You guys are right on schedule. Tomorrow, you’ll be in Reach. The day after that, you’ll be at the Dark Zone. Ivar has been asking about the wyverns, by the way. Is Aelric keeping you up at night?

Is Aelric the one that Kallen was riding or the one that screams every thirty goddamn seconds while we’re flying?

The one Kallen was riding.

Oh so that’s the one you’re worried about?

U-Um, by the way, are you all doing alright? H-How are the conditions? No one is h-hurt or anything, are they?

We’re fine, Malori, thank you very much for asking.

Not now Shortie, the adults are talking.

Yet you keep opening your mouth.

Actually, Feathers, this is telepathic, so now I’m only opening my mouth to laugh at you, you absolute fool.

Ingrid sighed as she watched Alice and Natalia stare daggers at each other from across the campfire. Their third day of travel had just come to a close, and the standard bickering that she had come to expect from the check-ins was as prevalent as ever. She could never particularly tell whether or not Alice and Natalia’s relationship was positive or negative. As the chats continued though, she began to notice something. It may have been her imagination, but Malori sounded almost… lighter? Happier may have been a better word for it. Her stutter was still there as it always was, but the trepidation in her voice seemed to diminish with each sentence. She made sure to remember to ask about it when they got back. Talking about it in front of everyone might draw more attention than she was ready for.

She glanced over at Kallen, who was attempting to get her wyvern to eat a chunk of snow to see what would happen. The human was still yet to fully get the hang of the telepathy, and thus stayed silent during them. When she tried to talk, it generally came through garbled and difficult to understand. It could have been worse though, she could have had a similar experience to Ingrid’s first time, and accidentally sent through random thoughts that she didn’t intend to. She still winced whenever she thought of that. Hopefully Malori didn’t hold it against her.

Well, I don’t want to interrupt your bickering too much, but is there anything else to report? Colette cut in, trying to keep them on task.

Nothing that comes to mind, Your Grace. We’ll make sure to update you if anything of note occurs, Ingrid said respectfully. She could feel the Archmage nodding mentally.

Very good then. Stay safe. We’re counting on you.

Ingrid felt the mental link be cut, once again leaving the four of them alone in the wilderness. She sighed and sat down on the rock next to Alice, slumping against her. What was it about travel that was always so tiring? Paradoxically, marching herself felt less exhausting than sitting in a cart or on the back of a wyvern.

“You know, Aelric doesn’t actually scream very often when we’re flying,” she said matter-of-factly to Alice.

The dark elf let out a long, exasperated sigh. “Please just let me be annoyed at something.”

“You’re just struggling because you’re still terrified of heights,” Ingrid teased.

“No, I am not afraid of heights. Rooftops? High towers? Mountains? Ravines? I can handle all those. Those are fine. Floating in the middle of a vast nothingness with no ability to even grab onto anything but my seat if I fall? That’s not ‘being afraid of heights,’ Love, that’s common sense,” she said indignantly.

Her tone said that she was annoyed, but Ingrid couldn’t help but notice the slight playfulness in her voice. At least she was becoming less self-conscious about it. That was always a step in the right direction.

“Well, you didn’t get sick today from it, so I’m very proud of you,” she smiled, giving her a small kiss on the cheek. “Maybe tomorrow you’ll even let go of my waist!”

“I wouldn’t do that if I wasn’t flying, you can bet your ass I’m not doing it on the back of a reptile a million feet in the air.”

“Actually, they’re not technically reptiles, they aren’t cold-blooded. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to survive in places like this.”

“Hm? Funny, I thought we left Shortie back at the palace,” Alice rolled her eyes, putting her arm around Ingrid.

“Magic is what she loves, nature is what I love,” Ingrid explained cheerfully, “Nature and you, of course.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” she chuckled.

“Natalia! Can you give me a hand with this?” Kallen called from behind them. Ingrid turned to see the human dragging the wyvern towards the campfire, its jaws clamped down on her hand and up to her forearm. Dirt and snow was torn up where it was trying to hold its ground, like this was some game of tug of war.

“Why do you need my help? If you can pull the damn thing I’m sure you can pry its mouth open,” she deadpanned, looking unamused.

