Banished Pt. 08

Raul swung at her, and she evaded the knife by a hair breath; not even turning to watch him, and she grabbed his wrist and applied some kind of pressure which made him drop the knife.

She shoved him backwards, before turning and kicking him hard in the ribs, and he went flying past the dead creature and collided with a tree, which cracked with force of the impact.

I quickly clambered to my feet as she approached, but as I swung my halberd desperately, she evaded the swipe without even a falter in her step, and as she did a little hop-skip, I prepared for another roundhouse aimed at my head; but she paused mid-kick, altering the trajectory of her leg, which went straight up over my head in an almost flawless split, before crashing down painfully onto my shoulder, and slamming me once more into the earth.

I turned to study her, my eyes wide, and practically sparkling.

Her form.

Her movement.

So, fluid... so effortless.

She was beautiful!

Perfect!

And in that simple second, I was sure I was in love.

I felt the sudden urge to prostrate myself before her, and a brief fantasy of lapping at her feet while she abused me flashed before my eyes, and I felt myself quickly stirring.

I shook my head, trying to find some kind of resolve.

"I find it impossible to believe that you beat him; in full armor, without armor of your own. Do you have an explanation, or should I end your miserable existence now?"

I let out a sigh.

"Honestly, I probably couldn't beat him in full armor, even if I tried... when I fought him, I had my group with me; and it was basically a kill or be killed kind of scenario."

"Your group? That brings back memories. How many of you bastards made it this time?"

"Uh, eleven?"

"Eleven?"

"Might be thirteen, actually, but two of them aren't with us anymore, so I don't know what their status is, honestly."

"Fuck me. How long have you been here for?"

"Today would end day six, unless I'm mistaken."

"Jesus, six days? That's gotta be some kind of record... where is this group of yours, though. Why are you out here all by your lonesome," she asked, as her eyes flashed at me, full of suspicion.

"We weren't able to make proper use of our guildhall before leaving, so we were trying to find this one to get some badly needed supplies."

"Wow. I'm impressed. Well come on up, I'll take ya to it," she said, and I shrugged, as Raul frowned. "Name's Danica, by the way."

"Nathan," I replied, as Raul mumbled his name begrudgingly.

"You guys sure picked an awfully fucked up time to go wandering in Irileth's domain, of all places. Say, how'd you even end up here?"

"Irileth's domain? What is that?"

"Jeez... what a blissful life you must live right now. Irileth is the 'forebearer' that dwells here. She's been here for almost half a millennium too."

"What's a forebearer?" I asked.

"Probably another word for an originator?" Raul offered.

"Originator? Don't make me laugh. Where'd you hear that? From Calcipher? He's been trying to get that to catch on for like a hundred years now."

"Calcipher? No, someone told me about it in a town along Ephraim's realm," Raul answered, and Danica made a retching sound in response.

"Ugh. Worse place to come from, like... ever. Place spawns more minions than Irileth's loins, if you know what I mean. Glad to see you got out of it though," she said, and Raul frowned.

"Uh, thanks?"

"What about you? 'From which hall did you spring'?" she asked, laughing a little at her own sarcastic use of 'fantasy talk'.

"Saker Keep," I replied, and she turned to me.

"Get. Out! You got eleven people out of Saker? Man, I need to find someone to tell this story to, like yesterday!"

We got to a large, rocky protrusion as we walked, and as I studied the thing, I noticed a panel blended into the rocky surface, similar to the one that concealed the entrance to our starting hall.

Danica gestured to me, and as I stepped forward and offered my wrist to the scanner, the panel slid open, and we headed inside.

The layout was almost exactly the same as the one in Saker, but I was astounded to find the inside overgrown with vines and bush, and with discarded bits of paraphernalia all about.

"Jesus, does no one maintain this place?" I asked, and Danica nodded.

"Pretty much."

As I walked over to the console, however, I breathed a sigh of relief, as the thing still seemed operational.

"These things are indestructible. Take it from someone who tried to destroy one," she said, and I shot her a curious look as I nodded.

As I quickly browsed the catalog, making sure that everything seemed fine with the listing, I returned my attention to Danica.

"Any advice to give?" I asked, and she chuckled.

