by A. K. DuBoff
A kilometer from where the creatures attacked us, I started to see signs of movement in the water again. “Guys, I think more of them have come to say hello.”
“Ugh, I really don’t want to deal with more of those things,” Maris groaned.
“Maybe this is a good opportunity to get in some additional practicing before we go for the artifact,” Kaiden suggested.
Maris glanced at Toran and me, then she focused on Kaiden. “What kind of practice?”
“I know you don’t want to use offensive magic, but it would be good to get a handle on some basic spells, if you can manage,” he explained. “You need to be able to protect yourself.”
“Yeah, I guess,” she admitted. “I just couldn’t get it to work when I tried before.”
“Well, there was a lot of pressure then. You can give it a shot now while there isn’t something threatening to eat you.”
Maris nodded. “Okay, I’ll try.” She took a deep breath and held out her right hand while gripping her crystal pendant in her left.
I kept an eye on the water and my hand on my sword hilt in case something else decided to attack us.
Toran was equally vigilant. While it wasn’t necessarily best for the two people keeping watch to not have any longer-distance attack abilities like Kaiden with his magic, at least we wouldn’t be caught off-guard.
After an awkward minute, nothing had happened with Maris’ attempted casting.
“This isn’t working,” she grumbled.
“You’re overthinking it.” Kaiden placed a hand on her shoulder. “Picture the result like it’s already happening.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
“That’s your problem—you doubt yourself. You control the abilities, not the other way around.”
She sighed. “I guess.”
“Think about when you were casting haste before, or when you healed us. You just did it without thinking.”
“Maybe that’s the only kind of magic I can cast.” Maris shrugged.
Kaiden gave her a stern look. “Not everything will be easy. You’ll have to dig deeper and find it.”
She tilted her head. “Then why don’t you learn the curative and support casting, too?”
The question appeared to catch him off-guard. “Well, offensive magic comes easily to me, and the other to you, so—”
“But you want me to learn the other kind. Shouldn’t that go both ways?”
I had to admit, she did bring up a valid point. “You know, if we had two casters giving us extra bonus skills…”
“Okay, I’ll work on it,” Kaiden conceded. “But my bigger concern right now is making sure you can defend yourse—”
A dark creature burst from beneath the water, heading straight for Kaiden.
Maris yelped, her hand still outstretched for the practice. As soon as the creature’s shoulders cleared the water, a column of flames shot from her hand and enveloped the marsh monster.
Its shriek pierced the silence, only lasting a moment before fading out. It dropped back into the water and lie still at the shore, its rubbery flesh charred.
I let out a relieved chuckle, my eyes wide with surprise. “That’s one way to take care of things.”
Kaiden grinned at Maris. “See? You’re a natural.”
“Still nowhere as good as you.” She giggled.
I tried to suppress an eye-roll. I don’t think I was successful, but she didn’t seem to be paying attention.
“All right, so now we know Maris can get badass with the offensive magic in a pinch. But shouldn’t we keep moving? You can practice more while we walk,” I said.
“I concur. We still have a ways to go,” Toran added.
“Right, yeah. We’ll keep working on it,” Kaiden acknowledged.
We set out again at our same brisk pace. A fireball or electrical blast occasionally shot out behind me while Kaiden and Maris practiced casting. It would have been annoying were it not for Maris’ restorative spells thrown into the mix, which helped mitigate my weariness from slogging through the mud for hours.
Our path was true for most of the trek, with the exception of two times we needed to backtrack when we discovered that what had looked like land on the aerial image was actually exceptionally murky water. On the second backtrack, two of the smaller marsh monsters attempted an ambush, but we quickly dealt with them using quick reflexes and Kaiden’s casting skills.
After two and a half hours, the putrid water began to clear. According to our tracking on the downloaded map, we were almost to the lake.
“Nearing the artifact site,” Kaiden reported in over the comm to Central Command.
“We’ve been tracking your progress,” Colren said in my ear comm. “It looks like you’ve logged some combat time. Is everything okay?”
“Yes, nothing we can’t handle,” I replied.
“All right, keep us updated on your progress. Sunset is coming up on you quickly, so it looks like you won’t be able to make it back to the shuttle before nightfall.”
I frowned; the notion of trying to traverse the marsh after dark didn’t appeal to me, but spending the night on the alien world with hostile creatures didn’t have a great ring to it, either.
“We’ll be in touch,” Kaiden assured him.
A low double-beep sounded as the commlink disconnected.
“Staying here overnight?” Maris moaned.
“I suspected that would be the case as soon as we saw the island, but I’d hoped we at least wouldn’t have any predators to deal with,” I said.
Kaiden nodded. “It isn’t ideal, but we have everything we need to make it through the night.”
“We should find a campsite and set up before we lose daylight,” Toran suggested.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Let’s find that stone bridge. Maybe there’s something paved around there.”
“Good thinking.” Toran took the lead.
“This will be my first night sleeping outside,” Maris said while we walked.
“Total ‘city girl’, huh?” I asked.
