Second Skin Omnibus

by M Damon Baker

  I paused and took in the significance of her words before I replied.

  “Me too, Tási,” I finally admitted to her. “But as much as I want this, you have to know that it’s frightening to me as well. The intensity, the sheer power of it can easily overwhelm either of us. The loss of control is not only disconcerting, but it can also be dangerous, as you well know. We can’t let that happen—we can’t even let it get close to happening.”

  “I understand Dreya,” she replied. “We should both take the next two days to prepare ourselves for this first test of our wills.”

  “Thank you, Tási,” I replied, grateful that she took my concerns seriously.

  “Goodnight, Dreya,” she answered as she snuggled against me.

  I wrapped my arm around her as she lay there, comforted by the warmth I could feel radiating out of her body even through the blankets that lay between us.

  19

  The sun rose the next morning, and the caravan once again got off to a leisurely start. With the pace still dictated by the series of well-established campsites, there was no rush to make any progress beyond the next location, which meant that at a slow walk, we could easily keep pace with the wagon’s relaxed speed.

  Tási had obviously been serious about putting aside her differences with Venna. She spent the entire morning beside the elf, shooing away anyone who even came close to interrupting their discussions. Observing the two women’s abrupt reconciliation, SteI approached me to inquire.

  “Your handiwork, I presume?” He asked.

  “Partially, but not entirely,” I answered. “I simply made it clear that I needed both of them, and that they would have to learn to work together once more.”

  “I am happy to hear it,” Stel replied, his sense of relief was clear in his voice.

  “There is something we need to settle between us as well,” he added. Though the words seemed ominous, his tone was not.

  “I didn’t realize we had anything to settle, Stel,” I replied in confusion. “I count you as one of my best friends, even more so as Venna’s husband.”

  “And yet you hit upon the very issue I wished to discuss with you,” he said with a sense of irony.

  “I am neither blind nor a fool,” he continued. “And even if I had been both, Venna confessed a great deal to me the other night, including the true nature and depth of her feelings for you.”

  “Stel, I—” I began before he stopped me.

  “Please, Dreya, do not protest until you’ve heard me out,” he interrupted.

  “She loves you, Dreya,” he continued after a moment, without a hint of the jealousy I might have expected—jealousy that he was fully entitled to feel.

  “Venna has found something in you that I do not understand,” Stel spoke in awe. “A closeness, a bond beyond anything I can relate to. She has come to need you Dreya, to need your love. She also told me that you have hesitated to return her affections. Venna said there are many reasons for your reluctance, but the only one she would share with me was that you did not want to betray my friendship.”

  “I am here to tell you that whatever you decide, I do not want you to let me come between the two of you. Since she has met you, Venna has been happier than I have ever known her to be, so I won’t even consider denying her desires. I just wanted you to know that.”

  “Stel,” I said, stunned by the man’s confession. “I don’t know what to say. I never intended for any of this to happen.”

  “You are Sintári, Dreya,” he laughed unexpectedly. “Your intentions have nothing to do with it.”

  I stopped dead in my tracks and looked into my friend’s eyes. There was no hint of the jealousy or resentment I expected; he only returned my gaze with a look of deep respect. In awe of his incredible display of love and strength, I teared up and pulled him into a strong embrace. Stel hugged me back, and we stood together for a moment, heedless of the wagons rolling past us.

  “She has done you wrong, Dreya,” he said as we pulled apart. “Yet you have already begun reforging your bonds. I would stand before the unleashed power of the Gods before I would dare to come between the two of you.”

  “Thank you Stel,” I whispered, unwilling to trust my own voice to anything louder. “You mean more to me than I think you know.”

  “The honor is mine, Sintári,” he replied as his trademark smirk made an appearance once again.

  “Ruined the moment Stel, you ruined it,” I shook my head slowly as I laughed.

  “It’s alright,” he replied. “I’ve had my fill of seriousness for a while.”

  “Me too, Stel. Me too.”

  We parted then, and I had just begun heading to where Venna and Tási were walking together, intent on breaking up whatever it was that I was certain they had been plotting against me, when a horn rang out from the forest beside the road. A series of blasts rang out in response, and we were suddenly confronted by a massive horde of orcs relentlessly charging towards us. They were well-armed, and their numbers seemed vast as they began closing in.

  “Form a shield wall! Archers atop the wagons!” The commands were shouted, and I scrambled to climb on top of the closest wagon as most of my companions joined the hurried rush to form a defensive perimeter.

  As an Evoker, Tási had also climbed onto one of the wagons, and I could see her perched atop the one next to me. Khorim had drawn his blades and taken up a position behind the front lines, waiting to strike out as soon as the enemy was engaged with our defenses. A hastily fired hail of arrows fell just short of our lines, and I quickly drew back an arrow of my own and began firing on the enemy archers. The caravan guards had the same idea, and a steady stream of shafts began taking out the enemy archers as soon as they could be located.

  With their archers nearly eliminated before they could inflict any serious damage, the orcs crashed into our shield wall while it was still almost completely intact. Our enemies were well-equipped and outnumbered us by a wide margin, but the failure of their archers to inflict any real casualties was not their only shortcoming.

