Tahir threw his staff to the side, making sure it rolled out of the field since he wasn’t going to use it for the rest of the fight. He brought his free hand to his sword just as Shukri reached him, and he deflected her spear once more. She then began a flurry of her own, which Tahir managed to keep up with. Due to a mix of parrying and dodging and the benefits of the air spirit, making him feel lighter than air and that he could hold his own for a long time. However, it became increasingly apparent that he wouldn’t put up as good of a fight this way. He parried a spear, ducked under a follow up swipe of her claws, and jumped back as she tried to sweep his legs out from underneath him, and had barely a second of reprieve before she began the cycle anew.
Time for a change of pace. He thought. At a moment where he could afford a one-handed grip, as he dodged away from another of her swings, he snapped his fingers and said a quick chant, causing a burst of fog to envelop the area. “This?! Again?!” Shukri shouted. She started swinging wildly, but Tahir had already backed away from her, as he thanked the air spirit for its help and swapped it for earth. With his tremorsense, he could see exactly where she stood. He thought he heard Theo make a noise out beyond the field, but he was too focused on the fight, and whatever it was that caused her to make it, he couldn’t actually see.
Taking a deep breath, he rushed forward with a heavy concentration of aura focused on his sword. He went in for an overhead swing, and felt it collide with the wood of her spear with such force that it immediately dispersed the fog around them. Her eyes wide, she looked at the blade with an almost desperate look on her face. Understandable, since Tahir could have possibly broken through her aura shield with that swing alone if connected, a stark difference in weight and power than any of his swings since the fight started.
No sense in trying to preserve his aura at this point. Even with his affinities from Mikharma, Shukri would outlast him in any capacity if he stayed defensive. So, with earth enhanced weight, and putting a fair amount of aura into all of his swings, he began to properly trade blows with Shukri, beginning a back and forth, caring less about getting nicked by her spear or claws. Not long after he started trading blows with her, she put on a wide grin that showed off her fangs.“You’re enjoying this a bit too much, aren’t you?” He asked.
“Speak for yourself!” She called back in reply. Tahir couldn’t tell- was he smiling? He actually couldn’t deny her here; he was having fun. Fighting like this, going all out without his life on the line, testing the limits of his magic and aura against someone he genuinely admired without anything hanging over their heads. He wouldn’t mind if he could do this more often. Tahir made another swing, and Shukri leapt away. Instead of following after her, Tahir steadied himself and adjusted his stance. A second later a wave of aura flew from his blade and chased after the beastfolk. Her eyes wide, she swung her spear in a wide arc to deflect the blow. A use of aura in its own right, but less so than taking it to her aura shield directly.
Tahir did not relent, going into another form. Instead of a wave, he shot aura out in a series of thrusts. Thin missiles of aura firing toward Shukri like crossbow bolts. Mostly misses, but a few nicks as Shukri decided to close the distance and not give him the benefit of range. She redoubled her efforts in the exchange, giving each strike enough aura to make Tahir wary and conscious of them, but he couldn’t get defensive again, and she fought around his blade as well. As the fight dragged on, he could feel himself faltering against her sheer experience and larger aura pool, but he thought that he could still win. That between each shower of sparks where their weapons collided, each blow and parry and feint, that he could take the rest of her aura shield out in a single perfect strike.
He didn’t find it, but he had quite a bit of fun looking for it. Tahir felt a massive surge of aura from Shukri. Her next blow sent him skidding back a few feet, and when he looked up he saw her in a position to throw her spear. He dodged, feeling the intense amount of aura that she put into the throw, and she was back in front of him in the next second. He thought he saw stars when her fist connected with his stomach, and she grabbed him by his wrists and flipped him into the ground with intense force, sitting on his stomach afterward and holding up a clawed hand.
“And that’s that.” Mikharma called. “The winner is Shukri.”
Tahir simply panted beneath her. Somehow, she hadn’t actually broken through his aura shield there, but she was only a hair’s breadth from doing so. Tahir had to use the rest of the aura he had left to keep it up, but that left him without any more to actually continue the fight. He glanced up toward Shukri, who also breathed heavily, but she had a grin from ear to ear as she moved to stand and pull Tahir up along with her.
An applause with more sets of hands than Tahir remembered being there brought his attention to where the others watched the fight. The Raven and, surprisingly, the Blade of Frost stood beside Theo, Hasio, and Meti. “Splendid, very splendid indeed.” The Raven said. “I’d only caught the tail end of the fight, so I didn’t quite know at all how you managed to bring Giralldo to the position that you did. Watching this, however, makes all of the pieces fall into place. That fire spell in particular was rather spectacular as well.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Thanks.” Tahir said between pants. “I - I’m not sure it's written down anywhere. It was kind of cobbled together with the knowledge that my fire spirit gave me.”
