by Mills, H. C.
The chief nimbly sidesteps his downward swing, which ends up breaking one of the floorboards, and chuckles.
“Funny little monkeys,” he croaks. Suddenly, his face turns furious, and his free hand grabs Alec by the neck. “Unworthy to be chosen! Unworthy of the Gods!” He punctuates his last words with a burst of electricity of his own, tendrils of lightning arcing from the trident onto Alec who stiffens and convulses.
Then, to my horror, as I stumble to my feet, he lifts the weapon up to Alec’s face and uses one of its tines to whip out Alec’s eye-crystal, before nimbly catching it in his free hand.
Then he proceeds to Alec’s remaining eye.
The blood drains from my face, as it pops free and arcs through the Aether. The chief opens his mouth slightly and whips out his tongue. In the blink of an eye, it latches onto the flying eyeball and pulls it into his mouth.
I hear a faint but horrifying ‘pop’ before his throat convulses as he audibly swallows.
Alec, released, falls down screaming, clutching his face in his hands.
The chief turns to me with an evil smile and a glint of madness in his eyes.
Jacob bursts in. He launches himself forward with a flash of yellow without missing a beat, taking the chief off guard. Although the oversized froggo manages to jump awkwardly out of the range of Jacob’s sword, he still gets bashed by Jacob’s shield and ends up sprawling behind the altar, both hindered and protected by the massive stone.
“Emma, move!” Jacob shouts at me as he drags Alec upright.
At last, I truly snap out of my daze. Sounds come rushing in, croaking of froggos from all around the village. We have to get out of here.
Jacob drags Alec—who is sobbing and clutching his hands to his face—out of the hut. On the way, they trigger the tripwire, which sets off a loudly chiming bell somewhere high in the building.
Well, that won’t make a fat lot of difference now. It’s honestly a miracle Jacob didn’t hit it when he stormed in!
The chief grunts and flails behind the altar. He could get up at any second, yet I remain in the room for a second longer, frantically scanning for a hint of amethyst that I swear I saw the chief drop.
Why’d he have to drop it in the middle of a friggin’ display of—there! I grab Alec’s eye-crystal in my free hand—spear in the other—and pocket it as I gun for the door.
Outside, a froggo with a blowpipe is aiming for Jacob’s back. I jump down the steps onto him before he looses his dart. My feet hit his shoulders and my spear enters his neck. He goes down in the sand as I transition into a forward roll.
I’m up and moving again before any other nearby froggos can react, sprinting after Jacob and Alec towards the barge.
A dart flies past me from the left, nearly grazing my nose, and another bounces of my left vambrace, but I don’t break stride.
An arrow flies from the boat in answer, courtesy of Dave. A froggo to my right gurgles and goes down.
A lance of hot orange Astreum passes on my right. The pained grunt and the sound of sizzling flesh tell me it hit something chasing me.
“Go go go!” I shout at them when Jacob and Alec stumble onto the barge.
Understanding my intention, Dave loosens the last rope and pushes off with his foot.
Kaitlynn whips her head at him in shock, and then back to me, worry in her eyes as the barge drifts away from the dock.
By the time I’m up on the dock, darts and even some rocks whizzing by my head, the barge has drifted off twenty-some feet, and is picking up speed away from me.
Back on Earth, a jump like this would have been impossible for me. Here and now, however, with Boost Physical’s second mode on, I bet I can do it. I have to.
I leap, swinging my arms and my Greysteel spear up for additional momentum. As I go over the edge of the dock, the pull of gravity weakens, increasing my airtime as I sail over the Hydrum.
I have to stretch my feet forward a little, but ultimately land on the edge of the boat. A few stumbling steps forward transfer the rest of my momentum to the boat.
A dart hits me in the back, shallowly piercing through my armour. I pull it out with a grunt and duck down next to the small cabin wherein Alec lies propped up against the wall. There isn’t enough space inside for more than two people really, and Jacob is still next to him.
“What the hell happened?” Dave hisses at me.
Before I can answer, a loud croak echoes over the river. “Unbelievers! Thieves! Get them, you lazy spawn!”
