Banished Pt. 16

Three more hunters went flying, until a fourth one went up, only to land with a thud in the midst of the spiders ahead of the front line.

The spiders converged on him, and I was sure he was a goner, but a shadowy burst cleaved the spiders asunder, and Jeannie shot Leanna a thankful nod as she stepped forward with a determined expression on her face.

"Hurl!" she cried out, and as a wave of javelins tore across another wave of spiders, she darted forward, slicing her way through the remaining critters, then grabbing the hunter by his foot, she flung him back towards the line.

A few other Kobalt helped him back into safety, and Raul and Jordan moved forward, clearing the way for her to retreat slowly to the line.

I chanced a glance upward, as the numbers seemed to thin momentarily on our end, and sure enough, heralds were falling from the canopy above as Bianca and Lucia picked them off.

"Are we winning?" Cameron asked.

"I dunno. It looks so," I said.

The spiders no longer seemed to be coming at us with that same frenzied zeal as earlier, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that something big was still about to happen.

Then it did.

I felt the thing hurtling towards us long before I saw it, but when the rock burst through the foliage ahead of the town, there was less than a second to react before it exploded into the earth, sending Kobalt and otherworlder flying alike.

The sounds of coughing filled the air as a rocky mist filled their nostrils; Jordan was on all fours, crawling limply away from the cloud, and several more Kobalt were strewn about, unmoving.

The spiders seemed to have withdrawn completely, and I turned my gaze to the woods ahead as the subtle sound of a second missile hurtling towards us filled the air.

Francesca reacted to this one, leaping and rolling into the cover of a nearby rock, but as the second explosion rang out, our hunters were thrown into absolute disarray.

Then the spiders came back, and this time, they were clamoring for blood.

Kobalt hunters screamed as they were cut to pieces and dragged away into the bushes, and the battlefield turned into a scene of pure chaos.

"Hold your lines!" Francesca screamed, trying to rally the hunters as they scampered for the trees, but as they ignored her in their panic, I moved to the fore, and raised my halberd.

"Everyone; to me!" I cried out, and those who could still move turned and rallied around my cry.

I charged forward, with Francesca, Cameron, Jeannie, and Blair, moving behind me, and as I gazed into the canopy above, Bianca gave me a thumbs up, as she and Lucia followed us across the branches.

I lifted my halberd, and aimed it in the direction of where the projectiles had been fired from as I charged, and I quickly spotted hunters falling in line behind us, as we pressed through the thinning spider-herd.

We slashed and cut out way as we charged forward, the hunters clearing through what was left from our incursion forward, until a few hundred feet ahead, I spotted him.

Mark, I think his name was, and he was slowly pulling another massive rock up into a massive sling woven with webbing across two large trees, and I aimed my halberd forward as we went at him.

Spiders were converging on us now, but we swept through them like a storm, and he gritted his teeth, releasing the stone to the ground as he leapt from the massive height of his swing, firing a web into the treetops as he swung down to meet us.

His arm transformed into a scythe as he swung in, and I clashed with him, deflecting his attack, but falling to my knees as the power behind his attack overwhelmed me.

"Fuck," I cursed. "Keep your eyes open!" I yelled out, as the hunters around us continued to stab their way through the spider-feeders, while the otherworlders amongst us tried to aide when they could, while keeping an eye out for Mark's swinging attack.

He swung at us again, blade-arm poised, and Francesca dived out of the way, but Kobalt limbs went flying as he sliced, and I gritted my teeth.

We can't let him chip away at us like that, I thought, but to deflect those attacks took considerable power, and maybe Francesca was right to evade it.

This was bad; he had a huge advantage with the trees, and being able to maneuver them like that left us all but at his mercy.

"Did we seriously get sent to an alien fucking planet to fight the actual spiderman?" Blair asked incredulously, and I bit my lip nervously.

"You a comic book fanatic?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"I dabble," she said.

"No particular reason for asking, but of curiosity, did anyone ever beat spiderman? And if so, how did they do it?"

She grinned at me.

"I dunno. Fucking, kidnap his MJ? Or threaten his aunt, maybe?" she asked, and I frowned.

"I don't think either of those are options," I replied.

"Bet you regret everything now, Nate! Huh?" Mark called out, as he swung in, and I suddenly remembered Caleb's assertion that I had killed him.

