How annoying.
Jacob realized quickly that if he wanted to win, he needed to change his tactics.
Leaping backward, he avoided several powerful explosions from all sides, swerving around to dodge the ones that came from behind without looking back. There was a minute shift in the air currents just before an explosion occurred. It made predicting them easier.
“That’s right! Dance for me, my puppet! Dance! Dance!” Shade laughed as he created one detonation after another.
Jacob ignored his taunts. He was no longer interested in trading banter. Instead, he put his plan into action, slamming his foot into the ground, which split open like an earthquake had struck. The split widened and lengthened, travel toward Shade, who stumbled forward when his foot became caught in the opening.
Now!
Jacob rushed forward. Energy erupted from his feet, propelling him across the distance in less than a second.
Slicht!
He thrust Durandal forward, and the blade penetrated Shade’s flesh as if it was made from hot butter. It slid in between his ribcage, pierce through his organs, and jutted out of his back.
For a moment, there was silence. Shade look down at him in shock. His eyes were wide, and he was staring at Jacob like he’d suddenly become a foreign entity.
“Huh…” he murmured as blood ran down the blade. “I guess… I underestimated you some.”
“Yes, you did,” Jacob said.
Shade chuckled, though it was filled with pain. “It doesn’t really matter if I die. We’ve already accomplished our mission. The Dark Lady has no doubt been taken by the other person who came with me.”
“Then I’ll just have to get her back,” Jacob replied.
“Going so far for an enemy, eh?” Shade grinned. “I like that determination of yours, so I’ll… tell you secret. Consider it a… parting gift from one who’s about to die.”
Shade wet his lips. Jacob noticed that they were stained with blood.
“Myself and my companion aren’t the only ones you need to worry… about. There… there are five more aside from us… they… are all powerful. Be on your guard… hero.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Heh…” Shade’s eyes were glazing over. “Killed by a hero… what an interesting way to die…”
Jacob yanked his blade out of Shade’s pliant flesh. The dark clansmen toppled backward, hitting the ground with a dull thud. His eyes were still opened, but they were sightless. His body no longer drew breath.
“Partner?” Durandal said.
“I’m fine, D,” Jacob said quietly. Flicking his wrist, all the blood on Durandal’s sword flew off. “Let’s hurry up and find Enyo.”
“Right!”
Jacob ran off in the direction that he’d last seen Enyo. He hoped she was still there.
***
While Jacob cleansed himself in the stream, Enyo stood several meters away, behind a copse of trees, trying not to think about the fact that there was a half-naked man close by. The knowledge that Jacob was naught but a few meters behind her with no shirt was… tantalizing. She was ashamed of herself, but she was also curious.
She really wanted to see what Jacob looked like without clothes on.
Shaking her head, Enyo berated herself. What was she thinking?! It was not okay to let her curiosity get the better of her like this! She shouldn’t be imagining Jacob’s half-naked body, or wondering what would happen if she tried to join him.
I need to calm down.
Slapping her cheeks, Enyo took several deep breaths and slowed her rapidly beating heart.
Perils and numerous dangerous situations aside, traveling with Jacob had been quite fun so far. When she’d been little, she had imagined what it would be like to journey alongside the hero, fighting evils and saving people. She had conjured all kinds of scenarios. She had imagined the conversations that she and the hero would have, imagined how their relationship would evolve into something more.
It was good to know that some of what she’d imagined back then was happening between her and Jacob right now.
Enyo sighed as her heart finally slowed. She felt better, and now that she was thinking clearly, her thoughts once more returned to curiosity.
Maybe… just a little peek?
She really did want to see what he looked like underneath his clothes. It had been too dark, and she had been too nervous, during their first meeting to really look at him.
Creeping over to the trees, Enyo was prepared to peek out from behind one—
“Enyo?”—when a voice spoke behind her.
Enyo didn’t yell, not because she didn’t want to, but because she was already busy chanting for a spell.
“Tenebris. Umbra—Fellis!”
Standing before her was a woman whose skin was nearly translucent. Her pale body was covered in dark clothes, shorts, and a vest. They did little to hide her skin, or the notorious curvature of her hips and bust. Yellow eyes were surrounded by hair like dusk. Strapped to her side was a whip.
“Hello, Enyo.” Fellis smiled. “It’s good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you, too. I haven’t seen you in so long!”
Fellis was Enyo’s former maid, the one who’d taken care of her and told her stories of Jacob’s travels after he’d been summoned. Even years before then, this woman had taken care of her.
Enyo remembered nothing of her mother. From as far back as she could remember, Fellis had raised her, brought her up, taught her right from wrong, and told her not to give into the demands of others if it meant compromising her own beliefs. One could even say the woman before her was her surrogate mother.
“I see that you have been doing well,” Fellis said. “How is traveling with the hero?”
“It’s everything I imagined it to be,” Enyo admitted, holding a hand to her chest as if to encase the warm feelings in her heart. “Even though he tried to pretend he doesn’t care, Jacob is such a kind person. Every day, I’m learning something new about him. He’s a wonderful man.”
“I bet he’s really handsome, too,” Fellis added with a knowing grin.
