Sense: A Fantasy LitRPG Saga (A Touch of Power Book 3) Page 10

  The middle mesmer, who held Tisha, grinned evilly at her as it spoke in a sinister tone, “No magic, or they die…” Jade stared at him. Despite the altered appearance of the mesmer, he still bore the strong resemblance of the royal family. His blonde hair might be matted and twined with leaves, but he could easily pass as a monster version of King Derrick.

  Standing there in a deadlock, she whispered, “So you’re Tevon…” The man/monster seemed almost surprised to hear his old name coming from her lips.

  “Yessssss. Now come to me. No magic.” He looked ready to crow with exaltation as her eyes went unfocused and she took a step forward.

  Tisha sniffed, tears streaming down her face as she cried out, “No! Jade! Don’t!”

  “Sssssssssssilence!” The mesmer tossed her behind him at the other humans like a rag doll, focusing his full attention on her as she took halting steps forward. “You will be a worthy ssssacrifice for the Dark One…”

  The other two mesmer tossed aside their own burdens to flank their leader, moving towards her sinuously, eagerness on their twisted faces. Tevon reached forward, claw aiming for her unfocused eyes as she let out a low chuckle, her eyes suddenly snapping into focus as her hand clenched into a fist. Choking sounds came from their throats as they felt the wind walls bind their airways and lift them into the air to dangle helplessly.

  “Sorry Tevon, you jumped the gun on that one. I will never follow your orders.” The three mesmer were trying to break free from her bonds, flailing in the air. Still, she didn’t want to waste time, so she lifted a piece of rock from the cavern wall, sending it flying through the air to bash into their heads in succession, not killing them, but knocking them out. Their bodies went limp and she finally released the walls holding their airways. She tossed them to the ground, casting a wind cage over them as she turned to the prisoners.

  Holding her hand out to Tisha, she smiled gently to the younger girl. “I’ve come to take you home.”

  Hesitating for the merest second, Tisha jumped at her, ignoring her hand in favor of trying to hug her. Jade released her wind walls so that she could actually reach her, stretching her arms out to embrace the girl.

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” She felt Tisha’s body practically tackle her as her sobbing voice reached Jade’s ears, her danger sense kicking in a second too late. She felt the dagger pierce her stomach as she stared blankly at the tiny, disheveled angel of a girl who was sobbing as she pushed it deeper.

  Tisha’s eyes were filled with despair, and her lips kept begging even as she yanked the dagger out, ripping through Jade’s skin as she wept, “Forgive me, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I can’t…”

  The dagger was now going straight for her heart.

  Chapter Ten – Taint

  “STOP!” Tisha’s muscles trembled beneath the force of Jade’s mental command. The dagger was less than an inch from her skin as she stumbled a step back, fingers clutching her side. Tisha was still crying, her fingers fighting to follow through on her mission. It was a trap. The mesmer had laid a perfect trap for her, compelling the very people she’d come to save to make them try to kill her. Both of the twins were slinking towards her, daggers in hand.

  In a panic, she could feel the blood seeping through her fingers. Her throat felt like it was full of sawdust, so she did the only thing she could think of: she sent out a desperate bid to break the attack. “Break free!” It might not be the most descriptive of sentences, but it was filled with her intent. She wanted them to be free from the compulsions or hypnotisms that had been laid upon them. She felt her magic spring from her like mental arrows at each of the people she was here to save. She couldn’t let a single one of them remain beneath the compulsion.

  She fell to the ground hard, unable to catch herself due to the fact that she was trying to keep her organs inside her stomach. She could tell the dagger had torn open her small intestines, and the smell was horrendous, but she didn’t care. Her full attention was on the others. The pain was barely keeping her conscious, but she could feel the blackness of oblivion pulling at her mind.

  There were conflicting emotions playing across each of the prisoner’s faces, but Tisha was the first to recover, her face clearing up, though panic was still evident as she looked down in horror. “Jade! No, what have I done?” The dagger clattered to the floor as she dropped to her knees next to Jade, staring in horror at the wound she’d inflicted. When Jade started to sink further to the ground, Tisha caught her, holding her up as she cried. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do it! I couldn’t stop myself…” She was blubbering as she clutched Jade’s shoulders.

