Chapter 17
The three of them set out roughly the same time as the day before, but took a left fork between the dunes where they’d taken the right fork the morning before. There was some unspoken tension, but they all knew better to discuss it within even the outside possiblity of earshot. After an an hour and a half of silently walking, Oskar pointed out a Wayspring, making Fox shake her head in wonder. It was getting easier and easier.
For a moment, the water felt as if it were reaching out to him, and he was on the verge of something new, but Fox’s first words of the morning pulled him back and replaced it with guilt.
“Your skill, Oskar, is invaluable. You might even be worth the trouble you cause,” she said.
“About last night, the Gambit-“ he began, but she put up a long fingered purple hand to quiet him and spoke.
“It is inevitable, Oskar Dorn. You cannot hide who you are. I thought about it all night. The moment to make our move is now. We gain nothing by waiting but added danger. We have the means to eat and to drink. They will put you under spearpoint and sell you the very day Vulk… or Valla, more likely, even catches a hint of what you can do. I fear we will not know she suspects a thing until she strikes."
Fox sighed and continued. "Besides, as a human, you are probably worth more sold to a Chief out of sheer novelty than you are helping a small collective stockpile or find their own water. Every day is a deeper gamble, and they would never suspect we've built enough trust to try this madness already. And perhaps we haven't, but I still believe our hand is forced. We two would not survive your selling. At best, tongues cut out and sold to another Collective. At worst, killed to keep the secret that a Dowser has been found. Better now, mark it for a truth. On our terms.”
Oskar called ahead, "And you, Touwon?"
Touwon rattled off a sentence to Fox without looking up.
More words than he spoke all day yesterday.
Fox translated for Oskar's sake. “When they sell you, they will kill us. Maybe because we may have known of your power and not told, likely because the only reason we are alive is because we keep the Collective supplied with water. We would become irrelevant, useless in truth. It is we who give them the very power they use to enslave us,” she finished, more bitterly than Touwon had sounded when he said it.
Not that I speak Kobold or anything. He just doesn't seem to get worked up about much.
"He speaks truth. The Vulk Collective will be as kings or queens for a long while… forever if they knew what you could become… and if they manage to survive your purchase from one of the great Collectives. We would die for secrecy, having outlived our usefulness.”
She turned away, leaving Oskar to mull over their words. Behind her, Touwon gave him an encouraging nod.
“I just hope you have a plan,” she said over her shoulder.
“I’ve got a plan alright,” Oskar answered with a grin. “Blue, or probably just Valla, has back-up water buried all around the camp. Nine full waterskins, counting the two he buried last night and the three they kept out to drink today. How long would that last them?”
Fox looked surprised at his information. She pondered the question for a moment and answered, “A week if they stretched it, unless hunting were to be unusually strenuous or they hunted during the day time. Unlikely, though. Vulk hates wearing Goggles, and would rather hide from the sun than be in it for any reason, so he prefers to hunt and travel after dusk.”
Oskar nodded. “Well, Penny gave up some of her beauty sleep last night stealing them.” At that, Penny poked her head up out of the sand, still shimmering from swimming up from the Wayspring at the mention of her name. She offered an exaggerated yawn. Oskar laughed at that. Fox looked worried, and Touwon watched for her reaction.
Fox blinked a few times, and then shrugged, saying something in Kobold before reaching down and petting Penny. Touwon leaned over and did the same. After a moment, it was as if a weight had been lifted from her and she let herself acknowledge the Pangolor's effort in earnest.
She preened at the praise Fox and Touwon gave her for her hard work. “The water was a few hundred meters away, buried deep under a tall dune. She dragged them off and hid them. I told her to not destroy them in case the open water caused complication, but she carried them as deep as she could manage. I'm hoping we can get out of this without having to hurt anyone, but you know them better than I do.”
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“They suspected nothing before we left, and although perhaps it is for the best, I wish we had gotten a chance to discuss before you fully committed to escaping,” Fox said.
"I know, but when you and Touwon accepted, I was afraid that they would somehow know we'd started our own Collective."
