“Why, in the name of the holy Four we had to encounter this damn beast now of all times…” Eisg mutters ‘beneath his breath’, starting another wave of swearing to ‘himself’ as we make our way through the forest.
Just as I’m, and if not more, the healer is clearly nervous about leaving the band and has been showing it by mumbling like that since the chief ordered us to move away from the clearing. It’s a feeling that I understand, but the chief said that our group encountered a beast’s den, and that both he and the rest of the mercenaries had no essence to spare, being unable to fight while protecting me. And if the level three practitioner says that something is dangerous and that you should withdraw then I’m satisfied already by doing exactly that.
Eisg from what I caught of their talk and deduced is here because he was the best choice to go with me as a healer would not cause that much damage to a high leveled beast to start with, and healing per se takes too much time to be done middle combat. Still, he is a practitioner, and I’m sure that having him fight would be better than not, so the fact that they still chose to do so even after I discovered that the reason for the pile of bodies that I woke too see was me makes me both glad and doubtful.
They could blame me, they should’ve, but they didn’t, and I can’t help but ask what they gain by helping me time and time again. Even now they keep doing it, moved by some kind of goodwill that after all that happened I can’t help but accept real, and promise to pay back when I can.
That said and back to the important things, we should be something close to half a kilometer away from the clearing now and yet Eisg keep moving forward, not slowing in the slightest. I don’t know how far he intends to keep going but nor do I know how fast can a high level beast cross the distance of half a kilometer, so I keep my mouth shut and both my eyes open as we move.
I know that I don’t actually need to, he will notice if something is close way before me, that is, if I do notice something. But even if I know that, right now, walking without the band the forest demands my attention, it seems bigger, almost oppressive as we cut our way through it. The trees are large, able to hide two men side by side and with no doubt able to do the same to a beast; the greenery is also dense and takes meters of sight from my eyes, all that summing up to create a suffocating feeling that grows inside my chest, no matter how much I fight it.
Thankfully I do not need to fight it for long, just when the thought of how Eisg is able to know where he is going without any kind of markings cross my mind he calls for a stop. I lost exactly count of how much we walked, it could be a little more than one kilometer just as could be a bit less, on thing that’s obvious however, is that the last meters were weighting more and more on Eisg, and I doubt he could keep going for long.
It’s strange, the image of a practitioner that I always had has been changing since I met the mercenaries, since I can remember I never saw a practitioner show weakness or tiredness, not of this kind, I’ve seen them come back wounded sure, but they always healed, they always seemed… more. Not that I ever once believed on the kind of things that some did, I’ve always knew that they were less than they claimed, but now some things are even clearer.
I see myself starting drifting in not so old memories and on thoughts of revenge, but fail to go far as Eisg snaps me back to reality, we are here, wherever here is, and it’s not time for daydream. He uses his hands to open us a way through a few thorny brushes that I can only presume be the reason of our stop as they are the only different thing from other spots that we moved past before, he moves fast, compelling me forward and deeper within it as the thorns hardly do something against his skin. Unfortunately I can’t say the same for myself.
After a few meters we find ourselves completely surrounded by such brushes, they stand tall, getting at my shoulders with ease and growing tangled enough to be compared with a natural wall, a wall with a lot of curvy little thorns. I don’t quite know how Eisg knew that they had, or why such brushes have a convenient clearing in the middle of it in the first place, but they do, sadly my curiosity keeps unanswered as I hardly think that’s time for asking.
Not that he gives me the opportunity to.
“I’ll deep in, I need to get some essence back in case someone gets badly hurt… in the meant time don’t cultivate, don’t move and don’t make any sound or I swear that I’ll drown you myself. We can’t afford another situation like the last one, not now, are we clear?” – He turns and locks eyes with me, speaking with a commanding tone.
“Of course, you’ll not even notice that I’m here, you can be sure about it!” I say, the words coming easily with the practice of saying similar lines for years.
He stares me for half a second in search for something that says that’ll not follow his words before giving up and sitting with crossed legs on the ground, ready to connect with the water essence in the forest and absorb it as his own.
As he does and I see myself ‘alone’ I busy myself pondering if he chose this place because the thorns will keep animals away or because the thorns will keep me from escaping, or moving too much in general. I can’t really think of a way to go back without doing enough sound to wake him up, nor can I think of an animal coming while doing so, so it serves for both I suppose. My mind also wander to the question if such thorns would help keeping beasts away, but in the end I drop the matter as I know too little about beasts to find the answer, the fact that everything pointed out to such answer be a no having nothing to do with it.
