It really was just regular water, if a bit pure. It didn’t actually taste like anything when I drank it, so that supported the purity theory. Even so, I had more important things to worry about — like the fact that Jasko and I now had a very pissed off sandworm on our tail, literally in Jasko’s case.
It turns out, that sandworms are not only sensitive to vibrations in the ground, but also mana fluctuations, which makes it possible for them to hunt prey capable of casting.
I yelled to Jasko as we ran. “DUDE I THOUGHT THIS WAS A SAFE SPOT!”
Jasko responded, making his confusion regarding the current state of affairs known. “IT WAS SAFE. THERE SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN ANY SUNAGMY NEARBY. THIS ONE MUST HAVE EVADED OUR HUNTERS!”
We had noticed something was off when the birds — I think? They made chirping noises and flew, but I didn’t see feathers. — went silent. Soon after, we felt tremors that got stronger the longer they went on. This tipped off Jasko that we should run, just as the massive rust-colored creature breached the dunes behind us.
The sandworm was a massive limbless beast with a large maw at the front that opened with four separate jaws, each tipped with a sharp chitinous edge. The inside of the creature’s mouth was lined with what must have been hundreds of large teeth. It sported three large red compound eyes on each jaw arranged in a line parallel with the rest of its body. The tail end of the massive creature simply tapered off into a point. The massive thing must have been nearly 30 meters long!
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It felt like we had been running for quite a while, and I was starting to get winded. Jasko skidded to a stop, and yelled something in an unknown language just as the sandworm breached, ready to attack. “Pentakan jenektæ!”
The sand at Jasko’s feet was blasted away from him as his outstretched hand glowed and crackled with arcs of mana. A previously invisible array of glass-like triangular panels that arranged themselves in an encompassing shield around the worm glowed a blinding white before completely shattering. The sandworm reeled back at this, and dove back into the sand, retreating.
“That thing can cast?!” I exclaimed incredulously.
“Let’s go! We must get to the village and notify the hunters!” Jasko barked with evident urgency.
Oh boy. More running.
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“How close to the village was the sunagmy? Did you manage to injure it?” a large, almost comically ripped girtablilu man interrogated Jasko.
“It was about two hours south of the village, guildmaster. I did not manage to injure it, but I did dispell its shield.”
“Hm. If we move quickly then we should be able to kill it before it regenerates its shield. You did well to dispell such a large shield so efficiently. In addition to that, since you are the one that found it, you are granted the honor of joining the hunt. You as well, outworlder.”
“Wait wait wait you want me to hunt that thing??” My jaw nearly hit the floor at the very thought. “You don’t really think that I could take that thing in a fight, right? I can barely make water, let alone kill a murder-worm big enough to make a blue whale blush!”
“I like your attitude young one!” The guildmaster guffawed. “But what you say is nonsense! If you can make a little water, then you’re only a few steps away from making your own combat spells! Consider this hunt a learning experience! Naturally, you’ll be accompanied by some of our hunters, but you and Jasko have the right to this hunt!”
Sigh. Definitely not getting out of this one.
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Jasko and I had gone to the tavern — the Lazy Arlynx apparently — where we discussed the hunt over food and drink. Nailah even joined us, much to Jasko’s displeasure.
“We must decide on a battle plan for the hunt. Max, you are inexperienced, so I want you to follow the lead of the hunters and myself. Sunagmy are extremely dangerous to an unprepared hunter, and though we may be in a group, the danger is still ever-present. Breaking the shield as easily as I did was a stroke of luck, and we are blessed to not have to worry about it tomorrow.” Jasko explained in no uncertain terms.
I sighed in resignation, knowing that I was in too deep to back out now. “Alright, well what’s the normal plan of action to kill one of these things?”
“OH! OH! I know this!” Nailah piped up from a few paces over. “Two of the hunters will focus on breaking the shield to stagger and immobilize it, and when that happens two other hunters will use spears to force the mouth open while a fifth hunter will shoot an explosive arrow into the mouth to kill it!” babbled Nailah.
Jasko let out a groan. “That’s all correct except for the fact that breaking the shield doesn’t immobilize it. Stagger, sure. But doing that without a hunter to cast a hold spell will only get the team killed.”
“But that’s not what my team did!” Nailah responded indignantly.
“Your team would have been a crimson smear on the sand a moment later if you hadn’t been quick enough!” scolded Jasko.
Nailah feinted a lunge at Jasko, causing him to flinch in fear.
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Later that night, Jasko and I went back to his humble mudhut. He had since taken to sleeping in a typical girtablilu resting position as opposed to his bed, which he had allowed me to occupy.
Before we retired for the night though, we discussed what my role would be during the hunt.
“You will be firing the explosive crossbow. It will minimize risk to you, while also giving you experience in a hunt — experience that may prove very valuable to you in the future.”
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I was willing to accept that arrangement, but I was still left with some lingering questions. “I understand your reasoning, but didn’t the guildmaster say that it would be good experience for my casting?”
Jasko responded simply, “If you were to experience a discharge, it could get not only you, but the rest of us killed. This is where my ideals diverge from the guildmaster’s.”
I nodded meaningfully, “Alright, I can get behind that. I’d also rather go with the safer option when staring down something as big as that.”
Jasko smiled, genuinely this time. “Max, you have good instincts, even if some of them may need sharpening.” said Jasko, not-so-subtly hinting at my complete inexperience in combat and general life skills that a medieval villager would have. “Sleep well Max, we will rise early and slay this encroaching beast.”
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And rise early we did. Or at least Jasko, Nailah, and the rest of the team did. It was more like a full night’s sleep for me. It was still dark out, which was apparently the plan, since sandworms were less active at night and we’d therefore have plenty of time to set up an ambush.