"Probably wise. I know of no way they could have known, but the fact remains that the moment they realize their hidden water is gone, they will hunt us unless we can get too far away to follow. Hopefully they aren't smart enough to wonder how it is that you found their water to begin with as well. Vulk and Falk are both dangerous fighters. Falk is a Spearman and Vulk is a Berserker, but he uses a spear as well. A Spearman specializes in skill, a Berserker usually specializes in sheer damage, ignoring pain to deal damage. It would be better to go for a clean kill than to try to wear him down.”
Fox locked eyes with him, hesitating slightly before continuing, “Valla has a strange dark power. She may even be a Shaman.” She shuddered, saying the name. “The Shaman class did not always invoke such aversion. They specialize in Spiritual magic, and what passes for a Shaman now can use the spirits or life force of others to fuel their magic instead of using their own capacity.”
Remembering that Oskar didn’t grow up around magic at all, she explained further. “Spiritual magic is a catalyst for all magic. Sometimes it changes abilities and spells, sometimes it empowers them. The issue is, when using someone else’s Spirit, you don’t have to worry about the dangers of corruption and control through misuse. You can skip growing more powerful through practice by simply over-compensating through empowerment. Basically, more fuel for more fire instead of learning to cast a hotter flame.”
She almost snarled the next line, “All at the cost of someone else’s soul.”
The Kobold looked back the way they’d come, a look of disgust on her face. “If she is doing so… if that is a truth, she is likely an outcast of some greater Collective, and so has come here. A place where she has the connections to still use her dark magic. That would make her an abomination, but also incredibly dangerous.”
“So that stuff about her eating people… was Vulk serious? Is that a thing?”
Fox stared at him a moment, unsure how to answer, but to her credit, her eventual reply was straightforward, “Survival is difficult. It is the way of life. Yes, any Crocodilian would eat you. What he implied though, does support her use of dark magic to do more than eat, but to consume your very soul.” She shuddered visibly, her dark purple fur shimmering in the bright sun, but the orange streaks were all but invisible in the bright light.
They went through scenarios as they rested under the shade of the tent. Penny scavanged from everyone's breakfast and then set out in a wide circle, dipping in and out of Oskar's range as she scouted.
It was decided that after a short rest, more necessary for Oskar than the Kobolds due to leaving camp with zero water and poor sleep, they would make their way Northwest for reasons Fox didn't disclose outside of, "I may be able to make contact with others."
Touwon didn't look too concerned, so Oskar let it go for the time being.
They began to pack up as the red sun drew overhead. He wasn't sure if it was a cooler day or if the water was helping him endure it, but he appreciated not feeling like he was going to pass out, nonetheless.
Watching the quiet Kobold pack up some of the things he was constantly tinkering with, Oskar saw Touwon pull out another bag that couldn’t have possibly fit inside the first bag, shove things in the bag and then put it back.
Touwon gave him a look, and Oskar turned his head from the curious sight to stare off in the distance. He was sipping water as he considered asking the Kobolds about spacial storage when a feeling of dread hit Oskar like a ton of bricks from over a hundred meters away. He shot up straight, turning around.
Penny?!
He focused on her surroundings, desperate for more information.
Oskar turned back to the Kobolds, but Touwon was already strapping his curious bag closed, and Fox was refilling her waterskin one last time as she listened for the sound of whatever had startled Oskar so.
He spoke, angry at himself, “Three incoming. Damn. They must have detected Penny and double checked the water reserves.”
Fox pulled a small buckler and a bone dagger he’d never even seen her carrying, both decent quality if the green outline his PUB put around it was any sign and blended into the sand behind her. His PUB offered him a small outline to help him keep track of her.
Interesting, but that's more questions for later!
Touwon now stood there holding three razor thin bone-colored boomerangs with a metal edge lining the inside, and they showed up in his PUB an even brighter green. Oskar guessed they were peak green quality, and his PUB flashed in agreement as the colors faded. The Kobold fanned them out in his left hand, but his face was as unflappable as ever.
As Oskar turned back towards Penny and her pursuers, he noticed a flicker of blue lightning arc across the small metal edge of Touwon’s boomerangs. It was not an overlay either; it was actual electricity.
Penny was being chased and, for some reason, hiding below the sand was no longer an option for her, so instead, she was barreling headlong back to Oskar with the entire Vulk Collective behind her.
Fox called to Oskar, “Valla will run if she is outnumbered. I have never seen her fight unless it was to steal a final blow, or to take credit for something she played little part in. We must not let her get away, though. She must die, Oskar.”