“Dreya,” Tási interrupted me. “Should we fight together on one side, or separate to cover the front better?”
Her statement made me realize the rather obvious issue that I had overlooked. The gap in the center of the wall was still uncovered, which left our defenses clearly cut into two separate structures. We could each fight from atop one of them, providing a defense along the entire front, but that would mean we would be limited in how we would be able to support one another should anything go wrong.
I confessed my oversight and we discussed our options. Considering how narrow the canyon was, both of us could easily reach across it to strike at any enemies; Tási with her spells, and me with my bow. With our offense unhindered, we decided to stay together so that, if needed, we could support each other during the battle. While we finished our discussion, Bane returned from his scouting mission. We were both a bit surprised when he flapped his wings and came to rest on Tási’s shoulder rather than mine. Bane settled in comfortably and coiled his serpentine tail around her arm as he gave me his report.
The orcs are close, Sintári. Two hours, at the most.
I began to relay the news to Tási. As I told her what Bane had seen, he laid his head across her chest, a gesture that I knew allowed him to feel the beating of her heart. Tási had observed his behavior before and our conversation dropped off completely as we both reacted in stunned silence to his display of affection. Bane lay with his head stretched across her for a few moments before suddenly jerking himself upright and staring into her eyes intently.
This one is more than she seems, Sintári.
Bane’s words echoed in my head. His implication was not one of mere discovery, but caution as well. I wasn’t sure what he meant and hesitated to respond to his ominous message out loud. He quickly realized my quandary and added to his initial disclosure.
She holds some sort of power within her, Sintári. An untapped reservoir. I do not know if she is holding it back intentionally, or if she is simply unaware of her own true nature.
Wow. Alright, that was some serious shit right there.
“What?” Tási said, clearly unsettled by Bane’s suddenly odd behavior.
I simply couldn’t believe that Tási presented any sort of threat to me. We were too close, shared too much together for it all to be some elaborate deception. The only conclusion I could possibly reach was that whatever Bane had felt within her was something she had chosen to keep secret, or, as Bane had suggested, something unknown even to her. Steeling myself for the potentially difficult conversation that was about to happen, I told her of Bane’s discovery.
“Bane felt your heartbeat, Tási,” I began hesitantly. “But he also sensed something else within you. Some talent or ability that you have either been hiding from us or are not aware of.”
Tási stared back at me with an expression of near terror on her face. She tried to back away a step, but her unsteady legs crumpled beneath her and she collapsed to the ground instead.
I dropped down beside her and took her in my arms. Tears were falling from her face in a steady stream and she trembled uncontrollably in my grasp. As I held her close, she kept repeated just a single word. I heard the pained echo of her despair as she softly repeated it over and over next to my ear.
“No, no, no, no, no…”
Time was short—the orcs were rapidly approaching us, and this was no time for either of us to lose our focus on the coming battle, but Tási was my friend, to say the very least, and I needed to help her with whatever dark secret she had been keeping. Not only that, but at this point, her rapid recovery might mean the difference between us living or dying in the hours ahead.
“Tási,” I consoled her as I gently stroked her hair, “I don’t know what it is, and right now, I don’t care. We will deal with this later. Together. Right now, we are about to be attacked by over twenty orcs. Once that’s over, I promise that I will help you with whatever it is.”
“You have no idea—” She protested
“Tási?”
“What?”
“I. Don’t. Care.”
“But you don’t even—”
“Tási!” I cut her off again.
“You’re right. I don’t know what it is that you’ve been keeping from me,” I told her firmly. “But I do know you, Tási, and I love you. I know that whatever it is will not, cannot change that. We will deal with it together, you and I. But first, I need your help to defend this place. Once we’re safe, I promise that we will handle this together.”
The reminder of the impending danger we faced seemed to snap her out of her misery. Tási nodded and stood up, dusting off her robes as she got up.
“I’m alright,” she said as I searched her eyes.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” she replied with conviction.
“Alright then,” I smiled at her. “Let’s get on top of that wall and prepare an appropriate greeting for our guests.”
Bane flew off again, reluctantly. After the revelation about Tási’s unknown aspect, he was hesitant to leave my side. I gently and quietly reminded him that I not only trusted her implicitly, but we needed him to scout for the approaching orcs and let us know when they arrived. He finally took off and left us alone atop the wall. After a few moments of awkward silence, Tási finally spoke.
“I don’t know who my mother is,” she blurted out.
“I don’t understand Tási. Is that your secret? How would that give you some hidden power?”
“My father raised me alone and refused to tell me anything about her,” she continued, completely ignoring my questions.
“When I was older, my aunt, Seera’s mother, told me that my mother had abandoned me. She had given birth in secret and left me with my father before running off somewhere. No one knew who she was, and my father only told them that he had just spent one night with her.”
“I don’t know what that makes me, Dreya,” she lamented. “And I have no way of knowing what sort of curse she might have placed on me.”
