“What about Girl on Fire?” Tiza asked.
“No. I’d rather you called me ‘Pious Pinkie’ than that.”
Tiza smiled and pointed. “Oohh! I like that one!”
Cremia coughed into her hand. “In any case, I came to inform you that your teammate has completed the first part of the Rite of Fire Ascension.”
Tiza smiled. It was such a rare sight that Nolien drank in the sight and smiled himself. “That’s wonderful!” The smile faded. “So he’ll be out by dinner?”
Crimea giggled. It was a musical sound that made Tiza’s stomach turn. “Oh no. He will not be ready for two months.”
“Two months?!”
“You must understand, Miss Sprial,” Crimea continued. “They are trying to become gods in human form. This means casting aside the body as easily as clothing; if it were easy, everyone would do it.”
Tasio appeared above her head and said, “In other words, Eric’s taking a narrative break so the Journey to Chaos series will focus on someone else for a couple chapters. It will be much more interesting than watching him sit still and breathe for weeks on end.”
The kids had no idea what he meant by “series,” “chapters,” or “narrative,” so they assumed it was a trickster quirk. The Muses of Remho eventually started talking like that too. So Tiza ignored him and his words, and instead asked Nolien, “What are we supposed to do for all that time?”
Tasio replied before he could. “You and ‘Tenderfoot’ will star in a romantic comedy.”
Red-in-the-face, Tiza said, “I wasn’t talking to you.”
“My mistake.”
Then he disappeared. Cremia made the Sign of Fire and thanked The Trickster for his wisdom. This struck Tiza as odd because no one thanked Tasio for anything. Nolien understood perfectly and explained for her benefit.
“One of Tasio’s nicknames is ‘Bringer of Fire’ because he taught humans how to use magic and his first lesson was ‘fireball.’ For this reason, he is honored by the Fire Faithful next to Fiol herself.”
Cremia smiled at him. It was one of those innocent and admiring smiles that ensnared knights in poems. It made Tiza’s fists clench.
“You are well versed in our faith,” she said.
Nolien shook his head in a gentleman’s modesty. “I don’t know that much. There was a section on it in one of my classes and I was so interested that I read more independently.”
“We have many books in our library you could borrow,” Cremia said. “They were authored by our own members and unavailable elsewhere.”
“Thank Fiol they weren’t damaged.”
“We can pick them up on our way to lunch!” Tiza injected.
Cremia turned her smile on the other girl and it was friendly and bright. “The more the merrier.”
Nolien reared again and his body elongated into that of a horse. After the change completed, he knelt before the girls. Cremia allowed Tiza to mount first and then followed behind her. Nolien trotted back the way he came, to the Sage Hearth, where lunch would be served. They found a worried Basilard.
He stood with the outer wall of Sage Hearth to his back and Zettai between the two of them. In contrast to her father, she looked bored. Around her was a triple circle of red light; one in the ground, one in the air at her waist, and then another above her head.
Nolien trotted to him and neighed.
“Yes, Nolien, ‘trace a circle ‘round thee thrice’ is still an effective shielding spell.”
“What’s up, Daylra?” Tiza asked.
“Tiza, Third Eye this whole area, now. Look for people like me.”
“Okay, if you want.”
Tiza closed her physical eyes and opened her spiritual eye. Through it, she swept the area for bladi mana breeds like her mentor. Neither concealment spells nor physical cover could block her sight. That was why she said with confidence, “I see nothing with Bladi blood but you and Zettai. Are you expecting family?”
“I think someone tried to kill Zettai by dropping a wooden beam on her.”
“I think Dad is paranoid.”
“It’s not paranoia when someone truly is trying to kill you.” He sighed. “Before we left on our vacation, she said someone was trying to kill her. Now she doesn’t believe me when I say it.”
“That was in the Bladi Compound. There’s no one here but us and Fire Clerics.” Zettai pressed her hands against the light screen. “Now let me out of this thing.”
“You like construction work?” Tiza asked. She still had her eyes closed. “So much for being a ‘bladi princess.’”
