Sense: A Fantasy LitRPG Saga (A Touch of Power Book 3)

by Jay Boyce

  The tainted blood was released from her ring, and she unhesitatingly shot it like little blood bullets towards the creatures she could see in any direction. Squeals of pain as the blood embedded itself in their bodies, or in some further cases, splashed against their fur. These creatures scattered in pain and fright, running away from the remains of the burning conflagration.

  They would become the targets for her. The mesmer could sense tainted marks making their escape. High in the sky, they couldn’t see her, but they could scent the creatures she’d tainted. She directed her bubbles higher, sending them rocketing through the night towards the edge of the forest. Reaching behind her, she handed a mirror to the confused Tisha without looking.

  “Contact your parents.”

  Chapter Eleven – Flight

  “Oh. Okay.” Jade spared a glance back at Tisha, who was staring nervously at the mirror. The twins were scooting as close as they could while still propping Frank up. All four of them were staring avidly at it as she saw Tisha feed her mana into the mirror.

  “-ad, Jade is calling, maybe she can tell us--Tisha!?” Jade could hear Victor’s voice coming through the mirror as she faced forward, concentrating on shooting them through the sky while still eavesdropping in on the conversation. From what she could hear, Victor was the one with the mirror and had not been looking at it when he answered.

  “Give me that!” Ashanna’s voice was practically frantic as Jade pictured her stealing the mirror from her son. “Tisha! Hayden, Hunter! Are you okay? Where are you? What’s going on?” Soft sobs came through the mirror, and she guessed that the queen was having something of a nervous breakdown--perhaps it was one of relief at seeing her children.

  “Mom, it’s okay. We’re okay now. Jade saved us.” Hunter’s quiet voice spoke from over Tisha’s shoulder, and Jade glanced back again to see him smiling tiredly at whoever was on the other side. He glanced around, meeting her eyes as she nodded to him, then turned back to the front as he went on, “Right now...we’re...in the sky? Flying.”

  “Jade has you all flying with her?” Victor’s voice was filled with curiosity. He hadn’t been there when she showed the view to Ashanna and Derrick. Tisha and the others obviously made some sort of confirming motion, because he let out a sigh, “Lucky.”

  “Hey, gimme the mirror.” Jade reached her hand back as she spoke, still watching the trees below. When she felt the cool glass slide into her hand, she lifted it in front of her so she could see the worried and relieved faces of the royal family. “All right, business first now. Flying this many people is not going to last forever. I should be able to get us out onto the plains, but we’ll have to walk from there. You need to warn Marcelle to hunker down, stay as quiet as possible, and no one leaves the bunker for any reason.”

  Derrick seemed to understand the quickest as he questioned, “The light?” It took her a second to realize that her pyrotechnics display had likely been visible even from Abala. That tended to happen when you created a huge amount of light in the dark of night. Whether it was her light, lightning, or the fire, the light pollution in the sky would have been spotted.

  She nodded. “I pissed off a whole lot of mesmer to get them out. I set up some decoys, but I have no idea how well they’ll work. My guess is they’re going to be combing the forest looking for us.” She paused, then shook her head. “When I say a lot, I mean a LOT. Hundreds. I already killed at least a hundred of them, but there’s still so many more…”

  “We’ll tell her to stay put and be on guard. They should have plenty of supplies until we can get them.” Derrick instantly took control, and she could see his eyes take on a faraway look, as if he was mentally organizing what needed to be done.

  “There’s more.” His attention snapped back to her. “Like I said, I’m not sure how long I’m going to last. We’re going to need a pickup squad as soon as possible. The further into the plains we go, the more tired I’m going to be.” She paused, then sighed. “I really need a healer, too. I can’t heal myself very easily anymore, and I got a rather deep injury. It’s nothing life-threatening at the moment, but I need it looked at sooner than later.”

