Sense: A Fantasy LitRPG Saga (A Touch of Power Book 3) Page 12

  Yawning, she covered her mouth with her hand before waving him down. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of them. I need to restock my supply of magical meat anyways.” She popped her neck and cracked her knuckles, waiting for a moment, but the rebuke from her mother and the nurses never came. The others were staring at her expectantly and she was once again reminded that she wasn’t in the hospital. She’d probably never be scolded for cracking her knuckles again.

  A pang of homesickness hit her, but she shoved it to the back of her mind to deal with later. What was the use of it, anyway? She was here now. Her life was here. Here, she was free to run, walk, jump, and do magic! With a spring in her step at that thought, she grinned and opened the door to step outside, where several of her babies fluttered around her. She might not have her parents anymore, but it didn’t mean she didn’t have family. “Hello, my lovelies. Did you miss me?” She cooed at them lovingly as she turned to face the direction the tialon were coming from.

  Her heightened perception could pick out the barest movements of the grain giving way before the beasts as they moved stealthily through the golden waves. They appeared large from Willow’s perspective, but she’d thought that was because Willow was so tiny. It seemed she was wrong, as from what she could pick out, they were probably three or four times larger than their earthly counterparts. She was quite impressed they managed to flatten themselves to the ground as much as they had.

  This was good news for her! Bigger beasts meant more meat for her to eat, after all. Unless…

  She watched in curiosity as the two tialon both jumped from the grain to pounce at her, only to take on a pancake look when they smashed headfirst into the wind wall she’d put up. She flicked her wrists, feeling the mana flow out of her as she trapped them in wind forms. She walked forward, studying the golden creatures from about a foot away as they roared and snarled at her. Her babies were fluttering anxiously around her head, ready to protect her from the two towering creatures. If they hadn’t been trying to bite her in half, she’d have a hard time inspecting their heads, given that they were more than twice her height.

  She’d compressed the wind walls around them so they were individually contained and couldn’t jump around to hurt themselves, or anyone else, really. She walked around to the side of the slightly smaller tialon, reaching through her wind wall to touch the fur. It was soft, but had a silky quality. It was rather pleasant, and she nodded, walking back around to the heads of the beasts to stare into their glowering green eyes.

  “It’s too bad you aren’t green and silver. I like silver so much better than gold.” If they had been silver, she would be way more tempted to keep them. However, she was genuinely not fond of the color gold, and she already had Ramoth and Rio who more than filled her allowed allotment of the color. The larger was still attempting to bite down on the wind wall which separated her from them. Their eyes were practically glowing with anger.

  Still, she considered them. If she contracted them with a master contract instead of equals, then she could use them as beasts of burden to get them off the plains, and kill them afterward without a negative effect on her mind. It was the brutal reality of what might happen if she failed that stopped her in the end. If she was mentally incapacitated, they’d easily swallow her and her companions, and then where would they be? Dead.

  Looking at the tialon, she sighed as she whispered, “I’m sorry, kitties, I can’t afford to keep you. I’ll make this as painless as possible.” She figured they understood something of her intent, because they began to try to bite her walls even more frantically than before. Knowing that the longer she kept it up, the weaker she would be, she made her final move.

  Due to their close proximity, she reached for the blood in their brains and turned it into a spiked monstrosity that ravaged their minds and killed them instantly. She could see the light leave their eyes as their bodies held for a moment before collapsing to the ground. Reaching out, she let her wind walls drop and closed their eyes before whisking them into her ring. It was a really good thing she’d expanded it as much as she had.

  Her babies settled as soon as she’d finally killed the tialon, and she smiled at them as they lined up on her braid, which was rather messy after she’d slept on it. Willow returned, and she noticed that Bolt and Amber smoothly replaced her and Andy in their perimeter sweeps. She kind of loved how organized her little army was. She sincerely didn’t know what she’d have done without them. “Can someone go up and look for the group coming for us? I want to know how far away they are.”