My blade clashed with his just as I leapt away, and I tested my arms, rolling my shoulders a bit, as they reeled from the shock of the collision.

"Sheesh; what did you do? Kill his uncle Ben or something?" Blair asked.

"He certainly seems to think so," I answered, as I turned, and climbed a nearby knoll.

But maybe I could play on this, I thought.

"The only thing I regret is not making you suffer more, dickwad!" I yelled out, and Mark cackled in response.

"Famous last words," he yelled, as he swung at me, and as I glanced at Francesca and indicated with my halberd, she nodded, retrieving her spear and taking aim.

I held a fist up, as I spotted Mark preparing to make a pass at me, and as he moved into full swing, I yanked my fist down, and Francesca hurled the javelin with venomous intent, and the thing tore right through him, sending him flying across the air and crashing across the forest floor.

He turned, looking up at me, and seething at the mouth.

"You piece of fucking trash!"

"The only trash I see here are these spiders; I mean seriously, couldn't you spawn something that was good for anything except... dying stupidly?"

I uttered the words mockingly, sauntering over to him casually as I did, and he gnashed his teeth at me.

"They've been snacking on your weak little goblin pals all week, you know," Mark shot. "Do you wanna see the graves? Or would that make your poor little princess sick?"

I scoffed at him derisively.

"Goblins? If that's all you're good for killing, then I might as well just go home now. You're not even worth killing, are you?"

I turned my back on him, and he pounded the floor, shooting a web and pulling himself to a nearby tree.

"Oh sure, swing around your little webs. Not like I expected you to come down and face me like a man anyway. Maybe I should let you fight the women? You like women, don't you? Or, did you only get the little girls that Caleb didn't want?"

I focused on him as he prepared to make another swing.

"You're losing your cool, aren't you?" I whispered, directing my threads at him, and a vein twitched in his head as the suggestion took effect, and his eyes bulged out at me, as I grinned.

"YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!" he screamed.

He shot two webs onto either side of me, and as he grabbed onto a nearby branch and pulled the webbing taut, transforming both arms into blades as he did, I planted my halberd into the ground and aimed the spear point right at his chest; and as he shot at me like a stone out of a catapult, he impaled himself on my spearpoint, but still crashed into me hard nonetheless, sending me flying back several feet.

I gasped for air, my mind reeling as pain seemed to shoot throughout my body.

Mark, however, was still standing, and he grinned at me as he yanked my halberd from his chest.

"Is this all you've got, Nate? Because it'll take a lot more than a little stab like that to kill me this time," he said, and I grinned, even as I panted, and struggled onto one knee.

"I know that; I just needed to get you on the ground and this close," I replied, and he paused, but the threads were already linked to his, and as I raised a fist, and began to lower it to the ground, Mark began to struggle, falling to his knees.

"What the fuck're you doing?" he asked, gasping as he struggled and strained to break free of my hold.

"Killing you again," I replied, but as I kept my hold on him, my body seemed to scream at me, with pain coursing through every nerve.

Was this what Taylor had to endure every time she used this skill? I wondered.

I made a note to ask her about it in the future, but Cameron, Francesca and Blair had already advanced on Mark.

There was panic in his eyes now as they raised their weapons, but as they hacked and slashed, I eventually felt my threads disconnecting from his, and his body fell limp and unmoving to the floor in a battered, almost unrecognizable heap.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Jeez; can you imagine what he could've done with that kind of power if he wasn't a fuckin moron?" Blair asked, and Cameron eyed her, then shot me a slightly worried look.

"Are you alright?" she asked, and I groaned a little, then nodded.

"I don't think anything's broken... at least, not this time," I said.

Cameron quickly moved to my side, and draped my arm around her shoulder, supporting my weight just a little, and I rested my head exhaustedly against her.

"I can't wait to snuggle up to you to sleep," I said, nuzzling her a little, and Blair made a retching sound.

Everyone seemed to be shooting her disapproving looks, and she shrugged.

"What? I'm sorry, but do we really let that kind of cringy display of PDA go unmocked around here? I thought this was a civilized place," she teased, and I snickered at her.

"You're lucky you're handy with an axe," Cameron replied, and she smiled.

"I am, right? Have any of these noobs ever rocked that hard in their first battle?" she asked, and I gestured to Francesca.