Zettai stuck her tongue out. “I wanna learn about the people here: their culture and architecture and history.” She spun on her heel. “It’s a fun place and I was really into school back in Ceiha, and Dad hasn’t enrolled me in school here.”
“What about the tutor I assigned you?” Basilard asked.
“She thinks I’ll give her rabies,” Zettai replied.
“Because you’re a Bladi Convert?”
“No...because I bit her.”
Basilard double face palmed. “Why did you bite her?”
Zettai bashfully pawed the ground, avoiding the stern gaze of her father. “She kept insisting that I was human instead of bladi.”
At that, Basilard reached through the light screen, pulled her into a hug, and ruffled her hair. In response, she hugged him and chortled.
“With that sort of attitude,” Basilard said, “no one can deny that you are a bladi.”
Zettai’s glee abruptly stopped. “Except the council and most of my new relatives.”
“After the ceremony, they’ll have to accept it. Bladi don’t kill other bladi except in highly specific and regulated circumstances. Being a Bladi Convert is not one of them. I checked.”
“Daylra!” Tiza said.
Basilard was on his guard at once. “What?!”
“There’s something I want to show you.”
Tiza didn’t point. Instead, she whispered into Nolien’s ear and he flipped his tail towards it. His tail was always flipping, so it was nothing remarkable to an observer. The target was ten feet away and behind a partially rebuilt shrine. Basilard used a super speed spell, Chameleon Leap, and was behind the target in a second. It only took another second to twist one of his arms behind his back and grasp his throat.
“Qatis,” Basilard asked his cousin, “what are you doing here?”
“Saving...our...clan!” the man choked out.
Zettai screamed.
Basilard cursed and forced an unspoken sleep spell into Qatis’ mind. He tossed the unconscious man aside and restrained him with unspoken earth and wind spells. Then he grabbed BloodDrinker’s hilt and ran out from behind the shrine. Ten warriors clashed with Tiza, Nolien, Cremia, and Ash.
With his aura a fiery red, Ash engaged three of them. His speed and strength enabled him to press his attack and stay one step ahead of their swords. Nolien, his eyes an opaque red, fended off another two. He parried their slashes with his staff and fired a constant stream of spells from his horn. One knocked his opponent away with a gust of wind and another sent a speed buff to Tiza. Cremia stood behind them and alternated throwing fireballs at the five enemies or support spells at her allies. Tiza handled the rest alone.
She held her ground in front of Zettai and countered each strike with her metal sword or a mana one that she created. Even if two or more attacked simultaneously, she incorporated that into her counter by maneuvering them into each other.
“You guys suck at this!” she said while sidestepping around one strike, kicking the assailant behind her and then pushing the first assailant into a third. “I’m kicking your asses with my eyes closed!” She threw the mana sword to blunt the charge of the fourth assailant and then used her empty hand to grab the wrist of the fifth and step forward to punch his face and knock him down. By then, Basilard arrived and held BloodDrinker aloft.
“In the name of Luke,” he commanded, “KOWTOW!”
A puls
e of blood-red light radiated from the ancestral blade and all ten assailants fell to their hands and knees. Shielded as she was, Zettai was the only exception.
“Zettai, are you okay?” Basilard asked.
“Right as rain, Dad.”
“Tiza?”
“That was a rush!”
“Nolien?”
“I am hale and whole, Daylra.”
“Lady Priestess?”
“I am fine, Mr. Bladi. Thank you for your concern.”
“What about you?” Basilard asked Ash.
A salamander spirit emerged from Ash’s body and settled on his shoulder. Ash patted it and did not answer Basilard. The father ignored him and stepped in front of the nearest assailant.
He lifted the man’s chin with the point of BloodDrinker. Recognizing the face made his hand tremble. He was tempted to plunge the point into the man’s throat. Instead, he demanded, “Luhom Bladi, in the name of Luke, tell me why you are here.”
“To save our clan.”
“In the name of Luke, explain yourself.”
“The abominable Bladi Convert must die for the Bladi Clan to live.”
“In the name of Luke…”
Luhom sneered. “Rebel!”
