She thrust a hollow gourd into his hand. They’d been using them to hold water, since the only waterskins they had were the ones that Ari had kept in his pack.
“Uh…” Ari shook his head. “What’s this?”
“To collect blood,” said Amber. “Remember? If you want more potions, I need more Weatherblight blood.”
“Now might not be the best time,” said Ari.
“Just see what you can do,” said Amber. “The sooner we gather all the alchemy ingredients, the better.”
She had a point, and as Ari hurried off toward the tunnel, an idea formed in his head. Virgil, Eva, Durrien, and Rin were already standing at the tunnel’s end, forming a ragtag fighting wall against the still-unseen Weatherblight.
CHAPTER 7
“Aristial,” said Eva. “We’re dealing with freezing rain. I am unsure if that will have an effect on the form of Weatherblight we face.”
“Freezing rain, huh?” Ari frowned and extended his hand beyond the tunnel. His palm jerked slightly as one of the hard, ice-cold droplets struck it. He was still somewhat unused to the range of weather, having only come up from the Hollow earlier that year.
He’d never seen freezing rain before, and it left him with a distinct, anxious feeling. The dark clouds overhead had dimmed the sun, but not so much that he couldn’t see the shapes of the Weatherblight as they began to embody and pull themselves free of the soil.
“Well,” said Ari. “These look new.”
The monsters were visibly different from the other Weatherblight Ari had seen at a single glance. They had blue skin, with large, oblong bodies that were oriented low to the ground. They looked a little like massive frogs, each large enough to probably pull a small person into their wide mouths.
Their eyes were huge, larger than Ari’s fists, and set into the side of their heads similar to the orientation of the eyes of a fish. They each had six legs in total, the back two almost identical to the powerful, leap-focused limbs of a frog, while the front ones were more like the thin appendages of an ant or a roach.
Ari could see three emerging from the ground nearby. One of them opened its wide mouth and let out a low, rumbling noise that seemed like a combination of a snore and a burp, except with an unnerving edge to it. He glanced over at Eva and she nodded, shifting into Azurelight, which Ari took by the hilt and swung in a flourish.
“Rin,” he said. “Do the Ravarians have a name for these things?”
She shook her head. “Not that I know of.”
“Durrien?” asked Ari. “Did they have a name in Cliffhaven?”
“They had a couple,” said Durrien. “I’ve seen them before in my time abroad. Me and my old party used to call them pouncers.”
“That’s a little disconcerting.” Ari took a small step back, and not a moment too soon. The nearest pouncer focused its attention on him, reared back slightly on its legs, and then hurled itself into a leap that carried it high enough into the air to almost disappear from view.
Ari fell into a defensive sword stance, but Durrien was the one who acted first. As the pouncer came within range, he whipped his club into a vicious, downward strike. The head of the weapon collided with the monster with a hollow thunk, flinging it down to the ground. It bounced, limbs flailing, and green blood gushed from where the club had made contact.
Ari briefly considered trying to fulfill Amber’s request before deciding that it was still too dangerous. The other pouncers had taken notice of their fellow monster’s find, and each had begun jumping and repositioning themselves in anticipation of a follow-up attack. Ari took a few steps forward, gesturing for Rin and Durrien to do the same, while keeping Virgil behind them as a rear guard.
The pouncers were no more intelligent than any of the other Weatherblight Ari had faced. They were dangerous, and they did have the basic, predatorial instinct to attack as a group and attempt to split their opposition, but they weren’t truly aware and capable of taking advantage of the situation.
One of the pouncers jumped at Ari. He pulled Azurelight back and slashed through both the air and the monster’s stomach. Green blood spurted out, and Ari almost reached for the gourd as the pouncer hurriedly scrambled away.
“The clouds are already starting to break,” called Rin. “We might only have to hold them off for a few more minutes, chala.”
“We’ll be lucky if that’s the case,” said Ari. He licked his lips, realizing that the underwhelming pouncers probably were his best opportunity at collecting the blood Amber needed after all.
