Peter and the Kuroneko (War of Contractia)

by Dixon, TJ

  “If they die it can’t be helped.” I tell Seraph and Ishki.

  “Don’t change your mind after they die.” Seraph says with a laugh. She always struck me as a bit bloodthirsty but victory is what matters now.

  Seraph’s lightning is way more powerful than what the human used. It would take a lot of power to block it. I sense the dimensional magic cut through my port block just in time to avoid the worst of the blast but I am still hit. Stunned I start to fall, but then Ishki catches me with flight magic and retreats above the forest canopy. Recovered I use my own flight magic now and Seraph catches up a moment later.

  I am relieved for a moment but the relief is gone as a wind slice cuts right through Ishki’s spiderfly. Ishki is covered in goo but I catch him with flight magic. We retreat as far as we can as quickly as we can. They don’t send any more attacks our way. We are a long way from the enemy when we settle on the forest canopy and I remove the goo from Ishki.

  To lose two spiderflies to mere humans is unthinkable. At least we happen to be in the forest where they live, so it is easy to replace them. Otherwise I would need to report our failure to the Envoy. I shiver as I consider what that would mean.

  “Let’s get our replacements.” I say and jump into the air. The sooner we get them the better.

  Chapter 12 (Peter)

  Emi has just finished removing the goo from Dairon and Hinata with water magic. It seemed to have a paralysing effect as well as binding their bodies. It is gone now though.

  “How much power did you use?” Lucy whispers in my ear.

  “Less than a day’s worth.” I say with a shrug. The wind blast at the end used the most power but as I guessed it made the enemy retreat a lot further.

  “That’s fine then, but make sure you don’t waste power.” Lucy says.

  “I know.”

  “Why can’t Peter waste magic?” Sor asks suspiciously.

  “Oh, you heard that. It’s none of your business though, so forget you did.” Lucy tells her.

  “It is my business if I need to work with someone who can’t use his full power.” Sor says.

  “I don’t recover the power I use.” I tell Sor who blinks.

  “That’s impossible.” Sor says frowning.

  “It’s because I have more power inside me than my natural limit.” I tell her.

  “I’m not an idiot!” Sor says glaring at me.

  “It’s true.” Lucy says with a sigh. “And you are a bit of an idiot.”

  “Why you…” Sor snarls. I need to intervene before this gets out of hand.

  “The enemy know we are here. We need to hide our presence and move quickly or we may have a whole tribe of elves to fight next.” I remind them both. That brings them back to their senses.

  “I’ll hide everyone with a dimensional cover if you fly us at full speed. I can’t maintain it for long though. A minute at most. It will hide your wind magic completely though.” Sor says grimly.

  “I can get us a long way in a minute.” I say with a smile.

  “Lift us into the air and be ready to move when I say.” Sor tells me.

  “Ok.” I say and lift us up with flight magic.

  “Now!” Sor says and I throw us through the air dodging the many branches, tree trunks, boulders and everything else that gets in our way. It actually takes a lot of focus to dodge so many obstacles for so many people but I manage it. “Stop!” Sor shouts, so I stop the wind magic completely and we drop like stones onto the ground.

  “This should be far enough.” Dairon says with a smile.

  “You could have been a bit gentler.” Sor complains rubbing the right side of her face where it hit the ground.

  “We should continue walking from here.” I say.

  “Peter’s right.” Dairon agrees.

  “You just said it was far enough.” Sor complains.

  “It is for now, but we shouldn’t stay here any longer than we need to.” Dairon says.

  “Peter, did you at least take us closer to the mountains?” Sor asks.

  “Yes, but not straight towards them. That would be asking for trouble.” I tell her.

  “At least you’re not quite as stupid as you look.” Sor says.

  “Dairon, lead on.” I say and Dairon sets a fairly fast pace. Sor has trouble keeping up and to be fair so do I. It is close to the end of the day though so we don’t need to maintain it for long. After a while I feel the sun setting and the darkness is becoming complete. Dairon turns and says. “It would be dangerous to continue any further until the morning. We can’t light a fire but a very dim light should be safe. It would be less safe to be in complete darkness.”

