Chapter: 253 - Acidic Tide (Patreon)

<Contains content which may be considered grimdark>
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Tala jogged through the rather beaten down complex.

The battle had not been kind to the architecture.

She was able to snag some things of value, but not many. Unfortunate, that.

-No kidding.-

She and Pallaun had parted ways nearly a quarter hour ago, and she felt like she could sense Be-thric’s power nearby.

She occasionally caught sight of the bull-man following her at a hesitant distance. I need to deal with him before I find Be-thric and whatever is going on there, or I’m going to be killed.

The bull-man might tip the scales against Be-thric, but Tala thought it more likely that he’d ignore the Pillar and simply dispatch her.

That would be just the perfect way to die…

So, she had a problem to deal with. It was a smaller problem than when there had been three pursuers, but it was still a problem.

She saw a relatively intact room off to one side, and an idea came to her, causing a malicious grin spread across her face.

That’s perfect.

Her mirrored perspectives ensured that the bull-man couldn’t see her at the moment.

She pulled Kit from her belt and threw the pouch against the wall beside the door.

Kit grew over the doorway, filling it in with an exact replica of the door that had stood open a moment before, per her desire.

Now, if he came this way before, nothing should seem amiss. These people had seemed far too well informed so far. She suspected a traitor within the House of Blood. Well, another traitor.

-A more active traitor?-

For now.

A small smile tugged at her lips, but she suppressed it.

With her plan ready to be enacted, she leaned against the doorframe that was Kit and took an all-too-real moment to catch her breath.

When the bull-man came into view, she jerked her face towards him and gasped.

A small smile pulled at the man’s inhuman face.

Tala grabbed the door and shoved it open, diving inside and moving off to one side. She ‘tried’ to close the door, but it caught on a bit of rubble that she’d kicked in the way as she dove through.

The bull reached the door a moment later, kicking it open and rushing through.

He was halfway across the room before he spun on his hooves and faced her, back near the door.

“So, you decided to stop running?”

“Of course. You should surrender, you know.”

He laughed, an almost braying sound that was just too much like a ‘moo’ to sound like a donkey. “You’re all alone, human girl. No nightmarish Eskau is nearby. I made sure he went the other way. There’s no one here to save you this time.”

She smiled. “Funny that you say that.”

At her words, the walls melted, the illusion built by Kit shattering, revealing that they stood in the midst of rolling hills.

The bull looked around in confusion. “What?”

“Welcome to my sanctum.” Her smile widened. “I’d like you to meet Terry.”

Terry flickered into being behind the bull-man, talons ripping through the remains of the man’s shirt and lightly scoring into the bovine’s back.

The man screamed in surprise more than agony, even while he healed, turning in a rage before stopping in horror.

He looked up.

And up.

And up.

Terry towered over the invader, easily double the large man’s height.

Tala cleared her throat. “Please don’t play with your food, Terry. He’s rather robust.”

Terry trilled absently then stomped down on the bull.

The man had attempted to dodge, resulting in all but his head being crushed.

He couldn’t even cry out in pain, at least not until Terry lifted his foot, and the bull’s magic dumped power into a full body healing.

Huh, he doesn’t rely on internal reserves for his healing. He could probably have his head cut off and grow a new body.

-Yeah, but that means his healing takes a lot more power because he’s also calling the material into existence.-

Everything’s a tradeoff.

-He also seems overly protective of his head. I bet he doesn’t have an easy way to recover from brain damage.-

You’re probably right. It did seem like he might have had some specific protections around there.

What followed was eerily similar to how Terry had fought Tala, herself, and Tala had a front-row seat to how that would turn out if Terry ever turned on her.

The bull-man didn’t even have the advantage of magical weaponry or other workings to call on.

His concept did seem to be around bodily strength and sovereignty of everything within his own flesh, but it wasn’t sufficient to overcome what seemed to be a nearly eight fold weight disadvantage.

His magic did make Terry’s claws pretty useless when Terry was smaller than a wagon.

So, that’s how he was able to counter my scales, even when they stuck within him. Once they were in his body, he was able to break their working and move them out.

It was a terrifying combination with his obviously healing-focused inscriptions.

But Tala had two clear advantages over the bull, when it came to a fight against Terry.

First, her magical power was limitless, her healing effectively only constrained by what she’d been able to consume and store within herself.

Second, Terry liked her and had never done too much damage at any one time.

Tala watched the bull-man’s power drain at an insane rate. With no ambient power available to draw upon, the conflict was a foregone conclusion.

The bull tried to grapple with Terry or hit him, but it was pointless.

“I have to go, Terry. Please finish him quickly. I don’t want him in here or coming after me.”

