Bonded Spirits: Book Three

by Daniel, Jake

  She wrapped her large arms tightly around me. "Ready."

  I could barely see over her arms as I planned my next move. Inches from the top, I activated my Charge skill, and with Mitsi on my back we exploded through the bubble toward the small ledge in front of the exit. Using every bit of spirit in my core, we reached the ledge and fell down together in front of the doorway.

  We waited for the others to near and after a few minutes, we were finally able to bring them onto the ledge with us.

  Mitsi shook her head and looked down toward the spikes at the bottom of the room. "I have never been so close to death this many times in a day before." She looked at the door and stepped closer. "I can’t wait to see what the next floor is like!"

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Gwen laughed and turned to me. “She’s amazing. I think I found another adventure buddy.”

  I gave her a smile and glanced at the rest of the women. They were all standing at the ready. Not one of them looked apprehensive about what the next level could hold. I peeked down my shirt and saw that Jun was back at it again, moving her hand furiously in and out between her legs. She looked up at me with a possessed smile and I closed my shirt. I grabbed the handle of the door and nodded. “In we go.”

  We curved up another staircase and stepped through the entrance to the next room. Inside were several blades set up at different angles, some hanging from the ceiling, some protruding from the ground, and several sticking out from the walls.

  Mitsi looked at me with concern and pointed at the blades spread out across the floor. "How are we supposed to get through here?"

  I stepped forward and as soon as I did the mechanical sound of gears cranking rose in the air. I increased my grip on Mitsi as the ground began to rumble. "Hold on, I think this is about to get very interesting. I glanced around the room and braced myself. Each of the girls eyed the blades cautiously and waited for my instruction.

  “Everyone stay behind me,” I said and used my Sight to see through the walls and inspect the inner working of this floor. Thousands of gears, levers, and blades were hidden inside each wall, as well as the floor and ceiling.

  A loud click echoed across the room and the once still blades began to rotate and spin throughout the room. Several massive rusty saw blades swept across the room in all directions moving in an unpredictable pattern as they zigzagged their way from left to right. With each rotation the blades moved faster. A blade swept over our heads and I pulled Mitsi down, her head barely avoiding a direct impact.

  The large woman nodded and rose carefully. Wedged between her breasts was Jun, who had tumbled out of my shirt. She flipped her tiny body and began to motorboat the cyclops, which seemed to tickle Mitsi as the cyclops began to let out a thunderous laugh. I grabbed the fairy queen and tucked her back into the waistband of my pants. I glanced down as I secured her in place. “I’m going to need you to hang out there just a little longer.”

  Jun gave me a devious smile and bit her lip before responding. “I can’t make you any promises.” She wriggled her way down into my waistband and ran her hands along my bare skin. I let out a long breath and took the momentary pause to review my skills.

  * * *

  Current Skills:

  Sight–Rank 7: Expert

  Nature Manipulation–Rank 6: King

  Endurance–Rank 6: King

  Tracking–Rank 5: Grand Master

  Aim–Rank 6: King

  Hunting–Rank 5: Grand Master

  Intercourse–Rank 7: Honored

  Resiliency–Rank 6: King

  Constitution–Rank 5: Grand Master

  Luck–Rank 5: Grand Master

  Charisma–Rank 6: King

  Intelligence–Rank 5: Grand Master

  Charge–Rank 6: King

  Instinctive Reflex–Rank 5: Grand Master

  Aspect of the Griffon–Rank 3: Specialist

  Giant’s Strength–Rank 3: Specialist

  * * *

  Almost every one of my skills had increased since I last checked. I thought it was fitting to see that my first skill to reach Honored rank was Intercourse. I could only imagine what God rank was going to be like. My poor bonded. I returned my focus to the last skill that was listed. I realized I hadn’t checked this skill yet, which I’d gained from bonding with Mitsi.

