Steele Alchemist

by Deck Davis

  The spider-people weren’t so lucky. The two splashed by the liquid screamed in pain. One of them hit the ground face first. Its leg was a splintered mess. The other one simple stopped crawling and slumped to the ground, with its spine completely caved in.

  “Faei, can you use fire bolts on the trees?” said Jake.

  “Got it.”

  “Solly…can you do anything useful?”

  “Course he can’t!” said Faei.

  Solly glared at her. He raised his hands and opened his mouth, then thought better of it.

  “I’m afraid not, right now.”

  Thotl reached them. He was just a few feet away from Solly and seemed to be aiming for the mage, but then changed direction in the last minute. He swung his club at Jake and caught him on the shin, the metal spikes digging into flesh and the force of the wood pulverizing his bones.

  Jake crashed to the ground. God, the pain. It was the most intense agony he’d ever experienced. He felt like he’d plunged his right leg into a vat full of acid.

  Breathing was suddenly hard. He tasted something on his tongue, strong at first, but getting weaker. It was sour, bitter. Was it blood? How? Unless he’d bitten his tongue, but he could feel anything except the intense burning, screaming pain from his shattered right leg.

  He needed to look at it. But he couldn’t. He tried turning his head, and his vision grew blurry. Sounds were quieter; he saw Faei open her mouth to shout, but it reached him as barely a whisper. He was going to lose consciousness.

  No. If he did, Faei and Solly were screwed.

  The timberkin lumbered closer now. Faei let a fire bolt fly at one of them, and the flames caught hold in its branches and began to spread and then crackle, and the timberkin opened its mouth and screamed, except no sound came out. When it opened its mouth it had no tongue, no teeth, just a gaping black hole. The smell of burning wood mixed with the embers floating from the ever-roaring flames.

  Two remaining spiders scuttled toward Solly. One leapt on his back and forced him to the ground. The other crawled beside him and opened its mouth to him its teeth; two long ones that looked dull rather than sharp, and would cause tremendous pain when they pierced flesh.

  Jake breathed in. He let the air fill his lungs. He forced himself conscious, forced himself to feel the pain of his leg so that he could stay awake. He reached into his right pocket, grabbed a vial and uncorked it.

  Hope to God I remembered which vials were in which pocket.

  But it was okay. The vial in his hand smelled of ripe fruit. He leaned forward with the vial in his hand, getting as close to his leg as he could.

  His leg was a nasty sight, with blood pouring down the parts of his skin that his trousers didn’t cover, but there were no bones sticking out. His bones weren’t shattered; it just felt like it.

  He splashed healing potion over his bare skin. The soothing liquid coated the areas pulverized by Thotl’s club.

  Then he looked up. Where was Thotl?

  To his right. Prowling toward Faei, evidently satisfied that he’d incapacitated Jake.

  Faei pulled back the string of her bow. A bolt was tensed in the stock, flames burning on the end, ready to launch. The distance was so close that even with his reactions, Thotl wouldn’t be able to bat this one out of the air.

  The pain in Jake’s leg lessened. His skin turned from a blotchy purple to pale pink. He grabbed another healing potion and this time he drank it, getting a message that his hitpoints were rising.

  He got to his feet. He looked to Solly and Faei; one trapped by two spider-people, another with Thotl thundering toward her.

  It was one of the other. Faei or Solly.

  Gripping his dagger, he ran in their direction.

  He reached Thotl just as Faei was about to let a bolt loose. He stood behind him and reached around with his dagger, holding the sharp edge just a millimeter from his throat.

  “Move, try to wriggle free, and you’ll slash your own neck,” Jake told him. Then he nodded at Faei. “Help Solly.”

  She pivoted, aimed, and let a bolt fly. The spider closest to Solly shrieked when the bolt punctured its bulbous behind. Pus flew out, and flames spread along the fine hairs on the spider body. It tuned and scuttled away, shrieking.

  Faei nocked another bolt. The remaining spider, possessing enough intelligence to realize its danger, backed away from Solly.

  “Gonne cut my throat, lad?” said Thotl. “Got it in you to do that? I doubt it.”

  “I’ve killed before. I can kill again.”

  And then, a horrible voice called out. This wasn’t Thotl’s voice but instead, the spider-person.

  Girl. Afflicted girl. Surrender to me.

  It was coming from the surviving spider-person. It was frozen to the ground with its mouth open wide, though it’s lips didn’t move when it spoke. It was more like the voice just floated out of its throat.

  There was something hideous about the voice, as though pure torment hovered on its reaches, buried in its tones like the subliminal message in a music track. In the background of the voice, Jake was sure he could hear babies crying.

  You and the boy can surrender to me, and you will all live. I promise it.

  Although the voice was coming from the mouth of the spider person, it wasn’t him speaking. Instead it was another man’s voice projected through it. Someone who, Jake sensed, was far away.

