98. In It to Win It (Patreon)

Oz waited a few minutes to be sure the mages had left, then stepped out from behind the flap. He darted over to Naomhan, looking up at him. “Hello. I don’t suppose you’re just pretending to sleep, huh?”

Naomhan said nothing. His body remained slack, as ever.

“Didn’t think so.” Oz eyed him, then the pole that pierced him. He took a deep breath. Loup’s mom is up atop that pole. I’m already here. I should at least…at least…go get Loup a tuft of fur, or something. Something to remember her mom by.

He gave Naomhan one more look, then quickly pressed his hands together. “I’m sorry!”

Activating his movement technique, he leaped from the floor to Naomhan’s knee, from Naomhan’s knee to his shoulder. There, he inspected the pole. Blood slowly dripped down the pole, the pole slick with it. Oz lifted a hand and touched the pole tentatively, then checked his hand. His palm prints stood out in the middle of the nothing that was his body, bright red with blood. Oz knelt, wiping the blood off on the bloody part of Naomhan’s robes.

Huh. My clothes turned invisible, but not this? Is it because it’s blood from a high-level wolf fey’s body? The blood is higher-level than the spell, so the spell can’t effect it? Or is it because the blood got on me after I turned invisible?

In any case, that’s unfortunate. If the problem is that it’s post-spell-application, I can undo and redo the spell, but if the problem is that the blood is too powerful, I wasted my time and potentially revealed myself for nothing. Is there anything in the library on this kind of thing? Glamours, and what they can and can’t handle? Seems like there should be. Especially in the fey books, but I can’t exactly go to the special fey collection right now. But even the normal human books should have some information on how glamours work. After all, people need to know how glamours work, when glamours are used against them.

Standing on Naomhan’s shoulder, Oz descended into his mindspace, calling the books through his mind. Glamours, and how they work. Ways people have beaten glamours, or accidents that have happened with glamours. Diplomatic notes on meetings with fey ambassadors, and how they went. Daily diaries observing fey, and travel diaries through the fey territories. Anything could hold a clue, so let’s quickly scan through for notes on glamours!

Little tidbits floated to the top.

…the cake fell squarely on the ambassador before falling to the floor, but the icing completely vanished! Gone, as if…

…in the cavern, the monster’s acidic spittle…

…when the fey beast died, invisible thing that it was, I still could not see its blood, nor its body, not for days to come…

…but Damhnait, with those eyes of hers, spotted…

Oz nodded. Overall, it seems like glamours can hide objects that come in contact with them after the fact, as long as those objects are not higher level than the caster or glamour themselves. I’m still not completely clear on if high-level objects that were already on people will be hidden if the glamour is recast, but I doubt it’s the case, since most glamours will absorb anything that falls on the person after the glamour is cast. After all, otherwise, you’d be able to track invisible people by the dust and dirt on their person. The bottoms of my feet would be obvious as day right now, but they’re still invisible.

But the second I touch that pole, it’s all over.

He bit his lip, tracking the pole upward. The tent hung in a ring around the pole, not touching it save a single rope from the left and right side to attach the open ring to the pole. He bent, then leaped with all his might, and latched onto the edge of the tent, rather than the pole itself. He pulled himself up to the ring and climbed on top of it, balancing in the edge of the tent without touching the pole.

Above him, the wolf’s body draped limply on the pole. Its tail dangled down, not quite low enough to reach the ring. He swung his arms back, bending down again, then jumped. His hand reached out, fingertips outstretched, arm pushed to its limit.

His hand brushed the very tip of the tail, but slid through the fur rather than latching on. He fell, plummeting toward the pole.

Shit! If I hit that, I’ll hit with by shoulder! My robes…fuck! I can’t just wipe them clean! Oz threw his hand out. A blast of qi rushed from his palm and struck the pole, pushing him away. He rebounded, flailing, flying too far. Oz gritted his teeth. Watch out, tent! Here I come!

His feet struck taut canvas, and he bounced with the slope, flying away, toward the edge of the tent and off into open air. Throwing his weight forward, Oz slammed his hands behind him, blasting qi out into the air. He flew forward again and struck the tent wall, and this time, he immediately whipped around and grabbed ahold of the canvas. Once more, the fabric rebounded, but he kept his grip and bounced with it, latched tight to the tent.

Oz sighed in relief. I almost had to restart. Let’s not do that! Reaching up, he grabbed a pinch of the taut fabric and pulled, dragging himself up the tent one hand at a time. Slowly, he reached the flatter part of the tent and lifted to a three-quarters stance, then a walk, until once more he perched on the ring.

Lifting his head, he gazed at the wolf’s tail, swaying ever so slightly on the breeze. I almost had it. One more try!

This time, I’ll be ready to push off the pole with my hand if I need to. But I can’t give this up. I came all the way up here, I’ll be damned if I’m leaving without something for Loup!

He took a deep breath, letting out all out in a rush. He bent, eyes locked on the tail, flickering with the breeze.

Here goes nothing.

High above, the wolf’s eyes snapped open.