Seeing myself winding up in pointless thoughts and with my legs tired I find a seat on ground too, the brushes offer good protection against the cold wind and I find myself more tired than I thought I was, unfortunately hungrier too. I’ve become too pampered I judge myself, mere five hours without eating anything and this hungry already. I blame the mercenaries and their three meals a day.
With nothing to do I keep waiting for what I think is half an hour when I judge that my stomach is close to breaking Eisg’s rule of “no sounds” so I stand up once more and I start searching the thick thorny brushes for their little fruits. I saw flashes of their little orange while moving and finding some more in this side should be easy enough.
It is, taking them though it’s proving itself to be quite a challenge. The thorns are curved like a hook and the little things are hid deep inside the dense brushes so it takes a lot of time to actually get them without getting hurt or making too much noise, both things that I want to avoid. After another something close to what I believe be ten minutes the brushes are emptier and I’m sitting on the ground with a dozen or so of the small round fruits in my hands.
I throw one in my mouth hoping that its flavor will pay for the small cuts and scratches gained by picking them, the thorns say that the fruits are not poisonous but it would be a shame if they tasted horrible. To my surprise however the fruit is fresh and sweet with the pleasant surprise of the seeds being something close to pepper, giving it a nice contrast on the right amounts. The taste makes a smile involuntary appear on my face and I can hardly stop myself from throwing all of the rest of them inside my mouth in gluttony after eating one.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
I force myself to eat it slowly though, not because of the usual reasons, but simply to appreciate them with the calm that they deserve. While at it I also leave a few seeds with plans to let them dry to be used later, after the last night events our stock of fresh meat sky rocked and with no time to smoke it I have to make something fast or they’ll go bad, and that’s a big no.
But that’s for later.
-
“GET ITS LEGS, I’LL GET YOU A CHANCE” - I shout at the top of my lungs, as I far as I know an order can never be too much loud on a battlefield, it can only be louder.
It has been exactly twenty six minutes since the beast appeared running at top speed, probably after catching our smell, and we - they - started fighting it. I’ve been only watching since now, letting the boys to fight the beast on their own. My hope is that one of them actually encountered some insight while fighting but the chance that it happened is small, letting them keep going would put them in a risk that I’m not confident enough to take however, so it’s time to end things.
Sadly to keep myself out of the fight I had to negotiate with the frasan and the time was bought with the need to give their young “the honor” to deliver the last blow. I easily took the offer at the time, it’s not like delivering it will give something especial, it serves only to inflate some kind of sick ego that those people have.
It was a good trade still, even if they did not found an insight I’m sure that they at least got closer, and being a spectator made clear a lot of things that I would find hard to notice if I was also fighting. Things like how close Fliytch is from leveling, needing only the last small push to cross the wall, push that I intend to give by pressuring him now that I know that I can. Things like how Ainmh’s movements are now better and how he can be now trusted with harder tasks and son. Sadly there were bad things noticed too, like how, no matter for how much long the fight kept going the young frasan would not be able to end the beast on his own.
But a vow is a vow, so we are going with a new plan.
With no spare time or chance to see if my order got through I trust the band and our years together to believe it did and start my part, I speak the language, my voice not my own as I say the familiar words of power and earth essence fills my body, then, the earth beneath me. As fast as it came the sudden boost of essence is gone, leaving me only with the mess it made inside my body and the dozen roots that now fight to lock the beast down.
The beast, four meters tall with maybe six or seven of length and who knows how much weight of pure muscle fights the roots back, it breaks them just as fast as they grow back, crashing around while using its own gift to keep the others far enough and unable to attack while it does. For a few seconds we fight to a standstill, roots against muscles as my blood boils at the sight of challenge after so long, sadly and to my displeasure our standstill quickly crumbles, even a mixed-breed cannot go against the difference of levels for long.
Concluding the same the beast stops using its winds to keep the others from getting close and completely focuses on cutting and breaking my roots, for a few more seconds we fight to a standstill once more, now roots against muscles and wind. I tinge of sadness runs through me as I see myself wanting to keep fighting it, to let it live and let it come challenge me once it’s stronger, but again, a vow is a vow so I shake off the feeling.
