Of course she had amazing radio discipline. As if she couldn’t get any hotter. “Slayer is a Mercurion Artificer, name of Kanzo. I caught him with the victim in his third-floor office. We pursued him over the rooftops, heading toward the clocktower, and forced a confrontation. Nearly killed him, but his apprentice interfered and he escaped.”
“What are your coordinates? I’ll RV there with some knights, and we can make an arrest.”
“We can’t arrest her. She claims her craftmaster is being forced to assassinate the priests and has been leaving her secret messages begging for help. She’s a civilian, Suri.”
“No, she’s an accomplice.”
“I’m not saying she isn’t. I’m saying don’t bring a SWAT team in through her door, because she’ll be too terrified to talk. Station them around, if you want the backup, but meet me discreetly and we can interview her together. I bet you’d be better at this than I am.”
“She needs to be arrested.” The stubborn note was back in Suri’s voice.
“If we drag her in front of the Volod, there’s a good chance he’ll order a pogrom and kill her and every other Mercurion in this city,” I replied, angling Cutthroat toward the University District gate. We were moving steadily uphill, heading for the castle that loomed above Taltos like a dark crown. “They can shut down the Tanner’s District and massacre everyone trapped inside, so unless you want that on your conscience, can we drop the Robocop act and gather some more data first?”
There was a pause. “Fine, where are you?”
“Heading into the University District through the South Gate. Do you want to join my-?”
“No.” Suri hung up.
“Wow. Grumpy lady really hates parties,” Karalti remarked.
I sighed. “She sure does.”
“It’s okay. You got me.”
At least now I could see Suri’s name in my address book. It was possible that players could disable the search function for their names if they wanted privacy. Something to look into later.
We headed up a steep, narrow winding street flanked by three-story European style apartments when I suddenly noticed just how empty the road actually was. I scanned the rooftops, alley mouths and darkened doorways, eyes narrowing. We were alone. No one was out, in contrast to the busy morning chatter of the Market District. And that had me on edge.
We rounded the corner, and I reined Cutthroat in to a halt as the back of my neck prickled. We were just about to pass under an archway. Further along the road was a wagon without a dinosaur to pull it. It was plain wood, and the back of the wagon had a heavy door with small bars on the windows. Not exactly a luxury sedan.
“Something’s off, girl.” I brought my spear around and down, and unequipped Cutthroat’s muzzle. “Fly up and scout the rooftops. And be careful.”
“Oki!” Karalti bunched, then launched herself into the air, straight into a fan of arrows that flew out at us from three directions.
Chapter 14
Karalti blasted the arrows with fire, twisting desperately in mid-air. She avoided some, incinerated some, but took three or four missiles made it through and struck her in the wings and legs. The dragon floundered and then crashed to the ground.
[Karalti takes 70 damage!]
[Karalti’s has sustained Wing Damage: -15 to all Flight abilities]
“Karalti!” I dug my heel into Cuthroat’s side and pulled her reins across her neck, getting her to turn sideways to provide cover for my dragon as she got to her feet. As the hookwing spun, I loosened my feet from the stirrups. When she came to a stop, I vaulted up to my feet on her back.
“Charge! Get that hatchling!” A man bellowed from overhead.
Thugs began pouring from the alleys, from behind the wagon, and from behind me, converging on the three of us. Twenty, at least, including the archers I could see. They were mercenaries, and I was pretty sure the fucking Mata Argis sent them.
It was one thing for them to attack me. It was quite another to attack her. Something savage pushed up from deep inside me. A mad, dark, hungry power bubbled up like magma. I felt its lust in my teeth and jaws, behind my eyes, and through my hands on the spear.
Whoever these goatfuckers were, they’d hurt my Tidbit. And I was going to tear. Them. Up.
“Hrrragh!” I snarled and sprung off Cutthroat’s back like a bullet. “Ice cream!”
Cutthroat didn’t need to be told twice. I heard shouts and screams and the wet tear of flesh below as I soared up, straight into the face of one of the archers crouched on top of the arch, and met his shocked eyes just before the tip of my spear blew through his face and out the back of his head. I swung him around and kicked him off the arch. Bows creaked from three directions as they were drawn. I took one arrow from behind even as I knocked three from the air, blurring into shadow and reappearing on top of the pack of lightly-armored archers in front.