  She paused again, then pointed the mirror to the side, showing the bound mesmer Tevon. “That’s the last thing. I found your brother, or what’s left of him.” She heard gasps from the other side of the mirror, then turned it back to her and away from him. “I need Mike and Scylla and their apprentices again. Have them come to the gate we’ll be using, if possible. Set up an infirmary room. I’m going to try and reverse the process with their help. I don’t think it’s something I can do alone, and I’m not even sure I can...but I’ll try.”

  Derrick nodded, then choked out softly, “Thank you. Thank you for bringing my family back…”

  She smiled, then shook her head. “You can thank me when it’s over and we’re all home safely. I’ll let Tisha keep you updated from now on though. I need to focus on getting us out of here.” They nodded and she handed the mirror back to Tisha. She could hear them holding their conversation quietly, though it was mostly Ashanna and Victor talking from the other end, so she figured Derrick went off to do as she’d asked.

  The sea of trees still lay before them as they zoomed across the starry expanse of sky. The forest beneath seemed unnaturally quiet, the creatures scared into hiding by the fire she’d left burning for...however long she’d been down there. Glancing at her pocket watch, she realized it was around 4:30 in the morning. That actually made her breathe a small sigh of relief. If she could last until sunrise, get out onto the plains...things would be better.

  Glancing at the mesmer she’d trapped, her thoughts hesitated. He wasn’t going to burn up in the sun like a vampire, right? She would probably need to cover him, just in case. At least weakened by the sun would make him an easier prisoner. Right?

  How did they get from the center of the forest to the city and back in a night though? She understood that they were fast, but so was she! What was the trick? It had taken hours simply to get from the city to the woods, and hours more into the woods. She supposed that it would have to be all they did that night. It was a full-day excursion equivalent.

  Her musings lasted until they hit the edge of the forest an hour later. Her meat stores were almost completely gone now; she had to continuously eat in order to maintain the two air bubbles supporting so many people. There went her hope of having an easy mana source. It was barely enough for a rescue mission! Of course, she was also trying not to think about the fact that she’d basically eaten almost two entire beasts that were double her size. Nope. Not thinking about that.

  “We’re at the plains now.” She heard Tisha explaining their positioning into the mirror as they shot out from above the trees. As soon as they cleared the trees, she began to lower them as they flew forward. Just in case. Not that she was planning on a crash landing, but the closer they were to the ground, the less likely they’d go splat in case something happened. Her muscles ached, the tension of the night sapping her strength.

  Further and further she went, trying to cover as much distance as possible. When the first rays of light peeked over the mountain, they were skimming barely fifteen feet above the ground, and she sighed as she heard Tevon try to hiss in pain. She hoped they were almost to the road, so she set the bubble down on the ground, the others spreading out instantly in a perimeter. Tevon was unceremoniously dumped on the ground as she threw a blanket over him to shield him from the light, at which point he settled down and stopped grumbling through his gag. They really didn’t like the light, it seemed.

  She felt so tired, but they weren’t safe yet. She could at least get her babies to--she stopped dead, looking back to the forest. Her babies were in the base! They were too far away for her connection to link to them, though she could still feel them vaguely in that direction. She frowned. This hadn’t been part of her plan. She’d intended to return to the base and collect the animals to carry them as well as her babies.

  Pulling out an
other mirror, she plopped to the ground, sitting there as the others looked at her cautiously. It was Hayden who stepped forward, asing quietly, “Do you want me to power the mirror?” She looked uncomprehendingly at him for a moment, then nodded. He sat next to her, putting one hand over hers as he asked quietly, “Who are we contacting?”

  “Marcelle.” Her throat was raw, the word a dry croak. Hayden nodded and the mirror took on the misty quality of attempted connection. About twenty seconds later, it cleared to show Marcelle’s very tired face. Jade attempted a small smile. “Hey.”

  Marcelle glared in the mirror. “Don’t ‘hey’ me! Why on earth did you go out alone? Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? You could have been killed! You--”

  “Marcelle.” Jade’s voice stopped her tirade as she seemed to take in the condition Jade was in, as well as the fact that Hunter was next to her. He was even surreptitiously propping her up from the side, for which she was grateful, because it felt like she should just lay back and sleep for a few days. “You got the news from the king, yes? That you need to stay put until we can get help?” At Marcelle’s nod, Jade smiled slightly again. “Okay. I need you to break that a little bit. I need you to let my fellacai out.”

