Banished Pt. 16

A/N: I'm working on some errata to correct some of the consistency problems across the series. One which impacts this chapter is helmets. I've kind of flip flopped over how much to include the whole takes off/dons helmets bits, and largely neglected it because it felt tedious to write, so instead I came up with wearing them in sliver form, and activating them before fights. This chapter is the first time this use for helmets appears on Lit, so just an FYI that the earlier chapters will be edited eventually to be consistent with this method of using them.

Enjoy the story! And as always, if you enjoy this chapter please feel free to drop a line and let me know. :D

***

I quickly moved to close the door shut, then turned to study Ethan.

There were large gashes along his right side, and a gaping wound just above his hip, on his side, as well as scratches and tears along his arms.

He was wounded... and badly, too.

This was as much of an opportunity as I'd ever get, wasn't it?

I licked my lips as my gaze flashed between Jayden and Ethan, with one hand firmly grasped onto the halberd on my back, but I shook off the thought, moving to the console instead.

There's no guarantee that I can kill him, I thought, even like this.

I needed to figure out what he was capable of... or, maybe I could still enamor him to our cause.

"The high tier healing shot will heal of your wounds, wouldn't it?"

He eyed me for a moment, his breathing evening out a bit.

"Yeah- but that's fifteen hundred credits," he said. "You would spend that much on me?"

"I don't like seeing people die," I said, and Jayden let out a little laugh.

"You don't say," he said, drawing Ethan's gaze to Juliette.

Ethan swallowed uncomfortably, then shook his head.

"I'll be fine," he said, sitting upright and dropping the severed hand he was carrying to the floor beside him. "I just need to catch my breath. Besides, there are more important things to worry about right now."

Jayden shot me a worried, look, and I bit my lip nervously.

"Like what?" I asked, and as I crouched down beside him, he took my hand into his as he looked up into my eyes.

"Like the beauty standing next to you right now," he said, as he gestured to Leanna who almost jumped as all eyes in the room turned to her. "I'm Ethan, by the way; and if I die now, I'm thankful that it'd be in the presence of an angel."

She shot me a startled look, and I chuckled as I released Ethan's hand and flicked him on the forehead.

"Wha-? Hey, are you trying to kill me? I'm wounded here," he complained.

"Don't tempt me," I replied, giving my halberd a pat.

As I moved to get up, however, he held onto my hand, and I noted his expression was a bit more serious.

"I can't let that thing run loose out there," he said. "If it gets across the stream, it'll massacre those goblins. Thousands might die."

I studied him carefully, then nodded.

"What can we do?" I asked, and he sighed.

"I just need one opening; it's quick, so it'll be dangerous, but if you can get me that one shot, I can end it."

I thought about the suggestion, then nodded.

Maybe I could use that? I thought.

He lumbered to his feet, and I studied him worriedly.

"Jesus, can you even move?" I asked, and he nodded.

"I'll move when it matters; trust me," he said, and I nodded slowly, turning to Jayden and Juliette.

"It might be dangerous, but you two should stay here for now," I said, and Jayden nodded, then patted the dagger clasped onto his waist.

"I'll do my best," Jayden said, and I turned to Ethan who smiled.

"After you," I said, as I opened up the sliding door, and Ethan stepped through with a grimace.

***

Joanna had had it for the day.

She spent most of the time lounging around her office hoping that something would change about their situation, but not only had the screens remained blank; Mr. Ricci hadn't so much as taken a call from her either.

She strode to her car with a huff, her hand instinctively reaching for the little black phone that she'd stowed away in her purse, and as she came to a trash can just on the edge of the parking area, she momentarily felt the urge to toss the thing away.

Hell, for all she knew he could be using the thing to track her.

She stared at the trash can for another moment, then released her bag, and climbed into her car and drove off.

The phone remained on her mind the entire trip home, even as she got to her apartment building and pulled into her spot; but no sooner had she left her car than a man with a sheet of paper approached her.

"Miss, if you have a moment-"

"I don't have any money," she immediately spat, not even looking up as she strode past him.

"Wait, Jo-"

She froze, and turned to him, and the man quickly shifted uncomfortably under his hooded sweater.

"Lawrence?"

