by Hooke, Isaac
“It’s okay, Ember,” Abigail told her mount.
“That’s right, console the steed after needlessly forcing it to run at its maximum speed,” Xaxia said. “Tiring it out for no purpose. And by the way, Ember is a girl’s name. I don’t know if you checked the genitals, but your horse is a male...”
“I was putting it through its paces,” Abigail declared haughtily. “I need to know what kind of speeds I can expect from the animal when danger strikes. Also, I’ll have you know, Ember is a unisex name.”
Malem laughed, shaking his head.
Abigail gave him a scathing look. “What are you laughing at?”
He ignored her. When it came to women, he had learned that when they verbally sparred with one another, it was best to hold one’s tongue. The laugh had been a mistake, but he would have only dug himself deeper by opening his mouth.
He searched ahead with his mind, sensing the different forest creatures. There were no imminent dangers, as far as he could tell.
As the others followed behind him, he focused his mind closer at hand, on the tempting bundle of animal energies that represented the three horses. He still had four free animal slots, after Bounder and Felipe, and wondered if these three would Break as easily as the horses in the stable.
He wrapped his will around all three at once. The animals struggled, but before they could break free, he squeezed, hard, and just like that they were his. He gave them freewill, for the time being.
Abigail came alongside. “I said, what are you laughing at?”
He instructed all three horses to rear.
Abigail was unceremoniously dumped onto the dirt trail, along with Gwen and Xaxia.
“What are the chances of three horses rearing all at the same time?” Gwen asked from the ground.
“Essentially zero,” Abigail answered coldly as she got up. Her eyes burned into him. He was half expecting her forearms to ignite with flame at any moment.
Xaxia laughed and hauled herself into the saddle.
Abigail mounted Ember slightly off balance, and the horse got too close to Neeme; the latter animal snapped at him, nearly biting Ember in the nose. Though a bigger horse in general, Ember promptly swerved away, ceding to the smaller, more dominant animal.
Malem was getting better at controlling more than two animals, but it still wearied him so that, with his little experiment now concluded, he released the horses and kept only Bounder and Felipe slotted.
He did however master a nearby hawk, and had it fly ahead to scout the forest from above. Not that it could really see through the thick trees, but at least he’d be able to spot any potential snafus or trouble on the road itself.
He tapped into its vision and smiled. The view was amazing, the details so crisp, the colors breathtaking. He saw so many different shades, far more than his human vision provided him with.
Observing the world from that height and with such detail never got old, and the smaller animal wasn’t as draining as a horse. It helped that his orders were more free form, and didn’t require constant attention. He essentially told the animal to keep the party in sight at all times, but otherwise to roam as it would.
At one point, Gwen narrowed her eyes and gazed up at the dot representing the hawk overhead. “That yours?”
“Uh huh,” he said. “I can see the world through its eyes.”
“How’s that supposed to work?”
“It’s difficult to explain,” he said.
“Can you still see what’s in front of you?”
“I still have my own vision, yes, but it’s like I have a third eye overlaying the view from the hawk in my mind.”
“Weird,” Gwen said. “I thought you could sense all beasts, including monsters.”
“Not always,” he told her. “Sometimes upper level monsters elude me. The hawk will see what the mind misses.”
Gwen and Abigail broke their fast on the rations Abigail had purchased that morning. Malem ate his own rations, collected with Felipe’s help in an early-morning skullduggery session.
“I still don’t agree with how you get your food,” Abigail said. “Nor your animals. Thievery is hardly a worthy profession. You should consider an honest living sometime.”
“I’ve had my whole life stolen from me,” Malem said. “So thievery is an honest profession as far as I’m concerned.”
Xaxia was downing what looked like slivers of raw meat taken from a butcher’s shop.
“You stole that too, I assume,” Abigail told her.
“In fact, I bought this.” Xaxia tore into the meat and chewed for a moment before swallowing. Then she added: “Using money I stole.” She grinned, flashing her pearly whites.
“Well, at least you don’t have the usual bandit teeth,” Abigail said.
“I’m a carnivore,” Xaxia said. “I eat meat only. You can’t have rotten teeth without sugar, or the starches that contain them.”
“Liar, no one can live on meat alone,” Abigail said.
Xaxia merely shrugged and took another bite.
“Ever think about cooking it?” Abigail pressed.
“Blasphemy,” Xaxia said. “Cooking ruins the meat.”
“Raw meat’s actually pretty good,” Gwen agreed.
“You’re half gobling, I’d expect that from you,” Abigail told Gwen. “Her, not so much.”
“Racial stereotyping now, are you?” Gwen said, pretending to be offended.
They continued prattling on like that but Malem tuned them out. It was relatively easy for him, what with the hawk’s vision feeding his mind, along with his roaming beast sense. He was one with the forest, quite literally.
The party still passed the occasional soldiers on patrol, which was somewhat reassuring. That said, if there were an attack, it would probably take place when the road was empty around them, while the soldiers were well away.
The party paused at a rest area at noon, and Abigail purchased more small snacks from the vendors. Malem had Felipe sneak a few kabobs from the unsuspecting meat merchant, while Bounder headed out into the forest to scout for bog spiders and other favorite foods.
