The piglike mouth roared again, and at this range, the waves beneath our boat rolled. Via snarled and righted the sail to preserve our craft.
Now do you believe me? She shouted through the mindlink. When I said this thing was dangerous.
Yup, I admitted grimly, and as the monster closed the gap further, the distance between us shrinking to bring it within a hundred feet, I traced empowering scripts through the air and fired both my stored lightning bolt and fireball. The spells fired at a much greater intensity than the blast from the caravel, but the monster still wreathed both of its unnaturally long arms in flame and swung them forward. Once again, the limbs detonated upon contact with my magic, but this time, I heard a pained note to the monster’s roar. When the fire cleared, I saw smoke rising from the beast’s arms, tribute to the fact that I had harmed the Icon-killing abomination, if only slightly. Via gasped in amazement, then whirled her whip around our heads and began to work her water magic. Small jets of water shot out from her whip, angling just enough to pass through my scripts and become empowered as well. This time, the Nuckelavee actually reared back, attempting and failing to dodge the water jets and getting struck along its horse flank for its efforts. The water hissed on contact, and the fiend let out its most pained roar yet.
Fresh water jets, Via explained to me. And I can’t believe this is working. The mist always made combat impossible.
We’ll have to see just how much we can risk, I replied grimly, working my own version of her spell, using my Ice magic to begin firing javelin-sized icicles at the monster. Three of them passed right through my script magic and peppered the Nuckelavee’s arm. The limb jerked as if in pain, and I felt immensely proud about remembering that frozen water is almost always salt-free, making it like fresh water.
Then the Nuckelavee roared again, making our boat rock over the water. Its arms blazed with renewed fire, and it hurled two burning bolts at us.
Via was already moving, pulling the sail around and summoning more water magic under the boat with a twirl of her whip. The little boat turned hard as it sailed between the two burning blasts, narrowly avoiding them as they splashed a dozen meters away on either side into the now-steaming water .
Via growled as the boat rocked again, pulling on the rope and turning the rudder to keep us afloat.
Just one of those blasts could rip this craft apart, she sent tensely to me as a droplet sizzled next to her foot. I won’t be able to dodge them forever. Maybe we should rethink our optimism over taking this thing down. She seemed quietly, inexplicably happier for a moment. Optimism! I was looking for that word! Ha! This is such a better way to talk!
I put my bafflement over her sudden mood swing aside and focused on a plan to help her keep us alive.
The original plan was to just distract the thing long enough to save your island, I replied. You handle sailing. I’ll keep the monster busy.
The nightmarish centaur continued its galloping course toward our ship, claws outstretched. The sight was pure nightmare fuel, but so were most of my recent memories these days. I thought back to my last naval battle and began summoning small blocks of ice to float atop the water between our boat and the Nuckelavee. I didn’t have time to make them very big and I didn’t need to. The Nuckelavee wasn’t the size of a warship, and it wouldn’t sink like one if it struck an iceberg either. So I created a long trail of head-sized blocks to float atop the water. It still drained far more of my magic than I was comfortable with, but at least now our enemy had an entire obstacle course to contend with while it tried to murder us.
The Nuckelavee continued its headlong chase across the top of the waves until it came within a dozen feet of the first iceberg, and then it skidded to a splashing halt and reared up on its hind hooves. This time both heads roared, with the horse head letting out a whinny, and the pigman head letting out another bellow of rage. The beast backed away from the floe of ice, still crying out in impotent rage.
Its actions baffled me, because I wasn’t expecting my barrier to be so effective. At best, I thought it just would have made the monster slow down and carefully pick its way through the ice floe. He can’t cross fresh water, the legends reminded me. Apparently that also applied to trails of floating ice.
Via stopped doing her nautical gymnastics long enough to look at the sight.
Ice magic? She shouted into the link. All this time, we could have stopped the thing with ice magic? This isn’t fair! It took us forever just to figure out the trick with fresh water! How come everything you do always works!
Girl, join the club, Breena sent over the mindlink, apparently hearing Via’s outburst. If you think it’s bad now, just you wait.
While Via grumbled something at her fellow Satellite that I couldn’t catch, the Nuckelavee itself decided it didn’t feel like waiting at all. It raised one of its unnaturally long limbs, set it ablaze with orange flame, and smashed the water in front of the ice. The monster screamed in pain as its limb impacted the water, but the resulting explosion was enough to shatter and evaporate my frosty barricade. Then the raw-fleshed centaur crossed its arms in front of itself, and ripped them both through the water. A powerful arrow of current rippled across the waves, heading to our ship.
Via cursed in surprise, yanking on the rudder before swinging across the boat on a rope, tugging the sail to another position. Feeling her intent through the mindlink, I tumbled behind the sail’s new position and sent another blast of wind into the canvas. The boat yanked around in nearly a ninety degree turn, almost dodging the monster’s rippling attack completely.
Almost.