"No, no- don't react like that, just... talk to me as if this were normal," he quickly said, and she adjusted her expression almost immediately.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked, her hand going for the taser that she kept in her purse.

"Reach in there, and hand me a dollar or something," he muttered, as he pretended as if he were showing her something on his paper, and she swallowed uncomfortably.

"Why the fuck would I help you?" she asked, and he shook his head.

"I don't need help; you do," he said. "You need to start asking yourself some important questions; like who your asset really is."

She studied him for a bit, then withdrew a few loose bills from her purse, and handed him the money, and as he tried to take it, he clumsily let a few papers slip out from his hands, and they went flying down the street.

"Find those," he said, bowing as if expressing gratitude for her money, before turning to leave.

Joanna stared after him as he moved to accost another passer-by, and she made a quick note of where the papers had blown off to before disappearing into her apartment building.

Why would I need to ask that? She thought.

Didn't she already know everything about him?

She waited for another minute or two, before slipping back outside and down the street, scooping up the papers, and then continuing down the road to the nearby park.

She flipped through the pages as she walked, furrowing her brow as she did.

An investment banker from Cincinnati?

What the fuck?

Didn't we get him from a rehab center right here in the city?

She sat down on a bench as soon as she got the park, and as she flipped to the final page, her eyes went wide.

"No fucking way..." she breathed.

***

Ethan's breathing was still labored and it worried me slightly, but as he set out to track the beast, I kept my eyes on him; not just out of suspicion, but with an equivalent eagerness to pick up any scouting and tracking abilities that I might be able to copy for future use.

"Are we moving too slow for you?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"Not sure I can move much faster than this in my present state," he said, but as he chuckled and rubbed the back of his head nervously, his eyes flicked for a moment towards Leanna, and I quickly surmised that he was moving at a speed that she was capable of sustaining.

We hadn't begun tracking yet; instead we were making our way to where he last saw the creature, and to my surprise, it was quite some way north-east of the guildhall.

"What kind of monster are we looking for?" I asked. "Is it a harbinger?"

He shook his head.

"Slightly embarrassed to say it, but the thing that did this to me was a feeder," he admitted, and my eyes narrowed on him.

"A feeder? Aren't they-?"

"At the bottom of the food chain? Usually, yes. But this was Irileth's feeder, and I'm beginning to think this is a thing that she kept as a pet, and which chose to never evolve into a herald just to stay by her side like that. It's slightly worrying though."

"How so?" I asked.

"Well, anything spawned by a monstrosity can technically be mantled; even a feeder."

"Mantled?"

He nodded.

"All sentient creatures, and some animals, leave behind cores which can be harvested. Mindless monsters usually consume their energy, but the more powerful ones consume everything; the memories, skills, personalities. Everything that made them who they are."

I nodded, as I'd heard this explanation from Danica already.

"But if the one consuming the core is sufficiently compatible with the core, then the consciousness inside of the core can supplant the consciousness of the one doing the consuming, and in effect, take control of its body," he explained. "Now, most sentient creatures won't consume a core that is more powerful than their own, but when a creature does this for the purpose of giving their body over to the consciousness inside of the core, we call it 'mantling'."

"And I'm guessing spawns are usually compatible enough to mantle the cores of their masters," I suggested, and Ethan smiled, and clicked his tongue at me in an eerily reminiscent way of my own habit.

"So, you're worried that even if Irileth is dead, her feeder could potentially mantle her?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"To be mantled, the one who died must be willing, and I highly doubt Irileth would be. What worries me is that Danica would have never let a single feeder live after she defeated Irileth; so maybe she was wounded much more seriously than I'd imagined in that fight."

I frowned, and he let out a sigh, as we came to a stop.

"This is the spot," he said, but as I looked around, he immediately gestured off to the east, and as I followed, I noted that there seemed to be broken branches and trampled bits of shrub.

Big target, I thought to myself. Maybe even I could have tracked something this big, but no use that'd be if I couldn't kill what was waiting at the end of the trail.

We set off on the trail for a bit, until we came to a geisterung corpse, and Leanna grasped onto my hand and averted her gaze, as the thing was mangled almost beyond recognition, and had quite visibly been eaten from.