“Your spirits are rather interesting I must say. In the brief readings that I’ve done on the subject, that they give you affinities and magical knowledge is rather fascinating. It makes me wonder if they were used to develop some of the more common spells we have today. Though, from what I’m aware of, they don’t even exclusively affect magic.” The Raven said, and gave a brief glance toward Mikharma before looking back to Tahir. “It wouldn’t have affected my demeanor back then, but I didn’t know at the time that I wasn’t talking to another hunter in the Grove, but one of their ancestral spirits. It’s rather fascinating, isn’t it? That you can give her form, function, and power. It’s almost like you’re bringing her back from the dead. Though it is not without consequence, as you sacrifice some of your mana and aura to do so.” Catching himself, the Raven cleared his throat. “My apologies, I believe I began to ramble, since the topic has been on my mind Giralldo’s unfortunate demise. It does bear thinking about, but I’ve already accomplished the reason I came. The Blade of Frost here, however, has her own agenda, and thought it best I might accompany her to put all of you at ease.”
Tahir glanced toward the others, and found Meti holding Zorhe’s spellbook. He then looked to the Blade of Frost as she began to speak. “I won’t waste the time to ask who. That technique you use- it’s Murabi’s, isn’t it?” Tahir didn’t speak, but his expression must have given away the answer. “I thought so. I won’t ask about him or his whereabouts, I’d simply like you to tell him something. Tell him that I would like to meet with him again. And when you do, please use my name instead of my title. I am Shimachi Otsumo. He should know of me.”
Tahir blinked. Unsure how to respond immediately. “I can pass along that message.” With that, she nodded, and simply walked away. The Raven gave a light bow and followed after her. Tahir let out a sigh of relief. That could have ended several different ways, but he was glad that it ended in one that didn’t have him fighting her. He felt Shukri’s tail brush up against him, flicking back and forth, and when he looked her way, she was looking toward the space where the Raven and the Blade of Frost had left. “That was fun, wasn’t it?”
She turned to look at him. Both of them had stopped breathing heavily, but her pupils were still dilated and wide. “Yes. It was as fulfilling as I wanted it to be. You will be leaving the grove soon, correct?”
“Er, yeah, why?” As soon as Tahir answered, Shukri grabbed him by the shoulders.
“Take me with you. I want to join you on your journey.”
Tahir blinked a couple of times as he processed what she said. “What? Why?” His mind raced as he searched for an answer. “Is it because of Mikharma?”
“Of course it is, you can summon my favored ancestor and have her hunt among the living again, but that is not the only reason!” She shook him lightly. “You are no hunter, that has not changed, but I still want to hunt with you. I want to learn those techniques that you use with aura. I want to see what you become, and fight like that with you along the way. I cannot do any of that if I simply watch you leave. And - planar rifts aside - I believe you will lead me to better hunts than anything I will find in the Blooming Grove, or the Sea of Grass.”
Tahir didn’t know how to respond. He could feel his face flush, and he looked away as he dropped the bond between all of his spirits, save for Mikharma.
“I for one am totally on board with the crazy strong huntress joining us.” Hasio said, as the other three reached them. “Means someone other than me can pick up the slack on getting food.”
“I think Tahir is agreeing as well. He’s just embarrassed by the attention, don’t mind him.” Meti stated as she flipped through Zorhe’s spellbook, which didn’t help. “In any case, The Raven took the liberty of adding some additional pages of annotated notes, so studying the spells should be easier.”
“We’d love to have you, Shukri!” Theo said, and moved to put a hand on Tahir’s head. “Are you sure you’re okay though, Tahir? Did she throw you too hard?”
“I’m fine.” He replied. Shukri and Theo finally let him go. “I’m just gonna need a minute, that was a lot to take in, but yes, Shukri, we’d all be happy to have you.”
“Wonderful.” Shukri said with a toothy grin. “I shall go say my goodbyes. I will have to leave an explanation for when my parents come to the Grove, or the people here come to the Sea of Grass, and I am not with them. I shall be ready to depart by tomorrow.”
With that, she left, and Mikharma followed after. “I will do something similar, just to take another walk among my people in the flesh for a while, and to speak to that Shaman.”
Tahir just stood with the others, unable to respond. Hasio, however, leaned in toward him. “She came on pretty strong, Tahir. Are we going to have to get separate tents?”
“Shut up.” Tahir replied, covering his face.
“Sweet as it is, it will complicate things going forward.” Meti said, and promptly closed the book. “In any case, if she didn’t thrash you too thoroughly, Tahir, it's time for us to start packing if we’re going to leave tomorrow.” And with that, they made their way back to their tents. Preparing, among other things, to have another member joining their party going forward.