It still took Artem’s and Galen’s team almost one hour to reach their destination. The place was narrow, but there was enough space to build a campfire and lay out their sleeping bags. They hadn’t brought any tents since carrying and putting them up would hinder them more than anything.
Lucia created several light sources by using her [glow] skill. Maintaining all of them took a lot of concentration, but she didn’t waver and took her job seriously.
Artem charged Galen with preparing their meal. Then, the young combatant asked Emilio and Jarek to prepare their campfire and dig their latrines. Meanwhile, Celeste and Artem would gather enough wood to fuel the fire through the night.
Artem didn’t wait for the others to agree and left to do his chores with Ayden. The faster it was done, the faster he would get back to the camp to protect Galen. Jarek was an unreliable teammate but a good combatant, so Artem felt more at ease with the blond-haired boy staying at the camp with Galen.
Galen efficiently pulled the pots and ingredients needed to prepare dinner from his backpack. His first plan had been to make a stew with their jerky and beans, but it needed to simmer a long time. Since it was already dark, Galen judged it was better to make a simpler meal.
The cold of November was biting but bearable during the day. With the nightfall, it was sharper, so a hot meal was the better choice. Galen measured enough dry pasta for five persons and went to fill the pot with water from the stream.
Waiting for Celeste and Artem to return with kindling and firewood, Galen distributed nuts and dry fruits equally in five bowls. The black-haired boy raised his head to check his surroundings and noticed neither Jarek nor Emilio had dug the pit or the latrines. They were sitting around lazily.
Galen pursed his lips in disapproval. He had planned to join the boys to speed up the preparation for the campfire. However, Galen had only intended to help them: he refused to do their chores. Galen decided to wait for Artem’s return before dealing with the two troublesome students.
“Artem’s coming back,” Lyra said, “but I’m also hearing a beast approaching. It sounds like a type of dog.”
Needing to make Jarek and Emilio believe he knew it thanks to his talent, Galen activated his [Insight] to look around before repeating Lyra’s warning. At the same time, he was recalling what he knew of the beasts inhabiting the Lush Steps Lake. He added, “I think it might be a wolf, a fox, or a jackal. I’m leaning toward a jackal.”
To confirm his speculation, Galen sent Lucia scouting after retrieving his lamp torch from his bag. However, Jarek laughed off his warning. He claimed he had fought enough for one day and refused to stand up to defend their camp.
Emilio rolled his eyes in disbelief. “What nonsense are you saying? It’s dark. What can you see in the dark?” Then, he complained about the fairy leaving the camp, plunging it into darkness.
As soon as he heard Lyra’s warning, Artem sped up, hoping to return in time to protect his brother. His anger burned at the thought that the two combatants weren’t listening to Galen’s warning.
“Something sounds weird with the beast’s breathing. It might be corrupted,” Lyra added.
When Artem arrived at the camp, Emilio and Jarek were still idly sitting around. The brown-haired boy was grumbling at the low power output of his lamp torch while Jarek had his hands in his pockets. Galen was alert in the middle of the camp.
“Which direction?”
Both Lyra and Galen answered Artem. The young warrior sent Ayden after the Light Fairy, to help her scouting. Then, he put down the wood he had gathered near their future campfire and turned his attention to his reluctant teammates. Celeste hadn’t returned from picking wood, so Artem decided to first deal with Emilio and Jarek.
“Why didn’t you dig the latrines or help with anything?”
“You think I’m your servant?” Jarek scoffed. “I don’t need latrines, and I’m tired.”
“Yeah. Who do you think you are to order me around?” Emilio went further, feeling secure since Jarek was on his side. “Stop thinking like a young master: your Family is dead!”
Artem ignored the low jab at his parents’ death and his Family’s situation. He retorted, using logic. “If you expect us to simply give you food or make your bed for you while you do nothing, think again.”
The two boys weren’t intimidated by Artem and ridiculed him. An argument followed, wearing down Artem’s patience. Meanwhile, Lucia and Ayden came flying back. Galen interrogated them, using yes-or-no questions. With their input and his knowledge, the young pharmacist took an educated guest. He loudly interrupted the three other boys’ heated argument to share his information.