  “I’ll take care of the light.” Hinata says and takes a small stone from the ground. She infuses it with magic and it glows with a dim purple light.

  “That should be safe.” Dairon says.

  “It should last until the morning.” Hinata tells us.

  “Emi and I will take first watch tonight. Dairon and Sor will take second watch. Now the elves know about us it would be dangerous to have just one guard at night.” I say.

  “Although it means less sleep I have to agree with that.” Sor says nodding but not looking too happy about it. “I’d rather pair up with Emi though.”

  “Both Dairon and I should be able to sense the elves. I’m not certain if you or Emi will be able to.” I say shaking my head.

  “Don’t underestimate me. I sensed those elves at the same time Dairon warned us.” Sor says angrily.

  “Even so, I’d still be more comfortable this way. If you’d rather, you can swap with Emi and pair up with me.” I tell her.

  “No.” Sor says shaking her head vehemently.

  “Then get some sleep now so you’re alert when it is your watch.” I tell her. Her only answer is a glare, but she does get her black bed out. Emi uses earth magic to make the ground a little more comfortable for everyone else to sleep on but it isn’t going to be as pleasant as sleeping in a glade was.

  Emi and I sit with our backs against each other to allow us to keep a watch with our eyes in both directions as well as using our senses in every direction. We talk very quietly to avoid disturbing everyone else’s sleep.

  “Your mother’s an alchemist, right?” I ask.

  “Yes. How did you know that?” Emi asks clearly surprised.

  “Rin told me, and Sor said your mother made that bag of hers.” I tell her.

  “How did Rin know?” Emi asks.

  “I can’t really go into the details because it’s a bit personal. Her mother is an alchemist too though.” I say and leave out the part about Rin’s father. It really isn’t right for me to tell Emi about that if she really doesn’t know.

  “Yes, she said about that on the field trip.” Emi says. I consider her words for a moment.

  “Was all of 2A on a trip to Portalis?”

  “Yes. Everyone else returned to the academy not long before you ported here.” Emi says. I am relieved they have returned, because Portalis could very well become a battlefield.

  “So how did you meet Sor?” I ask.

  “I was trained my whole life to work as Sor’s bodyguard and servant. My mother and grandmother worked for Sor’s mother, because she saved their lives. They’re both dead now though.” Emi says and there is sadness in her voice, but there is also pride.

  “So are you under some sort of contract?” I ask not wanting to make Emi think any more about their deaths and unsure what to say.

  “Yes, but I don’t mind, because Sor is worth serving.” Emi says sounding content.

  We continue talking for a while and then pass the rest of the time in silence. I let Emi wake Sor whilst I wake Dairon. I miss the stars, but I am tired so fall asleep quickly despite their absence.

  The morning comes and we continue towards the mountains. There are a few times that Dairon senses elves above the forest canopy but they ignore us. There is no way an elf would miss us so close by. According to Dairon it seems like they are a
lways in a hurry. It makes me nervous. What are they hurrying to do?

  Night comes again and we are a little closer but still a long way from the mountains. We are deciding who will take the first watch when we sense two people not far away. One is a catman and the other a human. They are being closely pursued by five elf women that are using flight magic.

  “They should pass here any moment.” Lucy warns.

  “We’ll help them.” I say after a moment’s indecision and prepare to fight. Moments later the catman races by on all fours with a human woman on his back. The elves are right behind him, but I use a wind blast and knock the elves out of the air.

  I can’t afford to save my power when fighting five elves so my attacks are full force, but thankfully I am not alone. Dairon uses tree roots to grab an elf as she is knocked back by my air blast. The roots wrap tightly around her, robbing her of air and at the same time throw her head first against a tree trunk. She is unconscious before she knows what is happening.