  The orcs’ attack was a completely disorganized affair. They came at us singly or in small groups, each throwing themselves recklessly against our shields as they charged our lines with abandon. Had they remained together as a cohesive unit, we would have been easily overwhelmed, but the orcs’ wild nature and lack of discipline was their undoing.

  Our lines flowed smoothly, reacting as needed when the press of orcs threatened to overwhelm any location along the front. With the enemy archers eliminated, I turned my focus towards the orcs attacking our lines, paying close attention to the area where my companions had positioned themselves.

  Releasing a Swarm enhanced shaft, I watched as the arrow shimmered, splitting into three identical shafts that stitched across the chest of one of the orcs. The heavy impact of the arrows spun the orc to the ground, taking him completely out of the fray. I stared in awe for a moment, not only at the force that my new bow had imparted, but also realizing that my Swarm of arrows had increased from two to three shafts. The sounds of clashing metal brought me back to the battle at hand, and I resumed firing at the orcs who were still recklessly charging our nearly intact shield wall.

  The orcs were numerous, and the battle continued for quite a while. As the fight went on, I was forced to conserve my Aura, as it dwindled rapidly under the near constant drain. Fortunately, the unenhanced arrows from my new bow hit with sufficient force that the added enhancements became almost a luxury rather than a necessity.

  As the battle raged on, I noticed that my Endurance began to dwindle, which forced me to pace my shots more carefully, taking them in ones and twos and abandoning the steady stream of arrows I had been sending out before. By then, I had all my spare quivers laid out before me, most of them completely empty from my rapid pace. Thankfully, the horde began to thin out at the same time, and even at my reduced rate of fire, I was able to keep up with the flow of targets threatening my companions’ defenses.

  I had k
ept a close watch over them for the entire battle—they had acquitted themselves well, dispatching every orc that dared to approach their position, and while all of them were caked in blood, very little of it was their own. Venna had clearly relied on her wicked mace during the fighting, apparently saving her Aura to heal anyone near her that had been wounded.

  Tási remained atop the wagon next to me, flinging fire among the enemy at will. I saw her launch not only her smaller bolts of fire and the spell that she had used to blast the Defiler out of hiding, but something new as well. When a large knot of orcs managed to pull themselves together for a semblance of an organized assault, Tási called down a pillar of flame on them. I couldn’t tell whether the broad column rose up from the ground or down from the sky—all I knew was that it was suddenly there, twisting and turning amongst the tightly packed orcs, lighting them ablaze with the intense heat of its flames. Tortured screams mixed with the rushing sound of the twisting inferno as the orcs’ charred and blistered bodies were scattered about the battlefield, and the sickly-sweet smell of burning flesh began to fill the air around me.

  The Spell had apparently been costly, as Tási had to take an extended break from casting anything for a while after. It was well worth it however, as that was the last time the orcs dared to gather together in any real numbers.

  As the fight wound down, the few orcs with any intelligence began to retreat; others were not so bright, continuing the attack for a short while and dying by the dozens before finally recognizing their defeat for what it was. The bodies of the defeated orcs littered the field by the hundreds, if not more, and the ground was soaked with their thick, red blood.

  When the last orc finally melted back into the forest, I climbed down from my perch on the wagon and ran to my friends, wanting to ensure that they were indeed as unharmed as I thought. As I drew closer, I saw that my concerns had been unfounded, and with my fears allayed, I found myself realizing just how much each of them meant to me. Rushing over to them, I put my arms around Khorim, and gripped him in a tight hug. The dwarf returned my embrace for a moment, before grumbling something about sensitive humans, but as I let him go, I also noticed that something seemed to have gotten into his eyes, as he quickly wiped his hand across his face, clearing away a stray tear.

  Broda was closest, and I repeated my embrace with her, hugging her tightly and telling her how glad I was that she was unharmed. She hugged me back fiercely and uncharacteristically, voiced no objections to my embrace with Khorim.

  Stel smiled at me as I grabbed him and crushed him into me. I told him how much he meant to me, and despite our earlier conversation, the confession caught us both off guard. We hugged for a long moment, both of us shedding tears freely in the poignant expression, and smiling at each other through those tears as we parted, I turned at last to face Venna.

  She stood slightly apart, allowing me some space. I reached out and grabbed her hand, yanking her forcefully into my arms. Clutching her tightest of all, I held her for a long moment while neither of us spoke a single word.

  “Don’t you dare die on me,” I finally whispered in her ear. “You do not have my permission.”

  “I will do my very best, my love,” she replied softly.

  I let her go and we held each other’s hands for another moment, smiling at each other warmly. The fear of losing her had hit me hard and despite our recent conflict, I realized just how much I both loved and needed her. Closing the door on the ugliness that had been between us, I welcomed Venna back into my heart, where she had always belonged.

  Tási had arrived during our exchange and stood nearby uncertainly. I could feel her confidence falling and saw the doubt in her eyes as she looked at me. Words were not what she needed just then, so I wrapped my arms around her as well, letting her know that nothing had changed between us.