The slightest edge of the current caught the very tip of the boat, just brushing against the hull of our vessel. The resulting touch was still enough to create an explosion of splinters off the side of our ship. The outer planks of Via’s homemade craft cracked, but they had been reinforced just enough, either by magic or thick wood, to keep from sinking outright. Even with that, I still noticed a quarter-sized hole open up along the side of the ship and begin letting water through.
I swore, tried to think of the fastest way to patch the hole, remembered that I never packed any carpeting tools, then settled for plugging the hole with a tube of magical ice. It wouldn’t last forever, but it was all the attention I could afford to spend for now. As the Nuckelavee began charging us again, I reached for another spell, still trying to see if I had something that could hurt the monster without spending too much of my mana. My Friction Slice spell didn’t do nearly as much damage as my fireballs or lightning bolts, but it was cheaper than either and I could cast it more quickly than any of my new Ice magic.
I spun my hand around in the appropriate gesture and sent a ten-foot-wide disk of compressed air spinning toward the skinless horse-monster, with the edges of the disk crackling and sending small sparks into the waves below. As the disk tore through the air, the Nuckelavee once more raised a long burning arm to knock my magic away. This time, the orange flame snuffed out like a candle in the wind, and the centaur-fiend took the full force of my magic straight on its skinless limb. There was a sound like the screeching of metal, followed by a roar and whinny of pain as the slicing air current was deflected from a direct strike on the monster’s torso as it ripped along the unnaturally long arm instead, slicing muscle and spraying black blood through the air.
I hesitated just long enough to see the monster’s flesh steam and knit back together, and then I connected with Via through the mindlink and blasted the sail with more Air Magic. Our instincts were spot on. We pulled our little boat into position just in time to avoid another dark ripple of water that probably would have sunk us outright. Then Via anticipated the monster even further, swinging the ship around and launching it forward with another burst of water magic. A few moments later, two more burning bolts slammed into the water about twenty feet behind us, rocking our ship violently, but doing no more than that.
How the hell did you know when to do that in time? I asked, incredulous. She had already begun
moving the ship even before she had finished dodging the monster’s ripple attack. And how have you known to do that so often before? I asked next, remembering the artful dance she had woven around the Malus ships yesterday.
Instinct, she sent tensely. And lots of practice. Now focus, she admonished. We’re not done.
Right, I acknowledged, sending another gust of wind into the sails and turning to face the Nuckelavee again.
Sure is fun to watch her move around though, Teeth said admiringly, and idiotically. I sent the horny idiot a mental slap and turned my attention back to the Icon-killing abomination, trying to think of the next spell to use, and deciding to continue rotating through my different Ideals to keep the monster off balance.
Sending an update, Gabin sent to me quickly. We’ve docked at the island. Breena has persuaded the villagers to board. We are bringing them all on now.
Can you fit everyone in one load? I asked as I wrote another enlarging script into the air and began sculpting my next Ideal spell.
We can, but it will be extremely tight. We’re going to try and load everyone on board in fifteen minutes, assuming we can convince them to leave their belongings.
You won’t need to, Via sent quickly. We have an evacuation plan for this beast. They’re prepared.
That was a good sign, although I had no idea if we could last fifteen minutes against this fiend. Especially considering that I was already beginning to feel a drain on my mana.
I still managed to complete my next spell, summoning another block of ice and sending it out to float in the distance. It passed right through my enlargement spell on its way out, growing from the size of my torso into a human-sized boulder that landed a dozen yards in front of our enemy.
The Nuckelavee’s horse head whinnied as it slowed and turned to gallop around the unexpected ice floe. I suppressed a sigh of relief and began casting my next spell, a short, focused beam of fire directly into the crack I had shaped into the back of the iceberg. The burning pillar traveled directly into the hollow center of the large growler, and the super-heated air caused the boulder to detonate. Fist-sized chunks hurled through the air, striking all along the skinless flank of the centaur monster and causing both of its heads to issue their loudest screams yet.
Lost Deeps, Via said, looking at me in amazement as she tugged the sails yet again. How are you doing this? Our Icons couldn’t fight this thing as well you have!
Instinct, I replied, somewhat obnoxiously. And lots of practice. But I may have just overdone it, I added worriedly.
What do you mean? The beautiful Satellite asked quickly, as she steered the boat into another zig-zag pattern.
The Nuckelavee answered her question for me, coming to a complete stop and rearing up on its hindlegs. It opened both mouths in a silent scream, as an orange light began to burn in the back of its throats. The buzzing noise returned, and the damaged part of my brain began babbling again. Predictably, the eerie chant of voices returned.
Pungent mists flew on the wind,
They came to us, announced the end
You challenged them, and the rage undying,
Nuckelavee, Nuckelavee…
Both burning mouths opened wider, letting tongues of fire escape. They flickered about, as if tasting the wind, and more black mist drifted off of their tips, surging into the mist already held at bay by my sword and billowing out into massive clouds.
