075 Encounters · 10
Encounters · 10
C
|
hain could have sworn that she was by herself going forward as she could barely see Finch’s Dolmen clinging onto the abyss wall from where she fought in the dark. Alit by the sparks of ringing steel Chain’s determined pout demonstrated her refusal to give in. Finch was in a similar life or death situation as her, a determined look upon her face as she thrust the end of her Dolmen’s handless right arm directly into the wall she clung to. Puling down and out a plethora of holographic screens and keypads, she desperately entered commands while looking inside to where Chain and Zhenir fought. Chain was being thrown about with only her acrobatics keeping her in the fight.
“I really should have fought harder for those head mounted
guns. Hold on Miss Chain…”
As worried as Finch was about Chain, above her, the five lead
nuns of their expedition for the Lucifalz hidden within Deep Root Colony along
with Squawk and Maye looked over the edge she had leapt from. The sight of
Finch’s Dolmen clinging on so desperately moved Maye to cry out.
“Finch!”
She was about to gallop off but stopped as she watched Squawk
walk up to the edge. Looking at her he smiled behind his beak with pride and fear
both.
“That isn’t how you shout, idiot. I can demonstrate and
perhaps buy that idiot below time to run.”
Watching Squawk take a deep breath, Maye’s eyes widened and
she reached out a hand.
“Don’t! If you unleash that weapon now…”
Maye did not finish her sentence as she looked out at Finch’s
Dolmen below. She did not have to finish as Squawk fully understood her reason
and threw his hands up as he yelled at her.
“I understand you don’t want to lose the Dolmen pilot, but I
don’t want to lose the idiot who didn’t listen to me and have to deal with her
haunting me.”
“I doubt we would have reason to haunt you.”
Squawk nearly jumped as Chain’s voice came up behind him and
he had to turn to realize it was Drop and not Chain. Irritably he yelled at the
smaller version of the same person even if he didn’t quite realize it.
“Don’t sneak up on me you idiot! You frightened me half to
death!”
“Well, that’s the state we we’ll be in if my larger self is
not aided. Fortunately, I believe that the three of us can help each other out.”
“I am not so faithless that I would turn to you, devil.”
Even with Finch in danger and Chain’s life on the line, Maye
could not put aside her disdain for spirits. Drop did not appreciate the
centaur’s attitude at such a time and pouted as she thrust her fists down at
her sides.
“Your faith is why you are being so blind! I told we are not
wild ones or dark ones! Our song is one with the servants of the Children of Ocia!
If you follow those joined by that human who once walked Ambrosia, then we are
allies even beyond this current mess! So listen to me, please! We can help them
if we stop fighting with each other!”
The target of Drop’s yelling may have been Maye, but she was
right next to Squawk who ended up responding.
“I would appreciate it if you did not yell in my ear, you
idiot.”
“You are going to complain about people yelling!”
“Yes, because unlike you I’m willing to listen.”
Maye’s mocking indignation was washed away in a second as Squawk
shut her down with a stare. She was still highly emotional however and tried to
argue with the young nāti man.
“You are a Pilgrim of Athealdre are you not⁈ Why would you listen to that devil⁈”
“Because the life of Lady Atheaeldre is supported by the Waters
of Ocia, you fool! How many times must this idiot tell you that she is affiliated
with Ocia before you understand⁈ It is obvious that the teachings of the Cardinal Church are
not at all as accurate as we are led to believe, especially after this idiot’s
mention of torture at their hands! Where is that legendary compassion that
unifies all under the Saint’s Light⁈ Hmph‼ I’m done with you!”
Crossing his arms, Squawk turned his back on Maye and turned
his full attention onto Drop who was smiling awkwardly.
“And what exactly is your problem? At least one of us here are
listening to you.”
“Well… It’s just that I said we need all three of us.”
“You better start explaining fast you idiot!”