“I mean, I don’t want to hurt him. He thinks we’re playing!”

“You tried to get him to eat a chunk of snow the size of your head.”

“Yeah, and he liked it!”

“Just open its mouth and stop messing around,” Natalia groaned, shaking her head. Despite her tone, there was an amused smile on her face. Ingrid clicked her tongue. She knew those two got along, but expected the illian to be more annoyed, like she got with her and Alice.

“I am so, so tired…” Alice sighed as Kallen levered her arm up and down, before yelping as she fell back into a snowdrift when it finally let go. The creature made a cooing noise that sounded almost like a laugh.

“We can go to bed early if you’d like. It’s my turn to cook though, so I should do that first.”

“This is not a tired that sleep fixes,” she rasped like she was in pain. “Let’s get some food, I’ll probably feel better then. Maybe. Hopefully.”

“Food it is. Would you mind getting some water ready so that we can–”

Alice sprang up from her seat, accidentally jostling Ingrid as she did. Gone was the exhausted and irritated woman who was just complaining, now replaced with an alert, calculating fighter.

“A-Alice? What happened?”

“Sorry, heard something, one of the chimes I set up,” she said quickly. As if on cue, Ingrid heard the telltale sound of snapping twigs in the distance. Something was coming.

She didn’t take time to question how Alice had heard that. Diving into the dimensional bag, she removed her staff, expanding her mind outwards to detect whatever it was that was coming. Kallen and Natalia were both alert as well, the former sending the wyverns into the sky for safety. Ingrid let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding as the two beasts began circling overhead, waiting for the commotion to die down.

“Any idea what it is?” Natalia asked, her feathers standing on end in anticipation. Already her hands glowed faintly as she prepared for a fight.

“Give me a second,” Ingrid snapped. The plant life around confirmed what they already knew, something was coming. As she drifted further, it was several somethings. About eight of them. One significantly bigger than the others. She tried to focus on what it was, but they were approaching dangerously fast. “I’m not sure, but there are eight. Big, one bigger,” she said quickly.

Spinning her staff, she slammed it down. The small clearing they were in began to open up more as she channeled her magic into the roots of the trees around them. They needed it to be open enough for their two bigger members to be able to maneuver freely, but hopefully still restrictive to whatever was on its way. She had received enough information from the plants around to know that the creatures were predators. If they were charging like this, attempting to calm them down and send them on their way would be a good way to lose a limb or two, if not a life.

Alice dashed to one of the nearby trees, sprinting up it like it wasn’t a ninety degree angle as she pulled up her scarf. The sounds approached, causing a sinking feeling in Ingrid’s gut. Those weren’t twigs breaking. The sound of splintering and shattering wood was unmistakable as it got closer. Entire trees were being broken down. How far out did Alice set those chimes? She wasn’t gone for that long–

Cutting off her thoughts, she saw the hulking forms scuttling through the trees. Chitinous plates layered across long, flexible bodies that rushed through the trees. Dozens of legs propelled them across the snow, with two sets of sharp claws at the fronts of their bodies. She remembered seeing statues of them in the palace before meeting Gertrud. With every step they took, a path of steam and melting snow was left in their wake. To make matters worse, they were massive. Each of them was maybe twelve feet long, making her feel terrifyingly diminutive as they surged forward.

Her heart pounded as they approached, her mind desperately trying to think of a plan. She took a deep breath. “Kallen! Try to keep their attention and do whatever you can. Natalia, fly above and see what you can do to melt through their armor. Alice, stay moving. If you can get in and hit a weak point, do it and then get out. I’ll try to keep them off of Kallen,” she commanded, her hair starting to drift upwards as she channeled the magic through her staff.

Natalia looked surprised, but nodded, launching herself into the air. She hung back, trying to avoid the rising steam, but readied her magic for the fight. Alice had completely vanished, which meant she was likely already doing her job. Kallen gave her a cheerful smile, then readied herself for the charge.

There was no pause like before the fight with Berith. Just a steady buildup of rumbling, chittering, and crashing wood until the creatures burst screeching through the trees.

Kallen tried to block the first one charging her with her blade, but it bounced harmlessly off the thick plating. For the briefest of moments, she seemed legitimately taken aback before dodging out of the way of a second, kicking it away as she dove into a roll on the ground.

