Ipseity (The Stork Tower Book 5)

by Tony Corden

  Leah appeared high above the canopy and standing on one of the smaller branches at the top of the giant tree. Carefully looking in all directions, Leah began to move slowly down the trunk. The closest branch that would safely hold her weight was several feet below where she was standing, and off to her right, so she grabbed a smaller slightly higher branch with her right hand and, placing her left hand in a fork near her feet, she reached down and lowered herself onto the lower limb. Just as she’d settled her weight on the lower branch, and before she had released her handholds, an arrow from lower down the tree clipped the left-hand knife concealed in her belt. It ricocheted off the knife, carving a furrow the length of her back before entering her body just below her left shoulder, the arrow finally coming to rest with the arrowhead extending a handbreadth beyond the top of her left shoulder.

  Leah’s shoulder flared with pain and her legs buckled. It was only the automatic clenching of her right hand that stopped her fall. Even so, the momentum of her body caused by her buckling legs turned her body, and she rotated around her right arm. As she turned side on to the trunk, another arrow slid up her chest grazing her left cheek and temple. She continued to rotate, twisting her arm and weakening her only attachment to the tree. As her left side impacted the tree trunk, her right hand gave way. The pain in her shoulder flared again as she fell and slid down the side of the trunk. She’d only dropped a body length when her right foot hit a branch, and as it folded, she slowed enough to hook her arm over the same branch. Gritting her teeth, she looked down just as a third arrow split the bark near her face.

  Leah couldn’t see anything but had the presence of mind to cast Chain Lightning with her free-swinging left hand in the general direction the arrows had come from. She heard a yell as the lightning hit something or someone and then her swinging legs finally found purchase on a lower limb. Her health was just below 75%, but the pain was more than she had felt before except during her change. Casting Chain Lightning again she noticed it arc between three points lower down and this time she noticed the outline of a figure holding a bow no more than three body lengths beneath her. The lightning had ruined their shot, but she could already see they were beginning to recover. The person was a Dark Elf from the Yarim Clan, with skin and hair blending seamlessly with the tree.

  Leah cast again, this time noting not only the location of the other two Dark Elves but also checking the Elf’s health.

  DARK ELF (YARIM) GUARDIAN (Level 318) 80899/101124 HP (15900 EP)

  Leah followed the third cast of Chain Lightning by summoning a worker drone which she sent scampering down the tree toward the elf. The spider was low level, and the elf killed it with a single shot. Leah used the time to shift to a branch further around the trunk and out of sight of the elves. Leah misted her shoulder and then cast Heal as the arrow dropped free. For the next minute, she and the elves played hide and seek, with her casting the occasional Chain Lightning as they tried to get a clear shot at Leah. The last two lightning bolts had been shrugged off faster by the three elves, and Leah needed to find a different attack or flee. She used the vambraces and transformed herself into Ateş Maymunu, the Fire Tamarin, then swinging around the trunk she dropped down the tree faster than even the elves could. As she shot past the first elf she reached out and grabbing the elf’s bow pulled it from their hands and almost tearing them off the branch they were standing on. The second elf had gotten an arrow nocked as Leah approached but had no time to loose it before Leah spat at her, hitting the bow with the ape’s potent acid attack. Leah changed direction and swung around the tree using the Tamarin’s momentum, launching herself at the final elf guardian. This one reacted quickly and dropped his bow to meet Leah’s attack with an arrow in one hand and a knife in the other.

  A natural Tamarin might have been challenged by the elf’s weapons, but Leah had the ape’s long arms and dexterity coupled with the mind of an accomplished knife and stick fighter. She evaded both weapons and barrelled into the elf, disarming him and knocking him off the branch. Leah continued down the tree until she was out of sight, then changing back into her half-elf form she misted from sight. In mist form, Leah moved back up the tree while keeping her distance from the three elves who were scurrying after the Tamarin. By the time she reached the top, the cooldown for teleporting had finished. This time when she focused on the ridge which ran from the highest mountain peak she could see, she disappeared as she cast Teleport.

