Metal Mage 5, page 6
Aurora and Cayla smirked, while Shoshanne blushed.
“Well, we’ve all learned a lesson,” Cayla laughed.
“See, I knew this was gonna be a crazy trip,” I said with a grin. “I told Haragh it would be awesome, and he was all down on the deadly shit. But this … ” I gestured to the entire scene. “This is exactly what I’ve been needing.”
“Are you serious right now?” Aurora asked as she propped her hand on her hip.
I dragged my eyes along the honed muscles of the woman’s figure, and my grin widened. “Hell yeah, I am,” I assured her with a wink. “You look beautiful this morning, by the way.”
The half-elf rolled her eyes and pointed to the sword in my hand.
“Why didn’t you grab the revolver?” she asked, and I could tell she was unimpressed with my choice.
“What?” I asked with a shrug. “I just got it … it’s a fucking cool sword. And it did the trick, didn’t it?”
Aurora tried not to smirk, and Cayla started to giggle as she made her way over to her discarded clothes.
“Okay,” she sighed, and she bent to gather her boots and her holster. “I’m going to make breakfast and if no one has any objections, we’ll be having fried magenta things with a side of toast.”
Shoshanne groaned behind me, and I chuckled as I came over to help her up.
I reached down to pat the dirt from the cheeks of her ass, and she blushed and swatted at me.
We were all dressed and armed by the time the magenta things were done cooking, but when the plates were finally laid out in front of us all, no one moved to take a bite.
Even Cayla looked less enthusiastic than she’d been at first.
“So … ” I began. “Let’s dig in, I guess.”
The three women looked at me with tense smiles, and when they didn’t do anything else, I realized they wanted me to try it first.
I prodded at the singed meat with the end of my knife and took a sniff. It actually smelled kind of like bacon, even though the meat had turned black all the way through with the cooking.
I sent an uneasy smile to the chef, and Cayla waited expectantly for me to take a bite.
With a deep breath, I lifted a hunk of meat to my lips and took the smallest bite from the edge.
I chewed slowly and was fully ready to be repulsed any second, but to my surprise it tasted almost exactly like bacon. “Huh,” I said with a shrug, and I took a more sizeable bite.
The meat chewed the same as chicken, and it wasn’t even too greasy, but the scales were like wood, so I turned to the side and spit the chunk into the ferns.
“Not good?” Cayla asked sadly.
“Oh no,” I assured her, “it’s good. But we’re gonna have to skin these guys next time. Maybe peel the scales off before you dig in.” I did just that and shoveled a lump of black meat into my mouth, and when I looked up, the women remained perfectly still.
“Seriously,” I said and gestured to their plates. “It tastes like bacon. Go for it.”
Cayla gave a little shrug and sliced the scales from her own magenta thing, and then she daintily lifted the meat to her lips.
Her eyebrows raised as she chewed a bit, then she let out a thoughtful “hmm.”
“I don’t know what bacon is,” she mumbled, “but it tastes like boar to me.”
“Bacon is a way of cooking up pig where I’m from,” I told her as I shoveled another chunk into my mouth. “So, that’s pretty accurate.”
Aurora and Shoshanne glanced to one another before they finally began to work on their own breakfast, but once everyone had taken a few bites, we all decided it was pretty damn good.
“A little salty,” Shoshanne offered between bites.
Once our stomachs were full, we packed up our campsite, and I used my magic to remove the table and mold it back into the edge of the boulder. Then I flattened the mounds of moss and stamped around the fire to be sure it was out completely.
Cayla looked amused when I joined them next to Bobbie, but I only shrugged. “Hey, boy scouts always leave things the way they found them,” I told her with mock importance.
The woman cocked a brow and looked to the three dead sphinxes.
I smirked. “And sometimes they kill some shit and leave it for the other beasties to eat. What?”
Aurora chuckled as she mounted Bobbie and unfolded the scant map the elves had sent me.
“Ok so … where the hell are we?” she sighed.
I joined her and unfolded Dorinick’s map, and the two of us worked to line up where his path ended, and where the one on this side of the border probably began.
