Chapter 41: Storms Today and Storms to Come
Rain pattered against the cobblestone roof of the shelter, and thunder rumbled overhead. Felix didn't enjoy being in the middle of a storm, but he found the sounds of one pleasant- they made for good background noise.
The team had made as much progress as they could for the day, even continuing their trek as the rain came down, before deciding they'd risk being caught in the thunderstorm if they didn't stop and make camp for the evening. It wasn't that late, but safety was their greatest concern, as Celia had put it. They'd hastily built a shelter out of stone, as usual, but the rain complicated their efforts to put together a campfire. To that end, Felix had suggested leaving a few narrow slots open in the walls to vent out the smoke. It left a few areas of their stone prism exposed, but not suffocating in the night was worth the discomfort.
"We're out of coal," Melissa reported. "We've used it all up for torches and the campfires."
"And we left most of our ores with Teras," added Celia.
Blake, ever practical, had suggested they do some "old-fashioned mining" the next morning to make up for their dwindling supplies, but they still had a ways to go and wouldn't be able to spare the time. Felix knew how long mining trips could take- he'd been dragged along on more than a few by Emily, and they were at least an all-day affair.
"I wonder how she's doing… I hope I haven't worried her too much."
With their shelter established, but the night still fairly young, the group had taken up different tasks to pass the time. Celia and Blake were having a light spar on the far side of the stone box, the clangs of their iron blades ringing in the air. Melissa was seated beside the campfire with her brewing stand and the potion ingredients Blake had found, and a pleasantly sweet scent wafted from her bubbling concoctions. Felix, meanwhile, had brought his new notebook to one of the windows they'd left open and was sketching out a design for a redstone contraption he'd been thinking about for a while. It wasn't the first drawing he'd made of the concept, but losing his book under Tenebyss had forced him to start from scratch.
"Slime block here, or would it make more sense to space it out from the main body…?"
"What're you doing?"
He jolted. Cupa was standing right behind him and looking over his shoulder at the page. He hadn't even heard her approach.
"It's a design for a flying machine," he said as his pulse settled. "They've existed in concept for a very long time, and I've heard they once might have seen use in other parts of the Overworld, but up here in the north it's a mystery how to build one."
She crouched beside him, leaning closer to stare at the sketch with a puzzled frown. "There's a lot of slime-looking blocks here. I wonder if we could borrow slime from our Turned to make this, the next time we see 'em."
Felix suddenly felt a little awkward, deciding not to point out that living slime cubes had to be hunted to harvest their materials. He suspected Cupa already knew that part, but the longer she traveled with them the stranger he'd begun to feel about the prospect of fighting mobs. Before meeting the Turned, Felix wouldn't have given it a second thought, but now that one was with the group he wasn't so sure. How she felt, she hadn't mentioned, and he didn't want to broach the topic unless she did first. For the time being, uncomfortable speculation it was.
Still, what she'd said had piqued some curiosity from him. "You can just take slime from them?"
"Oh, yeah! Most of us are still able to make items and stuff, like we could when we had our old bodies. Like, I can produce gunpowder! Want to see?"
Cupa reached to lift up a part of her cloak, and he snapped his gaze away from her with a blush. "T-that's okay! You, um, wouldn't want to risk getting it wet if any rain gets in here, right?"
"Guess not. Maybe another time."
Whatever process she'd planned on showing him, he decided he was better off not knowing. She didn't move away, though, and pointed at another part of the page. "What's this for? I've never seen a block like that."
Felix followed where she was pointing and raised a brow. It wasn't part of the sketch at all, but rather a note he'd scrawled on the side of the page: 'PISTON GRABS SLIME BLOCK = STICKY?' The text was bunched into a rough square to save space, but it couldn't have been confused for another block in the design.
Felix replied slowly. "That's not a block. It's just my handwriting."
"Oh." She shrank back, looking dejected. "I knew that."
