Chapter 17: “I’m sorry, Isolde.”
The night held its breath as the expedition sat around listening to a song of crackling fire, shadows performing the dirge on their faces. Half the security team had been chosen to go with Captain Nelson to brave the darkness in search of the missing medical officer. Cassian was grateful Isolde had not been chosen for that team. He already regretted that because of him, she had joined this expedition. He didn’t want her tempting fate any further.
Cassian’s head had started to ache from the vague, constant buzz of the chaotic nature magic all around them. It had only intensified as the night deepened, and it didn’t matter whether he was connected with Lyra’s bond. It wouldn’t go away. Also, he couldn’t help feel that beyond the treeline there was a living, breathing forest that was just waiting to devour them.
Gareth passed him a flask, calling it "Dragon's Breath," claiming it would keep him awake. Until Captain Nolan’s team returned, they had all been ordered to stay alert.
Cassian took a sip, then spit it out immediately. Some of it sprayed the fire and it flashed green, before returning to normal. “What the hell? Are you trying to poison me?”
Gareth’s head tilted back and he cackled. Then took a swig, grimaced, then sighed with satisfaction. “Ahhh… It’s not for the faint hearted.”
“Only you would enjoy pure ghost pepper and Fireball with a dash of lime.” Which was what the concoction tasted like to Cassian. “It’s like drinking fire.”
Gareth’s lips twisted and he shot Cassian a look. “It’s in the name, my friend, what did you expect?” Then he looked contemplative and hummed. “You know, other than the lime, I haven’t the faintest inkling what any of those things you mentioned are. Are they the names of spells or ingredients from your homeland?”
Cassian didn’t answer. Instead he snatched the flask and took another swig. This time he grit his teeth and forced it down. The intense spicy burning sensation faded after the first second or two, replaced by potent cinnamon and lime. It wasn’t so bad the second time. Still, he didn’t think there would be a third. The drink, indeed, made him feel wide awake, not at all like ordinary alcohol.
“Do you think she wandered off?” Cassian asked, passing the flask back. “I heard them say the wards were undisturbed.”
Gareth shook his head. “Maybe she saw something in the trees and went to investigate. Then she accidentally wandered past the ward line without noticing.”
It was highly unlikely. The expedition had been warned prolifically about the dangers. The forest was most dangerous in the dark, but it was just as suicidal to go beyond the wards alone even during twilight, which was when the medical officer had gone missing.
Cassian’s gaze drifted to Isolde, standing ready at the tree line, her back to him. He had caught a glimpse of her expression a few times when she turned around. She looked fierce, her determination etched into every line of her face. He admired her resolve, even if it sucked she was angry with him. He chuckled to himself, realizing he liked her better now than before. He wasn’t sure if that made him a feminist or a masochist.
Suddenly, something moved in the shadows above Isolde and to the right. It was a creature with spines for fur, multiple arms, and it resembled a monkey. His heart lurched. Without thinking, he opened his mouth to warn her, but then the alarm charm on his shoulder strap rang. So did everyone else’s.
The sound startled the creature, causing it to scurry away. Isolde and the rest of the security team pulled back from the tree line, forming a ring facing outward around the communal fire. Professor Thorne’s voice crackled over the comm device, brusque but necessary. “Who sounded the alarm?”
A demi-human with fox-like features spoke up, his ears twitching. “It was me. I spotted a spider monkey but took it out with a killing spell.”
The tension in Thorne’s voice relaxed somewhat. “Good. If we’re lucky, there won’t be any more scouts to bring the pack down on us.”
Reluctantly, Cassian spoke up. “I saw another spider monkey. It ran off.”
Thorne turned to him, eyes blazing with fury. “Why did you not alert the security team?”
“It happened too fast. It escaped after it heard the alarm.”
Thorne’s face tightened. “Everyone, prepare for a swarm attack.”
The warning wasn’t in vain. A few tense minutes later, the night exploded into chaos. Screaming spider monkeys descended from the trees, their eight limbs moving with unnatural agility. They hurled sticky web bombs with terrifying accuracy, entangling several members of the convoy, or leap at a member of the security team, raking flesh with their claws.
"Watch your flanks!" Thorne shouted, his voice cutting through the cacophony. "Keep them away from noncombatants and the injured!"
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Cassian saw Gareth conjure water mid-air, shaping it into ice bullets that shot towards the oncoming creatures. The bullets struck true, several spider monkeys falling from the trees, or arresting their progress through the air as they soared teeth first at their target, then thudding against the ground.
Isolde was a whirlwind of spectral snakes and conjured whips. She fought with even more ferocity than Cassian had seen in the Mirage chamber. In one hand, her whip cracked and choked, squeezing the life out of monkeys left and right. In the other,, her dagger slipped between ribs or stabbed necks, green blade gleaming in the firelight.
"West flank,” one of the security team shouted to Cassian’s left. "Don't let them breach the perimeter!"
