9. Twilight Crawl (Patreon)

“Take that! Looks like that’s the end, Ace! So much for being the strongest!” Milton crooned, puffing his chest.

Ace lashed out. Cards flew in the cave, fluttering all around. “Shut up! It’s just a stupid game.”

Vi squeaked, startled, then grabbed her mouth, eyes darting above.

“Hey! Hey. Respect the cards, alright? I spent a whole evening getting a table drunk enough to steal them,” I called out from where I sat against the wall. Despite my most earnest assurances, Milton refused to deal me back in. Jerk.

Ace frowned at me and crossed his arms stubbornly.

Licking my lips, I tapped my flask again. It jostled emptily, little more than a mouthful left. If only I had Grim here… but no, I drank all his extra water before he left. I sighed mournfully, full of regret. Should’ve grabbed that bottle and ran with it. Damnit. How was I supposed to know I’d run into my escort mission?

I patted Cher. “We just never know what the world’s going to hold for us, do we?”

Low mana.

“There’s the Cher I know.”

The light outside took on a dim quality, one I associated more with dust storms than dusk, though the color burned bluer than the gray-brown dust storms. I stood, dusting off my butt. “Alright, kiddos. Ace, cards. When he’s done, we’ll get this show on the road.”

“Me?” Ace asked, pointing at himself.

“Did you throw them on the floor?” I asked patiently.

“Yeah, but Milton—”

“He’s an ass, but you threw the cards on the floor. Pick ‘em up. Hurry, c’mon.” I snapped my fingers at him.

Ace stared at me another few seconds, the same defiance in his eyes as I’d seen in the tree hollow. I stared back, raising my brows, and casually flexed my arms. Just try it, kiddo.

He scowled and bent, reluctantly giving in to a game of fifty-two pickup.

“I’ll help!” Vi jumped up and joined him.

“I am—I am not an… ass!” Milton hissed the last word, cutting his eyes at his mother as if she might bite his head off as soon as hear it.

I patted his head. “Listen, the less you hang around your dad, the better, and that’s enough said about that.”

He frowned at me, taken aback.

What did I say? Lost, I shrugged to myself. I’ve never been the nurturing type, and I certainly haven’t gotten better with age.

I climbed slowly back to my feet. They protested, achy and sore, the soles torn up from running through the forest earlier. It didn’t feel too bad while I was running on them, but now that I’ve stopped and rested, it hurts like hell.

“Here.” A pair of socks dangled before my eyes.

I snatched them, tossing a nod at Rose. “Thanks.”

“They’re my husband’s, so they should fit you,” she said, looking at my dirty feet.

“My feet aren’t that big,” I protested, pulling them on. They fit perfectly.

I pursed my lips. Alright. Maybe my feet are a little big. But it’s not all me! Edmund must have small feet. I glanced at his feet. They looked normal from here, but it was hard to tell. The boots made it difficult to gauge the relative size of his feet.

Alright, alright, I’ll complain about the size of my feet later. Escaping first.

In the back of the cave, tangled roots obscured the rear wall. I drew my dagger and gave it a quick swish. Spinning my core up at the same instant, I pushed magic into it. The bone blade resonated, glowing blue in the low light. “Stand back.”

Rose darted out of the way. Edmund backed away, pushing Milton back even as he crowded close. I couldn’t help a grin. It’s not every day I get an audience.

I stretched out a leg and leaned away, drawing the blade back. All at once, I leaped and slashed. “Bite!”

Blue light streaked through the air, chasing the blade as I sliced through the roots. They gave like butter before a hot knife and tumbled to the floor.

“Whoa! Let me try!” Milton said, pushing past his father.

“Milton!” Rose snapped.

I winked at her and held up the blade, dangling it by the rear of the handle so she could see the whole thing. A single piece of bone sharpened on one end and whittled to a handle on the other, it was a simple affair, adorned only with a leather grip. “It’s fine, it’s fine.”

She hesitated, one hand still raised to grab Milton back.

Milton jumped to my side amid her hesitation. “Please?”

I passed him the blade. “Careful now. Pointy end goes at the wall. Take it easy, alright?”

He nodded the eager nod of those not listening and assumed the same pose I had.

I stepped back, smirking to myself. Oh, this is going to be interesting.

“Bite!” He leaped at the roots.

The blade struck the first root and stuck. Milton stopped short, arm jolted to a halt. He jerked at the blade, but it stuck in the wall, sunk deep. “W-what?”

“I told you to take it easy.” I came up behind him and freed the blade from the root and his hand at the same time. “You don’t have a core, so you can’t energize it.”

“What?” Milton asked, taken aback.

“There’s two types of magical gear. Cored gear, and husk gear. This is a husk knife. It’s made of beast materials, which are conducive to magic, but it has no magic itself.” I tossed it in my hand and caught it out of the air.

“What’s the point of that?” Milton grumbled.

“Well, it’s the nicest, sharpest, toughest, most expensive knife you’ll ever touch in your life, but aside from that?” I shrugged. “It’s mostly for chimera.”

“Could I use your gun, then?” he asked, pointing at Cher’s core. Usually, sunlight provided enough light to disguise her glow, but in the cave’s darkness, she pulsed with low, pale-gold light.