A second burning eye,
Two angry mouths now open and cry,
Of hate, and rage, and minds that died,
Nuckelavee, Nuckelavee…
The toxic darkness drifted toward our ship like towering thunderclouds that reached down to touch the surface of the waves and stretched up to cover half of our sky. As it began to surround us, the center of the dark nebula began to twist, spiraling in a way that reminded me all too much of a cyclone or waterspout. Behind me, Via hissed in surprise.
The dark funnel advanced toward us. We put our full attention on gaining distance from it.
Pungent mists now ride the wind,
They fly ahead, announce your end
To take you both far down below,
Nuckelavee, Nuckelavee...
I sent another blast of air into canvas. Via pulled on the rudder and sail as our ship shot forward. The dark clouds billowed as they raced behind us, gaining ever so slowly on us.
Desperation cannot outrun hate,
Poor defiant ones, such is your fate,
To be taken with we doomed ones below,
Nuckelavee, Nuckelavee…
The dark funnel grew closer, despite our haste. I heard water suck up into it, saw the clouds thicken as we struggled to outrace it. Via grunted as she pulled on the sail hard enough for me to see her muscles bulge, and we seemed to gain just a bit of distance on the unnatural storm. We felt the waves shift slightly under us, the current adding to our speed. A few moments later, I saw a dark shape hurtle through the sky to splash some distance in front of us. Then another falling object splashed into the water on the starboard side of our ship.
We couldn’t afford to pay too much attention to them yet. I did my best to keep Claimh Solais raised over my head, hoping it could still drive away the foggy darkness, and continued channeling air magic into the large sail with my other hand.
Update, Gabin sent quickly to me. Village is evacuated, ship is leaving island behind. Rendezvous at previous base?
Yes, I replied as I risked creating another small cluster of ice chunks behind our ship. I wasn’t sure they would do anything to the mist itself, but Via’s sail couldn’t hold much more Air magic anyway. We’re disengaging right at this minute. We hope to see you there.
This was assuming that we could maintain our current speed all the way home, and that the monster wouldn’t just follow us. At the moment, though, I couldn’t think of a better plan but hope that things would turn out in our favor somehow.
Then, as if in punishment for my optimism, our ship suddenly and inexplicably slowed, as if the current were no longer moving it. A glance at the water revealed that the current and waves were no longer moving at all. The water had gone still and stagnant, like the water I had seen just before I first encountered the Nuckelavee.
“No,” Via said in horror. “Not when we had already done so well.”
Her fear washed subconsciously through the mindlink. I caught her wondering if her own Icons had felt the same way, before they had been defeated. Then another dark shape landed close by with a splash, and I heard it swim toward our boat. We were relying entirely on wind and magic to move forward now, so it didn’t take long for the thing to overtake our boat.
I watched a webbed, rotten hand latch onto the side of our small craft. The other hand appeared next, and the Hordebeast pulled its way onto our boat with jerky movements. The monster was one of the fish-like Scum, and it was clearly dead. An eye and a large chunk of its head was missing, and several other patches of its body were either discolored or appeared as though they had been chewed on. The only fortunate fact about the thing was that its body was free of the disgusting Horde oil usually coating the beasts.
“Dead,” Via breathed in horror as she strained against the sails, watching the monster jerk toward our direction. “The dead are now rising.”
“Some of them,” I snarled, swinging Claimh Solais at the monster in a blazing arc. The short, shining blade bisected the monster as it were made of papyrus, and as it did so, the golden fire coating my weapon blasted out of every pore of the Scum’s body. The undead thing crumpled to the ground in pieces. A few moments later, I heard another splash behind me and swung my sword around to bisect the half-rotten arm trying to pull another creature onto the ship. I turned around just as Via hissed and sliced another head to pieces with her powerful whip, still holding onto the sail’s rigging with her other hand.
Behind us, the whirling black cloud continued to gain on our little craft. Without the current aiding our flight, it began to close rapidly. As I watched its appro
ach with dread, I thought I could make out the orange fire of the Nuckelavee flickering at the very center of the cloud.
It became immediately apparent that all of the Script, Water, and Air magic we possessed wasn’t going to be enough to help us escape the tornado-mist. I fired one more gust out of sheer stubbornness, then moved to the rear of our boat, Claimh Solais at my side.
I’m going to try and drive the cloud away again, I messaged Via. I’m not sure it will work, and even if it does, we’ll still have to fight Nuckelavee head on. So get ready.
I am ready, she sighed bitterly. I’ve been ready for this day for years. I just didn’t know I’d have company for it.
You know what they say, I said with a shrug, refreshing all my enhancement magics. Victory loves company.
Judging by the sudden rush of anger through the mindlink, she had taken my response as flippant and offensive.
You are the most frustrating Challenger I have ever had to work with, she hissed at me. But I’m glad I got to meet you. I…
Static washed out the rest of her words, and a strong current of frustration suddenly billowed out from her. So that’s what Breena was talking about, the beautiful woman muttered angrily. Never mind. Stop being annoying. And if you die on me, I’ll kill you right then and there.
What? I asked, not really understanding any of that. Though the comment about Breena gave me an idea about what she had wanted to say. Not that either of us had time to explore the issue.
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