Asla caught the blade of the third creature with her gloves, turned, and flung it at a tree as her anima flared and the silhouette of a large, feral cat that glowed orange formed around her. She pounced closer to the beast and sliced at it with her claws. The flayer simply moved under her and the mana-enchanted strike felled the tree instead. With a groan and a flurry of splintered wood, it toppled into the forest.
This seemed to give Jazai’s adversary the same idea. When two mana arrows pierced its shoulders, it extended its arms and cut the tree he perched in down with a wide, cross-cutting swipe. He jumped clear and yelled, “Shield!” as he fell toward the beast. A blue mana shield formed in front of him.
The flayer raised its blades but his shield blocked them as his feet connected with the creature and pushed off. He landed several yards away, turned, and pointed at the arrows. “Chains!” The mana arrows on its shoulders began to unravel, encircled its arms, and attached to trunks behind it. They held it in place and it shrieked and snapped its jaws as he approached it.
He held a hand up and whispered, “Blade.” His hand was engulfed by the blue light of his mana and took the form of a short blade. The flayer continued to hiss and shriek at him as it struggled to free itself from the chains. The apprentice moved closer, swung his hand, and the mana-blade sank into its neck and beheaded it in one strike.
Asla dodged the third flayer with ease. While the beasts were known for their agile movements and quick kills with their natural blades, her seemingly malnourished opponent had almost no hope against the anima-enhanced wildkin. When it tried to slice her in two, she attacked first and severed its arms with her claws.
It cried out in pain as yellow blood spewed from the stumps. She took a moment to glance at Devol, who seemed to be using his target for training more than any real attempt to kill it.
She shook her head and returned her attention to her adversary. With a swift kick, she catapulted it toward the young swordsman. The creature collided with the flayer he was battling and surprised him as both careened past Jazai.
“What was that for?” he grumbled.“I wasn’t in danger.”
“I could see that, but this is not the time to play,” Asla pointed out before she nodded at the scholar. “Can you finish them?”
The boy shrugged and held his palm toward them. “Fireball.” An orb of flame formed in his hand and he launched it at the two collapsed flayers to ignite them both. They shook themselves briefly in an effort to extinguish the flames but the fire consumed them before they could escape the blaze.
“Won’t that set the forest on fire?” Asla asked as the three friends watched them burn.
Jazai shook his head. “Not that it would be a bad thing, but cantrip flames don’t spread like normal fire. Besides…” He lifted a hand and snapped his fingers and the fire immediately vanished. “I’m not such a novice, even if that were the case.”
“I guess I can see why they were following an alpha,” Devol said as he rested his sword against his shoulder. “They weren’t as intimidating as I expected given what I remember reading about them.”
“You have to keep in mind that they were terrorizing villagers,” Asla stated. “To most people, even these smaller flayers are a deadly menace.”
“It puts it all in perspective, huh?” Jazai said thoughtfully, his hands clasped behind his head. “We’ve become strong enough that things like this are simply a nuisance.”
“We are gifted,” Asla agreed with a nod, “but we should not get too comfortable. We must still deal with the alpha.”
The three looked at the mouth of the den, knowing what awaited them inside. “I’m sure it is a big beastie and all that,” the diviner said to end the slightly uncomfortable silence. “But it is still a flayer. Between the three of us, it shouldn’t be a probl—”
A deep, massively loud cry issued from the den, one that each of the young magi could feel in their whole body. Asla raised her hands quickly to block her ears as the two boys simply stared, wide-eyed. When the scream died down, the silence in the forest became more palpable and the group realized what lay in store for them.
“That…didn’t sound like it came from a normal flayer,” Devol said and grasped his sword tightly. “That cry had something…terrifying to it.”
“That certainly did sound like a big beastie, all right,” Jazai muttered and lowered his hands to his waist. “So…uh, do we have a plan for this?”