“You could, but it’s a bad idea. It takes time to familiarize yourself with magic. If you hauled off and tried to fire a spell through Cher here, you’d probably puke your guts out and lie in bed for a week afterwards. She’s got a pretty potent core, herself. You want to start small and work big… or become a chimera,” I added, grinning.

“No,” Rose interrupted.

Milton whirled. “I didn’t even—”

“No.”

I waved my hand. “Becoming a chimera’s a pretty shitty process too, not gonna lie. I was off my feet for nearly a month after they put the core in. I can’t recommend it.”

Someone snatched the blade out of my hand. I whirled, ready to snatch it out of little hands. Before I could, Ace dashed at the wall of roots.

“Bite,” he muttered.

Blue light blazed over the knife’s surface, jutting a foot out from the blade’s tip. He slashed. Roots fell, and fell, and kept on falling, deep, deep into the crevasse.

He gave me a smug look as he held the blade out in front of him. “Believe me now?”

“I never said you weren’t strong, kid,” I replied, stealing the blade from his hand. Note to self: watch out for little grabby hands. This kid’s got sticky fingers.

“What kind of core do you think I have, then?” he demanded.

I ignored him. Not now, kid.

“I wanna do magic,” Milton muttered.

“Wait until you’re older,” I advised.

“No, Milton. Never,” Rose snapped, speaking over me.

I cut a look at her from the corner of my eyes. Talk about wasted potential. I’m sure she has her reasons, but…

Milton huffed and crossed his arms.

“This way, everyone.” I gestured them on into the crevasse.

Within a few steps, the crevasse lowered, forcing us to our hands and knees. It sloped upwards at a low angle. Far ahead, sun glimmered, hinting at an exit.

“I had no idea it opened in the back,” Rose whispered.

“We dug it out, back in the day. Wanted a rear exit. It kept collapsing until we finally had the idea of putting the beams in.” I knocked a knuckle on a decaying wood beam as I ducked under it.

“Uh-huh,” Rose said, in the gentle, pandering tone people ordinarily used on mental patients.

At the exit, I paused. Trees, trees, and more trees, broken by the occasional lump of underbrush. Raising a hand for Rose and the others to stay put, I climbed out of the hole and to my feet.

Silence. The forest laid still, utterly quiet. I took one step, then another. One hand reached for Cher.

“I know you’re here.”

Wind rushed through the leaves. The underbrush shuffled.

I turned slowly. “Come out. Now.”

A branch snapped. I whirled.

Red splattered over the leaves. A scrap of white. I stepped toward the colors, raising Cher. “I see you. You aren’t hiding.”

Low, ominous, a giggle echoed in my ears from seemingly every direction at once. The middling twilight turned dark. Shadows pressed on the edges of my vision, demanding my attention only to vanish when I turned.

“Who am I?” the wind whispered.

I swallowed and licked my lips. With a confidence I didn’t feel, I declared, “A problem child.”

The giggle turned lighter. The wind ceased. Something rustled in the underbrush, followed by a heavy dragging sound, fading away into the forest.

I stared after it, holding my breath. Only when the sound faded did I breathe again and gesture for the others to emerge.

Rose peeked out of the hole, pale as porcelain. She shuddered, rubbing her hands over her arms. “What was that?”

“Nothing for you to worry about.” I offered her a hand up.

She took it. Once she was free of the hole, she gave herself a great shake and brushed herself off, almost obsessively. “I won’t feel safe until we’re out of this awful forest. All these beasts that could murder us with a breath…” She shuddered again. “I wouldn’t be here if I had any other option.”

You won’t be any safer from that one in town, I thought. Externally, I smiled. “All the more reason to keep moving.”

“Right.” Rose nodded firmly.

“Though generally, the beasts are more scared of us than we are of them. For good reason, at that. We did massacre most of them for their cores,” I added.

Rose shook her head. “I just want to be back in civilization already.”

“The hell are you going to Dagta for, then,” I muttered to myself.

“Hmm?” she asked.

“What drove you to leave Elgany?” I said with a closed-lip smile.

She shook her head. Behind us, Edmund helped the children out of the hole. “You know… our bloodline.”

I nodded.

A deep breath. “They wanted… well, the same thing they ever want. To take the children. Use the strongest cores on them. Pair them with the other bloodlines. Use them.”

“Tale as old as time,” I agreed.

Behind her, Edmund offered Ace a hand up. Ace gave him a look like he’d been offered a handful of rotten fish and climbed out of the hole himself.

“They tracked us down. Tried to recruit the kids. It was innocuous at first, but eventually… I was afraid the kids were going to vanish. Especially Milton. He doesn’t understand. Doesn’t know what… it would mean.” She trailed off, eyes focused on some distant place, a different time.

“You lost someone that way?”

She nodded. “My younger sister. She… thought it would make her stronger. Went willingly. That was the last I ever saw of her.”

I twisted my lips. Sounds about right.

Rose paused. Almost at a whisper, she added, “Milton… reminds me a lot of her.”

“Huh?” Milton asked.

She shook her head. “I wanted to start over. Somewhere nobody knew who we were.”

“The same reason your father left for Elgany,” I replied, nodding.

She furrowed her brows at me.

I looked around our small group, counting heads. One, two… five. “Alright, that’s everyone. Let’s go.”