He realized the issue a moment later. "You can't read?"
This time it was her turn to redden. Cupa looked away, tugging on her hood, and didn't reply. Of course, it made sense to him- she'd grown up hiding in the forest, and seemingly her only contact with the outside world before joining their group had been a chance meeting with Galen Beryl. It would have been strange if she could read.
"Don't make a big deal out of it to the others?" she whispered.
"I-I won't. I'm not sure they'd care if they found out, and they definitely wouldn't make fun of you for it."
She tugged the hood over her eyes. "I know that! I'm just… I don't want to seem dumb around everyone."
He didn't know what to say to that. They just sat there, silent, before she finally stood up to leave. But as she did, an idea came to him which he blurted out. "I can teach you."
Cupa flinched, and they both looked up to scan the others. In the corner, Celia had accidentally scratched across Blake's arm and was apologizing profusely while he tended to the injury. Melissa glanced up from her brewing, saw the wound wasn't serious enough to require a potion, and simply went back to work. Seemingly reassured that nobody had overheard, Cupa knelt beside Felix again and whispered, "You can?"
He'd made the offer a bit on the fly, but Felix meant it. "Sure. Whenever we have the time, I could teach you a little. Maybe how to write, too."
"That'd mean a lot… thank you so much," she said, a noticeable waver in her voice.
"I told you, I'm fine!" they heard Blake grumble from the back. "Tore up the sleeve, that's all."
"Maybe I could ask one of them to teach me how to use a sword," she added. "All I've got is my bow."
Felix recalled their arrival to Tenebyss, and the task of dealing with the horde of mobs outside its gates. "You could give us some pointers on archery in exchange. I'm a lousy shot, I know that much."
She giggled. "It's a deal- hang on… what's that?"
Felix looked up. Cupa was pointing out the window at something in the distance, out in the rain and thunder. A lumbering, thin-as-bones white horse was wandering alone on the plains. He looked closer and realized his mistake: it wasn't thin-as-bones, it was skeletal. A collection of bones and dried ligaments, reanimated in the shape of a horse, had taken notice of their shelter and was slowly trotting toward it.
"We've got a visitor!" Cupa announced.
Felix put the book away and got up, reaching for his axe. He crouched by the window and peered at the skeletal horse as everyone else came over to see for themselves. It appeared to be in no rush, and was unfazed by the pouring rain.
"You don't see that every day," muttered Blake.
Melissa was holding a potion close, and asked him, "Is that a walking horse skeleton? Is it dangerous?"
"I've never ran into one of these myself. But back home, we were always told they were bad luck. 'Pale Riders,' the older villagers called them. Frankly I never bought it. They're just horse bones, they're no more dangerous than the live ones."
"You're saying not all horses look like that?" Cupa asked.
However, she wasn't exactly answered. Celia had taken more interest in Blake's little story. "Why would they be called Riders if they're just mounts?"
"Don't ask me that, I didn't invent the folklore."
Felix was only half-listening to the conversation; most of his focus remained on the rare mob. The closer it got, the louder the rattling of its bones became, until it finally came to a stop less than a chunk away from their shelter, its hollow eye sockets aimed right at them. As he was trying to assess whether it actually posed a threat, the horse answered that question itself: it took another step closer, and then there was a flash of light and heat as a thunderbolt struck it. Alarmed, everybody jumped away from the window, tripping over one another and landing in a clumsy pile. Felix had the good fortune to land on top, but that also left him most exposed to the glowing, enchanted bow suddenly pointing through the gap. He scrambled through his inventory and found two spare cobblestone blocks, which he stacked in front of them just as an arrow was loosed into their shelter. It struck his impromptu barrier and harmlessly dropped to the floor.
Still bewildered by what had just happened, he peeked around the stone pillar to see the face of a skeleton through the window, sitting atop the horse and grinding its teeth as it drew back another arrow. It wore a metal helmet, also enchanted and shimmering with purple energy.