  Looking thoughtful, Marcelle nodded. “They’ve been hovering by the door for a few hours now, but we weren’t sure what to do.”

  Jade nodded. “Let them out. They’ll come find me. Actually, can you take the mirror to them?”

  The bobbing of the shining surface let her know that Marcelle was doing just that, though she didn’t have to walk far. Drawn by the sound of her voice, her babies returned to the main room and were now fluttering around Marcelle. She let out a hoarse laugh when Lilith landed on Marcelle’s forehead, shifting to look at the mirror.

  “Lilith, be a sweetheart, don’t land on Marcelle’s face.” Jade smiled at her tiny one, and she could feel the link through the mirror. That was interesting, and she wondered how it worked.

  “We worried. So far away.” Lilith’s voice came through her connection, and she felt herself melting with love for her little ones.

  “I’m okay. Marcelle is going to let you out. I’m in the plains. Can you come find me?” She used her most soothing voice to talk to the little queen, no doubt in her mind that her wonderful little ones could accomplish the task.

  “We come.” Ramoth’s voice as she landed on Marcelle’s shoulder was firm, full of conviction.

  Jade smiled, nodding to them and Marcelle. “Very good. Marcelle, if you’ll have the guards open a tiny crack, they’ll go from there. Don’t open the door fully; you never know if mesmer are lurking.” Looking back at her babies, she mentally commanded them, “There might be more mesmer out there. Be careful, and make sure you hide where you come out from, okay?” She saw Ramoth and Lilith’s little heads nodding, having picked up the very human gesture from her.

  Nodding to Marcelle, Jade went on, “All right then. Open a tiny passage for them, then hunker down. You have enough supplies to last you at least a few days, right?”

  “Of course. Thanks to your bag, we’ve got enough for weeks. Don’t worry about us too much. I’ll let the fellacai out now.” Marcelle instantly allayed her fears that they would be starved out before she could come back for them.

  “That’s great. Thanks, Marcelle. I’ll see you in a few days.”

  “Heaven bless.” Marcelle whispered before cutting the connection. Jade sighed, leaning on Hunter a little more. She was so tired.

  Looking up at the people who took position around her, she asked quietly, “Can someone throw up some earth walls? Give us a little cover?”

  “Sure, I’ve got it.” Tisha was the first to respond, and she focused, bending down to touch the earth for a more direct connection as she called on her magic. The earth started to rise, but Jade was quick to notice that she was sweating from the effort, and the walls only made it up about three feet before she stopped, panting. She looked back at Jade, confusion on her face. “I don’t understand. This isn’t something I’ve ever had problems with before.”

  Jade nodded slowly before asking, “Tisha… Can you check your profile for me? Look at your stats and tell me what’s changed.”

  Looking a little confused, Tisha muttered “Profile” and stared intently at the screen in front of her. It only took a few seconds for her to gasp in shock, awe, or dismay, Jade wasn’t sure which. Her expression was bleak as she looked at Jade. “You’re right, they’ve changed. My magic went down three points, and my dexterity went up one. Why would they do that?”

  Sighing, Jade shook her head. “The mesmer were…” She paused, unsure if she should outline their situation so particularly, but there was no real reason to keep it from them. “They were turning you into one of them. It looks like part of that change is the stat redistribution. They were literally draining your magic, but the change hadn’t really started, so you didn’t get the boosts to strength and dexterity they most likely have. I’m sorry.”

  Tisha stared dully at the ground, shaking her head. “No...it’s gone? Just like that?”

  With another deep sigh, Jade looked at the others. “Everyone else check too. See what the changes are.” Her guess was that Tisha had been close to a breakthrough on dexterity as it was, and that maybe she’d lost only a little more than 2 points of magic, but that it would still show up as a lesser number even if it was whatever .99 of a stat.

