Davelos stopped and stared at him. His good humor vanished for a second before returning. “That you did, and it’s to your credit. Sure. It’d be interesting to see how you guys develop. Of course, it’ll be up to Dameon to make the final decision.”
The Nightmare Lady shrank and became a furious Naomi. Leonis dismissed Nezzar and helped Zala stand. Jova straightened and glared angrily at Davelos. Juniper was cradling her arm to her chest.
“Anyway, Evelyn, let’s talk. I’ve got lots to update you on.”
“Sure.” Evelyn smiled warmly at the six of them. “Relax, rest up. Get some sleep. We’ll be heading out in eight cycles’ time.”
And with that, the pair walked away.
Scorio wiped the blood from his upper lip. It looked black on the back of his hand.
Lianshi emerged from the barn, her step sprightly, her expression open. She stopped at the sight of them. “What happened?”
“Dread Blaze happened,” said Scorio stiffly. “Davelos arrived. He wanted to see how well we could fight.”
“Bastard wiped the floor with us,” said Leonis. “We didn’t do much better against him than against Evelyn.”
Lianshi’s eyes widened.
“Listen, all of you.” Scorio’s voice sounded taut and angry even to his own ears. “We need to do better. This isn’t going to stop. Life out here is going to be one test after another, and pretty soon they’ll get lethal. We have to learn to fight as a team, not just throw ourselves at our enemies.”
Naomi scowled. “To what end? We’ll never defeat a Dread Blaze.”
“Scorio’s right,” said Jova. “Even if we don’t win, we can give a better accounting of ourselves.”
“His mist power.” Juniper raked her blonde hair out of her face. “Did you guys notice? He’d inhaled every time he used it.”
Everyone oriented on her.
“I saw that,” said Naomi. “One time. You think that’s how he activates it?”
“He can turn insubstantial while holding his breath?” Scorio drew closer. “That’s useful. In a real fight, he could get away easily if he needed to.”
“Or just pop in and out like he did.” Naomi nodded. “Though he took your claws right in his hand and it didn’t seem to bother him.”
Scorio considered. “Also, you notice how he turned to Copper? But how there were some streaks of Coal in there? My guess is that his… golem form, or whatever it is, depends on what mana he can draw on.”
“Huh.” Leonis stepped away from Zala, who was still grimacing. “So if he had Iron mana around… he’d be even harder to hurt?”
“And how did he ignore our Tomb Spark effects?” demanded Scorio, staring at Jova. “I saw you try yours. He just shrugged it off.”
“He did say it wasn’t due to his being a Dread Blaze. Another power he manifested?” Naomi bit her lower lip, considered, then shrugged. “Hard to tell.”
Jova inhaled deeply. Her cheek was already bruising. “So if we were going to tackle him again, we’d have to find a way to protect Zala. Her butterflies are what really caught his attention.”
“How do you stop a guy who can turn to mist?” asked Leonis.
“Easy,” said Jova. “Don’t give him room to materialize close to her. Form a tight ring.”
Zala rubbed her stomach. “I need to work on getting my butterflies out faster. They move so slowly. Maybe I need to get closer from the get-go, make it so that they don’t have as much distance to cross.”
“Yeah,” said Scorio. “That would be the only way to win. Use your butterflies to force him to return to his natural form. But he’d just throw us aside to get at you.”
They stood in contemplative silence.
“It sounds like the beginning of a plan, however,” said Lianshi tentatively. “Jova and I could guard Zala—our powers are defensive, anyway. Scorio, Naomi, Leonis, Juniper, you all would stay close as well, and attack him simultaneously when he gets close.”
They all nodded.
“Depending on this Dameon’s power set,” said Scorio, “we should use that approach then, too. My Shroud fell apart when he hit it, but I think that’s because I was almost out of mana.”
Jova grimaced. “I didn’t even get mine up in time. I’ve grown so used to being resilient and winning fights in the long run that I’ve lost the instinct to fight quickly.”
“Room for us all to grow.” Scorio forced a smile. “You said it yourself: we need to grow comfortable with our powers. Make them instinctive.”
Jova nodded pensively.
Lianshi glanced about the group. “This Davelos… did he seem… like a good guy?”
Nobody spoke at first.
“Oh,” said Lianshi. “That’s not ideal.”
“He’s not a bad guy,” said Zala at last. “He actually seemed really friendly at first. But while fighting him… I just got the feeling that he couldn’t care less about us.”
“Maybe we have to earn that respect,” said Juniper softly.
“He wasn’t excited about Evelyn bringing us,” added Scorio. “She had to convince him.”
“That’s encouraging,” said Naomi with bitter humor. “So she might not have the authority to bring us in? What do we do if Dameon tells us to get lost?”
Scorio stood up straighter. “If he does, we’ll just keep moving on. What matters right now is their getting us to The Fiery Shoals. Everything after that is a bonus. Regardless, nothing’s going to stop us. As long as we seven stay strong, stay together, and look out for each other, we’ll be fine.”
But the terrible ease with which first Evelyn and then Davelos had defeated them made his words sound hollow.
“Either way,” said Jova at last. “With each fight, we’re learning a bit more. We should sleep.”
“Yeah,” said Juniper softly, and moved to slip her arm through Zala’s. “You all right?”
“Fine,” said the other girl as they began walking toward the barn. “You?”
Lianshi stepped up to Scorio. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”
“Don’t be.”
“What’s your sense of this? Any regrets?”
Naomi and Leonis drifted in closer, Jova having moved to follow her two friends.
“No regrets.” He forced himself to sound cheerful. “Nobody said this would be easy, or that Dread Blazes would treat us with kid gloves. We just have to take our knocks and keep moving forward.”
The others nodded, and together they moved toward the barn. A cold wind blew across the small field, and Scorio shivered.
He hoped he was right.
Chapter 14
It took two days to cross the Farmlands. Scorio couldn’t relax. For the first time, he felt as if his life, his future, were no longer at stake, and he didn’t know what to do with himself. The past few months had been a non-stop fever blur of work, sacrifice, training, bleeding, and dying within the Old Gauntlet. At least the Ash Belt had felt ominous; on some level it had reminded him of the ruins, a testament to previous unknowable excesses.
But this bucolic setting?
Great rivers carving the land, spanned by ancient stone bridges, surrounded on all sides by fields of strange crops tended to by placid workers? Evenings spent in Traveler Barns, seated around firepits and sharing spiced rolls and bowls of fresh vegetables that they purchased from local farmsteads? The inclement weather, the sense of security from having a destination, a goal, his now being one of the most powerful members of their small company?
It began to unnerve him.
But though it took effort, he forced himself to relax right up until they ran into the House Kraken patrol three cycles later.
Scorio was intent on walking with a saturated Heart, having filled it to the brim with Copper and working on remaining lucid and aware of his environment even as he strained to draw ever more mana from the air. He’d walk for a spell in this form, then Ignite and summon his Shroud as quickly as possible, seeking to maintain it before him for a fraction of a second longer each time.