by Eric Vall
As we followed them down to the field, the strange smell got stronger. It wasn’t miasma, but it was a bittersweet scent, like someone put too much sugar into their coffee. We reached the edge of the fields, and I could see the soil on the left side was blackened as well but didn’t appear burnt or damaged. In fact, the crops and soil looked completely normal except for their color.
“Has anyone eaten the diseased crops?” Nike asked as he rubbed a black leaf in between his fingers.
“No, no,” Vallen answered, and he shook his head vehemently. “Not one. I’ve ordered the farmers to only harvest from the other end of the field or from the smaller gardens within the city until we figure this out.”
“I’d like to take one of the plants back to the castle to examine it,” Alyona said. “I want to do some research and test my theories out on just one at first. I’d hate to damage your crops any further.”
“That would be wonderful, milady,” Vallen said with a clap. “Thank you!”
Alyona smiled as she took a step closer and reached out for a plant.
Then I noticed the stalks two rows over began to rustle, as though something pushed them aside.
I grabbed Alyona around the waist and pulled her back from the edge of the crops just as a large black form emerged from the stalks with a screech.
Chapter 4
A crow the size of a goat spread its wings as it opened its mouth and let out another screech. Its wingspan looked to be about four feet wide, but it was the bird’s beak and claws that looked ready to cause some damage. Its long, black talons flexed in the dark soil, and its hooked beak gleamed in the sun as it cocked its head back and forth. The bird’s piercing call echoed around the sand dunes, and it flapped its black feathered wings with anger.
“What the hell is that?” I shouted as I slid in front of the princess.
“It’s a rambrook,” Polina called out from behind me. “They usually travel in--”
Another screech cut her off as a second bird scampered out behind the first and crouched into an attack stance.
“Pairs,” Trina finished matter-of-factly.
“Of course,” I muttered as I looked for the mark of Gamma on the beasts’ chests, but no green symbol appeared on their bodies. “They aren’t marked. Do they normally attack?”
“Yes,” Marina answered as she and her sisters clustered together.
Then the rambrooks gave another high-pitched shriek before they sprinted at me with their jagged beaks hanging open. Their wings were spread wide, and the ebony feathers whistled in the wind as they picked up speed.
I wondered for a split second if I could still use the Sword of Healing since Miraya was out of my spiritual sea and in the real world, but I’d just have to try.
So, I reached into my spatial storage and felt around for the Sword of Hatra as Nike rushed forward with the Sword of Light. I finally gripped the handle of the blade, though, and it felt like I had a whole new connection with my weapon. I could feel every inch of its blade pulsating in my hand, and it begged for the chance to rid the people of these creatures. It must have been the soul bridge that created the tight bond between me and my sword, since I felt like the weapon was an extension of my own arm as I watched the sun glint off the silvery edge.
Then I grinned as I swung the blade around into an offensive position and rushed the gigantic birds.
“Oh, but don’t let them touch you!” Ravi cried out from behind me. “Their feathers can cause paralysis.”
The fuck kind of bird was this?
“How can we help?” Aaliyah shouted from back where the others waited.
“Just stay back!” I called out over my shoulder.
The lioness growled in frustration, and I knew it was difficult for her to sit back and watch, but she relied on her ability to jump on her prey and swipe her claws ferociously through the victim, and that obviously wouldn’t work on the rambrooks.
I shook my head and signaled to the women to keep their distance. I’d never tried to heal paralysis with my magic before, and I didn’t want to try today. Nike and I could handle this with our swords.
As I came within inches of the first beast, it took flight and soared over my head. I growled as I pictured myself in dragon form and considered lighting the creatures on fire, but a fire would put the whole field at risk, and we already had to find a way to heal the crops, so I needed to stay focused and find a different way to defeat the birds.
As I shuffled through all my magical options, I looked over to see Nike had just experienced the same defensive maneuver and was shaking his head in annoyance at the birds flying overhead.
“So, how do we kill them if we can’t touch them?” he asked as his silver eyes remained on the birds circling above us like vultures preparing to dive onto roadkill.
Suddenly, an idea dawned on me.
“We let them think they’ve touched us,” I said with a grin.
It was time to try one of my newest skills.
Then I lined myself up with the first bird’s flight path before he dove down, and his black eyes stared at me with rage as he plummeted straight at me.
Predation: Activated
Skill: Displacement
I watched as the light around me bent and molded to the image in my head. I pictured myself a few feet to my right, and the space around me seemed to shift. It was like watching the world around me move in a kaleidoscope, and I brought my sword up just above my head.
Then the rambrook’s beady eyes focused on the spot to my right, and the bird-beast opened its pointy beak only to grasp nothing.
So, I stabbed my sword into its side and dragged my blade from its neck to its hindleg, and the beast’s strangled cry filled the air as its dark red blood poured out from the wound. Then it gave a measly flap of its wings to carry it back toward the field.
“Don’t let it get away!” I ordered.
The dryads nodded and plunged their hands into the sand beneath their feet. Suddenly, roots sprang up from the ground in front of the crops and weaved together to form a wall in front of the bird. The creature slammed into the wall and shook the roots, but they held together against its angry attempts to bust through.