“That guy happened,” I say numbly. “The chief apparently sleeps behind his treasure. Paranoid bastard.”
“Why is it so dark here?” Alec moans. “I can’t even see my Status Bar. Am I dying? Sarge? Sarge, answer me!”
Jacob carefully pulls away Alec’s hands. My stomach turns at the sight of his empty, bleeding eye sockets.
Dave curses. “Jesus! Okay, hold on buddy, let me try to Restore you.” He pulls his Focus Crystal out from where it hangs on a pendant under his armour.
“No, wait!” I say quickly, rummaging around in my pocket. “We have to put his eye-crystal back in first!”
Dave glances at me in confusion, when I pull out Alec’s eye-crystal, holding it up so he can see it in the dim light of the stars above.
He looks at it and blanches. “Oh damn, so that’s why he’s calling for—”
Something wet and slimy whips out of nowhere and snatches the crystal right out of my hand.
“—Sarge.”
I turn, wide-eyed, to find the chief smirking at me. He spits the crystal out into his webbed hand and waves it at me. “Unworthy!” he croaks joyfully. “Attack!”
Then he dives, disappearing from sight as three froggos hop out of the Hydrum onto the barge.
CHAPTER 10
Just around the riverbend
CURSING, I LEAP FORWARD. The closest of the three froggos that just hopped on board goes down with a throwing knife in his throat, courtesy of Kaitlynn. Damn, she’s not messing around.
I take on the second, who just spat out and caught a slimy buckler and club.
Those aren’t going to save him. I lash out with my spear, fed by anger and adrenaline. He—or she actually, I think—manages to block the thrust with her buckler, but it cracks in the process, and she is shoved back into a stumble.
I press my assault, relying on my superior Strength and Agility to overwhelm her with a flurry of stabs, many of which draw green blood. She staggers, weakened, and I’m about to finish her off when another froggo launches himself towards me from the river.
I duck, and he sails over me. Kaitlynn is on my other side and slashes at him with her retrieved knife.
Shit. All right, gotta prioritise. We have more incoming, so fights have to be quick. I sweep my spear at the female froggo I was facing, and knock her off the boat with a solid hit. Let her bleed out in the river.
From the corner of my eye, I see a flicker of movement, and I just barely dodge the dart headed for my cheek. Some froggos are hopping onto rocks in the river to shoot at us. As I watch, an arrow flies from the back of our barge and hits one in the chest. Nice one, Dave!
Two more froggos leap onto the other side of the barge.
Kaitlynn ducks in close to carve one of them up before he has the chance to ready himself, then she throws one of her knives at the back of another new arrival approaching Dave.
Damn, girl!
With a flash of yellow, Jacob charges the other froggo, catching the overgrown critter off guard with his instantaneous acceleration.
It’s an effective tactic, which affords him a clean stroke across the froggo’s chest, but rather reckless on our relatively small barge. If the froggo had dodged, he’d be overboard.
The next froggo hops onboard near me, and this one is a little more prepared; he has his buckler and club ready when he lands.
I take a stab at him—literally—but he hastily raises his buckler. The tip of my spear slams into it. A deep crack forms, with a purple g
low where I hit it, but the shield holds.
A second froggo hops onboard behind me and produces a two-handed, crude stone axe from her gullet.
Darn. Thankfully, my spear is quite long. I take a sideways stance between them—facing the Hydrum, obviously—and start sweeping and twirling like there’s no tomorrow to keep them occupied.
It works, mostly. The female froggo manages a glancing blow on my shoulder with her axe. It hurts like shit, and my left arm goes a little numb, but remains functional.
I finish my preparations before they manage to do any more damage. The blue glow coming from the Focus Crystal around my neck turns purple. Hungry tendrils of Toxic Energy burst out of it, Infusing the Aether I inhale.
The female froggo to my left jumps back. The club- and buckler-wielding froggo to my right is less smart. He freezes up.
Hehe, sucker.
My deadly payload jets towards him. With something between a squeal and a croak, he manages to raise his damaged buckler just in time.
