I huffed while dragging Xae across the dirt.
It wasn't easy, despite my spell. Shit hurt. I had a litany of wounds that begged for succor. I was struggling to slow their deterioration, and few of them were small. nd didn't paint a pretty picture, but it was survivable. Just had to ration my mana and find a spot to ditate.
While being chased by two other mages.
Great.
There was also the great sword, but Umoa was dragging that with his one arm. My only weapon being in the grasp of a witch should've been alarming.
I couldn't muster the energy to care.
Didn't care at all.
All that occupied my mind were images and questions.
Surprisingly, Umoa's appearance was the least of them. I didn't know why he decided to help, or how he knew any of this would happen in the first place, but that was a numb consolation.
One that ant I was still alive.
I kept dragging Xae's body along the snow, the witch had weird magic. From his body sprouted creatures made entirely of bone, digging out of him like writhing maggots. He'd been summoning them continuously to muddy our tracks and make false trails. It was interesting, I didn't think they were golems, yet they seed to act the sa way.
I think, the only golems I had experience with were dolln.
The textbooks said that behavior didn't change much between golems though, so it was probably enough. Textbooks Aira was adamant that I read.
...
We kept walking. Making a path straight for the city, but the both of us knew we weren't going to get there co nightfall. Loklan may have had us out here for a week, but that was because we were searching for a monster. We actually weren't that far from the city.
I didn't know what Umoa's plan was, but I'd be forced to stop eventually so I could focus on actually healing.
Were we gonna play cat and mouse?
Here's to hoping that Rhode was more of a mage then a hunter.
Rhode.
The thought of the man was filled more with confusion than hatred. Why had he participated in whatever the fuck this was supposed to be? Did he feel that Loklan threatened his position as the best hunter in the guild? Was this all so dick swinging competition, with the unfortunate spectators getting slapped between them?
Huh. That wasn't very funny. I was losing my touch.
Sha.
The bleeding had slowed down at least. I had no idea how my body was still functional, but I didn't question the mysteries of essence. Probably did more for survivability then strength. Made enough sense to .
But I was slowing down, enough for it to be noticeable, and soon I'd reach the limit of what I could sustain and we'd have to stop.
We were so fucked.
"You need rest."
The sentence broke out of my thoughts, and I looked at Umoa as he examined . I scrunched my brow and thought of saying sothing unkind...but I was too exhausted too care. I just nodded instead.
He nodded back. "There is a cave not far from here. Uninhabited by monsters and their ilk. All we can do is pray that my constructs are enough to distract our pursuers as you recover."
"Why are you helping ?"
The words ca unbidden, surprising the both of us. Umoa turned with a raised brow and a hum, examining before returning to face ahead in silence.
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I rolled my eyes and followed, dragging my friend across the snow. It was a challenge. The girl wasn't heavy, but I was tired. So tired. Also only had one functioning hand. Couldn't the fae lady have woken her up before she up and disappeared?
Still didn't fully register that the fae actually listened to Umoa, but that was a later curiosity to sate.
Weird that not a single monster ca to attack us, the blood would've been more than enough to attract a few. Maybe it was the aura Umoa's witch form was radiating? It was pretty weird, but the concept was masked under whatever his blessing had done to mutate his mana.
I wondered what exactly that did.
So far I'd seen him chant a ritual, make a bunch of weird ass constructs to stall our pursuers, and dissipate the magic of another.
And scouting apparently.
None of that jived with each other.
Especially ritual chanting. Maybe there was sothing in the big ass to I had yet to peruse, but rituals were always physical things. So it had to be his magic right?
Didn't take long for us to reach the cave he ntioned, and it looked remarkably stereotypical for a cave. Didn't even make any sense because there wasn't a mountain or anything for it to dig into. Just a hole that led down a bit, continuing for however long the darkness stretched.
I grunted, dragging Xae far enough into the cave where we wouldn't be easy to spot from the outside, plopping down next to the girl with a huff of air.
Umoa decided to sit across from , still in his witch form.
