Knights of Alchemy
Chapter Two: Cloudburst
"We aren't wasting any time, Cata," said Elys, and the tone of her voice made it clear that this was not a suggestion, it was a description of reality. "We're heading for Kibombo and that's it. No wandering around looking for trouble."
The four Adepts had been on the road for perhaps twenty minutes, and Cata began to wonder if three of them might not return, since the path to Kibombo would take at least two days, probably more. They would have to go south past the northern edge of Narib or go through the mountains, and not even Cata much liked that idea. Besides, if you could ignore the clouds that were starting to become very common in the skies above, it was nearly perfect weather for travel. The sun was warm, the path was clear, and the thick forests to either side were effective wind-shapers, so that a pleasant breeze blew along the road.
"I have no idea what else you think I would suggest we do," said Cata calmly, soothed by the atmosphere and the rocking rhythm of Zak's pace.
"I don't mind carrying you," the horse pointed out, "but I really would prefer it if you'd at least remember that I can speak. I know not every 'animal' can, but it's not hard. Ouch!"
"Sorry, I must reflexively nudged you with both heels for more speed, forgetting that Cian and Elys don't have mounts."
"Hell of a nudge."
"And what do you know that we haven't been told, Zak?" asked Cian. Though he had said he was going to protect and keep an eye on the girls, the Lemurian was well aware that he was only along for the ride here, and preferred to stand aside. So far, he had been enjoying the spectacle.
"Oh, nothing, nothing, no horse could possibly have anything important to say," he grumbled.
"Come on, Zak," said Elys, using a tone of voice she wouldn't admit to having, and stroking his yellowish mane. "What did she say?"
"Ouch!" Zak turned back to glare at Cata, a skill that most horses didn't have. Zak made up for it by being very good, raising the average skill of the species to an impressive level.
"Reflex," she said again.
"Nothing you don't already know," he replied, not taking his eyes off Cata.
"Figures she'd want to go looking for the thieves," said Elys.
"That's the one," Zak agreed. Cata nudged him with both heels again. He sighed. "Right." Zak took off at a mad gallop, pounding down the dusty road, and turning off to the side as they came up on a large rock sticking out of the ground like a lopsided fang. Zak scrambled up the rock, placing his hooves with more skill than a normal horse would be capable of. Finally smashing the edge with his back legs, he leapt out into the air, turning a full somersault before landing hard on the other side.
Elys and Cian ran to catch up. Cata was flat against Zak's back, her arms wrapped around his neck in a death-grip, eyes wide and breathing hard.
"I didn't know you could do that," she gasped after a moment or two.
"I wasn't sure I could either," Zak replied, hiding his own shock very well. "I haven't tried in a few years." Cata wisely decided to cease commenting on anything for the next hour or so as they travelled towards the region called Narib, and wondered what they'd find there.
"I've heard they're big on philosophy," said Elys.
"Oh yes," agreed Cian, fervently, who knew Narib well from old adventures long ago. "Throw a rock and you'll bring down five of them."
"There are that many philosophers?" asked Cata, daring to speak.
"No, they're just not all that physically formidable. No heavy lifting involved with most philosophy. Excluding the practical sort," the Lemurian admitted.
"The practical sort?" repeated Elys.
"Yeah. There are basically three sorts of philosophy. The kind that sounds good but doesn't mean much if you think about it, like 'is truth beauty', and the sort that makes your head hurt if you think about it, like 'is the nature of reality subjective or objective, and how can you prove it', and the practical sort that you want to think of before anyone else, like 'you know, a lever-and-pulley mechanism based on physical laws would be an excellent way to hurl massive quantities of exploding chemicals down onto the cities of our enemies'. Of course, that was mostly left behind some time ago," finished Cian.
"How mostly?" asked Zak. "And did they ever do the thing with launching dead horses onto enemy armies with trebuckets? Bloody Angaran barbarians…"
"Trebuchets, cows, and no, they didn't," replied Cian. "Too many chemists to bother with animals. Another good area of philosophy, chemistry. Potions of all sorts."
