by Eric Vall
“So again, what’s the plan?” the banisher asked, and his voice hinted at a bit of worry.
“Varleth, do cool blade things,” I instructed.
The banisher snorted. “Cool blade things?”
“You know what I mean,” I replied with my hands on my hips, and Varleth shook his head. “Spin it around and look awesome while you kill stuff. You are good at that.”
“If you say so, summoner,” he added coolly.
“As for you…” I trailed off and eyed Erin. “Douse him in any way possible. If you see a flame, try to put it out.”
Erin stifled a giggle into the back of her hand. “Did you come up with that one all on your own?”
“Hey, I didn’t see anyone else devising any plans,” I came back at her, and she shrugged.
There was no time left for anything fancier. We were on the cusp of our attack. It was now or never, and I wanted this to be over.
As the baroquer made its march, so did we. Our plan wasn’t sound, but it was something, and that was always better than nothing. We readied ourselves. Varleth unsheathed his sword, Erin conjured a stream of water that surrounded her on all sides like a whirlpool, and I summoned my drillmole and daggerdillo. The two of them were easy monsters to distribute my mana to since I hadn’t regained quite as much mana back from the last fight as I would have liked, and they had proven themselves effective the last time we faced off against a baroquer.
Gawain marched ahead of us, his gun at his side. We were as ready as we were going to be.
“Go!” I yelled, and at my command, the team scattered.
Gawain continued his head-on charge while Varleth and Erin flanked him on the sides. I skidded to a stop, and my monsters took my place at the vanguard, ready to put in their best. My drillmole spun the drill-like horn on its head and dove beneath the surface. There, it would wait for the perfect moment to strike.
As for my daggerdillo, it didn’t measure up to size in comparison to the baroquer, but I knew it would be able to hold its own. With a gravelly roar, it rolled into a giant spiked ball and rushed the iron monster. If I could get the baroque off its feet, this fight could be done before we knew it.
As it barreled forward, though, I noticed that it was right on track to collide with Gawain. I commanded it to avoid him, but it didn’t stop. Had my mana been drained that much? I did feel a little weak, but I still had plenty of fight left in me. Maybe my daggerdillo felt the same about Gawain as I did and wanted to roll the prick over.
“Gawain, move!” I yelled, but Gawain was so far ahead of me that my warning was lost to the battle that was about to ensue. All I could think was how I had just told Erin and Varleth that we should probably avoid killing Gawain, not any of us actually wanted him dead, but here I was, one monster bowling league away from murdering the Academy’s most pompous ass.
I didn’t know whether or not I had had enough mana left as I tried again to command it to stop or if the daggerdillo had this plan in mind all along, but as it approached Gawain from behind, it launched up into the air. With it, Gawain leapt as well. It was dangerous, and I watched in some semblance of awe as Gawain landed atop my daggerdillo and used the rolling momentum of the monster to send him hurtling toward the baroque.
“Shit,” I gasped to myself, trapped in a state of awe as Gawain Madox fired a round of bullets into the face of the baroquer as he flipped in midair.
I might not have liked him, but maybe I had underestimated how intelligent Gawain was in the face of a real battle. His feet touched the back of the baroquer’s neck just long enough for him to push off and gain more momentum as he soared toward the ground. He shot a stream of flames from his palms to regulate his speed, and he landed with an easy tumble.
Immediately after Gawain’s initial attack, my daggerdillo followed with an attack of its own. Its spiky body connected with the baroquer’s chest plate, but it was completely ineffective despite the loud clang that resounded when they collided. As it tumbled to the ground, the baroquer swung its massive sword and batted it aside. My ‘dillo was sent sailing, like a ball used in sport. I recalled it before it could land, afraid that the fall damage would be more than it could handle, and I didn’t want to risk the sap in mana when a monster perished in battle.
Now enraged, the baroquer took a wild downswing at Gawain, but its size worked against it, and it moved too slowly to connect with the speedy fire mage. Gawain launched another round of bullets into it, and this time, it seemed to have a bit more of an effect. Each bullet that collided with the thick armor exploded into bursts of water that pounded it in the chest.
