by Isaac Hooke
“You and him are the stinkiest ones here,” Gwen commented.
“Actually, it’s the clean ones who are a problem,” Xaxia said. “Especially if you use scented soaps, or wear perfume. Thankfully, neither of you two committed such cardinal sins.”
“I carry perfume with me, but I haven’t worn it in what seems ages,” Abigail said.
“Now’s definitely not the time,” Xaxia said. “The way you are, you’ll fit right in.” She returned her attention to Gwen. “Especially you, Gobling.”
Gwen glowered at her.
“I say that not because of your monster nature, though that helps,” Xaxia said. “But because your robe is caked in dried blood.”
“It was a compliment,” Malem explained hastily, jumping to the bandit’s defense.
Gwen touched the robe she had folded into a bundle and shoved between her legs. “That’s right, defend your former lover.”
“I’m only trying to defuse the tension between you two,” he said.
“Then tell her not to call me Gobling,” Gwen said.
Xaxia merely smiled.
“The way she uses it, it’s a form of affection,” he tried.
“Uh huh,” Gwen said, sounding unconvinced.
“Look, we have to keep our heads out here, now more than ever,” he said. “We’re hunted by Oraks. Surrounded by monsters. With night about to fall.”
“Yeah, except it’s kind of hard to keep our heads when you put it like that,” Gwen commented. “All I can say is, I’m not going to like staying here for the night.”
“None of us is,” Malem commented.
“The Darkness that hunts you, you’re sure it’s not going to visit tonight?” Xaxia asked.
“Positive,” he said with more confidence than he felt. He added, jokingly: “Then again, maybe it would actually help, given where we are.”
“When you’re hoping for a demon to intervene, you know you’re in a very bad place,” Xaxia said.
Three hours later, when the sun began to set, Malem called a halt and the party made camp. They were too weary to do much more than clear a few bushes and shrubs from the site—undergrowth the foraging spider’s had missed. They also didn’t want to make too much noise, and attract waking monsters.
Malem applied more healing unguent to his leg from the jar he kept, and loosened the earlier tourniquet he’d tied. He was relieved when the wound didn’t bleed. He checked Bounder’s wounds, and decided the iguanid didn’t need another application. The horses were doing well, too, as were their riders.
Spirit landed nearby and perched on a high branch, hopefully well away from the reach of any spiders. The hawk promptly went to sleep.
Malem instructed Felipe to keep watch for the first few hours, as he was too tired to Break a pair of nearby owls he sensed. The little monkey promptly scaled the same tree as Spirit, and squatted on a nearby limb. Felipe threw a small pebble at the hawk, waking it, and Spirit hissed softly at the monkey. Though Malem hadn’t given the order for the animals to remain quiet, Spirit instinctively knew not to shriek loudly, or otherwise make too much noise, not here.
Malem gave the mental order for silence a moment later. Just in case.
“I’ll keep first watch,” Xaxia volunteered.
“Didn’t you see Felipe climb the tree over there?” Malem said. “He’s on watch duty.”
She planted her arms on her hips. “I’ll trust my human eyes over the eyes of your monkey any day, thank you very much.”
“I’d rather it wasn’t you,” Abigail said. “Sorry.”
“I’ll do it,” Gwen said. “You can take second watch,” she told the fire mage.
Xaxia sighed. “As you wish.” It looked like she was going to add some snide comment, but then she held her tongue and led her horse to the far side of the camp.
“Where are you going?” Gwen asked.
“If that Darkness of his comes, I don’t want to be close to him,” Xaxia said. “Probably a good idea if you keep your distance as well.”
They set no fires, and instead ate what little salted meat they had on their person. Felipe had taken the liberty to gather some eggs while on watch duty, and delivered them to Malem before returning to the tree.
Malem ate a few, sharing the rest with the women. Bounder wasn’t hungry of course: the iguanid had dined heartily on oraks earlier.
Darkness began to settle, and Gwen and Abigail listened to Xaxia’s earlier advice and chose sleeping areas well away from him.
He nodded in approval—he wanted them to stay safe more than anyone. It was possible, after all, that the Darkness would come, even if he didn’t sense its imminent arrival. He retrieved his sword, sliding it out from the scabbard underneath his robe, and set it down beside him within easy reach. Then he lay down and stared into the quiet dark, allowing his night vision to take hold. He shared the vision with Felipe, allowing the monkey to see as if the moon were full.
He reached out, searching for monsters, but didn’t sense any nearby. There were animals: birds and rodents, holed up in their nests and dens. A boar was out there, somewhere to the south. And that was it.
Well, except for Gwen and Abigail, nearby. He could barely sense the latter: she was recovering her strength well. He knew that when he awakened, she would probably be gone completely. It was just as well. He couldn’t have her anyway.
He reached out to Gwen on watch and touched her mind. How are you holding up?
Are we going to fuck tonight? Gwen sent, getting to the point.
He could have laughed. I love the eagerness. But I’m too tired.
Lazy bastard. Why do you think I volunteered?
He smiled. Tell you what, wake me in an hour, and I’ll tell you how I feel.
