Chapter 67 Spider Crisis.

I wrote the future.

I will come from the past.

And the present exists within me.

Will I ever be free of time?

Tiyadi, the Silver Lord of Time.

{28} Koshavi (February) the 22nd

I wake up to the sound of bird song outside. The sunlight comes from a pair of very small windows near the room’s ceiling. My head is on Kolag’s metallic chest. Everyone else is still asleep, we had a long and tough day yesterday. In daylight, the dusty room looks different, less intimidating and way smaller than what I thought it is.

I get up and stretch, wondering where exactly should I take care of my needs in this crowded room, but I am not stupid enough to risk it by going outside.

“He’ll kill you or you’ll kill him at the end.” Jerro’s voice makes me jump in alarm, I was just about to lift my skirts.

“Kill who? Who will kill me?”

The gray robed man gestures at Kolag with his unshaven chin.

“Thanks for that unwanted information Jerro,” I say sarcastically. I turn to face him. “Have you ever been wrong before?”

He still sits in the same spot, with Sharla trembling in his arms. “Yes, I’m a chosen of a god, but I’m not omniscient. My predictions can… change sometimes. But I tend to be right.”

“Then I’ll prove you wrong. Now…”

“She’ll die if you won’t heal her in the nearest hour. She can’t die…” Sharla’s skin lost its color. I don’t need his predictions to tell me she’s going to die if I won’t do something.

“I’ll do my best!” I open the thick grimoire and give the spell I’ve practiced yesterday one last look. I form the patterns in my head and repeat the chant a few times before proceeding.

I cut my wrist using my bronze dagger. My blood drips down my hand while I dip my ring finger in it. I gesture around moving my fingers, palms, and arms in the correct gestures. I focus and weave the eleven mana patterns, keeping them all in my head. I force the two types of mana to move and entwine at my will with the odd patterns that somehow bridge between two types that can't weave together.

Then chant.

“Sefius, rod’e. Mo’ento sho rod’eshil xsi si to sha sus mo’ento xsias! Sals si to xalias!”

Other than a drain to my mana, nothing happens. The blood keeps dripping down my arm silently. Oh come on! Again!

“Sefius, rod’e, mo’ento sho rod’eshil xsi si to sha sus mo’ento xsias! Sals si to xalias!”

I just drained most of the mana from my necklace, I can convert some from my other pools... but this is my last try… I have to save her! Please! Again!!!

“Sefius, rod’e, mo’ento sho rod’eshil xsi si to sha sus mo’ento xsias! Sals si to xalias!”

A small fairy-like creature made out of dark red liquid flies out from the red cloud. Yes! She flies directly to the cut on my wrist. Her white fangs enter the thin blood rivulet on my arm, drinking the blood.

Another elemental appears out of a smaller green fog, he flaps his dragonfly wing circling me slowly. His scorpion tail waves around in the air along with a long brown braid. “Xanati! Xa si to xanati!” he calls out.

He probably wants flowers, or some other magic materials… the book doesn’t say anything about extra materials so it’s not obligatory, just a way to bind him… I don’t understand a word in Rod’e anyway. I’m not giving him anything, not that I know what I should give to begin with...

I ignore his demands, hoping it won’t ruin my spell. I press my ring fingers on Sharla’s chest, channeling the complex mana patterns into her heart. I breathe a sigh of relief when the pair of elementals turn into specks of red and green lights, circling my wrists at a fast pace.

I can feel my mana moving into Sharla’s body, I can feel it infusing with her heart and her bloodstream. I can even feel how the complex mana patterns search for any poison or venom and burn it out of her sprawling veins and organs.

The pair of elementals disappears in clouds of green and red mist leaving me drained of my mana. “It’s done,” Jerro says in a lighter tone. “She’ll live. Thank you!”

“She’s my friend too, or I thought she was… I heard you talking to Berthold earlier. What’s your connection to her exactly?”

“She is my soul mate,” he replies with a voice full of care.

“Your soul mate? How does that work? You said you’ve never met her before?”

He shakes his head. “Not until yesterday, no. But we’re destined…”

Venom… He’s crazy… “I see… I’d advise you to take a step back. She’s a very complicated person, and might not appreciate your care at the moment. I’m not even sure I know her as well as I think I do…” I say and approach Loyal’s saddlebags. I find a waterskin and drain its content. It feels as if I just did the mental equivalent of a ten kilometer sprint. And I really need to take care of my needs.