Ingrid brought her hand up, a series of twisting roots bursting forth from the ground and snow. A third creature was caught by it and lifted from the ground, slamming into the fourth. More roots rose to restrain another as Kallen narrowly avoided another strike from a set of pincers. It was a struggle not to be mesmerized by the speed at which she weaved in and out of attacks, blocking and dodging like a veteran soldier.

A concentrated beam of light struck another of the creatures, an ear splitting shriek coming from it as the pale blue shell began to glow red. Natalia continued to force the beam forward until the light finally burst out of the other side of the creature. Ingrid’s heart sank as it let out another shriek, seemingly ignoring the hole the size of Ingrid’s torso as it continued rushing to where Kallen was occupied with three other beasts.

“Kallen! Watch out!” she shouted, slamming her staff down. A wave of earth erupted forward from it, sending a wall of jagged stones between Kallen and two of the beasts. Seizing the opportunity, the human leapt over one of the claws and sprinted up it like a ramp. The creature let out an angry shriek that was quickly cut off as she forced her glaive into its mouth. A burst of cracked chitin and orange blood exploded from the back of its head as she forced the blade through. She jumped over the snapping mandibles of the one Natalia melted a hole through and landed on its back. Forcing her hands into the hole, she let out a shout of exertion that drowned out the creature’s shrieks as she tore it in half.

In that same moment Alice shot down like a hawk, landing on the third creature’s head and slashing at its eyes. It threw its head back in pain, but Alice held strong. Grabbing one of its mandibles to keep it steady, she thrust her dagger into the creature’s jaws, stabbing it in the roof of its mouth. Quickly yanking her dagger upwards, it gave one final shutter before falling limp. Three dead.

They weren’t given a moment to breathe. Alice was quickly put on the defensive, struggling to dodge out of the way of another set of pincers and mandibles. Ingrid tried to raise her staff to help, but a slam to her side sent her flying into a tree. She groaned as she crashed into the trunk and down into the snow, trying to ignore the pain as she pushed herself up. Yelping in fear, she dove backwards just in time to dodge a strike that cleaved through the tree, sending it falling backwards. She summoned a gust of wind to shove her further back and put more space between her and the creature. Rolling to her feet, she locked eyes with it, wincing as it shrieked and hurtled towards her. She took a breath, gathering her focus and magic. If she missed, she’d die. No pressure at all.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Half a second felt like an eternity as she waited for the perfect moment. As it opened its jaws and mandibles to dive at her, her eyes snapped open. Plunging the staff down once more, she thrust her hand upwards. A spire of rock exploded from the ground next to her. It didn’t have a moment to react or even make any noise as it was impaled on the stone. It twitched for a moment, then lay still.

She gasped for air, glancing at where Alice had been just in time to see Kallen swing her glaive down on top of one of the creature’s heads like an axe. The armor splintered and cracked under the weight of the blow, the ground under its head shattering as it was slammed down. Another was consumed by a pillar of harsh light, as if a piece of the sun had fallen to the surface to burn the creature. Another ear splitting shriek pierced the air until the pillar finally faded, the monster falling to the ground as nothing more than a charred black form.

Ingrid rushed over to where Alice was occupied with the final creature. She moved like a ghost, dashing in and out of its reach almost faster than she could see. Each time, a trail of orange blood splashed from a new wound as Alice targeted every chink in its armor she could. It was having a noticeable effect. The creature was slowing down, not hitting with nearly the force that the others had been.

In the moments it took Ingrid to arrive, it had already collapsed to the ground, blood leaking from what seemed like dozens of wounds. Seizing the opportunity, Alice thrust her dagger deep into its eye, killing it.

There was a moment of pause for the women to catch their breath. Natalia touched down glancing around. Ingrid scanned the area, counting the bodies. She tallied them in her head, her blood running cold as she only counted seven. The plants had told her eight were coming. These ones were all the same size too. What had happened to the bigger one?

She opened her mouth to warn the others when the ground began rumbling.