As the bird squawked in anger, the dryads pulled more roots from the ground and formed a cage around the rambrook. The beast turned and slammed its head into each side and reminded me of a pinball machine as it bounced from side to side to find a weakness in the cage. It let out another squawk, but this time it was weaker, and the bird heaved a sigh as it gave up its attempt to escape.
I nodded to the sisters and turned back to find the other bird. It had continued to circle around above us while its partner attacked, and Nike tracked it with the Sword of Light held high.
“It must be scared to come down now,” the noble suggested. “We need to bring it within reach.”
“Well, get ready, then,” I chuckled as I aimed for the bird and shot a massive web at it.
The sticky webbing wrapped around the rambrook’s wings, and it plummeted to the ground like a stone as it squealed and nipped at the web. When the bird crashed into the sand dune, it struggled against the tacky bindings and rolled downhill to land at my feet. Sand had stuck to the web as well, and the bird looked like a heap of sand and feathers when it finally came to a stop before me.
I took a step back and glanced over the creature as it tugged and grappled with my web. Then I lifted my sword and dragged it across the beast’s neck to end its struggle. Another pool of the dark red blood formed under its lifeless body, and when I looked up, Nike plunged his own blade through the dryads’ birdcage and into the other rambrook.
I waited for the familiar words to flit across my vision, but no predation message came up. Maybe because I didn’t have any feathers to take their paralysis skills. Damn, I’d never wanted feathers before now.
“Why would rambrooks be here?” Ravi asked as the women gathered around to look at the corpse before me. “They’re carrion birds. They only feed
on dead things.”
“And they weren’t marked, so they must not have been sent here,” Aaliyah added with a frown. “Are we sure the Sect did this?”
“Maybe the plague in the fields made the plants look dead,” Alyona offered. “They certainly defended the crops like it was their source of food.”
“That would make sense,” Polina agreed as she and her sisters joined us.
“Yes, rambrooks will attack if their food source or partner is under attack,” Marina confirmed. “And the princess reached for one of the stalks.”
“So, the birds thought Alyona was stealing their food,” I murmured. “They just happened to get caught up in whatever spell is taking over the crops.”
“It seems that way, my lord,” Nike replied. “Ah, where is Lord Vallen?”
“Over here,” Naomi muttered, and she tossed a wheelbarrow aside to reveal her brother cowering and shivering underneath it while his hands tightly gripped the turban on his head.
“Ah, good, you’ve defeated the beasts!” Vallen cried out as he stood up and brushed the sand from his robes. “I’m not much of the warrior type, you see.”
“I do see that,” I chuckled. “So, we’ll be taking a sample plant back to the castle now that the rambrooks are gone. Have you noticed any other creatures or people lurking around here we should know about?”
“I haven’t, but we should check with the farmers to be certain,” the lizard replied as he scurried over to a shed at the corner of the field. “Jasper!”
“My lord!” a voice rang out from inside the shed. “Hurry and get inside! There are beasts in the crops!”
“Oh, come now,” Vallen soothed him. “They have been slayed.”
The door to the shed creaked open, and a slender lizard Demi-Human poked his face out to peer at us. Then he sighed with relief and stepped out into the sunlight. His brown and cream robes were tattered and frayed, and his turban was askew on his head. A long, brown ponytail peeked out of the back of his headwrap, and the scales on his neck were a bright green. His yellow eyes searched our group and then widened as he saw the two dead rambrooks on the ground behind us.
“You killed them?” Jasper gasped as he adjusted his turban. “The beasts nearly killed me when I came to check on the fields. They were squawking and clashing their beaks at me, so I ran into the tool shed where they couldn’t get in.”
“Lord Evan and his comrades took care of them,” Vallen explained as he gestured toward us. “They are working to cure the plague as well, but he has some questions for you first. Please help him the best you can.”
“Of course,” the farmer drawled as he dipped his head. “Anything I can do to help.”
“Is this the first time you’ve seen the rambrooks?” I asked as I stepped closer to the farmer.
“Yes,” he confirmed and nodded his head vigorously. “There were no giant birds here yesterday. I can tell you that.”
“Okay, and they are the first creatures you’ve seen in the fields?” I clarified.
“Yes, my lord.” Jasper nodded again. “I would have noticed any other ones. I’m here every day to check on the crops for the city. We provide most of the food for Kana, so I’m the one who found the disease.”
“Great,” I replied with a smile. “Have you seen anyone else here who doesn’t belong? Even someone from the city who normally doesn’t come down here?”
“Not a soul,” the lizard answered and shuffled his feet nervously. “I’m not a guard or anything, though. I could have missed something.”
“I’m sure you’re doing a great job,” Alyona assured him. “We only want to get as much information as possible to find out what we’re dealing with.”
“Thank you, milady,” Jasper said with a smile. “I do try my best.”
“Jasper is the leader of our farmers,” Vallen said as he puffed out his chest proudly. “He has overseen the fields for years. He has great knowledge of the land, and everyone in Kana respects him.”
“Thank you, my lord,” the farmer nearly whispered and dipped his head. “That is kind of you.”