Terry flickered around the man in a storm, showering the ground with bovine blood.

He trilled in contented, if reluctant, agreement. He’d see it done.

“Thank you, my friend.”

With that, she stepped back through the door and pulled Kit free of the wall once more.

She knew that, in the sanctum, Terry was finishing off the bull-man in the middle of unbroken, rolling grassland.

There was no way that he’d escape. Unless Terry plays with him too much.

She’d just have to trust her avian friend.

Now, where is Be-thric? She needed to find him. She could imagine no better time to facilitate his death.

It was time to make her bid for freedom.

Less than five minutes later, Tala came to the edge of the structured part of the House of Blood’s hold and ran out of the building complex and into the open land on the northside of the hold.

She’d found Be-thric.

The Pillar stood facing a group of nine arcanes.

One was in armor reminiscent of Sanguis and Be-thric’s own, bearing a crest that appeared to be a bubbling, sickly green wave. From her memory, that was from the House of the Acidic Tide.

Well, she now knew what other House had joined that of the Rising Sun to assault their hold.

Beside the one Pillar was clearly her Eskau, and they were utterly fixed on Be-thric.

The other seven were a little ways away, apparently on guard against any House of Blood reinforcements, and they all seemed to be mercenaries rather than Pillars, Eskau, or even House soldiers.

The mercenaries were scattered through the range of rank between yellow and green, except one, who was fully blue to her mage-sight.

Six warriors between Elder and Honored, and a Revered mercenary, along with a Pillar and Eskau who are also Revered? That was quite the strike force.

But why were there so many mercenaries? Tala knew that there had to be at least a few other Eskau and Pillars from the two attacking Houses. Where are they?

The obvious answer came to her instantly. Fighting Sanguis or at least attempting to engage him. Maybe part of the delaying forces who were after Meallain and Pallaun.

After all, while harming the House of Blood was a core objective, it was Tala and Be-thric who had been responsible for the recent attack on the House of the Rising Sun.

As for Be-thric, several other arcanes already lay broken around his feet, and the hue-man looked winded.

If Tala had to guess based on what she saw, there was at least one candidate Eskau among those bodies, having attempted to help bring down a Pillar of a rival House to gain favor.

Be-thric had proven too enduring for that to work, however.

More’s the pity.

Unfortunately, Tala had burst from the buildings directly between the two groups.

When Be-thric saw her, his eyes brightened, and he smiled triumphantly.

Well, he’s confident.

As for the others, a woman’s voice came from within the most ornate set of armor, “Good, I was about to send these seven after you within that sprawling hovel you people somehow live within. You’ve saved us the trouble and them the time searching. Kill her. I’d hate to lower myself to the killing of an Eskau myself, and the time for capture is long past. Let us finish this.”

She hesitated for a moment, then added one addendum.

“Except you, Sandor. You fight with us against the Pillar. The girl is not even an Elder, your men will be fine.”

The Revered warrior moved from the others to take up a position beside the Pillar and her Eskau.

The other six mercenaries shouted their acknowledgements and rushed Tala. Their charge was highlighted by the magics of the three more powerful arcanes unleashing a renewed assault behind them, magics streaking towards Be-thric.

Alright. He’s going to lose. I just need to survive and make sure no one else comes to his aid. I’m glad I came, else he’d only be facing two.

-Yeah, kill these and then get out.-

Yeah, that was implied by ‘survive.’

She was fairly sick of having her scales rendered useless, so she decided to save them for close-quarters surprises. At least they hadn’t been utterly useless when used in that way against the bull-man after all.

Tala danced among the lesser warriors, bought by Houses of the Rising Sun and Acidic Tide.

Clearly the best that these two Houses had brought—their other Eskau and Pillars—had been sent after Pallaun and Meallain in one way or another.

So, they’re probably dead already, or driven off. Tala did grin at that thought. She genuinely saw the two Eskau of the House of Blood as her teachers, and she knew they were far more lethal than most would realize.

There were reasons that the House of Blood had remained so powerful, despite most other Houses being biased against them, and two of their best Eskau were a big one.

The six continued their assault, magical weapons rending the air around her, but she was never where they thought she should be.

Flow flickered between its six forms too quickly for anyone without enhanced senses to track.

Tala kept it in each form less than an eyeblink, timing the changes to allow for more efficient movements, and precisely the required reach.

A part of her, deep within, reveled in the strain she could feel in the vestiges within their weapons as she cut deeply into those weapons again and again with Flow’s void-forms.

Soon you will be free, trapped souls. A little discomfort and then freedom.

Flow’s more mundane forms were perfect for deflecting their attacks into their fellows, or otherwise spoiling the attacks, or blocking when the potential of passing her weapon through theirs would be to her detriment.