A cacophony of clacks and rattles indicated more skeletal horses had drawn near, and were making their way around the sides of the shelter. There was only one other small window, on the opposite end, and sure enough another skeleton armed with a bow was aiming through it from atop an undead steed. Blake was on his feet quickly, parrying the arrow with his sword before rushing over to place a dirt block over the window. Likewise, Celia barricaded the gap on their end before more projectiles could be shot through.
That only replaced their immediate problem with another one: smoke from the campfire was beginning to collect in the sealed shelter, and Felix's eyes started to water. The structure was five blocks tall, so the ceiling was low enough for him to break apart a hole near the fire. Rain poured in, but the smoke began to escape and the air cleared up in moments.
"I think I figured out why they're called Pale Riders," Blake said with a nervous laugh. "How many are we dealing with?"
Felix had seen one himself, and another had shot through the opposite window. Cupa was very still, listening to the clops and shrill, ghastly sounds of their attackers. "I'm hearing… four horses, I think. And I bet the other two have skeletons on top, too. Where'd they come from?"
Everyone was quiet as they tried to imagine how lightning striking a skeletal horse could make it split into four skeletal horses as well as four bow-wielding riders. None of them could propose an answer, so the question was quietly dropped while they thought of what to do next.
"We could wait until morning," Celia proposed. "Undead mobs burn in sunlight, don't they?"
"I think their helmets will keep them safe from that. But, if they can come and go when lightning strikes, they might just leave when the storm passes anyway," said Blake. "So we could still wait them out in here."
"Hold on." Everyone's attention shifted to Melissa, who was cradling a splash potion close to herself. "Horses, and riders attacking with bows… don't you see it? These things must have been part of that village's destruction. If we just wait for them to leave, they'll go on to cause more problems."
"Then I say we take 'em out now," Cupa replied, plucking her bowstring. "We won't let anyone else get hurt. Sound good to everybody?"
The rest of them, Felix included, nodded and set about arming themselves. Their defenses left something to be desired. Blake and Felix were both fully decked out in iron armor, but mansion raid left both their suits worse for wear. Celia, even after scavenging the Illagers' stores, had only found enough iron to build herself a new chestplate, and had foregone leggings. Her helmet and boots weren't in very good shape either. Melissa and Cupa had no choice but to remain without armor at all, since the ingots Blake had collected from the mansion had gone to crafting new swords instead. Offense was a different story: Blake, Celia, and Felix all still had their diamond weapons in addition to their fresh iron ones, and Cupa and Melissa would both be able to assist from a distance.
Another question hung over the group, one which Celia must have picked up on. "We should be able to handle this without needing Genesis Cores. Let's avoid using them unless the situation becomes dire." Nobody argued. Given most of their collection had come from extremely violent artificial humans, the thought of binding Cores to oneself had become much less appealing in the last few days. Celia continued, "Felix, Blake, why don't the three of us draw their attention on the ground while Melissa and Cupa attack from the roof?"
"Works for me," said Cupa, pulling out an arrow from her cloak's pockets.
"Hey… you know, this is our first real battle," Blake said. "All five of us together, I mean."
Felix hadn't considered it, and it appeared nobody else had either. It would be a good opportunity to learn how well they operated as a team; that much was true. But he could see something more in Blake's expression, a greater significance to their imminent fight. Dangerous as the situation was, he looked like he was trying not to smile ear to ear.
"He told us about those old friends… how much he missed his time with them… well, he can't get that time back. But he's got us now, and we have him."
Felix, shoving aside his own apprehension, gave Blake a confident nod and a grin. "Then let's make it a good one. Is everyone ready? We'll take them down together!"
His attitude must have spread, because four enthusiastic voices answered in unison. "Right!"
