Banished Pt. 18

"Well, considering what you've seen me do; I might have to marry you anyway," she replied, and I chuckled.

"I'm a taken man," I reminded her, and she waved a hand dismissively.

"You kings never stop at one woman anyway, do you? Or is it that you won't consider the cripple?" she teased, and I snickered at her.

As we continued down the corridor heading out of the tree, we ran into Jayden who did a double take as he spotted us.

"Oh, hey. I was just on my way up to come check on you," he said, shooting a slightly worried look between the two of us.

"Our 'king' came to check on me himself. Aren't I a lucky girl?" she asked, and he rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"King?" he asked, and I chuckled in response.

"Ignore her; she's getting a little carried away," I said, shooting her a slightly disapproving look. "We were just heading down to the training area. Wanna come with?"

Jayden nodded, but as he accompanied us on the way down, I noted that he seemed to be pretty uncomfortable with me carrying Juliette.

"Do you think you can take this load off of my hands?" I asked him, but even as he readily agreed, Juliette pouted at me.

"What? Am I too heavy to carry?" she asked, and I chuckled nervously.

"Not at all; but I had this hand severed clean in a fight two days ago," I said, and Juliette stared at me, a slight look of shock on her face.

"What? How are you already using it again?" she asked, and I rubbed the back of my head.

"We have pretty good healers, I guess," I replied, and she frowned a bit.

"Bet this would have turned out a little different if we'd met up with you sooner, huh?" she said, gesturing to her legs, and I shook my head.

"From what I've been told, your problem should be healable," I offered, and she nodded.

"I figured. That guy did say that the technology behind cores and healing was much more advanced than what we had back on earth," she said.

"I don't think we should mention him," Jayden said, nudging Juliette a little, and her hand went to her mouth.

"Oh my God. I'm so sorry," she said, and I waved a hand dismissively.

"It's fine. You all had no idea what he was about anyway," I replied, and she frowned.

When we got down to the training area, I noted that Francesca was in a three-way sparring session with Bianca and Lucia, while Aletta seemed to be giving Leanna some instructions over by the burnt-out tree, so I decided to head over there first.

"Wow. What happened to this one?" Juliette asked, looking at the tree.

"Fire," I replied.

"Nate!" Leanna exclaimed, quickly moving in to hug me.

She seemed pretty happy to see me, but as Juliette frowned a little, Leanna shot me a slightly awkward look.

Should I have not done that? she asked, voicing the question in my mind, and I quickly shook my head, conveying to her that it was fine.

"Are you training her too?" I asked Aletta, and she nodded.

"I'm coming with you," Leanna said. "To get Cameron back. She was really nice to me," Leanna said, and I nodded.

"It's gonna be a pretty tough fight, though," I warned, and she nodded.

"I'm getting used to the feel of a weapon; and I can move around much better now in armor," she said, and I shot her an encouraging smile.

"Hah! Someone with your kind of powers using a weapon! Kid, I subjugated half this forest without ever drawing a blade," Aletta boasted, and I smirked at her.

"Real modest," I said. "You also got your ass handed to you by a fighter though, didn't you?"

Aletta scoffed.

"In what universe is Danica 'just a fighter'? Trust me, kid. You have no idea what she had up her sleeve."

I waved a hand at this, turning to look at the tree.

"So, what's the exercise."

Aletta smiled, turning to Leanna.

"She's overdependent on sight to control her little shadow stalker. I'm trying to break that dependency."

"You can see through its eyes though, can't you?" I asked Leanna, and she nodded.

"Yeah... but I only did it that one time. And I'm not really sure how..." she explained.

"Well, this is where we figure it out. You're gonna sit here and get shadow-san up to the fourth floor, and to that window over there," she said, gesturing overhead.

Leanna swallowed uncomfortably, then nodded.

"Is it alright if I sit?" she asked, and Aletta shrugged nonchalantly.

"Do whatever makes you comfortable; just don't cross this line," she said.

With that, Aletta directed us to step away from Leanna, and we watched as the shadow emerged from her and darted into the tree, but it didn't seem to take long before Leanna turned to us, shifting uncomfortably.

"It's fine," Aletta called out. "Just keep at it."

"So, is her ability... how did you refer to it? Genetic?" I asked, and Aletta shook her head.