Enyo’s cheeks suddenly felt warm. It was true. She thought that Jacob was handsome, with his dirty blond hair that partially fell into his face, his youthful features, bright blue eyes, and powerful arms. She would be lying if she said that she hadn’t wondered what it would be like to be held by those arms. Growing up, one of her biggest fantasies had been marrying the hero and starting a family.
Shaking her head to dispel these thoughts, Enyo refocused her attention onto her former maid. “What are you doing here, Fellis?”
“I came to warn you,” Fellis said, her expression suddenly turning grave.
“Warn me? About what?”
“About the danger you’re in. The Dark Council has realized that you’re no longer in the darklands. They’ve sent six assassins to reclaim you and dispose of the hero, should it become necessary.”
A thrill of fear jolted through her body, but it wasn’t fear for her. It was fear for Jacob. She needed to warn him!
Turning around, Enyo was prepared to rush through the trees, Jacob’s nakedness be damned, and warn him of the danger.
She would never get the chance.
Before she could take even a single step, her mind suddenly froze. If she had to describe the feeling, it would be like a lock had been placed on her thoughts, making it impossible to move.
Wha… what?
“Mind Manipulation,” Fellis said behind her. Footsteps reached her ears before her former maid walked into her field of vision. “You know about my magic, right? It’s the ability to manipulate the mind. It’s quite the powerful ability, if I do say so myself, though I can only manipulate people who are weak willed, or people whose thoughts are in disarray, such as a woman who is frantically worried about the person they love.”
Fellis shook her head.
“Oh, Enyo. You’re supposed to be smarter than this. You should know t
o never turn your back on someone that you haven’t seen in years. There’s no telling whether or not they are still your ally.”
If she could have, Enyo would have gritted her teeth. This situation was so frustrating. Even more than that, she felt betrayed and hurt, so much so that it was a nearly physical pain in her chest, as if her heart had been stabbed by a blade coated in poison.
“W… why?”
It was just a single word, but it carried so much meaning.
“I’m surprised you can still talk,” Fellis said. “As for why… well, let’s just say that the people who the Dark Council have sent are not a group that I am particularly enamored with. I’ve managed to… cajole the aid of one of those people, but he is the most weak willed of the bunch. There are still five others, and they won’t hesitate to hurt you in order to get what they want.”
Did that mean Fellis was doing this to protect her? If so, then that did make her feel a little better, but knowing that Fellis was trying to take her away from Jacob, the one helping her achieve her goal, still hurt.
“Well, in the end, my reasons don’t really matter,” Fellis continued. “It doesn’t change the fact that I’m taking you away from the man you love.”
Enyo tried not to blush. She knew that Fellis was saying that to throw her off guard, to keep her from being able to counteract the mind manipulation. However, it wasn’t like her words didn’t have a grain of truth to them. She didn’t know if she loved Jacob, but she wouldn’t deny her attraction to him, just like she couldn’t deny that she’d harbored a crush on the Jacob the Hero ever since his summoning.
I… need to calm down.
Just then, an explosion ripped through the air, and a massive pillar of steam and smoke rose above the treetops.
Fellis sighed. “I guess that idiot isn’t as weak willed as I thought. I told him not to fight the hero unless there was no other option, but it looks like he’s decided to disobey me. Perhaps his battle lust overwhelmed my mind manipulation.” After a moment, she shrugged. “Well, I suppose it doesn’t really matter. Let him and the hero fight. I have what I came here for.”
As Fellis turned back to her, Enyo realized that she would be in big trouble if she couldn’t break free of the mind manipulation. Calming her mind wasn’t working. That meant she needed to take more drastic measures.
Battle lust.
Enyo had always hated her battle lust. It was her battle lust, more than anything else, that marked her as a member of the Dark Clan. When she was younger, she had believed that the hero would hate her because of it. Considering the hero was human, and they and the Dark Clan were at war, it was easy to imagine that being the case.
Then she’d finally met Jacob, and he hadn’t hated her for her battle lust. In fact, he didn’t even seem to care. Enyo doubted that Jacob even realized how much that meant to her. Thanks to him, she felt like her battle lust was a part of her that she could now accept.
It was a good thing. Right now, she needed that battle lust more than anything.
Enyo called up her love of battle, her enjoyment of spilling her enemy’s blood. She conjured image of herself slaying her foes, of crimson pools and flashing daggers, of dark magic and the cries of her enemies. She felt it coursing through her, the insatiable desire for battle.
She broke free of the mind control.
“Caligo. Halitus. Nebula. Domo. Inimica.”
A dark fog shot from Enyo’s hands, billowing out like a blanket overtaking the coast during a muggy summer morning. Whatever the fog touched died. The grass decayed and withered, trees crumbled as all the moisture and life was sucked out of them.
“Tch!” Fellis clicked her tongue as she leapt back. “So, you’ve broken through my mind manipulation, have you. That was a poor move on your part. Had you just come back with me, this whole situation would have been a lot easier.”
“Don’t give me that,” Enyo snapped. “You should have known that I would never agree to just go with you, especially after you used your mind manipulation on me.”