“So, we’re sort of northwest of that X?” the half-elf offered.
“Sure,” I said with a shrug. “The sun rose just ahead of us, so let’s follow this path a little ways and veer off to the left a bit in about an hour. We’ll hope that X is a place with some elves who know what’s what.”
Cayla looked unhappy with the vagueness of the plan, but we all agreed we’d just have to wing this one until we met with anyone who could give us a better idea of where we were. Once we were all mounted up, Bobbie roared to life and guided us back to the path we’d arrived from.
The path continued on as it had, and the ferns only continued to gain in size. Eventually, I decided ferns wasn’t an accurate description and started to consider them bushes once the fronds plumed a few feet above our heads.
The trees between them had trunks that spanned at least six feet in diameter, with thick vines that curled and hung down from each. The vines grew bright orange and jagged leaves, and Shoshanne hollered over the engine as we passed beneath a low hanging vine.
“Don’t touch the orange leaves,” she warned.
“Why not?” I hollered back.
“Those barbed tips secrete a flesh-eating milk.”
I turned incredulously to look at the Aer Mage, but her face was completely serious.
“Fucking hell,” I muttered, and I warily eyed the vines that streaked past.
As the sun rose, the air became thick and humid, and the forest began to move with life all around us. Beetles about as big as my revolver flecked the trunks of the trees, and their exoskeletons glinted an electric blue. There were others that were slightly smaller and black, but they had three horns protruding from their heads and curved in a way that reminded me of a rhino bug.
The sound of Bobbie’s engine startled much of the wildlife, and I saw the tails of several of the deep red deer with the spikes down their back just as they disappeared behind brush. I scanned the treetops carefully for sphinxes, but I only saw peculiar birds that took flight as we came upon them. Some had long white tail feathers and hooked, yellow beaks, and from the way their eyes flashed, I guessed they were an iridescent sort of green.
The whole forest was a wash of strange colors, and once the giant blue flowers appeared, I was nearly completely distracted as I took in the strange lands around me. Aurora’s voice pulled me back, and she waved the elven map over her shoulder at me.
Bobbie slowed to a stop, and I craned my neck over the half-elf’s shoulder.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Based on how far we got when we crossed Orebane, and by the hours we’ve travelled today, I’d say we should be pretty close to this X,” she guessed.
I thought back and realized she was probably right. The path we followed veered us to the southeast, and by the height of the sun in the sky, it looked like we’d ridden a good five hours already. “That’s good,” I said with a nod. “Well … I think.”
Bobbie started forward again, and about thirty minutes on, the path widened, and the soil became a rich mahogany color beneath us. The trees grew closer together here, but the ferns dispersed and were overgrown with the stout leaves that sprouted around the blue flowers. They almost looked like hibiscus, but the stems were covered in bright red hairs.
Without the ferns closing us in, I could look out across the forest more easily, and the first thing I noticed was there was much less wildlife here. I was just about to mention this to the others when Shoshanne reached forward and clutched my shoulder.
Bobbie halted and I turned around, but the woman was pale and pointed straight ahead.
“Th-there,” she managed.
I whipped my head forward, and as I dragged my eyes all over the strange foliage, I thought I saw three white flowers twitch.
“What?” I whispered back to the woman. “What am I looking at?”
“Raxis,” Shoshanne said.
“What’s a Raxis?” I asked, but then the flowers that had twitched jerked their petals wide open, and three slithering and mustardy tentacles shot out.
My hand snapped to the revolver on my hip, and I aimed my shot directly into the squiggling center of the tentacles.
The flower burst apart, and yellow goo splattered all around.
“Don’t do that!” Shoshanne screamed, just as the yellow ooze began to bubble and burn straight through the leaves of the plants it had landed on.
“Shit,” I cursed, and I dismounted as the other two heads of the carnivorous plant wavered and rose into the sky above us. Then Cayla and Aurora joined me on either side.
The half-elf threw her flames toward the tentacles, but the plant dodged swiftly and dove straight for her.
