Chapter Thirty-two

Akela was quite far from us -- three hundred meters give or take -- but I could sense him. The Essence wires connecting us had been drawing on my Essence pool occasionally, when expanding, or bleeding some of the stuff into the air when shortening. It required only minimal mental effort on my part, but most importantly, the wires allowed me to find Akela simply by following them — a Tentacle Horror version of Ariadne’s thread. I told Krissy which way to go, she relayed it to the elves, and we were on our way.

Akela kept wailing about the “bad prey”. It had to be the evil spirit and its host, I just knew it. I also knew the wolf had enough common sense to steer clear of it - he wasn’t the sort of hunter who would charge blindly at anything that caught his fancy. But when I felt Mana leaving its pool, rushing along the Essence wires to Akela, I started to worry. Why did he need Mana? His “Strong Teeth” skill? Or his own, patchy version of Mana Armour?

More Mana flowed out of the pool.

Hurts! Hurts! Hurts! I heard Akela’s thoughts.

We had to hurry.

Krissy trudged through the forest as fast as she could, dodging trees and protruding roots. The elves didn’t seem happy with her pace, and even I wished she could go faster, but she was only human.

Finally, after almost five minutes of marching and following the wires, we arrived.

It wasn’t a really clearing: a brook was taking a sharp turn here, the trees were somewhat sparser, and among those trees I saw Akela.

He was growling at two nervous looking elves who were pointing their long spears at him. To my surprise another wolf stood behind Akela: an almost Earth-standard wolf, if not for the single, small horn on its head. It had light grey-ish white fur, and it was slightly larger than Akela. I was sure it wasn’t the same species as him. Two other wolves lay on the ground, dead, no wounds, no blood, no soul. The work of a spirit. And a dead elf. The young but dead man was in a sitting position, his back against a tree, his head tilting to the side and down, his bow next to him on the ground. Just like the dead wolves, the elf’s body was intact, no signs of violence.

Tovaron Ento rushed forward to the spear-wielding elves, calming them down, getting them to lower their weapons. Kerav and Arde stood aside, scanning the area, looking for threats. Kenta and Tommy joined them to stand guard.

Krissy approached Akela. The other wolf growled, taking a few steps back, but not running away for some reason. Krissy knelt down, ignoring the growling grey wolf, and patted Akela on the head.

Akela, are you alright? I asked.

Hurts! He said, letting out a whimper at the same time.

He didn’t look injured, but … his soul. His soul was missing a chunk. From his hind.

What happened, Akela? I asked.

Bad prey. Hurts. Kills. He said.

That fucking evil-spirit! It had bitten a chunk out of my friend’s soul. I knew how that worked, I had done it myself. It took time to eat a soul, even when the prey was already dead. Akela wasn’t only alive, he was fast. But even if the spirit failed to rip his soul out of his body properly, it could still have small bites. I wasn’t sure what kind of pain Akela was feeling after having a chunk bitten out of his soul. Was it the kind of pain I had felt when Jevan’s familiar had cut off one of my tentacles?

‘Is he alright?’ Krissintha asked. ‘Is he in pain? He’s wailing, but … I can’t see any wounds.’

The evil spirit took a bite out of his soul. From his butt. I said to Krissy.

I was furious. We had to get that spirit, and we had to kill it. How dare that piece of shit spirit attack my friend?

‘I … don’t know what that means,’ Krissy said, her voice filled with worry. ‘Is he in danger? Is it fatal?’

No, it’s not fatal. That Fenirig-Something fellow had damage to his soul, too, and he was fine. I explained.

Akela whimpered and cried, but he stood firm like a soldier, lifting his head, letting Krissy stroke him and hug him. Krissy didn’t let him go even when the grey-wolf took a step closer, growling louder. On one hand, seeing Krissy caring for Akela so much filled my soul with joy — she had really grown to love and appreciate him. But rage pushed the warm feelings out of me — I was seething, trying to come up with ways to make that evil spirit suffer for what it had done.

‘Can you do something, Kevin? He’s in pain!’ Krissy said.

I don’t think I … can … can I …? My thoughts came to stuttering stop.

