“Rin told me of this intelligent monster you encountered,” said the Vereshi. “She claims that you say it could control the Weatherblight.”
“That’s what it said,” said Ari. “It was controlling the fishers on top of the spire we came here from.”
“The… fishers?” asked the Vereshi. “You mean the sonokai? Rainblight?”
“Yeah,” said Ari. “Mordus had them completely under his control.”
“Did he express his future intentions?” asked the Vereshi.
Ari shook his head. “Just told us to leave and not to come back.”
The Vereshi slowed to a stop, and Ari, with his arm still looped through hers, was obliged to do the same.
“I wish to trust you,” she said. “I believe you have arrived here in our city for a reason. We Ravarians do not believe in any gods, or even the idea of that sort of intangible power, but we do believe in a surreptitious order. You’ve come here as a part of it, as far as I can tell.”
“I can get behind that,” said Ari.
The Vereshi smiled at him and withdrew her arm from his. She was wearing a very ceremonial-looking toga over clean, white leggings, and she reached into an interior pocket of the former and withdrew a small pouch.
“My sister has made demands of you, has she not?” she asked. “Or, to be more specific, a single, bodily demand?”
“Ah.” Ari scratched his head, unsure of how to diplomatically handle the situation. “She does need some help from me, but I doubt she’d like me discussing details.”
“There’s no need for you to,” said the Vereshi. “Just take this. It’s ground kerbal root.”
“What’s it do?”
“If a man takes a small amount of this before intercourse, it renders his seed infertile,” she said. “No more than a small spoonful is needed. The functionality of your body will be unchanged, but there will be no risk of a child born from the coupling.”
Ari furrowed his brow, though the Vereshi’s interference made sense to him as he considered it. She’d seemed hostile to the idea of another Ravarian-Hume hybrid being born when the idea had come up while she and her advisors had been discussing what to do with him. The way Rin had talked about it made it almost seem like she wanted his child so she’d have a card to play in the event of an eventual coup.
“Thank you,” he said.
“Now,” said the Vereshi. “Today is a holiday. Feel free to explore and enjoy the city with your companions. There is a wrestling circle to the north of your tree hut, if you’re looking for entertainment.”
Ari grinned. “I think that’s a good idea.”
CHAPTER 25
Ari stopped by the tree hut to pick up Kerys and Eva before heading to the wrestling circle that the Vereshi had mentioned. Kerys held onto his hand as they walked, and he felt her leaning back as they approached the raucous group of Ravarians who were cheering on the combatants in the current fight.
“Are you sure this such a good idea, Ari?” asked Kerys. “Maybe we should just hang around the tree hut? Keep a low profile?”
“Nobody will even notice us, Kerys,” said Ari. “Relax.”
He was almost immediately proven wrong. Half the Ravarians in attendance turned to look at them as they made their way to the edge of the wrestling circle, which was about twenty feet across in diameter.
Ari scowled a little as he noticed how many of the men were looking at Eva and Kerys, specifically. The togas did look incredible on the two women, though they would have stood out even in more modest clothing, given how exotic their features must have seemed.
A young Ravarian man was making his way into the circle for the next sparring bout. Ari recognized him as one of the Ravarians who’d been in the scouting party that had originally taken them captive. He was the one who’d burst into Ari’s room, in fact.
Ari held the Ravarian’s gaze for longer than it was probably wise to. They were around the same age, as far as he could tell, but the Ravarian was a little taller than he was, with a far more slender frame. Ari watched as the young man glanced toward his friends and said something in their native language that caused them to burst into laughter.
He felt a slight flush come to his cheeks as he recognized the tone of their amusement. It was all too similar to the many times he’d ended up as the butt of a joke down in the Hollow. He felt silly as he examined his historical resentment and noticed how fresh it still felt, even though it was completely irrelevant to his current circumstances.
“Lord Aristial?” asked Eva. “What are you doing?”
Ari bent over and took his shoes off, followed by his cloak. “Seeing if they don’t mind a friendly challenge.”