The night sky was as vibrant as it had been the past few nights. A perfect time to prepare an ambush, and also the perfect time to ask a question that had been bugging me.
“So do those moons have names?” I questioned no one in particular.
Jasko began “Ye-”
“Yeah!” interrupted Nailah. “The big yellow one is Lus, and the little angry one is Mis! They’re never too far apart! They say that the gods of the two are engaged!”
More like fighting to the death.
It took us about two and a half hours to get to the site of the ambush. When we arrived we began setting up camp. The two fledgling hunters that accompanied us set up a large communal tent while Nailah prepared food, and Jasko checked the integrity of the… I wasn’t really sure what he was doing actually.
“Hey Jasko, what’re ya doing with those spears?” I asked as I approached.
Jasko spoke while continuing to stare intently at the spear in his hand as he ran the other over the business end. “I’m checking on the integrity of the runes on the spears that the two fledglings will be using.”
When I took a closer look at the spearheads, I noticed a small cluster of symbols on one side of each spearhead. “What do these runes do? Are these the runic catalysts you mentioned before?”
“Yes, these spears have been infused with high-grade penetration spells by a spellsilver runebrand. When the wielder channels mana into the end of the spear with the runes, it will activate a short range penetration spell that will penetrate most armors, though the cost to the wielder is quite large, so casting it in succession isn’t practical. This will allow the fledglings to force the mouth of the sunagmy open and allow you to dispatch the vile thing.” Jasko explained, quite extensively I might add.
“Is that the spell you used to break the shield earlier?”
“Yes and no. The spell I used was cast in my native language, as opposed to Common. I’m more comfortable casting in Lontish, but it was mostly a stroke of luck that I had hit a weak point in the shield. Now enough of this conversation — I am sure you are hungry.”
He was right, I was quite hungry after the walk out here. Everyone was, and so we enjoyed a vegetable stir fry of sorts. I didn’t recognize any of the vegetables though. I looked up into the sky, at the two moons in a dance of death, and it finally sunk in that I was very far from home.
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When day broke, we began the operation. I was instructed to stay hidden from sight and away from the lure. I was wondering how they would lure a giant fuck you to the square cube law, but I soon found out when- THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
Jasko had set some kind of glowing paper on the ground that seemed to be causing the tremors. It made sense then why they would choose that method. Since sandworms are drawn to vibrations as much as mana, then it would be logical to use a method that does both.
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I thought I would be waiting a while for the worm to show its ugly mug, but with the racket the lure was making, it didn’t take long at all.
I had been hiding by a rock when it breached the sand for the first time, and both Jasko and Nailah cast their hold spells on the beast…
Only for them to be completely deflected by a newly regenerated shield as the beast roared, swiping its tail at Jasko.
Jasko managed to put a shield up before the tail would have shattered every bone in his body and pulverized his lower half, but the shield didn’t hold, and he was sent flying in the other direction.
The two fledglings panicked as they realized that the plan had completely fallen apart, and they rushed the worm with their spears, letting loose their penetration spells.
The worm’s shielding glowed with an iridescent light like our first encounter as the spells pounded against it. Unlike that encounter though, it held strong as the worm swung its head downward onto the two fledglings, scraping them across the ground with its sharp maw, leaving behind a deep crimson stain on the golden sands.
Nailah took this opportunity to cast her own penetration spell, causing an even brighter glow from the worm’s shield, but still failing to break it.
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I was frozen in fear. Why had I ever agreed to go along with this? What good could this possibly bring? Why am I even here? Is this what I have to face in order to survive? What’s even th-
“MAX! YOU NEED TO RUN! GET OUT OF HERE!! WARN THE REST OF THE VILLAGE!!!” I was startled from my anxiety as I heard a magically enhanced yell from Nailah.
I need to run. I need to get out, survive…
…
Wait no! If I leave then Nailah is going to die. The two fledglings are already gone, and Jasko very well might be on his way if he isn’t already. Do something. Do something damn it. MOVE. GODDAMN IT MAX MOVE YOUR LEGS!
I don’t know if it was willpower, adrenaline, or some combination of the two, but I moved. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do, but I knew damn well that I would do something.
Cast a spell Max. You have to cast a spell to take that shield down. This crossbow won’t work for that. What even are the components of the spell? Create…? Shoot? Penetration? Pierce? Shatter? Argh fuck it just try them all!
Before now, I had always taken minutes to find my mana, and even more to grasp and channel it. But now? Now it felt like I had complete access to it. Like I had always known how to cast. I gripped the mana like a lion crushing the neck of its prey, and I sent it.
“Penetrate! Pierce! Shatter! Break! Fucking anything, just work damn it!”
In hindsight, maybe it was a bad idea to give my mana that many commands, but I’d be lying if I said there weren’t results.
What felt like a shockwave passed over me, yet it also felt like it came from me. My hand had been outstretched, aimed at the head of the worm. Bright arcs of mana emitted from my fingers as I refocused my eyes on my target to see the damage. A broken shield for sure, the motes of light made that clear. A gash in the side of its head too, was evident. It was still alive, but that had certainly stunned it. I didn’t know where Nailah was. I had lost sight of her after I cast the spell.
The sandworm was limp on the ground, but still clearly breathing as I approached, removing the crossbow from its holster on my hip, explosive bolt already set. Despite its eyes being compound, I could still feel them focused solely on me.
I took aim with the crossbow, and let fly the killing bolt. A real shockwave passed over me this time, as I had two thoughts before my adrenaline ran dry.
Since when did my saliva taste like iron? And why can’t I feel my arm?