I yanked the woman aside, and she unsheathed her sword to bring it down hard on the stalk just behind the petals.
Then the flower hissed, and we all jumped away.
“What the fuck,” I growled. The decapitated flower flipped around in the dirt, before it literally planted itself on its end, and a new stalk rooted itself into the ground. The head hissed again as it grew up toward the sky, and I felt my gut clench.
“Ooookay, Shoshanne,” I muttered. “How do you kill it?”
“I don’t know,” she squeaked from my back. “Just don’t make it madder and don’t shoot it.”
“Seriously?” I hissed. Then I turned, and the warm eyes of the Aer Mage were wide with worry, and I realized I was going to have to get creative really quick.
“Aurora, you try to burn them or something,” I instructed, “Shoshanne and Cayla, get the fuck back and if I say shoot, I want you to shoot.”
“No don’t--” Shoshanne cut in, but she didn’t have time to finish.
The second flower made a strike at us, and we scattered as the tentacles slammed into the ground. They made a disgusting slurping sound as they wriggled there, and Aurora aimed her flames at the base of the stem this time.
Then the flower flicked its head toward her and sprang for her ankles.
I shot at the stem as I pulled a wall up in front of the Ignis Mage, but it only grazed the edge, and I called over the disturbing slurping and hissing sounds to Shoshanne who was crouched behind a tree with Cayla.
“Are the stems poisonous?” I hollered, and the woman nodded her head quickly.
“Of course they are,” I muttered. Then I swiftly pulled my sword from its sheath and brought it down on the stem of the plant closest to me.
The flower hissed loudly and turned to strike, but before it could reach me or replant itself, I pulled the earth apart and buried the wriggling thing.
I turned to do the same with the one that had Aurora trapped behind the wall, but just as I raised the sword, I heard a menacing hiss behind me and turned to see the flower head rise from the earth, with its stem firmly re-rooted where I’d buried it seconds before.
Aurora screeched and dove out from behind the wall, and the flower chased her into the bushes.
Shoshanne called to her to stop, but the words didn’t reach her in time, and I watched in horror as a third flower slithered from the bushes and hovered above the place where the half-elf had just hidden herself.
“Aurora get out of there!” I ordered, and I decided I’d had enough bullshit.
I called up my terra magic and ripped a pillar of earth up right where the thing was planted, and it shot up into the sky toward the treetops. It hissed angrily, but before it could strike, I yelled to Cayla to shoot, and the woman blasted the head apart and sent yellow ooze across the leaves and trunks of the trees.
Then I flipped to do the same to the other two, but one swiftly struck its head into the bushes, and I heard Aurora give a loud screech.
In my fury, I pulled the pillars up so quickly two trees uprooted and slowly heaved sideways, and just before Cayla shot the head of the flowers into pieces, I bolted into the bushes where the half-elf had disappeared.
I came to her as the trees crashed on either side of us, and the ground shook and knocked me off my feet.
Aurora was curled on her side and clutched at her leg, and I crawled to her and quickly lifted her into my arms. Then I brought her out as another hiss rose from the fronds, but we all bolted for Bobbie without looking back.
I clutched the half-elf to me as Bobbie lurched forward, and we wove straight off the path in order to avoid the carnivorous plants. They sprang up from every direction, but Bobbie kicked it up a gear, and I sent my Terra Magic out to flatten any rocks that could send us flying.
The hissing whipped close to our ears, and the slurping noise that joined it made my skin crawl, but I kept my eyes forward and let Bobbie maneuver her way through the hungry plants.
Finally, the hissing started to fade, and the giant ferns began to overtake the lands once more, but we didn’t stop until we’d ridden far from the deadly grove.
We were well gone from the path we’d travelled on, so I brought Bobbie to a stop in the first clearing we came to, and as the engine cut, I looked down to see the half-elf’s face was pinched in pain as she clutched her leg.
I lifted her to the ground and Shoshanne joined me, but when the healer reached forward, we found Aurora would not let go of the leg.