  Giant’s Strength–Rank 3: Specialist

  I turned to Alysain who was concentrating on each of the blades as they spun through the room. “Alysain, do you know what Giant’s Strength does? Other than the obvious?”

  Alysain shook her head lightly and shifted her focus to me. “I believe I read once that if a cyclops were ever to bond with anyone other than another cyclops, their strength would be increased exponentially based upon how much strength they already had.”

  I nodded and thought about it. It made sense now why I was able to lift Mitsi with ease.

  I spotted a lever on the opposite side of the room which I hoped was the mechanism to shut it all down. Mitsi was much too tall and unfortunately not built dexterously enough to make it through without taking certain injury. Gwen and Isobel were the only ones that I trusted to get through the gauntlet of blades without suffering significant injuries. Dahlia was self-admittedly clumsy, and Alysain’s wings were not made for tight ground maneuvering.

  I watched the blades for several seconds. It looked like this room had been set up with extreme care and precision. What they had probably not accounted for was that I had wolf-like reflexes.

  I turned to Mitsi and pulled her down into a crouching position. "Stay here and try to avoid any blade that comes near. I will work my way across and hopefully turn this off so you are able to cross as well."

  Mitsi watched the blades with apprehension. "I don't know, I don't think anyone would be able to make it through there. Maybe they will stop spinning." Another blade swept past our heads and disappeared into the wall behind us. "Maybe not."

  I moved to the edge of the small platform in front of the doorway and waited patiently for a new round of blades to sweep through. As if by divine intervention, Dahlia avoided each of the blades and joined my side. I held her tightly as I watched for any sort of pattern in movement. As soon as the blades disappeared either into the walls or floor I stepped forward. As my foot landed off of the platform, the entire floor began to move as if it were a conveyor belt. "Fuck." I spun away from a circular blade, pulling Dahlia down with me, and turned in time to see it graze Mitsi’s shoulder.

  The cyclops let out a pained scream and held her hand on her shoulder. Dahlia rushed to her side and immediately applied some salve to Mitsi’s wound.

  I took a deep, centering breath and stepped back out into the room. The blades spun again, this time missing everyone else. I held a hand on Jun so she wouldn’t fall out of my waistband. The tips of her wings grazed the base of my shaft sending shivers through my body.

  After several false starts it became apparent that we were going to be forced to move as a group. Gwen moved through each section of the room as if she’d practiced it her entire life, making it look about as effortless as taking a stroll through the woods.

  There were just too many blades that came out every time I moved forward for the rest of us to dodge without sustaining at least some sort of injury.

  “Okay everyone, we’ll get through this together, but I need you to do exactly as I say, when I say to do it.” I turned and everyone gave me a nod. I refocused on the long hall in front of us and waited for the right time. As soon as a huge circular blade passed overhead I called out. “Now.”

  We moved together, avoiding serious injury. Isobel leapt over and between the spinning spikes, anticipating each blade a split second before it arrived. I kept my eyes focused ahead and by using my Instinct skill I was able to dodge each of the blades as they neared us while instructing the others on which way to move and when.

  We had made it halfway across the room when the blades disappeared. The others scanned the room curiously. I shook my head a
nd could tell we were definitely not out of the woods yet. “Stay alert. Something is happening.” I had minor cuts from close calls with the blades but was otherwise unscathed. Mitsi’s cut from earlier was worse than I originally thought. I held my rifle in one hand and pulled off my shirt. It was as if this tower actually wanted me to be half naked as we made our way to the top. I wrapped the cloth shirt around Mitsi's shoulder and tied it tightly in hopes it would slow down her blood loss. Dahlia wrapped a vine around the shirt in an attempt to hold it in place.

  "Okay everyone. Stay close to me," I said and increased the pressure on Mitsi’s wound.

  Gwen joined our side and helped me keep the shirt in place on the cyclops’ shoulder. “You need both hands, I’ll try to stop the bleeding.”

  “Thanks, I don’t think we’ve seen the worst of it yet,” I said and scanned the surrounding area.

