Path of Dragons 4 - Chapter 31 - Alyssa's Son (Patreon)
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Miguel raced down the empty street, spear in hand, as he heard another scream emanate from within the alley ahead. He skidded to a stop, turning to see three burly young men surrounding a small figure curled on the ground. The largest of the attackers aimed a kick at the victim, but he never had the chance to connect. Instead, Miguel barreled into him.
To Miguel, it felt like heâd just collided with a brick wall, but he was moving fast enough that he managed to send the unsuspecting young man stumbling into a nearby trash can. The impact sent garbage scattering across the alley. The would-be attacker tripped over the can, ending up sprawled on the trash strewn ground.
Meanwhile, Miguel planted, then swept his spear around to trip the next nearest young man. Once again, it felt like heâd hit a telephone pole, but the inertia of his swing knocked the feet out from under the young man. Finally, Miguel aimed a front-kick at the final assailant, who turned out to be tall, rangy girl. The blow took her in the stomach, and she stumbled backward, gasping for air.
Miguel set his feet over the fallen figure, then leveled his spear, shifting it from one opponent to the next.
âDonât,â he spat, the deadly blade hovering only a few inches from the first bullyâs face. âI swear to God, if you do what I think youâre about to do, Iâll rip out your throat. Youâre a Warrior, right? That means you probably have Heavy Blow active. That means youâre getting ready to activate Shockwave. Donât. Iâll kill you before it charges up.â
âYou wonât get us all,â said the girl. âIâll roast you before you ââ
âThat makes you a Sorcerer, then. Ethereal Bolt, right? You know how quickly I can impale you with this spear? Less than a second. I know because it wouldnât be my first time. Your little spell wonât mean much when youâve got a foot of steel in your belly,â Miguel stated, his voice calm despite the hammering of his heartbeat.
He flicked his eyes toward the young man whoâd been his second victim. Heâd landed hard, banging his head on the ground. It hadnât knocked him unconscious, but it had clearly dazed him. That meant he was a low-Constitution archetype. Probably a Ranger, but he could just as easily have been a non-combatant. Maybe one of the rare ones. Miguel didnât think he was a Healer, though. If he was, then heâd have already mended his budding concussion.
âThis doesnât have anything to do with you!â growled the Warrior.
âSeems like it has plenty to do with me,â Miguel said, staying on the balls of his feet, just like heâd been taught. It wasnât so different from when heâd played soccer before Earth had been touched by the World Tree. He needed to be ready to move at the slightest provocation. âI canât stand by and let you beat someone up three-on-one.â
âWe got a hero over here,â said the girl with a snort. âYou think youâre some kind of fairy tale knight? Prince Charming, maybe?â
Miguel didnât rise to the taunt, instead keeping himself ready for battle. He didnât want to kill anyone, but if it came down to it, he wouldnât hesitate. While some of his sharp edges had been filed down over the past few months of relative peace, the mindset that had seen him through the journey across the wilderness wasnât buried so deep that it wouldnât return at the slightest provocation.
âJust leave,â he said after a moment. âCall it a draw. You go your way, Iâll go mine.â
âThat little bitch deserves to ââ
Just then, a loud meow came from the head of the alley. Miguelâs eyes flicked in that direction, and he almost grinned when he saw Artemis standing there. She didnât look particularly intimidating â not to Miguel at least â but he knew she was a deadly predator. Clearly, the trio of bullies knew that as well, because the moment they laid eyes on the giant Maine coon, they paled.
âW-whatâŠtheâŠis that your cat?â
âSheâs a friend,â Miguel said. âJust leave. She wonât attack. Not unless she has to.â
That did the trick. The three bullies quickly regained their feet and raced out of the alley. Miguel found it amusing how they pressed their backs against the wall so they wouldnât have to get any closer to Artemis than absolutely necessary. Once they were gone, the cat sat and started grooming herself. Sheâd never even made a threatening move, but the danger she represented was enough to send those bullies running.