Chapter Three
“I do not believe the alpha flayer will come out on its own,” Asla stated as she took one step closer to the cave. She hesitated for a moment and looked over her shoulder. “Should we proceed?”
Devol drew a deep breath. “We have to. It’s our job.” He flexed his fingers around the grip of his majestic. “But…uh, I have to say I would not guess that the noise we heard came from a flayer. Are we sure that’s what is waiting for us in there?”
Jazai nodded, opened his tome, and studied the bestiary section. “It has to be, although I’m not a hunter or tracker by any means. Still, I’ve studied the more dangerous creatures for other magi many times and I’ve never heard of flayers submitting to other beasts. It has to be an alpha in there.”
“Could it be a different species?” Asla inquired thoughtfully. “We are close to the border of the Zhangra empire. Perhaps they have a—”
“Flayers aren’t in their lands,” the scholar interjected and flipped through the pages. “Or none have ever been seen there, at least. Even if they did have flayers, I doubt they would travel all that distance to here. We might be close, but we’re still a couple of days away from the border and even longer for them.”
Devol hefted his sword purposefully and walked forward. “Well, I guess the only way to find out is to take a peek,” he reasoned and moved closer to the den. “You guys have my back, right?”
Asla nodded and straightened as she hurried to join him. Jazai followed and had begun to shut his book when the pages moved on their own.
“Hey, guys, hold on a moment!” he called as he opened the book again and his eyes widened.
“What’s wrong, Jazai?” Devol asked as the two of them paused and looked at the apprentice. His gaze seemed transfixed on whatever lines he was reading on the page.
“I’m getting…something’s thoughts,” he stated with a glance at them.
“Some…thing?” Asla muttered in bewilderment. She and Devol returned to their friend’s side and they huddled close to stare at the book. Inside was a half-sketched picture that consisted of the typical flayer scythe arms, a large body, and very little else. It didn’t have the normal details Jazai’s majestic typically showed when reading another person. Instead, a few words repeated to fill the entire page.
Hunt. Kill. Devour.
“This is coming…” Devol began and looked at the other boy in confusion. “Is it from the alpha?”
Jazai nodded slowly. “I mentioned before that my majestic doesn’t work on beasts, right?” he asked and both his teammates responded with nods. “Right. Well, I should probably change that to it normally doesn’t happen. This is the exception.”
“What could that mean?” Asla wondered. She turned to stare at the den and her ears twitched.
The apprentice shut the book and replaced it carefully on the side of his waist where it was secured with a leather strap. “Well, the reason it normally doesn’t work on beasts is that my majestic reads the mana of my target,” he stated. “Your mana is basically an imprint of your soul, so my majestic is able to sort through that and find memories. Animals typically don’t have much mana. Some have more than others but usually not enough for my majestic to pick up on.” He looked at the den, his concern evident on his face. “It would appear that it is different for the alpha.”
“So for some reason, this flayer has much more mana than usual?” Devol asked. “How is that possible?”
“Well, the only way I can think of is rather…gross.” The diviner scrunched his face at the thought. �
��But there have been times when certain beasts were able to increase their mana, sometimes by eating large quantities of mana-rich substances. Occasionally, they would feast on special fruits or even pieces of cobalt. But the most common way would be to…well, eat someone like us.”
This gave pause to both his friends and they looked nervously at one another. “So if they eat a magi, they can also consume their mana?” the swordsman asked.
“Not merely any magi,” Jazai corrected. “All humans, wildkin, fleuri, and realmers have mana, but you would not consider all of them magi and these mana-enchanted beasts don’t roam the lands in droves. I don’t think even eating an actual magi would be enough in most cases. My best guess would be that it ate someone with an anima.”
“Ah,” Asla whispered and flattened her ears. “I suppose that makes sense.”
Devol looked at the bodies of the slain flayers. “I did not see any blood around their mouths when we fought them,” he recalled. “I assume the hunters who were here before we came in were all given to the alpha.”