  "I'd listen to him, it sounds like he knows what he's talking about." Cyprian's voice called out from ahead. He stood in the doorway of the exit with his hand on the long lever that I'd spotted earlier. "Hello, Logan. I hope that you and your friends are having a great time."

  "Fuck off. Just let us get through your shitty tower so we can get the hell out of here."

  Cyprian shrugged and shook his head. "And my dear sweet Mitsi. I can't believe you are turning your back on me. After everything I’ve done for you?”

  Mitsi lowered her head toward the ground, letting her straight pink hair fall around her face. "I've never been out of that place. You said that you would take me out of there one day but you never did."

  "I expected you to be patient. Instead, you went and fucked the very person I thought I trained you to protect against."

  "I... I'm sorry, I didn't think..."

  "That's right, you didn't think. You know what you are, a disappointment, a failure. I knew I could never trust you."

  I heard enough and lifted my rifle. I'd already had a bullet in the chamber and shot before he had a chance to react. My 30-30's range may have been a little limited, but it shot true. The bullet landed directly in his chest and should've immediately killed him, but then I remembered that he wasn't just another elk or mulie, and a lead bullet likely wasn't going to do much to a dhampir if all of those rumors about needing something silver to kill one were to be believed.

  Cyprian laughed and disappeared, only to reappear a few feet away. "Oh Huntsman, I thought you were smarter than that. You can't kill me. I thought your little friend there would've told you that by now."

  I glanced over to Mitsi who was still staring at the ground, unable to bring herself to face the dhampir king.

  I shook my head slowly and glared at Cyprian. "What do you want then? Why are you here?"

  "Me? Oh, I just wanted to check in on your progress. You do realize it would be much faster, and easier, for you to get through these levels without all this... dead weight, don't you?"

  "Dead weight? That pretty much sums up this whole island, right?" I kept each of the women behind me as he took another step forward.

  An evil smile rose slowly to Cyprian's face, his blood-red eyes almost glowing with intensity as he stared at me. "Fair enough, see how far this heroic gesture will take you. My money is on you failing, costing your brother, and everyone else you care for, their lives."

  I was having trouble maintaining my composure. Everything within me wanted to destroy this smug dhampir. I knew the second I swung he'd be gone, though.

  Mitsi stepped forward, clearing the tears from her eye and straightening. "You will not hurt them," she called out confidently.

  Cyprian laughed and rubbed his hands together excitedly. "Oh, this is rich. This is too good. What say you, cyclops? What are you going to do about it?"

  I grabbed my knife and removed it from its sheath. I reared back and swung forward, but before I could connect Cyprian blinked out of existence and reappeared next to Mitsi.

  Her hand shot out before he could do anything and wrapped around his throat. She held him there tightly for several seconds.

  Cyprian finally blinked out of sight and reappeared a few feet away. He crossed his arms over his chest and smiled. "You're going to have to do better than that." He turned to Mitsi and reached for her arm. "Time for you to get back in your place. Your adventure ends here, you little slut."

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  "You disgust me." Mitsi straightened and brought her arm around in a wide arc. She connected with the side of his face right before he blinked away, sending a resounding crack through the room.

  The dhampir reappeared across the room with an unmistakable red welt forming directly below his left eye. "I gave you everything you could have ever needed and this is how you repay me? I was even going to let you live, but I can see now that once you gave up your chastity, your mind has been corrupted. You're a failure."

  "I'm pretty sure I can tell who the failure is here. If you would've shown her even a small bit of attention you wouldn't have a cracked face right now," I said and wrapped an arm around her waist.

  The rest of my bonded stepped forward and joined our sides. I knew they were ready to pounce on the spiked hair dhampir if I were to say the word.

  Mitsi kept her focus on Cyprian from across the room, her hand still balled in a fist.

  Cyprian grabbed the lever and gave it a hard pull. "Very well. I guess you didn’t want the tip about the shortcut. Your loss."