"Hmm. If it ate, then maybe it's more of a hunger rampage than the murder rampage I was worried about," Ethan said, and I bit my lip.

"I've heard the word spawn used a lot when describing how these monsters come to exist," I began, and Ethan chuckled a little.

"Well, it is accurate," he assured me, and I shook my head.

"How exactly do they reproduce? I've seen young of both this monster, and the herald of one of these monstrosities," I explained, and he nodded.

"Oh, I see. Basically, when their master dies, they revert slowly to being regular old beasts," he explained. "Ordinarily, they don't reproduce, but most of them gain the ability to do so after the fact. But not just that. They also lose their monstrous mutations over time as well; the claws, fangs, even some of their more monstrous abilities."

"Hnn~. So, what's the spawning thing like, then?"

"Depends on the situation," he answered, and I tilted my head at that.

"How so?"

"Monsters need cores to spawn; not necessarily strong ones, any will do, but they usually go into a sort of hibernation mode, where they produce... uh, pods, I think you'd call them? Or incubators. They put cores into them, and it grows rapidly into feeders. A weaker monstrosity who has no influence will hunt, feed for a bit and then produce a few feeders, but a stronger monstrosity with minions and a domain might go into spawning mode for a while, having their followers bring the cores to them for feeding and spawning, and mass produce feeders which in turn go out and expand their domain."

I nodded, as I processed the information.

We tracked the creature for a long way eastward, before coming to another geisterung corpse.

"This is odd," Ethan said, and I studied him.

"How so?"

"It seems to be eating them, but... there's entire goblin settlements south and east of here that it's ignoring completely."

"It's staying within the domain?" I asked, and he nodded.

"For now, at least..." he muttered, his expression thoughtful.

"What do you mean?

"Maybe it doesn't realize that the domain is done yet... but that's not gonna last. The food supply on this side of the forest is gonna run out sooner or later."

"Then we better hurry," I said, and Ethan nodded as we set off again.

We continued on heading east for a little bit, before the trail turned north, but as we resumed the journey, a chill ran through my body, and Ethan pulled up to a halt.

"What is that?" I asked, and he turned his gaze west.

"Monsters," he said. "The spider-types, I think."

He shook his head as he rubbed his chin.

"Everything is just happening all at once tonight," he said, sighing. "Nate, I think you need to head back to your group. They're moving south; towards that goblin village. Your group is somewhere there, isn't it?"

I eyed him, and he let out a nervous chuckle.

"Sorry; you just had that flowery sweet scent on you that the goblins are known for. I just figured..."

I waved away the explanation, then sighed.

"Are you sure you'll be okay taking on that thing on your own?" I asked, and he rubbed the back of his head, as he chuckled a little nervously.

"Honestly? I'm not so sure, but... I may have inadvertently led the thing this way in the first place, so it's my responsibility to deal with it."

"You can't deal with it if you're dead," I countered, and he chuckled again.

"That is a fact; but I think I know how to handle it now. He got in a nasty hit because I underestimated his resilience, but I won't make that mistake again."

I eyed his wounds worriedly, and for a second, there was a slight inflection in his gaze.

"I'll be fine; I just needed to catch my breath earlier," he promised again, and I nodded as he turned to leave. "Oh, and don't forget Jayden in the guildhall! It's not safe there," he called out, and I nodded again as he took off.

"Now, where to first?" I asked, as I turned around, and rubbed my chin thoughtfully.

"Our base is closer to here, isn't it?" Leanna asked, and I tilted my head at her.

"I think it is, but how'd you figure that?"

She shrugged.

"It's just a feeling," she said, a little shyly, and I smiled at her.

"I think I should probably get you home first, then I'll go back for Jayden and Juliette."

"Okay," she said, and we took off.

It was a little way west before a straight shot south, but by the time we got to where we'd turn southward, I felt a slight chill, and I pulled up to a halt.

"Be on your guard," I said, just as two spiders leapt down from the canopy above.

"Why does it have to be spiders?" Leanna shrieked, as I placed a hand protectively in front of her.

"They're creepy, but not very strong," I said, but as her hand instinctively went for the dagger on her hip, I noted they were shaking, so I quickly darted forward and dispatched of the two spiders; but two more came down, and as I moved in and quickly sliced through them as well.