"That depends. How much time do you have?" she joked, and I dismissed the catalog, and turned my attention to her.

"That depends on what's going on in here; you were the one who killed that bear-thingy?"

She nodded.

"Feeders like that should hardly make you break a sweat, though," she replied, eyeing me a little.

"They haven't... it's the tree jumping thing that's got my team spooked."

"Ooh, nasty little herald, that one. You could probably take him straight on, but he doesn't play like that, does he?" she asked, and I nodded, swallowing uncomfortably.

"Wait... you didn't leave your group with all of the armor and weapons you guys had collectively, did you? Because, I'm not sure you'll be returning to a group that's alive and well, so to speak, by the time you get back."

I shook my head, as she continued.

"You sure? You know, I could probably take better care of you anyway. Just send this one back, and tell them a she-wolf got you. Wouldn't even be half a lie," she said, licking her lips, and I chuckled nervously, as I rubbed the back of my head.

If she decided that she really wanted me, there's nothing I could do about it, is there? I thought.

"Oh, don't look so worried. My daddy raised a good girl. I know how to ask a boy's permission before that kind of thing, but I can't promise I'll ask nicely every time~," she teased.

"Ugh; do you two want a room, or something?" Raul asked, and Danica quickly laughed, waving away the suggestion.

"I'm just teasing," she said, though her eyes did linger on me for a few seconds, a hungry look in them, before she turned away.

"By the way. This tree jumping monster. A herald, you called it? It took the core of someone it killed," I began, and she frowned.

"Aww, does that mean you're down to ten, or was it twelve before?"

"Wasn't one of us, actually. A native," I explained, and she snickered.

"Playing the God-king scenario. Nice! This is, what... Eltari? Is it the tree elves, or the goblins?"

"Goblins," I answered, "or Kobalt, as they prefer to be called."

"Kobalt. I can get on board with that. Never liked calling them goblins, because my fantasy of them was always cave dwellers, not uppity tree huggers," she replied. "So, what about this core thing?"

"Right; the man it killed. It took his core," I explained, and she shrugged.

"Yeah... and?"

I shook my head, a little confused.

"Why did it do that?" I asked, and she giggled at me.

"Fish gotta swim, monsters gotta eat, right?"

"They eat the cores?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, and she snickered at me.

"More like... absorb the essence of the man it belonged to, really," she explained, and I noticed Raul suppressing a shudder.

"So, they get stronger the more they eat?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Every herald was once a feeder; and if it eats enough, one day it'll be a minion. They can only stomach so much, though. They just eat the external power before carrying the cores back to their masters who consume the soul itself."

"The soul itself?" I asked.

"Yep; the memories, emotions, motivations, and aspirations of the person, all contained in their core. Sentient monsters harbor an unnatural thirst for these things, and the more unique the soul, the better it 'tastes' I guess."

"So, the herald will take the core back to Irileth?" I asked, and she laughed.

"God no. Irileth is at the top of this chain, and a little old native isn't gonna even tickle her fancy. Your herald probably serves something lower; the minion of a stronger harbinger, or a lesser harbinger itself. And by the way, not the kind of thing that you want to have dealings with in any capacity right now. Believe me when I tell you; there are things in this world that can crush you like an ant. So, until you're strong enough to tango with them, stay the fuck outta their line of sight."

I nodded, turning to Raul.

"We should make our purchases and head back to our group."

Danica frowned at this, then circled me a little, a playful look in her eyes.

"Actually, there's a little something that I think I could use you for... and I could make it worth your while."

I raised an eyebrow at her, as she studied me.

"Go on," I prodded, and she smiled.

"Send your little errand boy home with whatever purchases you needed to make. I'll take you on a little side-quest, and give you some useful tips," she said.

"How can I verify the usefulness of what you're offering?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"Guess I can't, huh? Tell you what, I'll even throw in two thousand credits. Up front; as long as you say yes~."

I tilted my head at her.

"And how long will this 'side-quest' take?"

"An hour. Maybe two?"

I turned to Raul as I considered our options; on the one hand, Casey would be pretty pissed if he went home alone... but if he returned with the needed supplies, that would definitely smoothen things over.

"I'll even help with your purchases~," she sang, and I nodded.