Two more pouncers attacked. Rin slammed her staff into the gut of one, following up with a kick that sent it somersaulting through the air. Durrien bludgeoned the other away with a cracking blow that echoed through the air above the sound of the pattering freezing rain.
“There!” said Ari, watching as the pouncer Durrien had just attacked attempted to scramble away. “Virgil! Can you grab it with those bushes?”
The pouncer was about to run directly through a patch of thick, curling shrubs that seemed ideal for the purpose of temporarily incapacitating a wounded monster. Virgil squinted at where Ari had indicated and shrugged.
“I need to get a little closer,” he said.
Ari grabbed Virgil’s shoulder and pulled him forward, moving away from Durrien and Rin, who immediately shifted to stand closer together, blocking the tunnel. It was only a few dozen feet to the bushes. A deceptively short distance when it came to the Weatherblight.
Virgil slid to a stop when they were close enough, his face scrunching in concentration as he wrapped the pouncer in bushes by the legs and arms. It let out a rumbling, snapping noise and tried to jump free without success.
“Perfect!” Ari grabbed the gourd and hurried to the monster’s side. Holding the container directly under what he assumed to be the monster’s neck, he pulled Azurelight’s blade across its skin and began collecting the sickly-sweet-smelling green liquid.
“Whoa!” Virgil let out a surprised shout. Ari turned in time to see a pouncer landing within a few feet of Virgil, followed by a sudden blur as a long, whipping tongue scythed out from its mouth. Virgil fell back holding a wound running along his cheek and neck, blood spilling forth faster than he could hold it in with his hand.
The pouncer Virgil had been binding with his mystica immediately hopped free of the bushes. Ari barely had time to get Azurelight up to block. Sword met tongue, and metal severed through the sharp, spiny flesh, saving him from taking a similar slash to the neck.
“Lord Stoneblood!” said Eva, through the bond. “You must get the boy to safety!”
“I’m aware!” snapped Ari. He kept his sword up as he backed away, watching the pouncer nearest to him along with one other out of the corner of his eye.
Virgil was shuddering in pain as Ari helped him to his feet. He brought Virgil’s hands to his neck, making sure that he kept them there, applying pressure to the fast-bleeding wound. Durrien and Rin had pushed forward, taking the risk of leaving the tunnel temporarily unguarded for the sake of providing support to Ari and Virgil.
The four of them fell back as swiftly as they could. As much as Ari wanted to send someone with Virgil as an escort to bring him to Kerys or Amber for bandaging, it wasn’t a risk they could take. The tunnel needed to be defended, at any cost.
The pouncers continued attacking, and Ari and his companions defended with all the ferocity they could muster. Monster corpses began to pile up outside the tunnel, enough to make the risk he’d taken to get the Weatherblight blood seem premature and foolish.
The clouds broke after half an hour or so, though it felt like far longer, from Ari’s perspective. As the last droplets of freezing rain fell, the pouncers had already begun to retreat, some of them running off in the distance, others hissing and falling lifeless to the ground like punctured waterskins.
“Rin,” said Ari. “Stay here just in case the weather flares up again.”
Rin nodded. Durrien moved into position on the other side of Vir
gil, and he and Ari began helping him down the tunnel. Virgil was sobbing and shivering with pain. Ari tried and failed to think of something comforting to say that might put him at ease.
They brought him into the central chamber, where Kerys, Amber, and Selene were coming out of the tower. Selene let out a cry and immediately ran to her brother’s side, burying her face into his tunic.
“I… I’m okay,” said Virgil. He saw Kerys and hurried to wipe tears from his cheeks, smearing blood across his nose in the process.
“What happened?” said Kerys. She shot a look at Ari, and he found that he couldn’t meet her gaze.
“It’s my fault,” he said. He passed the gourd of pouncer blood to Amber, feeling a little surprised that he’d managed to get it as full as he did.
“This is not your fault, lad,” said Durrien. “I should have mentioned what their tongues can do.”