“Ok people! Wake up!” I called out. I’m not going to hold it for the sake of their beauty sleep! Nor am I going to shit myself! “We need to get out of here! And we need to take care of those spiders somehow!”

The drowsy group stumbles to their feet. Whether it’s Lezere who jumps to her feet drawing her axe, or Salik covering his eyes with his shirt saying something about sleep.

Why did I wake them up? I need to regain my mana anyway, and now I lost all of my privacy...

“Salik, you called them vampire spiders. Have you encountered these creatures before? What do you know about them?” I ask, shaking my thoughts away.

The tall mercenary sits up and puts his shirt back on. “I’ve only heard about them from a friend. They should be intelligent as men. They go out of their nest to hunt. They drain their prey of blood and bring it back to their queen for her to make a puppet of… I don’t know much else, and we’ve already learned that much.”

I nod my head in thanks. “Ideas?”

“They fear da’ fire,” Ryon says. “We make a big fire!”

“That’s actually not a bad idea…”

“We don’t have enough oil for that, Chief.” Lezere reminds me that we lack the materials for that kind of thing.

I go to my grimoire again. “Wait a minute, I might find a spell for that in here…” maybe there is a spell that lets me summon oil? Earth-based spell?

I put my hand on the next page. I need a spell to summon oil! I channel my mana.

This time it only draws about ten gems of mana from me.

Alice’s oil summoning

Names: Alice’s oil summoning, oil summoning, black slime.

Element: Earth

Sub element: mineral

Level: 0

Words: Kushjak

Translation: Oil. (Earth’s feces)

Quicken: X

Patterns: 4

Gestures: aimed hand

Offering: X

Requirement: X

Range: 1m*

Target: aimed spray

Duration: instant/channeled.

Effect: The spell will conjure black oil from the caster’s hand. The oil will spray from the open hand to a distance of 1 meter should the hand be held parallel to the ground. Aiming the hand higher or spraying a low target may increase the range. The oil is highly flammable and toxic to consume. The oil is black and sticky, but will not hinder movement much. The oil is conjured at the rate of 1 liter per second.

Cost: 7 earth gems for initial cast, 1 earth gem per second to maintain.

Bound cost: X

Altered cost: 2 gem per second for each pattern.

Oh wow! This grimoire is so damn useful!!! It’s a cantrip... 4 patterns 7 gems… nothing special except it’s earth mana… and these squarish three dimensional patterns give me a rotten headache…

“I can get enough oil…”

“We send him, alone,” Jerro says, pointing at Kolag. I frown at them. “You go out and take off your helmet… the spiders are dead after that.” Jerro continues.

“We’re not doing that!” I call out in a panic. Don’t give him any suicidal ideas, you fool!

“That’s the best way. If we try the fire: The brute, the old man, and the hunter dies.” He points at Lezere, Salik, and Berthold. Salik is thirty years old at most… why old man? “If we try fighting the spider queen directly: You kill her, but you die.” He points at me. “If anyone go out and help him.” He points at Kolag, “they die.”

“But if he goes out alone. He and the spiders die together, and we’ll live. He is dangerous. And he wish to die. It’s best if he dies now. If he lives, you’ll live to regret it… we just have to close the door after him and wait.”

“Even more reason not to do that!” I call out angrily. “If he dies, I’ll kill your dear soul-mate, Jerro!” How dare he?! How dare he ask me to save her while he uses Kolag as a sacrificial pawn?!

“You won’t,” Jerro replies in a matter of fact tone.

Ohhhh I will! You bet your venomous snake that I will! And then I’ll kill you too!!!

Jerro jerks back, narrowing his eyes at me. “You do not understand. The knight shouldn’t live. He’s too dangerous. And you’ll kill him at the end, or he will kill you.”

“He’s right, Inara…” Kolag gets up and hands me his claymore. “Keep this for me, I’ll come back for it. No matter what you hear after you close the door; don’t open it. Wait for two hours before opening it! Am I clear?”

I ignore his sword. He shrugs, leans it against the nearest wall, and turns to leave the room. But Lezere stands in his way. “Chief said you aren’t going anywhere!”

