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An extended reprieve comes and goes but not before leaving Russo to ponder his purpose and fate from here on out. (Un)fortunately a call to action tugs the mage out of his lethargy before he can entertain such existential thoughts for long. He and Dax depart to Yash to learn for themselves just what exactly why a certain Guild Master has beckoned their presence.
Not a whole lot to say about this chapter save for the fact that man it has been hard to force myself back into some sort of regular routine. That Twine project really threw me off.
FIRST, PREVIOUS, NEXT
Chapter 48
His eyelids scrunched together, Russo sleepily acknowledged the errant sunbeams batting against his face. Light filtered through the imperceptibly thin pillars of black spread across the mage’s vision. Lamentably, his eyelashes did little to shield the human from the sun’s pronounced presence.
“Mmmffff…”
Russo groaned and shifted slightly. That stubbled chin of his scratched coarsely against the arm that lay flailed out across a pillow. “Today’s the day…” Sighing in disappointment he forced his eyes open. A smattering of ill-defined shapes gradually came into focus after a couple blinks. Sprawled out upon a dresser opposite the bed was a green crystal. The flickers of magical energy that lazily coursed through its cutting and angular form distracted the human from the crusty weight bearing down against the bridge of his nose. Russo had honestly forgotten about the thing until he had been forcefully reminded of it.
“Why am I doing this?” He recalled himself asking the old man some days prior. While he waited for the response to play back in his head, Russo dragged a hand along his scruffy cheek.
“Because Nadie has been nothing if not heavy-handed. These last few correspondences with her have been packed to the brim with subtle prods and questions about whether or not you’ve considered paying her and Yash a visit,” Master Varun’s disinterested voice called out from the depths of Russo’s mind.
The mage ran a hand through a couple greasy locks of bedhead. “You old timers are always so freaking coy,” he repeated his now days-old complaint aloud.
“We have to be. How else are we supposed to lure you young’uns in?” The memory of Varun smirked at the rise he got of Russo. “Nadie also let slip that she provided you with a warp crystal for an easy and instant trip. Now look, you can volunteer or be voluntold. Take your pick.”
Volunteer it was. At the very least it’d buttress Russo’s shoddy standing if he willingly went along with the old man’s demands. Though… in the months that had passed following Greg’s defeat Varun still hadn’t settled on the matter of what to do with him. Besides practically shackling Russo to Jem and Dax so as to keep tabs on him.
Russo exhaled loudly. He had proven just as incapable at answering that same question. Once upon a time he had a comfortable routine. Take up a mission, wing it, blow off the complaints that piled up afterwards, and then rinse and repeat. Gone were those glory days. An influx of demons, dragons, and gods made certain of that.
He scratched at his head. Russo dismissively flicked away the flakes of dandruff that started to collect under his fingernails. Was everything, karma included, just finally catching up to him? Or was this Dark’s doing? Hell, that or some unrelated third thing that was still probably Dark’s fault.
“Does it matter?” The mage asked himself aloud. If there was one thing that monstrosity had drilled into his head by now was that, at the very least, he would always wield control over his reactions. He and he alone had final say over how to respond to whatever the hell it was that life or darkness incarnate could throw his way.
Russo furrowed his brows. He wielded an incredible and incorporeal power at his fingertips. This concept known as ‘choice’ which could be used to forge a new path for himself. Of the endless possibilities that awaited him, Russo would use it to… to… to sleep in for a few more hours. “All this existential bullshit makes me sleepy,” he grumbled.
“I know Nadie specifically asked for me by name but don’t you think that uhh…” Standing before the Tedrah guild’s double doors Russo curiously eyed the handful of sacks accumulating at his feet. His own cloth sack, lumpy and misshapen from a week’s worth of clothes shoved inside, lay flopped across one of the few stair steps that wasn’t covered with slush or melting snow. “Okay I really should not have to be the one pointing out somebody else’s shitty manners.” The human’s brows arched at the awkward acknowledgement his own hypocrisy.
The double doors noisily swung back and forth in the lukewarm breeze heralding spring’s imminent arrival as Master Varun meandered in and out of the guild’s entrance. “Nowhere in her letters did she say she’d be against entertaining guests.”
“Not no does not mean yes.” Russo grit his teeth at the sight of Dax sidling up besides him, tail wagging furiously. “If you’re punishing me you can just come out and say it. No need to go pussyfooting around it.”
Varun responded by yoinking open the mouth of the burlap sack at the wolf’s feet. A spare set of clothes were unceremoniously inside soon after.
Russo groaned as the grinning wolf leaned into him. “Can I at least ask why Jem isn’t coming?” The anxious mage’s idle hands occupied themselves while he fumbled on his words. He rolled the green crystal that would serve as their one-way trip to Yash between his thumb and index finger while he waited for a response.
The old man pressed his wrinkled hands into the back of his spine. A cacophony of snaps and pops accompanied the straightening of his posture. “This kind of clandestine business between guilds doesn’t particularly interest him. Now Dax on the other hand…”
“Surely somebody else is into… whatever this is.” The mage shuddered at the sound of the excited eees slipping forth from Dax’s muzzle.
“Name ‘em,” Master Varun replied with a derisive snort.
Russo nervously twiddled his gloved fingers against his thighs. He absentmindedly stared at the nameless humans and furs milling about inside the main guild hall until the breeze gave out and the double doors slammed shut. “Do I get any hints?”
Wrinkles creased the old man’s forehead as his brows flattened.
“…Not Dax?” Russo oofed as his belongings were shoved into his chest.
Dax giddily wrapped his thick arms around his own belongings and clutched them close to his torso. “Ooh ooh ooh so what should I learn about first? That Nadie lady or Yash or teleporting or…”
Master Varun cleared his throat and spoke over the wolf’s steady stream of questions. “It’ll be a good learning experience for the both of you. Russo, Nadie seems to think you’ll be of some use. Try to humor her. And Dax, stay out of trouble.” He reached forward and jabbed at Dax with an outstretched finger. “That and see if you can get that panther to help trim some of this tubbage off.”
The wolf giggled at the figurative, and literal, prod at his flab. “Okay, okay.”
Russo sighed and rested his chin against his belongings. “How long do we have to stick around for?”
“For however long you’re needed,” Varun curtly answered. “I expect another correspondence from Nadie on your return. If not, I’m sending your ass right back.”
“Well I’m glad we cleared that up,” the mage grumbled in a subdued tone. There wasn’t much more dragging of his feet to be done at this point. May as well get it over with. “Ready Dax?” Russo clenched the crystal against his palm.
“Mmhmm!” The wolf held his burlap sack close to his bosom with one hand and clutched at Russo’s cloak with the other.
A tingling sensation tickled at Russo’s curled fingers as he siphoned magic into the crystal. Green light poured out from the gaps between the mage’s digits when the magic inherent to it reacted with his own. The intensity of the light flared briefly, overtaking both the human and the wolf. When it faded they had all but vanished.
“And here we are. Yash.” With a free hand Russo gestured at the transformed landscape before them. Unfamiliar alleyways, new storefronts and homes, burnt out buildings capped with melted rooftops and oh shit that’s right that was a thing that happened when Umbra did what demons do. Crrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaap she was probably still locked up in the Yash guild’s basement wasn’t she!? “Ohhhhhhhh please don’t let that be why Nadie called me back here,” Russo mentally moaned to himself.