Before they set out again, Malem suggested that they travel in the woods to avoid any potential ambushes. “We could mirror the road, like before.”
Abigail shook her head. “We can make better time on the road. For the sake of expediency, we’ll remain on the trail. At least until we reach the less trafficked road to Fallow Gate. If the enemy attacks, it will be along that route.”
Throughout the day, the soldier patrols became less frequent. From their varying armor, Malem realized that different garrisons from the surrounding cities were pitching in.
As evening neared, the party stopped at one of the more elaborate rest areas, which was essentially a fortified camping ground, and joined other merchants and travelers for the night. There were at least thirty soldiers on guard upon its walls, in addition to at least ten hired swords.
He took one of the alcoves provided by the fortification for himself. Gwen and Abigail shared another nearby, while Xaxia took one on the opposite side of the rest area.
“I don’t want to be anywhere near you when darkness falls in the forest,” the bandit woman told him.
Malem allowed Felipe and Bounder to sleep that night, as well as his new hawk, Spirit. He bound two owls to him, and had the animals keep watch on opposite sides of the camp ground. He set them to wake him if they spotted any nighttime intruders. While the animals were small, he was definitely getting more accustomed to controlling multiple creatures, because the effort required to maintain all five slots was minimal, at least compared to that first night. He was surprised at how fast he was adapting, even if these were only birds. He suspected his link with Gwen had something to do with it.
Speaking of Gwen, as he lay in the dark, he was well aware of her presence in the alcove she shared with Abigail. He sensed her as she sneaked into his area, and welcomed her with open arms.
The sex was just as good as t
he previous night, maybe even more mind blowing, now that he was becoming more familiar with the link between their minds. After it was over, she lay in his arms, snuggling against his body for a few minutes before standing.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“I don’t want the others to know,” she whispered back. “I don’t want them to be jealous.”
He decided not to argue with her.
After she was gone, Malem hoped either Xaxia or Abigail would warm his bed as well, but no such luck. He wondered if he should try to seduce Abigail, if only to increase the number of animals he could slot. He decided against it. The pursuit of pleasure was one thing, but sex for the sake of expanding one’s power was an entirely different matter altogether. Some had no qualms with it, but he did.
The night passed without incident, and they set off with dawn the next day. The traffic was even sparser than the day before, as were the soldier patrols.
By noon they reached a fork in the road. A signpost on the leftmost branch read: North, Fallow Gate, 2 Days. The rightmost: Northeast, Bright Creek, 1 Day.
From the way the trees had grown into the leftmost route, shrinking the breadth of the road, it was obvious traffic passed that way far less.
“The road less traveled,” Xaxia murmured.
“Why doesn’t anyone go north?” Gwen said.
“Fallow Gate is a town built around a military outpost,” Abigail said. “Its only trade is in whoring, or foodstuffs. Victualers occasionally pass this way to sell to the soldiers, but they prefer the Bright Creek route, which allows them to travel outside the forest. After the one day to Bright Creek, the forest ends, and the next three days to Fallow Gate can be spent in the open.”
“There must be a lot of bandits this way, or something,” Gwen said. “If everyone would rather travel outside the forest to reach Fallow Gate.”
“Not really,” Abigail replied. “But this route will take us slightly closer to monster territory, I admit.”
“Great,” Gwen said.
Abigail shrugged. “You’re the one who wants to kill monsters.”
“Not monsters, oraks,” Gwen clarified.
“And yet she’s a monster herself,” Xaxia commented. To preempt the scowl from Gwen she must have known was coming, she quickly added: “Just kidding!”
Abigail pulled ahead to take the lead, as if to ensure no deviation from her planned route to Fallow Gate.
“Wait,” Malem said. He paused at the entrance to the leftmost branch and reached out with his mind. He sensed something peculiar, and sent Spirit to confirm. “There’s a hill giant roaming about a mile away to the south. We should be safe as long as we don’t tarry long on the road.”
Gwen gave Abigail an accusing look. “Slightly closer to monster territory, huh?”
Felipe crawled into his collar at the news and poked its little head out. That was a side effect of the link between him and the monkey—it wasn’t so much that Felipe understood his words, but could sense the emotions behind them. In this case, fear.
Xaxia studied him. “That’s a handy ability. I didn’t know Breaker’s could detect monsters.”
“They can’t,” Abigail said, spurring Ember forward onto the Fallow Gate route.
Malem decided that was the best possible answer, and he followed after her.
As he came alongside, he said: “After we’ve passed the hill giant, we should head into the woods. I’m not entirely comfortable, exposed on this road.”
Abigail frowned. “But that defeats the purpose of traveling this way. We may as well head to Bright Creek and follow along the forest eaves, for all the extra time it will take. The oraks used the road last time. You’ll spot them with your hawk. Or your beast sense.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” he said. But he didn’t argue the point further.
The party proceeded at a faster pace until the hill giant was well behind them, and then they slowed to their regular trot.
The forest was quiet around them. He reached out, and realized most of the birds and other rodents had gone into hiding.