“Most likely,” Jazai concurred. “It probably needs more than only flesh to sustain itself now.”
Devol turned resolutely toward the entrance and his anima surged. “Well, that means we have to eliminate it,” he told them and held his blade up. “After all, if this creature is able to kill a magi with an anima, where does that leave the townsfolk or farmers in the countryside if we abandon them?”
Asla took a breath to calm herself and nodded agreement, but Jazai shrugged. “You make a fair point, but I am starting to realize that ‘being strong’ is honestly a pain in the ass.”
“You could be helping Zier dust or something right now, you know,” the wildkin pointed out.
He rolled his eyes and took a few steps closer to the den. “I guess I’d rather die valiantly than out of boredom. Let’s get on with it.”
Devol nodded as he and Asla followed. The wildkin took point quickly when they reached the mouth of the unnatural cave as her vision was best in the dark. “I’ll be on the lookout,” she stated. “Devol, if you can, keep the light of your majestic dim. It may give our position away otherwise.”
“Or it could help to blind the creature,” Jazai countered in a whisper. “If it is used to living in the dark like this, of course. I’m only saying keep our options open. This is new territory for all of us.”
Devol nodded as the trio entered, all prepared to discover what this new creature was capable of and slay it as quickly as they could.
The den proved to be much deeper than they had originally thought when they saw it from the outside. It appeared more along the lines of a burrow and the ground sloped down as they walked. Devol looked at the ceiling of the cavern, where sticky gobs of flayer saliva were used to hold the ceiling in place. Not surprisingly, the remains of the inhabitant's meals were littered along what seemed to be the main path.
“Homey,” Jazai muttered sarcastically and his eyes, which were usually soft and almost disinterested at times, were alert and scanned the area continually in search of signs of the alpha.
Devol moved to the front, the flat side of his sword against his chest to keep the light to a minimum. “Asla, do you have anything?”
“I can smell it,” she stated, her voice low. “But amongst the rot of everything else here, I cannot pinpoint it. I can also hear…sickening sounds. It must be feasting.”
“Perhaps it will be too full to offer much of a fight,” Jazai commented and earned irritated looks from his teammates. “Fair enough. That might be a little dark given what it is probably feasting on,” he admitted.
They reached a fork in the path. One led to a larger chamber and one to a small hovel. “I believe these are their living quarters,” Asla stated. “The larger is for the alpha, of course.” She sniffed the air and blocked her nose hastily. “Yes, it’s down this path. I’m sure of it.”
As Devol stared into the dark chamber, an idea occurred to him and he turned to Jazai, “Hey, if this creature is full of mana, we should be able to see that using vis, right?”
The diviner considered this in silence, but his eyes began to glow with his dark-blue mana. “I would say that is likely but I don’t know for sure. This is my first time dealing with something like this.”
The swordsman nodded and used vis on his sight. “I should have brought torches.”
“Once we engage the beast,” Asla said quietly and tapped his sword, “you will be able to use the light of your majestic more freely.”
“I had hoped we could kill it in a sneak attack,” he admitted as he looked at his blade. “Fighting in these relatively cramped conditions won’t be easy for any of us.”
The trio shared a silent look of agreement. “That would be preferable,” she acknowledged.
“Who will attempt the killing strike?” Jazai asked.
“I will,” the wildkin offered before Devol could say anything. “I am the fastest among the three of us and will have the best chance to get close before it can react.”
The swordsman had intended to offer to do it himself but she had a point. He nodded and turned to Jazai. “Then you and I will hobble it,” he stated. “I’ll blind it with the light from my majestic and you can tie it down with your chains.”
“Got it,” the boy said with a decisive nod. “Flayers are fast but not typically that strong. It would have a considerable struggle to break the chains, even with the enhancements it gets with mana.”