"It isn't," she confirmed, and I nodded.

"Does that mean I can copy it?"

"Copy?" Juliette asked, and I bit my lip.

"Uh, yeah. I have an ability that allows me learn abilities from watching others," I explained, and she studied me.

"I see."

I turned to Aletta, who shook her head.

"You'd need to copy the basic form, then build your way up to that. But you don't have the time right now... or maybe, ever, actually. That ability of hers is almost level three, and combines three other pre-requisite skills together to create it. So, not a unique skill, but definitely an advanced one."

I frowned.

She must have spent a lot of time thinking about those shadows, huh?

Aletta plopped down by the roots of a nearby tree, and after finding a good spot for Jayden to set Juliette down, I joined them.

"Can she really depend on that skill entirely without much combat skills in a fight?" I asked, and Aletta laughed.

"Are you kidding? When she develops that skill, I doubt any of your fighters will be able to stand a chance against her," Aletta said. "That shadow is already faster than any of you, even in your T-three speed armor."

That was true.

I mean, the first day I encountered it, my first instinct was that it was actually a harbinger of some kind.

But as I watched Leanna send the shadow into the building again and again, I began to wonder if she would be able to gain enough control of it to be of use in the upcoming fight...

My first instinct had been that she would be staying behind, but... she did seem determined to go.

And I didn't really want to discourage her, now that she'd found a kind of resolve to be more involved with the group.

As we spoke, however, Francesca made her way over to us, and Aletta shot her a disapproving look.

"I don't remember telling you that you could take a break from sparring," she said, and Francesca frowned.

"Uh... it might be slightly more useful for me to deplete, rather than just helping them train, won't it?"

She looked to me for support, but I decided to see what Aletta had to say first.

"Helping them train? Hah. This one's a real joker. Kid, they're training you," Aletta said. "Besides, core capacity is meaningless if you die in the first five seconds of your first fight. Maybe, get skilled enough to win a fight before trying to develop the capacity to fight repeatedly, yeah?"

Francesca bit her lip, her pride seemingly taking a hit, but she bowed nonetheless, returning to the sparring session with Bianca and Lucia.

As she did, however, I decided to observe, and as she caught my eyes on her, a nervous look appeared on her face.

That's interesting, I thought.

The three were free, it seemed, to attack each other at will, so there was little circling or movement until the fight actually began.

Francesca was the first to move, going after Bianca with her spear-styled stick.

She swept at her legs, but planted her feet firmly, maintaining a pretty good sense of balance as she did, and as Lucia struck, she smiled, jabbing the butt end of her spear at her; but Lucia's reaction was on point, as she leapt onto the stick, using it a springboard to give some momentum to her attack.

Her target, however, turned out to be Bianca, who seemed to be caught unawares after evading Francesca's swipe, but she still managed to block the attack with her dagger-sized stick, before shifting from defense to offence, and moving in to strike.

She and Lucia exchanged a few quick blows, before Francesca forced them apart with another sweeping strike.

This time, however, she pressed Bianca, stabbing and slashing as she pinned her back, but she'd ignored Lucia; evidently, it seemed, to her own peril, as Lucia darted in for a quick strike, and managed to rap her on the knuckles, before landing a quick jab into her gut.

Francesca grimaced slightly, as she withdrew from the bout.

I thought she'd head over to us, but instead, she merely sat cross legged, a little way from where the fight continued between the other two, but watching them intently.

"They're kind of tag teaming her," I noted, and Aletta nodded.

"Indeed. They seem to be developing a kind of 'kindred bond' over their shared weapon of choice."

"Were you trying to teach her how to deal with multiple enemies at once?" I asked, and Aletta shrugged.

"It'll be useful for you to learn that, obviously, but more importantly; close quarter fighters like Bianca and Lucia are probably the biggest threat to spear fighters, and she really needs to learn how to adjust to the different kinds of fighters that you all might encounter on your rescue mission."

"So, they have the upper hand from their weapon types, and you're letting them tag-team her? Aren't you being a bit hard on her?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"She needs to be able to lead the lines; you're their leader, but you're not suited to leading in combat. Your strong point is analyzing your opponent, looking for weaknesses. They need to be good enough to give you the time to do that."

I bit my lip, nodding a bit, but I noted that Juliette seemed to be studying us.