I pour more essence into the ground, my roots multiplying as I devour everything around myself to overwhelm the beast using my full power, the least that I can do. Trees whither and the ground dries as their essence is taken from them by force, the beast notice the wrongness happening around it and starts fighting back with more hurry, but it’s already of no use, its realization too late.
I will my essence into a last strike and the roots follow true, the beast is pinned to the ground by a dozen and more, unable to move.
“NOW” - I say, and the infused with essence word travels fast and heavy in the air after leaving my mouth, not exactly on purpose, I just burned enough essence at the time that some escaped with my voice, but it’s not like it matters.
As I wait for the others true to their name the devouring roots devour, they dig the beast in while its hard muscles and hide do little to stop the wood as it find its way deeper and deeper into flesh. Not ready to give up the beast howls in rage and pain and so does the wind, it calls for its gift once more, the air answering with a number too hard to count of wind blades that crash again and again against the roots that cage it. Differently from the last time though, the wind blades are not able to cut the roots more deep than half of their width and that’s a damage that I can simply ignore by devouring more of its blood and essence, as said, it’s of no use, too late already.
With the corner of my eye I watch as Fliytch moves fast and heavy in the direction of the now forced still and unprotected beast, his muscles as large as the roots that I made with a deep purple consuming the reddish-pink of his skin, his gift used. He throws his shield aside, wielding his sword with the two hands and jumping high in the air, only to fall a second later as his sword bites deep into the beasts flesh.
The beast gives a low howl in response to being cut and a second later Eann’s and Ainmh’s attacks arrive, a spear of earth and a blade of wind, both aiming at its eyes. The beast however barely tries to dodge the strikes, all the blood taken by the roots leaving it weak and drowsy. It still tries though, the beast throws its head to the side and the strikes find its shoulders, they pierce a few centimeters deep but fail to inflict real damage as the force behind the level two attacks is absorbed by the beast’s fur.
But those were meant only as distractions.
The earth moves beneath my feet not by my will as I sense it before seeing, the “giant” earth spear brought forth by the young frasan and Brod’s combined efforts. The plan was to use him as support – counter measure - to deal with the fact that the young master’s essence is too erratic and chaotic to be controlled in a real fight.
From the brief research done before accepting the contract I would never believe that a big family like the frasan would be so stupid as to over-feed their seeds with herbs only to gain a little boost of essence at the price of not even being able to use the gained strength, even more as said research showed that said seed is one of the best that they have, but they did, and that’s reason that no matter how much chances the boys gave or give him, they would simply not be long enough.
My roots however, are able to overpower the beast for the unrealistic long time that he needs to gather essence and will it into an attack. Unrealistic time that eventually came to an end.
The beast had no chance, unable to move the spear easily found its side and pierced hide, flesh and heart of creature in a single movement, leaving only my roots preventing the beast from falling down right away as it took the last moments of its life.
-
We both gave a sigh of relief when we found that there were no big injures nor any deaths in the fight. Like an invisible set of shackles the tension left my body and I felt lighter, finally free from the worries that consumed me in the back of my mind without my notice.
We came only a few minutes after the battle ended as Eisg was somehow able to accurately know the exact time to come back if someone was in danger, as I said however, they were not, and that made us focus on the next more important thing. Not that it was an easy to ignore one.
My eyes fell on the huge mountain of a beast that we first saw at the distance, now closer, and focusing on the details. Its fur is more of a messy ash than the silver grey that I first thought of, going almost black at the top of its back and head. The body is a blend of wolf and some kind of feline for what I can tell, being something like a small structured giant wolf or a big muscled golden eyed furry cat, giving the beast the feeling of being both agile and strong.
I keep staring at it for few minutes more, unable to shake of the feeling of awe and fear that it gives off, trying to imagine how it looked alive, how strong it really was. I follow the now uneven ground and its scars gained while both sides battled trying to recreate what happened inside my head with finding no success until I finally give up with a last glance towards the giant earth spear that killed it, promising to soon be able to wield such power myself
As I make my way back to the center of the clearing I notice that most of the mercenaries is either doing some camp work or being healed by Eisg - with a few exceptions here and there - so I busy myself with something too.
I’ll let cultivating for later as I hardly think that the group would survive another huge fight like of the last night, and even if they did, I don’t think that their good grace for me would.