  Instinctively, he knew who it was. This horrible voice could match only one horrible face; the darkened, leering face of the man in the orb. The Watcher.

  The spider-person fixed its eight-eyed gaze on Jake. It seemed to peer at him deeply.

  You are the portal dweller, are you not?

  Oh, you don’t need to answer. I can…

  …Feel it.

  Thotl, bring him to me. This is a matter of fate, of bloodlines, of destinies, of-

  The voice was cut short when an arrow punctured the side of the spider-person’s head. The creature flopped to the floor, and blood oozed out.

  “He was getting boring,” said Faei, and reached for another arrow.

  Thotl, alone now, wasted no time. He charged at Faei, swung his club into her waist with enough force to expel the air from her. Then rather than turn to fight, he carried on running. He sprinted as fast as he could. Before Jake could do anything, Thotl was gone.

  Jake slumped to the floor just as his combat messages appeared. He gathered himself as he viewed them.

  Level up to level 7!

  - HP inc to 274

  -Stamina inc to 281

  Jake quickly spent his attribute points by boosting his intelligence by one, and then dividing the other four points between strength and endurance. He couldn’t help but think that the time to go north to Widow Leaf was drawing close, and he wanted to be strong for the journey.

  After that, he used his gauge skills to find the sulphur-infused herbs that he needed for the demogoth potion. By the time they were done the sky had put its dark night clothes on and the sun was in bed.

  “Let’s head back to the shack,” said Solly. “My legs feel like planks of wood.”

  Rest was the last thing on Jake’s mind. Thotl was working for the Watcher, and there was no doubting that the sinister orb-man had taken more than a passing interest in Jake. That meant Thotl joined the men in the fog crater in the list of people who tried to kill or kidnap him. Who was next? Could he trust anyone?

  His brain offered him a name. It whispered Cason, but he rejected it. It was a thought dipped in venom and paranoia. Cason wasn’t in on this.

  “Just what have you two gotten yourselves mixed up in?” asked Solly.

  “Feel free to leave if it’s getting too much,” said Jake.

  Faei groaned. She stumbled back a step as if some gigantic fist had ploughed into her stomach. She sank back to the floor, landing on her bottom.

  “You okay?” said Jake.

  When he looked at her, he saw it. Just peaking over the edge of her tunic, where neck skin sho
uld have been pink and supple, was the spread of moss, threatening to circle her neck and join the existing moss scar.

  It wouldn’t be long now until she started to lose her mind. The threat of violence hung in the air.

  “Solly,” said Jake, keeping his cool. “Can you pass me my bag?”

  The mage grabbed Jake’s leather sack and gave it to him. Jake unwound the string and pulled out his alchemical tools.

  There was a pinch of wind on the air, just enough that keeping a flame lit would be tough.

  “Cover me, will you?” he asked as he set down trays and vials and a burner.

  Faei groaned. Had the moss spread even further?

  You have to get it right this time.

  “What are you doing?” asked Solly.

  “She needs her potion now. I’m going to have to brew it right here.”

  He raced the rapid passage of time and battled the nuisance winds. The sky darkened even further as he worked. He was vaguely aware of Solly watching him and that the mage had wrapped himself up in a blanket, but if he spoke, Jake didn’t hear him, nor did he feel the oncoming fist of cold night air. He just cut and measured and boiled, working with an intensity that he became utterly lost in, until finally…

  “That should do it,” he said, holding out the vial of treacle-brown liquid.

  He took a deep breath. His heart was hammering.

  “Will it work?”

  “It’ll either work, or it’ll kill her.”

  “Shouldn’t you try it on something?”

  “There’s no time. She hasn’t got long. It’s this, or nothing.”

  “I’ll pray to G’ydor,” said Solly.

  “Here we go….”

  Faei’s face curled up into a bestial snarl, but luckily Solly had tied her up while Jake worked, well before the dangerous demogoth symptoms could make their ugly appearance. She snarled and snapped at him with her teeth, clacking them together.

  Jake waited for her lips to open, and then he reached forward and tipped the liquid into her mouth. Then he sat back, out of reach. The liquid seemed to have enraged her further, and she flailed around and she grunted until spit flew from her lips.

  Jake watched her. He watched, and he prayed.

  And then the moss started to pale in color.

  Gauge skill gained – Telling Taste

  - You can decipher the ingredients of a potion based on taste or through description from someone who has drank one. The higher your taste skill, the more complex recipes you will be able to unravel. Telling tastes grants immunity from poisons and other toxins in minute quantities, allowing you to taste advanced harmful potions.

  Preparation level up to 7

  - Cut Accuracy inc to 12/50

  - Steady Hands inc to 10/50 [Herb wastage reduced by 25%!]