"Are you comfortable?" I asked, and she nodded.

"I'm starting to feel as if I'm missing out though," she said, and I chuckled.

"Is the whole 'being in a fantasy story' thing something you dreamed about?" I asked, and she nodded shyly.

"Not necessarily fantasy story. Just... being in a story in general, I guess."

There was an inflection in her expression, however, as she regarded her legs, and as I gestured to Aletta, she nodded, following me a short distance away.

"Do you know how we can fix her legs?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Healing isn't my forte. Us monsters can basically just regenerate any parts of our body at will. If you turned her, I could teach her how to do it, but the chances of her beating the thirst are less than zero."

I frowned.

"I imagine that with these kinds of weapons, people lose limbs all the time. What about prosthetics?" I asked, thinking about Casey as well, and Aletta frowned.

"Sorry, hon. I wasn't human long enough to find out about that kind of thing. And most people who've crossed me and lost a limb haven't really lived to tell the tale."

"I need to create better information networks, huh? Was there anything like that for adventurers back in your day? Before you turned, I mean."

Aletta shook her head.

"Your group is already beyond anything I accomplished or saw while in human form," she said. "Part of why I agreed to stay here is because I find this project interesting."

"Well... let's hope I live long enough to continue it."

"I think you will," she said, smiling at me, and I eyed her.

"Premonition?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Shit, is that an actual skill that exists?"

I nodded.

"Naw, just a feeling in my gut," she said, and I sighed. "Speaking of gut, that one is not to be trusted," Aletta added, and I turned following her gaze to Blair, who seemed to be cautiously approaching from the cluster's outer perimeter.

"I know," I said, and Aletta smiled.

"Want me to train her anyway, huh?"

I nodded.

"In those last fights, she and I made quite the team," I said, and she studied me, with a slightly amused expression.

"This time, you won't be fighting monsters though," she said, and I gave a little nod, conceding the point.

"True. What was your assessment of her, though?"

"She's not bad. Needs to get her combat ability up to scratch, but what she lacks in technique she more than compensates for with tenacity and pure aggression. Do you mind if I put her up against this one?"

I followed her gesture to Jayden, then nodded.

He was slated for potential guard duty when we left, wasn't he?

This would be a good opportunity to get him up to speed.

As Aletta moved over to speak to Jayden however, a voice spoke into my head:

Nate? Can you come find me? I'm in the grove tree where we've set up the infirmary.

The voice was Casey's, and as I took a look around, I returned my gaze to Juliette.

"Can you watch her for me?" I asked, and Aletta nodded.

"Sheesh. You ask that like if I didn't manage an entire domain for five hundred years," she teased, and I snickered a little, waving at her as I headed off.

As I entered the grove tree, I noted that Casey was deep in conversation with Gisela and Astrid, and she quickly waved me over.

"What's up?" I asked, and Casey nodded to Astrid.

"There is suggestion, Nathan. Of artifact which may aid your purpose," she began.

"Okay. What does it do?" I asked, and Astrid shifted uncomfortably.

"Its purpose is unknown to my people," she admitted, and I frowned.

"Premonition?" I asked, and she nodded. "Have you looked at it?" I asked Casey, and as she shook her head, I gestured to the two. "Well then, shall we?"

Astrid nodded, leading us from the entryway to that staircase which led down into the bowels of the tree, and down a few corridors which led to a room with that same grand entryway like the one that led to Gert's room.

"We moved what artifacts we could salvage to this place," she explained, and I nodded, as I noted that guards had been stationed at the doorway.

"Well, this tree is usually well protected," I said, and she nodded.

As we entered the room, I noted that the layout was the same as the tree back in Palancar where the princess had taken me after that first fateful night, with pedestals and displays; though, most of them, I noted, were empty.

Astrid led us across the room to a long table adjoining the far wall, and with hexagon-shaped stones laid across them.

Elevated above the stones, however, was a small, coin shaped object which Astrid retrieved then handed to me, and I held the object up, observing it a little.

As I activated sensory perception, however, I suddenly noted that there seemed to be some kind of connection between the object in my hand, and the stones on the table.

There were no energy threads connecting them, but as I held the coin in my fist and concentrated, instinctively closing my eyes as I did, I suddenly realized that the rest of the stones were visible to me, even with my eyes closed, and I gasped.