I’ll hold you to that…
He shook his head. I said I’ll tell you how I’ll feel, not that I’ll actually do anything!
Oh yes you will.
He grinned again. She was really starting to grow on him.
He closed his eyes, letting rest come.
Unfortunately, when he was roused from sleep, it wasn’t by Gwen’s sex-hungry touches.
It was by the sounds of battle.
19
Malem opened his eyes. Bounder was growling and making gnashing sounds. Someone had lit a torch—no, it wasn’t a torch, but that small bright flame Abigail used to see by, hovering above the campsite and illuminating the area.
He saw dark forms crawling to and fro upon the camp site. Earth spiders, judging from their brown coloration, and crouched bodies that seemed to hug the surface of the ground. Abigail and Gwen were on their feet; the former launching smaller balls of fire to conserve her energy, the latter leaping about and stabbing her sword into thoraxes and abdomens. Xaxia fought from horseback, hacking down at the creatures while her mount trampled the spiders underfoot. Ember and Neeme also stomped any spiders that got too close, while Felipe, clapping his hands inaudibly, screeched encouragement from the branches of the tree above.
Motion drew Malem’s attention closer at hand, where a nearby spider had curled its abdomens over its thorax like the stinger of a scorpion. He ducked as the spider threw a web at him; it landed on the small shrub beside him, gumming up its branches. He scooped up his sword from the ground and slashed at the spider, cutting its head in half, killing it.
Before he could react, another nearby earth spider spat venom from its mouth, hitting him in the eyes. The burning was so bad, it felt like someone was rubbing sandpaper over his eyeballs. The tears flowed frantically, and though he tried, he couldn’t open his eyelids worth shit.
He’d been hit by spider venom in the eyes like that before—which was far better than an actual bite to the skin—so he knew he would be blinded for at least the next five minutes until the tears could flush the poison away.
He was hesitant to try his beast sense to control the spider, given its proximity. While he could sense them around him, the feeling wasn’t all that strong, and he wasn’t su
re he was rested enough: if he failed, he’d be standing there helplessly while the beast spat more venom.
Spirit was perched overhead, so instead he switched to the hawk’s viewpoint and danced to the side as the spider spat again. Then he raced forward, plunging his blade into its thorax, transfixing the arachnid like some mad insect collector who’d just acquired a brand new set of pins. It was awkward fighting from third person perspective, but it wasn’t debilitating. He’d done it often enough in the past, after all—mostly in the form of drunken gambling wagers, such as: “I bet I can beat you even when blindfolded.”
With that spider eliminated, he withdrew his blade, reached out to the closest arachnids, and attempted to wrap his will around them. Spiders were the lowest class of monster possible, and while he hadn’t been able to control them before, because of his link to Gwen they were a breeze to Break now. He wrapped his will around them and tightened, immediately taking control of two before they could slip away. That put him right at his limit.
But then he doubled over because of the unexpectedly severe drain. Low level creatures like these shouldn’t have caused so much fatigue, but he reminded himself that he still wasn’t fully recovered. He’d have to be careful not to extend himself too far.
Staying down on one knee to rest himself, he turned the spiders upon their surprised brethren with the general command: “kill.” The spiders webbed their opponents and then bit into them when they were down. They didn’t bother to spit their venom: he suspected the other creatures were immune to its caustic effects.
They sometimes didn’t bother webbing their victims first, especially if their backs were turned to them, for example if they were dealing with one of the other party members. In those cases, Malem’s spiders pounced.
The ground began to tremble in short, repetitive bursts, as if transmitting the footfalls of some fast approaching gargantuan.
“Uh, Abigail?” Malem said. “You probably should dim the light a little bit?”
“Why does it matter?” she said. “You said it yourself, the forest monsters will be attracted to the noise, and we’re certainly kicking up a racket! Besides, it’s too late now. We’re going to need the light to face whatever comes!”
The trees parted and the towering form of a hill giant loomed before the party. A male. It covered its eyes to shield them from the light.
“Too bright!” the giant boomed.
It swung its big club down toward the glowing flame, and Malem and the other scattered. The giant failed to disperse the magic, however, and the flame merely slid around the club to maintain its current height.
Overall, the giant’s body was about as big as a two-story house. Its thighs were the thickness of trees, its chest the size of a horse-drawn carriage, its biceps like elephants.
Its hair was fixed into a long braid that swayed down its back. Its black beard was similarly braided, and hung to the middle of its chest.
Around the throat the giant wore several vaguely human-like skulls, probably oraks. They looked like shrunken heads while hanging from that huge neck, until one considered the scale: they were actual size, not shrunken.
Green lichen grew on the giant’s upper arms and back. Its forearms were covered in thick hair, like an ape’s, as were its calves and the upper parts of its feet.
The giant wore a one-piece garment that was a sash and loincloth combination, with the sash section hanging over its right shoulder and covering half the chest as it connected to the front and back portions of the loincloth.