  Her mental request was met by an immediate, “We’ll go!” Lavender and Carl took off into the sky, headed towards the castle to scan for the search party. Jade beamed as she watched them fly higher for a moment, then turned and walked back to their little compound. Everyone inside was awake, and while those who were ‘on duty’ were still mostly looking out in their respective directions, they kept sneaking glances at her.

  She’d learned to tell the twins apart at this point, even though they looked identical, especially with the dark circles beneath their eyes. It was more their differing energy than anything else. Hunter was far more proactive, while Hayden tended to stay back more and observe. Therefore, it came as no surprise that Hunter was the first one who couldn’t contain his curiosity, asking in barely constrained awe, “How did you do that? What did you even do?”

  Smiling wryly, she sat back down on her cot, Hunter plopping down right beside her. Tisha and Hayden followed his example a moment later, sitting on the cot next to her. All of them were staring avidly at her, as if they were waiting for dispensation of knowledge from the heavens. She was rather afraid the truth would disappoint them. “I knew they were coming because Willow spotted them before they were close. Due to our bond, I can see through her eyes when we want to.” Willow fluttered to her shoulder and preened happily there as curious eyes greedily drank in her every movement with Jade’s words.

  “After that, I set up a wind wall and gave them an easy target to make sure they’d attack me and not the walls. After they hit it and were momentarily stunned, I trapped them in a wind cage. After that…” She paused and all three of them leaned forward, hanging on her every word. She had to remind herself that they were used to violence, and they’d seen her do a lot worse already, so what did it matter if she told them bluntly? “I used their blood to destroy their brains, no muss, no fuss.” She hesitated, then shrugged. “I like their fur, and I kinda wanted it in one piece and unbloodied.”

  Yep, golden as it may be, she already planned to take the green bits and have them made into something for her. Maybe a cloak. It would be especially great if it kept its camouflaging properties and turned into a camo-cape.

  “You destroyed their brains because you liked their fur?” Hayden’s voice had a slightly strained quality to it, as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing.

  Jade shrugged and nodded, and he looked like he might have been about to say something else when Tisha beat him to it. “The green and gold will look fantastic on you! You should have it made into a beautiful dress!” She sighed dreamily, her enthusiasm for the ball somehow resurfacing despite her recent kidnapping. Jade couldn’t help but let out a small giggle. She was thrilled that Tisha was still thinking about things like the ball. It meant she’d recover from the mental scarring Jade was almost sure this trip would cause.

  Honestly, it wasn’t Tisha, the twins, their tutors, or even the guards that worried her. Her gaze was drawn to Frank, who was curled up on one of the cots in the corner. His eyes were closed, but when she focused, she could tell his breathing was uneven. He was awake and listening, even as he pretended to sleep. He’d been down there so much longer. The boy who’d good naturedly poked fun at his own expense as he explained contractual magic was gone. She didn’t know if the change was permanent, or if he’d be able to reclaim some of the happy innocence he’d had before.

  Still, she forced herself back to the conversation at hand as she smi
led at Tisha. “Nope, not green and gold. I’m not big into wearing gold, so I’ll be focusing on the green. Maybe I’ll let you have some of the gold. It would match your hair, after all.”

  “Oh, would you really?” Tisha was beaming as she flung herself forward, hugging Jade as she started babbling about the dress she’d have made. Jade didn’t mind too much, absently setting Tisha to the side as she chattered on. Besides, the green stuff was what camouflaged, so it was more important to her anyway. Giving the girl something happy to think about was worth whatever potential dip in revenue the loss would be. Heck, it wasn’t like she needed money for anything right now. Her business that she’d foisted on the others would take care of any needs she had in that regard.