Then four more emerged, and as I began to hack through them, another thud sounded behind me, and I gasped.

The spider looked at me for a second, before letting out a loud shriek, and turning and leaping towards Leanna, and as she crouched down and screamed, a shadowy figure burst out from her, and tore through the spider, cleaving it into pieces.

She backed away from it, falling over as she did, and I quickly moved to her side.

"Are you alright?" I asked, and she nodded, her eyes filled with frightful tears. "Holy crap though. Did you know that you could do that?"

She shook her head.

"I- I thought it was just shadows," she said, as I pulled her up.

As I examined the creatures and gathered up the cores, however, I studied Leanna with a renewed sense of appreciation for her unique skill.

If she can learn to control that, then maybe she won't need to learn to fight with a dagger after all, I thought.

We made our way back to the cluster as quickly as we could manage, and as I got there, an annoyed looking Bianca was there to greet me.

"You left me behind," she shot. "Twice!"

"Sorry," I said. "But it was necessary. Where's Cameron?"

"Coming," she said, folding her hands.

But it doesn't make me feel very important!

I chuckled nervously, as I ruffled her hair.

"Did you train hard while I was gone?" I asked, and she sighed, then nodded.

"Lucia is getting better, though. Like, really fast."

I studied her carefully.

"Is she now? Maybe she might get some fighting experience tonight, then. Is anyone unconscious from training right now?"

She shook her head.

"We stopped all training since those new guys showed up. Cameron had an introduction ceremony thing, and Alva spoke to the Kobalt for a bit."

"Nate!"

I turned as Cameron came running toward us, and she leapt into my arms.

"I'm sorry, but I'm running off again," I began, and Bianca shot me an excited look.

"Yeah! This time I'm coming," she declared, but I quickly shook my head, and Cameron slipped out of my arms and folded them promptly.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"We might be under attack, I think. Something's happening in the forest right now, so we should prep."

She nodded.

"I'll get the fighters to suit up," she said, and I shot her a thankful nod. "Where do you need to go?"

"I left two more of the new guys back at the guildhall. I need to go get them because it's not safe there," I said, and she pursed her lips.

"It's gonna be dark this time; are you sure you wanna risk it?"

I nodded.

"One of them can't walk right now, and they only have a single dagger for protection."

She shot a quick look at Leanna.

"Are you taking her again?" Cameron asked, and Bianca immediately began to whine.

"Wha-? No fair!" she began, and I cut her off with a playful flick on the forehead.

"No, I'm going alone. I wanna get them and get back here asap, before whatever's coming actually attacks."

Cameron nodded.

"Okay; be safe," she said, moving in and kissing me on the lips, and I noted that both Bianca and Leanna were watching the interaction with some interest.

"Will you be okay?" I asked, and she nodded, so I gave her a quick squeeze on the shoulder, then turned to Bianca.

"It's kisses or nothing!" she declared, but to her surprise, Cameron leaned in and planted a quick kiss on the cheek.

"You never said who it had to be from~," she teased, and I snickered a little, as she waved as Bianca began to whine in protest.

"He'll be back in less than an hour, just let him be, okay?" Cameron said, but out of the corner of my eye, I could see Bianca standing there, looking glum, so I turned and gestured for her to come, and I gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"Behave, okay? And do your best to keep things safe while I'm gone!"

She grinned happily.

"I will!" she promised, and I ruffled her hair playfully before turning and quickly making off at a sprint down what was now quickly becoming a very familiar path to the stream that led into the formerly blighted grove.

Darkness had fallen proper by the time I got there, however, and despite finding the spot quite easily on the last few passes, it took a little bit of searching before I got to it this time.

"Oh, thank god," Jayden said, as soon as he saw me.

"We need to get moving; quickly," I said, but as he moved to pick up Juliette, I stopped him.

"What?" he asked.

"You'll need to focus on running; I'll carry her," I said.

He made to protest, but she quickly cut him off.

"It'll be fine. You carried me all the way here," she said, and she raised her arms as I scooped her up, though Jayden still appeared to be quite displeased with the development.

As soon as we were outside and he realized how fast we'd be moving, however, his expression shifted to one of focus.