Before she had the chance to utter even a syllable, an explosion of dirt and rubble burst from the center of their camp. Another of the creatures, this one almost three times the size of the others, erupted from the ground. Kallen and Natalia barely had time to avoid being completely swallowed by it as it emerged, skittering from the ground like a serpent and coiling around towards Ingrid and Alice.

The dark elf scooped Ingrid up and lept past a few trees to avoid being caught in its path. Ingrid cried out in pain as they barely managed to avoid being cooked in a jet of steam from the creature’s mouth. She looked down to where it had burnt through part of her leggings, leaving an angry red burn in its wake. Both of them tumbled through the snow, their momentum only being stopped by another tree. They groaned in unison, laying in the snow unmoving for a moment.

Managing to bring her head up, Ingrid peered into the clearing she had made. The gargantuan creature was being kept busy by Kallen, who was managing to block or dodge most of its attacks even as the ground cracked and shuddered beneath the weight of each blow. Even when it managed to hit her with one of its claws and sent her careening through a tree trunk, she quickly managed to recover and dash right back into the fray. Ingrid looked on in awe. Was she really human?

While Kallen kept it occupied, Natalia soared around the battle, sending blasts of light into the creature that were either absorbed by its armor or bounced off completely. Even when she stopped for a moment to focus her light into one beam, all she managed to do was turn that section of the armor an angry red hue. It didn’t even seem to mind.

Alice staggered to her feet, offering a hand to help Ingrid up that she gladly took. “The fuck kinda bug is this?” the dark elf gasped, holding her side.

“I think I’ve read about them before. There was a statue of one in the palace as well. I think they’re called ‘Skolopen,’” Ingrid huffed. “Though sometimes they’re called ‘Blazipedes’ because of their similarity to–”

“Would love to hear about it later, no offense. How do we kill it?” Alice snapped quickly.

Ingrid clicked her tongue. Skolopen lived in icy environments, but had an absurdly high body temperature. Supposedly neither cold nor heat could leave even a mark on their armor. Natalia had proven that that wasn’t entirely true, but she certainly wasn’t getting anywhere with one this big. Kallen at least seemed to be able to match its strength, but a stalemate wasn’t going to be good for any of them.

Come on, think! she mentally shouted. Natalia couldn’t hurt it, not like this. That left Kallen and Alice as their heavy hitters. The armor was far too thick for them to cut or stab through though. Her eyes snapped open. Skolopen were supposed to have an organ near their head that regulated their absurd body temperature. They balanced extreme heat and extreme cold at the same time, a delicate equilibrium that made them as deadly as they were resilient. If they could disrupt it, they could push the balance in one direction and overwhelm it.

“Alice, I have an idea. Do you trust me?” she asked hopefully.

Alice quirked an eyebrow, “What kinda fuckin’ question is that? Hit me with it.”

Ingrid nodded, taking her hand and rushing to a kicked up pile of rubble to hide behind. “Natalia!” she shouted.

“Busy!” the illian yelled back, narrowly avoiding being split in half by one of the skolopen’s claws. “Don’t put yourselves out by accidentally helping or anything!”

“Fuck’s sake–Feathers! Get your ass over here! Kallen! Keep it busy!” Alice snapped.

Natalia hesitated, glancing at Kallen. The human was much more aggressive in her attacks, trying to force the massive beast on the defensive for a moment. Gritting her teeth, she swooped down to the other two, skidding across the dirt as she landed. “Make it quick!”

Ingrid nodded. “Natalia, gather as much energy as you possibly can. Attack it when I tell you to,” she spouted quickly, “Alice, precision is your specialty. I’m going to try to crack its armor and give you a place to strike. You need to find the organ that regulates its body temperature and destroy the cold half. Can you do that?”

“Whaddya take me for, some kinda amateur?” she grinned, twirling her dagger. “Get me an opening, it’s good as gone.”

“Thank you. Okay, let’s go!” she said nervously, praying that this would work.

Natalia launched herself into the air, holding her hands out to her sides as light began to gather around them. “You better know what you’re doing!”

Ingrid gulped and sprinted in the opposite direction as Alice. She allowed herself a quick glance back as the dark elf vanished into the trees, waiting for her moment to strike. This was going to be rough. Keeping her distance from the creature, she spun her staff before swinging it outwards. The ground around her cracked as long, thorny vines began to spill forth and weave around her.