“I was doing that for your own protection.”
“I don’t need to be protected!”
More fog poured from her hands, undulating as several tendrils were created and went after Fellis, who went into a series of back handsprings.
Explosions in the distance let Enyo know that Jacob was still fighting. She tracked Fellis’s movements, seeking to end this battle so she could travel to her companion’s side. This fog was a powerful toxin that aged whatever it touched. If she could just drive away Fellis, then it would be enough for her to leave and find Jacob.
As if to repudiate her thoughts, Fellis unclipped her whip and lashed at the fog, dispersing it. Enyo frowned as the whip remained pristine. It must have been made from a powerful material that was magically resistant.
She was about to create more. Before she could, Fellis lashed out with her whip again. This time the attack was aimed at her!
Leaping back several times, Enyo watched as chunks of earth were gouged out. She’d be in trouble if any of Fellis’ attacks hit her.
“Mortem. Mors. Malevolentia. Displodo. Conflo. Fulgo.”
There was a tug at her navel as she pulled more magic from her reserves, and then a flame darker than the sky at midnight flared into existence on her right hand. A malevolent aura wafted from the flame. Most dark magic had this feeling, though only the powerful spells gave off such a strong malignance.
“Are you really going to use such a powerful spell on me?” asked Fellis. “You might actually kill me with that.”
“I have no intention of killing you,” Enyo said. “But I’m not going to let you stop me either.”
Fellis smiled. “That’s some resolve you’ve picked up. Very well, then. Fight me with everything you have. Prove to me that you’re capable of protecting yourself and accomplishing your goals.”
“Sorry,” a voice suddenly whispered in their ears. “I hate to break up this touching bloodbath between a woman and her servant, but I’ll be taking the Dark Lady now.”
A dark shadow appeared behind Fellis, who cried in pain and arched her back as if something had stabbed her. Enyo opened her mouth to scream, but then she felt a sharp sting on the back of her neck. Everything became blurry. The world was spinning. Darkness was creeping everywhere, crowding around her. She couldn’t—
***
Jacob arrived in the clearing where he’d left Enyo before going to cleanse himself. The ground was burnt, several trees looked like they had been turned to cinders, and there was a body lying in the middle of the clearing. Enyo wasn’t there anymore.
Walking up to the body, Jacob looked down at the woman. She was a dark clansman. Her skin was so pale as to be nearly translucent, and her hair was the color of dusk.
Kneeling, he studied the woman further. She was staring listlessly at the sky. He thought her dead at first, but then he noticed she was still breathing. Her chest rose and fell in time with her breath. It was like she simply wasn’t there.
With a frown, he turned to the woman over, onto her stomach, and that was when he discovered the problem. Protruding from her back was a black dagger. However, it didn’t look like a normal dagger. There was an etherealness to it that made him think it wasn’t real, that it was some kind of illusion. He reached out to touch it, but then hissed and jerked his hand back when his skin began to blister.
“Is that a malum dagger?” Durandal asked. “I haven’t seen one of those in centuries! Why, the last time I saw one was during the great war five centuries ago between the Dark Council and the White Council. These things are supposed to be rare. I wonder what it’s doing inside of this woman.”
“Someone clearly stabbed her with it,” Jacob said. “Is there any way to safely remove it?”
“Not really. You just have to grin and bare it.” Durandal paused, and then added, “you should be able to protect yourself by coating your hand in energy, though that could also cause a severe backlash that makes the dagger exp
lode and blow the woman up.”
“That’s great. Thank you for that insightful knowledge.”
“You’re welcome.”
“That was sarcasm.”
“How mean!”
Despite being sarcastic, Jacob didn’t have any better ideas. Enyo was missing, and he needed to know where she’d gone.
Coating his hand in energy, causing it to glow a bright blue, he reached out and grasped the hilt. Darkness crackled. Tendrils of energy skittered across the blade and up his arm. He ignored it, along with the tingling feeling of his arm going numb, and pulled the blade out.
The woman woke up with a startled gasp. She jerked, then flopped onto her back. Her eyes, no longer sightless, looked around frantically. Then they landed on him.
“You’re… hero…” she rasped.
“Easy. You shouldn’t speak yet,” Jacob said. “You had a malum dagger pierced into your back. Take a moment to catch your breath, and then tell me what happened.”
“No… time… here… come…”
Realizing that she wanted, he leaned over, allowing her to reach his face with her hands. The moment she touched his face, however, images flooded his mind. He saw a man with chalk white skin and completely white eyes appear behind Enyo. He saw Enyo collapse into the man’s arms before he disappeared. Then he saw a younger Enyo practicing magic, listening to stories about him, grinning broadly as she declared to someone that she was going to marry “the hero” one day. He saw and saw and saw, until, with a sound like shattering glass, he saw no more. He was back in the clearing, and the woman before him was pale and unconscious.
Jacob held a hand to his head. He had a bad headache. However, he knew that he couldn’t afford to remain there. If the visions that this woman had shown him were true, then Enyo had been taken by a dark clansman. He needed to find this person before they could return to the darklands.
Journey of a Betrayed Hero- Volume 1 Page 15