“Cayla, scan the bushes,” I ordered as I began to wrestle with the vice grip of the Ignis Mage. “Make sure there aren’t any Raxis around here.”
Shoshanne tried to calm Aurora and shushed her gently like a mother would, but the half-elf whipped her head up and screamed right into her face. “It fucking hurts!”
Her fury caught me off guard, and I jumped as she knocked my hands from hers.
Shoshanne’s cheeks turned beet red, but her eyes sharpened like knives. “Then let me fucking see it,” she snapped.
I stared between the two women with wide eyes, and even through the pain and anger on her face, I could see the half-elf was a little shocked as well.
Aurora’s shoulders trembled, and her face had completely paled, but under the stern gaze of the Aer Mage, she finally relented and let go of the leg. Then she grabbed onto my arm and dug her nails deep into my skin as she turned away and braced herself against the pain.
Shoshanne pulled her leg out and laid it flat on the dirt, and my gut dropped.
“What the fu--” I started, but Aurora’s eyes flashed up to me with terror, and I quickly clamped her head against my chest before she could turn to get a look. “You’re fine,” I lied. “Just don’t move. Shoshanne will fix it.”
My eyes met the Aer Mage’s, and the woman gave a curt nod as if to agree not to say a word. Then she quickly ran to the sidecar to get her healing bag. When she returned, the yellow ooze that had slashed a deep crevice into the half-elf’s calf had already slowly eaten its way to her ankle, and I watched in alarm as the flesh began to bubble.
Aurora whimpered and twitched uncontrollably, and I kept her locked against me as I laid a few kisses in her blue hair. “You’re fine, it’s just a cut,” I muttered, and Shoshanne sent me a hard look.
“Can you fix it?” I asked, but the woman didn’t respond.
Her hands flew through the contents of the bag and removed all manner of vials and wrappings. Then she pulled a jar of greenish paste from the bottom and quickly swiped a bit out with her fingers.
“This will hurt,” she said bluntly before she mashed it into the gouge.
Aurora let out a deadly screech I’d never heard any human make in my life, and the sound brought Cayla darting to her side.
The princess crouched in the dirt, and when she saw the bubbling flesh, her jaw dropped, and her eyes immediately filled with tears. I shook my head to the woman, and she clamped her hand to her mouth, then she cleared her throat and moved to bring herself closer to Aurora.
Cayla stroked her fingers through the long blue braids, while Shoshanne opened a vial and began putting drops of purple oil along the gouge. Then the copper curls began to shift in a light breeze, and Aurora’s muscles eased slightly as the cool air sifted across the wound.
The three of us watched as the bubbling stopped, and the oil Shoshanne had administered seeped into the walls of the wound and turned the skin a brilliant purple. The green goo had melted and pooled in the base, and the gouge looked like a slimy trench carved into the woman’s leg.
Shoshanne dabbed the residue from the wound, and Aurora’s nails pierced my skin and caused a few drops of blood to appear.
“Okay … ” the Aer Mage muttered, “the next one will sting for a minute, but then it should go numb.”
Aurora nodded against my chest, and Shoshanne picked up another vial. Then she let just one drop of blue oil fall into the gaping wound.
The half-elf winced and gasped through her teeth, but within a minute she’d relaxed her grip, and Shoshanne gave me a little nod.
I slowly loosened my hold on Aurora, and as she sat up, I saw she’d gone an ashy grey, and her eyes were swollen from tears.
I grazed her cheek lightly with my fingers and gave her a kiss before I shifted so she could see her leg.
She stared at the deep gouge that stretched from below her knee to her ankle and said nothing. Eventually, she began to nod and didn’t stop nodding for about a minute.
“Okay,” she muttered more than a few times. “Okay. What … what do I do?” she finally asked and looked to the healer who crouched beside her.
Shoshanne smiled gently and rubbed her shoulder.
“Be glad it didn’t eat you,” she said honestly. “You’ll be okay, I promise. We’ll look after it and keep it wrapped with a poultice, and in a week, you won’t even notice it’s there.”