"What is it?" Casey asked, and I rubbed my chin.

"I'm not sure, but test something for me?"

She frowned a little, but as I picked up one of the stones and handed it to her; I closed my eyes, focusing on the coin, and as the stone came into view, Casey's shadow did as well.

"This is interesting. I think it might be a location tool," I said, and Casey frowned.

"As in, you can track whoever is carrying a stone?" she asked, and I nodded.

Astrid, however, shook her head.

"I believe there is more to it than mere tracking, Nathan," she said. "These stones are not artifacts, but the very material after which our people were named."

"Kobalt?" I asked, and she nodded.

"They are capable of storing life essences, in almost unlimited amounts," she explained.

"Life essences?" Casey asked.

"I think it means energy," I offered, and Gisela nodded.

Casey rubbed her chin.

"And we can access that? When using abilities?" Casey asked, but Astrid rubbed her chin.

"It is a bit like, using this 'energy' externally. If you use yours, it is fine. But another's must be suitably compatible, or the affliction will result."

Casey rubbed her chin.

"So, how do you store energy in them?" she asked.

"It is like the activation of the seed," Gisela answered, gesturing to me. "Energy is poured in, and it is absorbed."

As Casey examined the stone, however, I turned my attention to the coin.

"This can absorb energy as well, can't it?"

Astrid nodded.

"My feeling is such," she confirmed, but as I considered the connection between the coin and the stone, something occurred to me.

"Hey; Casey. Could you pour some of your energy into that stone?"

She eyed me, biting her lip a little uncertainly.

"Uh... sure, I guess."

She focused on it, and as I sensed the energy flowing into it, I held the coin in my hand again, focusing on it and closing my eyes, and this time, to my surprise, I saw Casey as clear as day.

"Hold up some fingers," I said to her, keeping my eyes closed, and as she held up two fingers, I said, "two," and she gasped.

"You can see me? Even with your eyes closed?"

I nodded, rubbing my chin thoughtfully.

"Let's try something else," I suggested. "I'm going out that door, and I want you to do the same thing again."

Casey nodded, and I headed outside, but even without her raising her hand, I knew as soon as I closed my eyes that I would be able to see her.

But it didn't stop there... there was a pull telling me exactly where she was, and as I returned to the room, she eyed me.

"How many fingers?" she asked.

"Four," I answered, moving to examine the stones. "How many of these stones are there?"

"Twelve, I think," she said, and I turned to Astrid.

"You said these could be made?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Yes, Nathan."

"But can they also be connected to this?" I asked, holding up the coin.

Astrid put a finger to her lips, as she regarded the question.

"What is this 'linked'?" she asked.

"It feels as if the energy of the stone is somehow connected to this," I said, and as she observed the coin, she bit her lip.

"It is without reference," she answered, and Casey eyed me.

"What are you thinking?" she asked, and I rubbed my chin.

"If we hand these out, we can know where all of our people are. It'll make things a hell of a lot easier for scouting; and especially on this rescue mission."

As Casey studied the stone, however, she furrowed her brow.

"I can't help but feel like if there's more to it than that," she said.

"Well... there is one who is certain to know of it," Astrid began, and Casey eyed her.

"Who?" she asked, and as Astrid turned to me, Casey shot her a questioning look.

"The one who created this artifact," Astrid answered. "Jacinda, the queen of old."

"That's interesting," I said, rubbing my chin. "Maybe it's time we have another chat."

"Over an artifact?" Casey asked, and I shrugged.

"She had a vision. It might be important for all we know," I said. "Besides. The two of you can watch me while I do it, right?"

I turned to Astrid, and she quickly nodded.

"I am able and willing," she answered.

Casey bit her lip, then nodded.

"I should probably go keep an eye on training," Casey said. "You can handle it, right?" she asked Astrid, and the girl quickly nodded.

"It is within my capabilities," the girl answered, and Casey nodded before heading off.

Gisela also excused herself to return to her own duties, but I noted that Astrid seemed to react a little awkwardly to suddenly being left alone with me.

"Your room is in this tree, isn't it?" I asked, and she bit her lip.

"My room was destroyed in the fire. I am temporarily housed here," she answered, and I nodded.

"That should work, then. Do you mind?" I asked.

"It will suffice; but would you not be more comfortable elsewhere?"