“A notable Golden-Furred Jackal is coming our way. I think it’s corrupted because it’s alone, whereas these jackals normally work in pairs. Moreover, they like living in shrub forests or arid places. We need to look for Celeste before the jackal comes to our camp. The corruption will make it act crazily.”
Emilio and Jarek countered Galen’s suppositions, using their laziness and pettiness to refuse to listen. Fed up with their actions and sensing that Artem was nearing his limits, Galen took an extreme decision.
“I’m borrowing Ayden to look for Celeste. I’ll be quick. Meanwhile,” Galen straightened and enunciated clearly, “Artem Alexander Eos, as the head of the Eos Family, I, Galen Gregory Eos, give you leave to use your full force to take control.”
Artem’s head whipped around to stare at his brother. The official order shook off his anger and impatience. Artem raised a fist to heart and bowed. “Yes, sir. I hear and obey.”
Lyra wanted to ask what the hell was going on, but it was more important to help Galen find Celeste quickly. From what her talent was telling her, Celeste wasn’t far, but she was walking in circles. Lyra was ready to bet that the silly girl was lost.
With Galen on the right track, Lyra turned her attention to Artem. The youth strode to Jarek. The blond-haired boy stood up with a scornful smile.
“What new game are you playing? You gonna beat me up? As if you would dare -”
Artem’s power slap to Jarek’s temple came without any warning. Jarek barely had the time to block, but the force of the blow still destabilized him. Artem followed up with a hammer kick, aiming at Jarek’s left knee. The blond-haired boy pivoted to evade the kick, and feeling unstable, chose to roll sideways to dodge Artem’s following elbow strike.
Jarek stood up ready to attack despite his surprise, but Artem was already on him. The blond-haired boy hurriedly threw a right straight punch at Artem’s face. The black-haired boy used his left palm on Jarek’s elbow to slightly deviate the blow to the right of his head while countering with his own right straight punch to the face. Committed to his attack, Jarek couldn’t dodge and took the full power of the hit.
Artem stayed close and withdrew his punch to transform it into an elbow strike to the neck to stun his opponent, keeping his hold on Jarek’s right elbow with his left hand. With his right hand in perfect position, Artem grabbed Jarek’s head to push it down, guiding it to violently meet his left elbow, his left hand never releasing its hold on Jarek. Then, using his grip on Jarek’s head and right elbow, Artem flipped the boy over, throwing him to the ground. Before Jarek could recover, Artem knelt over Jarek and locked his wrist and elbow, forcing the boy into a pain compliance hold.
The whole fight barely took ten seconds. Emilio had scrambled back at the beginning of the combat and didn’t dare to move. Lyra was still processing what happened when Artem calmly talked to Jarek. “Still with me, Dolezal?”
Artem clinically observed his opponent. Blood was staining Jarek’s face. His heavy breathing and the nerves jumping on his neck showed he was suffering.
“Here are a few things I want you to remember carefully.” Artem slightly moved, provoking a hiss of pain from Jarek. “First, I could have done that at any time. I don’t need to use my talent to take you down. Do you believe that, Dolezal?” Artem paused again. Jarek didn’t react, so the black-haired boy applied more pressure on Jarek’s wrist, hurting him on purpose. “Pain is an excellent teacher. We can do that as long as you need it. Do you believe that, Dolezal?”
“Yes, asshole.”
Artem smiled coldly and intensified the pain without breaking Jarek’s wrist before shifting his hold to an outside rotation wrist lock while Jarek was recoiling in anguish. Then, Artem broke Jarek’s little finger. “You got a mouth on you, Dolezal. But here’s what is going to happen from now on. Each time you sneer, jeer, or try to be mouthy, I’ll break one of your fingers. Do you believe that, Dolezal?”
Jarek nodded, refusing to talk.