Cupa emerged onto the roof right behind Melissa, pulling her hood up to keep the rain out of her face. She scanned the plains to find their enemies, and immediately spotted the four skeletal horsemen waiting more than a chunk away from their shelter. One veered off from the rest, keeping a distance while its three cohorts turned around to get closer. At the same time, Celia, Felix, and Blake had dug their way through the stone structure and were shouting at the mobs with their own weapons drawn.
Two of the mounted skeletons took the bait. They galloped toward the trio without much thought, winding up side-by-side as they took aim. Melissa was ready with a splash potion, which she threw right at the pair. The bottle smashed apart on the ground under them, and glowing fumes encircled the horses and their riders alike as their movements slowed down. Even better, they appeared so surprised that they dropped their arrows outright.
"Nice throw!" Cupa told Melissa, before loosing another arrow at the third rider, which seemed to have enough sense not to blindly charge them like its comrades had. Her shot lodged between the horse's ribs, to no apparent effect other than drawing the skeletal archer's ire. She had to throw herself down, dragging Melissa with her, to avoid the arrow sent their way in response. "Crap, that didn't work…"
Their friends on the ground were having better luck. Blake said something to Felix, and Cupa watched them sprint toward the slowed horsemen. They passed between the pair before the skeletons could draw new arrows, Blake placing down a red and white block and Felix setting a glowing red torch beside it. She wasn't sure what they were doing, or why they and the riders alike scrambled to get away, but it became clear when the block flashed white and exploded. The smell of gunpowder hung in the air for a moment, subdued by the pouring rain but still detectable for Cupa. Not only had the blast sounded very satisfying to her- she chalked it up to her instincts- but it had proven effective: one horse and archer were reduced to shards of bone scattered across the plain.
The other skeleton, surprisingly, had managed to steer its mount just far enough away from the block to avoid the immediate explosion, but the hasty escape and the force of the blast had nonetheless thrown the horse to the ground and sent the rider tumbling. It got to its feet and took aim at Blake and Felix, who'd also been knocked off their feet, but didn't get the chance to fire at them: Celia had run up behind it, and a quick slash cleaved skull from torso. The rest of the skeleton's body noisily collapsed into a pile of bones.
Thunder rumbled in the sky, and a strange feeling came over Cupa. She felt lighter, more energetic, and she wasn't sure why. Bringing her focus back to the present, she found another arrow in her cloak and looked for her next target. The third horseman was further away than Melissa's throwing arm could reach, so she stayed low while Cupa tried to take aim again. The horse slowed down and the rider trained its bow trained on Celia. With the rain as hard as it was, she wouldn't be able to see the arrow coming and block it.
The sky flashed as lightning struck down in the plains nearby, and a tingle shot through Cupa. She tried to come to Celia's rescue by shooting at the horseman, but she found her arms were too shaky to steady her aim and the arrow went wide. Fortunately, she wasn't the only one to notice her new friend's plight. Felix and Blake were back on their feet and charged the horseman from the side. Startled, it whipped around toward the former and drew back an arrow-
Cupa wasn't paying attention to the skirmish anymore. The tingle had grown to a positively jittery feeling which coursed over her entire body, and her bow fell from her hands. On impulse, she slowly lifted her gaze to the sky, ignoring the raindrops hitting her face as she stared into the dark clouds. Her lips parted, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything through the trance. All she could do was stand there, watching as the clouds flashed white and a searing thunderbolt crashed down onto her…
"Look out!"
Something collided with her, and her eyes were finally torn away from the clouds. Melissa had jumped back up and thrown herself against Cupa, shoving her aside only to jolt with a pained gasp as an arrow struck her in the back of her right shoulder. The fourth horseman had circled around to the other side of the shelter and taken advantage of the confusion, and with its first target wounded its hollow gaze turned to Cupa. Seeing she'd dropped her bow, it drew back another arrow with a raspy, grinding cackle.