“Aristial Stoneblood!” hissed Kerys. “Dormiar’s tears, are you out of your mind?”
“Of course I am,” said Ari. “But this has nothing to do with that.”
He cracked his knuckles as he made his way into the wrestling circle. The young Ravarian man furrowed his brow and shouted something to a Ravarian woman who appeared to be overseeing the bouts. Ari recognized her too. She was the blonde woman who’d been in charge of the scouting party.
There was a short discussion between them, and then the blonde woman walked over to him. Ari was again struck by her rugged beauty, with both her long blonde ponytail and the distinctive, parallel scars on her cheek giving her an intriguingly rough allure.
“Leyehl,” said the woman, pressing a hand to her chest.
“Aristial,” said Ari, extending his hand to shake hers. “Nice to meet you.”
The woman winced. “No… speak… ah… same words?”
“You don’t speak Subvios,” said Ari, nodding. “I get it.”
Leyehl frowned slightly, and then gave him a small nod. She held her hands up and dropped into a wrestling crouch, raising an eyebrow in a manner that seemed to ask a question. She made a fist and shook her head, and then tapped her knees and elbows and did the same.
“No, no, no,” she said, assuming the wrestling crouch again. “This… yes. Yes?”
“Just wrestling,” said Ari. “No punching, no elbows, no knees. I’m assuming no kicking or biting either?”
Leyehl stared at him, shaking her head in incomprehension after a few seconds. Ari danced forward a little, playfully doing an exaggerated version of pulling her into a wrestling clinch. Leyehl nodded vigorously.
She stepped out of the ring, shouting a rapid series of words in the high-pitched, musical Ravarian language. Ari’s opponent, the young Ravarian man, said something which he assumed was either an insult or a joke.
“That’s so interesting,” said Ari, nodding as if he understood. “I’m going to make you eat dirt, just so you know.”
Leyehl lifted her hand, looking back and forth between the two of them to make sure they were ready. She let out a shout and dropped her hand, starting the fight.
The young Ravarian man feinted before rushing forward. Ari hadn’t stopped to consider whether the Ravarians were allowed to use their wings in the bout, but from the way his opponent moved, he felt like it was safe to assume that flying up into the air was against the rules.
The wrestling circle was well-worn dirt with a thin dusting of sand across the top of it. Ari’s bare feet had no trouble finding traction, and he easily danced to the side as his Ravarian rival attempted an enthusiastic tackle.
They spun around each other, and a few seconds went by as they both waited for the other to make the first move. Ari took two quick steps forward and grabbed the Ravarian’s wrist. He let the Ravarian pull back before fully committing to his next move, grabbing him by the shoulders and twisting to the side.
The Ravarian shifted into the movement, which would have normally been the right thing to do. Ari kept his hold and brought them both to the ground, moving with expert speed developed during his many scrapes down in the Hollow to seize one of the Ravarian’s arms and twist it into submission.
The young Ravarian let out a shout of pain and tapped out a
lmost immediately. Ari grinned as he stood up, turning and taking in an audience that had clearly been rooting against him, outside of his companions.
“Good job, Ari!” Kerys ran up to him and pulled him into a hug from behind.
“I hadn’t realized you had such instincts for wrestling,” said Eva. “I’ve never done much of it myself. Perhaps you can teach me a few things.”
“Absolutely,” he said, grinning at her.
He’d already begun to follow Kerys and Eva back toward the tree hut when Leyehl came over and set a hand on his shoulder. She had a challenging smile on her face, and she nodded toward the center of the wrestling ring. Ari quirked an eyebrow as she moved to stand on one side and gestured for him to get into position.
“It would appear that I have a new opponent,” he said.
Leyehl looked confident, though she was both shorter and of a leaner build than the young man had been. Ari resisted the urge to make a comment about how he’d go easy on her, both out of respect and because of a nagging suspicion that she might be more than what she seemed.
“I’m ready when you are,” said Ari. He gave her a quick nod, and she offered one in return.
