by Eric Vall
“You are most welcome,” Morrigan said as she gave Rana’s shoulder a quick awkward pat before the fox released her hold.
“That’s two down and five more to go,” Rana said cheerfully, and she hastily rubbed at her eyes with her robe sleeve.
“Then we can save your family?” Carmedy asked.
“Yep. Just hold on a little longer,” the fox-girl said quietly as she stared at the golden orb with the overlapping rings and then she finally placed it around her neck and concealed it under her robe.
“I told you not to give up hope.” I smiled. “Before long we’ll find the rest, but in the meantime, we’d better get ready for our siege against the palace. Carmedy, you’d better start thinking up some ideas for your part of the plan.”
“Actually, I already have something in mind,” Carmedy said with a mischievous grin.
“Excellent, do you think you have everything that you need for your explosive mixture?” I asked.
“Yep, I’ll get to work on it right away.” The black tailed cat quickly gulped down the last of the piece of bread that she’d been munching on and began to untie several pouches from the belt around her waist.
“Uh, Carmedy, don’t you think it’d be better for you to mix up your little concoctions away from the fire?” Rana’s eyes quickly darted from Carmedy to the flickering fire. “I’m not exactly in the mood to get blown to bits at the moment.”
“Oops, sorry about that!” Carmedy said hurriedly. The petite woman gathered up her supplies and moved to the far side of the tent well out of the fire’s reach.
Rana sighed in relief. “Thank you.”
“Speaking of preparation, it’s been a little while since you and I have trained with your elvish daggers Rana,” I said to the fox as I rose to my feet. “Now would be the perfect time to continue. Most likely there won’t be any time between now and when we get to the palace.”
“Aw, c’mon right now?” Rana groaned. “I’ve been chatting up low lives all day, then I traveled for like hours, and I just got here. I barely finished my food. Isn’t there some sort of rule about not training so soon after a meal? It could be bad for my digestion.” She looked to Carmedy for support.
“Sorry, there’s no such thing as far as I know.” The cat grinned.
“Says the cat who believes that literally everything is caused by magic and fairy dust,” Rana grumbled as she stood from the ground.
“You know this is important,” I said with a stern smile. “You want to master the art of using daggers in combat, don’t you?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Rana said as she dragged her feet toward the tent flap. “A little break would have been nice though. You might wanna bundle up, by the way. It’s a little cold out here for you furless people.”
“I’ll be fine.” I chuckled as I bent down to pick to pick up three of the wooden treasure chests that we had taken from the underwater dungeon.
“What are those for?” Rana wrinkled her nose in confusion.
“You’ll see. Pick up a few and follow me outside,” I instructed. Rana furrowed her brow but then shrugged her shoulders and picked up two of the boxes. Together, we walked outside.
She had only just exited the tent when she paused and looked around at the sea of sand that sprawled out around us with a frown on her face.
“Is there something wrong?” I called back to her. The fox woman hesitated for a moment before she finally spoke.
“No, it’s… it’s nothing,” Rana said with one last intense look at the surrounding dunes before she walked to join me.
The moon had now taken its place in the dark sky and shone down on the sands that surrounded us. As the wind picked up, it blew glittering grains through the air. I led Rana several yards away from the tent and set the chests that I carried down in front of a sand dune and gestured for Rana to place hers beside mine.
“Care to fill me in on why we’re stacking treasure chests?” the fox asked after she had finished.
“Just follow me,” I said plainly, and I motioned for her to walk back with me toward the tent. Once inside, I picked up three more of the wooden containers and directed to Rana to pick up one as well. The curly-haired woman sighed but obeyed. We walked outside and arranged the chests in rows and piled them on top of each other.
“Wait here for just a moment,” I said and jogged back toward the tent. Within a minute, I returned with one of Carmedy’s bundles in my hand.
“What’s that?” Rana pointed to the pouch that I held.