She chuckled. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. Yantu, my homeworld, was pretty focused on interplanetary business. Most of my customers at the bar either worked for the Hegemony as administrators or were in middle management or executives for private industry.”
I cocked my head and glanced back at her. “Ever overhear any juicy gossip?”
She smiled. “All the time! You know that you can convert pericol into tridarium holdings then cash it out and avoid the import taxes?”
“I have no idea what you just said.”
“Ugh, commodities trading,” Kaiden groaned. “I spent way too much time dealing with that for my parents’ grain transport business.”
“That’s way more important than anything I heard about,” Maris said. “You were helping to feed people; all of my customers just wanted to make money so they could retire somewhere on a beach far away.”
“Can’t say that’s a bad aspiration,” I admitted.
“No, but a little too aspirational, given our present circumstances. I’m more focused on not dying right now than my future earnings prospects,” she replied.
I looped my thumbs behind the shoulder straps of my backpack. “You know, that’s a good point. What’s going to happen after this is over?”
“We are operating on behalf of the Hegemony. I’d hope they would compensate us as independent contractors,” Toran chimed in.
“Seriously, guys?” Kaiden raised an eyebrow. “We’re tromping through a bog on an alien world and you’re wondering if we’re going to get paid for saving known civilization?”
I smiled at him. “Well, when you put it that way, it would be ridiculous for them not to give us all the money for being the bestest heroes ever.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I can’t quite tell if you’re joking or not.”
“Probably because you recognize I bring up a valid point.”<
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“It does seem like we should get something for going to all of this trouble,” Maris interjected.
“I could see getting an endorsement deal,” Toran said. “Pretty sure there’s a fitness company that would want to get in on this.” He flexed his arms to model his sculpted torso.
“You’ve all lost your minds,” Kaiden muttered.
“Probably swamp gas,” I quipped.
He sighed. “And here I thought I’d get to finish out my last term of school in solitude charting the growth patterns of new hybrid alfalfa strains.”
I turned back toward him. “Kaiden, I’m not gonna lie, that sounds really lonely.”
“Okay, granted, it wasn’t the best. I was attracted to the agro angle because I thought I could be part of a community. Turns out it wasn’t quite what I thought.”
“Do you regret it?” I asked.
“No.” He paused. “Maybe. I don’t know. I just wanted to have a sense of grounding that I never got growing up.”
“You know, sometimes it’s about the people you’re around more than the place,” I said.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that, too.” He sighed. “I have a feeling that this whole experience is going to upend my plans. I’ll see how it shakes out in the end.”
“I’m never going to be able to look at things the same way again,” Toran murmured.
“Wow, that conversation took a turn for the deep and introspective.” Maris chuckled.
“I guess being faced with mortality and the fate of one’s world can do that to a person,” I said.
She took a deep breath. “Yeah, I have a lot to think about, too.”
“Like, I mean, the whole magic thing is a game-changer,” Kaiden said.
“That is very true. It complements being a nurse, but this would be different,” replied Maris.
I nodded. “Tough to know how the established medical community will respond to the notion of magical healing.”
“Can’t argue with the results, though.” Kaiden pointed out.
“The very confirmation of magic will change many perceptions,” Toran mused. “I could see us becoming the subject of many studies.”
“No, there have to be others, right?” Maris asked. “We’re not the only casters.”
“Have you ever heard of a genuine magic user?” I questioned. “I haven’t. I was familiar with the idea, and I was taught that magic was commonplace during the time the crystals were created, but those were the last known instances of true magic, as far as I know.”
“That’s what I learned growing up, too,” Kaiden said. “When I saw the wand, it called to the fanciful dreams I had as a kid. I never imagined… this.” He cupped a flame in his palm.
“There’s a lot to worry about before we think about returning to our normal lives,” Toran stated. “Let’s focus on the Spirit artifact.”
“To that end, I suspect it’s somewhere over there.” Kaiden pointed to the west.
A shimmering expanse of blue-green water was now distinct from the surrounding marshy landscape. At its center, the small island rose a few meters above the water’s surface and measured approximately ten meters in diameter. The crystal at the summit of the island’s rise shone with soft blue light, beckoning us to approach.
However, the sun was getting low in the sky, and nighttime would be upon us within the hour. We’d have to wait to tackle the island in the morning.
We continued toward the lake, the last half-kilometer going faster as the ground transitioned from sticky mud to drier, plant-covered clay.
As we approached the lakefront, I kept an eye out for any signs of a road or bridge, which might connect to the underwater pathway to the island.
“I wonder if there’s a magical switch,” I mused aloud.
“What, now?” Kaiden asked.
“You know, the bridge,” I clarified.
“Oh that, yeah.” He nodded. “I’m hesitant to try anything tonight, since it may trigger another battle like that one with the giant. I really don’t want to attempt a magic fight in the dark.”
“Might actually be easier than a physical fight in the dark, though,” I pointed out.
He took a deep breath. “The intent of that statement was any nighttime battle equals bad.”
“I can’t argue with that.”
Toran squinted. “Is that the entry to the bridge up ahead?”