Deep inside Cupa, something snapped. Unarmed and without a plan, she leaped from the top of the shelter and tackled the skeleton right off its horse. They landed in the mud, tumbling with one another until they'd come to a stop with the rider pinning her down. It had lost its bow and arrow in the fall, but she wasn't safe. With one hand it pinned her left arm to the ground, and with the other it cracked off one of its own ribs, stabbing down at her. She grabbed the skeleton's wrist with her free hand and held it back, avoiding losing an eye by an inch. The short burst of rage which compelled her to throw herself at it had faded, but she still felt a surge of energy tingling through her body, like some primal force desperate to be released. It was then that she noticed the sparks.
Cupa's hands and arms appeared to be crackling with electricity. Blue and white sparks raced up and down her exposed skin, disappearing under the sleeves of her cloak. They were flying past her eyes as well, and she realized they must have also been visible on her face. She didn't know what had happened to her, but it was affecting the skeleton: its wrist, where she held it, was darkening as if burned, and the pressure it exerted in its attempt to stab her was weakening. The smallest clench of her fist snapped off the bony hand altogether, and it and the broken rib fell to the side.
She still had no idea what was going on, but the sparks demanded to be released. Cupa reached her free hand up and grabbed onto the skull, unleashing volt after volt into the thrashing mob. By the time she had run out of power, so to speak, the skeleton's head had been charred black and crumbled apart in her grip. Its body collapsed as well, leaving her with a pile of bones sitting on her chest, and a new feeling of exhaustion settling in. Overhead, the rain was beginning to die down and the clouds were dispersing to reveal the early night sky.
"Cupa?" Felix was first to approach, still pulling an arrowhead out of his chestplate. "Are you okay?"
Every muscle in her body was screaming, but she pushed herself to sit up with a grunt. "I think I'm fine. Just… really tired." A realization hit her immediately afterwards. "Wait, Melissa! She's hurt!"
She tried to stand, only for her tired legs to buckle and nearly give out. Felix caught her, and she held onto his shoulder to stay up. "She's taking care of it," he told her. "Actually, she's more worried about you. Come on, I'll help you get back inside."
When they returned to the shelter, the others were already seated around the campfire. Celia, looking utterly beside herself, was tending to Melissa's shoulder. Blake had also taken an arrow to the chestplate, but like with Felix it hadn't actually broken through the armor.
Between swigs of a healing potion, Melissa offered Cupa a half-smile, half-grimace. "I'm glad you're okay, but did you shrug off a lightning bolt up there?"
"Don't move so much, I'm trying to clean your wound!" Celia fussed.
Cupa looked at the floor. "You were hurt because I got distracted… if I'd been paying attention, I… I'm sorry…"
"It's okay. I'll manage," Melissa replied. "Besides, I think you saved me from the lightning. It was close enough that it probably could have struck both of us, but for some reason it was only attracted to you, and you weren't even fazed by it."
Blake looked up from where he was wiggling the arrow free, and his eyes widened when he saw Cupa. "Of course! You must've been charged!"
"…what?" was all she could say. Felix helped her over to the fire, and they sat down with the others.
"If creepers get hit by lightning, they become way stronger," Blake explained. "Their explosions can level small buildings if they're close enough, I've seen it happen. I'm not sure how it works, though. Felix?"
Though he looked taken aback by the attention suddenly shifting to him, Felix nevertheless elaborated. "The moss on a creeper's shell can conduct and store electricity without harming the creeper itself. When it explodes, the energy is released with the blast and doubles its power. We call this state 'charged.'"
Cupa looked at her hand. The blue and white aura had disappeared. "But I didn't blow up... I don't even know if I still can. And I'm not made of moss anymore… right?"
"The conductive property might've remained after the Illagers transformed you," Felix proposed. "The important part is you're not hurt, and it looks like you didn't need to explode to get rid of the energy."
"That's a relief," chuckled Melissa. "You're full of surprises. Cece, is the suit ruined?"
"Is that your concern?! If you must know, there's a hole torn in it and it's been stained by your blood!"