“To be perfectly honest, I’m not entirely sure. I asked Carmedy if she had anything remotely similar to paint, and this is what she gave me.” As I spoke, I untied the bundle and dipped two of my fingers inside of it. When I removed my fingers, they were coated in a black tar-like substance. I walked up to the chests that we had stacked, and I proceeded to draw rings on the front of the top ones so that they resembled targets.
During our sea voyage, each day Rana and I had trained aboard the Sarpedon with the elvish daggers that she had gotten from one of the previous dungeons. Out of all my minions, Rana was the only one who had initially chosen to defend herself without the use of some sort of weapon.
At first, the fox woman had been reluctant to use them, or perhaps it was better to say she had been defiant. She had felt that the only weapons that she needed were her paws and feet. While the wisecracking fox was extremely skilled in hand to hand combat, I had insisted on her training with the elvish daggers. She wouldn’t always have the luxury of an opponent that was without a weapon.
It was imperative that she have a variety of ways to defend herself. Each of my minions was skilled, but they still had to improve. The dungeons that we had encountered while in Valasara had grown more and more perilous, andit wasn’t going to get any easier moving forward.
“Alright, so what are we working on today? More close-range attacks?” Rana asked once I had finished painting the bullseyes.
“No, I think we’ll skip close quarters combat today.” I shook my head as I pulled a cloth from my pocket to wipe my fingers. “You seem to have mastered those quite easily.”
“Yeah, I have gotten pretty good, haven’t I?” Rana grinned.
“You have done well.” I chuckled as I focused my gaze on her. “Don’t get overconfident though. There are other crucial techniques that you have yet to learn.”
“Such as?” Rana puffed a few stray hairs from her face.
“Today, we’re going to focus on long-range attacks,” I said plainly. “You are going to be trained in the art of knife throwing.”
“Long range isn’t, uh, really my thing,” Rana muttered awkwardly.
“I know, that’s why it’s important that you learn,” I said firmly. “You must be able to fight at any range and fend off any kind of attacker. I will not allow you to become easy prey simply because you’ve mastered one and not the other. Furthermore, this skill will undoubtedly prove useful during our attack on the palace.”
“Okay, I guess,” Rana said slowly. “How’s this going to work then? Are you going put an apple on your head and let me throw daggers at you?” The fox folded her arms over her chest and gave me a twisted smile.
“No, I’d rather keep my head attached to the rest of me thank you,” I said with a laugh. Though my avatar’s death would only be a short-term inconvenience, it would take much time to not only create a new one but catch up to my minions from my old dungeon’s core. This was time that I didn’t want to waste, and I also didn’t want to leave my minions unattended should something happen.
“We’re going to use these treasure chests.” I gestured to a group of wooden boxes that we had set up in a neat row. There were three sets of the large wooden containers each stacked three high.
“Alright,” Rana nodded. “Looks easy enough. I can handle a few measly boxes.”
She reached a paw into one of her pockets and pulled out the leather bundle that held her blades. The fox undid the string that wrapped around it and un
folded the leather like a workman’s toolkit. In a certain sense, that’s precisely what it was, if the goal of one’s work was death.
Though I had beheld Rana’s eight elvish blades often now, I still couldn’t help but marvel at their exquisite intricacy. Each twisted silver handle resembled the body of a scaly serpent. The black gem eyes that were fixed to each of the creature’s head looked just as sinister as the sharp bat wing-like quills.
Rana removed four of the daggers and rolled the leather bundle up before she placed it back in her pocket. She held two knives in each paw, and her lips formed a tight, confident line as she narrowed her eyes at the wooden chests before her.
“You want me to just throw my knife at the chests?” she asked, and I nodded. “You’re not going to explain proper technique first?” She raised an eyebrow at me.
“I want to see what we’re working with first.” I waved her on. “Go ahead.”
“Whatever you say, demon man. Now, prepare to be amazed.” Rana hurled one of her knives at the first set of large wooden boxes. The dagger’s hilt slammed against the chest’s side before it bounced off and landed in the sand next to my feet with a soft thud.
