Chapter 26: Surprise Attack

Hazel and I stood while Gronan and Finn drank slowly from their mugs. Finally, I watched as the tavern room door opened but Trey stopped in his tracks as he saw us. His green button-up was freshly cleaned and pressed and he didn’t have a single smudge on his skin. He seemed to calculate his next move for several seconds, perhaps puzzling out if we were here to help him or something nefarious. Eventually, though, he came over to us and sat beside Gronan, “Can you buy me a drink?”

“Absolutely not,” Gronan took a sip of his mug. “Let’s get straight to it, where’s your bride?”

He sighed, “So the other Adventurer didn’t find her?”

“They're dead,” Finn said bluntly.

His eyes went wide in shock, “Shit,” He put his hands to his face. “Do you think she is too? Dammit, she has to be.” It was strange. As the last words left his tongue, he sounded more angry than sad about his wife most likely being dead.

Well, we did find him fighting someone when we first got here. Maybe he always turns to violence when hit with emotions.

“Do not jump to conclusions, Trey,” Hazel said, putting a hand on his back. “We do not know if she is dead yet or not. Where was she last seen?”

Trey’s eyes glanced over Hazel’s direction. His face construed with confusion before his confusion resigned back to anger as he spoke, “Velajn was last seen walking along that Goddess-forsaken river. It was the day before the wedding, you see, and a tradition here is the day before a wedding the bride finds the best rock they can find in the river and skips it. Supposedly, the more skips you get the stronger your marriage will be.”

“That’s a weird tradition,” Finn said.

“I know!” His yell split through the inn and the other three here turned to look at what was going on. He put his hands back over his face and grunted, “And that stupid tradition is going to be what killed her.”

“Where was she seen along the river?” Hazel asked.

“Somewhere around this side of the bridge. If you go there, there might be something to trace wherever she went.”

“Well, seems we know our next destination,” I said.

“You told us that too fast,” Gronan said. “I didn’t have time to enjoy my drink.” He shot back the mug, downing the rest of the drink.

Finn did the same.

“Wait,” Trey said as the two of them got out of their chairs. “Do you think she’s alive?”

I shrugged, “She’s been gone for a while. But there’s always hope.”

That wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear. He fished out another bronze coin and put it on the bar, “Another drink,” The barkeeper quickly placed another drink in front of him and he began to drink from it greedily. “What am I going to do?” I heard him mutter as we left.

As the door swung closed, I asked, “Is it just me, or did he seem to be more mad about the situation he was just put in then actually concerned for his wife?”

“You are not alone,” Hazel confirmed.

“Something definitely is off about him,” Gronan said.

Finn shrugged and began going toward the river. “He’s a rich boy.”

“Ah, yes,” Hazel nodded. “That is it.”

“How’d y’all know that?”

Finn didn’t answer, just kept walking. We began to follow him.

“We lived with rich boys,” Hazel told me as we walked. “You just know.”

I hadn't said anything, but the way she spoke and what she said then confirmed my feeling she was or used to be some type of nobility.

Almost immediately as we arrived beside the bridge, Hazel pointed at a couple rocks that had been ripped from the ground. “The rocks look disturbed over here. It might have been Velajn who did this.”

She walked down the edge of the river, getting closer to where the trees began to crop back up. “There are more rocks disturbed here,” She pointed at a patch of rocks that seemed completely fine to me.

Finn looked ahead of her. “She definitely went this way, there’s the imprint of a footprint on that big rock right there.”

The siblings began to walk into the forest together, inspecting the ground closely. I stopped at the rock Finn had pointed at. I couldn’t see a single print on it. “Are you guys sure someone came this way?” I called out to them.

They both responded at the same time, “Yes.”

Gronan gave me a shrug. “Just follow their instincts. This is what they’re good at.”

I guess I couldn’t argue with that. What I could argue with was myself for getting this stupid staff. It wasn’t doing anything but wasting space in my hand. I didn’t have any way to holster it to my side like Gronan so I just had to hold it. What was I going to do if there was a fight? Club them to death?

I’d have no choice but to either throw the staff down and use my sword or dual wield the weapons. Neither option was really great, there was the possibility someone picked the weapon up and used it on me or it fell off a cliff or something equally unlucky and dumb like that. Thirteen gold would be down the trash.

As if it wasn’t already. I couldn’t do anything with this thing. Unless I ‘harnessed my energy’, whatever the hell that meant. Maybe I would do it in the heat of battle like before, in that case I’d have to hold onto my staff just in case. That ran the risk of course of getting in the way. I wasn’t especially ambidextrous or anything so the dual wielding option wasn’t great.

