Sense: A Fantasy LitRPG Saga (A Touch of Power Book 3) Page 13

  Jade was suddenly regretting making it look so easy to fight the animals. In truth, it had taken quite a bit of energy and concentration to dispatch the tialon, but since most of her magic wasn’t visible to the naked eye, she could understand at least partially why Tisha thought she could just ‘wave her hand and have it be done.’ Unfortunately, she wasn’t a fairy godmother with a magic wand. She could technically do some pretty fantastic stuff that would imitate it, but it wasn’t like she could make a dress appear out of thin air!

  Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Jade smiled at Tisha. “It doesn’t exactly work like that. I’m trying to conserve my magic in case there are any real threats.” Tisha looked so heartbroken that Jade felt like she’d kicked a puppy. She tried to stay strong, but she couldn’t handle those eyes staring at her so pitifully, thus relenting a moment later, “But I suppose it wouldn’t be too hard to grab a few.”

  “You’re the best!” It was an instant switch as Tisha threw her arms around Jade’s neck, giving her a hug before bouncing back and beaming. Jade shook her head with a grin, knowing she’d been suckered, but not caring enough to make a big deal out of it. It was just a small indulgence, after all…

  “We’ll help.” One of the tutors looked fairly excited about the prospect, and Jade observed him curiously. This was the most excited she’d seen the guy so far. She probably ought to figure out what everyone’s names were instead of calling them guards and tutors. It was only six people; not that hard, right? Whatever. There was a glint in his eye that reminded her of...oh, it was greed. These feathers must be more valuable than she thought.

  Patting Tisha, she nodded and disentangled herself from the girl. “Sure, knock yourself out. Just remember we’re not stopping. We need to get to the other group as soon as possible.” She didn’t want to rain on their parade...but she had to. “Also, my fellacai won’t be scouting during this, so please be aware of your surroundings.”

  “Why not?” One of the guards looked a little frightened and annoyed that she pulled her scouts back.

  She raised a brow at the guard, who then avoided her gaze. “Because these are birds, and birds eat fellacai.”

  “Right. Sorry.” The guard scuffed his foot against the ground, but she simply nodded to him.

  “No harm done. Let’s go.” Keeping Tevon behind her in the bubble, she marched forward into the tall grass, only to stop a few feet in, annoyed. It kept springing back up and whacking her in the face when she pushed it out of the way. Summoning her sword from her ring, she hefted the weight for a moment, getting used to the feel of it. Due to her much higher strength, it was now easy to wave around, where before she struggled even to lift it.

  Grinning, she began swiping at the grass in front of her, feeling the sharpness of the blade easily cut through the grain. Her sword was obviously high quality, meant to cut through tough enemies. Using it on the field was way beneath it, but she didn’t really care if she was using it like a machete. She was merely having fun swinging it around, the crisp cuts through the golden stalks were oddly satisfying to watch as they flew into the air and descended like confetti.

  Bouncing cheerfully, she picked up the pace, wildly swinging her sword with glee. She had a sword! She also wasn’t getting hit in the face by the wheat anymore! “Take that, and that! Wind blade!” Mimicking what the anime shows always did, she pretended to ‘charge’ her ultimate attack, sending a blade of wind with her next swipe, which cleared the next twenty or so feet in front of her to her delight. She bounded forward, grinning widely. She was the ruler of the wheat, let none of it stand in her way!

  Caught up in her delusions of grandeur, she almost forgot about the birds. It wasn’t until she heard quiet alarmed chirping up ahead that she realized they were close. She caught glimpses of the birds scattering, but it wasn’t into the sky. Instead, they chose to stay in the cover of the wheat and make their retreat on the ground. That wasn’t in the plan. Time to flush the birds! Widening her sword arc, she sent the slicing wind in almost 180 degrees in front of her as she cried out, “Fly birdies, fly!”

