20. Juriss - Interlude (Patreon)

Chapter 20

Interlude

Juriss bowled backward through a fern so large that one of those frail stone-dwellers could have used it for a house. The fronds were soft, but the stems were as big around as her leg and nearly as hard as wood, and the fifteen-foot-tall horned gorilla who had thrown her hadn’t been playing around. She grunted as stem after stem pounded against her ribs, her spine, her head, and pretty much everywhere else as she went ass-over-teakettle through the foliage. Her armor softened the blow, but even as she shed card confetti she grinned. She’d have those cards back in a heartbeat.

She’d only finished the Relic a few moons before, and this was the first major fight where she’d gotten to use it. The ancient sea serpent mother she’d killed to make it had been nearly as tough as this big bastard was, in her own way. 

She came to rest in the choked jungle undergrowth, leaves blocking her view, everything smelling of dirt and green, growing things. The ground vibrated ever so slightly as her opponent knuckle-ran toward her, shouldering aside ten-year trees as it came. It shrieked a challenge, beating its chest and baring worn fangs as long as her arm. Juriss grunted and got her feet under her. The big fella could toss her around all he liked, but too many slams from those massive paws would make a card of her. Twins, if he catches hold of me he could just pull on both arms and that’d be it. How many seconds could I hold up under that kind of tearing before my deck ran out and he ended up holding two pieces of me?

That wasn’t going to happen. Her next two cards were the combo she’d been waiting for, and she pulled on enough source to summon both, though she only let go of the first card to summon it.

The rest of her source would simmer in her system for the handful of seconds she needed; once she committed to the attack she wouldn’t be able to focus or devote anything else. The timing had to be perfect. She resisted stroking the sword like a lover when it fell into her hands. It was her best friend; her one true companion on the road to the top. It asked no questions and did exactly as she asked. The day she’d made it had been the day her life had truly begun. It was hugely oversized, hard to swing, and for most fighters, impossible to use.

She was not most fighters, and this mewling pup of a chimp was about to find that out.

The gorilla leapt high into the air, its rangy, muscle-corded arms swinging overhead in a blow that would mash an elephant into the earth, coming down directly at her. Its eyes were frenzied and bloodshot. Finding a human burning out its cave and scattering its females and offspring had seen to that. It wanted to see blood. Juriss was happy to oblige, if not in exactly the way it hoped.

She held her position until the very last moment and then dove to the side, kicking into a roll that put her right next to a jutting banyan root. A jump, a twist, and a kick off the root sent her soaring into the air, coming straight back at the gorilla from the side. Its meaty fists pounded home into the earth where she’d been a bare second before, sending out a shockwave of force that flattened everything within ten feet.

Juriss barely noticed it. She swung the sword with all her might, feeling Fate’s certainty lock in on the target, and only then, fast as thought, did she use her remaining source to summon the second half of her killing combo.

She felt the surge of Death power vibrating in her blade and knew she’d calculated correctly even before the blow landed. When the cards aligned, nobody hit harder than Juriss. The bone blade – as long as she was tall – sank through the back of the huge beast’s neck and kept going, severing muscle, bone, and gristle as easily as a leaf falling from a tree. The blade buried itself in the ground, and Juriss let it go, falling past it to tumble back to earth. The light thump-thump of her footfalls was followed by a heavier thud of a surprised-looking gorilla head landing in the crushed underbrush, and then the crash of a huge, lifeless body. Vivid red blood gushed from the neck in a river, painting the banyan in scarlet and misting all over her face and clothes. She breathed it in, reveling in copper-tasting victory and the thrill of a successful hunt.

She’d done it. One step closer. One day she’d face the strongest being there was and win. Then she would know peace. She didn’t know how long it would take, but whatever the delay, she was one day nearer to it. 

She plucked a plate leaf from a nearby bush and wiped her face more or less clean with it, stepped clear of the spreading pool of blood that was mixing with the dirt, and approached the head. She sighed when she saw that the drop had clacked the gorilla’s jaws shut; she’d have to pry its mouth back open. Easily enough done now, but if she waited, the jaw muscles would stiffen and lock up. Bracing a hand on each of the curving horns, she put her right boot into its mouth and stepped down while heaving up with all the strength of her upper body. The gorilla’s mouth fell open with a wet, sucking noise.

She reached her arm as far back into its mouth as it would go. Big monsters like this always had deeper mouths than she wished – one of these days she’d kill something where she’d actually have to climb in to fetch its soul card. Even now she had to shimmy her head and shoulder past its lips before she felt the hard edges of the card she sought. Juriss had heard that other people hated doing things like this; apparently they retched and wept when they had to get slime and death juices on their clothes, no matter that they’d been the ones to do the killing. For Juriss, it was just one more fact of life, neither pleasant nor worthy of aversion. Sleeping in caves, eating her meat raw on rainy nights, getting messy after a kill – these were simply things that were. People complaining about what they wished for was one of the main reasons she preferred staying in the jungle and speaking to as few humans as possible.

She hauled herself out of the gorilla’s mouth and wiped the card on its blood-speckled fur. A smile grew large and fierce on her face unawares as she looked at it.

I could make a helm out of the skull. It might keep its Charge ability; that’d stack nicely with Mortal Strike. Or I could go for a necklace out of teeth. A bone ring? No point in making a shield with my two-hander. The Pay ability was nice too, though not exactly aligned with how she usually fought. As she mulled it over, she found herself thinking more and more that she might leave this one as a Soul and add it to her Mind Home in its raw state. Her Relic-building soul ability had kept her alive for years, but it didn’t feel like the right move this time. She could use another good Soul summons.

“I do love watching you fight,” a voice from above said.