“I think we’re beginning to understand each other.” Artem switched to talking to Lyra. “Where is the jackal?”
“It’s stopped advancing. It’s behaving irrationally, growling and whimpering. But it’s still near the camp.”
Artem thanked Lyra and addressed Jarek. “Let’s wait for Guerriero before continuing the lesson.”
Artem calmly settled to wait, never releasing his hold on Jarek. Soon, drops of sweat appeared on the boy’s forehead, but Jarek didn’t cry out or beg. He endured silently.
Instead of watching Jarek, Artem coldly looked at Emilio, locking the brown-haired boy in place simply with his stare. Artem’s cold eyes promised Emilio that the dark-haired boy would deal with him too.
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When Galen and Celeste returned to the camp, the girl’s chatter explaining her lamp torch had run out of energy disturbed the tense silence. Sensing something was wrong, Celeste looked around. Her eyes followed Ayden as she flew over to her tamer, bringing more light with her. Artem was holding down Jarek, and Emilio was cowering on the side. Celeste slowed down, unsure of what was happening.
Galen calmly told Lucia to follow him, signing to her to ignore the hurt boy. Lucia looked confused, but she sat down on her tamer’s shoulder and lightened the camp again instead. The dark-haired boy nodded at Artem and went over to secure the food, in preparation for dealing with the jackal.
“Fava, Guerriero, listen as carefully as Dolezal.” Artem’s voice pierced the night. He turned his attention to Jarek. “Remember the first point, Dolezal?”
Jarek nodded, but Artem wasn’t satisfied. “Say it to your comrades.”
“You could have taken me down at any time.”
“Good, Dolezal.” Artem released the pressure on Jarek’s wrist a bit while looking at Celeste and Emilio. “You give us any trouble, and I take you down in the same way. Is that clear, Fava, Guerriero?”
Celeste’s face had become expressionless. She sharply nodded in answer, her posture straight, her eyes looking over Artem’s head.
Lyra noticed the girl’s breathing changing and thought Celeste was intimidated by Artem’s violence. She couldn’t say she was comfortable with it either. It was as if she didn’t know her hosts anymore.
“Here’s the second point. From now on, Galen Eos is our leader, and I’m his NCO. I’ll make you execute every one of his orders and punish any act of insubordination. Do you believe that, Dolezal, Fava, Guerriero?”
Jarek nodded, and Celeste answered with a loud “Yes, Sergeant!”. However, Emilio scowled and looked from Artem to Galen, shaking his head.
“No way, you crazy, uppity bastards! Like hell, I’m gonna take your abuse silently!”
Artem released his hold on Jarek and strode toward Emilio. He deliberately turned his back on the blond-haired boy. Better to test Jarek’s word now than during the confrontation with the jackal.
“Don’t come near me, you mad dog!”
Artem ignored Emilio’s cursing and easily grabbed him. The black-haired took him down and locked him in pain compliance hold without any trouble. Emilio wailed, but Artem didn’t stop there and firmly gripped the boy’s little finger.
“I’ll obey!” Emilio screamed and begged Artem to let him go.
Artem didn’t break his finger but didn’t release his hold on Emilio either. “Shut up!”
Emilio whimpered. Artem turned his attention to Galen. “Updates on the jackal, sir?”
Lyra was confused about her hosts’ attitude, but she let it go for now. “With Emilio’s ruckus, it’s now coming our way again.”
“ETA?”
“What?
“Estimate time of arrival?”
“I don’t know! A few minutes?” Lyra felt confused at the sudden use of military jargon.
Galen quickly decided on a course of action. “The jackal is coming our way again. Sergeant, take Dolezal and your Fire Fairy to deal with it outside the camp if possible. Your objective is to make the beast run away. Avoid hurting it as much as possible. If necessary, use Ayden as a liaison.”
Meanwhile, Jarek had stood up and cleaned up the blood on him. He didn’t show his pain, his face as expressionless as Celeste’s despite the visible bruises.
Artem barked a brief “Yes, sir!” at Galen before leaving to execute their orders. Jarek grabbed several things from his backpack and followed Artem without a word.