"Anything explosive?"
"Do you ever think maybe you're a little single-minded, Cata?" asked Elys.
"I just think that if we're going to go adventuring, we ought to be well-equipped," she replied.
"Fully agreed. Absolutely. Not a single thing wrong with that argument. Oh, wait, no, I'm wrong, there's just one," said Elys, rather sarcastically, but without any venom.
"What?"
"We are not going adventuring! We are going to talk to the Kibombo and head back to Daila, and then you can do whatever you want, but this is not an adventure!" exclaimed Elys, eyes wild.
"With the purple hair and all, you look rather demonic when you do that, Elys," Zak commented.
"Now, calm down," said Cata soothingly, reaching down and putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Of course we're going adventuring, and the sooner you accept that, the easier it'll be."
Elys looked ready to explode. Cian noted first that he almost expected the drop of rain that fell on her head to evaporate on contact, and then realised that the sky above them had filled with thick clouds that were steadily darkening. And up ahead the trees gave way to massive rocks and hills.
Cian unfolded his map, in the hopes that the nature of the earth might have changed since the last time he passed this way, or that it had simply been a nightmare all along. No such luck, of course. They were heading into the Kandorean Cliffs, and so was a storm. The sort of storm that the Great Healer thought was being created now that the Sea God's Tear was missing.
The sort of storm that could make an entire village fear it.
"Those canyons up ahead don't look too friendly," said Cata. "I'm sure they don't need to be that dark."
"You remember the stories about the hunter?" asked Elys, oblivious to Cian's worries.
"Oh, please," Cata responded.
"You do remember. The one who lives in the wild out here? Hunting monsters, watching travellers. And sometimes, if they don't look cautious enough, he hunts them, just to remind people that he's out there, so you'd better watch your back."
"Don't be an idiot, Elys."
"They say no one's ever told what his face looks like, because he kills them if they do. It's because he's half-orc, and he worships every new moon by drinking blood."
"I don't remember those stories," said Zak. "What's he called?"
"Megraghgah," said Elys, in as ominous a voice as she could manage. It was rather ruined when Zak laughed, but the Lemurian interceded before she could go on.
"Cata," said Cian, "and, I suppose, Elys, although somehow I expect you won't listen to her, we need to make a decision, quickly."
A large drop struck Cata's head. "Rain," Cata muttered, looking at the sky, and then looked back down at her companions. "Don't tell me you're going to start on the adventuring thing too."
"I wish it were that minor," said Cian, avoiding Elys' unamused expression. "We're coming up on the Kandorean Cliffs, and right behind us is a major storm."
"Daila," said Elys, looking worried. "Already the storms are beginning?"
"We're far enough from the village that it's probably in no danger right now. But we are. We either stay here and wait for the storm to pass, or we try to outrun it to the other side of the Cliffs. Getting caught by a storm in there would be a really nasty way to end this whole quest."
"Definitely a plan that could use work, getting killed by a storm in the middle of nowhere," Cata admitted. "I guess it's probably safer to stay-"
"Any storm that can kill us is going to ravage Daila! We have to move fast," declared Elys, who had been too horrified to even notice that Cata was in the middle of saying something sane. "Come on, Zak, let's get a move on. Cian, what's the fastest way through these Kandorean Cliffs?"
"Is she real?" whispered Cata, amazed, but didn't intend to argue the point. After all, risks were part of the job, and if they stopped, the thieves would just get further ahead.
Cata had put a sword in with the rest of her supplies. It was the family's version of a Veteran Kitchen Knife: ancient, well worn, notched, and fantastically sharp for no apparent reason. Any casual observer would probably ask what kind of person puts a hilt on a saw, but any casual bandit would swear to be a better person for all his life if she would just put it away, or at least stop it pointing like that.