As the baroquer brought its sword up for another ground-shaking chop, Erin came to a halt. She thrust her arms out, and a stream of water flew through the air. When she pulled her arms back, the head of the stream looped around the arm of the monster as if it were following her movements. Angry, the baroquer stomped and flailed as it tried to break free of the hold Erin had put on it.
I saw Varleth cut in front of my vision, or at least, I thought I had. Before I knew it, all that was left of him was an afterimage, and he himself had vanished. A loud crack sounded above me, and my eyes darted up. Varleth had charged up his sword as he slashed his blade upward and unleashed a vertical slash of bright blue energy. It wasn’t like the blue that my dagger had glowed, but rather, it looked like a beam of ice with an almost mesmerizing gleam.
As the beam approached, the baroquer broke free of the watery chains Erin had placed on it. Its sword suddenly began to blaze brighter, so bright that it looked purple, and despite Gawain and Erin’s attempts to drench it and put it out, the baroquer stomped an about-face and brought the blade up to block Varleth’s attack. I could see Varleth’s hands shake as continued to push the energy against the monster’s sword. In comparison, the baroquer’s sword was enormous, and a single flicker of the flames that engulfed it was bigger than Varleth himself, but he still pressed on.
I knew he wouldn’t last long as the two conflicting elemental forces built up to an explosive conclusion. I had to act.
“Now!” I yelled, and my drillmole sprung from the depths of the ground and landed proudly.
“Yes, that was quite useful,” Gawain mocked as he unloaded more bullets into the baroquer.
“It was,” I said as I snapped my fingers, and my drillmole returned to me just as the ground beneath the baroquer’s feet started to cave in. “You see, I had my little monster create tunnels in such a way that if there were one false move, the whole system would collapse. Since we lacked the weapons and ability to knock it down, we just had to take the ground away. It was simple, really.”
“I don’t believe for a second you are that smart,” Gawain sneered, but I ignored him.
“Better move it!” I yelled at my team, and we dispersed again as the conflagration between Varleth’s ice and the baroquer’s fire finally created enough tension and pressure to explode. I saw the banisher flip away, then vanish again before he reappeared seconds later by my side.
When the dust settled, the four of us approached the area again. There was even more rock and debris now than there had been before, and in the center of the giant hole stood the baroque. It wasn’t dead, but it also didn’t make a move, as if it had been badly stunned.
“What now?” Erin asked. She was drenched in her own water, and her hair stuck to her cheeks.
I shrugged as we crept closer. When our toes touched the edge of the crater, the baroquer’s dark, ebony eyes snapped open, and it swung its gigantic hand toward us as if to clear us out of its way. We lurched back, and Gawain clicked something on his gun before he shot it off several times into the air. Each bullet popped above us and showered us in light. As the baroquer’s hand collided with it, a pink and blue shield stopped it dead.
“Go!” Gawain demanded. “The shield will hold, but not for long.”
I nodded, impressed with his willingness to work alongside us instead of against us, and then looked to Varleth and Erin. “Stay b
ehind the shield. We’re no good to anyone if we get the banisher killed.”
Varleth gaped at Erin and me.
“But…” she started, but I was already out of the shield. They had already done their parts. It was my turn to do mine.
I sprinted around the crater and brandished another two crystals. My arachness and a speed slug appeared. I knew I had already used that combination of monsters in this round, but I needed them for what I had planned. If I could get it to work, then it might score me major points on my exam.
Already I was woozy from the amount of mana I had used to control my arachness, but it would be worth it. I attached the speed slug to her back, and she began to skitter frantically. With as much concentration as I could muster, I ordered her to cover the baroquer in her web and keep it from becoming mobile again. She set to work quickly and spun her web starting at its feet. She worked up its legs at a relatively fast pace too, and it took every ounce of my concentration to keep her on task.