Elijah could do the same when he wanted. Sure â he usually didnât, instead preferring to wear a friendly mask. But Miguel had seen a few flashes of the man beneath.
The same was true of Colt.
And his mother. Both of them, really. Carmen was only a Blacksmith, but she was made of sterner stuff than most Warriors.
That was what Miguel wanted. Not because he intended to bully people into submission, but rather because he knew heâd need the power it represented. If he was strong enough, then nobody would dare mess with him or his family.
Once he was sure the bullies were gone, Miguel finally turned around to get a good luck at the person heâd saved. She was tiny â well under a hundred pounds â and looked like she was made of skin and bones. Whatâs more, a good chunk of her black hair had been ripped out, leaving only a bloody scalp behind, and most of the skin Miguel could see was purpled with bruising.
He knelt beside her, saying, âItâs okay. Theyâre gone.â
Suddenly, her eyes opened, and she lunged at him. Miguel managed to fend her off, mostly because her outburst only lasted a second before her strength gave out. But even as she collapsed to the ground, he knew he needed to help her. So, he tossed his spear aside, scooped her in his arms, and lifted.
After that, Miguel turned and strode out of the alley. His burden wasnât particularly heavy, so he managed a decent enough pace as he headed toward the temple â or monument â Elijah had built for Alyssa.
As he did, he got more than a few odd looks from the few people he passed along the way. He had no idea why none of them bothered to help, but he couldnât let that distract him.
*
With her eyes closed, Carmen ran her hand over the surface of the column, feeling for any imperfections. She didnât particularly care for working with stone, but sheâd taken to the project with gusto. After all, the entire building was meant to honor her wife. What sort of person would she be if she didnât give it her all?
Idly, she glanced toward the courtyard. There, Elijah sat cross-legged beside a sapling. It looked little different from any other juvenile oak tree sheâd ever seen. However, even she could feel the deeply powerful ethera coursing through its thin branches. Would it end up being a natural treasure? Or was it something else entirely? She had seen the other tree in Druidâs Park, and she was very familiar with their progenitor in Elijahâs grove. Yet, she still had difficulty understanding how they were all connected.
But she knew they were.
She could feel it as well as she could feel the enchantments in her own creations. And then there was the stone Elijah had found. Fittingly, given his core, it was called Dragonstone, and it seemed just as perfect for a monument meant to commemorate Alyssaâs life.
Sighing, she focused on the structure itself. The inner courtyard was lined with columns, which she had spent the past day carving. The two sculptors, Penelope and Iason, had initially objected to her participation, but then they had discovered her level. Theyâd come around pretty quickly after that, and Carmen had endeavored to justify their acquiescence ever since.
She leaned in with her summoned chisel, continuing her work. The design was simple enough, meant to represent a dragon coiled around each column, but that simplicity didnât make it any easier to carve. Everything needed to be perfect, which necessitated a certain degree of focus. On top of that, she had to continuously flare her technique, Imbue Enchantment the entire time. Otherwise, the product would suffer.
More than once, sheâd wished the columns had been made of some sort of high-quality metal. It would have made for an inferior building, but it would have been much easier for her to work.
âCanât have everything, I suppose,â she mumbled to herself, continuing her exhausting work.
Just as sheâd finished carving the scales on one coil, Carmen heard a disturbance near the entrance of the temple. Immediately, she cut off the ability and summoned her hammer. It wasnât meant to be a weapon of war, but her summoned blacksmithing hammer did the job well enough that she hadnât bothered creating another weapon. After it manifested, she used Augment Weapons, and it burst into flame.
âJust let me through!â she heard Miguelâs voice. âUncle Elijah! I need your help!â
Before Carmen could even respond, Elijah was moving. He raced across the courtyard, and when he hit the steps leading to the exit, his feet slapped against the Dragonstone floor. Carmen followed close behind him, and when she saw her son, she let out a sigh of relief.