“Well, we are the same person, even if we are fragmented
enough to be different people entirely it seems, but we are one person. That means
if you cast support magic on me it’ll affect the me that is further away.”
“That sounds rather brilliant actually. So how does that make
us need the centaur?”
“The effects will be better the closer we are, and we will likely
need her speed to stand any chance of catching up.”
“Absurd! I’m too small to carry a person, even one as short
as this here nāti. And I also lack the strength to do so because of my size.”
“But you carried us when you saved us from those two Sa·B·ers
over a tenday ago.”
“That was–”
“We have heard enough Sister Maye.”
“Wha–?”
Surprising everyone, the five nuns who made up the lead party
venturing into Deep Root Colony cut off Maye. Looking at their stern expressions
with shock, Maye was unprepared for what they had to say.
“We are here to retrieve the Light in Lady Cardinal’s name.
Your actions would deprive us of a Sa·B·er possessed of it–”
“What⁈”
Hearing the nuns say it, Squawk finally realized that Chain
was possessed of Light. It should have set in sooner but not getting killed had
taken over his thoughts. As a result, his shock kept him to one word to express
his realization and he failed to further interrupt the nuns who kept talking as
though he had.
“– As for your strength, we can supplement that with magic,
and you know it.”
“We can also cast a few support spells on the spirit, but the
pilgrim will need to maintain them if we are to save Daughter Finch and the
Chainmaid.”
“Your disdain for spirits is becoming legendary aboard the Chapel
Sister Maye, but to accomplish our mission you will have to swallow your pride
for now.”
“But…”
Wanting to argue, but also save Finch, Maye looked out again
at her helplessly dangling junior. She seemed to be stable enough for now, but
an arrow of light emerging from a nearby opening in the wall caught her eye.
Her heart sank knowing that such a fierce battle raged on and could dislodge the
Dolmen at any time. With tears in her eyes and through gritted teeth she
finally muttered her compliance.
“…fine… FINE‼”
Her muttering gave way to a teary-eyed shout and Maye snapped
her head back onto the nuns, Squawk, and Drop. Yelling, her tone of voice made
it clear that she was not pleased even as she understood that she had no
choice.
“Do what you must! I will not and cannot jeopardize everyone’s
lives for my pride and fear!”
The nuns were quick to get their spells in effect and Maye
was soon off with Squawk upon her back with Drop resting in his hands. The spells
upon her left her glowing brightly as Squawk kept his Ambrosial gate open,
feeding a continuous supply of Nectar through his body into hers to sustain the
spells. As close as they seemed, those spells did not have a strong effect on
Chain, but she noticed them and their effects growing.
“Sorry about this, but looks like I’m cheating.”
Bloodied and battered, Chain’s bright-eyed smile seemed
inappropriate behind the long bow of pure light she carried, an arrow of light
notched to it with her sword held by the pommel in a reverse grip. She let fly
the arrow and Zhenir dodged it easily and closed the distance between him and Chain
in a blink.
“At this point it doesn’t matter Chainmaid. Your death is
assured, though the light you wield seems only a sliver compared to what I
sense from you.”
“Is that so? Sorry I can’t bring out more for you then. -⁈-”
As she apologized, Chain could hear the whispers that came
from the Lucifalz, and for an instant could see the tree of Light fill her
vision. Somewhere in that noise it was as though her voice from somewhere very
far away was telling her how to. Much as she wanted to reach out for that power,
she had more pressing matters at hand and used the top arm of her bow to block
and push aside Zhenir’s sword. The motion allowed her to bring the lower arm around
and swing into the Foreigner’s body. Zhenir easily dodged the attack by bending
over backwards, not letting the surprise of Chain’s suddenly increased strength
distract him. The motion freed his sword from Chain’s bow and he brought it back
across where she had been, but Chain was already twirling in the air as it
passed with several arrows notched at once. The arrows hit the ground as Zhenir
overextended his swing to take him into a step that let him leap away. As he
turned around his sword worked furiously to deflect all of the incoming arrows.