  “Of course. I’ll make sure you get it.” She absently patted the girl’s head, not realizing she was half treating her like a pet to be reassured. Her attention was more on the guards, who’d shifted almost infinitesimally further away from her when she’d talked about blowing brains up with blood magic. It’s funny that that was what made them more wary of her. Not the flying, or the wind walls and blades that they couldn’t see. It was still tangible, something that could, theoretically, be blocked. The problem was, you can’t truly block someone from taking your blood and yanking it around your brain--unless you could do it too. No wonder blood mages were always feared. Ah well, that was a problem for future Jade.

  One of the tutors was eyeing her strangely, the small tick of distaste evident to her as he watched her pat Tisha. You’d think these people would be more grateful that she’d saved their lives, but nooooooo…

  Deciding she didn’t want to deal with them right now, she focused on following Lavender. She felt her connection with the little queen slip into place, and as her human eyes closed, she could see the ultra vibrant scenes of Lavender and Carl high in the sky. The sun beat down upon their backs as they flew, and Jade realized that it was probably around noon, if the sun was any indication. That meant she’d only gotten maybe three hours of sleep, but that was still plenty of time for the rescue group to have reached them by now if they’d left when she told them to.

  To Jade, that meant they were either lost or...under siege, just great. They’re supposed to be the rescue squad, not the ones needing rescue… Her errant thoughts aside, she directed Lavender and Carl closer. It looked like the tialon pair that attacked this group got the jump on them, if the guard who was lying on the ground at an odd angle and the broken capall body were any indication. The group seemed to have rallied after that though, because they were in a circle working together to fend off the giant bodies of the tialon.

  The fact that there were two of them was actually helpful in this case, and she was extremely grateful that it’d been Lavender who chose to go. With their attention drawn to the troop of people, they weren’t paying heed to the air above them, or the stream of tiny lavender particles drifting down and into their airways. Lavender split it into two streams, and Jade was fascinated as she experienced the control of her tiny queen. She could even feel Carl assisting by taking control and spreading her second stream with his own wind magic.

  She could tell when both of them fell under Lavender’s illusions. First one stopped pacing, then the other. They turned to each other and leapt, giant claws outstretched. They went down in a tangle of clawing limbs, each trying to rend the other. It was much messier than her own execution, and she watched as the bright green goop that passed for their blood leaked out onto the golden stalks, staining it like a broken neon glow stick.

  Thankfully, the group took this unexpected boon in stride, proving that they genuinely were an elite group. Weapons and spells tore chunks out of the tialon. The more wounded they became, the greater their frenzy seemed to be. It was only when the larger tialon tore the smaller one’s throat out that things got stickier. It finally seemed to resist Lavender’s mental influence, but by then it was too late.

  She’d never seen Carl’s pollen in play, but she quickly realized it was much more subtle than the others. Instead of causing new harm, it magnified the harm that had already been done. He’d described it as drawing blood to the surface, which was pretty apt. Anywhere the pollen landed acted like a beacon, drawing the green goo from the creature’s body. It tried to run away, but it’d lost too much blood, and was only losing more. The humans won this war of attrition as the beast finally collapsed beneath their concentrated onslaught and Carl’s influence.

  “What just happened?” Through Lavender, she heard a somewhat familiar voice. She was trying to place the man who was now walking over to the strangely twisted man. It took her a moment to realize that his legs were backwards, as was his left elbow...and neck. It wasn’t necessarily backwards, but it was at an angle that no human could survive.

  The man bent down, gingerly beginning to right the body starting with the out of place head. Something about it seemed so familiar, so she had Lavender and Carl move a bit closer. Even as the head was turned right side up, she heard another familiar voice, “Aren’t those Lady Jade’s fellacai?”

  It was the last thing she heard before she broke the connection with a gasp, a tear leaking from her eyes to slowly trail down her cheeks. Everyone in their little temporary fort was looking at her in slight panic, and she shook her head, reaching up to wipe the tear away. “Time to go. Our rescue party ran into another pair of tialon. The fight is over, but they’re not very far away so we’ll go meet them.”