“That doesn’t make you anything, Tási,” I replied, taking her hand in mine as we stared out over the wall together. “You are the only one who can define yourself. Your words and your deeds determine who you are, not the circumstances of your birth.”
“I know that,” she answered me. “But I have also known for a very long time that my mother was no normal person. I have felt a strange influence for quite a while. An influence that has grown stronger since I met you. Whatever legacy my mother left behind, being near you has begun to stir it up, to bring it out of me. I’m afraid of what it could be, Dreya. Afraid it might cause me to harm you somehow.”
Her honest admission startled me. That she even doubted herself made me reevaluate my confidence in just how safe I was around her. Then I remembered the elf King’s words and found reassurance in them.
“Tási,” I replied as I wrapped my arm around her shoulder. “You are here with me for a reason. Whoever your mother was, whatever gift she left for you, I know we will be glad to discover it.”
“I hope so,” she replied softly. Although her words were barely above a whisper, there was a note of optimism in her voice.
Bane returned a short while later. He landed on the rough stone beside me and gave me the bad news.
They are less than a mile away. The scout has already seen the top of the wall. The rest are now heading this way to investigate.
With his dire report complete, I made my final few preparations. I laid out my spare quivers in case I needed the extra ammunition and placed my spear down atop the wall within easy reach. Having the long weapon available to repel any of the orcs that might try and climb up after us might prove invaluable.
Tási took the few precious moments left to place her reflection spell upon both of us. If we were lucky, the magic would not only protect us from the lone orc archer but might even take him out of the battle as well.
We heard the orcs’ approach before we saw them. Their rauco
us shouting as they sighted the top of our wall made us aware of them long before they saw us. As the band of marauders crashed through the barrier of low scrub in front of us, I searched among them for the archer’s form.
The orcs broke through the brush recklessly, smashing the foliage with their weapons, and the group came to a sudden halt as they recognized the barrier in front of them.
The majority of our green-skinned opponents were clad in heavy armor and bore wicked-looking melee weapons. My Perception talents had risen to the point that the health bars floating above each of them were now accompanied by brief descriptions. The cursory information labeled most of them as ‘Orc’ or “Half-Orc,’ in addition to identifying their professions. None bore what I would have considered to be an adventurer’s tag and titles like ‘Brawler’ and “Thug’ were the most common among them. Their muscular bodies gave them a distinct edge in close combat, and with the weapons they’d chosen, they had obviously prepared themselves to make the most of that advantage. The band was almost evenly divided between males and females, all of them seemingly eager to fight it out in close quarters.
I focused on the archer as soon as I located him, but he already had me in his sights and launched his own arrow first. I calmly sighted in on him as his shaft rebounded off Tási’s magic, and his own arrow lodged in his chest right beside mine. The impact of my shot rocked his body backwards, and the remaining orcs bellowed out their rage as they charged at us en masse.
The furious orcs rushed across the earthen bridge, intent on wreaking their revenge upon us. From my vantage above, I glanced over the top of the wall as they funneled onto the narrow span. When the vine trap sprung, trapping the orcs that had been leading the charge, their companions immediately began hacking at the tendrils, desperately trying to free the others from my trap.
Nearly all of the orcs had clambered onto the bridge, so I triggered the spike trap beneath their feet. The ground opened up under them, swallowing the orcs that had been attempting to cut free their companions, and screams of pain echoed from within the pit as their bodies were impaled on the cruel spikes at the bottom of the hole. Without looking up, I triggered the traps at the far end of the bridge, not only catching a few of the laggards, but trapping all of the orcs that had ventured out onto the earthen span as well.
Tási began raining fire down upon the orcs trapped beneath us while I started shooting at the small number that still remained free. I did my best to ensure that none escaped, but three of their number managed to flee back into the forest before I could stop them. My only hope then was that Bane might manage to get them.
With no other targets for me, I joined in Tási’s slaughter of the remaining orcs. Between her bolts of fire and my arrows, the last few orcs were soon dispatched, and we climbed down from the wall to take stock of our victory.
We quickly looted the bodies of our fallen enemies—while many of them resembled the cruel savages that were so stereotypical of their race, more than a few reminded me of Georl. My unease at the slaughter was only made worse as I inspected the bodies of the fallen orc females.
While most of them seemed to be just as brutish as their male companions, more than a few appeared to be of mixed heritage. The bodies of the half-orcs reminded me of the green-skinned women I had seen dancing in front of the taverns in Orlan, and while the lives of those women may have been far from ideal, their example proved that we could easily coexist with them under the right circumstances.
“Such a waste,” I lamented as I finished looting the final corpse.
“It was us or them, Dreya,” Tási replied, sensing my remorse.
“I know. We had no other option once they made the choice to attack us. Maybe this was the only way it could ever be for them. I only hope that we can provide a better example eventually, something more for people to strive for. Even people like them.”