I had meant to say there was nothing I could do, but that didn’t feel right. And when something didn’t feel right, it meant my Tentacle Horror instinct was hard at work. I focused my vision of Akela’s spiritual wound and I listened and let my Tentacle Horror instinct nudge my thoughts in the right direction.

A spiritual wound. Wound’s needed to be treated. Treatment. Doctors. Surgeons … soul-surgery. That was it! I remembered those words as I had heard them from Wensah. That’s what she had done with my soul, implanting it into my current spiritual body. Sure, she was some sort of goddess, but I was sure I would be able to do a watered down version of soul-surgery. Perhaps not even surgery. As I looked at the bite-mark on Akela’s soul, I started to have an inkling of what I could do. I whispered thanks to my Tentacle Horror instinct, for the idea of a spiritual band-aid was forming in my mind.

Souls were made of Spirit-Stuff. I was made of Spirit-Stuff, albeit a different, processed version of it, if that was the right word. My spiritual body, my tentacles … they weren’t my soul. It was definitely not among my favourite things to do — it was painful to have piece of my spiritual body ripped out. I had done it already, and if it was for a friend, I could do it again.

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I stuck two of my tentacles out of my spirit-costume, I coiled one around the tip of the other, and I tore a the tip off. It would be enough to fill in for the missing part of Akela’s soul. My Tentacle Horror instinct was telling me that it should work, probably, maybe, with some luck. A temporary measure for sure, but better than nothing.

I mixed an EPs worth of Essence into it, working them together into a ball of invisible dough, hoping the Essence would serve as a bonding agent between his soul and my Spirit-Stuff. Then I slapped the spirit-goo onto Akela’s butt. The amount was almost exactly enough, and to my immense relief it stuck to his soul, filling in the fist-sized gouge in it. A band-aid. I hoped that he’d feel a little better.

Akela stiffened. I wasn’t really sure how he was experiencing this, but he was definitely feeling something. I wondered if the drill-sergeant elf had been in constant pain ever since his soul had got damaged. Maybe that’s why it seemed like he hated everyone, especially spirits.

‘Akela, what’s wrong?’ Krissintha asked when she noticed Akela tensing.

The grey-wolf growled, but Akela growled back at it.

Not prey. Friend. His voice echoed in my mind.

Are you feeling better? Is the pain gone? I asked.

Better. Less pain. He answered.

I … just gawked at Akela. Less pain was good, but …

Krissy? Did he just say … “friend”? Is it just me, or did Akela pick up some new words? Or thoughts? Or whatever? I asked.

I think he did. And I’ve never heard him say “better” or “less” before either. It was always just “good” or “bad” with him. Krissy sent her thoughts to me.

And she was right: it did sound like there had been an increase in his mental vocabulary. Was my connection with him doing something to him? Through the Essence wires? Or could my own Spirit-Stuff I had just slapped onto his butt have some sort of mental effect on him, and this quickly? I wasn’t sure, but I could worry about it later.

The grey-wolf was still growling at Krissy, but at least it wasn’t attacking. I saw the wary looks of the elves as they gave their accounts to Tovaron Ento, keeping their eyes on the wolves, ready to use their spears at a moment’s notice.

Akela, who is your new friend? Krissy asked.

Pack dead. She alive. Mate. Akela said.

Mate? Krissy asked.

Mate. Pups. Later. Akela said, managing to sound strangely articulate despite thinking single words.

Oh, Akela, you dog! I said, grinning inside my soul.

He’s … a wolf, though. Isn’t that what you said? Krissy inquired.

No. I mean yes. It’s an expression. What I mean is … you know, wolf-damsel in distress on one hand, heroic hell-hound on the other … this is the beginning of a wolf-romance, isn’t it? I explained.

And then it hit me: this was what Akela had told me before leaving Misery Island. That he wanted a mate. And pups. But … did this mean he was going to settle down here? Stay here even if I left with Krissy? Would I have to …

‘Misery!’ Tovaron Ento came to us, and my attention snapped back to the present. ‘Good job finding them so quickly,’ the elf said, barely disguised pain and anger on his face.Then he looked at Akela. ‘Temeral Ente’s dead. But if your hound hadn’t attacked the hosts of the evil spirit, his team would have been wiped out completely. But … Jakaren Faen and Sidiret Aken over there are terrified of it.’ Tovaron Ento pointed at the two elves who had just lost their comrade. ‘They tell me your hound can use power. How?’

