Chapter 68 Mind Tricks.
Sometimes, having no option, is better than having too many choices.
When you’re cornered and can’t find a way,
you have no choice but to fight.
Nuriss the Maiden of War
Ok! Think! There must be a way! But even if there was, they’ll just hear our next plan and prepare accordingly… We’re done for! No, we’re not. If they can hear our plan, I’ll need to use that somehow…
“Ok! Seems like this is no good! I’m going to leave through this hole and fly out. They can’t catch me up in the air. I’ll fly around, find the room with their eggs, and burn it. The rest of you will break out through the door, and fight your way to the egg room. No matter what it takes, we can’t let such abominations live! We’ll have to destroy them all, even if we all die trying!”
If they understand what we’re saying, they’ll divert some of their forces to protect the eggs while placing an intercepting force on our way to the eggs. But we aren’t going after their eggs, we’re going out of this place!
The group frowns. They're confused by the fact I just asked them to sacrifice their lives for a bunch of spiders. I’m not expecting them to understand, there’s someone here who can see the future and see my intention and how they’ll unfold. And indeed, Jerro gives me a tiny smile and a nod.
Good! This is going to work! I raise my eyebrows at the party and point at the doorway. “Jerro will lead you. Good luck. Get those eggs destroyed. I am counting on you!” I hope he doesn’t have plans to sacrifice anyone… but I don’t have any other choice…
“Jerro?! That pup?!” Lezere protests. “What has he done in order to…”
“Lezere. Not the time! Follow his orders as if they were mine. Trust me on this. Get going!” I tie up my hair and put my hand in my rose petals pouch. “Myrsha, nia tsaf lah! Lu myrsha ni kull lah. Nia wuan nalahi myrsha!”
Using my hands, I guide my weightless body to float parallel to the floor, aiming my head toward the new window. “I’ll count to ten, and fly out!” I exclaim loudly for the spiders to hear while weaving a silent pattern for my 'Breeze' cantrip. “One! Two! Three! Four..." Felul!!!
“Fotyr folo!”
That kind of attack is futile, I’m way too high for these webs to even reach me. I wonder how they even aim these… Oh wait… one spider is looking, and another is shooting these webs… they have a way to communicate… probably the screeches.
I fly upward, toward the general direction Kolag pointed at earlier. It’s easy to spot, a high crumbling tower covered in spider webs. It's located far away from the castle gates. I need these intelligent spiders to think I’m truly after their eggs…
I move near the tower’s wall. I circle the tower and find a gaping hole blocked by a thick wall of webs. I can spot the clusters of eggs behind the webs.
I wasn’t wrong. The massive spider queen is there, sitting in an ambush position right above the staircase, waiting for Kolag’s and Ryon’s planned assault. But she is not expecting me to come from the outside. I stabilize myself in the air and make sure I float in place before I cancel the 'Breeze' cantrip.
“Folo fotyr.”
"Felul."
Beware the wrath of Inara the dragon! I can’t help but giggle. The spiders below scale the walls with shrill screams, but they can’t keep climbing through the flames. My heart misses a beat. The spider queen turns, her red eyes glowing at me through the raging fire. I direct the breeze cantrip and fly away before she decides to do anything about it.
From the air, I spot the rest of my party fighting spiders and a few undead near the main entrance. Yet, the entrance is nearly unguarded. Soon enough, they manage to flee down the hill. They run toward the nearby forest, avoiding the clusters of spider webs between the trees.
I weave two duration patterns in order to extend the time of my ‘Weightless’ spell, and fly toward another thick webbed spot in the castle. Again, I stabilize myself in the air and cancel the ‘Breeze’ cantrip, floating in place.
“Folo fotyr!”
I set one more spot on fire, then fly toward my group that is almost behind the tree line by now. I fly over their heads and land near Kolag.
“Good work, Jerro!” He and Sharla ride Loyal’s back in order to keep up with the rest of the athletic people in the group.
He nods in acknowledgment. “We aren’t safe yet.”
“I know. Let’s run. They’ll be busy putting out some fires for now.”