  Can’t give up now. The thought crossed Jade’s mind as she took in a shuddering breath, trying to concentrate. The others were still frozen in their own internal battles, so she turned her attention inwards. Using her healing magic, she pulled her small intestine back to where it should be, knitting it together once more. Once that was done, she expelled any excess blood that’d been dirtied before closing the wound. It wasn’t perfect, and she could still feel pain and tenderness from the area, but it was the best she could do for herself at the moment.

  Tisha was sobbing over her still, stroking her hair back away from her sweaty forehead as she mumbled her apologies over and over. The others seemed to be finally breaking free as well, looking around in shock before they saw her, bloody and collapsed on the floor in Tisha’s arms. “Jade?” Hayden’s voice was quiet, full of confusion.

  She managed a weak smile for him, patting Tisha’s arm, who finally seemed to realize that she wasn’t passed out. “You’re...awake?” Her voice was so timid, so scared.

  “I’ll be okay, Tisha. It’s okay now. Just help me sit up a bit more.” Tisha sniffled, supporting her as she sat up. She quickly took out some meat from her ring, while the others seemed to focus on the meat instantly. She realized they probably hadn’t eaten much since they’d gotten here. Speaking in hushed tones, she brought more food out of her ring. “Come on, eat quickly. We need to leave here as soon as possible.”

  The prisoners wasted no time grabbing at the food and starting to stuff it down their throats, though she noticed there was still one figure lying still in the corner. “How did you get here? Where did this food come from? How can we get out?” Hunter’s voice was questioning even as he grabbed some of the food.

  Shaking her head, she smiled in exhaustion. “I’ll explain later, when we have more time. We need to hurry.”

  One of the guards spoke softly. “We can’t. We’ve been marked. Anywhere we go, they’ll be able to track us down.” Jade stared blankly at him. How had she forgotten that the mesmer had been pumping them full of taint? If she took them back to the underground base, it would be leading the mesmer straight to it. Right now, they were in one of the few safe spots in the middle of a blazing inferno.

  She nodded absently. “Right. We’ll have to get rid of that before we go.”

  “Get rid of it?” One of the other guards asked curiously, and she realized that not everyone had heard of what she’d done, what she was capable of.

  Nodding again, she said quietly, “Yes, I can get rid of the taint.” She was about to say more when she felt her danger sense act up. Glancing around, she spotted the three mesmer she’d knocked out earlier. Apparently, she hadn’t hit one of them as hard as she thought, because it was stirring, though it tried to hide it. As soon as it noticed that she’d caught it waking, it stopped trying to be subtle and jumped to its feet, lunging towards her.

  It only made it a single foot before her wind blade sliced its head off. She hadn’t even thought about it, she’d simply reacted instinctively to the look on its face. The others were backing away, horrified at the sudden violence, or maybe it was the fact that one of the mesmer that they likely assumed were dead had woken up to attack again.

  Looking at the two mesmer that were left, she winced. She didn’t want to kill any more, but she didn’t have enough time to subdue both of them. Steeling hersel
f, she cut off a second mesmer’s head with a wind blade. That left the unconscious Tevon, or rather, the thing that had once been called Tevon. She hesitated, then sprinkled seeds over him, which sprang to life at the touch of her magic to bind him. Metal cuffs were created from supplies in her ring and shaped around his hands and ankles. The last thing she did was take a length of cloth and create a metal and cloth gag around his head so that he wouldn’t be able to hypnotize anyone.

  Once that was done, she sighed, quickly popping more meat into her mouth as she glanced at the nine people staring at her, and finally she asked quietly, “Wait, where’s Frank?” Several of them exchanged glances, while Tisha looked at the ground in defeat.