I’d just have to take that option anyways. The risk of it getting in the way didn’t outweigh the possibility for me to harness a really powerful weapon.

Unless it isn’t powerful at all.

I pushed the thought away. That couldn’t be the case. I wouldn’t allow it to be the case. I was going to prove to Finn and myself that this staff was going to be a good weapon, I just had to learn how to use it.

We were going through the forest now, traveling alongside the river. The trees were beginning to get dense, so much that Gronan had to squeeze himself through a few of them.

“Is there maybe a better way?” Gronan asked. “I’d rather not get stuck between two trees.”

“No,” Hazel said, not looking away from the ground. Those two were so focused, it was a little scary.

“Well, good thing I have an ax then.”

We continued trekking through the forest and, luckily, Gronan managed not to get stuck even once. “Good thing I got fit once I became an Adventurer,” Gronan commented to no one in particular.

Stolen novel; please report.

Suddenly, the siblings stopped and Hazel let out a small gasp.

“Found her,” Finn said.

Gronan and I were right behind them. In front of us was a clearing where the river split in two to go around a small, grassy island. A woman lay there with a torn up dress and blood staining one of her shoulders and down her side. Her eyes were closed and she looked so still, so lifeless.

“Is she dead?” I asked.

“No, she is breathing,” Hazel nudged me. “ Would you like to go down there?”

“By myself?”

“You are the new one of the group.”

“Um,” Part of me wanted to say no so badly. Whatever had done that to that woman had to be down there, ready to tear me apart. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

She allowed a small smile. “I am joking.”

“Hehe,” Gronan chuckled. “Hazel, take point. Let’s go rescue her from whatever’s over there.”

“What’s the plan?” I asked.

“Is there ever a plan?” Finn asked, pulling out two daggers.

I sighed, “I guess not.”

But that wasn’t quite true. I pulled my sword out, holding it in my right hand and the staff in my left. Dual wielding plan in action, the only plan I had and definitely not a good one. We each walked through the clearing, scanning our surroundings. I expected something to happen at any moment but nothing showed itself.

“Are you okay?” I called to the woman.

She opened her eyes and tears ran down her cheeks as she saw us. She nodded.

“Is your name Velajn?”

She nodded again.

“Can we come toward you?”

She winced but managed to sit up and looked around the island. She looked back at us. Slowly, she nodded.

“Let’s go get her,” Finn said. “La'Quet, you go first.”

“Why me??” I asked.

“New guy, remember?.”

“Fine,” I took a step into the water. The water was cold and slowly flowing around my leg.

“Anything in the water?” Gronan asked.

“Now you ask?”

He shrugged, “I didn’t see anything.

I looked into the water, “I don’t either. I think it’s fine.”

He nodded and stepped into the water. He shivered, “Could’ve told me it was cold.”

“Could’ve told me to look at the wa-”

I didn’t get to finish my sentence as something grabbed onto my leg and pulled me hard. I lost my balance, flailed, and hit the rocks in the shallow water with a thud.

There was splashing, a hiss, and then a weight of something pushed me into the riverbed. I held my breath as water washed over me. I opened my eyes and saw through the blurry, distorted top of the water something with blue scales, many sharp teeth, and five sharp, talon-like fingers. That was all I needed to know that this was an enemy.

It swung one of its bladed hands toward me and I blocked it with my staff and as I did I pushed my blade into its chest. It went rigid and then fell on top of me. I pushed it aside. Where were the others, why hadn’t they helped me with that thing?

I found my answer as soon as I stood up and wiped the water out of my eyes. These creatures were all over. Finn was fending off well enough, quickly slicing down two of them even with his one good hand.

Gronan, not so much. One was on his back, biting into his shoulder as he defended against another one coming toward him. Just then, the world slowed to a stop:

Shilner:

Even in shallow waters, these creatures have the ability to blend into water perfectly. Anytime you take a step into a stream, always keep in mind the knowledge that these creatures could be lurking.

I sloshed through the river water toward him to help him out but before I even got halfway I felt a sharp pain in my side before numbness and I was thrown onto my side back into the watery ground.

I swung my sword toward the direction I had just been attacked and found purchase. I pulled my blade out of the flesh of the creature and felt its claws let go of my side. I struggled back to my feet but another one pounced onto my back.

I stumbled forward and then allowed myself to roll forward, somehow managing not to slice one of my hands off. It let go of me and I was quickly back to my feet. But the creature was too and was now snarling at me. It lunged toward me and I dodged out of its way just in time. It hissed again. I held my sword toward it. This was the closest I had ever been to a real sword fight, and I was quickly becoming more aware I had even before that I had no clue what I was doing. One of its hands lunged out and I backed away from it, air whooshing past me as the claw swung barely an inch in front of my face.

