"Hey Candy," Odhu grinned widely and prodded the alchemist in the side.
They were strolling back towards the forests where Artemis and Art had departed for a while ago, and the sun was still shining brightly in the clear sky. Candy was starting to get nervous. She wasn't nervous about chasing after the elves and finding Kiri, of course not, but rather for the overly exuberant sorceress bouncing on her heels next to her. Odhu was smiling. Smiling. Candy stiffened when Odhu poked her arm.
"Candy," Odhu sang happily, "this is great!"
Candy blinked and stared at the grinning sorceress, whose arms were spread out wide as if embracing the air in front of her. There was something very wrong with Odhu. Ever since Candy gave her that dragon feather, Odhu had been acting all cheery. At first Candy enjoyed it, but when Odhu showed no signs of relenting she began to worry. Surely Odhu wouldn't be stuck like this? How was Candy supposed to explain how she broke Odhu?
"It's such a beautiful day," Odhu sighed happily, her eyes sparkling in the sun.
Candy buried her face in her hands and tried to reassure herself. Maybe if she could just get the feather away from Odhu, the sorceress would go back to being her normal, apathetic self; the Odhu that Candy was used to. The one she liked.
"Odhu," Candy began slowly, immediately capturing the attention of the giddy sorceress, "can I see that dragon feather for a second?"
Odhu blinked innocently, "Why?"
"Um," Candy tried desperately to think of something quickly, "It's, uh, pretty! Yeah, very pretty. I think it would look good out in the sunlight."
"Oh!" Odhu gasped excitedly and pulled out the feather, holding it up in the sunlight, "It does!"
"Yeah," Candy sighed in relief and reached out an arm to grab the feather, "can you hand it to me?"
Odhu shrugged and gave the feather to Candy without a fight. The moment Candy's fingers wrapped around it, she felt the familiar warmth envelop her. The goofy smile fell off Odhu's face immediately, and she glared at the feather as if it were poison.
"Never give that to me again," Odhu hissed angrily at Candy.
Candy giggled and put the feather away again. Odhu just huffed and stomped ahead at a faster pace, and Candy happily hummed and skipped after her into the forest.
"Quit messing around," Odhu snapped to get Candy to stop humming, "we have to find Artemis and Art."
Candy pointed towards the ground and Odhu glanced over to see a set of footprints in the dirt.
"Let's follow the trail," Candy suggested with a wink.
Odhu rolled her eyes and set off down the trail with Candy once again skipping behind her. Odhu was overcome with a sudden temptation to take the feather back from Candy. She wasn't sure which was worse, Candy having the feather or having the feather herself.
"And you're sure this is going to work?" Art ask Artemis doubtfully as they pursued Elena through the forest.
Artemis nodded her head stiffly, "It should."
"That doesn't sound very sure," Art muttered under her breath.
If Artemis heard, she didn't say so. Instead, the two elves continued through the trees in silence, reviewing their parts of the plan in their minds to make sure they would not mess up when the time came. The way Artemis saw it, their plan would involve two separate parts. One person had to fight off the giant ogre and whatever hobgoblins were around, while the other had to face off against Elena. With much difficulty, Artemis explained to Art they would perform much better if Artemis was the one to fight Elena. Not only was she more experienced and skilled, but she was much better fighting single enemies rather than large groups. Art, after much convincing, was forced to accept that she would not be able to fight Elena head to head. Of course, if she managed to defeat the ogre and hobgoblins before Artemis was finished with Elena, she was welcome to join in the fight against the dark elf. Art clung to this piece of information desperately. She was dying to take down that dark elf once and for all, and if she could just kill everything else fast enough, she could happily move on to Elena. She felt bad for the poor monsters who would try to get in the way. They'd hardly survive more than a few seconds.
Artemis would not admit it, but she was nervous. Firstly, she would have to depend on Art to handle the ogre and possible hobgoblins by herself. Not that Art was unskilled, but she was inexperienced and foolish, a potently disastrous combination. Artemis had no idea how many hobgoblins there would be, and that also worried her. What if there were too many for Art to handle? Not the least of her concerns was that Artemis did not know if she could rely on herself. Elena was a new enemy, and certainly not one to be messed with. What if Artemis could not handle her? Artemis hated doubting herself, and she wished she could have more faith in her skills, but nonetheless she had to consider loss as a very real possibility. She could not bear to be the one to let their team down, though. She could never look Art in the eye again if she failed.
"Artemis," Art whispered, jolting Artemis from her thoughts, "do you hear that?"
Artemis strained her ears to listen and detected a faint, wild hissing sound ahead. Artemis nodded in confirmation and Art chewed her bottom lip slightly.
"It sounds like hobgoblins," Art pointed out hesitantly, "a lot of them."
Artemis detected the edge of concern in Art's voice and the thought dawned on her that perhaps Art was just as unsure of herself as Artemis was. Artemis felt bad making Art doubt herself so much. Art wasn't all bad, in fact she would probably be extremely strong one day. She just needed to pull herself together first.
"You'll do fine," Artemis decided to comfort the nervous elf, "I told you to fight the hobgoblins for a reason, didn't I?"