  “My magic is gone.” Frank’s voice sounded numb, as if he couldn’t process what he was seeing.

  “Gone?” Hunter was still propping him up, so it was he who prodded Frank curiously.

  Frank nodded as he stared at the air. “My magic is a zero. My strength and dexterity each went up by three.” Looking bleakly at Jade, he asked in a lost voice, “What do I do without magic?” It was a part of who he was, she knew. He’d worked so hard at his contractual and other magics, just doing his best. To have all of that taken away in an instant, on top of a week of torture…

  “We’ll figure it out. It might not be permanent. I’ll help you get your magic back.” Her promise was only mildly mollifying, and she could tell those around her were forcing themselves to believe out of hope more than anything else, because it wasn’t as if there was a better way. Her help was the only glimmer of hope.

  “Right. Maybe it’ll come back…” The guard’s voice was filled with disbelief, even as he tried to reassure Frank, or maybe just himself. It wasn’t helpful.

  Jade cut in. “We’ll look into it more when we get back to the city. For now, can anyone else help with the fortifications? I’m not going to be able to move for a bit, so we’re going to have to wait until reinforcements arrive.”

  “Oh, yeah. I can help. My magic went down, but only by a point…” One of the guards chimed in, moving to raise the walls around them. If she had to hazard a guess, it had truthfully gone down more than a point, but that was because he didn’t know his decimals. If you had an 8.99, and it went down to 7.01, it would still only show up as losing a single point.

  If nothing else, she’d keep siphoning their magic stats. That would allow her to boost everyone...except Frank. 0.5% of nothing was still nothing. But hey, she hadn’t read all those cultivation novels for nothing! Maybe if she could figure out how magic worked, if it was something like power in the veins…it was obviously connected to their blood somehow, after all. Blood transfusion to get him started?

  She’d have to think on it. For now, she watched as a house-like structure went up around them. It reminded her of a jail cell, to be honest. Instead of a thatched roof, it was a flat one made of dirt, but there were arrow slits all around the side to provide them protection with the ability to hit back.

  Looking wearily at their setup, she nodded. “Don’t freak out when my fellacai arrive. They’ll help keep watch. For now, I think I’m going to take a nap. Wake me up if anything tries to kill us.” Once she got nods, she absently pulled out several cots so they could all rest on rotations as well. Hunt
er helped her balance herself to plop onto one of the cots, and she smiled wearily at him.

  She was out almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

  Chapter Twelve – Cost

  Jade vaguely felt the arrival of her babies, their joy at finding her coming through their connection even in her exhaustion. She smiled before she drifted completely back under again. She had no idea how much later it was when she felt their anxiety coming through the connection. As she dragged herself out of the land of slumber, she started to process the tiny voices echoing in her brain.

  “Mommy! Wake up! Two tialon!” Willow’s sweet voice was etched in mild panic as Jade was sent images from her tiny baby. Obviously flying high above them, Willow’s vision showed the two large creatures stalking through the grass towards their fortification. They were staying low enough that they wouldn’t be visible to the humans inside until they were nearly upon them.

  She took a moment to study the large cats. They looked like a strange mutation of the liger from home: they had a small mane, and their body was a lovely golden color that matched the wheat around them. The biggest difference that she could see was that their stripes and mane were a deep green that was becoming lighter and more golden the longer she watched. After observing them a moment longer, she realized they were using some sort of active camouflage the closer they got to the building to avoid detection.

  She took one last look at the stalking beasts, determining which direction they were coming from while sending soothing thoughts to Willow. She heard several gasps as her eyes shot open and she began to sit up. She smiled at them, and though she still felt a little weary, it was much better than before. She began to stretch as she said conversationally, “We’ve got two tialon incoming from the west.”

  “What? Tialon?” The panicked voice of the guard to the west basically encapsulated their emotions as a whole. All questions about her wellbeing after having woken were shoved aside in the immediate panic of approaching enemies.