I replaced the traps that had been triggered, and Ridge volunteered to dispose of the bodies for us in the woods beyond the canyon entrance. He easily lifted two corpses in each of his thick arms, making quick work of their disposal. While he dealt with the dead, we took care of the loot, tucking the orcs’ armor and weapons into our packs and bringing it back to our camp. Our companions had left behind the backpacks stuffed with our loot from the bandit camp when they hurried off on the elf King’s errand and we added the gear we salvaged from the orcs to them.
Bane flew into camp a short while after we finished dealing with the salvaged loot. While Tási and I cleaned up, he delivered the bad news.
I am sorry Sintári, but two of them got away. I was able to kill one, but once I was finished with him, I could not locate the others.
“It’s alright Bane, you did your best,” I replied. “I should have been able to get them before they escaped into the forest.”
“Unfortunately, I think we may have to prepare for another attack,” I added glumly. “The ones that escaped will certainly report what happened here, and I have no doubt that the orcs will return in greater numbers.”
“You’re probably right about that,” Tási agreed. “We should move our camp up to the wall, so we can respond quickly when they get here.”
“We need to come up with some better defenses too,” I added. “They will be ready for my traps next time.”
We packed up our small camp, but left the heavy backpacks full of loot behind. The coins and salvaged gear would not help us in our defense, and we did not want to lose the valuable treasure if the orcs forced us back from the wall.
Just as we returned to the wall, Ridge’s summoning expired. I didn’t try to resummon him immediately, allowing him at least a brief respite from his work while we set up our new campsite beneath the shadow of the wall. Once we had everything ready, I prepared myself for the difficult incantation.
The process made me anxious, and remembering the rather spectacular nature of my previous failure only added to my unease. I took a moment to steady my nerves and reminded myself that my comprehension of the intricate magic had advanced tremendously since my last attempt.
Dismissing any pretense of making a request for help, I focused my intensions on demanding the assistance I required instead and poured my will into the magic as I recited the words that would invoke the Spell’s power. Unlike my prior failed attempt, this time I felt the flow of natural magic running through me as the energy I summoned gathered around me. As the Spell’s power grew, I felt a second thread of energy burning within me. Dark energy. Shadow magic.
The shadowy energy felt unlike any magic I had experienced before. I sensed not only its corruption but also the dark possibilities of its power. Unlike the healing and beneficial power of light magic, shadow magic was pure destruction and domination. The promise of its power was incredibly seductive—my path would lead me inexorably towards conflict, as the elf King had said. The power of shadow magic could easily help me ensure that those conflicts ended in my favor. But at the time, I only had access to this tiny fragment of its true power—a little slice of shadow magic for just one limited purpose, so I refocused my thoughts on the task at hand and concentrated on overcoming the willpower of the creature I was summoning.
I felt Ridge’s consciousness come into focus. His will was an imposing force, rock-hard and powerful, just as he was. I sensed the energy from him as he pit himself against me, but before the contest between us could even begin, he yielded, conceding the battle between us before it had even begun.
Clearly, things would not be quite so easy if I ever tried to summon another elemental creature, one who would resist me with all of its might. I was fortunate that Ridge was a willing servant and intended to make the most of his help for as long as he continued to offer it.
As the energy faded, I opened my eyes to see Ridge standing in front of me. He waited patiently for me to provide him with his orders for the day, but before I did, I needed to ask him a few questions.
“Welcome back, Ridge. Did you have enough time to rest?”
&nbs
p; “I need no rest, Mistress,” he intoned. “You may call me as often as your needs require.”
“Thank you, Ridge, I appreciate your willingness help us. Tell me, the heartstone’s summons lasted for one full day, do you know how long my Spell will keep you here?”
“I will remain as long as you maintain the magic, Mistress,” he replied.
The Spell description only vaguely mentioned that the summoning would last until it expired. But based on Ridge’s answer to my question, it sounded like the summons might be similar to my trap Spells. So, I pulled up my personal sheet to see if it would offer me any additional clues. Focusing on my Aura stat provided me with the answer I had expected.
Aura 615/715
100 Aura Reserved
Summon Elemental - 100
Just like my trap Spells, the summoning magic required constant maintenance in order for it to continue to function. Only, instead of keeping a trap in place, this magic held a summoned elemental in my service, theoretically indefinitely.
“Ridge, if I understand this magic correctly, I can keep you here for a very long time, practically forever,” I explained to him. “Will that cause you any difficulties?”
“I have no other obligations, Mistress. I am willing to stay for as long as you need me.”
“Very well. You know the plans, so please continue to work on our fortifications. We need to prepare for another possible attack. If I need to redirect your efforts, I will let you know.”
Ridge inclined his stony head in my direction before setting off on his task. He quickly amassed another pile of blocks and began adding them to the already formidable wall. I only spared a few moments watching his progress before sitting down beside Tási to begin planning for the impending attack.
Second Skin: Unified: A litRPG Adventure (Second Skin Book 3) Page 5