  “I love you, Tási,” I spoke to her softly. “That will never change, I promise.”

  “I love you too, Dreya,’ she cried softly, as she pulled herself even tighter to me.

  “I’m sorry for all that,” I said as I finally released Tási. “I was so worried about all of you and was so relieved to see that you were all alright. I guess I’ve never really thought about losing any of you, and I got a bit emotional.”

  “You do remember that I died before, right?” Khorim replied sarcastically.

  “Yeah, but that was your own fault,” I answered him sharply. “This time I was watching over you, and Broda would have been upset with me if I let you get yourself killed by an orc again.”

  “True enough,” Broda laughed.

  Khorim could only grumble his objection and walk away slowly in defeat.

  With our emotional reunion at an end, we set about looting the enemy corpses, the guards allowing us to pillage any we had killed ourselves. For my part, it was a fairly easy affair—if it had one of my arrows in it, I claimed the kill. Tási claimed anything that had scorch marks, and no one seemed anxious to argue with her on that count. The rest of my companions looted the bodies that had fallen around the point they held during the battle; there was some dispute over a few of the kills, but there was more than enough plunder for things to be worked out amicably.

  Once a corpse had been stripped of anything valuable, the guards stacked the bodies in a heap beside the road. Following what I had come to recognize as the standard practice for such things, the pile of bodies was set ablaze once the last wagon had cleared the vicinity. If the orcs took the warning we left behind seriously, it would be a long time before they dared to attack one of the caravans again.

  The wagons increased their speed after the battle—having lost a great deal of time dealing with the orc attack, we were forced to hurry if we were to reach the next campsite before dark, but reaching that location was no mere matter of convenience. The campsites along the road were set up specifically to provide for the overnight defense of the caravans. Low walls had been erected around them over the years, and rudimentary guard posts were scattered around their perimeters. The additional protection provided a genuine edge to the defenders against anyone foolish enough to attack the caravan during the night.

  In order to keep up with the faster speed of the wagons, we had to increase our own pace from our leisurely stroll to a rather brisk walk. Even so, we were still occasionally forced to jog ahead when the wagons of the caravan began passing us by.

  As we hurried forward, a steady stream of guards exchanged their looted items with the merchants. The process was both quick and efficient, as the guards and merchants had a prearranged agreement for the sale of any spoils acquired in defense of the wagons, with fair prices having been negotiated beforehand so that no additional haggling was required.

  “We will have to wait until we reach Dhagboro to sell our loot,” Stel lamented. “The merchants will not be eager to buy anything else after the guards have added so much to their stocks.”

  There had been so much loot to claim that we had taken only the highest quality gear, and even having been so selective, the capacity of our packs was still strained. Unfortunately, it seemed we would have to carry the heavy burden for the remainder of our journey to the dwarven Kingdom.

  The caravan finally made it to the next overnight camp just as the sun began to set behind us. Guards hurried about, rushing back and forth to prepare the defenses for the night. With all the commotion going on, we simply stayed out of the way, not wanting to hinder their efforts. Once the guards were finished, we had to set up our own small camp in near darkness, but the inconvenience was a small price to pay for the added security.

  My friends then began cleaning their filthy armor and scrubbing the crusted blood from their clothes—in the rush to reach the safety of the next campsite, this was the first opportunity anyone had to remove the battle’s bloody aftermath from their bodies and equipment. It took some doing, but after a while, we all regained at least some semblance of cleanliness.

  Perched atop the wagon, I had managed to stay clear of most of the g
ore, but the emotional embraces I had greeted my companions with afterwards had served to coat my relatively clean armor in a thick layer of blood and other things best left unknown. So, working alongside my friends, I too made the effort to cleanse myself and my gear; I could have simply fallen asleep and relied on my Deathless powers to cleanse my body and armor in the night, but I didn’t feel comfortable going to bed in the sweaty, blood-stained gear.

  Once we were cleaned, Stel surprised us with a hot meal he had purchased from one of the traveling merchants. After the rigors of battle and the long march, the steaming bowls of stew provided a welcome change from the cold rations we typically ate on the road.

  We enjoyed the warm food almost as much as each other’s company—the combination of thrill and terror the battle had generated in us reinforced our bonds, pulling our already close-knit group even tighter together. I sat by Venna’s side throughout the night, holding her hand in mine for a great deal of that time. The fear of losing her had brought my love for Venna back into focus, and I treasured having her by my side again.

  Tási sat on my other side, and I made sure to let her know that she too was in my thoughts. Wrapping my arm around her shoulders, I held her against me as the night wore on, basking in her warmth.

  Eventually, we were forced to call it a night; although we were reluctant to leave each other’s company, we all needed the rest, not only to recover from the rigors of the day, but also to be ready for the long march ahead of us tomorrow.

  Retiring to our tent, Tási and I laid down beside each other for a few quiet moments. I took her hand in mine, and we enjoyed the peaceful silence together. I might have enjoyed falling asleep next to her like that, but I could feel the tremors that had already begun making her tremble and knew that she needed my attention.