Thanks… I don’t know why I couldn’t do it…

Because I know deep down that it’s the best way… he’s the best weapon we’ve got… Kolag… I may love him, but Jerro isn’t wrong… he’s a calamity waiting to occur. There’s no telling when that demon fully takes over even with the armor, or when Kolag accidentally loses his helmet and kill us all…

So I want to get him killed?! Get rid of the risk? Ryon is a risk too… each and every one of them can be a risk… Not like Kolag… No! I’m not sacrificing him! Not while there’s still a chance! And Kolag promised me the exact opposite just yesterday! Snake that! He's so going to get it later!

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“You said if we fight the spiders I die?” What am I doing?! I’m not sacrificing myself either! Not even for Kolag! I just… need to hear the options in detail first…

“Yes, the spider queen poison you. None of us can heal you. You die slowly, in pain.” Jerro’s cold voice causes me to shudder.

“And if we set the place on fire? Lezere, Salik and Berthold die?” I keep asking what he already told me. I need to think.

“Yes. They get trapped in the fire. They die from breathing too much smoke.”

What if there’s another solution? One where everyone gets to live? “I need to think about this, we still have time, and I need to regenerate my mana anyway. Kolag don’t you go anywhere, ok? You promised!”

He nods solemnly and sits back in his corner. Lezere also relaxes and sits near him, talking in low voices.

I ignore my urging need or the fact that the group had started taking care of their needs in a single corner. I open my thick grimoire putting my hand on the next blank page. I need a spell, any spell that might save the day. Something that’ll give me another direction, another way out. A way without anyone dying on me.

Nothing happens this time. I guess the description is just too vague… This isn't a wishing well...

I give the nearby stone wall an appraising look. What about breaking down the wall? I need a spell that turns those stone walls to bits! I channel my mana into the page.

Alf’s Rock to Quicksand

Names: Rock to Quicksand, Earth Sap.

Element: Earth

Sub element: Sand

Level: 1

Words: kush. Kushtan. Mok bamakol bal mak. Mok bama. Ko kushbama mok mikum.

Translation: Earth. Rock. Your obedience give me. Yourself soften. Into sand you turn.

Quicken: kushtan. Mok bama ko kushbama.

Patterns: 9

Gestures: 1: throw offering on the ground. 2: attach pinkies. 3: touch the target with both pinkies.

Offering: 5 nettle leaves/pear branch/10 leaves of a thorny plant (no aloe, no agave, no blackberry, no roses).

Requirement: temperature below 50c and above -10c

Range: touch.

Target: 10 meter patch of rock or earth within range.

Duration: instant.

Effect: The spell will turn the target into quicksand. The ground will seem normal, but any step on it will slowly trap and swallow the creatures stepping on it. This is a trap spell.

Used on stone walls, will collapse them entirely.

Cost: 50 earth gems.

Bound cost: 30 earth gems.

Altered cost: 5 earth gems.

Venom this is useful… both the necklace and this grimoire are both so useful! I can’t wait to get another gift from her…

This is first level earth spell is exactly what I need!

“Jerro!”

The unkempt man lifts his gaze from his unconscious ‘soul-mate’.

“If I turn the wall over there to sand.” I point at the nearest wall. “Do we all get to live?”

He frowns. “I don’t know… I did not see that happening… I… you shouldn’t be able to do that…”

“Good! I’m going to learn a new spell and turn this wall into an exit for us!” It’s good to have this guy around, even if he’s cold-hearted. Having someone who can tell future possibilities is very useful!

I did get his mother killed… he has every reason to hate me… I also own the woman he loves. She’s technically my slave, he needs me… She’s more my friend than a slave… but not wrong, not that I’ll ever use that power over her. Is she even my friend? Argh… my stomach is killing me, focus on getting out of here first!

I focus on learning the new spell, and soon I encounter a problem. Spell materials. The spell needs nettle’s leaves in order to cast it, and I don’t have any.

Maybe I can deal with the elemental? Convince it to cast the spell without the materials just this once? Without being able to speak Kush?! Yeah... good luck with that!

There must be a similar cantrip level magic that I can use in order to make a hole in that wall! Come on! How about just using a 'Kinetic Burst'? Will it work on stone? Why wouldn’t it?! I can use amplifying mana patterns and blast our way out of here… Assuming I won’t blow off my hand with an amplifying mana patterns… It’s also going to be loud… it’ll attract the spiders…

I can also fly out and distract the spiders. They won’t be able to catch me in the air… Yes. But if they don’t fall for it I’ll be forced to attack… and die… Maybe it’s not so good to have Jerro around. I keep feeling someone will die with every choice I make… Yes. That’s because someone will die, and I have to decide who…

“You’ve been staring at that wall for ten minutes, what are you thinking about?” Kolag takes a seat near me.