  “He’s…” One of the guards started to speak, his voice trailing off, but he glanced to the corner, where they’d been laying around a body…

  “NO!” Jade pushed past them, running to the boy lying lifelessly on the ground. She dropped to her knees next to him, her magic sending a healing surge through him. He wasn’t dead, not yet, but it was a close thing. He was covered in tiny white scars, his skin had begun to stretch over his muscles, and his nails had started to grow out. She could feel the mesmer taint pervading his body, but his heart was still beating, his lungs still breathing.

  She drew the taint from his brain, cleansing it and lowering the swelling and inflammation she saw there. She felt Tisha beside her, her quiet voice asking softly, “What can I do?”

  Jade spared her a tiny smile, before pulling her smoothie mix out of her ring. “Get him to drink this.” She handed her both a spoon and a straw before she went back to pulling the taint out of his body. The sickly bile seeped from his multiple wounds as she went, trying to pull it out with the least amount of blood possible, since he didn’t have much left to lose. Tisha was spooning smoothie into him, and he finally woke up.

  His eyes were uncomprehending as he stared at her and Tisha, so she took a small break to pop more meat into her mouth and hand some to Tisha as well. “Frank, you’re awake. Try to eat.”

  “Jade? You’re...here? But they…” His voice was little more than a whisper of a croak.

  She smiled down at him, sweat beading her forehead. “Shhhhh. Don’t worry about that. Just focus on eating so I can make you better.” He didn’t have much of a choice, because Tisha was quite literally putting food in his mouth every time he opened it to say something. She noticed he wasn’t having as hard a time with the meat as she would have expected, but didn’t say anything because she realized his teeth had changed too, becoming slightly more pointed. How close had it been?

  He wasn’t clean when she got to the bottom, because she couldn’t do everything at once. She merely got the worst of it out of his system. “Why aren’t the mesmer coming here?” One of the guards nervously asked another as he stared up into the dark hole they’d come down.

  Glancing over at them, Jade answered honestly, “I basically turned their nest into an inferno. They’re probably trying to put out the fires right now. It’s not exactly easy to get here at the moment, considering it’s surrounded by flames.” She paused, looking up at the darkness. Her enhanced vision could still see tiny flickers of red up there. “We’ve probably still got some time before they get it under control and start looking for us.”

  “You lit the forest on fire?” The equal parts of horror and awe in the guard’s voice were easily evident.

  Jade shrugged. “I needed to escape their encirclement and buy time to get you guys.” Handing a bunch of meat to Frank, she instructed, “Keep eating. You’re not totally taint-free yet, but you need to get the energy in you before I go again. The rest of you, keep eating too.” She put more out on a platter, then turned and grabbed Tisha’s arm.

  “I’m fine, heal the others…” Tisha started to object, but went quiet under Jade’s glare. She seemed to relax slightly as Jade sent a healing surge through her. Having only been there for one, maybe two feedings by Jade’s conjecture, her wounds were much less severe. Jade pushed the taint out through each laceration, the scabs coming off and flaking to the floor. She did a second sweep, just to be sure she’d eradicated the taint.

  When she was finally satisfied, she nodded and let go of Tisha, smiling at her. “Okay, you should be good now.” Before anyone could suggest an order, she grabbed onto Hunter. The guards might suggest they go last as it was, and although she didn’t think their lives were any less important…those she knew personally were going to get healed first. It was a stark realization that if she had to choose who to save, she knew who it would be. She hoped she wouldn’t have to choose.

  One after another, she healed them all, the orb of goopy tainted blood growing steadily next to her. She even managed to get Frank completely healed up, though he still looked like death warmed over. That would be something he’d have to recover from gradually. She’d taken the time to figure out what weapons they used as she healed them, handing them out from her reserves as she went.

  She was a little unnerved that the meat she’d taken was now more than half gone. She’d been pretty constantly chowing down on it, but with the addition of ten bodies to feed and help recover, it was fast disappearing. “How do we get out of here?” One of the guards asked her tentatively as he supported Frank. He might be free of the taint, but he was still so weak that it required two of the guards to hold him upright.