“Let me see,” said Kerys, reaching a hand out to touch Virgil’s chin. He looked so young to Ari in that moment, and for an instant, he tried to hide his wound from her like a little boy hiding a scraped knee.
“It’s just a scratch,” said Virgil. His voice wavered with enough pain to completely betray his words.
“Let’s get you inside,” said Kerys. “Amber, can you help me with this? I’m not so good with bandages anymore.”
“You got it,” said Amber. “Thanks for the blood, Ari.”
Amber leaned in close to him and spoke the words nearly into his ear. She flashed a mischievous smile, as though he’d brought her a flower or gift in place of an alchemy ingredient.
Kerys wasn’t as pleased with him and didn’t look his way as she led Virgil off toward the tower. Ari could understand her perspective and even agreed with it in part, though that may have just been the influence of his irrational guilt.
He’d gone to such great lengths to protect her and Eva, and now he had a larger community to think about. Much as it had been with just the three of them, the incidents that happened were often a result of Ari’s judgment. People trusted him, and he had a responsibility to make decisions for the sake of Etheria, decisions that shouldn’t put others at risk.
“It really wasn’t your fault, lad,” said Durrien. “You don’t have to pout like that.”
“It was my fault,” said Ari. “I think what you mean is that I came close to getting away with it.”
“I suppose that is what I mean,” said Durrien. “We’re playing the odds with every move we make out here. Sometimes you have to weigh the trade-off. That cut on Virgil’s face will heal in good time, but when would your next chance to secure that monster blood have been, had the rain ended a few minutes earlier?”
Ari shrugged. A flash of light came from the corner of his vision, and he sensed Eva shifting into her incarnate form behind him.
“He’s right,” said Eva. “Questioning your choices in this instance will only lead to you making poor decisions based on doubt.”
Ari wasn’t so sure, but he let the point drop.
CHAPTER 8
The calm weather held through the afternoon. As motivated as Ari was to get started on transplanting trees to put his idea of creating a fence outside the tunnel into motion, it wasn’t possible without Virgil’s help.
The pouncer attack had left him feeling a strong impulse to stay productive, so he went looking for Eva. He found her on patrol just outside the tunnel and waved a hand to get her attention.
“Hey,” he said. “Up for some training?”
She considered for a moment before nodding. “Yes, I think now would be a good time. The ability you discovered earlier today could be quite formidable, to say the least. We should try to master it as soon as we can.”
“Agreed,” said Ari.
The weather, though clear, was still cold enough to compel them to find a spot to train inside. One of the underrooms had, for the moment, been repurposed as a training chamber, complete with practice sticks of various lengths and a straw mannequin that Ari had made from an old, torn tunic.
He and Eva spent a few minutes warming up, first. Eva had taught Ari essentially everything he knew about sword fighting, and she was a more-than-capable opponent for him. He did beat her on occasion, usually by relying on the element of surprise. Today was not one of those times.
“Aristial,” she said. “You don’t seem focused right now.”
“I don’t feel focused right now.” Ari sighed. “Sorry.”
Eva lowered her practice sword and stepped in closer to him. “Talk to me. Is this about what happened earlier?”
Ari sighed. Eva slid around behind him and began gently massaging his shoulders.
“Yeah, it is,” he said.
“Virgil will be okay, Aristial,” said Eva. “You know that.”
“It’s not about whether he’ll be okay or not,” said Ari. “It goes deeper. He trusted me. I had an idea, a foolish idea, in retrospect, and he didn’t question it for an instant.”
“That’s what trust is,” said Eva. “You should value him for it.”
“I do, but…” Ari shook his head. “His trust isn’t in me. It’s in Lord Stoneblood. It’s in the show I put on. Does that make sense?”
“No, it doesn’t.” Eva turned him around to face her. “It’s complete nonsense, Aristial. You are who you are. I told you before to stop letting the doubt infect you so easily. That’s the real issue here.”