âWhatâs going on here?â Carmen demanded as she closed in on the young man. He was holding a child in his arms.
âSet her down,â Elijah said, noticing what it took Carmen another moment to recognize. The child was battered and malnourished, and to a degree that pulled at Carmenâs heartstrings.
Elijah knelt beside her, then laid his hand on her shoulder. A second later, she gasped, bolting upright. Or she tried to. Elijahâs hand kept her in place as he said, âStay still. Iâm not done healing you.â
âW-whatâŠwhere am I? What is this place?â she gasped in a surprisingly deep voice. It was still feminine, but the raspy sound seemed out of place for such a young girl.
âNever mind that. How about you tell me what happened?â Elijah coaxed.
âShe was getting beaten up by three people who had archetypes,â Miguel provided. âI sawâŠandâŠwell, I couldnât just let them keep going.â
âI see,â Elijah said.
Carmen focused on the girl and asked, âWhy did they attack you?â
âItâs nothing,â the girl said, trying to rise. âI just ââ
âAnswer the question,â Elijah stated. He reached into his satchel and retrieved one of his miraculous berries. âAnd Iâll give you one of these.â
âBut donât eat it all at once, or itâll knock you out,â Miguel supplied.
âRight. Low attributes,â Elijah muttered. âBetter make it a half, then. That should be enough.â
The girl clearly didnât know what to do, and her eyes flicked back and forth from Elijah to Miguel, then to Carmen and the pair of men whoâd been tasked with standing guard at the entrance. They were part of Dionâs Builder crew, and they were meant to prevent any of the local population from walking off with the valuable Dragonstone.
âIâŠI tried to takeâŠuhâŠsomething that wasnât quite mine,â the girl admitted with a defeated sigh. âBut it wasnât my fault. They took it first.â
âTook what?â asked Elijah.
âMy dadâs ring. I told them it wasnât valuable, but they didnât care. They took everything else, too,â the girl breathed. âIt wasnât much. But if itâs gone when my brother gets backâŠâ
âWhere is your brother?â
âRunning the tower,â she said. âHeâs an adventurer. He keeps saying that heâs going to strike it rich, but I think heâs just looking for a way out of Argos. He wants to get strong enough to go to a bigger city andâŠandâŠevery time he leaves, people like Nikolas and Gabby come around. I tried to fight them, butâŠbut I donât have an archetype yet. AndâŠandâŠâ
By that point, sheâd started sobbing.
Elijah awkwardly patted her on the head, saying, âThere, there.â
âElijah.â
âWhat?â
Carmen shook her head, saying, âYouâre terrible at this. Are you done healing her?â
âSure. Sheâs pretty malnourished, though.â
âWell, give her the berry, then,â Carmen said. âThen let me take over.â
Elijah shrugged, saying, âBe my guest. I have a tree to tend to anyway.â Then, he muttered something about trees being easier. Whatever the case, he handed the berry over, then left the area.
âWhatâs your name?â Carmen asked, helping the girl to her feet. She was skin and bones, evidence of the hard life she had led. Whoever her brother was, he had failed to do his job of providing for his sister. âAnd where are your parents?â
âDead.â
âOh. Iâm sorry,â Carmen said with a shake of her head.
âHappened a while ago,â the girl answered, her shoulders drooping dramatically.
Then, without warning, she disappeared. It actually took Carmen a moment to recognize that sheâd used some sort of ability. And that the coin purse she kept tied to her belt was missing.
âWhat theâŠwhat the hell just happened?â she muttered.
âThat was so cool,â Miguel breathed, looking around as if he was going to find the girl. But Carmen felt certain that she was long gone. How sheâd done it was a bit of a mystery â clearly, she was a little more developed than she seemed â but beyond that, Carmen had no idea what had happened.
She sighed.
âThat was definitely not cool,â she said. âNot cool at all.â