And she used far more than just Flow.

White scales flicked out when the enemy least expected them.

Her opponents were far from weak, though they seemed to be on the younger side. They took some damage from the scales, but most of the bits of white metal were obliterated by one form of magic or other.

They really did do their research on me. After all, each of the attackers had a magical device somewhere on their person that empowered their workings with a nullifying effect when directed at her scales.

Unfortunately, none of the white projectiles were simply deflected. So, she didn’t get to take advantage of their secondary impacts.

Her feet, hands, elbows, and knees struck her opponents as well, whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t perfectly successful. How could she be, when she was against six seasoned combatants, used to working together?

They landed uncounted blows upon her.

Many were absorbed or deflected by her defenses, but quite a few got through.

Those that did, healed slowly due to how they seared or otherwise magically denatured the flesh around the wounds, but blessedly none were debilitating to the point of slowing her down or inhibiting her combat abilities.

They were good at what they did, and they had been prepared for the general nature of her abilities. But even so, those that faced her were not up to the challenge.

She broke and bled her enemies, blood from seven sources co-mingling to muddy the ground.

After every exchange she gained more new wounds than they, but she healed, and they didn’t.

After every exchange, they were just a bit more worn down.

They fought at a frenetic pace, the martial equivalent of sprinting. Even so, it was nearly three minutes before her endurance paid off, and they started making mistakes.

They dropped in quick succession after that, and soon, Tala was left gasping for air over half a dozen corpses.

She allowed her attention to move back outward.

Somehow, ­Be-thric had stood toe to toe with the three attackers arrayed against him.

More than that, two of the three were dead, the mercenary and the Eskau

Only a single hue-folk woman, the Pillar, stood facing the newest Pillar of the House of Blood.

Be-thric hadn’t come away cleanly, however.

His armor was broken and battered, though it was slowly repairing itself.

One arm hung limp, and his light and fire protections were utterly overcome. Tala could see the magics for them reaching out, attempting to reestablish those defenses.

How did he defeat all three? She couldn’t understand for a moment, then she saw it. Lingering magics around the heads of the downed warriors.

He overwhelmed their auras sufficiently to manipulate their minds directly. She felt a flash of fear. He shouldn’t have been able to pierce their auras at all.

After all, it wasn’t like he’d have caught them unaware. They were in the middle of a battlefield!

They had been arcanes of an equivalent rank, what he’d done should have been impossible.

-It was another front to fight on. A front that he knows well, and they did not. With the proper tactics it makes sense.-

She shivered. Be-thric was a terror, one that needed to die.

The Pillar of the House of Blood looked exhausted, and both Pillars were running incredibly low on power.

The ground around Be-thric bubbled and spat with corrosion and acidic power that somehow lingered and continued to assault everything around it.

Somehow, the Pillar’s helmet was almost entirely missing, and Tala could see remnants of it still affixed to his deformed breastplate.

Nevertheless, Be-thric was building magic around himself, eyes locked on his equally bedraggled and harried, final opponent.

No. No. NO! She felt it in her bones. He was going to win; somehow, beyond all reason, he was going to survive.

In that moment, she saw a potential Eskau move on the ground on the far side of Be-thric. She seized on that.

“Be-thric, behind you!” She also sent a scale whipping for the fish-man’s head.

It struck with a crack that likely killed the enemy on the spot, but Be-thric turned anyways, following the sound and releasing his working on the corpse. After all, why would his Eskau bring his attention to a threat that was so easily dispatched?

As he enacted his magics, he shouted. “Delay her!”

Power slammed down on the mindless candidate Eskau’s head, preventing even the inactive, lifeless nerves from firing.

The ground quaked as spikes of hardened stone shredded the corpse, before flares of light and heat seared the remains to ash.

-Rust! That would have ended this for sure.-

Tala didn’t know who might be watching; she didn’t have time to verify no one was observing them.

She had to obey the order.

Alat had been watching the battle at large, and so she was able to provide Tala with an effective plan of attack on the Pillar. Tala knew she could overcome her.

Even so, in battle timing was everything.

Very deliberately, Tala hesitated the barest heartbeat before sending her last scales whipping toward the bloodied Pillar of the Acidic Tide.

A pair of siege orbs followed just behind, not targeted directly for the woman.

The enemy Pillar’s stark white hair whipped in a tangle around her as she acted.

In that brief moment’s delay, the Pillar managed to thrust her hand towards Be-thric, and a needle of power, so overwhelming that it briefly blinded Tala’s mage-sight, lanced across the distance.

It struck a breach in the armor of the newest Pillar of the House of Blood.