  The blades started spinning and whirring once more. I knew from the last time that it took them a second or two to hit full speed, so I wasn't about to waste any time. I pulled Mitsi close and picked her up. I carried her much easier than I should've been able to for her size, but with my new and improved strength, it was an easy task.

  I called out as we ran. “Hurry, follow me before those blades have a chance to hit full speed.”

  I caught flashes of my bonded dashing across the room, deftly maneuvering their way through the blades.

  We made it a few steps before the blades appeared from the ceiling. I dove forward, narrowly avoiding a blade above our heads and dropped Mitsi on the floor in front of us. I picked her up once more and used my Instinct skill to leap and spin out of the way as I progressed through the room. I was nearly to the opposite side when I made a jump a second too soon and landed on a blade just as it peeked up from the floor.

  I fell forward and Mitsi rolled toward the door. She hurried to her feet and pulled the lever to stop the blades from spinning. I rolled over and lifted my foot. A stream of blood poured out from my heel and down onto the ground in a puddle. Mitsi pulled the shirt from her shoulder and ripped it in half, handing me a half to wrap my foot.

  "Here, let me help you." She leaned down and quickly wrapped my heel in an attempt to stop the bleeding. As she wrapped it I caught a glimpse of her shoulder. The wound where the blade had hit her earlier was black and it seemed to be spreading into her arm.

  "What?" she asked as she met my eyes.

  "Nothing. Hand me that other half of my shirt. I will get your wound covered back up."

  She handed me the shirt and glanced over at her arm. "Oh no, what's happening?" Her voice was full of panic.

  "I'm not sure, but it will most likely happen to me as well. We need to keep going while we can, before whatever those blades were covered in, does more damage than we can handle." We finally reached the opposite side of the room. I ran a hand down along her injured arm. "Does this hurt?"

  She shook her head slowly and smiled. "No, it... it actually feels very nice to be touched."

  My heart sank as I thought about how she'd spent her entire life in this tower. I gave her a small smile and kissed her lips before glancing up at the others. "Come on, let's get to this next level. We need to keep moving."

  Dahlia used what salve she had remaining and Isobel used some additional fabric from her armor to expertly wrap my heel to prevent further damage.

  Mitsi helped me to my feet. I could barely put weight on my right leg so I moved awkwardly to the do
or.

  After pausing at the doorway for several seconds to ensure all of my bonded were okay and ready to continue, we stepped through together. A blast of hot air met us as we entered and nearly took my breath away.

  Dahlia let out a small yelp. “My petals…”

  I glanced over and noticed the petals which made up her dress had all wilted under the extreme heat.

  Mitsi stepped in a second later and let out a small gasp. "Oh, that's hot."

  I moved forward, trying to ignore the searing pain, and scanned the area that opened up in front of us. Several large chunks of molten rock drifted down from the sky. One smashed into the rock face high above the door that we just entered through, sending a shower of magma down toward us.

  We ran forward, narrowly avoiding the shower of magma and paused at the edge of the solid rock floor. A huge lava pool stretched out in front of us with several small rock islands scattered throughout.

  I walked along the edge of the lava lake but had to back away as the intense heat was too much to take. Leaning against the far wall were several long poles. I hurried over and inspected one of them. They were as firm and long as a pole vault pole, and once I stuck it in the lava and was able to pull it back out in one piece and not on fire, I knew exactly what we needed to do. Now, if we were going to be able to do it, that was another question.

  I handed one of the poles to Mitsi. "If this is standing straight up and down, do you think you can hold onto it with your shoulder the way it is?"

  She nodded slowly. "I think so."

  I took a deep breath, and coughed as the heat filled my lungs. I cleared my throat and grabbed several other poles. I paused as I reached Alysain. “Are you still unable to fly in here?”

  She stretched her wings and attempted to lift into the air, but was held back by an unseen force. “Unfortunately yes, I can’t get past whatever it is that insists on holding me down in this tower.”