“Guerriero, you’re on watch duty with me until Sergeant Eos and Dolezal come back.”
“Yes, sir!” Celeste equipped her weapons and went to stand guard at one end of the clearing.
“Fava, as punishment for attracting the beast’s attention again, you’ll prepare the campfire, dig the latrines, and set up the camp alone. Then you’ll take the first watch rotation tonight. You begin now. The sergeant will add to your punishment as he sees fit.”
Lyra reported Emilio muttering he would make them pay while he took a shovel from his backpack to dig.
“I don’t care for now, as long as he obeys,” Galen answered bluntly. His mind was on his brother and the danger he was facing. The young pharmacist wished he could purify the jackal, but the ingredients he had wouldn't work for mammals. Galen couldn’t afford to experiment with such an important process.
Contacting the beast tamers from the Association was another possibility, but their team was not in mortal danger, and the connected bracelet didn’t have the signal for this type of situation. They could only scare the Golden-Furred Jackal away and report it later at the FOB.
The one reassuring point was that the Beast Nurturer had said all the dangerous, corrupted beasts had been taken care of. Thus, the jackal shouldn’t be too threatening, or its corruption shouldn’t be too advanced.
Through Lyra, Galen kept himself updated on Artem's and Jarek’s situation.
Artem had sent Ayden ahead to scout using [heat detection] while he followed her with Jarek. The boys were advancing cautiously, using light rods to illuminate the way softly.
Stealth shouldn’t be possible in front of a canine beast, but the jackal was perturbed because of the corruption. If they were lucky, the beast wasn’t rational enough to use its senses – be it to smell them or to detect the light from their rods. Moreover, scaring the Golden-Furred Jackal would be easier with a surprise attack.
As the two young combatants slowly walked after the fairy, Jarek’s silent steps earned an approval glance from Artem. Jarek’s lips curled into a smug smirk. Artem couldn’t let the blond-haired regain his confidence so soon. Artem gestured at Jarek to stop, then he calmly looked him in the eyes until Jarek swept the smug smile off his face.
Before they could get back on track, the Fire Fairy flew back to Artem. The black-haired boy discussed with Ayden using hand signs. Jarek observed them with interest.
Then, Ayden flew upward to hide in the trees. Artem whispered his plan to Jarek. The blond-haired boy nodded, asked for a few precision, and made a suggestion. Artem modified his plan accordingly.
The two combatants planted the light rods in the soil on the trail. Then, they separated but remained in each other’s sight. Artem and Jarek didn’t have to wait long for the Golden-Furred Jackal.
It was trotting in their direction in a jerky gait. The beast was taller than Caleb’s Green Dog and had a thick coat and a bushy tail.
As the boys were waiting for the best time to spring their attack, the jackal stopped to shake its head violently. Under the glow of the light rods, Artem noticed its eyes going from dullness to malice. Its muscles tensed, and the jackal growled.
Artem didn’t like what he was seeing. It wasn’t the ideal position, but it was better to begin the assault as planned.
Artem raised a hand in signal and rushed from his hiding place, Jarek doing the same. Artem called forth his talent as Ayden flew down, preparing her skill. Jarek took a knee, aiming both his arms at the jackal.
Jarek accurately shot his first two whistling darts. The loud noise startled the beast, and it whined when the darts struck its muzzle. Then, Artem and Ayden combined their [chain of blasts], producing as much noise and light as they could. Jarek shot again, still aiming at the jackal’s head.
Under the onslaught of noises, lights, and pains, the Golden-Furred Jackal fortunately ran away. Artem sent Ayden to follow the beast to ensure it didn’t double back on them. Meanwhile, the two combatants stood guard on the trail, waiting for the fairy to return.
With the situation apparently under control, Lyra asked Galen for explanations. She didn’t like the violence displayed by her hosts. She wanted to understand. Firstly, she was worried for them. Secondly, as their CSI, it was her job to keep them in check.