I lashed out with a foot, knocking a bow out of a man’s hands, following up with a blast of dark power and then a sprint forward. One man fell screaming to the ground; one took the Umbra Blast to the face and reeled away, clawing at his eyes. The last had drawn a sword. He swiped; I dodged, dancing around him and slashing out at the pale length of his exposed throat. Blood fanned in an arc. I spun behind the gurgling archer, grabbed him by the collar and belt, and pushed him ahead of me like a tower shield as I ran at the others on the arch.
Bows twanged, and the body danced in my hands as the rain of arrows struck it. I bellowed, just before I burned a Power Attack and flung the arrow-studded corpse at the remaining archers, scattering their rank.
Down below on the street, I heard Karalti blast someone, and as the EXP added up, I got a notification: [Congratulations! Karalti has reached Level 4!]
I hit Blood Storm and bull rushed them, gaining back the AP and HP I’d just spent. My body blurred into nothingness, only to reappear around behind one of the archers. I ended up only landing a glancing blow, because something hit me upside the back of the head: a bow.
The world spun. With the sound of wingbeats in my ears, I stumbled down to one knee. It pitched me under the second strike. Arrows zinged past overhead, and then a huge shadow fell over us all.
I threw my head up, disoriented, and my eyes widened. It was Karalti.
Karalti was now the size of a large horse, with a wingspan to match. Her horns and wedge-shaped head had lengthened. Her body was more muscled, her scales thicker and more gemlike. And she had healed her damage with the level-up.
Her jaws gaped. “CHAAAARRR!”
White, ghostly fire spewed in a slick wave across the archway, boiling across the stone. The remaining three archers screamed in terror, scattering. One ran toward me. I tripped him with the Spear, and he slipped and fell, wailing, like a flaming meteor to the ground below.
“Hector! The guards are here! And my blood turned some of the men into monsters!” Karalti still sounded young, but her voice was deeper, more mature. She landed on the edge of the arch and turned her back to me. “They’re killing the other men! Get on!”
“You can’t fly with me yet, can you?” Panting, I reached up and pulled an arrow out of my shoulder. Ooh yeah, that hurt. My vision blurred for a moment.
“I can glide. Come on!”
Puffing to focus myself, I ran at her and jumped, landing on her back. My pain seemed to fade into the background as I got into position, hanging onto my dragon’s back with my knees the way I would a motorcycle, and wrapped my arm around her neck.
“Hang on!” She launched herself from the arch.
My stomach lurched with the moment of reverse gravity, and all the hair on my body stood on end as Karalti’s wings snapped out to each side. I weighed a hundred and eighty pounds and was carrying over a hundred pounds of armor and gear. It was all my dragon could do to steady her flight path as we swooped down, teetered from side to side, then crashed into a brawling line of [Foreign Mercenaries], [Taltos Guards], and [Stranged Ghouls].
The impact threw me off
Karalti’s back, and I was sent careening through the air. I flew over Cutthroat, who was fending off two swordsmen with teeth and claws and brute strength, and crashed into one of them. He got his shield up just in time for me to bash it back into his face, and we both sprawled to the ground. Unfortunately, I also crashed into his sword. The blade slid into a gap in my shiny new armor, through my gut, and out my back.
[You have taken a Devastating blow! X4 damage!]
[You are Hemorrhaging! You must heal to stop the bleeding!]
[You have Internal Bleeding: -25% to all attack and defense]
[Warning! You are at 95/459 HP!]
Getting stabbed like that was like being punched really hard by something very cold, all the way through. When you’re in the middle of a fight, things happen too fast for it to even really hurt. The pain comes after.
“Sorry.” I croaked, leaking blood from between my lips. I slapped my hand over his face. “Life for Life.”
The warrior emitted a garbled cry as I ripped his lifeforce out through the Mark of Matir. His skin aged ten years in five seconds, and the fluttering, uneasy sensation of the [Corruption] debuff seemed to curl around the frigid length of the sword that skewered me through the waist. I wasn’t actually sure what Corruption did, because I lost no health, stats or AP, but I knew one thing - it made my injuries hurt.
