“I don’t need company. I also don’t need—” Xandra began, only to have Nef look her in the eyes and interrupt.
“No,” Nef said firmly, to Xandra’s surprise.
“No? No what?” Xandra demanded after a moment, growing still more frustrated.
“No, you don’t get to pretend to be some lone wolf who doesn’t need anyone else. Look me in the eyes, Xandra. Look at me, and tell me honestly that you wouldn’t care if Jasmine, Naomi, or me were ripped apart by thorn soldiers,” Nef said relentlessly, staring at Xandra pointedly.
Xandra opened her mouth to make a sarcastic response, but before the words could come out, she paused, seeing the look in Nef’s eyes. The woman wasn’t going to let this go, and a flippant response just might irritate her more. So Xandra took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a few seconds as she thought back to two nights before, when she’d first seen Jasmine and Naomi.
The first emotion she’d felt had been… shock, if she was being honest. Incredulous shock, but shock nonetheless at seeing the two after about three years. Naomi had filled out her robes a little more, and Jasmine hadn’t looked quite as abused, but they’d been perfectly recognizable in their dirt-streaked robes. On the heels of the shock had been… what, though? Xandra frowned to herself, trying to piece together the tangled emotions she’d felt, standing under the boughs of the trees.
She wasn’t sure what she’d felt, Xandra decided at last. What came next, on the other hand… she could still remember how her stomach had clenched on seeing the plant-creatures looming out of the woods, along with her exasperation as Jasmine had begun casting such a poorly-controlled fire spell. Well, maybe it hadn’t been that poorly controlled, Xandra corrected herself, but by her standards it’d been terrible, and… at that point she’d made the snap decision to interfere. Why… well, the idea of the two dying there had tied her stomach in knots.
Xandra’s eyes opened again, and she recoiled, as Nef’s nose was almost touching her own. How the woman had gotten that close without Xandra noticing was beyond her, and Xandra’s pulse began racing as she recoiled slightly. The Karakar smiled suddenly, nodding in satisfaction.
“I thought so,” Nef said, seeming entirely too pleased with herself. “You’ve figured it out.”
“Oh, shut up. This is none of your business,” Xandra snapped, turning away and walking around the corner in a huff.
“I know it isn’t,” Nef replied unrepentantly. “Not yet, anyway.”
Xandra growled, then paused on seeing the scene behind the building, blinking as her already knotted stomach turned ever so slightly… and that took effort, with as many things as she’d been through over the years.
Slaughter fiends weren’t that alien to Xandra. She’d seen plenty of them over the years. Most of their kind had four arms that ended in wicked talons that could pierce steel armor if they struck a weak point, while their bodies were heavily muscled, with bone reinforcements that caused weapons to bounce off, assuming something even pierced their thick purple skin. She didn’t like thinking about their heads, which were strange, vertical maws with exposed fangs that could open wide enough to swallow a child whole if they wanted to. Coupled with how they stood nearly eight feet tall, the creatures were a significant threat to most soldiers, let alone commoners.
The three slaughter fiends had been systematically dismantled, with their arms, legs, and bodies carefully cut open to expose their innards. Even the flies were avoiding the bodies, Xandra noted as her stomach churned. She resisted the urge to gape for an instant, then glanced at Nef, her eyes narrowing.
“Really, you cut open all three of them?” she asked, gesturing at the bodies.
“I said that Ell wanted to know about their physiology. Some fiends have differing internal organs, however, so examining the differences between them was necessary for accurate information,” Nef replied brightly. “Now, normally I’d build a bonfire and stoke it up hot enough that it could burn the bodies, that or toss them back into their home dimension, but I don’t have time for that. Would you be a dear and incinerate them for me?”
“I’m not an undertaker, you know,” Xandra said in exasperation.
“No, you’re a specialist in destruction magic. That’s better than an undertaker when you have fiend bodies lying around,” Nef replied, looking the bodies over as she spoke. It was somewhat disturbing, how unconcerned by them she seemed. If anything, she looked slightly sad, Xandra thought. “Would you deal with them?”