"Okay, deal," I said, and she immediately held up her wrist to mine, and I gasped as she transferred over the credits without the slightest hint of hesitation.

"Now let's hurry up and get this shopping done!"

Someone's in a hurry, I thought, as I pulled up the catalog.

"What's the deal with armor, by the way. I notice you're not wearing any," I began, and she giggled.

"I'm a bad benchmark to use right now, hon; but it might be best to think of armor as a necessary evil. A young'un like you needs the protection, and more importantly, the ability boosts; but as soon as you learn the abilities that your armor offers, it's time to move on to a new set."

"Okay. So, abilities."

She nodded.

"Starting out; speed, strength, and endurance are the three most important attributes, especially when it comes to fighting basic monsters; so, in a five piece set, get two each for strength and speed, and one for endurance. You'll need agility, maybe acrobatics later on, but that's more of a factor in higher level fights, so don't bother with them unless you're buying for a T-two rank adventurer. How many armor sets do you have?"

"Three, including this one," I answered.

She studied my own armor, and rubbed her chin.

"And the others? What tier? Grade?"

"One set tier one, low grade. The other, tier two... what grade was that?" I asked Raul.

"Low," he replied, and Danica frowned.

"Tier one is fine for a new group. You'll get the abilities you need, and basic protection... but stay away from low grade stuff unless you're desperate. You learn abilities much more slowly with them."

"Alright. How much suits of armor do you think my group needs?"

"That depends on how much credits you have," she replied.

"Thirty-five hundred."

"Including the two thousand I just gave you?"

I shook my head, and she chuckled a little.

"Ideally, a new group wants every fighter armored, but everyone won't be fighting all the time unless you're in a real bind, and by then, you'd probably end up dead anyway. Eleven otherworlders-"

"Twelve, if you count Mr. sulkyface over there, but he's not allowed to wear armor until we know he'll behave," I clarified, and she smirked at Raul a bit, before continuing.

"I'd say five sets for combat is good. Maybe six, so you can get a good ability mix in there as well."

"Ability mix?"

"Yeah. You'll want all fighters to know speed, strength, and endurance one at least; but there are a lot of abilities that will be useful out of combat. Let's see... you've got such a large group. Normally I wouldn't recommend this to newbies, but Alchemy might be a godsend if you can develop it this early on. How many natives are there with you?"

"About sixty, I think."

"Holy shit. Then definitely an alchemy piece. Medicine and cooking as well."

"That sounds useless," Raul interjected, and Danica rolled her eyes at him.

"Not everyone wants to live like a murder hobo on the perpetual brink of insanity. Maintaining the psychological health of the group is key to long term survival," she shot back, and I nodded in agreement.

"No argument from me there," I said.

"How are you all on weapons?" she asked.

"Three spears, three daggers, two hunting knives, and this old thing," I finished, gesturing to my halberd.

"That's a nice weapon," she said, as she turned to Raul. "He get that from you?"

Raul shook his head.

"Found him with it," he replied, and she shot me a questioning look.

"My native benefactor," I explained. "They're also where I got this armor."

"You don't say," she said, as she approached me. "Now that I look at it, this weapon might be custom made, huh? And this armor..."

Her fingers brushed the breastplate, and to my surprise, a soft blue glow appeared at her hands.

"Wow. Whoever wore this must have been one hell of an adventurer. Do you know his name?"

"If my native friends are to be believed; Hans Gruber," I replied, and she snickered a little.

"'Die Hard' fan?"

"I initially considered that, but apparently he was around about five hundred years ago."

She chuckled.

"Five hundred years here? So what?"

"Die Hard isn't that old," I replied, and she laughed again.

"That literally doesn't matter. Do you know what year I left earth?"

I tilted my head at her.

"Two thousand and four," she replied, "and I don't really wanna tell you how old I am, but I'm in the triple figures here, hon."

My mind drew a blank, as I struggled to process what she was saying.

Part of me wanted to scream 'how is this fucking possible?!' while the other half was more along the lines of, 'you disappeared from earth and instantaneously appeared on a planet three hundred light years away, and this is what surprises you?'

I shook the thought from my mind, and returned to the situation at hand as Danica continued to investigate my armor.