Even before the last one reached him however, he noticed that the light of
Chain’s bow was gone. With so little daylight reaching their current location
from above the abyss his eyes were compromised forcing him to rely on instinct
to dodge the arrow and block Chain’s attack.
“Hehehehehe… Wonderful Chainmaid! Even as weak as you are,
with just a little increase in strength you were able to force me to take an instinctual
movement. This is why I cherish my opportunities to hunt the Children of Her
Light! They are leagues above the simple Light Touched and make the hunt
thrilling!”
“Now you’re just getting creepy.”
Wearing a look of disgust, Chain put her sword to work, each
strike, parry, and deflection possessed of greater speed and agility than the
one before. It was not enough to overwhelm Zhenir at all and Chain felt like she
was running out of options.
[Hrm… He’s so strong, and I’m not managing to push him back
at all. Even these spells buffing me up aren’t helping. Am I going to have to cast
magic to stand a chance? No! Drop said I couldn’t handle it in my current state
and if I’m going to get more support from the spirits I need to find and defeat
the Ambrosial Beast that’s causing them so much trouble. Oh! That’s it. The
Ambrosial Beast.]
“Hey, you don’t think we can postpone this little death match
for a bit, do you?”
“Are you scared to die Chainmaid?”
“Of course I am. If I die, I can’t do all of the wonderful things
I want to, so letting you kill me just isn’t an option. It’s just… Nah, you’re
not going to back off anyway.”
Dismissing her attempts to talk her way into having the
opportunity to hunt down the Ambrosial Beast, Chain let a blocked strike from
Zhenir push her out of range of an immediate follow up. Pulling her left hand
free of her sword, she snapped her fingers and the distinctive ringing sound the
motion made filled the air. The appearance of the small mote of light above her
upturned palm put Zhenir on the defensive as he anticipated the return of the bow
of Light Chain wielded. Chain was not aiming to summon her bow however and
instead cut the light in two. The light coated her sword and in the same motion,
passing it from right had to left and back again, she cut a circle into the
ground around herself. Smiling brightly, she explained herself.
“But since you keep talking about hunting prey, you won’t
mind if I spice things up a little, right?”
Releasing the summoned Nectar from her will, the floor
beneath Chain’s feet gave way and she fell wherever her freshly cut hole took
her. Laughter exploded from Zhenir and it took him a moment to compose himself.
“What manner of foolishness is this Chainmaid? What do you
hope to accomplish by retreating deeper into this grave, this den of beasts?
But what does it matter? As you say, I enjoy the hunt and appreciate your
attempts to entertain me. Hehehehehe…”
Snickering in amusement to himself, Zhenir strode to the hole
Chain left and dropped down. Despite his departure and the distance that Maye still
had to cover if she ever hoped to catch up, the room did not stay empty for long.
Finch noticed the two icaran men entering the room through the abyss side wall,
the first one using a glowing blue blade as a zipline handle and the other
flying through the air after the first entered as though he retracted himself
along an invisible wire. Recognizing the two of them Finch paled within her Dolmen.
“What are they doing here…?”
The Mouser Brother’s had no answer to give Finch, though the
reason for their arrival was obvious. The lack of Chain and her opponent
annoyed Lute and he rested his giant boomerang of a blade on his shoulder as he
bemoaned the situation.
“It would seem that we are still behind in this race brother.”
“It is nothing to worry about Lute. Even if we should let the
others catch up, we both saw that it is a Foreigner the Chainmaid faces. As
Sa·B·ers ourselves it is only natural that we slay it as we are sworn to.”
“You are of course right brother. And considering the
distress signal from this place…”
“Exactly Lute, we have every right to be here, so let us
flush out these troublesome mice.”
Smiling with a chilling manner, Pan and Lute jumped down into
the hole Chain left behind.
Copyright © 2019 Joshua D Tarwater
Comments
Post a Comment