  Leah arrived and immediately sank up to her knees in snow, almost stumbling. She tried to move and sank even deeper into the snow. Looking around, she didn’t see any threats but did notice a rocky outcrop about twenty metres away which showed above the snowdrift. Leah cast a small burst of Dragonfire at the edge of the just-visible outcrop and was rewarded with a geyser of steam and approximately one square metre of cleared rock. A few more careful casts and she was able to extricate herself from the snow and make her way onto the rocky protrusion. The stone was still warm from the dragon fire so she sat down to wait for the teleport cooldown and search for her next destination.

  Unfortunately, there was at least one more line of peaks between her and the northern section of the Dark Elven Forest of Night. From where she was, she could see two mountain peaks with a deep gorge between them with a ridge on the far side of the western summit. If her calculations and the ancient map were correct then from there, she should be high enough to see the town of Batislar or at least the trail between it and Yilinlar, where she hoped to find the son of Lord Geckiş, the God of Transitions, and İki Tarafda, the last Queen of Yılanlar. Once she reached her decision and seeing she still had time on the cooldown she asked, “Gèng, why did that arrow hurt so much?”

  “I’ve been wondering when you would ask. With the damage to your shoulder and the bruising on the rest of your body, I have reduced the general stimulus you receive as you move through Dunyanin as much as I can while you recover. Unfortunately, I am not able to reduce the 50% pain threshold. At the moment, your shoulder area is hyperalgesic, and when the simulated pain from the arrow was applied to your nervous system, it elevated your pain beyond the set values. I apologise for not applying a filter but that would have been noted by the Dunyanin conditions overwatch program and may have raised questions regarding your injuries. I felt it prudent to minimise the possibility of data relating to you being injured ever becoming widely known, even obliquely.”

  “There is no need to apologise. Now you’ve explained it, it makes sense, and you did the right thing. Before the change I think it would have left me incoherent, but now I was still able to keep going, so no harm done. Is there any news on the police investigation or on Mum?”

  “Nothing yet. There has been some indication that the investigation might be upgraded from civil disturbance and breaking and entry to assault causing bodily harm. Police are still being silent, and several reporters are wondering if the investigation might become even more serious. I think we should leave this discussion until you return to the Tower. John’s views on secrecy are looking wiser all the time.”

  “You’re probably right. Well, time is up on the cooldown, so I’m going to head over to that outcrop and look for the trail or one of the towns.”

  Leah stood and, visualising carefully, disappeared only to appear moments later on the other side of the range. She quickly did a full sweep of the surrounds but couldn’t see anything which she thought would cause her harm. She was on the upper surface of a large westerly-facing overhanging rocky outcrop. The outside edge of the ledge was several metres from Leah and was slightly higher in elevation. From Leah’s position, the ground sloped down towards the mountain and was covered in snow. Where it joined the main range, at its southern edge, there appeared to be a snow covered path running down along the mountain. Leah could see along the trail for about fifty metres before it curved out of sight. Everywhere else was covered in untouched snow as far as the summit. Feeling secure, Leah turned to look out over the northern section of the Forest of Night.
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  She couldn’t see a trail but assumed it was covered by the forest canopy. The day was clear and being near the top of the range she could see the edge of the forest from where she was. Leah retrieved the map and, after checking landmarks, she focused on the areas which seemed most likely the locations of the cities she was interested in. To the west, she looked for Batislar and although she didn’t see any evidence of buildings or habitations of any sort she did note an area where the forest canopy looked different. She wasn’t sure if it was lighter, less dense or merely different in elevation but she did think it could be the city that was marked on her map and it was less than ten leagues from where she stood. Turning to the East, she wasn’t able to see far enough to make out Yilinlar or even see any evidence of it. In the end, she decided to teleport to someplace close to where she thought Batislar was, and then if nothing pointed her toward Yilinlar she could return to the mountain and steadily make her way eastward hoping to find some evidence.