  Blood splashed into the air from the few birds she’d hit, but her actions seemed to finally cause the birds to decide the ground wasn’t safe either, and they could go faster in the air, since their cover was now ruined. It was rather beautiful to see the golden and blue wave break from the stalks, their wings glinting in the light and practically blinding them. She was a little surprised by the secondary defensive measure. It showed that these birds were quite smart, which she supposed they’d have to be if the city people were trying so hard to hunt them without much success.

  The twang of bowstrings reminded her that she was supposed to be catching them. She saw several birds get skewered by the guards, but she reached out with a wind wall, putting it above the birds. They were dazed as they crashed into it, which allowed her to scoop them into a bubble. Instead of killing them, she brought the bubble towards her, watching as Hayden mimicked her on a much smaller scale. He’d only managed to catch four of the birds compared to her nearly fifty. The greedy tutor skewered five with icicles.

  Most of the birds had flown away by this point, leaving those as their only gains. The tutor seemed disappointed he hadn’t gotten more, but the guards were quietly retrieving the shots they’d made while she inspected her bubble. Hayden was standing quietly beside her while Hunter and Tisha looked on, neither of them having appropriate attacks for the situation. She’d only had so many bows, after all. The only reason she’d had the few she carried in her ring were because she’d been given them as backup supplies before she left. Those were given to the guards with the highest skill levels.

  “Aren’t you going to kill them?” Hunter seemed curious as to why she was studying them.

  “Nope. Not right now, anyway.” She’d grabbed a block of metal from her ring, quickly shaping it into a thin bird cage. Once it was done, she stared at her bubble of birds who were starting to shift from their daze to panic. “Calm down and come into the cage quietly.” Her voice was layered with hypnotism and compulsion, and the birds instantly quieted down, allowing her to pluck each one from the bubble and shove them into the large cage. As she did, she called on the first pretty blue dot that appeared in her vision, not having looked at one of them in what seemed like ages.

  You have touched a Beann, Siphon activated. Assessing stats and experience...

  Choose a stat to siphon: Strength(7), Dexterity(4), Constitution(6), Intelligence(3), Magic(5), Charisma(2), or Luck(1).

  Choose a skill to siphon: Camouflage(I), Flight(I), Genetic Memory(A), Perception(I), or Stealth(B).

  Her decision to not kill them seemed especially smart as she looked at the screen in front of her. When their number one stat was luck and they had a skill called genetic memory, she was more than eager to learn more about these golden birdies. She wanted to try siphoning genetic memory right away, but was hesitant to start testing unknowns in the middle of a dangerous environment. Therefore she mentally put away the screen, staring down at the cage with newfound happiness. There were new things to learn! She’d have to be careful though. She wasn’t sure that gaining the memories of birds would be awesome. There would be time to experiment later, though.

  “Here, take these ones too.” Hayden’s quiet voice cut through her musings as he gestured to the four birds he’d caught. He didn’t even question why she wanted them alive, just offered what he’d caught.

  “Thanks, Hayden.” She beamed brightly at him before putting the four birds into the cage. She was tempted to stick the whole thing into her ring, but figured if she wanted to keep them alive, that wasn’t the best idea. Now that the birds were gone or caged, her fellacai lifted off of her hair, moving to scout around them once more.

  The guards who’d shot down birds of their own now returned to the group, and she was pleasantly surprised to see that each of them managed to bag at least two or three birds for themselves. Several of them also had birds that were cut in two cleanly
; they were obviously the results of her wind wave.

  “These are for you.” One of the youngest looking guards was holding out five of the birds by their necks, another two sliced birds in his other hand.

  Jade absently took them into her ring as she studied the young man for the first time. With light brown eyes and messy dark brown hair, he looked like he was probably a recent graduate of Dracona with his youthful expression. Curiously, Jade asked, “You don’t want them?”

  Shaking his head, he smiled ruefully as he wiped the blood from his hands onto the nearby leaves. “Nope. You’re obviously interested in them. I used your bow to hunt them, not to mention that you saved all of our lives. It’s not much, but if I can repay you for even a little of what you’ve done for us, I’d like to.”