I felt out the hole in my left kidney. It was...rather large. Enough where I wasn't sure I was capable of anything but keeping it alive. It still hurt, but I've learned to fight with pain by this point. Could also work wonders with my Word. That was great to a point, then it leaned into concerning.
I let out a sigh.
"You saved the boy."
I blinked and refocused on Umoa. "What?"
"You asked why I chose to help you." He shrugged.
I stared at him while my brain struggled to process the monuntal bullshit that sared his words.
"And your knife?"
"So things are more valuable then others," he said. "You had plenty of opportunities to kill Boris. Let alone the right. Yet you chose to save and protect him."
"You seriously expect to believe that you value your apprentice more than the artifact?"
He shrugged and leaned back against the cave wall, not deigning to say another word. I scowled, that didn't make any sense. He didn't crack under my gaze though.
Whatever. I had other shit to focus on.
I took deep breaths, closed my eyes, and started to ditate.
I woke up to the sound of Ro Kan screeching.
Loud enough that I almost thought the noise was physical. Loud enough that I almost jolted awake. My head was resting on sothing comfy though, and considering I wasn't dead, it probably wouldn't hurt to enjoy it for a little longer.
The spirit didn't like that, but I brushed him off with practiced ease. He needed to learn how to relax. Too high strung in the face of incomprehensible bullshit.
Won in the nude always made feel a bit weird, but the one that appeared out of nothing was positively stunning. The bits of leaves covering her bits sohow made her sexier, and the way she carried herself?
Mmmmh.
Fuck. I was being weird, wasn't I?
My old master always said that I was too attracted to dangerous personalities, and dangerous people in general. He said that like it was a bad thing! Goes to show what little he knows.
Whatever Asinin was, she was certainly dangerous.
I'd never heard of any kind of magic that could replicate how she seed to command us like she did. Or examine a mage's concept, let alone so thoroughly.
She called Yir her sister, didn't she?
That was one of the last things I rembered at least.
I snuggled into the comfy surface a little more to get the brain firing.
Loklan was probably dead, as were the rest.
That was a sha.
Surprised we were still alive actually.
The reason for that was sitting across from where I was laying. I could tell because Ro Kan kept shouting in my head about the witch. Honestly, why was he so jumpy? There was nothing I could do against sothing like that if it chose to kill , especially with the wounds I was sporting, so why bother with being worried?
I let out a satisfied sigh and opened my eyes, rising from what were apparently Yir's very comfy thighs with a long stretch.
"Ah! Nothing like a good nap," I chirped.
The witch didn't respond.
I raised a brow. "I know you're not asleep, bone-man. Gonna say sothing or keep silent like a corpse?"
"You are surprisingly unafraid."
His voice was a little scratchy but otherwise it sounded pretty normal.
"No reason to be afraid of sothing I can't hope to challenge."
He grunted.
Not one for words, was he?
"So, why'd you help us?" I said. "Not that I'm not grateful, I'm not like the idiots back ho who'd claim their honour was tarnished and all that. Just don't know why so random ass witch would choose to go out of their way."
He stared at and raised his remaining arm to point at Yir. "She is one of my kind."
I blinked and scrunched my brow, focusing on his ears and finding them very...human.
What?
I was shocked into silence, my brain stalling to digest the other conclusion.
Yir? A witch?
The fuck?
I looked at the girl, she seed to be sleeping but...Ro Kan said otherwise. She was apparently using mana and I didn't think it was possible for mages to cast while sleeping. Or witches? Fuck, was I sparring with a witch this whole ti?
I went to shake her awake.
Dread overtook every sense I had.
I looked back at the other witch.
He didn't look happy.
"She is healing. You will not interrupt her."
I nodded slowly and the dread dissipated.
The silence was awkward after that.
I couldn't deal with awkward silences after being so close to death. Might still die even! The bleeding stopped but I wasn't anywhere near fit enough to survive another fight. "So why'd you choose to show up when it was dramatic rather than at the start?"
The man of bones and outlined organs struggling against skin blinked, then looked down with sothing adjacent to embarrassnt.
"...I got lost."
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