  - Butchery inc to 6/50

  Brewing level up to 9

  - Brewing Speed inc to 13/50

  - Potion Quality inc to 15/50

  *Alchemist level 3 reached!*

  - Skill gained: Mutoctions

  Mutoctions can change the alchemists’ physical form. They are made with the blood of creatures by brewing, and if done right grant some characteristics of the creatures.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  A chilling howl cut through the air. It was a wild call so deep that it scared the birds from the trees, sending them fluttering away as dark swirling shapes competing against a greying sky.

  “Back home,” said Jake, “they say that moving to a new house is one of the most stressful things you can do. Now I realize it’s moving home into a wolf-infested forest.”

  He grunted as he carried a wooden box full of potion vials and alchemy tools. This was their third trip back and forth from Cason’s shack, and hopefully their last. In a way he was sad to leave the shack behind, but they had to.

  Their new home was the old alchemist’s house, carved into the side of a rockface in the forest. Not the homeliest of places, but certainly one of the securest. It was for the best, they had all agreed. As they had walked back from Singe Skin and talked about seeing Thotl and what it meant, they decided that they had to leave the shack. Cason’s former friend knew where it was, and that made it impossible to stay.

  It wouldn’t be for long, he hoped. If they got Cason back, he could activate the defensive runes, and it’d be safe again. For now, this place would do.

  The only thing that worried him a little, and it even made Faei visibly nervous, was the fact that the barbarian and his goblins, who they had left securely impaled on wooden stakes outside the house, were gone. Not only that, but around the side of the house, where they’d buried the unfortunate family, the graves had been dug up and the corpses were missing.

  Despite that piece of sinister information and the fact that Thotl was working against them, there were positives. One, he’d successfully brewed a Bescurus potion, which would keep Faei’s infection at bay. The only problem was that he only had enough herbs to brew another batch or two, so about twenty potions. That meant they were in trouble when the stock ran out, since they’d picked Singe Skin clean of herbs. He realized now why it was so hard for Cason to brew enough of the potion for all the people in Faei’s village.

  The second reason was positivity was his new alchemy skill, Mutoctions. And this was a big one, no mistake about it. The Mutoction skill allowed him to brew the blood of animals and gain certain characteristics for a limited time from it.

  He persuaded Faei and Solly to donate a drop or two of their blood to him, and he made a mutoction from each. He also brewed blood mutoctions from the animals Faei hunted in the forests; he made one from a sparrow-like bird that she shot in the neck, and another from a wolf. He was hoping that the bird mutoction would grant him the power of flight, but all it did was give him great nesting instincts. Not too long after that, he’d plugged every wall and cavity in their new home with twigs and weeds, making it as cozy as possible.

  A mutoction he made from a forest bear – again, killed by Faei – gave him blood scent, which let him smell warm blood from miles away. This was a keeper. He took a taste of Solly’s mutoction and found that it granted him some mana, for the first time. That didn’t help much, since he didn’t have any spells to use it on.

  On their second afternoon in their new home, Jake and Faei were sat out front. He had a jug filled with moonshine though he’d diluted it with half water. He told Faei it was to make it last, but really, he knew was drinking too much lately, and he’d need to keep his edge for what was to come.

  The air around them was humid, almost damp. There was no breeze, yet the forest scents still reached them; pine corns, some kind of herbs, the faeces of forest animals.

  “I’m starting to feel awfully comfortable here,” said Jake.

  “And that’s a bad thing?”

  “We need to get moving. The longer we wait, the less chance Cason has. And I can’t help but feel that Thotl is going to find us again.”

  “He can’t find us unless he’s got the snout of a seek-hound,” said Faei. “That’s why we moved, remember? I don’t like sitting on my rump any more than you do, but if we’re going to Widow Leaf, we need to be prepared. Otherwise we might as well walk in there with targets drawn on our chests.”

  For a second, he couldn’t help but imagine Faei walking bare-chested into Widow Leaf with a target painted on her. He imagined himself painting the target onto her skin. Gentle brushstrokes on her pale chest.

  He shook the thought away. “What do we still need to prepare before we go?”

  “Let’s see…I have some more meat to salt. We need to fill up more vials with water from the stream. I think I’ve got enough bolts, but you never know…and then there’s Solly. We need somewhere to lose him. You know, so he can’t find us ever again.”

  “Faei…”

  “I know, I know. I just don’t know what he brings to our little party.”

  “Admittedly, not much in a fighting sense,” said Jake. “But then, shor
t of dissolving skin and breaking bones, neither do I. But Solly knows the area. He’s lived here for years. Without him, we’d have never brewed your potion.”

  “I guess. What do you have left to do before we head out?”

  “There’s a couple more mutoctions I want to try making. And more healing potions.”

  And then he stopped talking, because two feelings hit him at once. One was a ripe coppery smell, one so thick that it bunged up his nose. The next was the beat of dozens of pulses in his ear, some in tandem, some beating one after the other.