The force behind my breath still manages to push him back several steps. For a moment, I fear this is the extent of the damage but then his wooden buckler, already impregnated with some Moonshade Sap, turns a light shade of purple, and kind of... shrivels.
Seeing my chance, I take two quick steps and go for a straight jab with my spear. He lifts the buckler, but my spear bursts through it as if it were wet cardboard and plunges deep into his chest.
Wary of the female behind me, I sweep my spear aside, tossing him and the buckler in the water.
I face off against the female froggo, but she’s wily, wielding her heavy stone axe with uncanny grace. The reach of my spear helps keep her at bay at least, especially with how wary she seems of its purple-glowing tip.
As I step back for a second to breathe and consider my next move, Kaitlynn darts in close to the axe-wielding female, and stabs her in the back.
Well, that works too.
A large, two-pronged-spear-wielding Hoplite lands behind me, and the battle continues.
The bastard is good. He manages to stab me between my lower ribs before an arrow from Dave helps me finish him off.
But the froggos don’t stop coming.
I stab and sweep until my arms feel like lead, my spear leaving less and less glowing purple residue in every subsequent cut. Often, they leave after receiving a single wound, to make room for a fresh warrior. Sometimes I give them a helping hand in going overboard, by blowing them off to keep them from crowding us.
Unlike them, we don’t have anywhere to retreat, unfortunately. I quickly lose count of the blows I’ve taken, luckily most of them glancing, or at least softened by my armour. There are also darts flying everywhere, despite Dave’s efforts in culling their numbers. Kaitlynn just took one full in the neck, and Jacob’s bleeding from a nasty gash on his forehead, just underneath his protective coif.
However, as the battle drags on, their numbers are dwindling. The chief seems to realise it too, unfortunately. A bright blue arc jumps onto our boat from the front, striking Jacob in the back as he’s about to deal a finishing blow. He crumples bonelessly, twitching as he goes down.
Thankfully, the froggo he was facing already sports several nasty cuts and takes the opportunity to flee rather than avenge themselves.
“Coward,” the chief croaks angrily.
Heat erupts from Kaitlynn as she forms a floating ball of Astreum. A split second later, a bright orange lance bursts forth at the chief. He quickly dives, however, and the blast harmlessly hits the Hydrum, which just glows a bit before the Heat diffuses.
“Damn,” I curse, before slamming a heavily wounded froggo overboard with the butt of my spear.
I look around. The deck is covered in sticky, green goop, and the froggos are hanging back in the river, seemingly hesitant about pursuing us further. Are they finally giving up?
Kaitlynn looks a little unsteady, Toxic Energy playing beneath her skin. She’s pulling out a Blue Angel. Smart girl. Meanwhile, Jacob seems to have recovered from the bolt of lightning and is even grinning happily at something. A pop-up, maybe?
I head over to Dave, whose Focus Crystal glows pink as he Restores a nasty cut along his thigh, probably from the second Hoplite to climb on deck. Pretty sure he went overboard with one of Kaitlynn’s knives still in his back.
“We have to get that eye-crystal back,” he says as I get closer. “Rose says Alec’ll be disqualified without it!”
My burgeoning sense of calm is promptly shattered. “Meaning?”
“Classified,” he grunts back.
“Looking for this?” the chief croaks, from a ways in front of the barge, waving a glimpse of amethyst at us. “Come and get it!” He cackles gleefully, before starting to swim further downstream.
Dave curses.
“After him!” I yell. While everyone seems to agree to my proposal on principle, for a moment we all stand around, unclear on what to do, because, well, how?
Dave starts issuing commands and we scramble into motion.
Dave and Kaitlynn take the front of the barge, prepared to fire at him when we get into range. Jacob takes the wheel in front of the little hut, and I crouch down next to the rudder, thinking over what I’m about to try.
I mean, Dave’s idea works in theory, but that’s Earth theory.
I inhale as much Aether as I can, making sure to face the front of the barge, turn around, hang onto the rear, and unleash a jet of Aether straight back.
It doesn’t do much, though I clearly feel myself pull on the edge as I’m pushed back by my exhale. The Aether doesn’t have enough weight, or density rather...