To my left, I heard Gawain yell, but I couldn’t make out what he had said. I cracked an eye open when I heard another explosion and saw that the shield he had created to protect them had shattered, and they were now vulnerable and susceptible to attack again.
My chest heaved, and my knees went weak. My mana was draining quickly, and I was running out of time to put my plan into action. I had to do it now.
I pulled the empty crystal Cyra gave me from my bandolier and steadied myself on my feet. The baroquer wasn’t going anywhere, so I recalled my arachness because she had done all I needed her to. Then I attached the speed slug to my own back, its effects kicked in instantly, and I ran at top speed and raced up the baroquer’s arm.
The baroquer flailed wildly, and its cry nearly knocked me onto my ass, but I somehow managed to keep my balance. My boots clanked on its heavy armor as I continued my climb to reach the center of its back.
“Gryff, be careful!” Erin called to me as she attempted to hold the arms in place with another water whip. She was able to keep them pretty still until I reached the shoulder, and then I leapt onto the monster’s backside.
When I reached the center of the back, I gathered what I could of my mana, and I slammed the crystal into it. I knew that to capture a monster, it had to be caught off-guard, and with the baroquer too busy fighting against the restraints on its arm, I had a perfect advantage. I’d never captured a monster before, either, so it was a strange sensation to feel the giant body suddenly disperse into rhin from beneath me and pile into the crystal. It was warm to the touch and only grew warmer as the rhin collected.
I gritted my teeth as I held the crystal in place. My breath was ragged, but I was almost done. I had to hold out a little longer. Some of my mana slipped into the crystal with the rhin, like I had somehow forged a contract with the baroquer as I sealed it inside of the crystal. A bright flash of light filled my vision, blinding me, and before I knew it, I was on my knees in the middle of the crater, and the baroquer was trapped within the crystal.
I turned it over in my hands. It had transformed into a larger sphere that looked like a shooting star with a tail. I laughed a little, then again louder until I was nearly cackling.
I couldn’t believe I’d caught my first monster.
And it wasn’t just a simple monster, it was one of the most powerful variants of one of the most powerful types we had ever encountered.
Chapter 14
“Congrats, Gryff!” Erin bounced into the crater. She slid next to me and hugged me tightly. Shocked, I hesitated to hug her back, but when I did, she felt good in my arms, comfortable.
“Thanks,” I muttered breathlessly, and I collapsed into the dirt and onto my back. I took the short reprieve to pull the reserve of elixir I put in my pouch at Meriden’s suggestion. I brought it to my lips and drank half of the contents with the intent to keep the rest in case I needed another boost. As I capped the vial again and shoved it back into my pouch, I was flanked by Gawain and Varleth.
“That could have gone worse.” Varleth smirked and offered me a hand up, which I graciously accepted after I swallowed the last bit of elixir. Its effects kicked in instantly, and already I felt loads better. I’d definitely have to thank Meriden for the suggestion.
“Are you still capable of fighting?” Gawain asked, and for once I couldn’t tell if he was being facetious or genuine.
I decided to assume the latter and grinned. “You bet. I’m good as new now.”
Gawain scoffed and holstered his gun again. Then he flicked a hair from his eyes and glanced at Varleth and Erin.
“Well, don’t you two have a catalyst stone to find?” he sniffed like the asshole he was.
Erin remained quiet but nodded. Varleth, on the other hand, barely refrained the snarl that curled on his lips.
“Easy.” I put a hand on his chest and looked to Gawain.
Gawain smirked but ignored him other than the spurned reaction.
“Wait!” Erin piped up.
We turned to look at her as she stepped up to the three of us. She had a wicked little grin on her pretty lips that I couldn’t take my eyes off of.
“My mana is running dry,” she informed us. “I need a refill.” She looked me up and down, and her eyes sparkled with mischief and perhaps a bit of desire. She wasn’t going to catch me off-guard this time. She pressed her body along mine, and when she kissed me, I kissed back. Yes, this was definitely more enjoyable than the first time. Our tongues slid together, and heat rushed up the back of my neck. I offered her my magic, and she took it into her. A little jolt tingled our lips as we pulled apart.
