252. DEEP BREATHS: WIREMU

I flung one of the mental dart things at the bossman, but it just seemed to bounce off. It made sense he had mental defences. Otherwise, the Zikr would be running the city. Bossman took two steps to the guards and grabbed one of their batons. “That’s thirty-five,” he grumbled.

He came at me to hit me with the baton. I think he wanted to knock me out again, but he was drawing his sword as well, so I think he might just kill me. I still hadn’t moved this whole time, and the baton came down aimed at my head. If I let it land, I might well die.

Just then, the door crashed and shuddered as someone tried to force their way in. Some cracks appeared in the stone I had used to hold it closed. It would not hold long.

My legs were still unable to move, even though I had started fixing the right one. With only one leg, I can at least start hopping. I really only had two options here. Block or move out of the way. I moved out of the way by rolling off the table to the opposite side of the bossman. As I rolled, I grabbed the knife in my guts and pulled it out, searing the flesh with heat to stop the bleeding. It was a low priority for my Regeneration at the moment. This was excruciatingly painful to the still broken bones combined with the searing flesh, but it got me out of the pool of water and a second knife. His baton smashed down, denting the table and splashing the water.

The power in the strike made me wonder if I could have blocked it. I have saved myself time by at least severely wounding Zikr. Hopefully, he will die, and I will do what I can to help him with that. However, the boss looks to be in a killing mood, so I need to stay alive first.

Knee joints are bloody tricky to fix.

My first thought was to burn everything in the room as I knew I would survive it, and it should hamper the boss and kill those already down. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of flammable material in this room, and I don’t have Puia with me to turn the floor into lava. I need to conserve energy. To get mobile is my first priority.

Bossman was coming around the table with his sword out in one hand and the baton in the other. My Highest levelled skills are also my most economical. Granite Spike is ready to be pushed to the Master level and has always been my primary go-to skill. I was lying on the stone floor, and the boss man was close all of which made it easier.

I aimed six Granite Spikes, two at his feet, two at his legs from the floor and two at his chest from the wall and table. The first spike went through the left foot, but he raised the right foot, twisting himself. This caused one leg spike to scrape off his scales. The other only pierced a short way into his left thigh. I think he has a skill to harden the scales. One chest spike skittered off his leather vest, and while the other pierced through, I don’t think it got far with his vest and hard scales.

Suddenly, I breathed in a lung full of dust and had an uncontrollable coughing fit. Where did the dust come from? The water should have kept any dust dampened. I weakly deflected the baton strike, so it missed my head but struck my shoulder hard. I tried getting a fresh breath but just got another lungful of dust. I felt like I would suffocate if I couldn’t get some air. I needed to breathe. In the back of my mind, I recognised it was ironic I had incapacitated and probably killed three people by breathing Venom Vapour, and now I couldn’t breathe.

I was not fending off the bossman very well as I was trying to get my coughing under control, and I took a cut to my chest. My plan had been to finish him decisively, but I am losing here. He was limping, but I was rolling on the ground. Ankles are more difficult than knees to fix.

The door was violently yanked from outside, and the stone cracked. One more, and it would open, and the guards would be on me as well.

The dust must come from the bossman. Did he carry it, or was it an affinity? I hadn’t sensed him throw anything. If it was an affinity, was it an air affinity blowing the dust or a straight dust affinity? If it was air, he only had a limited amount of dust. If it were air, it would be more efficient to suck it out of my lungs than bow dust. A dust affinity in the desert does make sense.

I took a baton to the ribs that cracked my new bones. He was strong and fast. I couldn’t breathe, and I was about to lose without air. What can I do? I suddenly also had dust in my one good eye. It didn’t affect me much as I wasn’t using it.

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I have Granite Bones. Can I have Granite Lungs? Lungs need to move to pump air, and Granite is solid. Granite Lungs won’t work, but Lava Lungs might. I tried to infuse my lungs with Molten Rock to burn the dust out. I took a baton that cracked my arm as I was only half paying attention to the boss man. With Thermal Sensing, I can sense my lungs as well as what is around me, but concentrating is hard.