“Fine,” Xandra said, taking a deep breath, then began channeling mana outward as she began weaving the spell.
Casting still wasn’t quite as easy as Xandra would like, as her fingers teased the lines of mana into order, and she whispered the words of the spell, drawing on her knowledge of destructive magics. Like normal, she was focusing on her favored element, which made it a little easier, as she felt the fire grow in her chest, almost like her mana core itself was preparing to ignite.
The heat rushed out of her chest with the last word, swirling down her arms in a spiral of purple flames, pooling in front of her hands… then spread to envelop the bodies lying before her, descending on them like a glowing purple fog.
“It’s fascinating how you’ve combined the spheres of destruction and energy,” Nef said, watching Xandra’s magic closely as the fiends sizzled, then began to almost dissolve into ashes. “I’ve heard of others doing it, of course, but most people don’t have the patience to learn enough about manipulating mana. I didn’t even have the aptitude to become a mage, personally.”
Xandra shrugged, watching what she was doing closely. The bodies were resistant to fire, but resistant wasn’t the same as immune, and she’d long-since learned that adding volatile mana to her spells allowed them to pierce even supposed immunities. That always startled elementals.
“I wouldn’t know. Mostly because I don’t remember enough about my own training,” Xandra replied more calmly. “The library records indicate that I worked as an energy mage, but not much more. Presumably I powered the circles for teleportations, charged magical items, or even supplied mana for others making enchantments, but I can’t be sure.”
“That sounds reasonable, yes. There’s always work for those who can supply large amounts of mana,” Nef agreed, pausing as the last of the fiends were rendered to ashes, and Xandra ended her spell, leaving scorch marks here and there on the ground, but the only sign of the fiends was the blood staining the soil and grass. The woman spoke in approval. “Well done, you didn’t destroy the ground, too. You have excellent control of your magic. Destruction magi aren’t known for that.”
“Most destruction magi haven’t spent centuries where I have,” Xandra replied, flicking her fingers and shaking her head. “Now, can we go? I’d rather not waste more time on things like this.”
And, she added internally, she’d rather not have to spend more time alone with Nef. If she did, the woman would probably start badgering her about something else.
“That’s all for now, yes. Back inside, and I can get my things!” Nef replied cheerfully, and headed back toward the front, humming brightly to herself.
Xandra barely avoided a sigh of relief.
Chapter 32
“So, where are we going?” Jasmine asked at last, shifting her backpack slightly so it sat a little more comfortably.
Xandra had seemed slightly different when they’d come back from cleaning up, whatever that had meant, and Jasmine wondered why. The mage had also been a little more prickly, so she hadn’t dared pry too much. It’d astounded her how quickly Nef had been ready to leave, though. The woman had locked the door of her home only seconds before, and Jasmine had heard an odd popping sound as the Karakar turned the key. Now they were outdoors again, and she had no idea what they were doing, aside from finding a way to the plane Nef had called Nocturne.
“The abandoned city of Rithevahn,” Nef replied briskly, glancing upward, then pulled a hat out of her backpack and plopped the floppy-brimmed hat o
n her head. “It was originally a settlement of shadow-aligned fair folk, but then they decided to kidnap a few children from a nearby clan of dwarves. A mistake, that… The clan held a grudge, and both groups are long gone. The dwarves left after their mines ran dry, and the fair folk were killed or fled, leaving behind ruins that I studied years ago.”
“Based on that, and the fact you’re taking us there, I assume there’s a portal located in the city,” Xandra said, a slight edge to her voice. “At least, I hope so.”
“Yes, yes, I know, you’re upset with me. Do try to get over it, I love you anyway,” Nef replied in amusement. “As for your question, yes, there’s a portal there. When I was last there it was inactive, but I know how to activate it. The biggest issue is powering the portal, as it requires an impressive amount of mana to activate, but once active it can run almost indefinitely. I’m certain that with three magi we can do the job.”