“Don’t worry, Lyra. It’s just an act.” Galen sighed and added, “Mostly.”
“You’ll have to do better than that,” Lyra stated, in a deadpan tone.
“We’re from a Family.” Galen stalled for time, looking for the right words.
“Yes, I’m aware.” Patience didn’t seem to bring forth useful answers. Lyra was ready to throw a temper tantrum, but she didn’t need to.
“It’s our duty to fight the Abyss monsters. We’ve trained from a young age in military discipline, although Artem trained more than me. The only new thing for us is the beast-tamer aspect.”
“You’re saying all this military stuff is natural to you?” Lyra was confused. The Families’ traditions and politics irked her. However, she abandoned that line of thought to tackle the real issue. “No, wait. What about your violence toward Jarek? I thought your dad was a great guy. Is your Army made of sick jerks?”
“Dad was a great officer.” Galen trailed off and sighed again. “Ruthlessness was the only way to take care of Jarek.”
“While I do hear your thoughts, I don’t read them, Galen. You need to speak to me, even if it’s in your mind!” The dangers and the less-than-optimal circumstances made Lyra more snippy than usual. She needed answers, and she needed them now.
“I just followed the clues to come to the only possible conclusion about Jarek. Remember: Zane said he has a special background but isn’t part of a Family. Then, there is his behavior. Jarek doesn’t care about the military or the beast tamers: he only respects the strong. He respects Orsella and Mr. Tawil but scorns or ignores the likes of Emilio, Celeste, or the school dean. From the way he speaks, he believes in the law of the strongest, underlining the previous point. Lastly, his weapons are for assassinations.”
“So, all that means he needs to be beaten up?” Lyra didn’t see the point Galen was trying to make.
“So, Jarek must be from the Underworld. The school tolerates him to get access to the Black Market through him.”
Lyra kept silent, imagining thugs with fedoras playing pokers and speaking with an Italian accent in a casino backroom filled with cigar smoke.
Unaware of his CSI’s wild daydream, Galen continued his explanations. “To deal with someone from the Underworld, we need to be ruthless. Jarek will only respond to that, and any kindness will be seen as a weakness. As a bonus, being so ruthless with Jarek allows us to intimidate the other two without going as far.”
Lyra couldn’t fault Galen’s reasoning, so she let go of the matter. After a brief silence during which she thought back to how fast Artem had overwhelmed Jarek, Lyra marveled at Artem’s strength.
However, Galen said that was also an act. “Jarek walked all day, then he fought Caleb and Orsella without any restraint. Orsella didn’t pull back any of her hits. Jarek might not feel it, but he is spent, bruised, and exhausted. Artem is not, so I just use some fancy turn of sentences to make Artem look impressive while he just took advantage of Jarek’s state.”
“So, why did you send him with Artem if he was going to be useless in a fight.”
“Still putting on a show. I need Jarek to think he’s the best warrior, that Artem needed to go full power against him. That I respect his strength too.”
Lyra was impressed not only by Galen’s deductive power and swift decision but also by the twins’ acting skills and smooth cooperation. “But now, won’t you need to keep the act up until Wednesday?”
Galen pushed back Lyra’s nagging, assuring her that he and Artem had no issue keeping up this kind of act. Lyra wondered how Galen learned all that.
“I’m a trained heir,” Galen stated, his voice stern and heavy with the responsibility of such a title.
Sensing the topic was too sensitive, Lyra didn’t ask any more questions. When Artem and Jarek came back to the camp, the youths followed Galen’s instructions.
They ate, cleaned up, and went to sleep, except for Emilio who had to take the first night watch. The brown-haired boy muttered to himself and hatefully poked the campfire with a branch. He was a terrible guard.
Lyra told Artem to sleep without worry. It was easy enough for her to compensate the twins for their bad teammates. So, Lyra helped with the night watch. She would have done it anyway since the CSI didn’t trust Celeste, Emilio, or Jarek. However, the twins didn’t need to know she didn’t require sleep. That way, she appeared dedicated and gallant. She could act too!