It wasn't going to help much in a storm. Cata slipped off Zak's back, having far more energy than her friend, and Elys mounted the horse with a little help.
"I don't suppose either or both of you are likely to send this storm off into the Indra Sea and save us some trouble, are you?" asked Cata, without much hope.
"And perhaps I could part the ocean while Cian puts the clouds a few fathoms closer to the sea floor?" suggested Elys, scowling. "Sweep them under the carpet, sort of thing?"
"Yes!" Cata agreed, brightly.
"No," corrected Cian, who was still managing to avoid grinning. The storm made that easy enough. "If we are going to move, we'd best do it fast. The cliffs are no place to be caught in a storm."
And as Cata, Zak, and Elys followed their Lemurian friend into the rocky terrain, they learned precisely how right he was. The rough, sheer stone walls rose up on both sides of the narrow path, worn free of grass by the passing of many people over many years, and massive boulders seemed ready to tumble down to crush them without much provocation. If heavy rains fell, the path would become a river, and only after it had been filled by mudslides and avalanches.
After twenty minutes of squeezing through narrow passages, the cliffs broke up further, turning from a single fracture to a sort of spiky valley system; many paths could be taken through the stony ground, but they were strewn with obstacles.
At the beginning off all these paths, though, was one large clear space surrounded by large gravel slopes that led up to the passes. And it would have been better for all involved if Jastyx hadn't paused with the intent of setting up any camp, or had chosen a more hidden location, and most of all if she hadn't been staring with intent curiosity at the Sea God's Tear when Cata caught sight of her.
"Oh my," muttered Zak, and tried to slip back behind the large rock they had just passed.
"Cata, don't do anything-"
"Move not a muscle, brigand and thief!"
"…Loud, brash, or stupid," Elys finished, but she had expected as much. Cata leapt out over the broken stones of old rockslides and sprinted down to the flat ground. The rocks skittered and tumbled beneath her feet, so that Cata reached the bottom off-balance, with a few inches of gravel covering her boots.
"Name yourself, rogue, that I may tell the villagers what fool thief once wore your head," Cata commanded, hands on her hips in the stance of a confident warrior.
"My name is Jastyx, and I really hope you rustics don't always talk like that," she replied, making it as obvious as possible that she wasn't impressed by Cata's sudden appearance. Unfortunately, as near as Cian could tell, she really wasn't.
The woman looked to be about twenty, but had silver-white hair pulled back into a long tail that nearly reached the tops of her black boots. In between those two striking features were frosty grey eyes and practical -yet somehow threatening- violet and black travelling robes.
"Rustics?! I am Cata of Daila, knight and-"
"I'm afraid I have better things to do, little girl. Thorny Grave!" Jastyx raised a hand and expelled a cloud of ghostly skulls that rushed through the air toward Cata, chattering and somehow glowing darkly.
"What should we do?" asked Elys, watching Cata leap to the side and the skulls turning stones to dust.
"I suppose we should try to stop her while we've got the chance," Cian replied.
"Cata or this Jastyx person?" muttered Elys, but she was already urging Zak forward. Cian rose and pounded down the slope with long, solid strides, gathering power as he ran. Jastyx had already started running, which made the Lemurian wonder. Anyone with Psynergy strong enough to cast Thorny Grave wouldn't fear Cata, he had to admit.
Unless, of course, she was on a very specific mission that needed completing fast. The Sea God's Tear didn't have any value Cian knew of, except to the Dailans. But after long years on Weyard, Cian knew better than to dismiss the idea that it had much more value he didn't know about.
"Drench!" A strong blast of water rained down on Jastyx, annoying her more than hurting, but that wasn't the point. When the torrent ended and the ground around the thief was covered in an inch or two of water, Cian lowered his hand and cast again. "Frost!"
The air around him swirled and went cold as the Mercury Psynergy was projected into the water. The little flood went solid in a spreading wave, and only jumping as the crystals flew past kept Jastyx from being frozen in place. When she landed, though, her feet slipped on the ice, and she landed hard.
