could afford it,” rebuked Isille sharply. “If the blade that made the cut was coated in spirit poison, then the Veilbinder would have been able to heal the wound. Would you? Would any of you?!” Isille challenged them. “No. If the blade had been coated in spirit poison, then your companion would be dead.”
Isille returned her gaze to her daughter. “And that aside, I happen to have read that book of yours as well. There is no way the Veilbinder would have made the same mistake in your position. There is a clear line that the Veilbinder followed. If you failed to notice that line, lass, then you ought to go back and read it again.”
“We will not reconsider the verdict,” declared Mirabilia firmly. “The verdict was unanimous and final.”
“Hmph.” Elena turned to leave and violently bumped into Terry and Calam on her way out.
***