“A way out, obviously.”

“You need to let me go…” he starts again.

“Enough with that! If you suggest suicide one more time, I’ll really hurt you, got it?!”

“Yes…”

“Thank you!” I don’t hide the sarcasm in my voice.

“What are your ideas for a way out?” he asks.

“A hole in that wall. It’s the backside of the castle. This should be both the keep’s wall and the outer wall. If we manage to make a hole in there, we’re practically outside of this cursed place! I thought I could turn the stone into sand. But Jerro is right, I don’t have the spell materials for that. So I…”

“What kind of materials do you need?”

“Nettle, or a pear’s branch. Actually, a few more thorny plants should be able to function as a replacement, I’ll just need more of them. Have any on you?” Now I regret emptying my belt from the original spell materials… I thought I wouldn’t need materials for spells I didn't know… It's not like I had this girmoire or even thought something like this can exist...

“No, afraid not. Anyone got a thorny plant on them?” He asks aloud with an echoing voice.

“I have an old rose if that’s helpful…” Salik digs out a dried-out rose. I shake my head. Roses, despite being thorny are a spell material for gravity magic, not earth. And I have plenty of rose petals in my pouches.

“Ok, run me through your other ideas,” Kolag continues.

“They aren’t feasible.”

“You never know, and speaking aloud might help you think. Or maybe I can come up with a way you haven’t thought about.”

“Can’t hurt… I thought about blowing up the wall. But that’ll make a lot of noise and attract the spiders. They’ll just chase us out in the open and kill us there.”

He hums with an echo, thinking for a long moment before speaking up again. “I can distract the spiders enough for the rest of you to escape. That could work!”

“What did I tell you about being suicidal?!”

He lifts his hands in a defensive gesture. “No, hear me out! I’m not planning to sacrifice myself, ok?”

“Fine, go on…”

“I’ll not take off the helmet. I’ll take Ryon out with me and go set a fire at the other side of the castle, there’s a thick tower around there.” He gestures in the general direction. “Ryon hid there. But there are eggs on top. We’ll set a fire to the nest with the eggs, or even just to the bottom of the tower, while you blow up the hole here. The spiders will be too busy saving their eggs, and you all escape in the meantime…”

“What about you? How will you escape?”

“Let me worry about that!” He fills his echoing voice with confidence that doesn’t fool me.

“No, I will not! You’ll just end up killing yourself in some noble sacrifice!”

“Inara, trust me! I will not sacrifice myself, not if I mean that much to you. Nor will I sacrifice others. You have to acknowledge that it’s a good plan.”

“It is. Take Loyal with you, he’ll get you out…”

“Loyal? Who’s that?”

“My horse.” I point at the tall black stallion in the middle of the room, he neighs happily in response and stomps his leg on the ground several times. “He’s intelligent, part magical beast. He understands what we’re saying, so have him get you and Ryon out…”

I approach the stallion. “Loyal?” I pat his head. He neighs exposing his square teeth. “Take care of Kolag for me, ok?”

He gives me a nudge with his head that makes me smile.

I glance at the rest of the group who are listening in on our conversation. “Jerro? Does anyone die with this plan?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “I don’t know, I can’t tell… This… this doesn’t happen… you change the plan half way? I’m not sure… too many things shifting, changing, something is wrong with time, with the future.” He rubs his temples and forcefully blinks a few times.

Then what’s the point of your prediction talents?

“Ok! I’d rather take an unknown than know one of us is going to die.” I raise my voice. “This is the plan everyone. We blow up a hole in the wall to attract the spiders here. That’ll give Kolag, Ryon and Loyal a free path to those eggs. Once they set them on fire, the spiders will head back to protect their eggs which will be our cue to run. Run like your life depends on it, because it does! Kolag’s group will leave from the other side. I’ll later use a flying spell to locate them. Any questions?”

“Yeah!” Lezere lifts her hand. I lift my chin at her to allow her to speak. “How are you planning to run if you need to take a dump, Chief?”

