Kichi reared back from the creature of thick wormlike hair as it increased in volume and spun.
Masahide shouted, “Ema, we must get aid. I promise we’re coming back.” Then he turned to Kichi. “This thing is called a balatma. The worms can detach, crawl under your skin, and eat your organs, or worse. They can attack a hundred times at once. We’re no match without Shining Armor.”
Glancing up at Ema, Kichi felt terrible. They finally found her, and now they must leave. “Whitebeard will know what to do.”
They both backed away. The balatma never advanced; it just stayed guarding the gulf between it and the tower.
While the two backtracked to the apartments, Kichi thought about ways to defeat the creature. She wasn’t so sure her amulet couldn’t help, though a hundred attacks did seem unsurmountable. “We have to use the eagles.”
Masahide knocked on Whitebeard’s door. “That might work if we swoop down and grab her.” When no one answered, he pushed open the unlocked door.
A pair of bare feet stood on the balustrade. Kichi crossed the room and found Whitebeard standing there with nothing between him and hundreds of feet to the bottom of the balcony. “What are you doing?”
Whitebeard opened an eye. “Oh, sorry, I was meditating.”
With a held-out hand, Masahide said, “We need your help. We found Ema.”
“How can I be of assistance?” Whitebeard didn’t take the hand but leapt down easily.
“She’s being guarded by a balatma.”
“And you haven’t learned Shining Armor.”
Kichi sat in the dusty chair. “Can we fly an eagle?”
“I’m afraid not. They’ll be gone for a week.”
Masahide cupped his chin. “What options do we have?”
“You could use a potion of rapidity.”
Kichi propped her leg up. Her eyelids felt heavy, and she kept sinking back as if sleep were wrestling her down. But she had to stay awake. “Do you have a potion?”
“Sorry, I do not. But I do have the feather of a falcon.” Whitebeard produced a striped feather.
She cocked her head. “What do we do with that?”
“Climb the peak, and have a wind spirit bless it. The rest is trivial.”
Taking the feather from Whitebeard, Masahide pinched it between his thumb and forefinger and examined it. “We can't complete the tournament. We have to go now, and it could take all night. But we have to get Ema down at all costs.”
Whitebeard shook his head.”If I could guarantee that no harm would come to her this night, would you wait until after you’ve fought?”
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“I suppose so,” Masahide said. “Yes.
“Good. Now, khichi. Let me see your squirrel cat.”
Bin crawled out from Kiki's pocket at the mention of the name.
Kichi held the squirrel cat. “You won't hurt Bin, will you?”
“Of course not. I will make a link and send Bin up to watch Ema. The balatma won't be bothered by a tiny animal. It's only meant to ward against knights and such.
Bin lept into Whitebeard's hands, and they touched foreheads. Then, the squirrel cat scampered up through the window and disappeared.
“Now, Kichi and Masahide, get a good night’s sleep. You’ll need to be well rested for everything you must do tomorrow.”
The night was only a second long. The sun and sound of the crowd filtered into Kichi’s room. She dressed and hurried down to the arena and grabbed two trays of food from two startled bears.
Hisa sat beside her. “I've never seen a girl with your kind of appetite. And you don't gain an ounce.”
They made polite conversation until the gongs tolled and hushed the crowd. Then the arena went so quiet one could hear a wind spirit fly. The necromancer walked down an aisle and took a seat near the Duke. She was in a red dress from a time or place that Kichi had never seen. The fingernails of the necromancer were like sticks that she tapped on her armrest.
The necromancer scanned the crowd, stopping and regarding one person or another. Then she looked straight at Kichi. “You girl. There is something strange about you. Come here and let me have a look at you.”
Kichi didn't want to approach, but she didn't know what else to do. She crossed the square and stood before the woman and the Duke’s family. The Duke looked at her like she were a bug.
“Indeed, there is something strange about you. You are not of this world but a summoned creature. Why did you bring her here?” Her gaze landed on Whitebeard.
Whitebeard's tone said that the question wasn’t important. “The girl would have died. I simply saved her.”
“And they call me a necromancer. Proceed with the tournament, Duke Akitomo.”
Kicki returned to her seat. Her head spun, and she didn’t even know where to start asking questions. None of that made any sense. Am I the girl who would have died?
Whitebeard bent low to whisper to her. “Come, walk with me.” He led her to a garden area beside the arena. There, he sat on a bench beside a fountain. He patted the seat next to him and waited for her to sit. “Crann is the preserver of life, and I am Crann’s servant above anything else. When I returned from my voyage, there was a house fire. I barged in as the flames engulfed the whole structure. Inside, a woman and a girl were burning. I summoned a time spirit and fused the girl and the spirit into one. It was the only way to turn back the clock a few moments before the irreversible state of death.”
Kichi stood from the bench and backed away. “I don’t understand.”
“Do your memories feel distant to you? The loss of your father, the loss of your mother? It’s because you are a time spirit and not just a girl. It’s why you’re so strong in prescience.”
“It’s against nature…”
“No, Crann sees something in you. Your first thought was to become the most chivalrous knight. Become that. Win this tournament, and go on to help save the realm.”
Kichi heard Whitebeard calling after her, but she ran from the garden and was soon lost in the maze of old buildings and overgrown yards on the arena level. She no longer knew who she was.
Kichi
Level: 6
Focus: Prescience
Secondary focus: Lava+1
Weapons: pure sword - 3% pure
Items: Near Field Amulet (Prescience+2, focus)