I make a few more attempts and soon discover that the effect becomes a lot stronger if I crouch down and angle the jet 45 degrees down towards the Hydrum. I pull the boat up a bit at the back, but in general, way more pressure builds up, and I’m actually noticeably accelerating the barge a little when I do this.
Jacob shouts back at me. “It’s working, Emma! But we’re going to need a bit more!”
“I’m already practically hyperventilating!” I yell back in between breaths.
“All right, just keep going, I’ll try something!”
Maybe thirty seconds later or so, I almost fall off the boat, as it suddenly lurches forward with newfound momentum. No, with Increased Momentum!
I keep firing large jets of Aether a little while longer, now prepared for the occasional push from Jacob, until the river gets disconcertingly rough.
I hadn’t really registered it before now, but the riverbanks have been rising for a while now. At this point, we are basically boxed in by large cliffs on both sides.
Concerned, I come back to the front of the little cabin, just in time to see Dave loose another arrow, and hear the chief cackle as he dodges it and enters the white rapids in front of us.
“Oh shit,” I whisper.
Alec, still huddled in the cabin, trails of blood running down his cheeks like tear tracks, looks up at my words. “What? What’s going on?” he asks in alarm. “Is it the chief? Wait, what is that roaring sound?”
“No, it’s...” I swallow. “Hang on, buddy, the ride’s about to get a little bumpy.”
White-rapid rafting always seemed like such a fun thing. It had long been my goal to visit a country with such wild rivers and go down one. You know, with like a skilled guide.
Definitely not like this. This is terrifying.
My back breaks out in cold sweat at the first big lurch, and at the first scrape against an invisible rock, my voice joins those of Alec and Kaitlynn in an involuntary scream.
Jacob is giving the steering his all, now assisted by Dave, who is calling out directions from where he is clinging on at the front, scouting ahead.
Seriously, who designed this barge? With the cabin in the way, you can’t even see the front from the rudder!
Kaitlynn is still next to Dave, scowling at the waves. A bolt of lightning suddenly streaks towards them, but misses completely thanks to a sudd
en lurch of our vessel that almost makes me stumble over the edge.
I glance at Jacob, but he makes a face as if to say: ‘Wasn’t me!’
Hmm. Must’ve been the rapids then. I move over and grab onto the small cabin for safety.
Meanwhile, the chief still stands on a rock up ahead, glaring menacingly after his missed shot.
Kaitlynn charges up, but Dave jumps in front of her, waving at her to stop. The chief quickly takes the opportunity to jump into the water and disappear.
“What gives, Dave?” she exclaims in frustration. “Let me fry that jerk!”
“No!” Dave yells over the roar of the river. “If he drops Alec’s crystal here it’s basically lost forever! We have to wait for calmer water!”
Damn, he’s right. We can’t even fight back!
“Emma, please, what’s going on?” Alec begs. Powerless to do anything else, I sit down in the cabin and huddle up with him, whispering soothing lies like ‘it’ll be all right.’
As the rapids grow fiercer, Alec holds on to me for dear life and I can’t stand to look at him. Damnit Emma, you just had to get greedy again, didn’t you?! And Alec paid the price... Ugh, this sucks so much!
The rapids go on for a long time. The chief hounds us constantly, taking shots at us from unexpected places every two minutes or so. We’re ready for those now, however. Kaitlynn is huddled up against me in the cabin and Dave has joined Jacob at the wheel. Even if one of them gets hit, the other can steer until the stunning effect wears off.
There are a couple of hairy moments, where it seems like the barge is going to flip over one way or another, but its size works in our favour.
After a while, the arcs of lightning start coming less and less. Perhaps the chief is running out of juice? The shaking and bobbing get less as well, so Kaitlynn and I join Dave and Jacob on the deck.
The river slows down further as we head into a long bend, with noticeably more space between the cliffs.
“Is the chief still trailing us?” I ask.
To my relief, Dave nods tensely. “I’ve caught glimpses of him. He’s moving around quite deep in the river, no idea what he’s up to.”