“Ah. What do you think?” Jasmine asked, looking at Naomi.
“Well, it isn’t like we haven’t done something similar before,” Naomi said, frowning slightly. “When we were coming to rescue you, the High Priest and a bunch of other magi charged a portal in the temple, since they wanted us to have all of our mana on the other side for the rescue… They said it was really hard, since they were just linking it briefly to the portal closest to where you were, without knowing the exact location.”
Nef paused, looking at them curiously for a moment, her eyes widened slightly. “Truly, they linked a portal to a location they didn’t have personal knowledge of?”
“I… well, they must have. They didn’t know that I was in the Domain of Ashen Hopes. I didn’t know that,” Jasmine confirmed, shrugging uneasily.
“Mm, that’s a truly difficult thing to do, from everything I’ve heard. You must have had a quite skilled mage there,” Nef said, circling her house and beginning to head north. “I can’t do that, of course. I use ritual magic to move between planes normally, which takes a lot of time to set up, and that’s with knowing exactly where I’m going.”
“How long are you talking about? I’ve learned a little about ritual magic… it’s the main form of resurrection, after all,” Jasmine asked curiously, as it wasn’t a subject she’d delved into much. The only rituals she knew were designed to bless the crops or call for rain, and those rituals only took her about a day with others to help. She doubted she could manage one on her own.
“If it’s a simple jump, to someplace like, say, the Domain of Ashen Hopes, I could put together the ritual in… ten days,” Nef replied, tilting her head as she considered while moving forward at a brisk pace. “Someplace harder to reach could take up to twice that. So for Nocturne, we’d likely be looking at a month and a half just to get there, and as I wouldn’t be able to set up the ritual to retrieve us, we’d have to go through at least one step at the halfway point, so assume two and a half months for a round trip. Or we can walk for two or three days and use a pre-existing portal with a little effort.”
“Sensible and practical,” Xandra said, nodding slightly as she glanced at Jasmine and Naomi. “Assuming these two pampered flowers can keep it up that long.”
Jasmine blushed, but straightened, giving Xandra a look as she replied, “Considering the boots and items you got us, I certainly hope we can. Besides, I’ve always heard that a little adversity is good for character.”
“Only a little, though. Look at what a lot of adversity did to Xandra,” Naomi added, a nervous edge to her attempt at humor.
“Quite,” Xandra replied, her tone dry. “I believe I’ve recommended that you not be like me many times before this.”
Jasmine chuckled at that, but after a moment she focused on what they were doing, as they were just cresting the hill behind Nef’s home. The hill wasn’t a huge one, and from the top she could see two circles of stones around the hilltop, one circle on the interior, only a dozen paces from the top, and the other a good twenty paces farther out. Each was made up of only five standing stones, but they looked like they were in good shape. Based on what Xandra had said, she suspected they were what protected the area from too many planar intrusions.
Beyond the hill, she saw that the forest grew a little sparser as the ground became rocky. Jasmine didn’t like the look of the terrain, but she supposed there wasn’t much to be done about it, and off in the distance she could see the faint shadows of mountains. Jasmine thought they were part of the range that formed much of Loth’s northern border, but she wasn’t entirely sure.
“If I may… where is this abandoned city?” Jasmine asked, frowning. “I don’t recall seeing anything like it on a map.”
“You wouldn’t have. It’s underneath Mount Lissen, and a good ways beneath it at that,” Nef replied, glancing over her shoulder and grinning back at Jasmine. “It’ll be a fascinating experience, just wait and see!”
“If you say so,” Jasmine said, unable to keep a smile from creeping onto her face. If nothing else, Nef was optimistic, which improved Jasmine’s mood significantly.
Xandra simply rolled her eyes and kept walking, which made Jasmine wonder what the elf was thinking.
Crak paced impatiently as he waited, wondering what was taking his scouts so long. They were tracking a group of mortals, not other fair folk, which should have made this a simple matter. Instead, they’d almost lost the trail several times, as if something was interfering with the scent of the holy maiden and her companions.