I diverted my attention from Kaiden to where Toran was pointing at two horizontal stones along the water’s edge.
“That does look promising,” I agreed.
“Let’s get a closer look.” Kaiden picked up his pace.
We slowed on the final approach, instinct taking over to warn us that we might be walking into a trap.
“I don’t feel any active magical presence,” Kaiden said.
“Me either,” Maris agreed. “Not that I know what that is, exactly, but nothing stands out as this being different than any other stone.”
“Assuming this is the trigger for the bridge, let’s not wake it up just yet,” Kaiden cautioned.
“Yeah, no.” Maris shook her head.
Toran gazed thoughtfully at the strip of land to which the bridge connected. “I believe this will make a suitable campsite.”
The low, horizontal stones formed walls along a sloped ramp leading into the lake. The walls would make for reasonable seating, and a flat, paved area between them would serve for a relatively dry campsite to lie down with our blankets and tend a fire.
“I like it,” I said. “We should get a fire going. That tends to deter most creatures.”
Toran nodded. “I had a similar thought.”
“What are we going to burn?” Maris asked.
“No trees, no wood,” I realized.
“Those reeds and bushes?” Maris suggested.
Kaiden shook his head. “Good tinder, but there’s no staying power to the burn on something like that.”
She frowned. “Then what?”
“Peat,” I said. “We used to bring bricks of it camping with us.”
“Uh, Elle, if you haven’t noticed, everything is wet here,” Kaiden countered. “We can’t burn anything from the ground here.”
“All that you need to prepare it is pressure and heat.” I gestured to Toran and Kaiden. “This ground is packed biomass. It’ll make the perfect long-burn fuel with a little preparation.”
Toran nodded slowly. “You may be onto something there. Don’t know until we try it.” He shrugged.
“How do we get it out of the ground?” Kaiden asked.
Maris scowled. “What are you even talking about?”
“You know, peat.” I stamped my foot on the ground.
She tilted her head. “Who’s Pete?”
I sighed. “Just watch.” I dropped my pack on the stone ledge and rooted around inside. We weren’t lucky enough to have a shovel in our collection of random useful things, but I did have my sword, a plate, and a bunch of tape; I always loved improvising.
My makeshift ‘shovel’ was slightly horrifying to behold, but when I gave it a test-scoop in the ground, it worked surprisingly well. While Maris watched with crossed arms and a bemused expression, I scooped out a dozen chunks of the ground from near the water’s edge where the reeds grew. It had the right kind of fibrous look I recognized from untreated peat back home, so I was hopeful it would fulfill our needs.
“All right, let’s make this into something that will burn,” I said.
With Kaiden and Toran’s help—Maris didn’t want to get her hands dirty—we relocated the chunks of wet biomass to the paved stone area and stomped on it as a first pass to get out the moisture. Then, I removed the plate from my sword and Toran also got out his. He pressed the chunks between the plates until they were relatively dry pucks. We then set the pucks on the stone pathway, and Kaiden held a flame in his hand—enough to heat the pucks without igniting them.
As the last of the sun
dipped below the horizon, the pucks appeared to be about as dry as they’d get.
“Let’s see how this burns,” I said.
Kaiden nodded. “All right.”
We located a suitable spot in the center of the stone ramp to use as a fire pit, and Kaiden focused a low-intensity flame on the puck. It sputtered at first, then ignited in a warm, golden glow.
We laughed with relief and glee; our efforts had paid off.
“Now that’s how you improvise a fire,” I said.
“Huh.” Maris nodded. “So, did Pete invent this, or—”
“Different spelling,” I cut in, holding up one of the pucks. “P-e-a-t. Apparently, they don’t teach you everything in the city.”
She crossed her arms, accentuating her figure even more in the firelight. “Yeah, we didn’t burn a lot—not even candles.”
“I barely knew about the material, myself,” Toran admitted.
“Fire can be fun,” Kaiden interjected.
I smiled. “You were a total pyro as a kid, weren’t you?”
He looked off to the side. “Well, let’s just say it’s not surprising that a fireball was the first thing I cast.”
With the immediate needs of warmth and animal deterrent tended to, we got settled into our campsite for the night. We had thin sleeping pads and thermal blankets in our inventory, along with half a week’s rations, a water filter, and various other gadgets.
The horizontal walls to either side weren’t ideal for sitting on, but at least it would be a dry place to sit off of the ground. I selected a spot on one of the mossier sections to get some extra insulation from the stone. Across the campsite, Kaiden noticed me getting settled and started to head over. Before he could sit next to me, however, Toran plopped down.
“I bet it gets cold at night,” the large man commented.
“Yeah, we’ll need to get cozy.” Maris grabbed Kaiden’s arm and tugged him to toward the wall across from me.
He sat down next to her, seeming a little reluctant, but I wasn’t sure if that was only in my head.
As the temperature dropped, we found ourselves scooting closer together and leaning in toward the fire to gather as much warmth as we could. True to Tami’s statement, the base layer of our clothing did regulate temperature well, but even with that, the chill crept in.