"She did; and she'll probably still be kicking your ass a week from now," I said, and Blair sneered a little, as she sized her up.

"Can't wait to test that out," she said, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

As we hobbled along to the cluster, however, another chill ran up my spine, and as I froze, Francesca turned and shot me a panicked look.

"Look alive!" I called out, leaning off of Cameron's support, but the warning had either come too late, or we simply didn't anticipate how fast the thing was, as a monstrously sized creature, bounding on all fours tore past us through the trees just off to our left.

"Shit; the cluster," I said, as we turned and made haste for the little hamlet.

Some of the others got there ahead of me, as I was still hobbling despite my own hurried movement, but as we burst through the brush, I found to my surprise that the Kobalt there were casually tending to their wounded, and the otherworlders all lounging around, as the physicians moved to check on them.

"Where's the fire?" Casey asked, and I tilted my head at her.

"A monster just tore through here," I began, looking around, and she studied me.

"Is that supposed to be funny?" she asked, but as she caught the looks on the faces around us, she shook her head.

"Nothing came through here," she began, but I was certain that I felt its presence, and as I followed it, I finally came to Aletta, who was laughing and giggling as a little critter licked and slobbered all over her face, while she doted over it affectionately.

"Look who found me! Pretzel!" she declared, and I stared at her in shock.

"How did he do that?" I asked, and she eyed me.

"Do what?"

"Transform into the little pup," I clarified, and she tilted her head at me.

"Transform? Nate, this is what pretzel looks like. He doesn't transform," she said, scoffing a little. "I don't get why people always say that. You're not a big bad monster, are you? No, you're not. No, you're not," she said, speaking to the creature in baby talk.

I shook my head at her, studying the interaction between the two as she continued to shower affection on the little beast, which was crooning happily in her arms, and I let out a tired sigh.

I am so done with this, I thought.

Cameron helped me to the ground, and Casey took a seat beside me.

Blair and Francesca sat down a little way across from us, and as Lucia and Bianca came down from the nearby grove tree, Lucia climbed onto my lap, hugging me tightly, and Bianca grumbled as she settled into place beside Blair, eyeing her with an unfavorable expression.

"Do you think it's over?" I asked Casey, and she frowned, thinking a bit.

"If deceased 'former group members' was the theme for the day, then we've handled the portents at least," she said.

"Didn't Emily and Candace also die?" Bianca asked.

"Yeah, but we still have their cores," Casey explained, and she nodded.

"There's still pseudo-Hans," I reminded Casey, and she frowned.

"We haven't seen him in a while though, huh?" Casey said, and Cameron waved her hand dismissively.

"You didn't see our Nathan in action just now," Cameron said. "I'm pretty sure with that new skill of his we can handle him too."

"What new skill?" Casey asked, and Cameron quickly gave her a recap.

"Hmm," Casey said. "Didn't think you could copy that type of skill so easily."

"How do we do that, by the way? Copy skills, I mean," Blair asked, and Cameron chuckled at her.

"You can't. That's Nate's unique skill," Cameron said, and Blair shook her head.

"I call hacks," she replied, and Francesca quickly nodded in agreement.

"I know, right? The rest of us just feel like plebs by comparison," she added, and I chuckled at her.

"I'd trade it in a heartbeat to be as good as you are in combat," I said, and she blushed a little.

"I'm not that good," she countered, and Blair studied her.

"I'm getting really curious about this," she said. "Care to go a round?"

"No fighting after major battles," I chided, and Blair pouted.

"I feel like I'm being trolled," she complained, and I chuckled at her.

"You'll find out soon enough," I said.

As we spoke, Gisela moved to join us.

"Nathan; you need to be tended," the girl said timidly, and I waved a hand dismissively, then patted the ground in front of me.

"Come; we're reminiscing about the battle," I said, and the girl tilted her head at us.

She moved uncertainly, but as Casey shifted over, making space for her, she smiled a little, seeming quite pleased at her inclusion in our little talk.

"Were any of ours injured?" I asked.

"Raul is being tended to. Jordan as well. Their injuries were most pressing, but full recoveries are assured," Gisela explained.

"And the Kobalt?"

"There were seven deaths. Ten more are at the mercy of our healers," she explained, and I sighed.