Art glanced at Artemis and felt the tension in her shoulders slacken. Sometimes Art could not stand Artemis, but other times she knew she'd rather not have anyone by her side going into battle by her side but Artemis.
"Thanks," Art mumbled, "good luck to you."
"And you," Artemis replied briskly.
The hissing grew in volume until it was the only sound Art could hear. She tried to block it out and focus on something else, but it was so loud and persistent that no matter what she did the hissing preoccupied her every thought. She had no idea, though, that there would be as many as she saw once they made it to the next clearing in the forest.
There were hundreds of them. The sickly blue creatures with their terrible black claws and wild, bloodshot eyes were writhing around and fighting amongst themselves until they stood up alertly to face Art and Artemis. The sea of sickly blue extended far out into the clearing, their horrible bodies packed together as they fought to reach the two elves first. Art heard Artemis gasp slightly next to her and wondered if Artemis had changed her mind about the plan. She turned her head to look at Artemis, who was staring at her with a steely expression Art couldn't read.
"You know what to do," Artemis told her firmly.
With that, Artemis took off, jumping over the heads of the hordes of hobgoblins. Art gaped and could not believe Artemis was trusting her to fight off this many monsters. She scanned the crowd and spotted Elena and the pale ogre at the other end. Artemis was already speeding along, attempting to engage Elena in combat. The dark elf just noticed Artemis charging her when she leapt off the ogre and faced down the approaching tempest. Art watched the first blows being exchanged before she reminded herself she had her own task to attend to. The hissing hobgoblins were begging for someone to teach them a lesson. Art smirked, still not able to believe what she was about to do, and shot her first arrow straight into the chest of her first target. It was going to be a long battle.
Artemis, meanwhile, could not believe what she had just said. She had seen the hordes of hobgoblins, she could tell how impossible the task would be, and yet when she glanced over to Art she still stuck with the plan. Had she doomed them both? Artemis was sure she would find the answer to that question soon enough, but the sudden strike from Elena forced her to stop thinking about it. All she could think about was fighting the dark elf, one attack after the other, counterattack here and dodge there. Elena was no pushover. She was wild, aggressive, and cunning. She wasted no energy in any attack, using her ridiculous speed to keep a powerful offensive. Artemis tried to out-maneuver her, but Elena never let it happen. Her attacks were almost as grand as her ambitions, and certainly just as far reaching and devastating. Artemis got in close for a couple hits, but they barely scratched the dark elf before Artemis was forced to retreat again. Artemis wasn't sure she could keep up the pace if the battle stayed like it was.
"What's wrong?" Elena taunted her between strikes, "I thought you were supposed to be good."
Artemis frowned in concentration but refused to let Elena's words affect her. She did not want to be a part of Elena's psychological games. Instead, she channeled her energy into learning the style of Elena's attacks. Slowly but surely, she figured out a pattern. She could tell when Elena was most vulnerable. So, when Elena unleashed a vicious flurry of slashes and kicks, Artemis fell back until she was done. The last attack set Elena off balance, and Artemis smiled to herself as she charged in to kick Elena on the side. Elena, clearly unprepared, was sent flying back, and Artemis threw in a few shots with her bow just for good measure. They scratched through Elena's skin and sent droplets of blood flying, speckling the green grass of the clearing. Elena recovered midair and landed on her feet, glaring furiously at the tempest who had dared to harm her. Artemis stayed where she was, wary of getting to reckless.
"Come on," Elena tried to provoke Artemis again, "was that supposed to be an attack?"
Artemis ignored her and stood her ground. Elena's eyes flickered around the scene rapidly, taking in every little detail. Artemis wondered if Elena was trying to figure out a new strategy, or if she was stalling for time.
"What's the matter," Elena called out smugly, "too scared to speak?"
Artemis's eye twitched slightly. She desperately wanted to retort with a scathing comment, but at the same time she refused to give Elena the pleasure of evoking a response from her. She kept her mouth shut and instead moved in for another attack.
Elena chuckled loudly as Artemis approached. Artemis tried to land another heavy kick on Elena, but at the last moment Elena grabbed Artemis by the ankle and lifted her into the air. She brought Artemis back down to earth with a loud thump, and Artemis lay there stunned with the breath knocked out of her chest. Elena took the opportunity to slash at Artemis, opening a large wound down her arm. Before Elena could strike again, Artemis pin wheeled up and landed on her feet. Artemis winced and held onto her injured arm, watching as blood soaked through the cracks between her fingers. Elena savored the blood that now stained the tips of her long nails and she could barely contain the excitement bubbling within her. She hadn't had the chance to tear apart an elf in a very long time. Artemis slowly let go of her arm and took a deep breath. She had to concentrate.
Art had already come to that conclusion a very long time ago. The sheer numbers of hobgoblins pushing and clawing at each other to attack her made it nearly impossible to avoid being hit. One wrong move and she was done for. They would knock her off balance or out of the air and she'd disappear forever under a hissing and spitting pile of sickly blue flesh. At this point, she could only hope Artemis was doing alright, because checking to make sure was a luxury Art could not afford.