With my pulse roaring in my ears, I reached down, and pulled the sword free with a snarl. The sound of battle around me had dulled to a droning roar. The Hemorrhaging debuff reappeared. I used my last Moss Tincture to stop the bleeding. The tincture brought my HP up out of the gray, but my vision throbbed red as I rolled to the side and picked myself up. The thrill of flight had fled with my health. Now there was only grim determination as I clutched my wounded side with one hand and bashed aside twisted, zombie-like talons with the Spear in the other.
The ghouls were recognizably human, but their flesh had melted on their bones. Some of them were Taltos Guardsmen, some were Mercenary Thugs. They roared and gibbered as they chased their comrades, tearing at them with their fingernails and teeth. One was shambling toward me, hands outstretched.
I braced my spear for impact, but then then an odd, confused expression passed over the ghoul’s face, and its head split in a wet explosion of mana-warped brain matter. It collapsed, an ax buried in what remained of its skull, and I looked past it to see a vision of Valhalla.
Suri flung her second ax at a retreating soldier, hitting him in the shoulder and dropping him to his knees. As he went down, she pulled her huge curved sword from her back and carried it forward in a decapitating blow. The body was still clawing at the stump as she waded in, hacking monsters down with every other step.
She was barely wearing any armor, and I shouted out as a ghoul lunged at her, claws tearing at her midriff. “Suri! Right!”
The monster ripped a long cut in her bare flesh, but Suri didn’t even slow. If anything, she seemed to get faster, stronger, more excited. She slammed the ghoul in the face with the hilt of her sword, grasped the man by the hair and neck, and tore his head from its shoulders.
Holy fuck. Suri was a beast.
“Run! The battle is lost!” The Mercenary Leader yelled.
Suri yelled something in Dakhari, throwing the bloody head at their retreating backs as she ran after them with Karalti and Cutthroat. Cutthroat caught up to the straggler first, and got him by the back of the shirt. It was enough for Suri to catch up. She cut him from shoulder to groin, then whipped around to face the remaining ghouls, who had turned their attention to me. There were four left.
“Karalti! Capture the leader if you can! Don’t kill him!” I spat some red goo, grasped my spear in bloody hands, and charged.
“Okay!”
“Come on!” I drove my weapon through the first ghoul, twisted it, and followed up with a kick to push it back. They attacked in a swarm, like movie zombies. I felt a hand grasp my shoulder, and knocked it away with the butt of my weapon. I didn’t have enough HP to risk Shadow Dance - but the massive damage I’d taken had restored my AP to maximum. I triggered Umbra Blast. Dark power surged through my body, numbing the throbbing pain in my abdomen as it blew out from my skin in a blue-black wave of shattering energy.
The ghouls stumbled away, injured, just as Suri gained on us. She dashed forward in a whirling cloud of red energy, lightning-quick, and swung her sword through the second ghoul’s waist, cutting it in half. The other two ganked her as she drew aggro. I settled for good old-fashioned stabbing, and as soon as I gained enough adrenaline back for Whirlwind Butcher, I used it. The Stranged man fell, bleeding from the back of his skull. The other had gotten through Suri’s guard and was savaging her chest and neck.
“Count to three and push away!” I ran toward them, spear leveled at the ghoul’s back.
The Backstab connected with the man’s spine for a critical hit. Suri cursed as she shoved him off, and before I’d even had a chance to finish him, she flipped one of her axes up with her foot, dropped the sword, and slammed the broad, heavy blade into the back of his neck. The ghoul collapsed like a puppet, twitching through its death throes. I immediately got a waterfall of notifications:
[You earned 410 EXP!]
[Congratulations! You are Level 10! You may now redistribute your Ability Points and take a second Advanced Path. Visit your Paths menu for details.]
[Warning! Your primary weapon is badly damaged! Durability 17/100]
[You have two unspent ability points!]
[You have three unspent skill points!]
[Congratulations! Cutthroat is Level 8!]