The fight started off in much the same way, with each of them circling and attempting to get a sense of the other. Ari tried pushing forward and maneuvering to press her back against the edge of the circle. The full rules of the match hadn’t been explained to him, of course, but he felt that it was fair to assume that if he knocked her out of the circle, he’d be victorious.
Leyehl stumbled, or at least, she seemed to. Ari launched himself forward a split second before realizing that he’d been baited. She looped an arm under his shoulder as he came near her, twisting to the side to flip him onto the ground, with her on top.
Outside of a few of his training duels with Eva that had ended with one or both of them disarmed, Ari had never wrestled a woman before. He pulled Leyehl into a clinch before she could get an effective hold on his body, his hands running over the point where her wings connected to her shoulders.
Leyehl shook from side to side, trying to loosen his arms. Ari’s hips bucked on reflex to keep her in position tight against him. He bent one knee and tried to roll to the side to put himself into a more dominant position. Leyehl slid upward, and he tried to stay focused as he felt a pair of soft breasts pushing into his face.
She suddenly shifted and spun all at once, wrapping her thighs around the joint of his shoulder and pulling his arm down at a shockingly painful angle. Ari gritted his teeth, knowing that if he didn’t tap out, she would probably do real damage. He was considering his rather limited options when a loud boom sounded overhead.
Leyehl let go of him immediately, climbing to her feet and directing her gaze upward at a sky that was far more overcast than it had been a few minutes ago. She shouted something to the other Ravarians, completely ignoring Ari and the interrupted match.
“Mud and blood,” he muttered. “Come on!”
CHAPTER 26
As much as Ari wanted to immediately find a way to lend his aid in defense of the city, he had to think about both Kerys’ safety and maintaining appearances. He couldn’t have Eva immediately shift into sword from in front of the Ravarians. He suspected that Rin had at least told the Vereshi about Eva’s power, but he doubted the community at large knew about it, and he wasn’t interested in rolling the dice on how they’d react to it.
The rain began to fall as they reached the tree hut, though it was in sporadic droplets, given how the canopy overhead sheltered the city. Ari led Kerys inside and then immediately held out his hand. Eva was in sync with him and needed no further urging, immediately shifting into her sword form. Ari caught her by the hilt, found his scabbard, pulled it on over his shoulder and sheathed Azurelight.
“Stay here,” said Ari. “I’ll guard the tree hut from outside.”
“Do you think the fishers will spawn here?” asked Kerys. “It seemed so safe…”
“They will,” said Ari. “I’m guessing that they try to get as much of their community up into the trees as they can whenever it rains, but there’s no time for that now.”
A scream came from outside the hut, distant enough to sound distorted but close enough to make Ari flinch. He gave Kerys’ shoulder a quick reassuring squeeze before slipping back out into the open.
He scanned the nearby area as the rain continued to fall. Despite being the middle of the day, the clouds overhead had conspired with the tree canopy to all but choke out the sun’s illumination. He took slow steps, unsheathing Azurelight and holding it at the ready.
A fisher spawned not far from him, perhaps thirty feet away. It rose from the dirt as though it had always been there, sitting up and shaking clumps of grass and mud from its tentacles and hideous, four-sectioned maw. The sight reminded Ari of a game he and the other boys would play occasionally in the sand cavern, where they’d take turns burying and bursting up to surprise one another.
The fisher had noticed him, and it wasn’t playing. Oddly, it looked smaller than the ones Ari had come to know during his time in the area outside Golias Hollow. It was closer to the height of an adolescent, rather than the hulking monsters that would have towered over any adult.
It was apparently faster, too. Ari was a second slow to react as the fisher hurled itself forward, propelling itself not only with all four limbs but using its tentacles for even more purchase. He swung his sword at where he was expecting it to be. The fisher leapt upward, dodging the blow.
It issued a hissing noise, followed by an explosive cough. Ari had the sense to fling himself to the side as a glob of dark blue goo landed in the spot where he’d just been. The grass sizzled, and a few tufts of acrid-smelling smoke rose from the puddle.