“Oh, I’m certainly amazed,” I said as picked up the blade and walked back to Rana who gave me a sheepish grin.
“Sorry, um, maybe the second time's the charm?” she offered.
“Perhaps, but this time I’d like to show you the correct technique before you try that again. I’m going to teach you something called the spin technique. You’ll need to hold the knife by the handle.” I gripped the dagger in the proper place lifted my hand for Rana to see.
“Handle, got it,” the fox female murmured as she mimicked my hand position with another of her daggers.
“Good.” I nodded. “Now, if the knife is thrown properly, it will make a complete rotation. You must determine how far you need to stand from your target, the distance the blade needs to make a full rotation.”
“How do I do that?” Rana furrowed her brow a bit.
“You’ll have to play with your distance, so to speak, and make adjustments accordingly. Let me show you something.” I walked toward the first set of treasure chests and gestured for her to follow. I stood to the side of the stack and held the knife at an angle so that tip of the blade pointed upward toward the target. “If the knife hits the target and is pointing up like this, then that means that it didn’t spin completely which means you’re standing too close.” I then tilted the dagger so that its sharp end pointed down toward the target. “If it’s pointing down like this, the blade has spun too far which means you’re standing too far.”
“Okay, I guess that makes sense,” Rana said slowly.
“It will take practice, but with time, you’ll get used to it and will quickly be able to judge the distance,” I said as I walked away from the large wooden containers. “Now that we’ve covered that, let’s discuss how to throw them properly.” I eyed the first stack of boxes and estimated the necessary distance I needed to hit my mark. Once I had I placed my feet firmly one a little in front of the other.
“Position your feet like so, and bend your knees slightly,” I explained.
Rana shook her head and bit her lip as she watched intently. Normally, the fiery-haired fox always had some snappy commentary to offer, but when we trained, she said very little and focused her energy on honing her skills.
I held the elvish dagger by the handle and raised it in the air. “When you throw the dagger, don’t flick your wrist. If you do that, most likely the blade will spin too much. What you want to do is release the knife with a smooth motion. Let it slide out of your hand, err, paw,” I corrected myself and moved my wrist back and forth in a fluid motion to demonstrate.
“Understood.” Rana bobbed her head.
“Good,” I said. “If you keep all that in mind, with some practice you should be able to hit your mark most every time.” With that, I pulled my hand back and threw the dagger. The blade left my hand and spun in the air in a complete circle, and the blade stuck into the center of the target.
“Wow,” Rana breathed.
I turned to the red-headed fox. “Do you think you can do that?”
“Of course I can,” Rana said with determination. She positioned her bare fox feet as I had and raised one of her daggers to the air. She moved the blade back and forth a few times as she carefully sized up her target before she released it. The knife collided off-angle with the treasure chest and plopped into the sand. Rana let out a groan as I appraised her technique.
“You’re flicking your wrist.” I shook my head. “Remember, smooth motion. The dagger is an extension of your arm. Try again.” I demonstrated the fluid gesture once more to remind her.
Rana nodded her head and pinched her lips together tightly. She took a deep breath, moved her blade back and forth a few times, and released it. This time the tip of the weapon lodged near the top left of the container.
“Yes!” Rana pumped her furry fist in the air triumphantly. “I hit it!”
“Indeed you did,” I chuckled, “but you can do better. You didn’t hit the target and your blade is pointing downward... which means what?”
“I’m standing too far away, or I put too much rotation in it,” Rana said with a sigh.
“Exactly,” I said as I walked over to unstick the blade that she had thrown, recovered her first thrown blade, and then walked back to stand beside her. “Move a little closer and try it again. Keep making adjustments until you find the right distance.”
“No problem.” Rana shrugged, and she moved forward a half step. “Bet I can hit the bullseye in less than three tries,” the fox said, wiggled her eyebrows, and gave me a smug grin.