“Kallen!” she shouted.

“Yeah?” it was almost unsettling how chipper she sounded despite the multiple tears and bloodstains on her clothes. It was easy to tell which blood was hers. She slid out of the way of one of the claws, watching the ground where she had just been explode under the force.

“I need you to bait out that steam attack!”

Kallen said nothing, only nodded and rushed forward. There were a few steam burns on her already from where she hadn’t fully dodged it, but she still didn’t hesitate. The skolopen shrieked and tried to snatch her in its front claws. Shockingly, she didn’t try to dodge this time. Putting her glaive on her back, she braced herself and caught them, yanking the beast down and bringing its face almost in line with hers.

Ingrid’s heart sank as steam began to billow from its maw, mere feet away from Kallen’s face. It reared its head back as much as it could in her grasp, ready to blast her away. As soon as it opened its mouth to release the jet of hot air, Kallen yanked it down again. The moment it was close enough, she leapt upwards. A loud cracking noise reverberated through the woods as she kicked its chin hard enough to force the blast of steam out harmlessly into the sky. Ingrid didn’t even realize she had been holding her breath as Kallen flipped away and grabbed her glaive.

Realizing she didn’t have time to be relieved, she scanned the creature. The organ was supposed to be about a fourth of its body length away from its head. Judging by its size and length, that would put it about…

Finding her spot, she dragged her staff across the ground before slamming its head down. As she did, another pillar of rock shot up from the ground, slamming into the skolopen’s underside. In the same moment, she willed the vines forward, maneuvering and wrapping them around its abdomen on either side of the spire. Clenching her hands into fists, she yanked them both down. It shrieked in anger as it was bent over the rock, Ingrid forcing its binds tighter and tighter.

She gave a cry of exertion as she forced it down further, the vines struggling against the creature’s strength. Was Kallen seriously able to match this on her own? All she could do was keep pulling it down, keep forcing the rock further and further upward. The first cracks started to become audible, piercing the veil of her concentration. She kept her eyes closed, trying to focus on her instincts. The cracking got louder as the armor creaked and bent far beyond what it was made for.

“Kallen! Open it up!” she cried, her voice strained and desperate. One of her eyes peeked open just enough to see Kallen leap onto the skolopen’s back. Rushing to where the armor was weakened, she raised her glaive for one quick, brutal swing. A spray of orange blood shot from the wound. Putting her weapon on her back once more, she dug her hands into the sides of the wound. With another feat of strength, she rent the wound open further, tearing through as much as she could. Ingrid gulped, realizing how dry her mouth was. “ALICE!”

Quick as an arrow, the dark elf sprinted up the creature and leapt into the air. She dove down from above, knife raised over her head. Ingrid couldn’t see how much of the creature was exposed from where she was. All she could do was hope that Alice knew what she was doing. She steeled herself. She was going to trust her.

The knife plunged into the creature’s abdomen, a shriek that could have shattered glass erupting from its mouth as blood splashed from its wound. Alice and Kallen exchanged a look, then jumped off of the skolopen and rushed for the treeline. The pale blue armor began to steam, parts of it starting to turn a dull red. It thrashed against its binds, almost yanking Ingrid clean off her feet. Smoke started to drift up from the vines as Ingrid gritted her teeth.

“Natalia! Now!” she screamed.

The illian’s eyes shot open, pure white flames radiating from them. Clapping her hands together, a ball of that same white fire formed around them. Ingrid stared in awe. The way her hair glistened like luminous gold, her wings spread with light shining off of them was incredible. She really did look like an angel.

Roaring in anger, she descended in a streak of light before slamming her hands into the ground. A burst of wind exploded from the now-crater as her wings stood on end. The dirt and rock around the skolopen began to glow, turning from dull red to orange to a pure white as a pillar of light erupted from the ground. Ingrid fell backwards, her magical grip on the vines vanishing as they were incinerated almost instantly. She had to cover her eyes as the light persisted, its intensity threatening to blind her.

The cries and shrieks of the skolopen mixed with the sound of pure energy, but the pillar remained. Snow all around them began to melt away from the mere proximity, the trees shaking and bending like they were in a windstorm.