Cata, who had just discharged the last sickly skull by hurling a large stone into it, saw Jastyx slip forward on the ice and decided that the best solution would be to see to it that she didn't feel like getting up again. She hadn't often tried attacking Psynergy, but some things came naturally.
"Ray!" From the clouds that were already beginning to sail overhead, a cluster of minor lightning bolts stabbed downwards. They struck Jastyx and every muscle went tense as she cried out, but when the silver-maned woman opened her eyes, Cata could have sworn they were truly red with fury.
"Quake!" A slap from one of Jastyx's hands make the earth tremble and shattered the ice, which had already been stricken by Cata's ray. With less difficulty than any of them had expected, the thief stood. "It appears you're more resourceful than I gave you credit for," she admitted in a growl.
Elys and Zak had been careful not to be noticed as they rode around to the far side, so that the four adventurers (some more willing than others) now surrounded Jastyx on three sides. And now, while she couldn't see it coming, Elys struck, if reluctantly.
"Prism!" A large fragment of ice launched toward the strange woman, and though she spun wickedly fast, it was just in time to see the projectile coming. The Prism shattered into fragments, but when the air cleared of dust-like snow, Jastyx still stood, one fist extended.
"That is so wrong," said Zak. No one else had moved, either. Then, at last, Jastyx straightened, and looked right at the horse and his rider.
"Stone Spire!" A volley of large stalactites rocketed toward Elys.
"Run!" she screamed, kicking Zak's sides.
"Ow! I know, thanks!" he shouted in reply, dashing as fast as he could.
"Rockfall!" Boulders burst from the ground and rained down on Cian, sending him dodging and rolling to avoid being crushed. "And you," said Jastyx, looking at Cata. "Something special for you. Condemn!" She raised her hand, and for a moment was surrounded by the spectre of a cloaked skeleton carrying a scythe. It vanished, then reappeared, scythe slowly rising, near Cata. That faded too, and flickered in and out again, closer. A second later, the face of Death looked into Cata's eyes. The scythe's blade burned red.
It was too long to run from, or to dodge either way. There was only one escape, the one most people would give anything to avoid. She dove forward, straight through the ribs of Death, and heard the rocks where she had stood moments before explode with sudden heat.
"Totally unreliable attack," muttered Jastyx, scowling at the so easily dodged strike. "Got courage, too." She didn't like that, either. She ran.
Cata stood and rubbed her sore palms as Elys, Zak, and Cian came up on either side of her. "I suppose now we chase her," said Elys, resigned to at least a short adventure.
"That's right," Cata replied, and called up a more natural form of Jupiter Psynergy. A faint purple aura rose around her, and when Cata ran, she nearly blurred. Cian leapt onto Zak's back in a single, smooth motion, but Elys didn't take the time to think about the oddly practised look, and simply let the horse start running.
"I hope you don't both intend to stay up there all day," Zak said, his Psynergy-speech unaffected by the efforts of running. "I mean, either one, sure, but you and the Lemurian are a bit much."
"The sooner you get ahead, the sooner I can get off," Cian replied. Zak galloped faster, finding solid footing even across the endless heaps of broken stones. They charged into the steep-walled valley that Jastyx and Cata had already entered.
What was bothering Cian the most as Zak pounded ahead was that he had known from the beginning that they could not hope to 'outrun' any storm, and certainly not one caused by a Psynergy imbalance. He just wanted to make sure the cliffs were behind them when the storm did reach them, and that was not going to happen now. The sky was almost entirely covered in steel-grey clouds and scattered raindrops were falling.
The small valley stayed much wider than the pass they had entered through, but the walls reached higher and with nearly-vertical faces. The ground, fortunately, flattened into the usual earth, rather than a collection of eroded fragments.