  Emi launched a boulder at an elf but the elf easily deflected it even whilst she was falling through the air. Continuing the air blast I strike with lightning even before the elves hit the ground. A second elf is knocked out but the other three throw my air blast back at me as I take the concentration away from it. We are thrown through the air whilst the elves land and strike with lightning of their own.

  Sor ports one lightning blast back at the elf who struck with it but another blast hits her. She is out cold and so is Hinata who caught the edge of the blast. I regain control of the air and throw it back at the elves but they shield and it dissipates.

  Roots reach out for me but I strike them with air slices. All of a sudden the catman, alone now, jumps past us and strikes an elf with his claws. She launches roots at him but he easily slices them and bites down on her neck.

  One of the remaining elves is busy shielding against my latest lightning strike whilst the other blasts a hole in the catman’s side with a concentrated air blast. The angle means it is a shallow wound but it still throws the catman off the elf he was biting. Before the elf can turn her attention back on us I strengthen my lightning and finally pierce the shield. It is now just the one elf left. She holds up her hands.

  “I surrender, but please let me heal my comrade.” She says pleadingly. We actually defeated five elves?!

  “Sure.” I say gasping for breath. She takes a small vial out from under her skirt and pours it over the neck bite. The wound heals over in moments. The elf that was bitten has already passed out so it is just one conscious elf and four unconscious ones. Meanwhile Lucy has healed both the catman and Hinata.

  “Peter, drain their power.” Lucy orders, pointing at the elves.

  “Ok.” I say with a nod and approach the only elf that is still conscious. She looks down at me fearfully. She is too tall for me to reach her mouth. “Kneel and don’t resist.”

  “I won’t resist.” She says as she kneels. She sounds really scared, but right now scared is good. It means she shouldn’t try anything dangerous. I place my mouth on hers and kiss her. It is fastest that way and we may not have much time before anyone who noticed our fight comes to investigate. Her power drained I move onto the other elves and bend over their unconscious bodies. I kiss each of them and quickly drain them of power.

  “Did you recover as much power as you used?” Lucy asks me.

  “No.” I say shaking my head. They had mostly used a lot of power too so I didn’t even recover half of what I used. It can’t be helped though.

  “You finished napping yet, Sor?” Lucy asks. Sor just stands there with her right hand on her forehead and glares at Lucy.

  “Do you have enough power to hide us again?” I ask Sor urgently.

  “No, I hadn’t fully recovered when we started fighting so now I’m mostly drained. I can still port us though. If I port us away from the mountains I can probably prevent anyone detecting the port.” Sor tells me.

  “Port the prisoners and the two they were pursuing as well.” I tell her.

  “Hurry, there are twenty more elves approaching.” Dairon tells her urgently. Sor closes her eyes and after a moment we are all ported. Sor falls to her knees and clenches her fists in pain.

  “Great, we’re even further from where we need to be.” Lucy says with a sigh.

  “You could at least be grateful!” Emi protests angrily.

  “I am actually. Sor has been a lot more useful than I expected, but I don’t have to like the fact that we are now further from where we need to be and have attracted the attention of our enemy.” Lucy says. As she finishes speaking though Sor falls forward.

  “Sor!” Emi cries out and runs towards her.

  “I’ll heal her, but stop shouting unless you feel like fighting an army of elves.” Lucy says and beats Emi to Sor’s side. The familiar gentle light of Lucy’s healing magic envelopes Sor and then fades. “She just needs rest now. It seems she is recovering from the after effects of the curse. I suspected it would be like this, which is why I didn’t want you both coming with us. If she keeps pushing herself like this, she could wreck her magical senses. She’d recover them in time, but it could take as much as a year, and she might never be as capable as she is now.”

  “I thought you said even her mother wouldn’t be useful?” Emi asks surprised.

  “I lied.” Lucy says with a shrug. “If she is anything like her mother she’d just push herself even more to prove me wrong if I told her the truth. She’s smart enough to work it out herself though. She probably knew from the moment Dairon removed the curse.”

  “So why were you so mean to her, if you knew what she was going through?” Emi asks.