Dax oohed and ahhed at the new town to take it, paying no mind to the passersby shooting the duo curious glances after having manifested themselves out of thin air. He sniffed and snuffed eagerly at the air. “So that way’s the bakery… and ooh that must be the butcher over there!”
“We can tour the place later, Dax. For now let’s just go ahead and get the introductions done and over with.” Russo turned his attention to his feet and hmmed at the shadow swallowing him up. Turning behind him, the human eyed the Yash guild looming overhead. “That huge fucking panther is bound to be around here somewhere…” he thought to himself.
“Aww… alright.” Shaking off his disappointment as quickly as it came, Dax padded over to Russo. “So what’s this Nadie lady like?”
“She’s a cat, and a big one at that. You’ll know her when you see her.”
The canine’s ears perked up. “Big? You mean like me and Jem?”
“What? No. No, not like that. Come on, you’ll see. You can be big without being a freaking giant you know.” Underneath Russo’s gait, the wooden stairs leading up to the Yash guild’s entrance creaked and groaned noisily. He shivered as he stepped into the shade of the shingled wooden awning, icicles dripping down from its edges.
“And what kinda magic does she know?” His nose already smudged against a window, Dax grumped at the fact his every exhale obscured his view inside.
Russo paused to consider his answer as his hand clasped around the front door’s handle. “…Good question.” He cocked his head side to side in the vain attempt to shake free any lost or misplaced thoughts. “…Maybe dark magic? I remember she did some freaky stuff with a demonic memento I had laying around last time I rolled through here.” The mage pulled the door towards him and shoved it aside just enough for the wolf to scooch in behind him.
“Oooh.”
A vaguely familiar sight greeted Russo. Thick wooden tables lined with benches flanked him on both sides upon entry. “The kind that Nadie used to fucking flatten Umbra,” Russo mentally noted. Beyond them, tucked away into a corner where the walls intersected at about a ninety degree angle, was a thick wooden door clad with iron. “…And that leads down into the basement.” The specifics of this place escaped him but he recalled enough to get by. “Come on, I think I know where we might find her,” he called out to the wolf. Unsurprisingly, Dax paid him little heed.
Wandering through the aisles of benches, his soft hips scraping against the wooden seats as he did so, Dax marveled at the sights. “So fancy…” His padded fingers dragged along the polished surface of the tables, relatively free of stains and nicks. A gentle warmth radiated from the plain but functional chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Their light added to the sun’s own that poured through the squat square windows embedded into the walls around eye level.
“Oops! ‘Scuse me,” Dax excitedly apologized as be bumped and brushed against humans and furs alike. Holstered weapons slung over backs both furry and fleshy were jostled as he awkwardly navigated through the tables. A steady stream of introductions were mixed in with apologies while the wolf continued to plod ever onward.
“They run a better business than we do, that’s for sure,” Russo murmured to himself upon taking in the relatively lavish surroundings. The mage sighed while he watched Dax waddle his way towards the back of the room in the least efficient manner possible. Damn wolf would take whatever path let him explore the most regardless of how much time it took. “Might be faster to just ask around at this rate,” he thought to himself aloud. Russo’s eyes swiveled towards the nearest guild-goer.
Resting upon a polished bench just beyond the mage’s reach sat a green hooded figure. Two triangular protrusions poked up from the fabric covering the person of interest’s head.
“Hey.” Russo pointed at his potential source of information. He cocked an eyebrow at their startled reaction. “Uhhh… you. Yes, you, the one having a mini-freakout.”
Wrinkles formed upon the green fabric as the figure composed itself and turned their head to the side. “Yeah?” A dark brown muzzle revealed itself to be the source of the feminine sounding inquiry.
“You wouldn’t happen to know where Nadie is, would you?”
“The guild master? She’s… outside. Back behind the building with a couple of her underlings. Training them, I believe.”
“Underlings? Shit, it’s not like you’re any higher up on the totem pole than they are. Thanks anyway, I guess.” With a dismissive laugh Russo brushed her off and paced towards the wolf. “Dax! Dax, this way! You can explore later.”
“Aww alright. Coming Russo!” A couple more oofs, heys, and apologies sounded out before the wolf freed himself from the latest aisle he’d gotten himself caught in and hurriedly padded after Russo.
From underneath her hood the hyena quietly harrumphed when the human and wolf slunk out of sight. Hiding in plain sight was not her forte. Well, at least she had been fortunate enough to be discovered by the only person here that couldn’t peg her presence here as an anomaly.
“…Russo, huh?” she muttered to herself. The hyena scratched at her fuzzy chin. “Same name came up in that letter Argost was so keen on me intercepting,” Kovania thought. It wasn’t what she had come here to learn about but his mere presence was valuable information all the same. A flash of her white teeth contrasted against the shadows covering her face. “Wonder what kind of price that tasty tidbit will fetch…”
“That place is like a freaking maze,” Russo grumbled. He wobbled with every step down the twilit alley running alongside the Yash guild, ice and frozen slush crunching loudly underneath him.
Dax grunted softly while he struggled to squeeze between the buildings. Splinters embedded themselves into his cloak as his generousness forced itself through. “Are all guilds like that? Aroo, I still don’t know where everything is back home.”
“…Fair enough,” Russo reluctantly acknowledged. The duo had given up on traversing the winding hallways that wound through the structure like wooden veins. Instead, they meandered back outside so as to seek out the most direct route to their destination. “After all, I think it’d be pretty hard to screw up walking in a straight fucking line,” the human reasoned as he took the lead. His gloved hand dragged along the wooden planks comprising the side of the building for balance.
Underpaw Dax’s tubby toes splayed out as the frozen rock and clay gave way to patches of dead grass and weeds. “Think we’re getting close?” the wolf asked. “Mmff!” Squinting his eyes, Dax peered past the back of Russo’s head to take in the sudden and blinding source of light. Rays of sunshine that illuminated patches of brown grass and barren bushes before them answered his question.
“Master, don’t you think this comes off as a little… excessive?”
“Nonsense! How am I to expect you to take this seriously otherwise?”
The human and wolf exchanged confused glances at whatever the hell it was they were eavesdropping on. Curiosity clenching at their shoulders, the duo quietly slunk towards the end of the alleyway.
“Make no mistake, I’m immeasurably proud of the both of you. Competent, intelligent, and loyal to a fault. I couldn’t have asked for better pupils.”
“I’m going to side with Tyr on this. I don’t really see how dragging us out here to be beaten to a pillowy pulp constitutes training.”
Russo and Dax poked their heads out just beyond the alleyway.
A hulking black panther, clad in a grey cloak and dark blue pants, cupped a fist into the palm of her free hand. “Would it be fair to say that neither of you have yet to face down an opponent that completely overwhelmed you?”
The fox and raccoon before her exchanged wary glances. They tentatively shook their heads side to side.
“Make no mistake that is not a mark against you.” Nadie let her arms drape to her sides. Mounds of pillows and bedsheets were bound to and wrapped around her limbs with rope. “But I fear there will come a day when you do. Now, I don’t doubt that you two have preparations in place should such a scenario come to pass.” The feline cocked her head side to side. Her long black braided hair slid back and forth across her broad back as she did so. “…It’s one thing to prepare for an emergency. Living through one is something altogether different.”
Tyridia wrung his orange furred hands nervously. The fox’s muzzle parted and closed multiple times before he worked up the courage to say what needed to be said. “Master, is there something we should know about?”
“Now that you mention it, this wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with the planned trip to Kovous would it?” Morgan tugged down the white hood of her robe and peered up at her mentor.
The panther’s black kitty nose flared while she inhaled deeply and sighed. “I won’t deny that might have something to do with it. Think of it as a precaution. Better to prepare for the worst and hope for the best after all.”
Both Tyridia’s and Morgan’s shoulders slumped slightly at the acknowledgement.
“As I was saying, no one knows how they’ll react to a crisis until they’re in the middle of one.” Nadie tugged down on the column of padding until her exposed fists were ensnared in pillowy fluff. “Should you find yourself exposed to them in let’s say… controlled doses, it’s possible to acquire the experience and practice needed to keep your head about you even in the most dire of situations.”
Rubbing at his shoulder uneasily, his loose sleeves crumpling as he did so, Tyridia’s eyes reluctantly met with the panther’s own. “And that means what, exactly?” A pathetic whine escaped his maw when he watched Nadie shift her stance.
Knees bent and arms held up at her sides, Nadie’s thick fluffy tail flicked gently behind her.
“I think we should run now,” Morgan gently urged her foxy friend. Clamping her black furred fingers around Tyridia’s wrist she dragged him just outside of the panther’s immediate range.
A pillar of pillow brushed against their noses as Nadie lurched forward. “Let’s set some realistic expectations for this shall we?”
Both Morgan and Tyr collapsed backward into stiff frost-covered blades of grass. They were left reeling, hearts pounding their way out of their chests, by the wide whiffing swing. And to think, it was a pulled punch at that.
Her padded and puffy arms swinging side to side, Nadie scrunched her brow in disapproval. “I see you two are still having trouble suspending your disbelief for this little exercise. You are not in mortal danger, I assure you. However… if you can’t find a reason to treat this seriously then I will give you one.” The panther reared an arm back as far as she was able. In turn the cape of her cloak was tossed aside to reveal mountains of fluffy muscle tensing beneath her form-fitting attire.
The initial panic having faded Tyridia frantically shoved Morgan aside. Streaks of dirt and grass stains collected on her white cowl while she skidded across the ground.
“Ahhh!” Morgan couldn’t help but wince painfully when a burst of air, followed by an eruption of pebbles, painfully pelted into her back and sides. The raccoon pressed her padded palms flat against the ground and stumbled to her feet. Morgan ran from the impact crater she had nearly been embedded into courtesy of her mentor’s powerful plush punch.
Dax whined softly at the sight. “Why is… is that panther lady trying to hurt them?”
Russo curled his fingers around the wrinkles collecting on the neck of the wolf’s hood and tugged him back into the shaded alleyway. “Last thing we want to do is get involved in this.”
“Tyr, move!”
Nadie dragged her arm along the frigid earth. Uprooting tufts of grass as it went the panther swung her limb out to the side. It quietly connected with Tyridia’s chin and sent the vulpine tumbling. The fox groaned painfully while he shakily balanced himself against a tree trunk. His clawed fingers, trembling terribly, tore chunks of bark loose.
“Tyridia let’s… I don’t know just stay away from her we’ll figure something out!” Morgan yelled out unconvincingly, her voice faltering.
“Sheesh,” Russo muttered wordlessly to himself at the sound of Morgan calling out to her foxy friend. “And I thought the old man’s ‘help’ was bad.”
Dax grumped at the mention. “That doesn’t look like help to me. Looks like she’s just trying to beat them up.”
The human sighed and feebly tossed his arms out to his sides. “It’s the school of hard knocks, Dax. It is what it is.”
A grumpy exhale from the wolf’s flared nostrils signaled Dax’s lack of satisfaction with the answer provided.
Russo rolled his eyes. “Look. Better they get smacked around and pummeled by someone that’ll dust them off and pull them back on their feet rather than bury them in the ground. At least Nadie will teach them what to do and what not to do next time when she’s done.”
“That still…” Dax bit into his bottom lip and held his sack close to his chest. “Still seems mean to me.”
“It’s kinder than the alternative. Lose a fight here and you can learn from it. Lose a fight out there and you’re just dead.” Russo arched his brows and slung his own bundle of cloth over his back. “I don’t spar with Jem because it’s fun. I do it so when I do fight someone like him I have some idea in mind on how to not die.”
“Hmmph.” The canine gently rocked side to side. “Still doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
Russo shrugged dismissively. “Like it or not you better get used to it.” Though… the mage’s lips curled down at the thought. He may not have considered them close friends. Really good acquaintances, maybe, if he was being honest. Even so, the human still had a marginal interest in the fate that was slated to befall them. Unpleasant as it was. “Look, Nadie has a point. Sucky as it is.”
Dax arooed softly and snuggled his belongings close like they were a security blanket. “Think they can win?”
The human clenched his teeth together. “Welllllll let’s put it this way. They’ll be lucky to get a hit in on her. It may not look like it but those old timers don’t fuck around.” Russo shook his head at the thought of the last sparring match he’d had with old man Varun. Old bastard had surprisingly creative and diabolical uses for all those Thunder spells at his disposal.
Nadie spoke aloud as she sprinted towards Morgan. “Alone in a clearing I find myself staring down a fox and a raccoon. One’s garb is unfamiliar, loose and flowing. Is it just a matter of style and personal preference or representative of a school of magic I’m unfamiliar with?” Her tone was plain and uninspired while she rattled off her observations. The panther tossed her arm out before her and swung it wide across her bulky frame.
Morgan frantically dropped to her knees to avoid the murderous range and reach of her Master’s attack. A rush of air whisked by overhead and blew back her hood to reveal long black hair that draped down to the raccoon’s shoulders. Wheezing, Morgan brushed aside loose strands of hair that tapped gently against her eyes and the black furred mask that surrounded them.
The panther continued droning on. “The other awash in white. Their cowl and the red trimmings along its hood and sleeves screaming out that they’ve devoted themselves to practicing Light magic, and more specifically, the healing capabilities of it.” She hopped forward and lifted her other arm high above her head. Throwing her weight behind her left shoulder Nadie’s limb cleaved through the air and crashed into the frozen earth like an axe. “That or they just like the look and feel to it. Those robes are admittedly quite comfy.”
Rolling out of the way, Morgan scrambled into the brush on her hands and knees. Dead leaves and blades of grass crunched and scratched at her furred fingers as she forced her way through brambles of bushes. Ringtail flitting behind her, the raccoon stumbled to her feet and made a beeline towards Tyridia. She didn’t even have the breath to retort or banter.
“Given the circumstances who do you think I would target first, hmm? If I do anything short of killing Tyridia then he will always remain a potential threat courtesy of your magic.” Nadie straightened her posture and took to jogging after the raccoon. “You have the potential to keep your allies up and on their feet far beyond their limits. You are the greatest threat to me here. Therefore, you are my biggest target.”
Tyr leaned his head back against his post and groaned. Where his teeth had bit down into his lips courtesy of Nadie’s punch, blood dribbled down and tinges of iron lapped at his tongue. “Is it worth it calling on Xis?” Tyr pondered to himself. He worriedly watched his best friend dart between lines of trees in what was proving to be a futile endeavor in shaking off Nadie. The panther was closing the gap and fast “Mmff. No. He’d probably agree with her and stand idly by,” he thought with a dejected flop of his ears.
The fox held a hand out before him and readied what options he had available to him. Around his extended fingers the air warped and wavered as a tiny purple flame collected atop each one. Limbs still trembling, he aimed his open palm at the raccoon and traced her path. Lurching it violently to his side he focused intently on where she would be in a matter of moments. Or where he sure as hell hoped she’d be. With a violent splaying of his fluffy fingers the purple wisps of flame sailed forth between the trees and vanished. Distorted patches of air that seemed to bend and compress the landscape around them served as indicators of where they had faded.
“I hope your only reaction to this isn’t to run, Morgan,” Nadie noted aloud. Bounding leaps carried the panther forward to her prey. Once the raccoon fell within reach, Nadie cocked an arm back behind her shoulder. Her muscles strained as energy collected within her limb. “Otherwise this won’t be much of a fight.” With that declaration she hurled her arm forward at the raccoon’s back with the intention of sending it right through her torso.
To the panther’s consternation and rumbling mewl of confusion she was blasted in the face with a billow of burning air. The raccoon’s form exploded into a flurry of flames and Nadie stumbled forward as her swing whiffed wildly. Grunting, she steadied her balance and sighed at the fading sounds of frantic footsteps bolting away from her. “Those two really do complement one another wonderfully,” Nadie proudly mused. With a shake of her head she resumed speaking in her impassive and observational tone. “Now I could just as well be brutally pragmatic and kill Tyridia so as to render any threat you posed irrelevant. But, that’s beyond the scope of this exercise. So we’ll ignore that.”
Dax couldn’t help but stick his muzzle out beyond the alleyway’s corner and drink in more of the unfolding fight. He sighed in a mixture of relief and confusion at seeing the raccoon regroup with the fox. “Didn’t that huge kitty lady just make her explode?” Dax asked.
Turned out Russo was little better. His head poked out from just behind the wolf’s own. “Huh. Always wondered if Tyridia had anything else in his arsenal besides that snooty fucking fox,” the mage thought aloud.
“Hmm?”
“That was an illusion he whipped up there. And a convincing one at that. Tyridia made a fake Morgan to give the real one a chance to bolt.”
“Phew!” Dax’s tail wagged gently side to side. He watched curiously as the white mage approached the fox and gently placed a hand upon his orange furred cheek.
Morgan hurriedly kneaded and massaged at her friend’s bruised and battered flesh. White wisps of energy trailed off her black furred digits while her magic seeped into her Tyridia’s form. “Thanks for the save, Tyr,” she managed in a tired but grateful tone.
Tyridia winced at the brief but stinging flares of pain that accompanied her soothing touch. “You’d do the same for me,” he said with a shy shrug. The heaviness and aching pain that plagued his jaw and skull vanished while his lips stung terribly. He could feel his mostly superficial wounds scabbing over and the faint taste of metal that coated his tongue and teeth begin to fade. “H-hey. Where’d Nadie go?” he worriedly realized. His eyes darted back and forth between the trees and bushes. “It should not be this hard to find someone that big,” he whined to himself.
“Come now, I would think you two would know better by now,” Nadie’s worryingly familiar voice rumbled from behind them. “Celebrate your victories, however small, after the battle is won not during it. Those little flares of hope are awfully easy to take advantage of, after all.” A dark haze surrounded the panther’s limbs upon her suspiciously silent approach. The magical energies muffled and dampened her gait and the sounds of chafing fabric that sounded out every time she swung her arms side to side. Leaning forward, she gently papped against the back of both the raccoon and the fox’s heads with her cushioned hands. “Tyridia, while your illusions were well placed they came with at the risk of playing your hand,” Nadie continued speaking to no one in particular. The black mist transferred from one target to the next and wrapped itself around Morgan and Tyridia’s eyes and ears.
Both the fox and raccoon wheeled around fearfully. A gentle but persistent ringing in their ears deafened them to the world around them while a heavy haze blackened their vision.
“Knowledge and information are powerful things that you can ill-afford to provide your foes with and… woops that’s right you can’t actually hear any of this! I’ll just have to chastise the both of you afterwards,” Nadie smirked. With a shrug of her shoulders the Yash guild master leisurely swung those pillowy clubs of her arms at them. Both limbs connected with their targets. A satisfying force pressed back against her curled fists and wrists as the panther could practically feel their ribcages crumple under her hits. Pained yelps sounded out from the duo while they hurtled and tumbled backwards across the ground.
“Nooooooo!” Dax wailed softly at the sight of the latest pummeling. “Shouldn’t we help them?”
“Absolutely not,” Russo immediately interjected. “I don’t have any clue what all kinds of magic Nadie can toss around. Do you?”
The wolf groaned.
Russo exhaled through his teeth. “Not like she’d need to if she wanted to kick our asses up and down both sides of Yash. Besides, this is their sparring session not ours. It’s not our problem.” He winced at the muffled thwack of one of the panther’s padded arms against the raccoon’s back as Morgan tried to crawl away. A cloud of dirt rose up around the raccoon’s stained cowl after she was practically embedded into the ground. “If you want to call it that…”
Nadie could only shake her head at her pupils. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She was capable of tossing out an errant kick here and there to keep the blinded and deafened fox sprawled out at her feet. “Spontaneously crafting tactics and reacting to threats on a moment’s notice is something you two clearly need more practice with.” She snapped her padded fingers together to dispel the suffocating haze that afflicted them. “If this is the best you two can manage than I can’t risk sending you out along with Russo to Kovous just yet.”
“Wait wait wait, what.” The mage shoved the wolf aside as he upped his eavesdropping game. “I’m going where?”
Circling around the felled white mage and summoned, Nadie flipped them over onto their backs. “We’ll repeat this exercise in a week or so, after you’ve had ample time to recuperate, and try again. Until I’m satisfied with your performance I can’t in good faith permit you to leave.”
“That could take fuckin’ forever!” Russo whispered in a raspy panic. “We could be here for weeks!”
Dax wiggled side to side excitedly at the prospect.
The mage clenched his fists together in a frustrated sense of urgency. “No no no no no.” Stifling a pitiful moan he steeled his nerves in advance for the stupidity that was sure to follow. “Aughhhhhh now it’s my problem! DAMMIT.”
Nadie narrowed her eyes and glared down at Morgan.
The raccoon clutched at her chest and trembled with every heaving breath she drew. A gentle white aura that enveloped her hands outed her surreptitious attempts to heal herself.
“I can’t fault you for trying,” the panther growled while she hefted an arm overhead. “But that’s never going to be enough. Stubborn tenacity will only carry you so far.” Nadie shifted her weight and allowed gravity to drag down her limb once more.
A muffled thwump sounded out much sooner than she would have expected it to as her simply stopped mid-swing.
“What the?” The feline’s eyes drifted down curiously to a shimmering green wall of magic made up of interlocking hexagons that thwarted her attack. Before the panther even had time to register her confusion the faint hum of energy filled her ears. Nadie’s head jerked to the side as an orb of concentrated magic slammed into the side of her face.
“Weren’t you the one that just said to hold off on the gloating until you’ve actually won?” Russo stepped out from the alleyway, fists clenched, and arms swinging at his side. “Or is this one of those ‘Do as I say and not as I do’ setups?”
Ribbons of blue energy wafted off of Nadie’s black and fluffy cheeks as she turned to face the interruption’s source. “I was wondering when you would slink out from the shadows,” she smirked.
“…Aww so she already knew we were here?” Dax peeked his head out and timidly waved at the hulking feline.
Russo rolled his eyes and groaned. “So much for the entrance.”
FIRST, PREVIOUS, NEXT
Not a whole lot to say about this chapter save for the fact that man it has been hard to force myself back into some sort of regular routine. That Twine project really threw me off.
FIRST, PREVIOUS, NEXT
Chapter 48
His eyelids scrunched together, Russo sleepily acknowledged the errant sunbeams batting against his face. Light filtered through the imperceptibly thin pillars of black spread across the mage’s vision. Lamentably, his eyelashes did little to shield the human from the sun’s pronounced presence.
“Mmmffff…”
Russo groaned and shifted slightly. That stubbled chin of his scratched coarsely against the arm that lay flailed out across a pillow. “Today’s the day…” Sighing in disappointment he forced his eyes open. A smattering of ill-defined shapes gradually came into focus after a couple blinks. Sprawled out upon a dresser opposite the bed was a green crystal. The flickers of magical energy that lazily coursed through its cutting and angular form distracted the human from the crusty weight bearing down against the bridge of his nose. Russo had honestly forgotten about the thing until he had been forcefully reminded of it.
“Why am I doing this?” He recalled himself asking the old man some days prior. While he waited for the response to play back in his head, Russo dragged a hand along his scruffy cheek.
“Because Nadie has been nothing if not heavy-handed. These last few correspondences with her have been packed to the brim with subtle prods and questions about whether or not you’ve considered paying her and Yash a visit,” Master Varun’s disinterested voice called out from the depths of Russo’s mind.
The mage ran a hand through a couple greasy locks of bedhead. “You old timers are always so freaking coy,” he repeated his now days-old complaint aloud.
“We have to be. How else are we supposed to lure you young’uns in?” The memory of Varun smirked at the rise he got of Russo. “Nadie also let slip that she provided you with a warp crystal for an easy and instant trip. Now look, you can volunteer or be voluntold. Take your pick.”
Volunteer it was. At the very least it’d buttress Russo’s shoddy standing if he willingly went along with the old man’s demands. Though… in the months that had passed following Greg’s defeat Varun still hadn’t settled on the matter of what to do with him. Besides practically shackling Russo to Jem and Dax so as to keep tabs on him.
Russo exhaled loudly. He had proven just as incapable at answering that same question. Once upon a time he had a comfortable routine. Take up a mission, wing it, blow off the complaints that piled up afterwards, and then rinse and repeat. Gone were those glory days. An influx of demons, dragons, and gods made certain of that.
He scratched at his head. Russo dismissively flicked away the flakes of dandruff that started to collect under his fingernails. Was everything, karma included, just finally catching up to him? Or was this Dark’s doing? Hell, that or some unrelated third thing that was still probably Dark’s fault.
“Does it matter?” The mage asked himself aloud. If there was one thing that monstrosity had drilled into his head by now was that, at the very least, he would always wield control over his reactions. He and he alone had final say over how to respond to whatever the hell it was that life or darkness incarnate could throw his way.
Russo furrowed his brows. He wielded an incredible and incorporeal power at his fingertips. This concept known as ‘choice’ which could be used to forge a new path for himself. Of the endless possibilities that awaited him, Russo would use it to… to… to sleep in for a few more hours. “All this existential bullshit makes me sleepy,” he grumbled.
“I know Nadie specifically asked for me by name but don’t you think that uhh…” Standing before the Tedrah guild’s double doors Russo curiously eyed the handful of sacks accumulating at his feet. His own cloth sack, lumpy and misshapen from a week’s worth of clothes shoved inside, lay flopped across one of the few stair steps that wasn’t covered with slush or melting snow. “Okay I really should not have to be the one pointing out somebody else’s shitty manners.” The human’s brows arched at the awkward acknowledgement his own hypocrisy.
The double doors noisily swung back and forth in the lukewarm breeze heralding spring’s imminent arrival as Master Varun meandered in and out of the guild’s entrance. “Nowhere in her letters did she say she’d be against entertaining guests.”
“Not no does not mean yes.” Russo grit his teeth at the sight of Dax sidling up besides him, tail wagging furiously. “If you’re punishing me you can just come out and say it. No need to go pussyfooting around it.”
Varun responded by yoinking open the mouth of the burlap sack at the wolf’s feet. A spare set of clothes were unceremoniously inside soon after.
Russo groaned as the grinning wolf leaned into him. “Can I at least ask why Jem isn’t coming?” The anxious mage’s idle hands occupied themselves while he fumbled on his words. He rolled the green crystal that would serve as their one-way trip to Yash between his thumb and index finger while he waited for a response.
The old man pressed his wrinkled hands into the back of his spine. A cacophony of snaps and pops accompanied the straightening of his posture. “This kind of clandestine business between guilds doesn’t particularly interest him. Now Dax on the other hand…”
“Surely somebody else is into… whatever this is.” The mage shuddered at the sound of the excited eees slipping forth from Dax’s muzzle.
“Name ‘em,” Master Varun replied with a derisive snort.
Russo nervously twiddled his gloved fingers against his thighs. He absentmindedly stared at the nameless humans and furs milling about inside the main guild hall until the breeze gave out and the double doors slammed shut. “Do I get any hints?”
Wrinkles creased the old man’s forehead as his brows flattened.
“…Not Dax?” Russo oofed as his belongings were shoved into his chest.
Dax giddily wrapped his thick arms around his own belongings and clutched them close to his torso. “Ooh ooh ooh so what should I learn about first? That Nadie lady or Yash or teleporting or…”
Master Varun cleared his throat and spoke over the wolf’s steady stream of questions. “It’ll be a good learning experience for the both of you. Russo, Nadie seems to think you’ll be of some use. Try to humor her. And Dax, stay out of trouble.” He reached forward and jabbed at Dax with an outstretched finger. “That and see if you can get that panther to help trim some of this tubbage off.”
The wolf giggled at the figurative, and literal, prod at his flab. “Okay, okay.”
Russo sighed and rested his chin against his belongings. “How long do we have to stick around for?”
“For however long you’re needed,” Varun curtly answered. “I expect another correspondence from Nadie on your return. If not, I’m sending your ass right back.”
“Well I’m glad we cleared that up,” the mage grumbled in a subdued tone. There wasn’t much more dragging of his feet to be done at this point. May as well get it over with. “Ready Dax?” Russo clenched the crystal against his palm.
“Mmhmm!” The wolf held his burlap sack close to his bosom with one hand and clutched at Russo’s cloak with the other.
A tingling sensation tickled at Russo’s curled fingers as he siphoned magic into the crystal. Green light poured out from the gaps between the mage’s digits when the magic inherent to it reacted with his own. The intensity of the light flared briefly, overtaking both the human and the wolf. When it faded they had all but vanished.
“And here we are. Yash.” With a free hand Russo gestured at the transformed landscape before them. Unfamiliar alleyways, new storefronts and homes, burnt out buildings capped with melted rooftops and oh shit that’s right that was a thing that happened when Umbra did what demons do. Crrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaap she was probably still locked up in the Yash guild’s basement wasn’t she!? “Ohhhhhhhh please don’t let that be why Nadie called me back here,” Russo mentally moaned to himself.
Dax oohed and ahhed at the new town to take it, paying no mind to the passersby shooting the duo curious glances after having manifested themselves out of thin air. He sniffed and snuffed eagerly at the air. “So that way’s the bakery… and ooh that must be the butcher over there!”
“We can tour the place later, Dax. For now let’s just go ahead and get the introductions done and over with.” Russo turned his attention to his feet and hmmed at the shadow swallowing him up. Turning behind him, the human eyed the Yash guild looming overhead. “That huge fucking panther is bound to be around here somewhere…” he thought to himself.
“Aww… alright.” Shaking off his disappointment as quickly as it came, Dax padded over to Russo. “So what’s this Nadie lady like?”
“She’s a cat, and a big one at that. You’ll know her when you see her.”
The canine’s ears perked up. “Big? You mean like me and Jem?”
“What? No. No, not like that. Come on, you’ll see. You can be big without being a freaking giant you know.” Underneath Russo’s gait, the wooden stairs leading up to the Yash guild’s entrance creaked and groaned noisily. He shivered as he stepped into the shade of the shingled wooden awning, icicles dripping down from its edges.
“And what kinda magic does she know?” His nose already smudged against a window, Dax grumped at the fact his every exhale obscured his view inside.
Russo paused to consider his answer as his hand clasped around the front door’s handle. “…Good question.” He cocked his head side to side in the vain attempt to shake free any lost or misplaced thoughts. “…Maybe dark magic? I remember she did some freaky stuff with a demonic memento I had laying around last time I rolled through here.” The mage pulled the door towards him and shoved it aside just enough for the wolf to scooch in behind him.
“Oooh.”
A vaguely familiar sight greeted Russo. Thick wooden tables lined with benches flanked him on both sides upon entry. “The kind that Nadie used to fucking flatten Umbra,” Russo mentally noted. Beyond them, tucked away into a corner where the walls intersected at about a ninety degree angle, was a thick wooden door clad with iron. “…And that leads down into the basement.” The specifics of this place escaped him but he recalled enough to get by. “Come on, I think I know where we might find her,” he called out to the wolf. Unsurprisingly, Dax paid him little heed.
Wandering through the aisles of benches, his soft hips scraping against the wooden seats as he did so, Dax marveled at the sights. “So fancy…” His padded fingers dragged along the polished surface of the tables, relatively free of stains and nicks. A gentle warmth radiated from the plain but functional chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Their light added to the sun’s own that poured through the squat square windows embedded into the walls around eye level.
“Oops! ‘Scuse me,” Dax excitedly apologized as be bumped and brushed against humans and furs alike. Holstered weapons slung over backs both furry and fleshy were jostled as he awkwardly navigated through the tables. A steady stream of introductions were mixed in with apologies while the wolf continued to plod ever onward.
“They run a better business than we do, that’s for sure,” Russo murmured to himself upon taking in the relatively lavish surroundings. The mage sighed while he watched Dax waddle his way towards the back of the room in the least efficient manner possible. Damn wolf would take whatever path let him explore the most regardless of how much time it took. “Might be faster to just ask around at this rate,” he thought to himself aloud. Russo’s eyes swiveled towards the nearest guild-goer.
Resting upon a polished bench just beyond the mage’s reach sat a green hooded figure. Two triangular protrusions poked up from the fabric covering the person of interest’s head.
“Hey.” Russo pointed at his potential source of information. He cocked an eyebrow at their startled reaction. “Uhhh… you. Yes, you, the one having a mini-freakout.”
Wrinkles formed upon the green fabric as the figure composed itself and turned their head to the side. “Yeah?” A dark brown muzzle revealed itself to be the source of the feminine sounding inquiry.
“You wouldn’t happen to know where Nadie is, would you?”
“The guild master? She’s… outside. Back behind the building with a couple of her underlings. Training them, I believe.”
“Underlings? Shit, it’s not like you’re any higher up on the totem pole than they are. Thanks anyway, I guess.” With a dismissive laugh Russo brushed her off and paced towards the wolf. “Dax! Dax, this way! You can explore later.”
“Aww alright. Coming Russo!” A couple more oofs, heys, and apologies sounded out before the wolf freed himself from the latest aisle he’d gotten himself caught in and hurriedly padded after Russo.
From underneath her hood the hyena quietly harrumphed when the human and wolf slunk out of sight. Hiding in plain sight was not her forte. Well, at least she had been fortunate enough to be discovered by the only person here that couldn’t peg her presence here as an anomaly.
“…Russo, huh?” she muttered to herself. The hyena scratched at her fuzzy chin. “Same name came up in that letter Argost was so keen on me intercepting,” Kovania thought. It wasn’t what she had come here to learn about but his mere presence was valuable information all the same. A flash of her white teeth contrasted against the shadows covering her face. “Wonder what kind of price that tasty tidbit will fetch…”
“That place is like a freaking maze,” Russo grumbled. He wobbled with every step down the twilit alley running alongside the Yash guild, ice and frozen slush crunching loudly underneath him.
Dax grunted softly while he struggled to squeeze between the buildings. Splinters embedded themselves into his cloak as his generousness forced itself through. “Are all guilds like that? Aroo, I still don’t know where everything is back home.”
“…Fair enough,” Russo reluctantly acknowledged. The duo had given up on traversing the winding hallways that wound through the structure like wooden veins. Instead, they meandered back outside so as to seek out the most direct route to their destination. “After all, I think it’d be pretty hard to screw up walking in a straight fucking line,” the human reasoned as he took the lead. His gloved hand dragged along the wooden planks comprising the side of the building for balance.
Underpaw Dax’s tubby toes splayed out as the frozen rock and clay gave way to patches of dead grass and weeds. “Think we’re getting close?” the wolf asked. “Mmff!” Squinting his eyes, Dax peered past the back of Russo’s head to take in the sudden and blinding source of light. Rays of sunshine that illuminated patches of brown grass and barren bushes before them answered his question.
“Master, don’t you think this comes off as a little… excessive?”
“Nonsense! How am I to expect you to take this seriously otherwise?”
The human and wolf exchanged confused glances at whatever the hell it was they were eavesdropping on. Curiosity clenching at their shoulders, the duo quietly slunk towards the end of the alleyway.
“Make no mistake, I’m immeasurably proud of the both of you. Competent, intelligent, and loyal to a fault. I couldn’t have asked for better pupils.”
“I’m going to side with Tyr on this. I don’t really see how dragging us out here to be beaten to a pillowy pulp constitutes training.”
Russo and Dax poked their heads out just beyond the alleyway.
A hulking black panther, clad in a grey cloak and dark blue pants, cupped a fist into the palm of her free hand. “Would it be fair to say that neither of you have yet to face down an opponent that completely overwhelmed you?”
The fox and raccoon before her exchanged wary glances. They tentatively shook their heads side to side.
“Make no mistake that is not a mark against you.” Nadie let her arms drape to her sides. Mounds of pillows and bedsheets were bound to and wrapped around her limbs with rope. “But I fear there will come a day when you do. Now, I don’t doubt that you two have preparations in place should such a scenario come to pass.” The feline cocked her head side to side. Her long black braided hair slid back and forth across her broad back as she did so. “…It’s one thing to prepare for an emergency. Living through one is something altogether different.”
Tyridia wrung his orange furred hands nervously. The fox’s muzzle parted and closed multiple times before he worked up the courage to say what needed to be said. “Master, is there something we should know about?”
“Now that you mention it, this wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with the planned trip to Kovous would it?” Morgan tugged down the white hood of her robe and peered up at her mentor.
The panther’s black kitty nose flared while she inhaled deeply and sighed. “I won’t deny that might have something to do with it. Think of it as a precaution. Better to prepare for the worst and hope for the best after all.”
Both Tyridia’s and Morgan’s shoulders slumped slightly at the acknowledgement.
“As I was saying, no one knows how they’ll react to a crisis until they’re in the middle of one.” Nadie tugged down on the column of padding until her exposed fists were ensnared in pillowy fluff. “Should you find yourself exposed to them in let’s say… controlled doses, it’s possible to acquire the experience and practice needed to keep your head about you even in the most dire of situations.”
Rubbing at his shoulder uneasily, his loose sleeves crumpling as he did so, Tyridia’s eyes reluctantly met with the panther’s own. “And that means what, exactly?” A pathetic whine escaped his maw when he watched Nadie shift her stance.
Knees bent and arms held up at her sides, Nadie’s thick fluffy tail flicked gently behind her.
“I think we should run now,” Morgan gently urged her foxy friend. Clamping her black furred fingers around Tyridia’s wrist she dragged him just outside of the panther’s immediate range.
A pillar of pillow brushed against their noses as Nadie lurched forward. “Let’s set some realistic expectations for this shall we?”
Both Morgan and Tyr collapsed backward into stiff frost-covered blades of grass. They were left reeling, hearts pounding their way out of their chests, by the wide whiffing swing. And to think, it was a pulled punch at that.
Her padded and puffy arms swinging side to side, Nadie scrunched her brow in disapproval. “I see you two are still having trouble suspending your disbelief for this little exercise. You are not in mortal danger, I assure you. However… if you can’t find a reason to treat this seriously then I will give you one.” The panther reared an arm back as far as she was able. In turn the cape of her cloak was tossed aside to reveal mountains of fluffy muscle tensing beneath her form-fitting attire.
The initial panic having faded Tyridia frantically shoved Morgan aside. Streaks of dirt and grass stains collected on her white cowl while she skidded across the ground.
“Ahhh!” Morgan couldn’t help but wince painfully when a burst of air, followed by an eruption of pebbles, painfully pelted into her back and sides. The raccoon pressed her padded palms flat against the ground and stumbled to her feet. Morgan ran from the impact crater she had nearly been embedded into courtesy of her mentor’s powerful plush punch.
Dax whined softly at the sight. “Why is… is that panther lady trying to hurt them?”
Russo curled his fingers around the wrinkles collecting on the neck of the wolf’s hood and tugged him back into the shaded alleyway. “Last thing we want to do is get involved in this.”
“Tyr, move!”
Nadie dragged her arm along the frigid earth. Uprooting tufts of grass as it went the panther swung her limb out to the side. It quietly connected with Tyridia’s chin and sent the vulpine tumbling. The fox groaned painfully while he shakily balanced himself against a tree trunk. His clawed fingers, trembling terribly, tore chunks of bark loose.
“Tyridia let’s… I don’t know just stay away from her we’ll figure something out!” Morgan yelled out unconvincingly, her voice faltering.
“Sheesh,” Russo muttered wordlessly to himself at the sound of Morgan calling out to her foxy friend. “And I thought the old man’s ‘help’ was bad.”
Dax grumped at the mention. “That doesn’t look like help to me. Looks like she’s just trying to beat them up.”
The human sighed and feebly tossed his arms out to his sides. “It’s the school of hard knocks, Dax. It is what it is.”
A grumpy exhale from the wolf’s flared nostrils signaled Dax’s lack of satisfaction with the answer provided.
Russo rolled his eyes. “Look. Better they get smacked around and pummeled by someone that’ll dust them off and pull them back on their feet rather than bury them in the ground. At least Nadie will teach them what to do and what not to do next time when she’s done.”
“That still…” Dax bit into his bottom lip and held his sack close to his chest. “Still seems mean to me.”
“It’s kinder than the alternative. Lose a fight here and you can learn from it. Lose a fight out there and you’re just dead.” Russo arched his brows and slung his own bundle of cloth over his back. “I don’t spar with Jem because it’s fun. I do it so when I do fight someone like him I have some idea in mind on how to not die.”
“Hmmph.” The canine gently rocked side to side. “Still doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
Russo shrugged dismissively. “Like it or not you better get used to it.” Though… the mage’s lips curled down at the thought. He may not have considered them close friends. Really good acquaintances, maybe, if he was being honest. Even so, the human still had a marginal interest in the fate that was slated to befall them. Unpleasant as it was. “Look, Nadie has a point. Sucky as it is.”
Dax arooed softly and snuggled his belongings close like they were a security blanket. “Think they can win?”
The human clenched his teeth together. “Welllllll let’s put it this way. They’ll be lucky to get a hit in on her. It may not look like it but those old timers don’t fuck around.” Russo shook his head at the thought of the last sparring match he’d had with old man Varun. Old bastard had surprisingly creative and diabolical uses for all those Thunder spells at his disposal.
Nadie spoke aloud as she sprinted towards Morgan. “Alone in a clearing I find myself staring down a fox and a raccoon. One’s garb is unfamiliar, loose and flowing. Is it just a matter of style and personal preference or representative of a school of magic I’m unfamiliar with?” Her tone was plain and uninspired while she rattled off her observations. The panther tossed her arm out before her and swung it wide across her bulky frame.
Morgan frantically dropped to her knees to avoid the murderous range and reach of her Master’s attack. A rush of air whisked by overhead and blew back her hood to reveal long black hair that draped down to the raccoon’s shoulders. Wheezing, Morgan brushed aside loose strands of hair that tapped gently against her eyes and the black furred mask that surrounded them.
The panther continued droning on. “The other awash in white. Their cowl and the red trimmings along its hood and sleeves screaming out that they’ve devoted themselves to practicing Light magic, and more specifically, the healing capabilities of it.” She hopped forward and lifted her other arm high above her head. Throwing her weight behind her left shoulder Nadie’s limb cleaved through the air and crashed into the frozen earth like an axe. “That or they just like the look and feel to it. Those robes are admittedly quite comfy.”
Rolling out of the way, Morgan scrambled into the brush on her hands and knees. Dead leaves and blades of grass crunched and scratched at her furred fingers as she forced her way through brambles of bushes. Ringtail flitting behind her, the raccoon stumbled to her feet and made a beeline towards Tyridia. She didn’t even have the breath to retort or banter.
“Given the circumstances who do you think I would target first, hmm? If I do anything short of killing Tyridia then he will always remain a potential threat courtesy of your magic.” Nadie straightened her posture and took to jogging after the raccoon. “You have the potential to keep your allies up and on their feet far beyond their limits. You are the greatest threat to me here. Therefore, you are my biggest target.”
Tyr leaned his head back against his post and groaned. Where his teeth had bit down into his lips courtesy of Nadie’s punch, blood dribbled down and tinges of iron lapped at his tongue. “Is it worth it calling on Xis?” Tyr pondered to himself. He worriedly watched his best friend dart between lines of trees in what was proving to be a futile endeavor in shaking off Nadie. The panther was closing the gap and fast “Mmff. No. He’d probably agree with her and stand idly by,” he thought with a dejected flop of his ears.
The fox held a hand out before him and readied what options he had available to him. Around his extended fingers the air warped and wavered as a tiny purple flame collected atop each one. Limbs still trembling, he aimed his open palm at the raccoon and traced her path. Lurching it violently to his side he focused intently on where she would be in a matter of moments. Or where he sure as hell hoped she’d be. With a violent splaying of his fluffy fingers the purple wisps of flame sailed forth between the trees and vanished. Distorted patches of air that seemed to bend and compress the landscape around them served as indicators of where they had faded.
“I hope your only reaction to this isn’t to run, Morgan,” Nadie noted aloud. Bounding leaps carried the panther forward to her prey. Once the raccoon fell within reach, Nadie cocked an arm back behind her shoulder. Her muscles strained as energy collected within her limb. “Otherwise this won’t be much of a fight.” With that declaration she hurled her arm forward at the raccoon’s back with the intention of sending it right through her torso.
To the panther’s consternation and rumbling mewl of confusion she was blasted in the face with a billow of burning air. The raccoon’s form exploded into a flurry of flames and Nadie stumbled forward as her swing whiffed wildly. Grunting, she steadied her balance and sighed at the fading sounds of frantic footsteps bolting away from her. “Those two really do complement one another wonderfully,” Nadie proudly mused. With a shake of her head she resumed speaking in her impassive and observational tone. “Now I could just as well be brutally pragmatic and kill Tyridia so as to render any threat you posed irrelevant. But, that’s beyond the scope of this exercise. So we’ll ignore that.”
Dax couldn’t help but stick his muzzle out beyond the alleyway’s corner and drink in more of the unfolding fight. He sighed in a mixture of relief and confusion at seeing the raccoon regroup with the fox. “Didn’t that huge kitty lady just make her explode?” Dax asked.
Turned out Russo was little better. His head poked out from just behind the wolf’s own. “Huh. Always wondered if Tyridia had anything else in his arsenal besides that snooty fucking fox,” the mage thought aloud.
“Hmm?”
“That was an illusion he whipped up there. And a convincing one at that. Tyridia made a fake Morgan to give the real one a chance to bolt.”
“Phew!” Dax’s tail wagged gently side to side. He watched curiously as the white mage approached the fox and gently placed a hand upon his orange furred cheek.
Morgan hurriedly kneaded and massaged at her friend’s bruised and battered flesh. White wisps of energy trailed off her black furred digits while her magic seeped into her Tyridia’s form. “Thanks for the save, Tyr,” she managed in a tired but grateful tone.
Tyridia winced at the brief but stinging flares of pain that accompanied her soothing touch. “You’d do the same for me,” he said with a shy shrug. The heaviness and aching pain that plagued his jaw and skull vanished while his lips stung terribly. He could feel his mostly superficial wounds scabbing over and the faint taste of metal that coated his tongue and teeth begin to fade. “H-hey. Where’d Nadie go?” he worriedly realized. His eyes darted back and forth between the trees and bushes. “It should not be this hard to find someone that big,” he whined to himself.
“Come now, I would think you two would know better by now,” Nadie’s worryingly familiar voice rumbled from behind them. “Celebrate your victories, however small, after the battle is won not during it. Those little flares of hope are awfully easy to take advantage of, after all.” A dark haze surrounded the panther’s limbs upon her suspiciously silent approach. The magical energies muffled and dampened her gait and the sounds of chafing fabric that sounded out every time she swung her arms side to side. Leaning forward, she gently papped against the back of both the raccoon and the fox’s heads with her cushioned hands. “Tyridia, while your illusions were well placed they came with at the risk of playing your hand,” Nadie continued speaking to no one in particular. The black mist transferred from one target to the next and wrapped itself around Morgan and Tyridia’s eyes and ears.
Both the fox and raccoon wheeled around fearfully. A gentle but persistent ringing in their ears deafened them to the world around them while a heavy haze blackened their vision.
“Knowledge and information are powerful things that you can ill-afford to provide your foes with and… woops that’s right you can’t actually hear any of this! I’ll just have to chastise the both of you afterwards,” Nadie smirked. With a shrug of her shoulders the Yash guild master leisurely swung those pillowy clubs of her arms at them. Both limbs connected with their targets. A satisfying force pressed back against her curled fists and wrists as the panther could practically feel their ribcages crumple under her hits. Pained yelps sounded out from the duo while they hurtled and tumbled backwards across the ground.
“Nooooooo!” Dax wailed softly at the sight of the latest pummeling. “Shouldn’t we help them?”
“Absolutely not,” Russo immediately interjected. “I don’t have any clue what all kinds of magic Nadie can toss around. Do you?”
The wolf groaned.
Russo exhaled through his teeth. “Not like she’d need to if she wanted to kick our asses up and down both sides of Yash. Besides, this is their sparring session not ours. It’s not our problem.” He winced at the muffled thwack of one of the panther’s padded arms against the raccoon’s back as Morgan tried to crawl away. A cloud of dirt rose up around the raccoon’s stained cowl after she was practically embedded into the ground. “If you want to call it that…”
Nadie could only shake her head at her pupils. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She was capable of tossing out an errant kick here and there to keep the blinded and deafened fox sprawled out at her feet. “Spontaneously crafting tactics and reacting to threats on a moment’s notice is something you two clearly need more practice with.” She snapped her padded fingers together to dispel the suffocating haze that afflicted them. “If this is the best you two can manage than I can’t risk sending you out along with Russo to Kovous just yet.”
“Wait wait wait, what.” The mage shoved the wolf aside as he upped his eavesdropping game. “I’m going where?”
Circling around the felled white mage and summoned, Nadie flipped them over onto their backs. “We’ll repeat this exercise in a week or so, after you’ve had ample time to recuperate, and try again. Until I’m satisfied with your performance I can’t in good faith permit you to leave.”
“That could take fuckin’ forever!” Russo whispered in a raspy panic. “We could be here for weeks!”
Dax wiggled side to side excitedly at the prospect.
The mage clenched his fists together in a frustrated sense of urgency. “No no no no no.” Stifling a pitiful moan he steeled his nerves in advance for the stupidity that was sure to follow. “Aughhhhhh now it’s my problem! DAMMIT.”
Nadie narrowed her eyes and glared down at Morgan.
The raccoon clutched at her chest and trembled with every heaving breath she drew. A gentle white aura that enveloped her hands outed her surreptitious attempts to heal herself.
“I can’t fault you for trying,” the panther growled while she hefted an arm overhead. “But that’s never going to be enough. Stubborn tenacity will only carry you so far.” Nadie shifted her weight and allowed gravity to drag down her limb once more.
A muffled thwump sounded out much sooner than she would have expected it to as her simply stopped mid-swing.
“What the?” The feline’s eyes drifted down curiously to a shimmering green wall of magic made up of interlocking hexagons that thwarted her attack. Before the panther even had time to register her confusion the faint hum of energy filled her ears. Nadie’s head jerked to the side as an orb of concentrated magic slammed into the side of her face.
“Weren’t you the one that just said to hold off on the gloating until you’ve actually won?” Russo stepped out from the alleyway, fists clenched, and arms swinging at his side. “Or is this one of those ‘Do as I say and not as I do’ setups?”
Ribbons of blue energy wafted off of Nadie’s black and fluffy cheeks as she turned to face the interruption’s source. “I was wondering when you would slink out from the shadows,” she smirked.
“…Aww so she already knew we were here?” Dax peeked his head out and timidly waved at the hulking feline.
Russo rolled his eyes and groaned. “So much for the entrance.”
FIRST, PREVIOUS, NEXT
Category Story / Fantasy
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 92 x 120px
File Size 168.8 kB
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