[Cutthroat has learned!]
I gaped at Suri in amazement. “Wow.”
“Wow yourself.” Suri looked like she’d just had the best sex of her life, save for the fact she was covered in blood. Her lips were full and flushed, her short hair tousled, and her skin glowed like deep burnished copper. She had bite marks on her neck and deep claw wounds on her face, but she showed no sign of pain. “Nice armor.”
“Why thank you.” I smiled back at her.
“What’s your score?”
I checked my HUD. “Eight.”
She licked the corner of her mouth, her eyes hooding. “I got six. Aren’t you just a little one-man army?”
“Hector! We got him!” Karalti’s voice rang through my mind before I could shoot back something in response to the ‘little’ remark. “You better come before Cutthroat eats him!”
“Karalti’s got the leader,” I rasped. My voice was husky from shouting I didn’t remember doing. “You as good at interrogation as you are at ripping guys’ heads off?”
“I’m good at a lot of things.” Suri pursed her lips and bent down to pull her ax from the ghoul’s skull. She hung it on her belt before picking up her sword and swinging it over to rest on her shoulder. I noticed belatedly that she was left-handed.
“Here.” I took my last remaining Bonebreak Poultice from my Inventory and offered it to her.
“Thanks, but you need it more.” Her gaze dropped to the huge soggy red patch on my armor. “They fucked you up. Good fight, though.”
“What’s your Advanced Path?” I asked. “I’ve never seen anyone fight like that without powered armor.”
Suri actually grinned. Like Cutthroat, killing things seemed to put her in a better mood than usual. “Wanna guess?”
“Are you a deadly Kangaroo-Taipan Sausage Dervish?” I replied, lifting my armor up enough that I could apply the poultice. In battle, health items were consumed instantly. Outside of combat, you had to stick them on or drink them like how you would in real life.
“I’m a Berserker, you dimwit.” She rolled her eyes.
“It was either that or Vegemite Assassin.”
Suri got an odd look on her face: confusion?
The poultice healed me for 50, but that only brought me up to 215 HP, still less than half of my total Hit Points. Even so, the throbbing gut pain and nausea receded. I no longer felt like the contents o
f my stomach were mingling with my bloodstream.
“Hector! Come on!” Karalti scolded me from down the road. I could hear angry voices – human voices – from that direction now. “The guards are here!”
“We’d better go.” I pressed my hand in against my gut, and started off at a limping run toward the dinosaur and dragon.
We jogged up to find bodies scattered on the road and guards standing back as Karalti and Cutthroat faced off. Some were bleeding, some were deep-fried. Only one man remained, and he was trying to crawl out from under Karalti’s feet as Cutthroat circled her, lunging and nipping to try to savage the mercenary leader. Well, savage him more. He was already in pretty bad shape.
“Okay, ladies! Break it up!” I clapped my hands loudly, striding quickly toward them.
Cutthroat turned to face us with a snarl. Her feathered crests flared as she stood up tall, puffed her chest and throat, and brandished both of her scythe-claws at us.
“Rah!” Suri came up from beside me, and threw her arms in the air as well. “Move it, bird brain!”
Cutthroat reared her head back, crests deflating, and clopped her jaws together in frustration. Suri lunged at her, and the hookwing shrunk back, her feathers folding close to her body.
“Grrrgh...” The man on the ground made a wet rasping sound. “Help... me...”
As Cutthroat slunk off, the guards closed in. The man leading them eyed Karalti warily, but respectfully. “What in the gods’ names happened here? Your group bears the Mark of the King… Were you attacked?”
“This was a foreign invasion.” I was more shaken than I was willing to reveal to anyone here, least of all Karalti. This wasn’t just a small snatch-and-grab operation. The number of attackers, their gear and the brazen shutdown of the street was an assault force. “These men were here to capture this dragon. Karalti, hold him down by the neck. If he moves, kill him.”
Karalti put her foot down on the Mercenary Leader’s neck, and flexed her killing toe until the huge claw pressed in against his carotid. “Like this?”
Trial by Fire: A LitRPG Dragonrider Adventure (Archemi Online Chronicles Book 2) Page 13