  She had another few minutes to wait before the teleport spell could be used again, so she did another check of her surrounds. This time she noticed that some of the snow running down the mountainside appeared hazy as if it had been disturbed. It was clear that the disturbance was heading in her direction. Leah could see the snow rise and then fall as if something was moving underneath the surface. She cast Dragonfire several metres ahead of the approaching disturbance and was rewarded with an explosion of steam and a screech of pain.

  Through the sudden mist, Leah saw an extended snow-white snout shaped like that of an eel. Behind that slithered a body that disappeared into the snow and once more headed toward Leah. She sent Dragonfire several more times and was rewarded with cries of pain and glimpses of the beast moving in her direction.

  When the creature was about eighty metres away, she directed a larger burst of Dragonfire, sending up a massive blast of steam and almost wholly revealing the creature.

  SNOW EELINE (Level 386) 85548/148996HP (19300EP)

  Leah was preparing for another cast when the fin on top of the Eeline separated to form spikes across a widening body. Muscular legs which had been drawn up to lie along the sinuous body shifted as shoulders which had dislocated to lie along the spine now folded out and snapped into place, stretching out the creature’s hide and bringing it into a crouching position on a bare patch of mountainside. The elongated snout opened wide to voice a scream of challenge, displaying a set of razor-sharp teeth designed for shredding flesh.

  Leah estimated that in the crouched position, its shoulders were at a similar level to her own. Each of its legs was at least the size of her entire body. She watched the metamorphosis continue as its chest expanded and its tail separated in half before moving to point at Leah like scorpion stingers, one positioned over each shoulder and both ending in an arm-length spike. The body was mostly white, although where the pelt had expanded it exposed strips of obsidian-coloured skin. As she watched, its label flickered and changed.

  SNOW FEELINE (Level 386) 148996HP (19300EP)

  Before the creature had finished its transformation, Leah equipped her bow and shot two arrows, one toward the head and the other just behind the front legs. The first was snapped from the air by the Feeline’s jaws and the second thudded into the torso, but instead of sticking it ricocheted and disappeared into the snow beside the Feeline. Leah cast Dragonfire, but the creature moved as soon as the fire left Leah’s hands and although it was briefly obscured by the blast of steam, it easily seemed to evade the long range cast. Lightning flew from Leah’s right hand, and although it hit the creature, Leah couldn’t see that it had any effect.

  This fight, Leah decided, was going to be fought at close quarters. For a moment she considered equipping the Amber Dragon but chose to leave that as a last resort. Instead, she transformed into Çevik Taklitçi, the Armoured Mimic Leopard. Immediately the Feeline stretched out its neck and roared another challenge before beginning to stride toward Leah, its claw-tipped feet spread wide with webbing like snowshoes keeping it on top of the snow.

  The Feeline had almost eighty metres to travel. Leah hoped this would give her enough time to review her options. She realised that in her current form, despite being larger than a draft horse, she still massed less than a quarter of what the Snow Feeline did. Without considering precisely what she was doing, she cast Grow only to feel the spell begin to form and then fail. Like her attempt at shadow walking, she considered that perhaps spells couldn’t be cast while beast-walking, except she had felt it begin to form. She calmed herself, and then using the same technique she had perfected while learning to manipulate mana, she tried again. This time she pictured herself growing to the same size as the Feeline and fed all her Mana and Ki into the effort. Leah felt the spell start to form and then she felt a barrier. Instead of allowing the spell to fizzle she maintained the pressure and focused her will on growing. The barrier seemed to push back, but Leah had worked through this before so she maintained the pressure until suddenly the barrier failed. Both her Mana and Ki rushed into her body, and she began to grow. The spell absorbed both Mana and Ki at a phenomenal rate. Her reserves had dropped below half before she was the size of the Feeline and ended the spell.