Juriss was on her feet in a flash, the Gorilla card slipping into her Mind Home, her source circling. The bone sword hadn’t dismissed itself yet, and she dove for it, yanking it out of the earth. She squared off against this new threat and saw that man floating in the air. Her wariness receded just a hair, but the blade never wavered.

“What do you want?” she said, her voice cracking from disuse. It had been weeks since she’d spoken anything more than a grunt.

“I can’t come see my favorite child?” he asked, pouting. 

He always said that, but she wasn’t sure she believed him. She knew other people had parents, but this pretty flying man was nowhere near vicious enough to be her father. Every time she tried to attack him, though, he flew out of reach, laughing indulgently. And he kept coming back, Twins take him.

“Fight me this time?” she said, not daring to hope.

“No, Juriss, not this time. Not any time soon, I think. But you’ve reached the heights of Epic now, I can tell. Any assessor worth a damn would put you at Flawless. The absolute ferocity with which you put down that beast was a thing of beauty. I’ve never seen anyone with such purity of purpose. I think you’re the one, my dear. I think you can go all the way.”

“I can.” She didn’t know exactly what he meant by all the way, but it sounded close enough to her own goals that she was willing to humor him. The fact that he saw her value instead of thinking she was dim simply because she used as few words as possible spoke in his favor, as well. “Now speak your piece or go.”

He laughed, delighted. “Straight to the point, and right on target. It will take you years to break through to Mythic battling beasts here in the wild, you know.”

She glanced at the dead gorilla’s body. “He was tough enough.”

“In his way, certainly, but if you want to keep becoming more powerful at the rate you’ve held to so far, you need a class of opponent these jungles cannot provide. You could come with me, if you wish. I could show you the fight that will take you to emerald.”

She stayed absolutely still as she thought about it. He had offered to fly her other places before, but she’d never accepted. People were so loud, and she was going to let him get that close, she wanted it to be in combat. But the problem was that she knew he was right. Killing the gorilla had brought a faint soul tremor that spoke of a possible elevation, but it had been no stronger than her last big fight. She needed stronger foes, and she knew she wasn’t ready to face this man yet. He oozed with power; he shone with it. If getting what she wanted meant doing what he wanted, could she accept that?

“All right,” she said. She lifted a hand, and he floated close, smile brilliant.

“Fearless,” he said warmly. “How did that trait come through so strongly in you and so weakly in some of my others?” He put an arm around her waist, and they lifted into the air together. 

Juriss marveled at the sensation of weightlessness but kept her body taut and ready for anything. Just because this man came to visit her and said nice things did not mean he wouldn’t drop her from a thousand feet up. If he did, she’d be ready to lash out and take him down with her. “Others?” she said after they’d flown through the night in silence for a while.

“Your half-siblings,” he said. “I have many children. Only you and one other have reached Epic, and you’ve far outstripped him.” He sighed and spoke as if confiding in her. “I fear I’ve ruined that one, to be honest. Too much comfort is deadly, and too much support is almost as bad. He begins to stir in a new direction, but I’m not sure it’s a fruitful one.”

She could not have cared less about some child she’d never meet, whether related or not. She stayed silent. 

He did too, for a very long time. The land sped by beneath them, clouds overhead glowing in the moonlight. In the far distance she saw flickering specks of light dotting the ground like a host of trapped fireflies. The air so high up was cold, but her body was tough enough to ignore it. They began to descend, and she could see a mountaintop approaching. The lights looked to be campfires, thousands of them spread across an empty wilderness valley in irregular groupings.

“You were always my favorite,” the man said so softly she could barely hear. “Purity of purpose.”

They touched down, and she took three large steps away from him as soon as her feet were on the earth. Having a potential enemy so close could be tolerated if it brought her to her goals, but no longer than necessary.

The man swept back his cape and gestured to the valley spread out below them. “Behold the assembled forces of the orcs, the demons, and the undead. A mighty army poised to swoop down on my fair city and destroy it.”

“I will kill them,” she offered.

He laughed again. “I appreciate the enthusiasm, but each of the three armies is led by at least one Mythic. Taking on the whole force would be the definition of biting off more than you can chew.”

She considered this. “Will they kill your city?”

“They might,” he said. “I have plans and plans and plans, and we will see which come to fruition. A little culling might be useful at this stage in the game. But I did not bring you here to stop this army single-handedly, Juriss. I want my people to fight, just like I want you to fight. It’s good for us. You know it better than most.”

She nodded impatiently. “What, then?”

“It would be useful to winnow them a bit before they reach the city,” he responded. “I’m trying to make it a challenge of the proper magnitude, you understand? Taking out one of their generals before they arrive would be ideal.”

“So I’m killing a general.”

“The orc leader Targu’Thal, yes. He is neither the frailest nor the strongest of them, but Chaos is a weakness for many of our kind, and I want him eliminated. You will need to watch and plan for some time before you attack. If he has assistance, you will lose. Find a way to get him alone. Even then, it will be a fight at the very uppermost reaches of your abilities. You may die.”

Juriss looked out over the campfires. “Everyone dies.”

“Everyone, indeed. But I would be very pleased to see you advance, instead, so be crafty. Be careful. Targu’Thal keeps a human and an elf head mounted on either pauldron and wears his mane in spikes. He will be easy to spot.”

She nodded decisively. “I will do this. Goodbye.”

She did not look back as she made her way carefully down the mountainside. Behind her she heard him say, “Good hunting, my daughter.” When her turnings chanced to show her the peak she’d left behind, he was gone. 

Perhaps the man was not so bad. Or perhaps he was. Either way, she would challenge him and see him dead once she was strong enough. To reach that point, though, she needed to pass through this one. She needed to kill the orc Targu’Thal. She hoped the battle would be as difficult as the man had said. Maybe it would finally bring her the elevation she’d been feeling nibbling at the edges of her soul all this time. She was ready for that.

One step closer.