The screeches aren’t far behind us. A small army of shriveled undead runs in our direction, followed by a group of white spiders.
We run. Lezere who moves ahead of everyone, turns and shoots an arrow into a shrunken corpse's leg. It collapses and gets trampled by the rest of the horde.
The next one to repeat that move is Salik with his short bow, then it’s Berthold’s turn.
“Faster!” Salik urges from the front. Loyal bolts forward with Jerro and Sharla on his back. I’m the slowest one in here, but the rest of them can barely keep up with the horse’s speed. I turn my head. The undead are close, catching up to us, and behind them are the spiders. If they all keep running slower for me, we’ll be swimming in undead. I could fly… but I’ll have to stop and cast that…
I could also…
“Myrsha kalfit.”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Huh… Never thought of this use before… It’s better for running! Drains a lot of mana though… I can let the spell go and remake the patterns to reduce the drain but I doubt it's a good idea… I have plenty of mana in my necklace for now...
The rest of the group picks up the pace. And soon enough we leave the undead and the spiders behind. Even then, we don’t dare to stop, and only after an hour of running do we finally relax our guard.
I wipe out the sweat and hair that got stuck to my face and untie my nearly loose ponytail. I am not used to such an exercise, but it’s probably good for me.
Salik, Berthold, Ryon, and Lezere look much better. Although covered in sweat, they aren’t even panting. Jerro and Sharla look worse than I feel, even if they are on a horseback. As for Kolag, it’s hard to tell with his armor. See that, buckethead?! We’re all still alive! Even without your noble sacrifice!
“Hey chief. Why did you tell us to go after the eggs?” Lezere asks with a frown, “and why didn’t we go after the eggs? I don’t understand.”
“The spiders were listening,” I explain. “Listening to all of our plans and acting accordingly, we had to surprise them, and we did.”
“We had to cheat them?” Lezere growls and nods to herself, “I’ll remember that if we encounter those vamtilic spiders again.”
“It’s vampiric…” Salik corrects her from the side.
Jerro leans on his cane as if he's an old man. “It worked. From the moment you told us to go after the eggs, I could tell we’ll all make it out of there alive.”
“Are they going to come after us?” I ask worriedly.
He shakes his head. “No, I think we’re safe here. It’s why I stopped us to take a break.”
“Good.”
Lezere stretches and yawns. “I’m hungry… Going to hunt us some meat. I saw a deer when we ran.”
“I’m hungry too! What’s a deer?” Ryon asks with his eyes focused on Lezere’s chest.
“Leave the hunting to me.” Berthold takes his recurved bow off his shoulders and heads toward the woods.
“Not so fast, little man!” Lezere follows suit, leaving the rest of us to make camp.
"Be careful you two. No idea what's out there in this forest," I call after them, but they ignore me. I go to Loyal and take off his saddlebags. “Hey there, Loyal… it’s nice to have you with me here.”
He neighs in response.
“Good job carrying Sharla and Jerro… you must be tired. I’m sorry I didn’t pack any treats, I was in a bit of a hurry…”
He turns and tugs my hair with his teeth.
“Heyy! Stop that! How many times did I tell you that my hair isn't a sugar cube? As soon as we get to a city, I’ll buy you something sweet, I promise!” I pick the brush from one of the bags and brush his sides, while the rest of the group construct the tents they’re carrying.
“Good job fighting those spiders! Most horses would’ve panicked.”
He snorts.
I chuckle. “Yeah, I know you’re not most horses…”
Salik breaks off from the rest of them and gets closer to me and Loyal. “What’s our plan now, kid?”
“I don’t know yet. I’m not sure what the hag had in mind sending me here. I’ll tell you when I know,” I admit.
He nods to himself. “Even if you don’t have a plan, it’s best if you tell everyone under your command that you do. You don’t have to share the plan’s details, just ‘have a plan’. It keeps everyone going, and gives them a purpose… something to strive for at least.”