He backed away from the fisher slowly, refocusing himself on the task of protecting Kerys in the hut. The Ravarians were fighting the monsters, too, though much of the battle seemed to be taking place amidst the trees and at the bases of the ones with the largest trunks.
Another fisher had joined the one that Ari had been battling, and they appeared to be smart enough to capitalize on the advantage. He swore under his breath as the two monsters circled around him, preparing for an obvious and unavoidable flanking attack.
He tried to keep them both in his field of view, but it was impossible. He wanted to use the Ring of Insight to gain some sort of advantage, but the fishers didn’t give him time to formulate a proper query and push his will into the enchantment.
They came at him in a blur. Ari tried to slash at the one diving straight toward him while dodging the one he couldn’t see through reflexes and luck. He felt the fisher in back plow into him at waist-level, tentacles immediately roving to find and wrap around his neck.
He felt something else. In a panic, Ari pushed his will into the new enchantment he’d placed onto his Feathercloak, only to realize that it was already working. It had triggered automatically on the first impact of the fisher, flickering with faint blue sparkles and all but absorbing the force of the blow.
As the fisher tried to get its tentacles in place to strangle him, he used his will to shift the cloak into a better defensive position. It slid upward, the hood opening and pulling forward to cover his head and neck. When the tentacles made contact with it, it became as hard as metal, keeping them from doing much other than ineffectively batting him across his face.
Ari snarled and spun, sweeping Azurelight into a circular slash that pushed the fishers back a few paces. He found himself faced with the same tactical conundrum as before, unable to keep eyes on both of the dexterous monsters at once.
A shape flew overhead before circling back around. One of the fishers let out a high-pitched hiss of pain as a throwing spear took it through the back. The Ravarian responsible landed alongside Ari, pulling a second throwing spear into her hands from a holster across her shoulders.
“Fighting on the ground, chala?” said Rin. “Brave, but stupid.”
“I wasn’t exactly p
resented with a better choice,” said Ari.
Between the two of them, the remaining fisher went down easily. Rin launched herself into an enhanced jump with a flap of her wings, landing on the opposite side of it. They attacked together, and Ari severed the creature’s torso from its lower half with a heavy, cleaving strike.
The rain had already begun to subside, and after a few parting booms of thunder, it faded into a thin, humid mist. The sun pushed the offending clouds aside, burning bright as though the spat of weather had never existed to begin with. Above them, cutting through the trees with impossible geometry, was the most beautiful rainbow Ari had ever seen.
“Not so bad this time,” said Rin. “I should find my sister and report in. You should go find your woman.”
“Thanks for the help,” said Ari.
Rin grinned at him. “You did well yourself. There will be many amongst my people who witnessed your fight from above. Many more who would never have risked fighting a fisher one on one.”
She blew him a kiss and then leapt into the air, sending a small spray of water into his face as she flapped her wings and took off. Ari sheathed Azurelight and headed back to the hut.
“Any thoughts, Eva?” he whispered.
“You fought well,” said Eva. “But your swordsmanship still needs work.”
Ari chuckled, finding it hard to disagree. Kerys had her head poked out of the tree hut’s entrance flap, and she threw herself forward to pull him into a tight hug as soon as he came within reach.
“I hate those things,” she said. “So much. Even here, they’re still a threat.”
Ari frowned a little as he considered the truth of her words. The rain hadn’t been coming down that hard and had lasted for no more than ten minutes, yet the monsters had still posed a significant threat. Varnas-Rav had seemed so safe when they’d first arrived, but if he hadn’t been around to defend the tree hut and Kerys…
If he hadn’t been around. He wouldn’t be around, soon enough. Could he really trust Kerys to a place like this once he’d passed on? Would any of the Ravarians defend her like he did, as though she was someone whose life mattered above their own?
Vision Voyage (The Weatherblight Saga Book 2) Page 15