Erin was breathless as she licked her lips. “You give good magic. Very good magic. Yumm.”
I chuckled and winked cheekily. “Glad to help.”
“I didn’t want to take too much from you,” Erin admitted, “seeing as you’ve already expended quite a bit.”
I blinked at her, curious. “What will you do then?”
“Well, I can’t kiss Varleth. Banisher magic is a death trap for us mimics.” She tossed a look at Gawain, who scoffed.
“Fine, if you must.” He rolled his eyes but puckered up as she sauntered over to him.
When Erin stopped, she simply touched her finger to his lips, and mana swirled around her hand as she absorbed his magic.
Gawain’s eyes shot wide, and he looked considerably uncomfortable with the unexpected touch. His arms floundered, unsure of what he should do with them or if he should even let this girl that he considered his lesser touch him in the first place. Varleth and I stood agape.
“I thought you had to kiss someone to get their magic?” Varleth questioned.
Erin smirked. “Not at all. I can take what I want by touching someone’s lips. I just wanted to kiss Gryff.”
I smirked and crossed my arms. “Then what about the water girl you kissed?”
“I wanted to kiss her, too.” She shrugged and took her finger from Gawain’s lips. “Thanks, Madox.”
Erin fished a crystal she had in the pouch strapped to her thigh and slammed it to the ground. It was the same monster she’d used the last time we met, a stagi. Its eyes were still as mesmerizing as they had been that night outside of Bathi Highlands. It trotted a lap around the crater before it came back to her like a faithful steed.
Gawain spluttered and turned his nose up at us. “Come on, yokel. We have a gate to defend.”
And just like that, he was back to being his usual overly cocky self with a dash of pure, unfiltered asshole. As he sauntered away, Varleth continued to glare daggers into his back. I wondered what it was that Gawain’s father knew about him that set him on edge so quickly.
“He does have a point.” I groaned and stretched my arms up over my head. “There’s a gate to watch and a catalyst to destroy. After all, we’re still being watched.”
Varleth nodded and straightened his cloak before he turned to Erin, who tended to her stagi. “I guess we’re riding that?” Despite the bored tone, his face actually loo
ked pretty excited to ride on the back of a monster across the Shadowscape.
“Yup!” Erin hopped on, then motioned for Varleth to climb on behind her. He looked uncomfortable at first, then sighed as he took a running leap and hoisted himself onto the stagi’s back.
“So, where are we headed?” Erin asked, and she took the black velvet reigns into her hands.
Varleth closed his eyes. There was a long period of silence or at least it felt like a long time, but he finally posted northwest.
“It’s a long way out,” he told us flatly.
I looked out in the direction he pointed and had to agree. There seemed to be a larger pile of rubble, perhaps an old established town that was more like an Enclave that lied in ruin beyond the rest of the crumbled structures.
“Better get a move on then.” I half-joked, but I was already ready for this to be over. Having to spend any more quality time with Gawain Madox was not high up on my list of fun things to do. Once Varleth and Erin double checked all their gear again, Erin clicked her tongue, and the stagi responded. They took off in the direction of the catalyst, and I climbed out of the crater to catch up with Gawain.
When I got there, he had knelt in front of the gate with his gun in his hands. There was a grimace on his face, and he looked focused. I couldn’t recall a time when I’d seen him look so… normal. It was like I was suddenly able to see him through a different lens. I didn’t want to disturb him or particularly try to make small talk, but I was curious what he was doing.
“Is the gun okay?” I asked as I came to a stop beside him. I faced forward in front of the gate with my dagger in hand. I doubted I would need it, but I needed to keep my hands occupied. I didn’t find the idea of accidentally summoning a monster because I was tossing a crystal back and forth in my hands and missed very smart.
“Maybe,” he answered honestly. “Looks like it got jammed when the shield broke, and we had to dodge a giant iron fist. I’ll have to take it to be inspected by one of my father’s weapons experts.”