Ari shrugged. “Maybe. Come on, let’s give that new ability a try.”
Eva nodded, and her body flashed with light as she shifted into her sword form. Ari caught Azurelight by the hilt and tried to clear his head, focusing on the sensation of the bond between them.
“Did it feel like anything to you when I did it?” asked Ari.
“It was… an interesting sensation,” said Eva.
“What does that mean?”
“It tickles, in a manner of speaking,” said Eva.
“Interesting,” said Ari. “It doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable, though?”
“Uncomfortable would not be the right word for it,” said Eva.
Ari wondered what she meant by that, but he let the line of questioning drop. He started with a simple test, placing Azurelight on the floor in front of him and taking a few steps back.
Extending his right hand, Ari let his mind empty and tried to repeat what he’d done earlier. It was an interesting sensation, as Eva had put it, from his side as well. It felt like he was finding a tether to pull on, except one made from the connection between him and Eva. The space between, or lack thereof.
Slowly, and with an intense level of concentration, Ari managed to make Azurelight move from a distance. The sword jerked, rising a few inches into the air before clattering back down to the stone, and Ari swore he heard the echo of Eva sucking in a surprised breath through their bond.
“Are you still okay?” asked Ari.
“Fine!” said Eva, a touch too quickly.
Ari took her at her word and continued the experiment. It was hard, but he suspected that was as much because of the ability’s newness as it was its relative difficulty. After a few tries he could consistently lift the weapon into the air. He managed to bring it up to shoulder level on his last attempt before shifting techniques and summoning Azurelight to his hand.
“I can see a few ways in how this could be useful,” said Ari. “It would turn throwing you offensively into a practical attack, since I could keep your tip oriented and adjust if my aim is off or my opponent dodges.”
“That would leave you unarmed,” said Eva.
“True,” said Ari. “Speaking of which, if I do end up being unarmed, I could use this technique to attack with you from behind and catch my opponent off guard.”
“I can already do that just by shifting forms and attacking,” said Eva.
Azurelight flashed with light, and Eva appeared in her incarnate form as though to punctuate her point.
“Well now we have options,” said Ari. “If you have any better ideas, I
would love to hear them.”
Eva smirked at him and offered a nonchalant shrug. On a whim, Ari reached his hand out toward her and felt for the same tether through the bond that he’d been using to manipulate the sword at a distance.
She let out a sudden gasp along with a shudder that seemed to ricochet through her entire body before falling to her knees. Ari brought his hand to his mouth and immediately went to her side.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “Mud and blood, that was stupid. I’m so sorry, Eva.”
“No,” she said. “It’s quite alright. When I said before that the sensation was something of a flutter…”
She blushed, and Ari’s eyes were instantly drawn to the way she ran her hand across one of her breasts. He felt suddenly devious, and he couldn’t help himself from keeping a light pressure on the tether through the bond as she stood back up.
“There may be some use for the technique even with you in your incarnate form,” he said, increasing the pressure. Eva tried to keep her composure for a moment before giving up, biting her lower lip and wrapping her arms across her breasts.
“I–I somehow doubt that, milord,” she said, in a breathy voice.
“Why?” said Ari. He further increased the pressure and saw Eva’s face flush. “Tell me more about what it feels like, Eva.”
“Aristial,” she said.
He shifted his focus, gently pulling, or rather, caressing through the tether. Eva stayed on her feet, but she arched her back and slowly began to sway at the hips. Soft, pleasured noises escaped her mouth, and her eyelids fluttered with delirious pleasure.
Ari grinned as he slowly made his way over toward her, increasing the pressure with each step. He reached a hand out and caressed her cheek. Eva kissed and then sucked on one of his fingers. He was reaching out to take things even further when footsteps came from the hallway outside the training room.
Grena appeared in the doorway, smiling and bowing slightly as she entered. The older Ravarian woman still had the jet-black hair common to her people, though the wrinkles in her face suggested her maturity.
Reborn Raiders (The Weatherblight Saga Book 4) Page 5