This, unfortunately, was because a little-known trait of Grassils was their obsession with neatness. This might seem odd to humans, but the Psynergy-boosted evolution of the blade-weasels (theirs are the Weasel's Claws that contain natural Jupiter Psynergy) had been surprisingly effective. The Grassils' neatness meant that no prey ever suspected a predator was in the area, never found a telltale remnant of the last meal.
Grassils are mostly herbivores. The mostly is important. They do eat meat on occasion. And there is one species, the most chaotic and messy of all, one that they often cannot stand. Humans. The only thing saving them was that Grassils are nocturnal.
Not even Cian knew about the Grassils. No one could warn anyone, even Jastyx was oblivious of the danger. She turned back and saw Cata cover the last distance at Jupiter-powered speeds and draw her sword. The dark clouds overhead were a perfect barrier now, so dark it was like the sun had already set.
The first drops fell as Jastyx turned. She drew a cross of Psynergy in the air, which flew into the ground in front of Cata, who skidded to a halt, uncertain of what was happening. The crust of the earth cracked and then burst, and a streak of gathering metal flew out, twisting and melting into the shape of a solid (if boring) longsword.
"Why on Weyard would someone put a hilt on a saw?" asked Jastyx, grinning smugly.
"Less talk more surrender," snapped Cata in reply.
"If you insist." Jastyx extended the smooth, sharp blade at arm's length, so that it was uncomfortably close and pointing at Cata's neck. "I don't have many terms, except that you go home right now."
"I think we're past that sort of joke," said Cata.
"Ah. The stupid sort of hero."
Cata was too angry to reply now, she simply twisted and swung as forcefully as she could, a blow that would have cut deeply into the Venus Adept if her own newly-shaped sword had not sprung into action as well. Cata might as well have swung at a wall for all she managed to even rock Jastyx's blocking arm.
Resigned to physical combat -she couldn't spare the concentration for Psynergy- Jastyx fell into her simple, streamlined fighting mentality. There was nothing in all the world worth noticing except the ground beneath her feet, the blade in her hands, and the attacks from her opponent.
Zak pounded over the stones, ignoring the weight of the extra riders. Cata was somewhere up ahead, but rain was falling; the storm was long brewed and was now boiling over with a vengeance.
"I wonder how far they went," muttered Elys, who approved of water more in rivers and such, rather than streaming into her eyes, as this was beginning to.
"I wonder if anyone would notice if I cast Drench again," muttered Cian. The rain really was making itself as known as a meteorological phenomenon can. Somewhere up ahead, someone let out a battle cry. "That far," Cian answered, louder. Thunder rolled overhead.
Cata didn't realise how fortunate she was that Jastyx didn't really have any interest in seeing her dead. Her swings were overly wide, her defences were riddled with gaps, and she was working mostly on outraged instinct. Against an opponent who was busy thinking of other things, these weren't so bad. But they were about to be.
At last the rain was too much, and Jastyx decided to leave the girl unconscious. Her friends would no doubt find her, but not until Jastyx got away. So, she spun, swung, positioned her blade, and managed a strange sort of levering block that sent Cata staggering backwards.
The time to took to cross those few steps, on the offensive now, was enough for Cata to try another tactic, though. She raised a hand. "Plasma!" Such Psynergy was easy in the midst of a storm. A fang of lightning stabbed out of the clouds and blasted the cliff wall behind Jastyx, sending a good many boulders crashing down around Jastyx.
The Venus Adept had just managed to catch a large one directly above her when a squealing cry began to echo off the stone walls. The Grassils had awakened, and they didn't much like it.
A dozen of the weaselish faces appeared from niches in the cliffs that they had chosen to make their den, and then a dozen more. And more. All screeching a warning to the others. They leapt out into mid air and began swooping down on the Adepts. Elys, Zak, and Cian arrived just in time for the second wave to catch sight of them.