It snarled again but didn’t attack. It was waiting for me to let my guard down or for one of its friends to come for me. Luckily, none of them had yet and I wasn’t going to let my guard down for a second. If only I could have my staff do something, then this would’ve been a much more balanced fight. But it wasn’t and I didn’t hedge any bets on me figuring out how to use it in the heat of battle like this.

Shit, I had let my guard down with my thoughts and the creature had seen. It lunged out and I tried to block again but missed. I tried to step away from the attack but it scratched into my blade-wielding shoulder. I didn’t feel the pain but did feel the viscous texture of blood as it poured from the fresh wound.

I ignored it and struck out toward the creature. It blocked my blade easily and went with the other hand at me. I blocked it with my staff and swung my sword hap-hazardly toward its head. It backed away but the tip of the blade slid against its scaly forehead, blue blood oozing from it.

It let out a spittle filled snarl and came at me with a flurry of blows. I somehow managed to block most of them and began back pedaling. It wasn’t letting up and I knew I wasn’t going to manage to block them all. But I had no other choice. A strike from the left. Blocked. The right. Blocked. It tried to stab at me, I blocked it. Maybe I was getting the hang of this!

I tripped on something hard and fell. It jumped on to me and pinned my blade arm to the ground. It reared back with the other sharp hand. Just before it clawed into my face, though, it hissed in pain as an arrow embedded itself into the side of its neck. It clawed at the object and managed to pull it out. It had been the wrong move and now more of that blue blood spurted out.

In moments, the creature went limp and I had déjà vu as the weight of it fell onto me. I quickly pulled it off of me and was back to my feet.

Thanks Hazel.

I looked around the battlefield. There was still fighting going on. I looked into the island and saw the woman still laying there. I got to my feet and began to run to her.

“Stop!” She yelled at me.

I ignored her warning and made it to the island. I was safe, whatever those creatures were, they were water based. That was my theory anyway.

My theory was very wrong. I made it two steps onto the grassy island when something shimmered in front of the woman.

What is-

The shimmer became brown scales as one of the creatures materialized. This one looked different though, the talons were more long blades than claws, its teeth were sharper, and it had an aura I couldn’t quite understand. That was when I realized exactly what Benny from the weapons shop had talked about, this creature was an Adventurer!

It lunged for me and I tried to block it with my sword but I miscalculated. Its long, bladed fingers sliced through my hand and my grasp on the sword was gone. My weapon flung into the air behind me and crimson flowed freely from my hand. I half expected to see my hand detach itself from my body but it didn’t, thank christ.

The creature stabbed forward at me with eerie swiftness. I didn't get a chance to react as it plunged its sharp blades into my chest. My eyes went wide but my vision became hazy as the creature walked me backward into the water. It had a wide, sharp grin on its face, its eyes full of gleeful hatred.

My vision was getting darker. I forced myself to keep my eyes open, to stare at the monster that was killing me. If I was going to die, I was going to die staring back at the enemy. I felt something at that moment. A connection. It was like that zap you sometimes get when you touch an object. But there was something deeper in there. There was information in it. A feeling, emotion, thought, consciousness, understanding.

The aura of the enemy got larger, consuming. It felt like it was buzzing around the air. I felt it on me, on my skin. Buzzing through me. That was when I understood then what this creature was. It was the Adventurer that had gone out to find this woman. But it wasn’t them, it was so much more than that. This creature took that Adventurer’s aura, they had harnessed it. But that wasn’t all. The soul of the Adventurer, the energy passed through a thousand Adventurers before. Adventurers who gained that status through some other means given by some Other being.

That buzzing, that connection. I felt out toward it, I could feel it soaking into my skin. I was a part of that connection.

The familiar split second of heat radiated through my chest and a blue glow came through my blood-stained shirt. But then it was gone, moving through me into my arm, into my staff. I understood then, this was magic.

The creature's brutal grin at my demise faltered, it too seemed to understand this fight was not going to go well for it. I touched its chest with the edge of my staff. I gave the creature one, bright smile and it knew it had lost.

The blast blew through the creature’s chest. Its eyes went wide and it let out a breathless hiss as it pulled back from me, the blades pulling out of my body.

It stumbled backward a few steps, its hands going into the new hole, feeling what used to be there. It fell back onto the ground with a thud and didn’t move from there again. “Got you,” I whispered.

And then I hit the ground, water surrounding me. I couldn’t fight it. It filled my throat, my lungs. My hazy vision became darkness.

I fainted.