"It's so odd. I have literally never heard of this guy, but he must have been something. There're more skills embedded in this armor than I care to count. You've got yourself something priceless here, hon. Better hold onto her like she was your first love."

She patted me on the chest, as she continued.

"As for weapons; T-one low grade stuff is all you need for beginners, but the daggers and hunting knives are high difficulty weapons that require more advances skills than you'd have starting out. Besides, spears and swords are better for fighting monsters anyway."

I nodded.

We had three spears, so maybe two swords would round us off well.

I purchased the two swords, as well as a full set of medium grade tier one armor, which included gauntlets, arm guards, a breastplate, greaves, a helmet, and boots.

I then purchased the missing pieces to make up another T-one set using the miscellaneous pieces that we'd collected from Vanessa's group.

I then opted for a medium grade T-two set for Francesca comprised of the same six pieces as the T-one set, but including a piece with the acrobatics skill, since I felt it would complement the style she was developing quite nicely.

I also purchased twenty vials of weak healing potions, which Danica approved of since weak potions afforded better coverage, while the more advanced potions tended to heal more than was needed in a localized spot.

It cost two thousand, nine hundred and twenty credits in total, and as I packed up the gear, dismissing them into their smaller, more manageable forms, Danica browsed the catalog for available gear that offered the specialized skills that she'd recommended.

We managed to get a T-two medium grade bracer and shoulder guard which granted access to the alchemy and medicine skills respectively, and a T-one low grade pair of shin guards which granted access to cooking.

"There's one more thing I'd suggest buying, but it ain't cheap."

"Is it worth it?"

"A thousand times over," she replied, and I moved to her side at the control panel.

On the display was a bronze colored chest piece called a 'smith's cuirass', but I swallowed uncomfortably as I noted that the item was a high-grade T-two piece of armor, costing nine hundred and sixty credits.

It was fucking expensive, but as I thought about it, I recalled Francesca's observation about the inordinate number of smiths they'd found in Saker on their first exploratory trip.

"How useful is smithing?" I asked, and she laughed.

"Invaluable. Without your own smith, you'll need to use the ones in the towns, which take a fucking long time to do anything, and cost you an arm and a leg to use. It's a difficult skill to learn, and you won't even be able to use it until you learn the basic required skills; but being to transform armor without a heat-based furnace is a serious asset. You'll be able to generate your own ingots, and create your own skill training armor when you need it.

"You're settling down with these Kobalt eventually, aren't ya?"

I nodded.

"Then I would say this is a must have item," she said, and I nodded, making the purchase.

As I reviewed my purchases, I noted that we'd spent a total of four thousand, one hundred and thirty credits, but thanks to Danica's two thousand credit contribution, we still had a little under fifteen hundred credits remaining.

I packed up the things, then handed the bag to Raul, but as I prepared to add a new clause to his pledge-function which would kill him if he did not return directly to the group and stay with them, he suddenly became a little fidgety.

"Hey; it's probably safe for me to just stay here, right?"

Danica shrugged.

"I don't see why not. No-one's coming to kill me as far as I know, and the monsters can't get in."

Raul nodded, then turned to me.

"Meet me here when you're done with your side-quest, and we'll head back together," he said, and I nodded, before turning to Danica with a curious look.

"Well then. What's this side quest?"

"Come with me," she said, but as she led me outside, she shot me a wicked smirk, before adding, "try to keep up, love~," as she darted off into the night.

I took off after her, but unlike my previous expedition, I was hopelessly outmatched, and it took all of my effort just to keep sight of her in the dense blanket of night.

We ran for about ten minutes before my brain began to adjust to the speed of the movement, and as I began to study Danica's movements, I found myself again blown away by the sheer majesty with which she strode through the forest.

Her movements lacked the refined, natural affinity of Eradne's movement through the trees, but she more than made up for it with the grace of each step.

It was as if every footstep that landed was perfectly measured; applying no more pressure to the ground than what was absolutely needed before lifting off with such a precise application of force, that she appeared to almost glide across the surface of the earth.

I momentarily thought about trying to observe and imitate her movements, as I had done with Eradne, but I quickly discovered that such a feat would be much more difficult, and require a lot more time, which sadly, we did not have, as Danica quickly pulled up to a stop.