  Smiling, Jade called the leftover blood on his hands away to leave them completely clean, flicking it into her ring out of habit. “That’s a nice gesture, but you don’t owe me anything. It was my choice to rescue you--what’s your name, by the way?” It was funny, but that was the truth. She didn’t expect any of them to try to repay her, and she didn’t really want them to. Doing something good for others was its own reward.

  The young man ducked his head with a smile, almost whispering his response, “I’m Landon Jolley.”

  “Well, it’s lovely to meet you, Landon.” Jade smiled encouragingly at him, then turned to the others who were waiting silently with their own offerings.

  The second man to step forward was shorter, with darker skin, deep brown eyes, and black hair. He looked to be in his late thirties, and he had a calm tranquility to his bearing as he offered his three birds to her with a tiny bow. “I am Arashi Shizu. Thank you for all you have done.” His words carried a formality that wasn’t stiff, but respectful. He also had an accent she couldn’t quite place. If she had to guess, she’d say he wasn’t from around here.

  Smiling at him, she gave a tiny bow herself as she accepted the birds. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw something like surprised respect flit across his face before he resumed his calm demeanor. “As you guarded me within the city, it was my duty to bring you back. We all do our part.” She directed this at all of the guards as she went on, “I didn’t do it to receive thanks or praise. I did it because it was the right thing to do.”

  “We’ll still say thank you, because that’s the right thing to do, too. I’m Tiffany Petrova.” The girl looked to be only a few years older than her, and she was skinny as a beanpole. Her bright blue eyes twinkled with good natured mirth as she handed Jade her two birds.

  “It’s also just easier if you carry the birds so we can hold our weapons properly.” The last guard, an older gentleman of maybe fifty, stepped forward as he teased her openly. His hair was dark brown, but there were tiny white hairs sprinkled throughout it. He was also very fit for fifty, and obviously took his job seriously as he handed her the birds and spoke, “I’m Mero Kattan.”

  She laughed, taking the birds. “Well, I guess it’s helpful to have your hands free for that.” Looking at the instructor mage who was still clutching his iced birds, she asked calmly, “Would you like me to hold those until we get back?” He looked torn, but nodded silently and handed his five birds over. He didn’t offer anything else, which she thought was strange, but decided to not deal with it at the moment. She was already worrying over one quiet person.

  Frank was standing behind her, and she found Hunter next to him, talking quietly to him. She was gaining more and more of an appreciation for the boy, and her opinion of both of the twins had changed drastically from when she first met them. Instead of unruly jokesters, she’d come to realize that they were both very thoughtful and kind.

  She wished she hadn’t judged them so harshly for asking a perfectly logical question that they were merely curious about. It wasn’t their fault she’d been so touchy about it, and she realized she’d taken her frustration and anger out on them, if only briefly.

  Sighing, she knew she couldn’t deal with her past actions at the moment. She’d make an effort later to get to know them more, instead of shutting them out. For now...they had bigger fish to fry.

  “Let’s go; we’ve already spent a bit too much time here. The other group is not too much further.” Her face turned solemn as she remembered what she’d seen. Sure, she’d saved this group...and then still lost someone who’d come to receive her. Not to mention Marcelle’s group was practically trapped in the woods with a group of very angry mesmer.

  It wasn’t an ideal situation, to be sure. So they moved forward through the grass once more, Jade swiping through it to create a path, albeit with a lot less spring and joy than before. Tevon and her birdcage floated in little wind bubbles behind her, cutting off any noise they might make. Granted, she was making plenty of her own, but still. Better safe than sorry, especially when it came to beings that could mesmerize you with their voices.

  She hoped the doctors would be ready when they got there. She had to know if she could save the mesmer too.

  Chapter Fourteen – Return

  The sound of voices became more and more apparent as they drew nearer, though the tall grass mostly blocked them from view. It was the reason the giant tialon were able to hide within it. If it hadn’t been over six feet tall in places, there was no way they’d have been able to hide as they slunk closer.