“That I’d like to see.” I folded my arms and gave her a smile. “Let’s see what you can do.” I was certain that it was going to take more than a few tries for Rana to hit the target, but she was a quick study, and I admired her tenacity, nonetheless.
We spent the next few hours practicing, and while Rana didn’t hit the target in less than three tries, she made surprising progress. In fact, she managed to hit the edge of the outer ring on one of her last shots.
“Yes, bullseye!” the fox pumped her furry fist in the air. “Well, sort of,” she chuckled as she unstuck her blade from the treasure chest.
“You’ve made some improvement,” I agreed and motioned for her to try again.
“Some improvement?” Rana raised an eyebrow in amusement. “C’mon give me more credit than that, I think I’ve done better than just some improvement.”
“Your progress has been decent, but you can do better,” I said with a crooked smile.
“Is this what passes for praise?” the red-headed woman glanced at me as she took up her stance and steadied the weapon in her paw.
“I’ll reward you with praise when I’ve decided that you’re deserving of it, meaning when you hit the center of the target,” I replied.
“Gee, thanks,” Rana said under her breath. The fox squinted her blue eyes and focused on the bullseye and slowly moved her arm back and forth in preparation. After the fourth time, she threw her dagger at the treasure chest, and the blade thwacked against it against it before it dropped into the sand.
“Not again,” Rana groaned as she ran a paw through her curls, and her tail twitched in frustration.
“You’re flicking your wrist again,” I said as I retrieved the dagger from the sand and walked over to her.
“No, I’m not.” Rana wrinkled her nose. “The dagger just sort of… slipped out of my paw that time.”
“Is that so?” I said dubiously.
“Yeah.” The fox-tailed woman shrugged. “I can do it, you saw me.”
“Yes, you were able to hit the edge of the target, but it was only once,” I said patiently. “You need to hone your skills to the point that you’ll be able to hit your mark consistently. Secondly, you didn’t actually hit the center of the bullseye. As I said, you’ve made improvement, but you still hav
e some work to do.”
Rana sighed. “I know, I know.”
“Here, let me show you.” I moved to stand behind her and bent down so that my head was just a bit over her shoulder. As I did so, her soft red curls brushed against me. A flicker of desire stirred within me at the sensation, but I continued on with our lesson. I placed one hand on her shoulder, and with the other, I gently reached down to grab her wrist and pulled it up so that it was at her eye level. With her wrist in my grasp, I slowly moved her arm back and forth to display the movement once more.
“Remember, what you want is a nice fluid motion all the way through,” I said as I repeatedly showed her the technique. “Do you feel the difference between what you just did and what I’m doing? No abrupt movement at the end. Smooth until release.”
“Y-yeah, I can feel the difference,” the fox-tailed woman stammered. Her eyes shifted to me nervously, and her face began to turn red.
Then I felt her tail brush against my legs. It was wagging from side to side.
“Go ahead and try it again.” I nodded to the stacks of chests I let go of her wrist but kept my other hand on her shoulder.
“Sure, no problem,” Rana said with another quick awkward glance at me. She took a deep breath and pursed her lips as she slowly began to move her arm back and forth. With one swift graceful motion, she flung the dagger, and it pierced the center of the target with a thud.
“Ha! I did it!” The fox jumped up and down and pumped her furry fists in the air in celebration. “I told you I could do it.” She turned to me with her arms folded over her chest and gave me one of her twisted grins.
“I never doubted your ability.” I chuckled softly. “I only said that you could do better, and I was right.”
“Pfft,” she scoffed. “So, maybe you are right some time.”
“Your tail is wagging,” I whispered as I rested my hand on her shoulder.
“No… it… isn’t,” she whispered, but she didn’t bother to look back at it. Instead, she looked at my hand, her bit her lip. “I’ll uh, take that reward that you so kindly mentioned earlier.”
“Reward?” I whispered as I slid my other arm around her slender waist.