  Everyone started to pack up, bringing her the cots and other supplies she’d gotten out. She absently collected them into her ring, finding Hunter at her side once more. She smiled wanly at him, but he stared at her and asked in a low voice that even she could barely make out, “How many of them died?”

  Smiling bitterly at him, she choked out, “Just one.” He nodded, surprising her as he grabbed her hand and gave it a quick squeeze before letting go and moving to help the others.

  Staring out the door at the golden waves before her, she didn’t really see them. Instead, her mind was replaying memories. Strong arms carrying her when she felt too weak to walk. His bright blue eyes watching her from behind a wind wall. His expression as he explained Frank’s abduction. The sad acceptance as he explained the fate of the orcs at the wall. Sir Christopher Jacobs had been a good man who handled her abnormalities with aplomb.

  Another memory surfaced and she grimaced, hearing Scylla’s sing-songy voice replaying in her head, “Then may the blessing of Heavenly Mother be upon you, that you may seek that which was lost. But be warned, no journey is without cost.”

  She hated prophecies.

  Chapter Thirteen – Beann

  When everyone was ready a moment later, Jade took point as she led them to bushwhack through the tall golden grain, hauling a covered Tevon in a new wind bubble. She’d set them down from flight without knowing where they were or if they were close to the road at all. Her babies took to the air, ranging around them as her silent sentries. Lavender and Carl’s presence were like a beacon in the right direction, letting her know which direction to take to meet up with the wayward rescue party.

  She was grateful for her little sentries when Lilith projected an image to her from further ahead. There wasn’t a large animal roaming the grass, but there was obviously something down there from the way the stalks were moving. As she watched, she saw what was causing the movement: birds. They looked like a smaller, distant cousin of the crow to her. Maybe they were closer than that, but the colors were throwing her off because they weren’t even close to the black birds she was used to.

  No, these creatures were bright gold with sparkling blue crests that matched the cloudless sky. She supposed it made sense that the surviving creatures would take on the colors of their environments, but she resented that it was all golden. Why couldn’t the wheat be silver!? She felt Lilith’s revulsion through their bond as she spotted the golden birds, only to realize that these things were probably predatory towards her babies. Since her fellacai hadn’t been spotted,
she recalled them, not wanting them to be unprotected when she startled the flock.

  Gesturing to the field in front of her, she asked quietly, “We’ve got a flock of golden and blue birds in the wheat ahead of us. Can anyone tell me anything about them?”

  “Really? You found a flock of beann?” Tisha pushed forward, looking at Jade with shining eyes that reminded her of when a little anime child wanted something from you. When Jade looked at her curiously, she shook her head. “Of course, you don’t know what they are. Beann are fairly elusive, but harmless enough. They mostly eat grain or the ciarog--” When Jade showed no understanding at the term, she looked a little frustrated, but tried to explain further, “Little bugs with hard, shiny brown and green shells.”

  Jade was trying to put two and two together. What would these ciarog be? Little shiny-shelled bugs...that sounded like a beetle to her. Shrugging, she asked, “So we can walk through them?”

  Tisha looked aghast at the idea. “Walk through them? No! We have to kill them!”

  Jade stared blankly at her, never having imagined that Tisha would have such a bloodthirsty side to her. Finally, she managed to ask, “Why?”

  Looking exasperated by her inability to understand, Tisha expounded, “Because of their feathers! They’re super hard to find, and their feathers are in high demand! They would go perfectly with the hair of the tialon!”

  Suddenly, it all made sense. Jade should have guessed that the things that would move Tisha with such vehemence would be related to fashion. Shaking her head wryly, she said softly, “Tisha, we’re not here to collect materials. We’re trying to get back to town, and quickly.” She gestured to the covered Tevon as if to make her point.

  Frowning, Tisha shook her head and whined softly, “But...we’re here anyways, and we’re already going to go through them and startle them. Can’t you just wave your hand and catch a bunch?”