A shockwave of power sucker punched Basilard, staggering him. Luhom jumped to his feet and sprinted towards Zettai. He was scorched to a blackened corpse before he made it halfway. A second assailant was skewered by Tiza and grabbed her wrists to hold her in place. Then a third lunged for Zettai’s shelter.
She carried a dagger with grooves that dripped blood. On contact with Basilard’s barrier, both the dagger and the hand carrying it sailed freely toward Zettai’s heart. In such a confined space, Zettai couldn’t move enough to dodge.
“IN THE NAME OF LUKE, STOP!”
The assassin froze with her dagger millimeters from Zettai. Her body tensed and her face scrunched as she tried to force the dagger the rest of the way. Her teeth grated back and forth as she glared at the little girl with murderous intent. Zettai pressed herself against the back of the shelter, wide-eyed and heart racing.
Basilard walked deliberately towards them both. He held BloodDrinker with perfect poise and a grip as steady as Order. When he reached them, he placed his free hand gently upon the younger Bladi’s back. She winced as his fingers dug into her clothing and skin to her blood. Then, in a quiet and measured tone, he said, “Bladi Execution Skill: Meltdown.”
At his command, the blood in the assassin’s veins turned into acid. Pumped by her heart, it traveled to all of her organs and dissolved every last one of them. Her screams were piteous, while they lasted. Soon she lacked the ability to scream. Then she lacked the ability to stand. Then she was gone. Turning to her fellows, he asked, “What do the rest of you have to say for yourselves?”
“To save our clan,” they said in unison, “we must kill the abomination. There can be no compromise.”
“Very well.” He raised his symbol of authority. “In the name of Luke, all members of the Bladi Clan present, except for myself and Zettai, as punishment for the attempted murder of the offspring of a family member, with all these people as witnesses to your sinful action in addition to your scorning any attempt at reconciliation, your chief commands you to die.”
A blood-red light emitted from BloodDrinker. All Bladi present, except for Basilard and Zettai, coughed up blood, experienced a seizure, and then fell still. A second pulse accelerated their decay. In ten seconds, their corpses aged ten years. Basilard snapped his fingers and they burst into flames. In twenty seconds, they were dust.
Basilard grabbed Zettai by the hand and pulled her out of the bladi sphere. Then he created a new triple circle with only his personal mana and spirit power. His right hand briefly glowed with an otherworldly black light, but he shook it and the light vanished.
“Tiza!”
Tiza stood at attention. The tone of her sergeant’s voice was scary. “Yes, Daylra!”
“Explain to me what you saw with your Third Eye.”
“The...um... ‘bladiness’ was flickering. One second it was there and then it was gone. Blinking in and out of my vision, that sort of thing.”
Basilard cast Four Wind Deflectors around Zettai while replying, “Would you say that someone was blocking it?”
“It’s either that or something is screwy with my ability.”
“No...Retina never had any trouble. I doubt you would.” He paced around Zettai. She looked up at him fearfully. “While you were in Dnnac Ledo, did any of the elves examine you?”
“No, they kept their distance…” Tiza said, “...except for this one.”
Basilard stopped. “Which one?!”
“Need-filler.” Tiza snapped her fingers. “What was his real name? Guno, Gunpie...”
“Gunrai,” Nolien said. “Kaiba Gunrai. He gave her a suit of armor for the Latrot raid that plugged into her spirit. It’s possible he got a reading on her Third Eye.”
“I tore it off,” Tiza added. “Maybe that damaged it and made the reading incomplete.”
“It’s also possible these are prototypes,” Nolien added.
“We will investigate further,” Basilard said calmly and menacingly, “and if Gunrai is responsible for this, then he will suffer the same fate as these assassins here.”
Then, in his habitual glancing at Zettai, he saw her standing away from him. She leaned against the edge of the magic shelter he created for her like she did from the assassin. Guilt swept him and fear followed. He knelt in order to be at her eye level.
“Zettai, am I scaring you?”
She didn’t respond.
“Zettai, please, I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”
She met his gaze. “What you just did...it’s...” She gulped.