After what felt like an eternity, the shrieks went silent, replaced only with the sound of magical energy and wind. The pillar started to thin, then finally vanished. Where it had been was a smoldering crater of melted rock and glassy earth. In its center, the shadow of the skolopen burnt into the ground. There weren’t even any visible ashes.

There was a beat of silence. Ingrid groaned and slumped down onto the ground. She didn’t overreach with her magic this time, that was good. This was just the normal brand of exhaustion after fighting a monster the size of a small house.

After letting herself rest for a moment, she used her staff to drag herself back to her feet and look around. The small clearing they had picked out for a camp now looked like an entire field of knocked down trees, melted stone, random unnatural rock formations, and skolopen corpses. But they were alive. She couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. It had certainly gone better than previous battles. Maybe she was getting the hang of this.

She staggered over to Natalia, who was in the process of shaking dirt from her wings. Her chest was heaving, her breathing clearly labored after using that much magic. Glancing at Ingrid, the woman gave a respectful nod. It was the most positive interaction Ingrid had ever had with her. She felt like she was on cloud nine.

“Now that was some good shit right there!” Alice laughed, appearing behind Ingrid and throwing an arm around her shoulder. An infectious smile was on her face as she gave the elf a quick peck on the cheek. “That move with the vines? That was fantastic.”

“Th-Thank you,” Ingrid muttered, slightly embarrassed. She looked up as Kallen approached. “Oh gosh, are you alright? I can do some quick healing magic if you need! I’m not as good as Malori, but I can.”

“I should be good for a bit!” she said cheerily, wiping some of the orange blood off of her face. It made a ‘splat’ sound as it plopped to the ground. “I think that was exciting.”

“That’s… one word for it,” Ingrid sighed. She just wanted to lie down. “I’m exhausted.”

“Looks like it. Take a load off for a minute, I got dinner,” Alice said gently.

Ingrid didn’t even have the strength to say ‘thank you’ as she slumped back to the ground, resting her back against one of the stone walls she had summoned. It wasn’t the comfiest position, but at the moment it felt like heaven. She was this tired after holding that thing in place for maybe a minute, minute and a half. Assisted by magic too! It was far from her physical strength.

“Kallen, how are you that strong?” she gasped, trying to take in as much air as possible.

The human shrugged. “If you lift heavy thing enough you can lift heavier thing,” she said simply.

Ingrid chuckled. She didn’t know what she expected.

Natalia grunted as she sat down next to Ingrid. “Thank you for the heads up. And for the plan. That was good,” she mumbled.

“N-No problem. We couldn’t have done it without you. Honestly, I don’t think we could’ve done that without every one of us,” Ingrid sighed happily. “We make a fairly good team, don’t you think?”

She nodded. “I suppose we do.”

Ingrid clicked her tongue. “That was weird though. Skolopen usually don’t have their matriarchs out and about like that. Typically, the smaller ones scout and hunt, then bring back food so that the matriarch can produce more eggs. They aren’t pack hunters either.”

“They did seem kind of desperate too,” Kallen added, sitting on a downed tree as she cleaned her glaive. “Don’t animals like that usually flee in situations like that? If it’s not an easy kill, isn’t it not really worth it?”

“That’s true…” Ingrid stared at the sky. The wyverns, seeing that the coast was clear, were beginning to swoop down and return to the group. “Were they… running from something?”

“It could explain the strange charging. If they were simply hunting, I doubt that would be the best way to do it. It gives the prey too much time to run,” Natalia added

“Something had to have displaced them from their usual territory,” Ingrid thought aloud. “Do you think that might have something to do with the Dark Zones?”

“If it’s something big enough it makes those things turn tail and run? It sounds like something I’d rather not deal with,” the illian grimaced. “Knowing our luck, we’re probably headed straight for it.”

Ingrid sighed. She was definitely beginning to see what kind of mission this was, and Ivar hadn’t been exaggerating the danger in the slightest. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself down a little bit more. This was a chance to find Mattias. Even if it wasn’t, it was something she’d have to live through in order to keep looking. If it was for her brother, she wouldn’t hesitate to fight a dozen more skolopen.