The woman didn’t even twitch as her defensive magics concentrated to vaporize Tala’s scales as they were incoming. Just as Alat had observed them doing each time the woman had defended against various attacks before.

The orbs slammed into the ground on either side of the Pillar, and Tala immediately changed her labels for them, breaking their compression and detonating them on either side of this last enemy.

The ancient muck-green woman didn’t have a chance to scream as her weakened body and broken armor were crushed between two tremendous explosions.

The woman would never have fallen for such a simple misdirect if she’d been fresh.

If she hadn’t been worn down by Be-thric, the Pillar would have been hurt, but not outright killed, by the blasts.

But she hadn’t been fresh, and her defenses had been worn down.

Tala’s gambit had succeeded.

She’d done it.

Tala pulled herself back together somewhat literally. Her body was broken and bloodied, but they’d won.

She’d won.

Be-thric knelt on the ground taking deep, ragged breaths. His body was filled with corrosive power that was slowly winning against his fortitude and overcoming all of his magics.

Even the inside of his protian wrought armor was bubbling and distorting from the simple proximity to the powerful magics of destruction.

It was radiating so overwhelmingly from him that everything around him was being broken down before Tala’s very eyes.

She frowned. He’s losing but too slowly. If someone comes who can help, he’ll survive. Even if someone else comes and can go get help, they can likely save him, and my standing around while he dies will be incredibly suspicious.

Tala straightened her back, squaring her shoulders.

This is my best chance. Laying right beyond him is the protian weapon of a candidate Eskau, likely more than one. If he survives, his armor is done, and he will depart.

She hadn’t wanted to be so directly involved, but there would be no better time.

There would be no other time.

She’d thought the woman’s final attack would kill him quickly, that’s why she finished off the rusting enemy Pillar.

She’d been wrong.

Well, I have to clean up my own messes, it seems.

She had made her choice, she would seize her freedom or die trying.

It was time to finish this.

*   *      *

Be-thric looked up at Tali, his breath coming in great gasps.

“Well done.” He coughed, forcing his mind to focus. “I don’t have the strength to call for aid. Go for help. There’s still plenty of time.”

She walked forward, her features warped with conflicting emotions.

“I’ll be fine,”—he coughed up a wad of blood and spit it to the side. His protian weapons were reinforcing him, battling the corrosive magics even as they tried to heal him.—“if you go now.”

He could feel lethal intent from nearby, but that was to be expected. The entire hold was dripping with lethal intent, and some of the lessers that he’d killed might still have some life, some hate, left in them.

They would be dead soon enough either way.

But Tali didn’t go. Instead, she moved towards him, uncertainly, as he knelt on the ground.

More the fool, me. I enforced within her the need to stay by my side if I am in danger. He let out a rueful, hacking cough. Am I to die because I didn’t give my puppet enough nuance?

He might survive, but he didn’t think it likely.

“At least”—cough—“At least call for help, my Eskau.”

She slowly nodded, taking in a deep breath.

He saw power building within her through the breaches in her iron paint beneath her armor. She must have taken heavy damage for that layer to be so riddled with perforations.

He frowned. The power he saw building wasn’t amplification magics, nor anything else that would help her call for aid. If he’d had his wits more about him he’d have immediately known she didn’t have such workings regardless.

What is she doing? He opened his mouth to ask just that when she exhaled in a tight stream, dumping dissolution power over him.

Time seemed to slow as Be-thric realized the truth of his own fate.

Tali would never do this. There is no power on Zeme that could make her harm me. I ensured that.

His eyes widened at a glacial pace even as they began to melt away, the magnitude of his folly becoming clear. His mastery of the mind gave him far more time to process that realization than he had any right to.

So…Tali is gone, and that human somehow recovered herself. But how? That makes no sense? I utterly wiped her mind away…except, I had to leave her understanding of her own inscriptions. Did she somehow rebuild herself from that fragment? How—?

The power slammed into him, close enough to the working already embedded into his flesh that they worked together.

The balance was instantly tipped, and his death rushed at him like a falling star even with his perception slowed.

His last word was simply a garbled, “Oh.”

He knew he’d never take another breath.

He briefly contemplated simply slipping off into the next world and leaving her to whatever fate the House of Blood chose for a traitorous Eskau.

No. This rusting dog bit me.

With his last vestiges of willpower, he triggered her collar.

Be-thric, Pillar and last Scion of the House of Blood, would pass from Zeme into the next world to the sweet accompaniment of the agonized screams of his greatest failure.

That would remove some of the shame of his failure, surely.

Even so, something still wasn’t right, and his last thought was one of confusion.

Why isn’t she screaming, yet?

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