  From the images she received from her babies, she knew they were about two hundred feet from their receiving party. Someone in that group seemed to have noticed something, because everyone was alert and ready to receive a new enemy. After all, Jade was making a decent amount of noise by thrashing through the grain, and those behind her weren’t making any particular effort to walk quietly.

  Looking at her sword, she shrugged and decided to do one last swing. Judging the angles based on her fellacai, she picked a spot that would bring their path to intersect right in front of the road where the group was circled up, negating the possibility of hitting them. Gathering her magic for a moment, she sent out a wind cleave that was three times as powerful as what she’d used to startle the birds, not to mention being narrowed into a three foot path.

  Grain and stalks flew into the air as a path in front of them was forcefully created, and she heard a few gasps from both behind and ahead of her. It actually looked rather pretty, having the golden pieces falling in front of them like confetti. She began to walk confidently down her new path as she called out, “Don’t even think about shooting us.”

  She’d noticed that several of the guards were on the verge of releasing arrows towards them, but at her voice, most of them dropped the tension a little sheepishly, though they still held them at the ready. Once again, she heard a familiar voice call out, “Jade, is that you?”

  “Hey, we’re here too, you know! It’s not just her!” Tisha cried out indignantly, obviously miffed that the voice didn’t seem concerned about her presence.

  She heard the order given quietly, “Lower your weapons; they’re the ones we’ve been sent to bring back.” She watched as, before the order had even been given, the one who’d called her name bounded forward to look down the lane of mown grain.

  “Jade! Are you guys okay? I saw your fellacai!” Logan Bick’s light voice greeted her as he stood in front of the path she’d opened up. His eyes seemed a little too bright, as if he were trying too hard to be cheerful in order to mask a deep pain. She smiled weakly at him, noting the traces of blood still lingering on his fingers from when he’d straightened Christopher’s head.

  Lavender and Carl fluttered over to her, obviously a little tired from the flight and the battle that they’d taken part in. As the group walked quickly forward, Jade nodded to Logan. “We’re all right. How many are wounded here?”

  He looked a little surprised at her question as he asked hesitantly, “You...know?”

  She nodded, gesturing to Lavender and Carl. “I was watching through their eyes and had them help.”

  The man she assumed was the guard commander ca
me over behind Logan. He obviously heard what she said, because it looked like a lightbulb clicked on over his head. “They’re the reason the tialon went crazy?”

  Smiling, she nodded as she gave her babies a fond glance. “Yes, Lavender was able to put them under an illusion.” Gesturing to the group behind her, she suggested, “Why don’t we get everyone else settled and prepared to head back while I look at those who were injured?”

  The man looked a little startled, then nodded happily. “Yes, that’s great! Your majesties are back, that’s wonderful! Come this way. Logan, help Lady Jade, will you?” Logan nodded and held out his arm now that she was close enough, and she took it, her mind flashing back to their jaunt through the city.

  They started walking away as the commander was ushering her charges into the inner circle of guards. Quietly, she asked Logan as she pulled her captives through the wide berth they were given, “How’re you holding up?”

  He sighed, raking his free hand through his hair and streaking blood through it unknowingly. “I’m honestly not sure. He was my trainer, you know? He warned us. It was his warning cry that made them target him. He was the only one who saw them at first. Then they were there so fast, and he was just...gone. What am I supposed to tell his wife?”

  His wife? The words echoed over and over in her head as she realized she’d never asked about his family situation before. It was a startling realization that she knew so little about so many of the people around her. She knew the royal family, though she probably didn’t even have that down because people like Brodie kept popping up out of the woodwork. She knew Eric had an older brother. She’d met the entire Elliot family, she was fairly sure. She’d met at least two generations of Whitakers. She knew Stephen had a sister with kids. She’d met the father and son duo of the Stewarts in her underground base.