“I… You’re right. Thanks. It’s been a while since I had to order people around, the hag just dropped this on me all of a sudden. Listen, I’m sorry I didn’t deliver you the gold for the Sha’ashbash mission, I was distracted.”
“The Maven paid the company in your stead, everyone received their pay.” He shrugs without looking at me.
“I’m sorry you had to leave them.”
Salik sighs. “It was bound to happen sooner or later, kid, don’t worry about it. If you have a need to raise an army, let me take care of it. I wasn’t always at the head of a small mercenary company. The Maven mentioned you’ll be needing an army.”
Needing an army for what? “I see, I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.”
He nods and goes back to help with constructing the camp, leaving me to my thoughts.
*~*~*
Interlude 68.1
Berthold.
“Where are you from, Sir Knight?” Berthold asks the tall knight in his shimmering black armor.
“Far.” The curt reply echoes above the crackling fire.
“How do you know Inara?” Berthold inquires. He can’t help but admire this man for daring to approach someone like her, but maybe even she can’t hurt him with that armor. No… that’s unlikely. If a fight between those two started… If the knight was in close proximity to her, that might’ve been the case. But from afar, no matter how much iron you have, it won’t save you. Unless you shoot a mage with an iron arrow and take them by surprise before they use their defensive magic. Berthold has done it in the past.
“Sapphire Tower,” comes the stoic reply.
“Are you a follower of Noxi?”
“Yes. Which god do you follow?” the question echoes with genuine interest.
Finally, a question that might lead to a conversation. Berthold has to befriend some of these people. If he won’t, he’ll most likely die with no one around to save him. Berthold might be a good shot, but that won’t be enough for the stronger monsters and mages. “Tonisha. The Lady of Ventures.”
“Ah. An adventurer. What is your pursuit? Fame and glory? Coin? Testing yourself against the elements and surviving?”
Berthold should’ve expected a Noxite to be more interested in theology. “Coin. Or at least it used to be coin… I needed a huge amount of it to save my mother and sister. Now the… ahem… Maven of Mysteries? Yeah... she promised that she’d heal them in exchange for following Inara for a few years. What about you? Which one of Noxi’s paths do you follow?”
“All of them!”
Berthold nods. He never heard another answer from a Noxite. “Do you follow Amaret and Brigit too? Or only Noxi?” Many of Noxi's followers also follow the other two members of the Holy Tribune.
“Amaret is nearly as bad as Rakisha. And Brigit is too reserved in doing what needs to be done. No. I follow Noxi and Noxi alone!” the voice echoes with determination.
The second worst kind of Noxite then. The kind who kills without batting an eye in the name of what they perceive as justice. A good fit for Inara, she also kills without batting an eye… The ones who follow Brigit at least try to preserve life… and the ones who follow Amaret, those form the inquisition and force other people to convert to their faith.
Berthold nods. He’ll have to be careful near this man. He can’t help but recall the time the boss had them escorting a paladin of Noxi. The man attacked his own escort for looting a deserted corpse. He killed eight good men before going down. Even a paladin of Noxi will lose his life when it’s one against twenty… But Berthold is alone here, and he can’t trust the boss to have his back when he’s no longer the boss.
*~*~*
Effrat’s Firefly
Names: Effrat’s Firefly, Firefly, Firebolt, Fire Arrow.
Element: fire
Sub element: fire
Level: 0
Words: fotyr folo
Translation: fire fly
Quicken: X
Patterns: 2
Gestures: points with index finger at the target.
Offering: X
Requirement: temperature above 0c and oxygen at the origin source.
Range: 30 meters
Target: aimed spell
Duration: instant
Effect: the spell will create an arrow of concentrated flames that flies where the caster points. If there’s a source of fire within five meters of the caster, the arrow will originate from a chosen source for a reduced cost. Otherwise it’ll originate from the caster’s fingertip.
Cost: 3 fire gems. 2 fire gems with a fire source.
Bound cost: X
Altered cost: 2 fire gems per alteration pattern.
*~*~*
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, 22g
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
Sinteo
Myrsha
Felul
Injuries and scars: