***
The companions walked to the gate bragging about gill shots. Marrraa had four trainees with her and they listened to the humans in awe, knowing the deeds to be true now that many Rojuun had witnessed it. The workers who followed listened just as intently to the stories.
When they reached the end of the tunnel, Marrraa cast her ice/mist spell on the ones trying to get through the gates. Once the sstejj were cleared, the workers went toward two tunnels a distance to the right of the main tunnel.
Each of the fighters was assigned one trainee. Vevin and his trainee, who looked scared out of his wits, took the first group of four sstejj. Vevin ran up to the first sstejj. When it tried to bite him, he grabbed it by the jaws and threw it against another one to slow it down. The workers and other trainees watched with open mouths. Tathan, Sir Danth and Marrraa had seen it before, but still looked on in amazement. Vevin quickly went back to his trainee and told him how to use his knives to attack it.
The trainee tried to move to the sstejj’s side to get a gill shot. He misjudged, tripping over his own feet.
The sstejj sensed easy food until Vevin touched it with his hand. Purple lightning coursed over the sstejj’s body, killing it instantly. The trainee shuffled away on his butt as the creature’s snout landed between his legs.
“Get up!” yelled Vevin.
Another sstejj attacked.
Suddenly a great magical whip appeared in Vevin’s hand. It was dark purple with his trademark lightning coursing down its length. The whip flew back over Vevin’s shoulder and then came forward in an arc. It hit the gills on the right side of the monster’s head, exploding through the gills on the left. A loud snap echoed throughout the cavern on impact. The force of it caused the creature’s head to crack as it crashed to the ground. Vevin pulled the whip back, entwining it around his body.
The trainee was beside Vevin now. The look on his face crossed between awe at Vevin and determination not to make a fool of himself. He sprang forward as another sstejj charged. The Rojuun trainee tumbled to the left and attacked the gills when he came to his feet. The knife was pulled out of his hand without any damage to the sstejj, but the trainee recovered in time to jump up and land on the back of the creature. He thrust two of his knives into the body for his first kill.
The last sstejj was the one Vevin had thrown. It was back on its feet, starting for the main group of builders. Vevin’s whip flashed through the air and rammed into the gills, killing it instantly. When he pulled the whip back, the sstejj’s twitching body was carried into the air a few feet before falling to the ground.
No one saw where Vevin’s whip disappeared to, though Tathan thought it looked a lot like a dragon’s tail might. Vevin congratulated the trainee on his first kill. They joined the rest of the group. Marrraa took the trainee by the ear as they walked and explained exactly how unimpressed she was with his work.
A group of eight attacked next. Sir Danth led his trainee ahead into the fray. The trainee managed to get a gill shot on the first sstejj right away. He pumped his fists into the air in excitement.
That gave the next sstejj plenty of time to knock him down. Sir Danth’s sword through the gills was the only thing that prevented the creature’s teeth from plunging into the prone Rojuun. Sir Danth showed his own extraordinary strength by leveraging the sstejj into the air and throwing it to the side with a great heave.
The trainee managed to get on his feet and actually succeeded at taking two more kills from Sir Danth, though neither was a gill shot.
Marrraa claimed the next five sstejj that approached. She and her trainee dashed forward to meet them. Her trainee was her younger sister, Turrr. She was fresh out of the academy and showed more promise than most. The two of them dashed across the cavern floor. Marrraa somersaulted into the air, coming down on the first sstejj’s head, ramming knives into the gills on both sides. It was an impressive move that drew oohs and ahhs from the watchers.
Her sister didn’t try to be so tricky. Turrr rolled to the side of another sstejj and came up next to it. She dashed between a set of legs and slashed deep with two knives, killing it quickly. Another one attacked right away. She dodged the attack and rammed a knife into its gills.
Marrraa had come over to see to her sister’s safety, but finding that the young Rojuun was doing well, she instead went after the next sstejj and killed it with rapid cuts to the body. The fifth one fell with knife wounds to the torso from both women. They stood still as it stumbled ahead five steps before falling to the ground. Then the sisters saluted each other and headed back to the group to cheers and congratulations.
Tathan and his trainee had the opportunity to take on seven of the creatures. His trainee was a quiet female named Aaruulaa who was small compared to most Rojuun. There was a mischievous manner about her that he liked.
Aaruulaa raced ahead of Tathan, eager to get a kill. Tathan paced himself to see what she could do. He would be there if she needed him, but was willing to let her take out all seven if she could. That would be better than any number of gill shots, he thought to himself.
She did a standard tumble and dash to the left, slashing deep into the body with a long knife. As it died, she went into another tumble coming up to hit the second one in the side. Aaruulaa wasn’t wasting time on gill shots Tathan noticed with approval.
She darted to one in the middle of the pack. The feju’s scent drew the other sstejj around her. The middle one went down and with a quick move she was at the fourth, slashing along its body. One tried to bite her. Aaruulaa ducked under the one she just killed before it fell to the ground. The biting sstejj stumbled into the dead creature.
With a quick twist, she avoided the teeth of another one and rolled under it, slashing up against the belly with one of her knives. As it fell, she rolled and leapt up to the back of the sixth, driving two knives into it.
The last one had crawled over the dead body of its companion to reach her. She hurdled from the back of the one she had just killed to the back of the charging sstejj. That one fell.
Tathan thought that it was nice of the sstejj to die so easily.
He roamed the perimeter of the battle the entire time, ready to jump in and protect the young feju, but it hadn’t been necessary. Aaruulaa looked around at the dead creatures. Turning to Tathan, she saw his sword was clean. “I . . . I . . .” she stuttered, looking guilty.
“Don’t worry about it.” Tathan grinned. “I’m sure you’ll leave me one or two next time.”
They walked back to the group with Aaruulaa blushing deeply. She was greeted with applause and pats on the back.
Tathan went to Marrraa, Vevin and Sir Danth who were all glaring at him. “Well, I didn’t get any gill shots or kills. I guess you guys are winning.”
Their glares became darker.
He laughed and walked past them, knowing that his trainee getting all seven kills was worth more than a hundred gill shots.
It was a long day with many more sstejj attacks. They split up; Tathan, Vevin and their trainees protected the builders working on one tunnel. Sir Danth, Marrraa and their trainees guarded the other.
Throughout the attacks, Tathan noticed that sstejj would always go for the Rojuun before coming near him. It made it very easy for Tathan to kill them most times. At times, one or two of the builders would join the fight if an attack was particularly heavy. They were all proficient at fighting the sstejj. He came to realize that they had to be because the creatures thirsted for their blood, stopping at nothing but death to get it.
Most creatures took time to eat and rest. Even carnivores would procreate and show signs of community. The sstejj did nothing but try to slaughter Rojuun. They didn’t even care about each other or their own survival. Liselle was right about them.
He took the time to study one of the monsters. The bodies had no real organs. They were just bits of guts in a slime casing. Most importantly, there was
no heart or blood. Something was definitely unnatural about the creatures.
By the end of the day, the builders and their protectors were tired. Even Sir Danth moved at a slower pace. His sword and armor gathered power to keep him going. It was not infinite though. Tathan had also noticed that the sstejj gave out no energy. People, air, plants and even rocks all had some sort of energy as did just about everything else in the world. Tathan wasn’t extremely knowledgeable about magic, but he had learned the basics. Sstejj were the only thing he had ever come across that didn’t have energy.
Tathan didn’t honestly know what it meant, but he thought Liselle might understand. She seemed to have better instincts for magic.
Walking back, the trainees talked excitedly among themselves about the day’s events. Tathan’s trainee had the most kills for the day, though none were gill shots. Once the others realized that they could take out more by hitting the bodies, they became more effective . After that, Vevin, Sir Danth and Marrraa also stopped the gill shots, realizing that while they were more impressive to each other, it was a bad habit to teach trainees.
It was a good day’s work for all involved. Two gates were built, the trainees received extensive field experience and no one died or even received an injury. They made it back to Garrrn Cavern in good spirits.
When they got back to their suite, Tathan shared his observations with his companions. They listened intently to the theories and discussed them for quite a while. Vevin was the one who verified that all things in the world had energies. He also agreed with Tathan’s assessment that the sstejj were the exception to that rule. He hadn’t paid attention to it before, but he concurred that they didn’t project energy.
They cut the night short to get some rest. Marrraa had told them to take the next day off. More work had been done in four days than in the previous four weeks. The elders felt that all needed rest.
They spent the day listening to musicians and watching painters in a garden in a different area of Garrrn Cavern. All sorts of foods were brought to them by Rojuun who wanted to see the human warriors up close. Even the presentation of the food was done with artistry.
The companions were each given Rojuun style robes made specifically for them as gifts. Sir Danth was given a new cloak of exquisite artisanship, as he never took his armor off to put on a robe. In that day, they all grew even fonder of the Rojuun and their innocent beauty.
Rojuun Page 47