Page 8 of Compass Points
Decision made. She pulled on her magic.
A jolt of wind pushed her forward. Her burst of motion, farther and faster than a human could jump, forced the giant monster back just a step to defend. The single stumble was all Luc needed. He didn’t hesitate as he threw himself into the air. He must have used his earth magic to push himself from the ground. This marked him as a particularly powerful Suden. His jump was like flight as he arced through the air. His borrowed blade struck true, severing the monster’s head from its body.
Rose and Luc stared at the head as it hit the workshop floor. Before they could even begin to investigate it, both body and head unraveled back into a mist that hung heavy above the ground.
“Let’s go! We need to get back to the village,” Rose called.
Luc nodded and followed her.
Had no one else tried to defend themselves against the plague of mist? What had happened with those other magical weapons tests that Luc said he had already done? Were her weapons really the answer? She couldn’t catch her breath as she thought about fighting a literal mist-born creature. The plague had a form. The form could be defeated with her weapons.
Rose strapped her blade to her back and saw Luc tuck his sword into the waist belt he’d grabbed from the workshop as they ran to the portal. Rose was still trying to wrap her head around what had happened and what it meant.
Luc had said his request for her weapons was on behalf of the Suden Point. Did the Compass Points know that her magical weapons could fight the mist? A wave of guilt crashed over her at denying Luc his request as they sprinted.
Could she refuse him now?
She hadn’t been sure until the creature’s blade crashed into her own if it would be solid. Maybe it wasn’t? Had her blade only forced it to be so since it was magically imbued? She stopped short just before running into Luc. They’d reached the portal and saw the large brown bear sitting on its haunches.
“Took you long enough,”Arie shot at Rose.
“Can he hear you?” Rose asked aloud, moving past Luc and toward the bear. It’d be nice if he could so she didn’t sound like a moron while talking to him.
“No,”he snorted.“I don’t want to talk to him.”Arie stiffened a little as he saw the fae stroll up behind Rose toward the portal outline.
“Why?” Rose asked. “He clearly can see that I’m talking to you.” Rose gestured toward Luc, now standing next to her. “It’s not like this can be a secret right now.”
“I don’t like Aterra. I’ll help transport him since this is an emergency, but I won’t speak with him. You’ll have to translate.”
Why was he always so difficult? “Since when are you religious? We were just attacked and fought some kind of mist monster. Whether you like the Suden’s god is low on my priority list.”
“You were able to fight it?”He was so predictable. He latched on to the details of the encounter without acknowledging that she had been fighting for her life.
“Yes. Hold on, let me explain this to Luc.” She turned to Luc, who was smirking at her.
“Go ahead,” he said, an assessing look crossing his face, “tell me you are talking to that bear.”
“Well, at least you don’t think I’m having a conversation with my multiple personalities.”
“That’s not completely ruled out yet. I have many questions, but the only one that matters now is how we get to the village.”
“Finally, someone sane to work with.” She huffed and took a moment to appreciate how on the nose that was when her sanity was likely very much in question by said sane individual. She and Arie had made it into the circle. Her hand on his fur, she held the other out to Luc. Shaking his head again, he stepped forward and took her offered hand.
They landed back on the hidden trail off of the crater ridge path. “This will get a little weirder before I can explain, but we’ll have to ride on Arie.” She turned to Luc to see if she’d broken him yet.
“And Arie is the bear?” A bemused smile crossed his face.
“Yes.”
“Does he have a saddle or anything?” he asked, tilting his head slightly as if evaluating exactly how one would ride a bear.
“As if I would allow you to saddle me,”came Arie’s arrogant reply.
“You said he can’t hear you; don’t bother sassing him if he can’t,” Rose said.
“I’m going to go ahead and guess that he doesn’t like the saddle idea,” said Luc.
“Just get on behind me and hold on,” was all Rose could get out as she climbed up on Arie’s back and held on to the fur around his neck and shoulders.