I rested a hand on her shoulder, and gave it a reassuring squeeze, prompting her to blush a little.

"I'm sorry we let so many of your people get injured," I began, and she quickly shook her head.

"The losses in the adjacent clusters were many more, Nathan. Your presence brings more security than we can ever repay," she said, and I noted that Blair was grinning at me.

"You're having the time of your fucking life out here, huh? Do I get any sexy servant boys?" she asked, and I smirked a little.

"If you behave, sure."

Gisela studied the girl, not seeming to understand what she was implying, before returning her attention to me.

"Are you sure you are unharmed?" she asked, her voice tinged with concern, and this time, even Cameron rolled her eyes.

"Okay, if that's how I was being before, I think I deserved that mocking," she said to Blair, who grinned.

As we talked, Lucia curled up into my lap, and I was surprised to find that she had quickly fallen asleep.

Pushed yourself to the absolute limit today, huh?

She was such a good little soldier.

I felt the urge to train her as much as possible simply to be able to have her by my side, along with Bianca, for our future excursions out.

I ruffled her hair, and Cameron quickly placed her hand over mine, smiling at me with that telling smile.

Soon, I said with my eyes, and she nodded, leaning in to kiss me again.

"They're at it again. Jeez!" Blair complained, but as she nudged Bianca, looking for some support, I noted that Bianca seemed to be studying us with a faint smile.

She rubbed her hands together, and as I patted the ground beside me, she crept over, and curled up next to me, patting Lucia as we did.

"One big happy family," Cameron said, with that teasing tone, and I shook my head at her.

"Oh~. Family huh?" Francesca teased. "Is there room in there for me too, daddy?" she said, in that sexy but at the same time innocent way, and as I nodded, she crept up behind me, and wrapped her arms around me, nuzzling my neck as she did.

Cameron seemed to frown a little at that, and I chuckled to myself, as I realized that Francesca was perhaps still the only woman that Cameron seemed capable of being driven to jealousy by.

"There's room for more," I said, glancing at Casey, and the girl seemed to suddenly realize that she'd been smiling, and she quickly tried to mask the grin with an awkward look.

"I'm fine," she said, but Cameron took one look, before going to her, and bringing her over to me.

"Come on- let's just embrace this happy harem," she said, but Casey shifted awkwardly, her eyes scanning across all of the women who were around me.

But as her eyes met my own, and she caught the look in them; the look that I reserved only for her, she finally smiled again, then moved a step closer, and allowing me to pull her in for a kiss, which was greeted with some cheers from the others, spurred on in no short part by Cameron.

"Whoo boy; I don't know how you two live in these things, but I cannot do it," Cameron said, directing the comment at Francesca and me as she began to strip off her armor. "I think this might be the new 'stripping off your bra after a long day at work' feeling."

Bianca and Francesca giggled at her, and I let out a sigh, relaxing back onto Francesca's lap, and closing my eyes for a second.

Everything felt so peaceful, and I could have probably fallen asleep like that; but such rest, evidently, just was not meant to be.

A cry in the distance brought me back to reality, and as I sat up, I took a look in the direction of the call.

"Nathan; an otherworlder approaches," Gisela said, as she stood up to speak with the Kobalt who'd come running over.

"That's gotta be Ethan, then," I said, letting out a groan, and glancing at Aletta who was still doting on her precious 'pretzel'. "Better tell him his hunt was all for naught."

Cameron helped me up, and the others began to go off to seek treatment, or chat around elsewhere.

As I spotted Ethan up ahead, however, I noted that he seemed to be studying the aftermath of our battle with a disbelieving expression that looked... awestruck, almost.

"Freakin hell; you really did, huh? You killed all three portents," he breathed, shaking his head disbelievingly, and I tilted my head at him.

There was something odd about his tone, but I couldn't quite place it.

"Took one hell of a beating for it, though," I replied, as I looked around at the mess that was now our temporary home, and he laughed.

"Beating? Did you even lose a single otherworlder?" he asked, and I shook my head, studying him with curiosity.

"No, but we lost quite a few Kobalt," I replied, and he shook his head, studying me with that same slightly awed look.

"Fuck me... I'm seeing it with my own eyes and this still feels surreal," he continued.

"It's all thanks to Nathan," Cameron offered. "His leadership has really pulled us through."