What do I tell him? Krissintha’s question echoed in my mind.

I was thinking as fast as I could, but Tovaron Ento saw the hesitation on Krissy’s face just as I did, and he wasn’t in a mood for patience.

‘Familiars don't use animals,’ he said, his voice cold instead of the somewhat flippant, carefree demeanor I was getting used to seeing from him. He glanced at Akela, who was now in some sort of growling contest with his lady-friend, and he said, ‘… and this one’s a hell-hound. A favourite of evil spirits. That’s why they had been hunted to near extinction a long time ago. I don’t know how you came across one, Misery, but you’d better start talking.’

I sighed inwardly: there was no getting out of this, we had to tell him something.

Krissy, just … tell him as much of the truth as you think is … necessary. You’re good at this sort of thing. I said to her.

Alright. She said, somehow making her thought sound like she was sighing. She was really getting the hang of this quasi-telepathic communication.

‘Firstly, his name is Akela,’ Krissy began the explanation. ‘Secondly, yes, he can use power. Thirdly, how it’s possible is a closely guarded secret of the Bureau. Lady Wensah may be a complete bitch, but the familiars she provides to our members are not your average familiars. If you want to know more, Tovaron Ento, then you’ll have to join the Bureau. That’s the only way.’

Tovaron Ento was just staring at Krissy, and so was I.

Uhm… Krissy, that had … very little to do with the truth. I commented.

I told him as much of the truth as I thought was necessary. And it’s time to change the topic, before he presses it. Any suggestions? Krissy asked.

Yes. He said “hosts”, as in more than one. Ask him about that. I told her, and she spoke before Tovaron Ento could ask any more, uncomfortable questions.

‘You said the evil spirit had hosts, not host,’ she said. ‘Care to explain?’

Tovaron Ento took a deep breath, let it out, and it looked like managed to regain some of his composure. He looked Krissy in the eyes and said,

‘I think it’s been here for longer than we’d thought, growing more than we’d thought. It’s possessing three hosts all at once. Two wolves and … Ruennen Itora.’

‘That sword’s owner,’ Krissy said, scowling, then she sent a thought to me, That’s bad … right, Kevin?

Yeah. That’s probably bad. I said, having an ugly inkling of what this meant.

‘Sivera’s people are coming,’ one of our elf lookouts whisper-yelled to Tovaron Ento.

They must have had exceptional hearing or eyesight, because I couldn’t see or hear anything, and I could see in every direction. Kenta and Tommy were just as puzzled, looking around but not seeing anything. At least I wasn’t the only one with inferior senses in this company, but … Sivera’s people? That meant spiritualists. Shit! My tentacles were hanging out. I quickly retracted them to the inside of my spirit-costume.

Akela, you need to take your lady-friend and get out of here. Come back only if we call you. I said to the wolf.

Fine. He acknowledged and he nudged the grey-wolf to leave, then they both ran off.

I took the masks out of Jacks Room and placed them in Krissy’s hands.

I think you should wear them. These are Sivera’s people. I said to her.

Why? She asked.

We’re her because of Wensah. Her and Sivera are … I don’t know, rivals? Enemies? It’s better if they don’t know your faces, in case we run into them in again in the future.

Better safe than sorry. I explained.

If you say so. Krissintha said, but her thought didn’t come across as convinced.

Sometimes it pays to be paranoid. I said.

My father used to say something like that. Krissy said, nodding, then she called Kenta and Tommi over to give them the masks.

Alright. Normal familiars don’t talk much, apparently, so from now on I’ll be very, very quiet. I said, hoping that a combination of my less than masterful disguise and my silence would be enough to fool the coming familiars.

Finally. Krissintha sent one more though, almost as if whispering.

I wanted to retort, but the first of Sivera’s people appeared, coming around a nearby tree.