The Molten Rock melted the dust in my lungs, and I absorbed it. It was made from Spiritual Energy, so was definitely an affinity, but my lungs absorbed that energy, and it mitigated some of the energy this required. But I could breathe again. I breathed in another lungful of dust and gained energy and oxygen. I could tell the oxygen absorption was not nearly as good as flesh lungs, but it worked.

I rolled again, but this time, it was not away from the bossman but toward him, knocking his leg from under him, and he came down on top of me. Swords and batons are too long for this close work. Knives are the best in grapple range. One of my knives deflected his sword away from me, and the other punched into his chest.

Bossman smothered my face in dust, and I took a deep breath. I kneed him in the stomach, slamming a spike from my knee into his guts. It left a gaping wound but then turned to dust. The wound also seemed to be packed with dust, as no blood came out. Did he even have blood? The knife that went into his chest was his own steel knife, not my stone one. I suspect my stone one may turn to dust and empower him as his dust empowers me.

He elbowed me in the head, knocking it back against the floor as I pulled the knife and stabbed him again, trying to hit something vital. He fended off my stone knife, letting go of his baton but trying to get his sword in a position to cut me. I used my one good leg against his wounded leg and rolled, elbowing his head against the floor. It didn’t hurt him, and a cloud of dust billowed out, cushioning his head. He struck me with the sword's pommel, and I stabbed him again with his knife.

This time, I also used a lava dart to light his clothes on fire and burn his flesh. The fire was quickly extinguished in a cloud of dust. I think I got his lung this time because he had trouble breathing. He slammed the pommel back into my head as he tried to push me away, but he was against the floor, and Granite spikes punched into his skull, heart and lungs. This time, they stayed, and he stopped moving.

I rolled out from the dust cloud as I still needed oxygen. I let my lungs turn back to flesh and took several deep breaths. That was very close.

I turned my attention to the door. I had expected the guards to have broken in by now, but the door was still closed. It shone in my Thermal Sensing and then suddenly smashed down in a shower of lava as Tāoke’s huge tail came through it in a Power Strike. Suddenly, my bond cleared up, and I could sense them clearly again as the spiritual cage was broken.

I crawled over to them and hauled myself up onto Tāoke as Puia rejoined me, and they both were supplying me with energy. I focussed on getting my other leg back working as Tāoke carried me down the corridor we were in. We passed a lot of bodies, but I didn’t count them. They should not have got in Tāoke and Puia’s way.

Every time we passed a room, I tossed in a Lava Dart. This place was going to burn to the ground if I had my way. I had a moment of reflection. Kelda would not want the place to burn. She is very conscious of not hurting innocents with her fire. The servants here and probably a number of others were innocent of the crimes of the city lord. Kelda is not here, but she did have a huge effect on me. The flames behind me were rising, and the smoke was getting thicker. Kelda, with her Fire Affinity, could control the flames. I could not with my Lava Affinity. The place would burn anyway, and Tāoke wasn’t holding back. I heard alarm bells start ringing.

We came to a set of wooden stairs, and I set those alight behind us. We came across our first opposition at the top of the Stairs, and Tāoke spat lava and shook the building with a Granite Quake. I didn’t even realise he had learned Granite Quake from me. The guards retreated, and we continued to set the place alight.

Alarm bells were ringing continuously now, and there were yells of “Fire!” as servants and guards scrambled to try to escape or extinguish the fire. Good luck with that.

We came out into a courtyard adjacent to the palace wall, and there didn’t seem to be guards in sight. I guess they were scrambling to put out the fires and find out what was happening. Their organisation would be lacking without the bossman. It was night, but I don’t really know how many nights it was since I was captured. Tāoke didn’t even slow down as he slithered up the wall. I could sense the subtle uses of Granite Manipulation he was using.

My bones were fixed by now again, and I was working on the muscles and tendons. Ankles are a lot trickier, but my Regeneration was now Master Level, which made it easier. Molten Rock was now Journeyman Level as well.

Tāoke headed to the other wall, and I collected my gear, but he didn’t go over it. He travelled along it for a while, causing a commotion with the late-night party crowd. We came to one of the public wells, and I got the impression Tāoke wanted me to go down it. This was where Umreti had insisted on going, so I climbed down, and Tāoke shrunk, and we went back to me carrying him.