  “I was hoping she’d get fed up and go home. That and because she is just as much fun as her mother to tease. It seems though she’s just as stubborn as her mother is, and twice as stubborn as a rat mule.” Lucy says shaking her head half in amusement and half in frustration.

  “There’s no way I’d give up because of an incompetent whiner.” Sor says slowly opening her eyes.

  “You heard that then. I was sure you’d sleep for at least another half hour.” Lucy says looking at Sor in surprise.

  “I’m not that weak.” Sor tells Lucy but her voice is actually very weak right now.

  “I’m not going to argue with you right now, because we have more important matters to worry about. First we should decide what to do with the prisoners. We could kill them or we could take them with us, but we can’t just let them go free. They would be a good source of power, but they will draw the enemy to us. Since Peter is leader though, I suppose we aren’t going to be killing them.” Lucy says, but she seemed to enjoy watching the one conscious elf squirm at talk of killing the prisoners.

  “We’ll take them with us then.” I say.

  “You’ll need a contract with each of them then. I’ll write it. Hinata, get me some paper and something to lean on again.” Lucy tells me.

  “Here.” Hinata says having summoned both when Lucy mentioned the contract.

  “Thanks.” Lucy says and writes the contract with magic instead of a pen. It reminds me of how she drew the picture of Sor and Emi, which makes me fight back laughter. “What’s funny?”

  “Nothing.” I say but now I can’t help laughing as that picture and the real scene were just too funny. “Sorry, I was just remembering when we first met Sor and Emi near the hot spring.”

  “Ah, yes, I should draw another picture before I forget the details.” Lucy says. “Not right now though. Sign these and get them to sign as well. Since they don’t have any magic at the moment we can safely wake them all, but get that one to sign first.” Lucy says handing me the contract. I know I should but I don’t bother reading it before signing. Lucy knows what she is doing and I trust her completely.

  “Sign it.” I tell the only conscious elf. She reads it quickly and signs it too. “Emi, wake the others and get them to sign it.” I say and hand Emi the contract. I let her deal with it whilst I turn my atten
tion on the catman and human woman.

  “I’m Nico Na and this is Kai.” The catman says bowing slightly as I approach him. The woman bows deeply.

  “I’m Peter of the Wind and these are my comrades. We don’t really have time to talk too much now. Are you from the Kuroneko Mountains?” I ask.

  “I am. I’m not sure where Kai is from but I saved her from a giant spider. She was lost so I agreed to take her to a human village by the river.” Nico Na says.

  “Do you know where the temple in the mountains is?” I ask.

  “Yes, it was my home, but the elves have captured it. I barely escaped with my life.” Nico Na tells me.

  “We need to get to the temple. Are you able to help us, even just with advice?” I ask.

  “I could get you to the temple, but once you get there what do you plan to do? There must be at least a hundred elves at the temple and more close by.” Nico Na tells me. Lucy interrupts us.

  “We need to find the Kuroneko and then reach the Heart of the Mountain with her.” Lucy says. Not knowing the whole plan I had no idea.

  “I know where the Kuroneko is, but what do you want from her?” Nico Na says.

  “Isn’t she in the sacred hall at the temple?” Lucy asks.

  “No, she is in the forest, but I cannot help you unless you tell me what you want from her.” Nico Na tells Lucy.

  “We need her help to kill an evil spirit.” Lucy says.

  “Why would she help you?” Nico Na asks dubiously.

  “We can help her in return.” Lucy tells him.

  “How? Can you beat the elves?” Nico Na asks cautiously.

  “No, but we can free the Kuroneko’s followers. The temple may be sacred, but what truly matters to a god are those who believe in her.” Lucy says.

  “How do you plan to free them?” Nico Na asks.

  “I still need to work out the details but we have a portal we will be using to return home. They can come with us. The Kuroneko should be powerful enough to fight off the elves for a short time whilst we free your people. First though we must reach the centre of the mountain with the Kuroneko and defeat our foe.” Lucy says.