"Oh, this is just fantastic," said the Lemurian, leaping off Zak's back and drawing his sabre and rushing to help Cata. "You might want to just stay out of it," he warned Zak.
"If you insist," replied Zak, instantly, but Elys slipped off too, intending to put her Psynergy to whatever use presented itself.
Jastyx sprinted down the path, but when Cata moved to follow, a Grassil cleaved the air in front of her face, and she was convinced to stay put for a time. The things were swarming now, a feat not often achieved by mammals, and in the heavy rain and clouded darkness, it was hard to see what was blade weasel and what wasn't. Cian and Elys were suddenly at her side.
"Nice of you to finally show up," she said.
"Sorry, we stopped off at this cute little antique shop-" began Elys.
"Look out!" shouted Cian. The girls ducked and, reluctantly, Cian swept his sabre through the air horizontally, severely trimming the beast's claws and gashing its chest as well. The Grassil flopped to the ground, turned grey, and dissolved into nothing.
"Is that supposed to happen?" asked Elys, rather shaken, since she had been kneeling right beside where it had fallen.
"Yes," Cian answered as they rose again. He sliced to ward off another Grassil. "When a creature corrupted by Psynergy dies, the power is unbound, which usually causes them to… well, turn to dust or melt or something."
"Ice!" The shards flew from Elys' hands and lashing into the monster that had just slashed at her. She watched the results. "Hmm. So it does."
"You can be scary sometimes," Cata commented, which was probably praise. She ducked and swung a retaliatory strike at a Grassil as it dove overhead. The Adepts were staying close together, though, so they were hard to properly attack. A second cry went up, and from a larger cave in the cliff came another beast. This one was larger, nastier, and was hovering rather than gliding.
"What's that?" asked Cata. Cian turned, hoping it was nothing, but was quickly told otherwise. Grassils didn't have the Psynergy to hover like that.
"It's a Little Death," he answered, and found that his voice was tainted with fear.
"Better than a lot of death, I suppose," said Elys. The Little Death screamed and dove down into the midst of the Adepts, slashing madly. Cian rolled well enough to avoid a severe injury from the monster's scythe arm, and Cata was simply knocked aside by the creature's diving tackle, but a thick line of red appeared on Elys' side, under the gashed cloth of her tunic. It smashed into her forehead first and drove her to the ground, but Cian's sabre bit into its arm before the Little Death could do any more damage.
It turned on him, as he hoped, but the sheer ferocity of the beast's attacks forced Cian to stay defensive, incapable of getting in a single stab, which could be all he needed. A glance to the side showed the Cata, now standing alone, was being severely harassed by the Grassils, and her shoulders were covered with minor cuts.
The Little Death screeched and somehow managed to get around Cian's guard, carving into his arm. The Lemurian was out of practice in combat, he knew, but not how much. The burning pain made his fingers release the sabre, which clattered to the ground, and a second slash nicked his side.
Lightning flashed.
The Little Death prepared to rip Cian apart.
"Unleash Squall!"
Lightning flashed again, this time led by a pair of dazzling swords. They dove into the Little Death's back, and after a moment of shock, both literal and figurative, it greyed out too. The Grassils took note, and most fled. The few who didn't were quickly felled by the graceful swings of those two beautiful blades. A moment later, it was just the four of them in the dark valley. Zak clopped closer, cautiously.
"Get your friend, she needs healing immediately," said the new warrior. The figure turned to Cata. "If you're going to chase rogues and monsters, you'd better learn how to use that thing soon. Now come on. My home isn't too far ahead." It turned and started away.
"We're supposed to trust you? We don't even know your name!" shouted Cata over the storm.
The figured stopped and turned. In another lightning flash, they saw a girl, probably not much older than Cata, with short, ragged brown hair and earthy red eyes. "…You can call me Meg," said the girl. She turned and continued walking. The others had little choice except to follow her.
[Author's Notes] Not much to say, really. The muse gets credit, of course. Do review if you like it, or even if you don't.