  The Feeline was now thirty metres away, and Leah crouched ready to meet its attack, even as she noted the spell continuing to consume her Mana and Ki rapidly. She needed to end this quickly. When the Feeline was fifteen metres away, Leah leapt forward and they crashed into each other, both rising on their rear limbs and raking their opponent with their front claws. Leah had to duck and weave to avoid the Feeline’s snapping jaws. Neither of the two was able to do much damage as both had armoured exteriors.

  The Feeline slunk back a few steps and began to pace around Leah. It kept its front end facing her. Leah copied the movement, patiently waiting for the next rushing attack. This time, as the Feeline leapt forward, instead of meeting the Feeline head-to-head, she dove forward, raking its belly with her front claws before darting out from underneath it and beginning her own circling motion.

  Its next attack was faster, and Leah had to rear up and meet the Feeline in the upright position. Their claws slashed quickly, looking to slash a shoulder or even the head. With a twist, the Feeline managed to close its jaws around the right side of Atherleah’s head and jaw. It began to bite down hard, and Leah felt a canine pierce through her under her jaw. In desperation, she began to rake her claws down the side of the Feeline’s head and was rewarded after several attempts with a shriek as her right claws tore apart the creature’s left eye. The Feeline jerked its head away in pain, tearing loose skin and flesh from each side of Leah’s head. As her head came free Leah whipped forward and clamped her jaws onto the Feeline’s throat at the same time as pushing upwards and knocking the beast off balance.

  As the Feeline stumbled backwards, it still continued to rake its claws along Leah’s shoulders and front legs. She held on grimly, keeping her head tucked tight in toward the creature’s neck, and continued to clench and grind her jaws, trying to cut through the thick skin of the Feeline. Her perseverance was rewarded and beginning with her canines she felt her teeth slowly pierce the flesh, and her hold on the creature improved. The Feeline’s movement became more frenzied as Leah clamped down on its throat. Maintaining her grip, Leah wrenched her head to the side and tore out the throat of the Feeline. It dropped in death, pinning Leah to the ground. Leah released her spells and shrunk to her half-elf form. Unable to move from underneath the dead Feeline, she harvested it.

  You have harvested:

  1 Eeline/Feeline Pelt*

  2 Vials of Eeline Blood (4.4, 2)**

  2 Vials of Feeline Blood (4.4, 2)***

  1 Set of Feeline claws

  Assorted shards of Darkness Diamonds****

  * Note: A Master Tanner will be able to maintain the transformative capabilities of the Eeline/Feeline pelt.

  **As a vampire, when you drink this you will have the ability to move unerringly toward your prey regardless of
physical senses for one hour.

  ***As a vampire, when you drink this, you will be preternaturally able to move at twice your usual speed for one hour.

  ****Eeline/Feelines live in caves and tunnels in the high mountains and sharpen their claws and teeth by scraping them on the tunnel walls. Often shards of precious jewels are swallowed in the process.

  Now free of its bulk Leah slowly stood, her face and arms dripping with blood. Suddenly the sound of slow clapping started up behind her. She turned around carefully and saw a woman standing there.

  K’CALAMA - DAUGHTER OF GECKIŞ (Level 1245) 1550025 HP (62250 EP)

  K’calama was tall, and though her face showed evidence of different personalities like her father’s, K’calama’s transitioned between them in noticeable movements and made her look psychotic rather than mystical.

  K’calama said, “Daddy says we mustn’t kill you. We were only able to bring the Eeline in your direction because killing it would give you some benefit. You don’t look like much, and we thought it had you toward the end. To be honest, we’re not sure what to do with you.”

  “We?”

  “We are the daughter of Geckiş. When we transcend then all our distinctive personalities will blend into one. Until then we are forced to coexist.”

  “So is there a kind, caring K’calama in there somewhere?”

  “Of course, but even she wants you gone. If Somur takes over, then we’ll be distinct for eternity, and we’ll never have any peace. Look, your task is unfair and onerous. My brother doesn’t want the job, and I do. Why don’t you give up?”