Melissa downed the rest of the healing potion. "Well, the wound should be all closed up now. I'll see if I can fix it sometime. Does anyone else need me to patch up their clothes?"
"My sleeve, if you wouldn't mind," said Blake, smirking. "The Countess got a little carried away before."
"Don't get on my case about that now!" she groaned.
Cupa watched the group banter, and despite her harrowing ordeal she felt very at peace, if still drained from the fight. They'd pulled through their first battle together very well, all things considered. With the threat of the Pale Riders dealt with, they settled in for the night once again, just talking casually with one another.
By the next morning, she was in perfect shape again. Whatever fatigue had set in after her charged incident was gone, and Cupa's spirits were high. Nothing else had attacked the group in the night, but they were still in for a surprise as they dismantled the shelter: unfazed by the early sunlight, three skeletal horses were casually wandering about. Their riders lay in pieces which smoldered and burned under the sun, yet the horses themselves didn't appear to hold a grudge and paid little mind to Cupa or her friends.
"I wonder… do you think they would obey if we tried to ride them?" asked Celia.
Blake shrugged. "It's worth a shot. You're the best with horses, go ahead and hop on."
She slowly walked toward one of them, gently placing a hand on its bony flank as if to calm it down. Cupa didn't see the point, it barely registered her presence anyway, but she wasn't going to question it when just a day prior she didn't even know what horses were. Celia, once she seemed confident it wouldn't turn around and kick her, climbed onto it and shifted herself to fit as well as she could on its back.
"This isn't what I'd call pleasant, but I think it will work," she said. "The riders already had saddles and reins, so we can put them to use. We'll reach the desert much faster now!"
The others went about choosing a macabre steed of their own. Melissa, with some effort, climbed onto Celia's horse and held onto her in the saddle. It didn't look like a very comfortable fit, but they would at least be able to ride together. Blake, atop the second horse, awkwardly held the reins as he tried to get it to obey, which it only seemed half-interested in doing. Cupa watched him with some mixture of amusement and pity.
"You don't know how to lead skeleton horses, do you?" Blake asked her.
She held in a giggle. "Sorry, I've got no idea."
"Can you at least… I don't know, ask it to stop trying to shake me off?" he replied, holding the reins tightly as his mount jostled again.
"I can't talk to skeletons or horses," Cupa pointed out. "It wouldn't understand me any better. If we meet one covered in moss, then maybe I can help you."
Felix's horse didn't seem particularly thrilled to have a new master either, but Cupa could see it wasn't giving him nearly as much trouble. "You can ride with me if you'd like," he told her.
"Stick with him," Blake concurred, "because I have no clue what I'm doing wrong here."
Cupa approached with a smile. "Sounds good to me. Uh, how do I get up?"
It wasn't a simple process. Felix had to take Cupa's hand to help her climb on, and she'd nearly fallen off twice by the time she made it into the saddle behind him.
"Thanks for the ride," she said once she was settled in. "And… thanks for teaching me how to read. In advance, I mean."
"It'd be my pleasure," he replied, with a nervous smile. "Now, just hold on. I'll take it as easy as I can, but let me know if you feel like you're slipping."
Cupa nodded and held herself close to him- perhaps too close, as the small saddle forced her to stay almost flush against Felix and hold tightly around his waist. Melissa and Celia had a similar arrangement, and she found it was even less comfortable than it looked.
But as they rode off to catch up to the others, Cupa thought she didn't mind it so much.
End of Part Six
Note from the author:
A shorter part, but not without reason. The final arc of Book Two is going to be the longest one yet, and there's going to be a lot going on in the buildup to the battle at Incursia. As usual, there will be a bit of a break until then, since I like to have a few chapters written in advance of uploading. A new semester is also starting, so that will slow my progress, but I'll do my best to get everything out in a timely manner.
Thank you for your patience, and your continued interest! Everything comes to a head in Part Seven: The Breaking Point!