“Something’s wrong,” he said.
And then he sensed them. Oraks, fast closing in from the north.
Motion drew his gaze to the right. A black-robed orak had emerged from where it had been hiding. Bone necklaces hung underneath a red beard streaked with gray. A mage. Somehow it had avoided his beast sense.
And then, just like that, he couldn’t move. Nor could any other member of the party. Beside him, Abigail’s forearms were aflame with her magic, but apparently she couldn’t actually do anything with those flames while paralyzed.
The orak mage merely stared at him, its features contorted in what seemed intense concentration.
Malem commanded Bounder to pounce, but the animal was frozen, too. Felipe was stuck inside his collar as well.
The remaining oraks arrived shortly, streaming in from the forest on either flank—which would explain why Spirit hadn’t spotted them on the road. In addition to their bronze pikes they carried nets, ready to wrap them around the party members and pull them off their mounts.
So the trap is finally sprung.
16
Malem could sense the mage now, and he tried to wrap his will around the monster’s bundle of energy, but the creature kept slipping way. Next he focused on the bronze-mailed oraks that were rushing him with their nets. He concentrated all of his efforts on one of them, and enveloped its mind with his own.
No good.
That was a little disappointing. He’d hoped that by Breaking Gwen, he’d have access to some true monsters now, but apparently that wasn’t the case.
“We’re going to feed upon your entrails!” one of the oraks said gleefully as it threw the net on him and dragged him from his mount. He hit the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of his lungs.
He recalled Spirit, and reached out desperately, searching for any animals nearby that could help. There, in the forest, running away… something large. Something… hungry.
He slammed his will around the beast’s energy and squeezed hard, like a vise. This was an animal he would have had to physically subdue, before his upgrade. Not anymore.
He turned the angry beast around and sent it careening through the undergrowth, toward its new target: the orak mage.
He watched from the bear’s viewpoint as the animal crashed through the forest, ignored the as yet oblivious oraks around it to head directly for the mage. The bear slammed into the black robed orak from behind and bit its head off before the two hit the ground.
Just like that, Malem was free.
Bounder immediately roared into action. It flung its head, partially swinging away the blanket that covered it, and slammed the side of its long neck into the orak that was on top of Malem, sending the creature crashing into another orak nearby. The iguanid stomped on other oraks around it and proceeded to tear into them with its big maw.
Meanwhile, Felipe had crawled out from where it had been hiding underneath his collar, and retrieved Malem’s dagger from his ankle sheath. As soon as he received it, Malem cut his binds away.
He scrambled up on one arm and turned to toss the dagger to Abigail, but she had already turned the net around her to ash—her entire body was on fire now that she didn’t have to worry about burning Ember. She’d burned away the monk robes in addition to the net, but the red dress remained intact underneath, impervious to the flames. She lobbed fireballs mercilessly at the oraks around her, igniting them, and their screams filled the road.
Malem tossed the dagger to Gwen instead, who used it to cut through her own net, and then he reached underneath his hood to withdraw the sword.
The horses tried to flee, but Malem slammed his will around them, and instructed them to ignore their fear and to fight back. Soon they were kicking and biting like well-trained warhorses.
Most of the nearby oraks had swarmed the bear, hacking at it with pikes, swords and axes. The bear was covered in gaping wounds, having
fought admirably, but it fell only a moment later.
Malem rushed those distracted oraks and promptly chopped off the head of the one that had killed his bear.
Spirit came in range, and Malem instructed the hawk to dive-bomb the oraks and aim its claws at their eyes.
Malem took down a sword-wielding orak, cutting off its wrist where it emerged from bronze mail, and then caught the dagger Gwen tossed his way, slamming the point underneath the unarmed oraks chin.
Two more turned their pikes on him. He had to defend against the greater reach of those weapons, using the dagger in his left hand and the sword in his right to parry. When Spirit landed on the face of one of them, he closed with it and thrust his sword home, aiming for the space between the front and back pieces of the armor. His blade passed into the ribcage and emerged from the throat.
He ripped the sword free, ready to engage the next attacker, but Xaxia was there. She’d broken free of her netting and swung her sword like a master, dancing through sword forms he had never seen. She moved in a blur, and judging from the glow on her blade, the weapon was magical in some way—that would explain why she was able to cut through the orak armor, when he had to aim for the gaps.
Gwen was behind him a moment later, fighting with her back to his, and she unleashed the arrows from her quarrel in rapid succession, downing any oraks that tried to reach them from that side. She targeted the exposed faces and necks of her targets.
Felipe had returned inside his collar, where the monkey remained in hiding… Bounder had waded too far into the enemy ranks, and the monsters would soon enclose the iguanid entirely so Malem recalled the creature. Bounder returned, his retreat covered by Gwen and Abigail.
The fatigue of controlling all those animals while engaged in swordplay was catching up to him; Abigail seemed to be tiring as well. Her body was no longer on fire, and the fireballs she threw had half their former intensity. Some of the oraks had shields, and used them to turn aside her reduced attacks; one orak deflected a fireball directly into the monster beside it, setting it aflame.