“Well, unless Lord Evan has any further questions, we should be returning to the castle,” Naomi interjected. “The sooner we begin on research, the sooner we can fix the crops and get food back to our people.”
“Okay,” I confirmed. “Laika, you, the dryads, and Ravi help Alyona collect her samples without getting attacked. Nike, Aaliyah, Miraya, and I will collect the rambrook corpses and burn them. We don’t need any more of those things coming for the dead bodies.”
Laika nodded and ushered the other women back over to the blackened crops, and I watched as her bushy gray tail swished back and forth while she jogged behind them. Her hips swayed from side to side in her tight leather pants, and I stared with appreciation for her muscled body as she headed toward the field.
“Do you think it’s safe to touch them yet?” Miraya asked as we walked over to the dead birds, and her blue eyes drifted over the lifeless bodies with concern.
“I don’t want to risk it,” I answered. “I only want you two to clear out the sand around the birds, so I can burn them without the fire spreading to the fields. Try to make a big circle like a moat around the pyre.”
“Okay,” Aaliyah said with a nod.
The two women began to circle the beast that was still wrapped in the webbing, while Nike and I pulled on the roots of the birdcage to free them from the ground. Then we each grabbed a side of the cage and used it to drag the second bird’s corpse away from the crops and next to the other carcass.
“Should we move the cage to burn them?” Nike asked as we dropped the load inside the sand circle.
“No, we don’t know if their blood carries any kind of diseases,” I pointed out. “We should just burn what we know got their blood on it, which means I’m going to burn those two blood pools as well.”
Once the two corpses were close together and nothing but the root cage was around them, I blew a small column of flames onto the bodies and waited until they caught fire.
As the flames licked across the carcasses and melted the dangerous feathers, I walked over to the puddles of rambrook blood and sprayed fire over the liquid until only black ash marred the sand. Then I returned to the birds’ pyre and leaned over Miraya’s shoulder.
“So, I can use the sword even when you’re out here?” I asked.
“Of course, my lord,” Miraya replied and turned to face me. “I’m only the spirit of the sword, so the blade is still a physical object. It doesn’t hold my magic when I’m not within your sea, but the sword is still a dangerous weapon in your hands.”
“Well, I’m glad that worked out,” I chuckled. “I definitely needed it in that fight.”
Miraya was still giggling as Alyona and the others joined us. The princess held several black sprouts up where I could see them before she dropped them into her spatial storage.
A few minutes later, the rambrooks had become piles of black ashes, and the flames fizzled out. Then Vallen scuttled closer with his face scrunched up in disgust. He looked down on the ashes, and his skin turned a pale shade of green.
“Do they always smell like that?” he asked as he pinched his nose shut.
“Like burning flesh?” I chuckled. “No, they didn’t smell like that before we lit them on fire.”
“Well, they certainly have a stench now,” he muttered and cleared his throat. “Come, come! We shall return to the castle.”
“Good idea,” I said with a smile. “We need access to any historical or magical information you may have.”
“We have a library of history books,” Vallen replied with a frown. “But the magical books… ”
“Magic is more my specialty than Vallen’s,” Naomi said as she focused her amber eyes on Alyona. “I’ve accumulated a little collection of magical stories and spells over the years. I’d be happy to show it to you.”
“I’d love that!” Alyona grinned like a kid in a candy store, and, really, the prin
cess in a book collection was basically the same thing, especially books related to magic and spells.
As we trudged up the dune back toward the city, I walked between Alyona and Naomi while they talked about the lizard’s magic.
“You’re a natural-born, right?” Alyona asked Naomi.
“Yes,” the lizard Demi-Human said with a nod. “My magic manifested early, so I’ve spent most of my life learning how to wield it.”
“And your teacher?” The princess raised an eyebrow.
“Myself and my books.” Naomi shrugged. “I may not be to your level of skill, Your Highness, but I’ve acquired enough knowledge to keep my people safe. It has been enough for me so far.”
“That is the highest honor in magic,” Alyona said with a smile. “To be able to protect one’s people is better than any other kind of power.”
“I’ve never thought of it like that.” The lizard mage returned Alyona’s smile. “I’ve been the city’s protector for so long, it seems natural to me now.”
“So, where do you get the books and stuff you learn from?” I asked.
“Various places,” Naomi replied. “Sometimes, I see a new one on a trader’s cart. Other times, I hear of something interesting in a nearby city, and I go get it for myself. I used to send the warriors to appease Vallen’s constant worry that I’ll get maimed somewhere, but last time they brought back textbooks for children instead of spell books. So, he agreed I should go since I know exactly what I’m looking for, and the trip won’t be a waste of time and resources.”
“And then you just read them?” I quirked an eyebrow with curiosity. “You’ve learned as much as you have from that?”
“Yes,” she confirmed. “Read it, then try it. If it fails, I start over. If it works, I’ve learned something new.”
“You should be very proud of that accomplishment,” Alyona praised her. “Many mages require a teacher to understand the nuances of magic. You seem to have a natural gift for it.”
“Thank you, milady, but how could you tell that I taught myself?” Naomi asked.