Chapter Thirty-Six: Dance of Flames
Ash gritted his teeth as he ducked over claws wreathed in brilliant flames. The wolves were snarling their rage and hate. Ash rolled away to create distance, his elar making him hyper-aware of the smell of smoke and heat.
He was about to strike out at a wolf when he heard a high-pitched growl, and his thoughts lit up with challenge. One of the wolves was going after Lilith, crouched low, ready to pounce.
“No!” he bellowed. Drawing elar from his elan, he manifested his enhancement technique: frost dragon wings. Like a summoned winter storm, frost lashed out, and rime covered the three wolves before him. The flames of their paws flickered, fighting the sudden cold.
Ash dashed forward, blade raised high as Lilith rose to her haunches, wings flapping, claws flexing.
The wolf pounced.
Ash’s sword slashed. There was a slick sound of skin and fur parting, a rush of energy, a spray of blood, and the heavy thud of the wolf’s corpse falling to the ground.
Lilith’s eyes flicked behind him, her thoughts sounding a warning in his mind. However, he was already whirling; with his elar heightening his hearing, he could easily pick out the padding of the feet on the rocky ground of the mine.
It was a mistake for the wolves to approach. He extended his wings and flapped them with an effort of will, sending a wave of ice to cover the wolves farther. Their snarls of frustration built, their lupine eyes squinting as the fire surrounding their paws grew smaller.
Then, a howl from deeper within the mine filled the air, a terrible battle cry and the wolves' flame-wreathed claws intensified suddenly. The air warped further, and his frost could not contain them.
Ash cursed, and moving his blade to a sideways hold, he ran forward, ducking and weaving around the first two wolves; he drew a trickle more elar, hoping to hinder the wolves with the cold further.
The third rose, bringing his claws down upon Ash. The heat from the flames would have singed him, but thanks to his fire-resisting potion, he had no trouble, and with a twist, Ash turned away from the blow. His sword fell through the air like a striking bird, beheading the wolf in one fell cut.
Its body toppled to the ground, the head tumbling forward, leaking red liquid.
Ash intensified his elar, his wings bathing the area around him in frost. Energy flooded his elan, more of that same wild forest feeling within, joining the winter.
The remaining two wolves tried to attack him, but they were slowed. Their flames did nothing for the cold, and their black fur was coated in thick ice.
Ash calmly dispatched them, their energy pouring into his elan.
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When that was done, corpses and blood covering the floor, he sheathed his blade and then went over to Lilith.
He tried to look her over, but she clawed at his hand. Standing tall, she walked away from him, her tail swishing.
Laughing, he shook his head.
“Fine. You’d let me know if you were really hurt, right?”
She sniffed, then blew out a puff of smoke. Ash chuckled, sitting down, he began to adapt.
He pulled the foreign elar through his elan as he breathed.
When that was done, he examined his elan. The orb had grown slightly larger, as it had the last time, but nothing significant.
Ash stretched and decided to begin processing, then call it a day.
Returning to the entrance, he retrieved his pack and brought it into the first room. He pulled out two large bags, stuffing one into the other so it was thicker. Next, he pulled out a knife then grimaced. This was going to be bloody, disgusting work.
First, he cut out the claws, blood already getting everywhere. He picked one up, bringing it closer to his eye so he could study it.
Twitching his mouth sideways a second, Ash couldn’t see why the claw was special. But he knew it wasn’t what you could see but rather what it did. Monster parts released elar into the potions, oils, and other concoctions in which they were used.
He put this into a clear container with a stopper and did the same for all the claws, their clinking into the glass oddly satisfying.
Dead lupine eyes stared at him. Ash couldn’t keep a disgusted look from contorting his face at the thought of what he was about to do. He wasn’t a stranger to gross tasks; a few needed doing on the farm, after all, including needing to butcher.
But he had never cut out the eyes of a monster that had tried to kill him before.
Taking the knife, he plunged it into the socket, turning his lip up at the squelch of blood and the wet, metallic scent that assaulted his nostrils.
Minutes later, it was done, and Ash plopped two eyeballs into the doubled-up bags.
He hesitated at the next part. It was time to cut out the heart, the most bloody part of the job. For this, he had brought a saw as he would likely need to saw through the rib cage.
There was nothing for it.
Ash got to work, which was as bloody as he imagined.
But he had done it—one heart in his hands, slick, red, and squishy.
He put it in the bag. There were only seven more wolves to go.
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When Ash was done, he needed a bath. He briefly considered tackling the rest of the mine but knew it would be a bad idea. He was starting to get tired, and he didn’t want to die or Lilith to die just because he refused to rest. The mine would be here tomorrow; there was no need to rush.
He and Lilith made the trek back to town, heading to Skori’s.
“By the Light, boy, you reek.”
Ash offered him a smile,
“I wonder why?”
Skori wrinkled his nose, but his eyes brightened when Ash placed the container filled with wolf claws and the bag with the eyes and hearts on the counter.
“I wasn’t expectin’ so much on the first outing, boy! Good job!”
Ash shrugged,
“None of them are from the dire wolf, but I hope to bag it tomorrow.”
Skori grunted, gesturing to the back.
“Ya’ll find a scripted shower to the back, and I even have a washing script for clothes back there. Make use of them, yer stinkin’ up my shop.”
Ash waved a dismissive hand,
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, heading to the back.
Lilith stayed up from, sitting in one of the chairs in the shop.
He could tell the dwarf was happy, so he wasn’t going to sweat his current state.
After cleaning himself, thoroughly Ash went back up front.
“How much does all of that go for, anyway?”
Skori tugged on his beard,
“I’d say four silver is what yer lookin’ at.”
Ash ran a hand through his hair,
“Guess it was too much to hope for it just wiping out my debt.”
Skori laughed,
“Not quite, boy. Ya have a little ways to go, but progress is progress.”
Ash nodded.
Progress was progress.