Devol nodded as Asla extended her claws. With their plan in place, they entered the larger cavern and walked slowly and cautiously for about a hundred yards before Asla held a hand out and motioned for them to press against the wall. Devol crouched, narrowed his eyes, and peered deeper into the shadowy space. The alpha was about a hundred feet away and it was much larger than he had anticipated.
The creature did not have the scrawny frame of the flayers they had fought or even the alpha he had seen in the Wailing Woods. This one was tall—possibly eight or nine feet—but also broad with a massive carapace on its back that was wider than his entire arm span. It crouched in place and its only motion was when the head lowered and jerked up repeatedly. In the silence, the crunching sounds it made as it devoured its prey were unmistakable.
Devol turned away briefly and tried to not focus on the sounds. Asla tapped his arm and nodded to him. He looked at Jazai, who also nodded. They were ready and the beast was eating, which made this a perfect time to strike. He held three fingers up and counted down. As the last finger lowered, they all summoned their animas and raced toward the beast. The diviner blinked in front of them and thrust his arm out. “Chains!”
The alpha spun as a set of ethereal chains wound around its massive arms and head and pulled it back to expose its neck. The swordsman let his mana flow into his blade to illuminate the room and the flayer uttered an angry scream when the light burned its eyes.
Asla vaulted upward onto the flayer and drew her arms back. They glowed orange with her mana and she landed on its chest and sank her claws into the alpha’s throat to slice through it. She jumped off as the chains released and the beast gurgled as it slumped heavily. The wildkin landed and the three adventures watched it twitch, the same question in each of their minds. Had they done it?
“What in the hells?” Jazai demanded as the alpha’s head raised slowly. He pointed to the neck, where the deep wound had begun to close rapidly. “It’s healing itself.”
“That was a clean strike.” Asla gasped and thumped a balled fist into her leg. “I should have tried to decapitate it.”
“Worry about that later,” Devol ordered as he held his sword up. “Be on your guard. It looks like its—”
The beast surged forward and despite its size, it could move as fast as any flayer. It drew its arms back and slashed them forward, but not at them. They stared as the creature targeted the ceiling. A little confused, it took a moment before they realized that the attack had begun to break the gooey substance and rock apart. A
s the ceiling crumbled, the chamber began to shake and the entire structure collapsed on top of them.
Chapter Four
Thinking quickly, Jazai grasped his teammates and blinked them into the divided chamber. They drew ragged breaths and stared at the path leading into the alpha’s den, which disintegrated rapidly in the wake of the collapse. Fortunately, their area still seemed stable.
“It tried to crush us,” Asla muttered. “That would make us almost inedible, I think, unless it planned to pick our remains out from the rubble.”
“Well, it’s not like it needed another meal soon,” Jazai pointed out. “We have an additional problem, I think. The mana it has not only increased its physical stature but probably also its intellect. It recognizes us as a threat, or at least more important to kill outright than keep for dinner.”
“Did it trap itself in there?” Devol asked and held his sword defensively as he stared toward the collapsed chamber. “Maybe it was too desperate to understand what it was doing.”
The ground beneath them began to shake and they exchanged wide-eyed glances.
“Scatter!” Jazai shouted and they all leapt closer to the entrance. The alpha burst out of the ground, landed heavily, and focused immediately on the three young magi. “I guess we know what built the den now,” the scholar quipped and pointed at the massive beast. Its dark, blank gaze settled on him. “Frost!” A blast of frigid air and ice left his palm, struck the beast in the shoulder and arm, and rapidly created paths of ice down the limb. He moved his arm to the side and used the frost to freeze the wall and connect the flayer’s frozen arm to it to hold it in place.
Asla and Devol took the opportunity to attack as the beast began to carve the ice with its free arm. The wildkin targeted the throat once again to correct her mistake but was greeted by the razor-sharp fangs as the alpha turned its head to snap at her. She was forced to use a feint to move out of the way and the fangs only dug deep enough to inflict a light cut.
Bloodflowers Bloom (The Astral Wanderer Book 2) Page 2