  Putting the orb of taint away in her ring, she motioned them towards her as she stood to the left of the center below the pit hole. “Gather behind me.” She didn’t want them circling her for one reason: she needed to interact with the outside world, and she couldn’t do that if she couldn’t reach it.

  Almost instinctively, the three royals were pushed into the center of the group, Frank with them as he was handed to the twins to support. The four guards and two tutors took up a circle around them, using her as the top edge of the circle. She hadn’t had to warn them that this leg of the journey was bound to be dangerous. All they had to do was look at the mesmer on the ground next to her, eyes flashing with hatred as he stared at Jade.

  Tevon woke up during her healing, but unable to move or speak, all he could do was struggle ineffectually and glare. So he did that. “Are we taking him with us?” Tisha’s voice was tentative as she stared out of the circle at her once-uncle.

  “Yes, we’re taking him with us. I need to see if I can reverse the process, but not here.” Tevon’s eyes flashed in slight panic at her words, but she nodded back to the circle. “Get ready.”

  She constructed the wind bubbles around both her group and Tevon, lowering their gravity, then took a deep breath and lifted. There were several gasps as they left the ground, but otherwise everyone huddled a little more closely together as they rose through the darkness. Soon, the flickering flames that she’d barely been able to view became more prominent.

  The air began to heat as they neared the top. It immediately cooled again as Jade drew the heat into her, taking it as energy to boost her. They made it to the top of the shaft without any incidents and were now inside the stone building at the base of the tree. Looking out the door, she heard one of the guards mumble, “The cleansing fires of heaven come upon those who turn their face from her.”

  She ignored the notes of religious zealotry in his voice as she picked out what she could recognize from among the flames. There were charred bodies everywhere. The trees glowed like red hot embers, though most of the actual flames moved on from the area, instead spreading outwards. Every one of the sickened trees caught fire in her attack, but she could see the mesmer attempting to put the flame out on the healthy basaigh trees. The trees themselves were resistant to the fire, but it was still slowly, if surely, spreading.

  “The refiner’s fire leaves only the pure behind…” The words fell from her lips as she maneuvered them towards the flame, the others floating behind her in the protection of pure air. They moved out into the fiery blazes, moving up. She could see the efforts of the mesmer to stop the spread more clearly now. So
me were trying to move dirt, some cutting off fiery limbs with their claws to try and throw them back to what had already been burned.

  Her magic stretched out from her. It was further than she should be able to reach, bridged only by the knowledge that this was HER fire. She’d created it, and thus it still held remnants of her magic. She could feel the flames in a circle all around her, an epicenter of destruction.

  There were so many mesmer; they’d doubtlessly been attracted by the light and fire, and the fact that this was the main nest. They came to defend, only to realize that what they needed to defend was the forest if they wanted to continue living here. Razing the forest was one way to possibly get rid of them, rout them out from their hiding spots...but she didn’t yet know if she could save them or not.

  Still, the temptation to reduce their numbers was there. She couldn’t get away if there were hundreds of mesmer chasing them. With that in mind, the fire flared briefly, attacking those who sought to put it out. It was just a brief moment, but she could hear the screams of pain echoing throughout the forest.

  The fire began retreating, leaving the live trees as she drew it towards the center of the nest like a swirling vortex of death. It gathered like a fiery tornado, and Jade used that to push her group ever higher, drawing the flame to her and absorbing its energy. The trees that had been embers were now consumed and began to crumble, the energy of life gone from within them.

  That gave her an idea, however. She used wind to grab the crumbling trees of ash, and with a colossal effort as they cleared the top of the trees, she burst them apart, sending a cloud of dust barreling through the trees. The entire area below was obscured in ash, the air muffling the choking noises below them.

  Her mana sense active, she could still see vague blobs moving about beneath her. Further out, she could see colors; they were the magical creatures who’d been drawn over by the fire, but were hanging back so they didn’t become mesmer fodder. She couldn’t tell what kind of monsters they were from this distance, but they became her targets and scapegoats.