“I’m sorry. You’re my daughter and I love you, and so I can’t stand the thought of someone hurting you. I gave that woman the punishment I thought she deserved.”
“I...it...the thing...so much blood...”
“Daylra,” Nolien said, “what I believe Zettai is trying to communicate is that she is disturbed that you could do such a thing to a relative without hesitation, regret, or pause.”
“Oh...thank you, Nolien.” He only turned his head to address Nolien for the last word. Then he turned right back to Zettai. “I have seen many horrible things in my time. Believe it or not, what I’ve just done doesn’t rank in the top five. If it would make you feel better, I will show more restraint next time.”
A mischievous, though shaky, smile spread across his girl’s face and relief swept away his fear. “Will the next time be my first boyfriend?”
He grinned. “I shall pray for self-control when that day comes. For now, I have to look into something and I need you to stay safe while I do it.”
“We will assist you,” Cremia said. “I know we do not appear to be a safe place at the moment, but we can create a formidable defense.”
Tasio appeared behind her and ran his fingers through her hair. A second later, he was engulfed in a dozen streams of holy fire. Five seconds later, his clothes, skin, and hair were charred black and grey. He fell limply to the ground, or rather, to an inch above the ground. There he splayed out his limbs, leaned his head to the outside, and stuck out his tongue.
The flames came from fire clerics that came running to assist when they saw the commotion. Together with Ash, they attacked The Trickster when he suddenly appeared.
“Thank you for the opportunity to demonstrate, Fire Bringer,” Cremia said.
Tasio shook himself to his normal color like a dog shakes water from its fur. Then, still lying above the ground, he said to Cremia, “You’re welcome.” To Basilard, he said, “See? It’s safe enough to store a princess here.”
“I can’t take any chances, but since you’re here, please teleport us to the Dragon’s Head.”
Tasio put a hand to his chin and closed his eyes. “Hmmmm...” Basilard did his best to remain politely patient while he waited. “No.”
<
br /> His fists clenched on BloodDrinker’s hilt. “Why not?”
The Trickster floated up and did somersaults in the air. “It would be too easy for you.”
“After all I’ve done for you, I deserve this little favor.”
One more loop and Tasio sailed directly towards Basilard. His face stopped inches from the mortal’s.
“You expect reciprocity from a trickster? A predictable exchange of favors? Did you pretend to be Old Blood so long you’ve gone Lawful Stupid?”
Basilard didn’t flinch. “You wanted me to be a father. Help me stay a father.”
Tasio tutted. “Yep, you did. Too bad, so sad. Toodles!” He disappeared.
Basilard sighed. Then he addressed Cremia, “Lady Priestess, your clerical magic is powerful, I’m sure, but if I left her here, it would have to be with the Fire Sage.”
“Certainly,” Cremia said gracefully, and without a trace of offense. Tiza noticed the appreciative smile on Nolien’s face. She couldn’t have done that. “The office of the Fire Sage can be guarded with an army of salamanders, fire dragons, and phoenix in addition to clerics and the Fire Sage himself.”
With a wave of his hand, Basilard lifted Zettai’s shelter and placed it at his side. The girl crossed her arms and “hmphed” at being transported so. Then she laughed.
“May I ask what amuses you?” Cremia asked.
“All my life, I wondered what it would like to have a father who cared about my safety. Now that I have one, he puts me in a cage. I was laughing at myself.”
“You poor thing...”
“Priestess,” Basilard said.
Cremia nodded and led the way back to the Fire Sage’s office. In the week since Team Four’s arrival, the interior was much improved. The walls, ceiling, and floors were cleared of smoke damage and anything burned or melted had been removed. This left the room barren but clean. Nolien compared it to a stove or fireplace between uses and this earned a smile from Cremia. Tiza grumbled.
A burst of golden-brown light filled the room. It was only an instant, but it was enough to hide the entrance of a girl in a hood. She was sweating enough for it to show through her priestess habit. She leaned against a wall as she checked herself for injury. She frowned when she saw the condition of her bow.
Transcending Limitations Page 41