If they lost her, he suspected that their lady would not be amused. She’d been forgiving the last time, but he’d seen what had happened to the last person to defy her, and Crak didn’t want to lose his hide, head, or anything else. He liked being all in one piece, rather than compost for the trees. It gave him a great deal of motivation to find the holy maiden and drag her back to the portal.
It didn’t help that these forests were entirely too bright, in Crak’s opinion. He’d heard that once the forests around Ignos had been bright as well, but that had been before Crak’s time. He preferred to track by night, but the trail would be cold by then, especially with how these mortals liked to travel during daylight hours. So he suffered with it, keeping to the deeper shadows as much as possible.
At that moment the scent of one of the others came on the breeze, and Crak stiffened, the scent of smoke and scorched flesh wafting off the fair folk. A few seconds later the woman came into sight, limping slightly, and Crak’s eyes widened.
Vilra had possessed a beautiful, smoke-gray pelt in either form, one which Crak had envied for almost as long as he’d known her, but the woman’s entire left fore-quarter was scorched, the skin bubbled painfully, and tears were slowly trickling from her eyes as she limped along.
“What happened?” Crak demanded. “You didn’t run into that mage, did you?”
Vilra growled, stopping and swaying slightly before she shifted back into her humanoid form, her body still scorched, then spoke. “No. I tracked them to a house on a hill, a location that stank of magic and other worlds. They left, joined by another, but I investigated the house a little too closely. When my nose touched the door, this happened. Lightning and fire alike struck me.”
Crak winced sympathetically, and looked over at Kranah, nodding to the man, and he quickly moved forward. He was their healer, and his magic should at least ease Vilra’s pain, even if it couldn’t regrow her fur. Vilra’s expression grew less strained as green magic played over her skin, causing it to slowly return to normal.
“They went north? Are they still proving difficult to track?” Crak asked, trying to suppress his frustration.
“Yes, but I noticed something else. While their scents are mostly masked, most of them are bad at hiding their tracks. As they’re not following a road anymore, I believe that we can follow their tracks easily,” Vilra told him, and bared her teeth as she added, “I’d like to express my displeasure to the woman who did this to me as well.”
“Of course you would. And if we catch up with them, you’re more than w
elcome to do so,” Crak said, paused for a moment to consider, then added, “We’ll wait just a little longer for the others, then set out. They’ll be able to follow us if all else fails.”
A chorus of growls came in response as the others agreed with him, and Crak focused on the hunt. The holy maiden was not going to escape, if it was the last thing he did.
Chapter 33
There were several good things about traveling with Nef, that much Xandra had to admit, even if only in the privacy of her own mind. First of all, the woman was quick, and Xandra suspected that even without enchantments to help her endurance, Nef would be able to run even Xandra into the ground, let alone Jasmine and Naomi. Beyond that, she was used to traveling through the wilderness, and knew exactly where she was going the entire time, meaning that there wasn’t much time spent backtracking, except for the spot where the path she’d intended to use had collapsed in some recent rains.
Most important was her skill with cooking, though, and Xandra lifted another bit of cornbread and chili to her mouth, marveling at how perfectly cooked it was. Nef had produced the food seemingly effortlessly, and Xandra couldn’t help her envy, considering how often she managed to burn her food. Even after three years, she’d only marginally improved, which frustrated Xandra to no end.
“Practice. No matter how much talent you have, you’ll never get anywhere with something without practice,” Nef told Naomi as she scraped the last chili out of the pot and into her bowl with an easy flick of the wrist. “One of my classmates when I was in training had an incredible talent with the sword. What took me an hour to learn, Olm would figure out in two minutes, sometimes in a single demonstration. He was brilliant, and I imagine against most bandits he’d have been a nightmare. He barely practiced through the training, where I spent… goddess, I think I spent sixteen hours a day training. I got more blisters than I care to think about, and only slept six hours a night. Our classes took the remainder of my days, but I was determined to be able to defend myself.
Dusk Gate (Soul Bound Book 1) Page 24