Some of the spiders swarmed the giant, crawling up its leg. The huge creature lifted that leg and slid one hand down its ankle at the same time, sloughing them off. Then it stomped down on them; at the same time the giant slammed its big club into the ground, preventing more spiders from reaching him. The huge guy did so several times, crushing two or three at a time and sending reverberations through the soil with each impact so that Malem could barely keep his balance, even though he was already down on one knee.
Without releasing any of his existing animals and monsters, Malem reached out experimentally, toward the hot energy that represented the hill giant in his mind. The fingers of his will turned to steam before that energy, and Malem knew the monster was beyond him: he couldn’t Break the hill giant, at least not in his current state.
“Retreat while it’s occupied!” Malem shouted.
He mounted Bounder, who was still snapping at the spiders around him; Felipe leaped down onto Malem’s shoulder and crawled into his collar.
The three women hacked their way through the spiders toward their own steeds.
Malem’s eyes still burned. He needed to clear the venom now. He retrieved a canteen from his saddlebags and emptied the liquid over his face, forcing himself to open his eyes. He blinked rapidly through the pain and found that he could keep his eyes open for stretches of two seconds at a time, despite the continuous burning. That was good enough.
He dismissed Spirit’s viewpoint for his own and stashed his canteen. He saw that the three women had just finished mounting their steeds. Good.
He staggered slightly as the connection to one of the spiders severed—the monster had died.
The giant bashed away the latest cluster of big arachnids and turned its attention toward the human party.
“Bright!” the giant screamed. It slammed its club downward, aiming at the floating ball of flame once again.
Malem rushed Bounder into the trees, away from that blow. “Retreat!”
As Abigail withdrew, the weakened fire mage threw two small fireballs at the hill giant’s eyes, and the big monster held a forearm in front of its face to deflect them. The fireballs inflicted only small scorch marks on its arms.
“Bitch!” the giant said.
As they retreated through the forest, Abigail’s bright globe followed, illuminating the way.
“If I was at my full strength, I could take that monster!” Abigail said over the thumping of hooves.
“Excuses, excuses,” Xaxia commented.
The giant squashed the last few spiders around it and then leaped over the remainder to pursue the fleeing party at a run.
“I think you made it mad,” Xaxia said.
“Snuff the light!” Malem said. “I’m giving your horses night vision!”
The flaming globe went out and absolute darkness descended.
He activated his own night vision, and immediately released two of the spiders and bound the mounts of Abigail and Xaxia instead, granting them his vision in the process.
He was growing weary from all the Breaking, and decided it wasn’t worth it to Break Neeme, considering he already had its rider, Gwen, in his mind. Besides, he might have a use for one of the spiders yet.
So he gave night vision directly to Gwen instead, because she mentioned her night vision was weak: she needed to see clearly right about now.
You’ll have to guide your own horse, he sent her. I don’t have enough slots.
You and your slots, came the reply.
Malem could feel the vibrations of the monster’s heavy footfalls—each step was transmitted from the ground and up into his saddle. He glanced over his shoulder and spotted the monster breaking through the trees, closing. He increased his pace. He was glad the undergrowth was less dense here so that he didn’t have those branches clawing at him and slowing him down. Plus, it spared his face and neck from scratches.
He had put some distance between himself and their campsite, but he was still close enough to sense Spirit and the last spider under his control, even if he was still not fully recovered from the day before. The spider was idling, keeping away from the other arachnids, which would probably attack it when they realized it was covered in spider bites—a sign it hadn’t been playing nice with its brethren.
He granted night vision to Spirit and instructed the hawk to scoop up the spider. The hawk dove from the branch, swooping downward to wrap its talons around the thorax of the target. Spirit strained its wings agai
nst the weight, flapping rapidly, and at last got the arachnid into the air, though she couldn’t lift it more than a few feet from the ground. But that was good enough. He ordered Spirit to approach his position.
The hill giant was fast closing with Malem and his team. The monster was obviously using the sound of their passage to guide it through the dark.
“Halt and take cover!” Malem said.
He led Bounder behind a tree. Then he waited.
The hill giant paused as soon as the riders stopped. The big creature stood still, listening.
Spirit steered through the trees behind the monster, carrying the spider. The giant turned its torso slightly when it heard the flapping of those wings.
The hawk rose as high as she could with one last burst of energy, and tossed her payload, then swerved away to land on the upper branch of a nearby tree.
The giant batted at that particular tree and for a moment Malem thought he’d lost Spirit, but then he sensed her energy bundle moving away before perching on the upper branch of a different tree nearby.
Meanwhile, the spider had landed unnoticed on the back portion of the giant’s loincloth. Malem commanded it to carefully scale that loincloth and the connecting sash, without touching any of the nearby skin, nor the long braid that hung down the monster’s back.
The giant began slamming its club into the surrounding trees in the dark. “Where are you, Fire Bitch?”
The big monster dropped the club, body-slammed one of the trees, and wrapped its arms around the thick bole in a hug and tore it, roots and all, from the dirt. With a grunt, the giant hurled the tree into other pines nearby, shattering their branches.
The monster retrieved its club and stalked through the dark, sniffing loudly.
“Got ya!” the hill giant boomed.