In the heat of the fight, Cassian kept his head down as he went back and forth to heal the injured. With one of the medical officers missing, he filled the healer spot well. His hands glowed white every time he healed a gash or pulled a spine from a wound and sealed the hole. He barely had time to catch his breath before the next wave of spider monkeys attacked.
"Incoming from above!" a scout yelled, pointing to the treetops. “Northbound, incoming.” “Man down South. We need a medic!”
The fight seemed to go on forever, though it lasted only minutes. Then, an extra-large spider monkey, nearly three times as big as the rest, joined the fray. Its spines were longer, it had a red mane almost like a crown, and when it hit the ground, Cassian could swear he could feel it in his chest. The other monkey displayed deference to this creature, and while others in the swarm attacked in twos and threes, they gave it a wide berth, leaving it to fight alone. The large spider monkey wasn’t just big, but fast, weaving through the combatants with impossible speed. It swiped at several of the security team who tried teaming up against it, before retreating into the trees.
"Focus on the leader!" Thorne commanded. "Take it down, and the rest will scatter!" Thorne was on the opposite side of the battlefield. His attack style was unique among the defense team. Most of the damage he dealt was done by his fire elemental familiar. It served as his shield and sword, while he drew circles in the air and on the ground that would trap monkeys that passed through them. They became bound in the space the circle delineated, after which the familiar would cook them with its flames. Once or twice, Cassian saw the familiar itself create one of these circles on Thorne’s command. Cassian was seeing first hand how a master fought with his familiar. His side of the defense line was almost completely protected single handedly through his efforts.
Suddenly, the leader spider monkey leapt from the darkness and pounced on Cassian, pinning him to the ground. He tried pushing it away, but it was too heavy and too strong. It sank its jagged teeth into his right shoulder and tore a chunk out with a savage lurch.
Then Isolde’s whip was around its neck before it could maul him again. She pulled the creature off Cassian and it immediately twisted to face her, bending its limbs in unnatural angles as it scuttled toward her at alarming speed. It slashed at her calf while distracting her with its upper arms. It spun, righting its dislocated limbs, then fought her in earnest with such speed and ferocity that Isolde strained to keep up. She succeeded in dismembering several of its arms, which should have ended the creature if her poison took, but barely seemed to slow it down.
Finally, the monkey got in consecutive hits, one along her wrist and forearm that dispelled her conjured dagger, the other to her shoulder that twisted her around. Cassian watched in horror as it climbed onto her, and sank its teeth into her neck.
Cassian saw red. Time slowed, and he unconsciously drew on the chaotic nature mana around it. It filled him with the warped power of the forest until he felt something inside strain to bursting. He raised a hand and roots erupted from the ground in front of the creature, penetrating the spider monkey’s body in multiple places. Cassian commanded the roots to twist inside and through its muscle, its fat and bone—to pry its jaws open and pull it off her. The leader of the spider monkeys was brutally yanked down to the ground with a sickening crunch. He willed the roots to suck the creature dry, and they left it a withering husk.
Even as the remaining spider monkeys retreated, Cassian rushed to Isolde’s side, pulling her hand away from her gushing wound and replacing it with his own. Her entire body glowed white, as the rush of healing magic flowed into her like a raging river through a broken dam. Her terrible wound on her neck sealed instantly and disappeared, along with the rest of her wounds. He held her as the magic faded, both of them pale and spent.
Meanwhile, the spider monkeys howled and screeched, retreating into the dark of the forest, having decided that now, without their chief, this meal was more work than it was worth.
Isolde turned to look at the mummified creature. Then looked up at Cassian, her eyes wide and moist. In her eyes, he saw the echoes of his own fears reflected. They had flirted with the reaper, and wound up in each other's arms instead.
She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his neck—blessedly not the one that was injured, though he barely felt that at the moment. The tears came in earnest, and were interlaced with sobs, and uncontrollable shaking. They huddled on the ground together, simultaneously apologizing to each other.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry” Cassian said. Not really knowing if he was apologizing for getting her into this mess, for hurting her, or for nearly not getting to her in time. Her carotid had been severed. A few seconds delay and…
Maybe it was less about what they said, and more about just hearing the sound of each other’s voices—proof that they weren’t dead. They were just two kids in a world of monsters lucky to be alive.
Cassian barely noticed when the healer fixed his shoulder. He was grateful that no one disturbed them. His arms wouldn’t obey him even if he asked them to let go.
Finally, after some time, Isolde spoke, her voice scratchy and hoarse. "You saved my life.”
“You saved mine first," Cassian replied. "You're a badass, you know that?"
Isolde chuckled, a sound weighed down with exhaustion from the post battle low. "Don't think this means I've forgiven you."
"I wouldn't dream of it," Cassian said.
Professor Thorne eventually approached them, his voice more subdued than he’d ever heard. “Get them to rest by the fire. The rest of us will keep watch the rest of the night.
Then Gareth helped them to their feet, and Cassian realized he must have been waiting by them for some time. He helped them to a bedroll by the warmth of the fire. It was one in a series of them that had been laid out for those too exhausted from injury and healing to be of any use.
No one bothered to separate them when they fell asleep in each other’s arms.