The heat washes my face. She didn’t have to say that!

Actually, she did… This isn’t the time for embarrassment or manners. I’m a human being with human needs that I need to take care of… I just don’t want to do it because it reminds me of the slavers’ pens… “Do you mind holding a blanket for me?”

The brutish woman snarls and holds a blanket to hide me from the men, and none of them says a word. I can hear them getting ready to move, eating, or getting more familiar with each other. But I still feel embarrassed by every unwanted sound my body made. I hope there’s a magical way to eliminate this stupid need… In the hag’s shed, I meditated for days and didn’t have to pee… nor did I eat or sleep… Middle meditation she called it… I wonder if I can copy the effect just for the natural human needs… Or maybe a spell… how would that even work? Which element will it be?

“What about my soul mate?” Jerro asks when I am done with the awkward business. He’s still holding onto the unconscious Sharla.

“We’ll wait for her to wake up. I need to recover my mana anyway, so we have a couple of hours before we move.” I take a meditation pose that helps me recover mana a little faster through the throat and crown pool. If normally I’d recover one gem per five minutes, this lets me recover about one and a half. I haven’t used this type of meditation much, since it was much better to just focus on forming my pools instead.

Right now I also want to get myself into the middle meditation trance, in order to experience the weird effect that eliminates basic human needs. But to no avail.

*

Sharla wakes up a few hours later. I still feel betrayed and I want to know what’s really going on with her. Who is she, and what is she about? But she constantly avoids my eyes, so I decide to wait for later. After we get out of this place. If we both survive that is.

By late afternoon my mana pools are filled to the brim, and even my necklace is nearly topped. It’s time to initiate our plan.

I put my hand on the stone wall. Channel and condense a large ball of gravity mana into the familiar swirling pattern. I add three patterns of amplification, forcing an amount of twenty gems worth of mana into this kinetic explosion. I double check my patterns before releasing, just to make sure I’m not blowing up my hand, I direct them outward only - and… “Myrsha ritsa!!!”

*T’oomp!!!* With a sound like a stopper being plucked out of a bottle, I get thrown backward and hit Salik, who catches me and helps me stand.

The old crumbling stones get thrown outward, creating a window-sized hole. Smaller than I expected, but big enough to crawl through.

There is only one problem. Apparently this side of the keep faces a cliff, and the moat below is at least twenty meters down. I guess I can fly out and at least look around… we can use a rope to scale the wall down…

I am about to crawl into the hole when Sharla shouts. “Wait! Listen…” She puts her hand on my shoulder and bring her finger to her mouth.

“I can’t hear anything…”

“The spiders! They’re on the wall outside!”

As if on cue. The spiders on the outer wall screech, and a large white arachnoid face shoves itself in the window sized hole. “Myrsha ritsa!” I instantly blow it up.

I gasp. Damn! They’re intelligent! They heard our plan and simply waited! The spiders don’t repeat the mistake and don’t show another head for me to blow up. But I can hear them screeching on the outer wall, and outside of our barricaded door. We are trapped in here, and I just made a hole in our defenses.

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.

Mana pools status:

Crown-knot: Affinity 10: formed: 1 gem replenished per five minutes.

Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 66

Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 6 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1

Air: Affinity 4: formed: 18 gems

Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 9 gems

Light: Affinity 3: formed: 14 gems

Water: Affinity 6: formed: 27 gems

Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 4 gems

Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 9 gems

Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 40/41 gems

Cantrip known:

Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing.

Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating.

Light: Noxi’s Light, Lako’s Blinding Light.

Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet.

Earth:

Wood:

Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s lesser shield. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body.

Spells known:

Gravity: Alino’s weightless bodyb.

Life: Brigit’s lesser cure poison.

Focus capability: 12 patterns

Social status: Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries.

Wealth: 1854 gems. 1421 golden peas, 7 silver scales, 37 copper bits.

Items:

Magical necklace. Contain a 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.

1 potion of lightning body.

1 potion of mana, medium grade.

An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keep the pouches’ content fresh.

Fresh rose petals, 25g

10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.

The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 4/100

Companions:

Kolag of house Befar.

Lezere of the black fang tribe.

Salik.

Berthold.

Jerro.

Sharla?

Ryon

Loyal

Languages:

Toml’a Fluent

Sinteo Fluent

Myrsha 6/10

Felul 1/10

Injuries and scars: