Gremlin's Greed - COMPLETE Chapter 17 (Patreon)

They caught sight of land at the dawn of the third day at sea. It appeared over the horizon abruptly – an endless flat expanse of burnt orange and brown hues. The temperature had been steadily rising for the past few hours, and everyone who Stonvaut wasn’t forcing to work migrated below the ship’s deck or under any cover they could find.

As they grew closer, the low walls of an aging fortress along the shore rose into vision. A thin strip of land reached out toward their ship with a small dock at the end of a sandy bank. Linna’s nose wrinkled as she started to make out the details of the fortress.

“What is that smell?” She asked.

“There’s a huge volcano in the middle of the desert. It belches out natural gas and magma constantly. Luckily, we won’t have to go anywhere near it,” Avril said indifferently, walking up to stand beside the younger Vision.

“Oh,” Linna said. She cleared her throat awkwardly and looked at Avril out of the corner of her eyes.

“I’m, ah, sorry for punching you,” she said.

“It’s okay. It’s possible that I might have had it coming. I’ve been hit a lot harder by much stronger people. I just…didn’t expect it,” Avril said.

Linna started to nod but abruptly stopped. She peeled her eyes away from the fortress and turned to fully look at the woman beside her.

“You? Didn’t expect it?”

“Indeed,” Avril said dryly. “I promise I’m more shocked than you are. I don’t know how, but you’ve managed to blind me.”

“What do you mean?” Linna asked.

“You’re a clever woman, Linna. Why don’t you take a guess? I’m genuinely curious to hear your thoughts,” Avril said.

Linna drummed her fingers on her hip for a few moments.

“I was actually going to try to guess your Vision again, so I suppose now is as good a time as any. It clearly involves the future somehow, but we’ve already confirmed that isn’t it. I don’t think it’s knowledge or anything like that since you barely ever share information that isn’t immediately necessary. No offense.”

“None taken,” Avril said with a playful shrug. “Keep going.”

“I’m getting there,” Linna grumbled. “You haven’t directly interfered in anything we’ve done. Jasper complains that you can’t be trusted. But what really gave it away was your example about the Rosarian sailing through the sea a few days ago. I don’t think you were talking about other people. You were talking about yourself.”

Avril didn’t say anything this time. Traces of a pensive frown crept across the tall woman’s face and she gestured impatiently for Linna to finish.

“Fate. You’re the Vision of Fate. It’s just that you can’t control it completely. Maybe that’s too much, even for a Vision? I’m not sure, but I bet you can just see parts of it and tweak a few things here and there. That’s why you don’t help us during fights. You’re worried you’ll mess fate up.”

The two Visions watched each other silently for several moments.

“You’re correct. That’s two correctly guessed Visions in just as many days. Well done,” Avril said.

“Did your Vision tell you that?” Linna asked.

“Nope. Jasper mentioned it to me this morning.”

Linna’s eyebrows shot up. The gremlin had built himself a fort of crates in the ship’s hold immediately after Linna had guessed his Vision. He hadn’t left it once, and Ethan only emerged to silently claim food for the two of them.

“Oh. What has he been up to this whole time?” Linna asked.

“He didn’t want to talk about it,” Avril said.

“That doesn’t mean you don’t know.”

“But it does mean I’m not going to talk about it,” Avril said, smiling at Linna.

The dock, which had been steadily creeping up on them throughout their conversation, had grown close enough to jump onto. Stonvaut and his men docked the Rosarian without difficulty.

The fortress in the distance blocked out a good portion of the morning sun, but there was enough light for Linna to be disappointed. Cracks riddled the huge stone walls and decay marred any beauty they might have once held. Fallen rock had piled up around its base, and the few guards that were present were all either asleep or couldn’t muster enough care to greet the ship.

The docks themselves were in no better shape than the fortress walls. There were only two buildings that looked to be in functional shape. One was a large house made of a mixture of old stone and sea scarred wood seated right in front of the harbor. It looked like it might have been an inn at one point, but years of neglect had turned it into more of an eyesore than anything else.

The other was a smaller building made of plain stone sat directly beside the path leading to the fortress. It was connected to a stone arch with a black iron gate that would have likely blocked the path if there had been a wall on either end of the gate. Instead, people had created a small foot path to get around it.

“They’re clearly eager to have company,” Linna said dryly.

“Get used to it. People who live in the Ashen Lands aren’t big fans of newcomers,” Jasper said from behind her.

Linna barely stopped herself from jumping. She settled for a curse as she turned toward Jasper.

“What is it with all of you people showing up out of nowhere today? Can’t you just make noise while you walk like a normal person?”

Jasper let out a snort of amusement. His ear was still bandaged, but his appearance had mostly returned to normal. The gremlin had sewn his clothes back together with an assortment of discolored cloth, giving him the appearance of an incredibly poor and short court jester.

“Pay more attention to your surroundings,” Jasper said smugly.

A dark shadow blurred past them, causing both Linna and Jasper to jump and curse at the same time. Ethan straightened up and tilted his head slightly before moving to stand beside Avril.

“We need to talk,” Jasper told Linna after giving Ethan his best glare.

“I agree,” Linna said. “But I suspect it’s going to have to wait. Stonvaut’s headed our way.”

The Jatir raised Lovetap in greeting, nearly destroying a barrel with the huge hammer in the process.

“This is far as my crew takes you,” Stonvaut told them seriously. “The Ashen Lands don’t take kindly to strangers, and the Asharr are no exception. I can’t afford ta send my crew on what may well be a suicide mission.”

“That was the deal,” Jasper said. “You’ve done us a huge favor taking is this far. There’s no need to throw your lives away.”

Stonvaut put a huge hand on Linna’s shoulder.

“You reminded me what it meant to be an Asharr and a Jatir,” Stonvaut said. “Thank you.”

Linna nodded. She suddenly found her throat didn’t want to open so she could speak, but the Jatir didn’t seem to mind.

“We’ll sit here for a day in case you need to leave suddenly. After that, we’ll return in two weeks. If you aren’t there when we come back, we’ll wait one more day before leaving.”

“We understand,” Avril said.

Stonvaut gave her a curt nod. He set Lovetap down and grabbed the gangplank from the deck, lowering it to the dock on his own. Jasper and Ethan headed down immediately, and Avril followed a moment after.

Stonvaut raised a hand to pause Linna just before she went.

“You’ve improved a lot from our training sessions these last few days,” Stonvaut said, picking Lovetap back up and running his hand along the hammer’s hilt. “You’re a good fighter and sparring partner. Keep those wits of yours about you. You’ll always be welcome back on my crew, Linna. Your father would be proud. Also, put that mask of yours back on. There are lots of Typhon’s men around here.”

“Thank you,” Linna said, finally finding her words.

Linna pulled the silken veil out from where she had stored it in a pocket and securely around her head. She shook hands with her friend one last time and descended the gangplank to meet back up with the others.

The three had only traveled a few steps during her talk with the Jatir, so Linna caught up with them easily. They had all stopped at the very edge of the harbor, and Jasper appeared to be caught in a staring contest with a man as large as Stonvaut.

He had a rough, unshaven beard and more scar tissue than unblemished skin. He’d crossed his arms confrontationally in front of him, and an enormous sword easily as large as Linna was planted in the ground before him.

The man’s gaze broke away from Jasper’s as he noticed Linna approaching. For an instant, their eyes met. The man’s eyes were startlingly deep blue. They looked completely out of place on his haggard face, but they seemed to carry an immense pressure behind them.

“Something interesting going on?” Linna asked as she arrived beside Jasper.

The large man pointed an accusing finger at Linna and let out a huff of air.

“You said you weren’t getting the team back together,” Garm said, glaring at Jasper.

“I’m not,” the gremlin snarled. “The team is gone, Garm. What are you doing here?”

“Yon got in touch. Told me you’d be coming round. If you’d told me you were after the Everflame, I would have taken you here through the ocean. No need for a boat.”

“The Everflame isn’t for me,” Jasper said.

“Of course it isnt,” Garm let out a grating laugh. “Once I kill the lot of you, Yon has no trouble letting me take it myself.”

“Are you sure it has to come to this?” Avril asked. “We were friends, once.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll attend your funerals,” Garm said. He grabbed his enormous sword by the hilt and pulled it out of the path slowly. “Yon’s offer is just too tempting.”

“Avril, get Ethan out of here. He can’t afford to waste energy on this,” Jasper ordered.

Avril gave Jasper a nod and grabbed Ethan by the shoulder. The swordsman didn’t resist and the tall woman led him away as Garm watched with a bemused grin.

“You’ve never been my match, Spider,” Garm said. “And I doubt an untrained girl is going to help very much.”

“How do you know I’m untrained?” Linna asked.

Garm leapt into the air. A circular shockwave from the force of the jump buffeted Jasper and Linna. The islander woman threw herself out of the way as the man crashed into the ground where she had been standing, sending a large plume of sand and dirt into the sky.

Linna scrambled away from him, but Garm didn’t follow the attack up. He looked down at her and smirked.

“Because your guard was down. Spider hasn’t been teaching you very well.”

“My name is not Spider!” Jasper yelled. A ball of fire splashed against Garm’s head, but the large man didn’t even react. He just cocked an eyebrow in Jasper’s direction and shook his head in disappointment.

“I know what your Vision is, Spider. Illusions are useless once someone figures them out. You’re pitiful,” Garm growled, raising his sword and stepping toward Linna.

A flash of purple energy lit the sand up, blinding everyone for an instant. When it faded away, there were several dozen copies of Linna and Jasper standing all around Garm.

“He’s much stronger than Moat was, Linna. Don’t let him hit you with that sword,” one Jasper warned.

The copies of Linna all nodded at the same time. Gold armor formed over their bodies and they all dropped into identical fighting stances. Garm’s grin faded away and his eyes narrowed.

“Golden energy? You replaced Toggle? And you did it with a…child?”

One of Jasper’s illusions vanished as Garm’s sword appeared in its chest. Fury burned in the man’s eyes as he pulled his weapon free and turned his gaze to a nearby Linna.

“I’ll make sure not to hold back. I’m sure Toggle’s replacement will be more than capable of handling little old Garm,” Garm said sarcastically.

The huge man’s eyes flashed with blue light. The ground shuddered and heaved, causing the sand to ripple like a furious lake. Jasper let out a stream of curses and vaulted onto the real Linna, who had positioned herself beside him.

“Run!” Jasper yelled.

Linna obeyed without hesitating, sprinting back toward the harbor. An ear shattering explosion tore apart the earth and ripped the Vision off her feet. She and Jasper hit the ground with a bounce punctuated by a string of curses as Jasper narrowly avoided getting squashed. Linna leapt back up to her feet, the cracks in her armor already sealing up as she spun to look back at Garm.

An enormous wall of violently churning water encased Jasper’s old teammate. Time ground to a halt as Linna made eye contact with Garm. The smell of rotting fish and salt permeated the air and tiny droplets of moisture hung suspended like crystals.

Garm grinned. The droplets of water fell to the ground all at once as a massive beam of water ripped toward them from the scarred Vision’s hands. Linna hastily threw a shield in its path and yanked Jasper behind herself.

The water cut clean through Linna’s shield and drilled into her armor. She dug her heels into the ground and gritted her teeth as the force of the attack built up in pressure.

“Do something!” Linna screamed. Cracks started to spiderweb across her defense at a rapid pace.

“I’m trying! His mental defense is too strong. We need to get him off guard!” Jasper hissed.

The stream of water finally cut off. Garm clicked his tongue and pointed his massive sword in their direction.

“Disappointing. So much for Toggle’s replacement,” Garm said, eyeing Linna’s damaged armor.

Water lifted the huge man into the air. It sprouted appendages and continued to enlarge until it formed into a humanoid shape with watery sword that mirrored his metal one.

“Welcome to the real world, girl! Witness true strength before you die!” Garm gloated.

A huge gold shield formed before Linna and Jasper. Garm’s enormous sword crashed into it with a sound like shattering glass, but the shield held just long enough for Linna and Jasper to avoid the attack.

“How am I supposed to fight against this?” Linna panted as they ran.

“We need to weaken his mental defense. He’s too on guard for my illusions right now,” Jasper said. “If you can get him unbalanced, I’ll finish the job.”

Linna ducked and the massive sword howled through the air where her head had been. Garm laughed, but he didn’t press his advantage. His construct slowly advanced on the two smaller Visions.

“I have an idea,” Linna muttered. “Make sure your watery friend can’t make out what we’re saying.”

A spark of purple energy flashed in front of Linna and Jasper. They disappeared from view. Garm laughed again and swung his hand outwards, sending a huge wave crashing down where Linna had been standing. She shimmered back into vision as the water revealed her, but Jasper was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’d the stupid gremlin go?” Garm asked Linna, leering at her. “No matter. I’ll take care of him after I finish you off.”

“That’s assuming you can finish me off,” Linna said, smirking up at Garm’s huge watery form. “You’ve been a Vision for longer than I’ve been alive, but you’re still barely breaking through my defenses. Now that’s pitiful.”

Garm launched out from the water, slamming feet first into the ground directly before Linna. He looked down at the islander Vision and backhanded her in the face. The golden armor crackled, but the blow didn’t even break it.

Linna drove a golden fist into the huge man’s jaw. Garm’s eyes only had a moment to widen before his head snapped back. He didn’t move from his spot as he slowly looked back down at her.

“This will be a lot more painful than just letting me cut you up,” Garm growled. He dropped his massive sword on the ground beside them. “But I’ve never been one to say no to a woman.”

His huge hand slammed into her chest like a cannonball. Linna gritted her teeth, but she didn’t move an inch backwards. She just tilted her head and gave him a mocking smile. The armor hadn’t even been scratched this time.

“You’re brave, but you aren’t strong enough. I’d love to play around with you longer, but Jasper is a pain to catch when he’s on guard. Sorry, girl,” Garm said.

He reared back, all the muscles in his body tensing. One eyebrow raised as Garm realized the glowing Vision wasn’t moving. She was planning on taking his strongest punch head on. He snorted.

“Your funeral!” Garm roared. His hand blurred forward. It hammered into her stomach. She maintained eye contact with the larger man, even as the shockwave from his punch ripped past her, carving a path through the sand behind her. The glowing armor twinkled mockingly before Garm’s fist. It was still undamaged.

“Is that it?” Linna asked.

“How?” Garm asked, his eyes darting around. The damage to the ground behind her proved the strength of his strike, but the young Vision in front of him hadn’t even moved.

Linna lifted her hands to grab Garm’s arm, but he leapt backwards before she could. The water behind him roiled furiously, responding to the big Vision’s anger.

“What are you? I wield the force of the seas! Nothing can withstand my strength!” Garm roared.

“And there it is,” Jasper’s voice whispered from behind Garm. “Somebody sounds scared.”

Garm’s eyes widened, but it was too late. The desert vanished.

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Garm found himself kneeling on cold stone in a room lit by dim torchlight. The air around him was stale and he could feel weariness draped over him like a wool cloak.

He forced himself to his feet and rubbed his eyes. When they opened again, Jasper was standing in front of him. Garm flinched backwards before he could stop himself.

“This is just an illusion. It has no effect on me!” Garm snarled.

Jasper bared his teeth. The flickering light reflected off the miniature daggers within the gremlin’s mouth, making them even more intimidating than normal.

“Is that so? Then why don’t you break out of it?” Jasper asked. He took a step forward.

Garm bared his own teeth. His eyes narrowed in concentration. Jasper watched him silently for a few moments before raising an eyebrow.

“It looks like you’re still here,” the gremlin observed.

Garm’s eyes slowly opened again. They flicked around the room and the man swallowed. A sinister smile crept across the gremlin’s face.

“Run,” Jasper whispered.

The light in the room quenched itself with a hiss. Jasper’s laugh echoed throughout the room, bouncing from the walls and multiplying until it had turned into a scream. Garm’s resolve broke. The man spun and ran in the other direction as fast as his legs could carry him.

With every step the man took, the weight on his shoulders seemed to double. Within seconds, Garm fell back to his knees, groaning in pain. The air was thick and oppressive, forcing the Vision to struggle for every breath he took.

The sound of Jasper’s casual footsteps echoed throughout the room as he slowly walked up behind Garm.

“Gave up already? I thought you’d have more fight in you,” Jasper whispered in the large man’s ear.

“This is just an illusion! A lie! You have no real power,” Garm said, more to himself than to anyone else.

“You’re right. This is just a lie,” Jasper said quietly.

A relieved smile started to cross Garm’s face. The force on his shoulders started to slough off him and his breathing grew easier.

“But for you, this is reality,”

A piercing cold erupted in Garm’s gut. The smile vanished as he looked down at the dagger lodged in his chest. His mouth flapped helplessly as the light in his eyes started to fade.

“Im…possible…” Garm wheezed.

Jasper didn’t reply. He looked down at Garm and let out a sad sigh. The cave faded away as the gray skies of the Ashen Lands took their rightful place.

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Jasper knelt down beside the lifeless corpse and pulled his dagger out of his chest. The gremlin wiped it off on the man’s clothes and returned the weapon to its sheathe. He rose, looking back in Linna’s direction.

The armor surrounding Linna vanished as Jasper dismissed his illusion, revealing the islander’s form. She was still standing, where the fight had ended. Blood trickled from her nose and mouth. Large cuts covered her entire body, and each breath she took caused a grimace to flash over her face.

Jasper dashed over to her just as she collapsed to the sand.

“We beat him,” Linna wheezed, her eyes screwed shut from the pain.

“You were incredible. I can’t believe you took punches from Garm and survived,” Jasper said in awe.

A racking cough escaped Linna’s mouth, splattering blood on Jasper and the ground around them.

“I’m not so sure I survived,” Linna replied, squinting at the growing pool of blood on the sand around her.

“No. You have to! We’ve made it this far because of you,” Jasper said, his small hands wrapping around Linna’s wrist.

“That is very true,” Linna said. “I was pretty cool there. Almost like a real Vision.”

“You are a real Vision. One of the best one’s I’ve ever known,” Jasper said.

“That’s a real compliment coming from you. Make sure you save Ethan. It would be a real shame if we came all this way for nothing,” Linna said.

“I – no, we – will! You’ve done just as much as I have to save his life, Linna. We’ll save him together!” Jasper insisted.

Linna gave him a weak smile.

“It’s funny. All I can think about is that I never figured out what my Vision was,” she whispered, her voice growing weaker with every word.

“Don’t talk like that,” Jasper begged. “I think Avril has some medical supplies. She should be back any minute. Just hold on a bit longer!”

Linna didn’t reply. Her eyes were still open, but they didn’t see the lazy blue sky passing above her. Jasper put his cut ear to Linna’s chest, tears building in his eyes. He stood slowly, staring down at the islander woman’s body helplessly.

“No. Not again. I refuse to let this happen again!” Jasper screamed.

A brilliant bolt of white lightning the color of freshly fallen snow crashed down on Jasper from the heavens. The crackling energy howled through his body, burning away his skin and evaporating the blood before it could hit the ground.

“Never again,” Jasper whispered, his voice thrumming with power.

The white lightning launched from his fingertips and into Linna. Her body twitched slightly. Jasper bared his teeth and increased the power flowing out of him. The islander’s eyes fluttered, but the gremlin felt his vision darken.

A gentle hand landed on Jasper’s shoulder. The white energy vanished with a pop. Jasper spun, tears tracing down his cheeks.

“Avril! Why? I’d nearly saved her!” Jasper screamed.

“You’d nearly died. It was a miracle you changed your vision once before to save Ethan. It’s impossible to say if you’d survive doing it a second time,” the tall Vision said.

“So I’m supposed to sit back and watch another friend die in front of me?” Jasper asked, his voice trembling.

Gray smoke floated around Avril’s body, forming into a foggy image of herself. She glanced from it to Linna’s fallen form, where sparks of white energy still crackled sporadically. Avril’s face set and she swiped a hand through the smoke, dispersing it.

“No. You’ve managed to start the process of bringing her back. You’ll sit there and watch me save her,” Avril said.

She knelt beside Linna’s body and placed a hand on the younger woman’s head. For one millionth of a second, the world froze. Avril, the Vision of Fate, reached out into the great beyond. For the first time in her life, the Avril did not nudge or tweak. She commanded.

With a gasp, Linna sat bolt upright. The worst of the wounds vanished from her body as if they had never been there. Grey smoke poured out of her mouth and returned to Avril.

“What happened?” Linna asked, her eyebrows furrowed.

“Impossible,” Jasper whispered, staring at Avril in awe.

The tall Vision stood. She gave Jasper a tired glance before the tiniest of smiles tugged at her lips.

“It won’t happen again. Do better next time,” she said. “Ethan is waiting for us, and we really don’t have a second to spare after that stunt, so I’m going to speed things up. Linna, you died. Jasper did something stupid and saved you. Garm is dead, you two killed him. That about sums it up. Now, let’s move.”

The tall woman’s tone made it clear that these were no longer suggestions. They started walking.

“Oh, don’t ask how you survived. Please. That’s a story for after this is all over,” Avril said as Linna’s mouth started to open. “That goes for both of you.”

Jasper’s mouth snapped with a shut, and they regrouped with Ethan who was waiting for them at the bottom of a nearby dune.

“In that case… what did you do to Garm, Jasper? He just…sat there as you stabbed him,” Linna said as they walked.

“You scared him enough to let me get into his head,” Jasper said, wiping the dried tears off his face.

“I think there’s more to it than that. Moat was way weaker than Garm, but you didn’t do that to him. You didn’t seem like yourself recently. What changed?”

“I brought back an old part of myself. It’s been a while since I’ve done this, and I’m pretty goddamn pissed I had to do it at all. It brings back memories that I don’t like reliving, but I owe you an explanation. Just…not now. Maybe later today,” Jasper offered.

Linna matched the gremlin’s gaze for a few moments. Then she nodded and patted Jasper awkwardly on the head.

“I’ll take it. It’s good to have you back. All that moping was really getting on my nerves.”

Jasper’s nose twitched and he tightened his lips, but that couldn’t stop the bark of laughter from escaping.

“Get your hand off me,” he said gruffly. “It’s good to have you back too.”

Avril cleared her throat and jerked her chin toward the fortress wall in the distance.

“The Everflame is in Midnight, which is an ancient fortress about two days of travel from the fortress in front of us. We’ll stop here for supplies and leave immediately,” Avril said.

“That works for me. But there’s one small problem,” Linna said sheepishly.

Avril raised an eyebrow and gestured for Linna to speak.

“My legs don’t seem to be working. Again.”